The Dark Won't Yield to Dawn

Shards of ice and grains of sand embedded themselves in his hair and clothes, swiping past his eyes, stinging.

Screams. Roars. Exhaustion. No aura. No semblance…Nothing.

Ren pushed himself forward, slashing at the fallen Grimm, becoming engulfed in the blackened dust it left behind for a few brief seconds. Again. And again. And again.

A great hurricane of snow formed behind him as Winter Schnee, the…the new Winter Maiden…cast forth a terrifying wave of ice just above his head. It exploded in the air, scattering frozen fragments and remnant of Grimm across the horizon. He knew what that meant. He knew who had to die to bestow upon her such power. He knew the second she floated through the portal that Penny was dead, and this time she was never coming back. He felt a twinge in his chest. A pull of emotion. He had never been particularly close to Penny, but she was a friend. An ally. A young life wasted. She had a humanity that much of the world lacked, even before her transformation, and seeing Winter fight with her power… If he'd still had use of his semblance, he would have attempted to activate it now, to calm himself down and force himself to work through the sadness. But that privilege was gone. He had no choice but to keep fighting through the pain, and the noise, and the crowd.

Grimm after Grimm after Grimm, he battled. Some managed to get a quick scratch or nick in, and one winged beast proved too quick for his reflexes, sinking a talon into his shoulder. He yelled out, slashing at the beast's foot before two chains wrapped around it and cast it aside. Warm blood spilled down his arm, but he was lucky this time around. The wound wasn't too deep. He'd live, but not if he stopped fighting. With no aura, he was an open target. Emerald, whose own aura was waning, fought alongside Oscar, defending a helpless group of civilians from a new swarm of Grimm while Winter pushed forward to the larger threats. Beads of blood mixed with sweat dripped from the boy's forehead, where he sported a nasty gash, but he fought on regardless. Once they ran into Jaune, they'd patch themselves up. Rolling his shoulder painfully, Ren looked back to the crowd, who were making the Grimm's job a lot easier by screaming and running in all directions. Some part of him was relieved that his semblance was off limits for the time being, as the emotional explosions of colour would have been blinding. He couldn't see his leader, or the rest of his friends. They had to be somewhere in the desert, mixed amongst the inconsolable population.

"Hey!" Ren turned sharply to the source, finding Joanna, along with Fiona and May, attempting to hold back the crowd. "Stop running! The Grimm will pick you off if you run right to them!" Joanna's voice boomed into the night, over the screeches and hollers, but it was futile. This plan was hopeless. An enormous failure. A calamity. The crowd scattered, and ignored Joanna's plea in their panic.

"If you stay in a circle, we can protect the outskirts as well as the center!" May yelled.

"Please just stop running!" The crowd pushed past Fiona as she shouted, almost knocking the Faunus over. She locked eyes with Ren, and ducking beneath an ice blast, she bounded over to him. "We need more huntsmen! Do you know if your friends made it to Vacuo?" Panic embedded itself in Ren's chest as he looked at her, floundering for an answer. Did they? He didn't see them. He saw Winter, and the portal closing, but his back had been turned for quite a while before that. Surely they were on the other side of the crowd. Surely…

"I thought I saw Lightning Chick earlier on," Emerald offered, wiping sand from her eyes. "But that was a while ago, she's got to be here somewhere." Nora. Ren sighed with relief. Nora was travelling with Jaune. If she was here, he had to be too.

"We can protect the people better if they just stayed together. It's a free for all here!" May called over, and Fiona scampered off before anyone could answer her question. It was a free for all. It was a never ending nightmare.

The night dragged on, until it felt like the sun would never rise. Hours and hours of endless fighting, until every muscle in his body ached. Before dawn broke, the Grimm seemed to be arriving in smaller hoards, still a threat but more manageable in their weakened state. The desert was now a wasteland of black mist and melting glaciers and wet, discoloured patches of sand. Beside him, Oscar's knees buckled, and he fell face first into the sand.

"Is it almost over?" he heaved, coughing the sand from his mouth as Ren grasped his arm and dragged him onto his feet. A twinge of pain shot through his other shoulder. At least the bleeding had almost stopped, with the occasional trickle seeping from the puncture wound every time he moved it.

"Not yet," Ren panted.

"Where's Ruby? And the others? Jaune…They should be here!" With his cane, Oscar crushed a sneaking scorpion Grimm. A tiny puff of smoke rose in the air. "The portal disappeared when Winter came through! I haven't seen or heard them, and Ozpin has a bad feeling. And Penny…" Oscar broke off. 'I have a bad feeling too' Ren wanted to say, but he couldn't bring himself to. Instead, he squeezed Oscar's arm and called for Emerald. They'd already lost one friend today. They couldn't lose more.

"Did you find the others yet?" she asked, hunching over to catch her breath. She had managed to remain relatively unscathed, but her aura was just hovering above breaking point. Still, she was in better shape than Ren or Oscar were. Ren shook his head, guiding Oscar in her direction.

"Can you look out for each other? I need to find them. I don't…" '…know if they made it'. He wouldn't let himself think like that. Not about Jaune. Not about Ruby and Yang, or Weiss and Blake. Their former adversary nodded, turning back to the task at hand, while Oscar steadied himself and lifted his cane for battle yet again.

The crowd had screamed for hours, most of them attempting to escape the Grimm attacks in the circle that the Happy Huntresses had attempted to form, while others fled. Several groups of people stood divided in the desert. With the Grimm swarms finally dying down, it was the first chance that Ren had to cross to the other side of the civilian population, who blocked his path as they dodged to avoid the scorpions nipping at their heels. Some fought back with whatever objects they carried with them, while others chose to stomp on them with their boots. He shot some as he passed, and crashed into several people, setting off a red hot, searing pain in his pierced shoulder. The bloodied sleeve clung to his skin, sticky and warm, and he could feel the softened wind shoveling sand into the open wound. Never mind that now. Keep going. As he trudged through the desert, a glimmer of white caught his eye. Was that…A glyph?

Weiss!

He sprinted towards her.

A white Beowulf crawled from the glowing shape, and launched itself at a group of incoming Grimm, indistinct due to the sand still clinging to the air, but large and deadly in shape.

"Weiss! There you-" He skidded to a halt, biting back the disappointment he felt at running into Willow rather than her daughter. Her tired eyes lit up momentarily.

"Wait, Weiss? Have you seen her?! I didn't see her come through the portal…I…" fat tears rolled down her fair cheeks, and Ren felt an illogical pang of guilt.

"We'll find them," he offered. 'Will we? Wouldn't you have found them by now?' He shook his head. Whitley, whom Ren was fairly certain was not trained to fight like his sisters, hung back with Klein. It looked as if he and the older man were attempting to maintain some kind of order within the refugees around them, trying to stop them from running into the wilderness. This part of the crowd was quieter, more co-operative. Ren only noticed now how much his head was spinning. He had lost sight of Emerald and Oscar, but he could see explosive blue streaks illuminate the sky at intervals.

"What happened to her?" Willow's voice trembled, staring at the faraway maiden. Weiss or Winter?

"I don't know," Ren replied, which was the answer to both. "But have you seen any of Weiss' friends? Her team?" Willow shrugged.

"I…I saw someone earlier on. One of the girls…" Her eyes, shining with tears, scanned past him. He followed her gaze, absentmindedly shooting at a swooping Grimm which collided with the ground a short distance away. As the smoke cleared away, he spotted a flicker of light in the distance. Again, another pink flicker…

He glided forwards, kicking sand up behind him. A quick, thin bolt of lightning zipped across the air as a large Grimm collided with a heavy object. It flew, already dead, over the crowd, falling the smoke as it hit the ground. She was here. She made it.

"Nora!" he called, never slowing down, never stopping. She turned, squinting, raising her hand to protect her eyes from the gust of sand that the fallen Grimm had unsettled. She lowered her weapon, her short locks floating across her face, her once vibrant dress now coated in a thick layer of dust. He didn't care that the pain from his shoulder now ran halfway down his arm as he waited for his aura to kick back in. He called out for her again, his voice carrying across the dunes. It struck her, and her hazy gaze landed on the figure in green barreling towards her.

"Ren?" It was barely a whisper, but before she knew it, she was running too, blinded by sand and dust and tears. They collided, dropping their weapons, gathered in each other's arms as they held onto each other. She let out a sob, and couldn't stop the tears from spilling beneath her lashes. She spoke, muttering either to him or herself, he wasn't sure. Another short sob echoed through his mind. "Penny. She's dead. She's dead, Ren, Penny's…" she broke off, falling into a painful silence. He pulled her closer, as impossible as that would seem.

"I know. I know." He blinked back the tears that sprang into his own eyes as the world fell apart around them, rocking and swaying, despite the pain in his arm and the pain in her heart. His arms locked around her back, and his face fell into the crook of her neck, and he could have stayed like this forever. Battle or no battle. Grimm or no Grimm. He could have remained rooted on the spot for eternity, in the arms of Nora Valkyrie. But eternity was not on their side, not in this mortal realm. Reluctantly, they broke away. After a quick scan of the horizon, the young man raised a hand to brush away the hair that had fallen into her blue eyes. Tears streaked against the dust that had collected on her face, and her glance landed on his outstretched hand, on his bloodied fingertips. She gathered it in her own, inspecting it before trailing her gaze up further.

"You're hurt," she observed, reaching to take a closer look before thinking better of it. He shrugged, which was a very bad idea, but he fought back a wince.

"I'm fine. I'll be OK," he replied, squeezing the hand which still grasped onto his. He wanted to pull her close again. He wanted to make all of this right. He wanted to fix this mess that went so spectacularly wrong. "Where's Jaune? Have you seen Ruby and the others? I can't-" he paused, noticing the pang of sadness that adorned her features as he spoke. She looked away, screwing her eyes shut, and furrowing her brow. A wave of…something washed over Ren, something he couldn't describe. Fear? Guilt? Devastation? Was this Ozpin's bad feeling? "Nora, what's-" A strangled growl sounded in the distance, causing both of them to jump. He reached down, picking up her discarded hammer and pressed it into her hand. She pulled it towards her as he retrieved his Stormflowers. He buried the feeling. It meant nothing. It was stupid to dwell on such a ridiculous notion.

Of course they got through the portal.

Of course they made it out in time.

They were here. They were here somewhere. He just hadn't found them yet. People like Jaune and Ruby couldn't just be gone. People like Weiss and Blake and Yang couldn't just be gone. But then again, neither could people like Pyrrha, or his parents, or Penny, but they were. They were gone. No. No! Impossible. Absolutely impossible.

He spotted the creature lumbering towards them, and as he fought side by side with the girl he loved he reasoned with himself, reassuring himself that even if they weren't here, in Vacuo, they would be in Atlas, or Mantle. But that optimistic concept lasted less than a few seconds. As of now, Mantle was no more, crushed under the weight of the fallen Atlas. No. They were here. They had to be.

The sun rose amid lightning and blizzards and dying sandstorms. With the added visibility, the survivors forced themselves to co-ordinate, exhausted from running and screaming and escaping the literal jaws of death all night. The Happy Huntresses, drained and hoarse from shouting orders, managed to form ranks protecting the children, the elderly and the injured. Once the sun had taken its place in the cloudless sky and the winds ceased to exist, the Grimm stopped coming, save for the occasional squadron of scorpions, or the rogue Ravager. There was no doubt they would be back before long. This lull was most likely the calm before yet another storm. The screaming had melted into a murmur as the refugees regrouped into one unit.

Winter flew into view, her hair torn from its ponytail and clinging to her damp forehead. The maiden powers keeping her afloat gave out as she reached the sobered crowd, and she plummeted to the ground a short distance from her family. Or what was left of it.

Dizziness washed over Ren as he sunk to his knees at the perimeter. His head was swimming, and he wasn't sure whether he was going to throw up or pass out. That strange feeling had resurfaced, and this time he couldn't get it to fade away. His heart raced for all the wrong reasons, and it took him a second to get his breathing under control. Black spots clouded the corners of his eyes and he tried to take in the scene around him. He had lost a lot of blood. The only thing he could think to do, despite being in the most dangerous place in Remnant, was to close his eyes. Block it out. Semblance or no semblance. A pair of hands landed on his good shoulder, shaky fingers tracing the outline of his father's blade. Another pair of knees sunk beside his on the sand.

"He…" she inhaled, forcing herself to speak. 'Don't say it. Don't make it real.' "He sent me for backup, for more huntsmen, because…because Cinder…" she spat the word. Ren's fists clenched, his fingernails digging into the flesh of his palms as he tried to hold back the anger that surged within him at the mere mention of that name. "I didn't…I didn't know that the portal wouldn't let me go back to him." She sniffed. "I didn't see the others, only Weiss but…I never should have left him!" Her voice cracked, marking the precise moment his heart broke yet again. He had no semblance to numb the way he felt. To numb the way she felt. The sadness, and exhaustion, and injustice of it all sunk into every pore of his skin, embedded in the very essence of his soul.

'Not again. Please, not again.'

He fell against her body, not really meaning to, but he let himself lay there, slumped, helpless, with nothing more to give. Nothing. He didn't stop the emotion that overflowed within him, seeping from his eyes and clenching at his heart. He couldn't. She cradled his head against her chest, and rested her damp cheek on his dusty hair. He allowed himself to cry, an action he tried to deny himself after Pyrrha met her fate. The wail from Willow, and the pained way in which Whitley sunk to the ground before his weeping oldest sister confirmed everything they already knew.

Weiss Schnee was dead.

Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long were dead.

Ruby Rose and Penny Polendina were dead.

Jaune Arc…was dead.

They clung together in agony. Heaving and sobbing and weeping. Their eyes cried a million tears. It was all they could do. There was nothing left to say.

There was nothing left at all.

Author's Note

(In the scene where Nora is knocking against the portal just before it disappears, Team Green had their backs turned and were busy fighting Grimm. In this story, I decided to make Team Green too busy with Grimm to notice Nora here amongst the crowd, so they know she made it to Vacuo because she was seen, but they assume she came with Jaune and is battling at the other side of the circle.) I hope you enjoyed the one-shot! Even if all of their friends aren't really dead, they don't know that, and it's likely that Ren and Nora will believe that they are the sole survivors of their Beacon group.