Had real trouble writing today. Not sure why because I knew in advance what was planned for this chapter, but my fingers just felt all stiff and I kept missing keys, and I was feeling tired and headache-y after every 1,000 words.

Okay, new note at 1,500 words because I think I've found the reason. Had someone around yesterday to treat the tile floors and clean them in the house and though I didn't notice the smell, my sister came around today and complained that the house STINKS of white vinegar and chemicals, my office especially. I've been sat in the fumes all day working and am not noticing the smell because I'm used to it.

No wonder I've been getting headaches.

Cover Art: Z-ComiX

Chapter 84

The sounds of crashing trees and splintered rock echoed behind them, while the thud-thud of Ruby's own heartbeat did the same between her ears. The ground was uneven and the slightest trip would mean a broken foot or twisted ankle, and yet there could be no slowing down. Vaulting a fallen tree, she raced across its trunk, jumped and landed atop a rocky outcrop, then scaled down it, dropping seven feet to land in a crouch before kicking off again.

Was Qrow still behind her? Had he lagged? Ruby dared to look back, only to see him less than five metres behind, his coat whipping behind him.

"Don't look back!" he shouted. "Keep running!"

Following the trail they'd been tracking meant the ground was churned up from the Grimm's original passing. That worked both for them and their pursuers, however, and Ruby was spry enough to hop over the debris and keep going. All those mornings running with the Newbloods came back to her and she thanked her lucky stars she'd thought to train with them at all. Weiss would have faltered by now. Any normal Arcanist would have.

A thundering bellow behind told her the Grimm weren't about to. The splintering crack of wood was followed by a long groan and the crashing noise of branches and boughs being ripped apart as a huge tree fell. Shadows passed by above, blocking out the sun as avian forms took flight. Ruby's silver eyes stared up in fear, but the thick canopy kept the Nevermore from diving down to finish them off.

That wouldn't last come the open acres of farmland between them and the city walls. They'd be out in the open, sitting ducks for the Nevermore to swoop down on.

One of them, one slightly smaller than the rest, found its way down under the canopy. The monster still got itself caught among the branches and boughs, but its mighty wings beat angrily, snapping them off until it came crashing down not in an elegant landing but a heap thirty or so metres ahead of them. It screeched angrily and stumbled to its feet, shaking its viciously beaked face to shake off the impact.

"Qrow!" Ruby yelled a warning.

Ropes of golden light shot out past her, striking the Nevermore and binding it in place. The beast toppled to the left but was already working its beak against the magic, eating it off its own body. Half of them were broken by the time Ruby and Qrow reached it, but that was enough to let Ruby jump over its body, missing the snapping beak by half a foot. Daring to look back, she watched the Nevermore screech after them, extending its neck toward them and letting off an angry shriek.

It didn't last.

A huge foot smashed down on the Nevermore's back, snapping its thin bones and shattering its body in one go. The monstrous limb was flabby and wrinkled like hundreds of layers of skin were flopping together. It led back and up to a gargantuan body rippling with fat, full layers of fat, easily the width of two houses side by side and just as tall.

The… thing was disgusting. Hideous. It didn't have the lupine form of a Beowolf or the avian sleekness of a Nevermore. It was like someone had fed a man to such an excess that his stomach hung down to his knees like a skirt. Its entire body wobbled as it moved, a clumsy and uneven footing that nevertheless caught up with them solely because each slow step counted for thirty of their own.

Its arms were mismatched. One was normal sized – at least for it – and it used that to drag itself along by grasping trees not with fingers but three prehensile tentacles that came out its left wrist. The right arm was swollen and oversized, almost as tall as it was and dragging behind it, causing the great furrow in the ground they'd been following. It was swollen and calcified like a giant club.

Ruby couldn't see its face. It was sunken into thick layers of black fat around the neck, with only two bright red eyes visible on top. It had a skull for a mask but she could only see its forehead.

"What is that!?" she cried out.

"Don't look back!" Qrow shouted again. He caught up with her in her shock, grabbed her shoulders and shoved her ahead. "Only forward! Keep moving forward!"

"B-But we'll bring it to the city!"

"Arcanists! Hundreds of them! Keep going-" Qrow swore and yanked her to the right. "Shit!"

Ruby's feet left the floor as he pulled her out the way of a Beowolf that had either outran them and laid a trap or, and more likely, missed them on the way through the first time. It leapt through where she'd been, hitting the ground and skidding backward, almost being squashed by the monster behind them but managing to skip out the way at the last second. It threw back its head and howled.

Howls answered it. Hundreds of them. All over the forest, all around them, ahead, back and to both sides. They were everywhere. The Grimm were hunting them from every angle, every direction, and there was no way they were going to be able to run back to Vale without being intercepted.

Qrow came to a stop soon after she did, realising the same thing. He laid a hand on her shoulder and gripped it tight. Nothing was said and yet everything at the same time. The howls, screams and shrieks of Grimm were everywhere, both behind and ahead. Some even flew and ran past them, ignoring them entirely and focused on the city.

/-/

The city's bells were ringing wildly. The constant tolling had Yang and Blake outside with minutes, joining throngs of merchants in the markets and streets, all looking around in confusion. The din continued above and below, all across the walls. Several children were pointing up at the sky toward white sparks exploding in the air. Magic.

"Blake," Yang hissed. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know."

"You're the Arcanist!"

"It's a signal spell, Yang. It's just to let people know something. I don't know what that is."

A signal. Like the bells? Those were loud enough that anyone in the city should have heard them by now. Yang growled and started moving off toward the edge of the tier leading downward, Blake following. The town watch didn't question them, confused themselves as to what was going on. They reached the edge of the balcony looking down into the slums she'd grown up in, gripping the edge and looking out over the city walls.

In the farmlands, people were being moved toward the city gates in large groups. There was practically a herd of them, long columns streaming into the city through its mercantile gate. That didn't lead them down into the slums – the mercantile gates were for traders, and traders needed a path into the merchant's district, not the lower quarter where they'd be robbed. The farmers were streaming in, filling the merchant's quarter.

"They're evacuating the farms," Yang said. "Something must have happened."

"It's happening…" Blake whispered, horrified.

Yang gripped her hand and squeezed, feeling the girl shake. "We don't know that. This might just be a precaution. It could be something else."

Yang wasn't convinced even as she said it. Soldiers raced past clutching spears and bows, taking to the towers dotting the outer walls and then emerging on top of them, running along the parapets as commanders called out orders. Torches were set down along the walls, buckets of arrows and crossbow bolts placed at key locations and people running down with more supplies.

It's like they're getting ready for an invasion. Is it really happening right now…?

Loud muttering sprang up among the people watching, including questions called out to the town watch or soldiers, all of which went ignored. The confusion spread, quickly fermenting into anger and insults shouted, explanations demanded. People cried out for answers, none of which were forthcoming.

Yang didn't think the soldiers had any. Like everyone else, they wouldn't have been told anything by the Collegium. They were only responding to the alarm bells as was their duty.

They'd need somewhere higher up if they wanted to see more. The walls were out obviously, but Yang grabbed Blake and dragged her toward the warehouses lining he sides of the market. There were numerous crates stacked outside and some brave children had already had the same idea as her, scaling them to get a proper look.

Yang wasn't as agile as Ruby but life growing up in the slums and climbing out of the annual floods meant she had little trouble scaling up the stacked crates and then onto the roof of the warehouse building. She held a hand down for Blake to grab onto and hauled her up as well. Their new position gave them a commanding view over the merchant's quarter, the outer wall and into the farmland beyond.

"I don't see anything," Yang said. "Do you?"

"Nothing yet." Blake hugged her arms and trembled. "We'll know when they come. You can't miss them. Can't escape them."

"Hey. It'll be okay. Have a little faith."

Blake smiled weakly. "That's the exact thing my mother said."

The bells continued to toll, and more people rushed out and took to the walls. Thousands of them in total. Yang noticed that they stuck mostly to the walls of the merchant's quarter and above. The walls around the slums were much lower since the geography was the same, connected to the main walls but by steep staircases with their own gatehouses. Ruby and Yang had tried to sneak across those multiple times, but the drops were too perilous. Now, they lay abandoned. The soldiers weren't covering the wall leading to the slums at all.

And the lower gates were open.

"Why aren't they closed?" Yang asked out loud.

"What?"

"Those. The gates leading into the slums. They're wide open!" Blake shrugged and Yang hopped along the rooftop until she was close to the wall, then shouted out to the nearest soldiers. "Hey! The gates to the slums are open! Why isn't anyone closing them!?"

One of the soldiers, one in a royal red cloak, looked back at her and then to the slums. He cursed and grabbed a nearby soldier to whisper in their ear. The man nodded, hefted his spear and raced off in the direction of the gatehouse. Yang nodded, relieved and stepping back to let them continue their work.

The soldiers who had been sent let himself out onto the walls of the slums along with three others, having picked up some help. They jogged along the walls and into the larger gatehouse building itself.

"I can't believe they'd just forget a set of gates," Blake mumbled. "What is wrong with this place?"

"Most of them have probably never even been to the slums. Or they want to pretend it doesn't exist. Do you see anything yet? There aren't any Grimm. What if it's a false alarm or a drill?"

"Maybe it is-"

The first of the Grimm appeared from the trees as if to mock them. It was so far away that she couldn't tell it was a Grimm. It could have been anything, but it was black, and it was large enough to be noticed and that was all Yang needed to know. More came soon after anyway. A flock, pack or whatever they wanted to call it. The group launched itself at the flimsy palisade wall that had been set up around the farmland, struggling against it for maybe two minutes before it fell.

"Are those wolves?" one of the children nearby asked. "Dad says wolves have been attacking the farmers of late."

"Don't be stupid!" a girl said. "Wolves don't attack people."

They had no idea. Maybe it was blissful to be so ignorant. Yang felt sick to her stomach, especially knowing what had happened to Menagerie. They're here. They're really here.

"No…" Blake fell to her knees, tears dropping onto the roof. "No, no, no. Not again. I can't do this again!"

Yang wanted to comfort her but needed it herself. While the children argued, she could only watch in horror as the Grimm were loosed into abandoned farmland, killing whatever animals got in their way but otherwise ignoring most of them on a direct path to the city's walls. More came behind them, Grimm maybe two hundred strong ripping into the farmland before the tide stopped. They were all of them heading unerringly toward the gate.

The still open gate.

"Why!?" Yang shouted. "Why is it still open?"

The soldiers were too busy to hear her. Orders were being shouted, arrows nocked. Spears were rattling and squads chanted together to raise their spirits, preparing for the defence. Even if she tried to catch their attention now, they'd never hear her.

Fuck it. I'll do it myself.

"Blake. I need invisibility!" When the Arcanist didn't respond, too shocked to hear her, Yang pulled her up and shook her. "Blake, listen to me! The gates are open. The Grimm are going to come right through here. We need to close that gate ourselves!"

Golden eyes came back into focus, widening. "I-It's open…?"

"Yes." Yang twisted her so she could see, then set her down again. "You can hide us, right? We'll get on the walls and close it ourselves."

"Y-Yes. I can do that." Blake looked around but the children and just about everyone were occupied staring at the approaching horde. Whispering to herself, she placed a hand on Yang's shoulder and smoke swirled around them. Blake vanished. She did not, at least to her own eyes, but Blake whispered, "You're unseen. Stay close to me."

"How am I supposed to!?"

"Hold hands."

Yang nodded, then whispered her assent when she realised how pointless that was. Together, they hurried to the nearest wall and clambered up onto it, Yang going first and then drawing Blake up behind her. The soldiers were looking outward, leaning between the battlements and pointing, so they didn't notice the two invisible girls jog behind them. The parapet was wide enough for people to fight on, three metres thick in places. They made it to the gatehouse connecting the walls to the walls of the slum without issue, then slipped inside the building and to the gate leading down.

It was closed, but no one noticed it open on its own. Out on the far walls and away from the soldiers, Blake dropped the spell, bringing them back into the visible world. It wouldn't matter now as they were both hooded and the wall had been abandoned anyway. Together, they sprinted along, Yang glancing out to see the Grimm were more than halfway to the city already. What the hell was taking them so long? They should have had the gate closed by now.

Yang pulled ahead of Blake with her natural athleticism and reached the gatehouse first, skidding inside. The reason as to why the gate was still open became immediately clear. Six soldiers of Vale's army lay dead, both the four that had been sent and two others, the ones who were probably to close the gate in the first place.

Beyond them, by one of the winches, a figure in a white cloak stood with a hand on one of the large, wooden wheels that controlled the individual doors of the gate. He turned on hearing her enter, narrowing his eyes.

"You're no soldier…"

"The Grimm are coming!" Yang shouted. "We need to close the gate!"

"Dredger." He spat the term dismissively. "Begone!"

Yang didn't see or sense the attack, but she knew it would be coming. Instincts driven into her from years of fighting had her rolling aside, dodging the rush of fire before it could incinerate her. One hand on the floor, she pulled herself up and charged the Arcanist, a knife flashing into her hand as he recoiled and raised both of his.

Something appeared before her. A shield of some kind. Yang struck it and bounced off, landing flat on her ass with stars dancing before her eyes. Bands of light hit a moment after, wrapping around her back and tying her down.

"Idiot," the man whispered more to himself than her. "Nearly jumped by some filthy Dredger. They'd never let you live that down."

"The gate!" Yang screamed. "Close the gate!"

"If nothing else you're a good excuse. They'll find your body among the soldiers and blame you for it."

Tears were running down Yang's cheeks. "The people!" she cried. "Think of all the people inside! They're going to die if you don't close the gate!"

For a moment she thought he might have listened. The man stiffened. His eyes closed. He took a deep breath, released it and then reached down to pick up a sword one of the soldiers had dropped.

"I'm sorry," he said. "But the White does not falter."

Steel burst out from the man's chest. He arched back, gasping in agony as blood red spilled out over white robes. A gloved hand appeared over his neck, yanking his head back as Blake blurred into reality behind him, golden eyes glinting with fury.

"H-How…?" he croaked.

"The Shadow Arcana sends its regards."

Blake wrenched the sword out his back and kicked him down, letting the white-robed figure fall between the wooden floor and the opening looking down through the gate, crashing onto the stone floor below with a wet crack. The bonds holding Yang flickered and faded instantly, but Yang batted Blake's hand aside and lunged for one of the wheels.

"Quick! Get the other! Quickly!"

Throwing her weight against the wooden lever, Yang forced it to move. Below, the huge, heavy wooden doors encased with iron slowly started to grate inward, moving together. Blake slammed into the other wheel, trying to move that one. Each rotation dragged on the heavy chains, grinding the thick doors away from the walls and toward one another.

The wheels were meant to be operated by two people each. Yang's muscles bulged and strained. Her feet were driven back, each inch of the wheel a force of effort. Teeth gritted, eyes clenched, she forced it to move inch by painful inch.

"Come on! Come on, damn it!"

The howls were coming closer. People had noticed, too, and there were cries for the gates to be closed coming from the people below. Yang could even hear that some of them were down there beneath her, throwing their weight against the doors to try and close them by hand, helping her and Blake as best they could.

Please close. Please just fucking close already!

The howling and roaring increased in volume. Sweat and tears ran down her face as she drove every bit of herself into the wheel, forcing it around. Just a little further. Just a little bit more!

The wheel didn't stop in her hands.

It jolted.

The first of the Grimm struck the door with the force of a trebuchet, slamming the wheel back and almost breaking Yang's arms. She was launched away along with Blake, both crashing onto the floor as the wheels wildly flailed and spun the opposite way, undoing all their work. The doors below cracked back against the walls, smashed open mere inches before they could be sealed.

Yang screamed in grief and fury, but the sound couldn't be heard over the screams from below. Those that were spreading all across the slums as hundreds of Grimm poured into the city in a ravenous frenzy.

Outside the gatehouse, streaks of blue light lit up the sky.

/-/

Weiss cried out in shock and pointed. She needn't have. Every other Arcanist had been watching since the first signal and no one missed the latest. Blue meant that the Grimm had attacked Vale, that the city was in danger. Winter, as a Knight, might well be on the frontlines. Ruby could be caught in the middle of that. Pyrrha and everyone else were still back there, trapped.

"Lady Goodwitch!" she shouted.

"I see it!" Glynda moved quickly, dashing across the wooden platform with her white robes flapping behind her. "Break it!" she roared. "Break the damn now!"

White light shot from her own hand and struck the wooden structure as she said it, and the Arcanists around her did the same, extending their hands and shooting whatever they could at the wood. Those above, who had been keeping the water still, suddenly reversed the process, building it into a wild and raging frenzy that already threatened to spill over and break the embankment.

"Everyone!" Glynda ordered. "Do not falter now! For Vale! For the Collegium!"

"For the Collegium!" Weiss shouted, her voice echoed by everyone else. Though she didn't have much herself, she summoned fire in its rawest form, concentrating furiously to direct it toward the wood and work away at it. "For Vale," she whispered. "For the Collegium!" Her arm wavered. "For Ruby! Rargh!"

A last pulse of fire seemed to do the trick. Weiss couldn't say it was her of all the Arcanists who broke it, but it felt like it was her. The wooden beams snapped and bent outward, and the pressure from behind caused a chain reaction. Beams snapped, supports gave way and the upper [art of the dam bowed outwards dangerously. The rest could not contain its force and it splintered open like wet parchment.

Weiss was dragged back by an Arcanist with quicker reflexes than her, pulled away from the platforms as the River Vale rushed by a sound not unlike a thunderstorm. So powerful was it that it swept up some of the platform, even some nearby tents, but everyone had retreated from the riverbank already.

"We must return," Lady Goodwitch said to all of them. "Our work here is done, the rest lays in the hands of the White back home. Everyone clear up here and return to the Collegium. Any Grimm attacking the city will be caught in this and killed. What we have done here today will save the lives of tens of thousands of people. Though few will know of it, we are all today heroes."

Heroes. Weiss smiled faintly, cheering with a few of the others. If her actions today kept her friends safe, she would be content. The White did not falter, nor would she the next time she doubted them.

I can't wait to tell Ruby.

/-/

Ruby hit the floor, rolling onto her front and gasping for air. Above her, a Beowolf loomed, one claw raised. Its head exploded into flame as Qrow appeared before her, bleeding from several wounds but still able to fight. The Beowolf fell backward, dead, but more Grimm circled around them and the giant monstrosity towered above them all.

"Are-" Qrow hacked for breath. "A-Are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine." For now. Not for much longer. Her eyes looked down and widened. "You're bleeding!"

Qrow cupped his stomach where blood was pooling from a vicious wound he'd taken defending her. Literally defending her. The Grimm weren't interested in him other than getting him out the way. They wanted her. They were hunting her.

"I'm fine," he said, clearly not that at all. "You… Gah." He fell onto one knee.

"Qrow!"

"Shit. I-I'm fucking this up, aren't I? Just my luck." He tried to push her away, but Ruby got her shoulder under his arm and tried to pull him up. "Don't be stupid, Ruby. You can't carry me out of here. We're surrounded."

An Ursa came rushing in with a roar, raising its mighty paw high. Qrow reacted with an outstretched hand and a whisper, launching a spike of rock up from the ground and into its stomach. The beast toppled back but another took its place, along with two to the left and the great monster rearing up behind, its sickeningly fat body wobbling with every step.

"I finally found you," Qrow whispered. "And then this. I can't believe… Summer would never forgive me. Not one bit." He forced himself off her and stumbled a little, catching himself with a growl. "I'm going to try and make an opening. You need to run. Run as fast and as hard as you can. Don't look back. I… I won't be able to buy you much time."

Ruby didn't bother correcting him on her mother. Not now. Her eyes burned with unshed tears, anger and frustration boiling inside her along with something else. Something powerful and raw. Her hands clenched into fists, eyes, her teeth ground together so hard they creaked, and her eyes began to glow faintly.

No.

Not this time.

The gargantuan Grimm reared its over-sized club arm back and struck down on them. Qrow threw his hands up, summoning as good a shield as he could to protect them. It didn't last. The arm struck it and the shield shattered in almost the same instant, splintering like glass and letting the arm come flying through towards them.

Ruby threw her arms out and her head back, screaming, "Rarghhhhhh!"

The heavens opened up.

These fumes. I can now breathe vinegar. Every minute is nasal burning. I think I'm going outside for a bit to clear my head. Yikes.

Next Chapter: 18th April

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur