Days had passed, and it felt as though the fighting would never stop. Smoke continued to rise all over as the fires spread, and the streets were as full as ever. Though, instead of irritated commuters and families roaming the streets, it was packs of Grimm and streams of refugees.
Blake rested uneasily atop the slanted ceramic shingles of a rooftop in Old Vale, close to the docks. Even from this distance, she could see the gates of the city, torn wide open. Even now, Blake could only assume that the Grimm were still steadily streaming through.
A part of her felt that she should stay. That she could do her part here, and help save people. But the larger part told her that if she stayed, all she would do is put the people she loved back in danger. There were enough soldiers and huntsmen in the city, one more wouldn't mean a thing.
With a sigh, she stood up from her perch. Checking the ammunition in Gambol Shroud, Blake could only grimace. With the battle at Beacon and unavoidable confrontations over the last day, her Dust supply was dangerously low. If only the scattered piles of Atlesian Knights all over the place used the same rounds as her, then this wouldn't be a problem.
She could always try and loot some abandoned store, but the odds were that they had already been sacked or were so far into Grimm held territory that it was a death wish.
Stretching her limbs, Blake mapped her way to the gaping holes in the city's defenses. It was a long shot, but if she could make it to one of the outlying towns along the coast, she gathered she would stand a good chance of finding a ship to take her to Menagerie. The Grimm seemed to be coming in mostly from the southern half of Vale, by way of Beacon and the greater mainland, so hopefully the hordes would be thinner up there.
The heavy crack of gun fire in a nearby street snapped Blake right out of her thoughts, hand instantly going to her weapon. Her eyes zeroed in on the sound and almost by instinct she began to dash across the rooftops towards the noise.
With every step, Blake could feel the dull pain in her abdomen where… he had stabbed her. Her Aura went a long way to suppressing the pain, as did her stitches and bandages. But if she didn't rest soon she'd have some serious trouble.
Her mind warned her not to get involved, that this wasn't her fight and that she had a greater duty than getting wrapped up in every battle across the city. She hesitated until she heard a cry of anguish.
Her heart shoved those thoughts aside, focusing on what was right in front of her. Vaulting from one ledge to another, Blake cut her way across the rooftops, before finding herself overlooking a large, surprisingly unburnt, public park.
She got ready to move again, only to stop as a large group of people rushed into the park from the direction of the fighting.
In front of the group were parents desperately clutching their children, or men and women in the tattered uniforms of Atlas carrying the elderly and parentless. Their faces were tattered and tear streaked, no doubt having barely survived these past few days.
Covering their escape was another group of a half-a-dozen Atlas troopers, backing out of an alley and desperately firing at any Grimm that got too close.
The bark of their rifles did nothing to mute the roars that echoed through the air. Blake leapt off the building and landed with a roll, shocking the group ahead of her. They hesitated for only a moment before continuing to run, not stopping to look at her.
Breaking into a sprint, Blake had cleared half the park before an explosion shook the alley and blasted towards the Atlesians. The squad leapt for cover, and let out a ragged cheer as four weathered figures jogged out of the smoke, nearly stumbling into one another.
The relief was short lived as another roar sounded out, and the soldiers resumed firing with renewed tenacity. Blake was nearly upon them when she saw one of the figures fall to the ground and drop his halberd, only to get hauled to his feet by a man nearly twice his size and covered head to toe in armor.
"Up Sky, that's an order!"
The voice made Blake stop dead in her tracks as she realized that the pockmarked, stained and miserable looking quartet was team CRDL, led by none other than Cardin Winchester.
As the rest of his team fought to catch his breath, Cardin turned back to the alley and shouted commands, hefting his mace in one hand and waving it animatedly.
Blake took two steps back, seeing the retreating forms of the refugees disappear around a corner.
'The edge of the safe zone is only a few miles away from here.' Blake thought treacherously, 'They'll make it just fine, if a bit worse for wear.'
Just as she turned to leave, the soldiers scrambled away from the mouth of the alley as the rest of team CRDL staggered to their feet. There was a hissing groan from the other side of the buildings, and with a mighty crash two massive pincers blasted through the brickwork onto the other side.
A Deathstalker rushed through the crumbling buildings, masonry falling harmlessly onto its carapace.
With a ferocious chittering, it slammed into Cardin and knocked him away, though to his credit he landed on his feet. Beowulfs and Ursa poured past it, rushing to surround the group.
Growling in agitation, Blake tightened her grip on Gambol Shroud and leapt into the fight. Cardin had just managed to get back into the fray as the rest of his team leapt onto the Deathstalker, aiming for the joints in its legs or in Russel's case, stabbing pitifully at its eyes.
Cardin strode forwards, raising his mace in both hands before bringing it down with a scowl. It raised its claw, and stepped forwards into the swing before it could be completed. Cardin grunted at the sudden impact, though the spiderwebbed cracks where he had hit seemed to freak the Grimm out. It swung its second claw towards Cardin, before Sky stepped in front of it and absorbed the blow.
His armor and block protected him somewhat, but his Aura broke with a cry as he went sailing through the air. Before Sky had even landed, several Ursa lumbered towards him. Blake heard some of the soldiers nearby shout, but she was already moving.
The closest Ursa to Sky didn't even notice as her cleaver bit into the soft nape of his neck, shearing its head clean off. Her blade flew into the chest of another one, staggering it as she pulled it forwards. It fell with a meaty thud as Blake tore the weapon back out by its ribbon, before she landed onto its back and slipped the weapon into its back.
The final Ursa moved with sudden alacrity, swinging its massive paws at Blake, who barely had time to leave a clone behind and leap out of the way. Before she had the chance to counter attack, and barrage of rounds buried into its faceplate and it collapsed, already dissolving in smoke.
Two of the soldiers stood by Sky, rifles raised and already looking for new targets.
'Well, at least someone still has ammo in this city.'
Without a second glance, Blake dashed back towards the main fight, where she could see Russel had already been knocked unconscious and was being dragged away by Dove, whose normally neutral face looked tortured as he left his leader behind.
While Grimm fell to the continuous attacks from the soldiers, their rounds pinged harmlessly off of the Deathstalker. Cardin was currently out of his element, dodging and sloppily rolling out of the way of its persistent stinger.
His foot caught on some debris in an unlucky backstep, and he lost his balance. Not wasting the opportunity, the Grimm's stinger flew right for Cardin's head.
Blake felt grimly satisfied as she cut straight through the stinger, watching it fall uselessly to the ground as the rest of the tail thumped harmlessly against Cardin.
Well, not harmlessly, as the fleshy stump crashed into his face at full force, slamming him into the ground and covering him in black ichor. Thrashing, the Grimm stepped back, and wailed pitifully.
Blake moved back towards Cardin, though she made no move to help him up. Cardin wiped his face and nursed his nose, before blinking a few times and looking up at Blake with confusion on his face.
"Belladonna?" he asked.
Blake didn't answer, eyes carefully watching the suddenly more cautious Grimm.
"Of course, out of every crazy bitch in Vale, I get saved by the only one with a chip on her shoulder. Just great." Cardin continued, spitting on the ground.
"It's going to run," Blake said, trying not to kick the bully right in the face.
Cardin scowled and clambered to his feet. "The hell it is!"
"Cardin, wait!" Blake tried to stop him, raising a hand as he charged in with a roar.
Howling, Cardin swung with redoubled anger at the beast, smashing his mace over and over against its now defensively held claws, spraying chunks of its carapace aside. While he focused on the twin claws, Blake busied herself with the lesser Grimm that rushed the two of them.
The fight was only a few minutes, but Blake felt the stress painfully as the exhaustion and wounds she'd experienced over the last few days finally took their toll on her. Her attacks slowly became more sluggish, and her semblance no longer created perfect copies. She knew she was low on Aura, but Blake kept carving through them.
Slowly but surely though, she was being separated from Cardin and the rest of the group.
As she dismembered a Beowulf, Blake heard a terrible wrenching noise, and had to stop and watch open mouthed as Cardin tore off one of the Deathstalkers claws and threw it to the ground.
The creature desperately scrambled away, plowing over lesser Grimm as it unknowingly ran towards Blake in a panic.
Thinking quickly, Blake pushed her already strained body forwards and leapt onto the beasts back, looking at the various chinks and holes in its armour. It wasn't hard to find one placed over some of its legs, and with surprising ease she pushed through the soft exposed flesh.
For what seemed like the millionth time, it screamed, thrashing about with its maimed tail and remaining claw to dislodge her. Blake held on through it all, dodging the wild strikes and hacking away at whatever flesh she could with her cleaver.
As it stumbled about, Cardin appeared in its guard, and the fire Dust in his mace glowing brightly as he slammed it down onto the creatures faceplate with a bone rattling force.
Again and again, he hammered into it with brute, endless force. Bone splintered as the explosive force of the Dust sheared away at it. Blake leapt into the air at the same time as Cardin did, nimbly flipping out of his way as he crushed the Grimm's spine. Finesse was definitely not his strong suit, but if there was one thing Cardin had dominated in their year, it was pure, un-semblance enhanced power.
The Deathstalker didn't even leave out a noise this time as it crumpled, swiftly turning into that comforting black vapour.
Cardin's mace fell to the ground as its resting place dissolved, and Cardin stooped to pick it up.
Now, with a moments peace, Blake could finally take a good look at him. Cardin's normally sparkling armour was covered in scratches, dents, and peeling paint. Scorch marks littered his vambraces, and his weapon looked like he hadn't had a chance to clean it in days.
Her observations were interrupted by Cardin's loud cough as he rose to his feet and crossed his arms, his mace already slung in his belt.
"What are you doing here, Belladonna? I heard your team got blown to bits," He said, his tone casually conversational, as though they were talking about the time of day. It was always like that with Cardin.
"You know, most people say thank you when someone helps them keep their head on their shoulders," Blake retorted, looking back to where Sky was being pulled onto the shoulders of one of the remaining soldiers. From the two motionless bodies laying side by side on the ground, Blake guessed that not everyone had been so lucky. Dove and Russel were both on their feet, watching the two of them warily from a distance but not closing the gap.
"Of course, classic. Always looking to be the saviour, huh?" Cardin huffed. "No point in doing anything unless it's for the little guy."
"Still no thank you."
Cardin's hung open in what appeared to be genuine astonishment.
"Oh for the love of-! Obviously we're grateful, you just saved our - well, maybe, maybe we could have held them- no. Screw this. If you don't mind, I've got a job to do. You can go find your validation elsewhere."
Blake couldn't stop the ugly frown spreading across her lips as he walked past her, "Hmph, what a waste of time this has been. I'm glad to see you leave. The streets are covered in enough-" Blake cut off as the ground shook beneath the two of them, a spiderweb of cracks breaking through the battlescarred pavement.
"Wha-" was all she could get out before the ground fell away beneath her, plummeting down into the sudden darkness. She reached for Gambol Shroud, but a large rock cracked into her head. The last thing Blake could remember was sliding across the cold, hard ground as the sky winked into nothing.
Blake awoke with a throbbing headache and a burning pain in her joints to total darkness. Well, it would have been, if not for her Faunus heritage. Her in-built night vision granted her a decent, if not great view of the world around her.
It was a very small, low, and narrow world, with rusted pipes, grimey walls and thick, worn steel rails running in two directions of a tunnel; one into a pile of rubble that rose to the ceiling, the other running deeply into the edges of her limited sight.
Next to her, Blake heard the shifting of metal plates as Cardin snored peacefully with his back pressed against a wall.
Dread crawled up her spine, before dropping down into her stomach as the last piece of evidence fell into place. She knew where they were.
Not ten feet away from was a small waiting platform, with a set of stairs that went nowhere. Placed above it was a sign, with an arrow pointing down the unending corridor.
"DIRECTION: MOUNTAIN GLENN"
A/N: eyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy