I fired myself off the aircraft, into the waiting arms of the Grimm, half expecting to be pulled back into the airship. The creatures of Grimm were swarming towards the Atlas soldiers, who looked like they would rather be anywhere but here. I could see it, their fear and doubt in their body language as soon as my feet hit the ground running. I can't blame the army for feeling that way; no matter how much training these men and women had, nothing could prepare them against Salem's forces. God, I knew about Salem's plan, and I could never imagine this. But with the negative energy these people were giving off, it would only drive the Grimm forward.
The sound of metal clashing together caught my attention. Turning my head towards the noise, I saw a blonde knight, his weapon and shield at the ready for any sudden attacks as he kept up with my pace. My lips twitched at the sight of him. Jaune had come a long way from his early days at Beacon; he wasn't the same boy who held on to the tail of a Death Stalker for dear life back at Emerald forest. Watching him fight was like night and day; at one point, I was convinced he would get himself killed, but now, I'm glad he is on our side.
Jaune's movements reminded me a lot like his old partner, Pyrrha. Confident but patient, timing his attack perfectly to finish the Grimm in one swift blow. Pyrrha was always able to see the potential in everybody. If Pyrrha were here today, I could imagine her smiling at the boy before praising him. The thought of the spartan still brought up a painful tightness in my chest, a bitter reminder that she should be here with us, not on the battlefield but back at Beacon, where we should have still been free to act like kids for a few more years, but instead, we were thrown into this war.
I turned my attention back to the matter at hand and why we were here, shaking my head to get rid of any unwanted thoughts. A Beowulf drew closer to me, its claw coming down to strike. I pulled up my arms to my face to block the oncoming blow. However, Before the Beowulf had the smallest chance to put a scratch on me, a figure dressed in green jumped over my head, bringing his Blades down, piercing the Grimms skull armor. As soon as the Grimm disappeared in black dust, the dark-haired boy turned to meet my eyes, given a quick nod of acknowledgment.
"I could have taken it," I said smugly, trying to sound braver than what I was. But the truth is, I'm terrified; the tremor in my left hand is proof of that. The idea that this could be the day that we come face to face with the closest thing to the devil that we have ever known, it scared me past the point that I thought it was even possible. And the worst thing about this whole situation is, I never got a chance to tell Blake how I felt or apologize to Ruby or say goodbye to Weiss. If anything happens to me here, they won't forgive me, and rightfully so. I could have at least made my last words to them something comforting, but instead, my pride got in my way.
"I do not doubt that, but it was easier to take it out quickly. "Ren's voice was dry and flat, trying to show as little emotion as possible. I guess I'm not the only one putting on an act, trying to convince ourselves that everything would be fine and we could handle this.
"Fair enough, I'm just glad to see that you have finally come to your senses. For a moment there, I thought you were going to agree with the Ace ops. After all, they are real huntsmen." I couldn't help remind the boy about his recent behavior towards us. The boy's pink eyes looked away, a hint of shame behind them. I know Ren only acted that way because he was stressed, we were in a difficult position, and Grimm had just kidnapped Oscar. But the guy was never an easy person to read, and despite spending a lot of time with him, I don't think I ever really trusted him. Ever since we became wanted criminals, I always kept my eye on Ren. I thought he would go running to Ironwood and turn us in. I bit down on my tongue, angry at myself for not having faith in Ren the way I should have, but he didn't help himself, especially recently.
"Jaune, What's the plan?" Ren shook off my comment, shooting the Grimm as we were running towards them.
"Yeah, if we continue doing it this way, I'm going to be running out of shells. And not to mention if we stay here to fight, we'll be too exhausted to do anything when we get inside that thing," I shouted over the roar of the beast that attempted to slash its claws into my stomach. My robot fist rammed into the belly of a general Ursea, firing an explosive shell to prove a point.
"Ren, can you mask us, through all the Grimm," Jaune shouted over to his teammate, bringing up his shield to deflect the paw of an Ursa. I held my breath, waiting to hear Ren's response, keeping my guard up at all times.
"I need you to hold them back from me, for just a second." He grunted, pushing off a Boawolf to land behind us. I took the place of the boy, not given the creature a chance to recover. I gave it an uppercut to the chin, forcing the beast to stumble back, allowing Jaune to cut its head clean off. We prepared for another Grimm attack; however, it did not come; instead, they just ignored us, rampaging past like we were never there. I let out a heavy breath, not realizing I had been holding it. Ren's semblance had always amazed me. Unlike my own, His is subtle and something that doesn't draw the eye but never the less can still be very useful against the Grimm.
"Come on," Ren stated as he ran past us, Jaune and I locked eyes before nodding our heads in agreement, moving after the dark-haired boy.
"What's the plan to get past the black lake? We don't even know what it will do to us if it touches our skin." I asked, slightly out of breath, as we drove closer to the open mouth of the Monstra. My heart raised as we approached the massive Grimm. I had never seen a Grimm that big before.
"You're right, and we can't even get close to its mouth even if we wanted to." I could see Jaune's eyebrows scrunching up, deep in thought. "Wait, what is that?" We all stopped and looked at the group's temporary leader before following his line of sight. Hovering just above the fin of the massive beast was an aircraft.
"Is that one of Atlas's?" Ren asked curiously. I squinted, trying to get a good look at the passengers. The first thing I could make out was gray hair. When the passenger finally took a look out the window at the destruction. My eyes widened, recognizing him straight away.
"Mercury," I growled out through gritted teeth. I could feel my temper start to rise at the image of him, giving me a cocky smile, back when we fought each other at the Vytal Festival. The day my world was turned upside down.
"That's great." Jaune's voice was filled with relief. That definitely wasn't the response that I was expecting.
"What, how does seeing that low life give you that response?." I snapped, my semblance flaring up. And by his reaction, I could tell that scarlet eyes were glaring at his blue.
"No, Yang, that's not what I meant." I tilted my head in a way that demanded him to explain. "What I'm saying is, if the airship came from the top of it, it means there's a landing pad. So there has to be another entrance up there." He pointed, and I moved my head in that direction. Finally, the realization hit me. "If we can get up there, we won't need to take our chance with the lake."
"How do you suggest we do that?" Ren spoke up. "it's not exactly an easy climb. And we don't exactly have time on our side." I looked up, and I have to admit he was right. Ren and I could probably make it up, but Jaune didn't have a weapon that could allow him to climb. If we don't do something quick, we won't be able to save ourselves, never mind, Oscar. I took a deep breath preparing myself for what I was about to do, knowing there was no other way.
"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I have my own way of getting up to the top." I swung my arms to my side, forcing the empty shells out of my gauntlet and replacing them with new ones.
"Yang, you can't just go running off. If you wait, we can develop a plan where we all can get to the top simultaneously. It's too dangerous for you to go alone." Jaune stood in front of me, blocking my path.
"He's right, Yang. If you run into trouble, we won't be there to help you." Ren said, trying to make me see reason.
"There's no time for that. You heard winter if we aren't off that thing when they pick up that bomb, they won't think twice to use it. With is in it or not." I raised my voice, frustration building as the time ticked away. "Look, it will be quicker for me to go up, so when we meet up, I might have a better idea where Oscar is.
"She right, Jaune; we don't have time to mess around." My lilac eyes landed on his pink, I could tell he didn't like the plan, but Ren knew it only made sense.
"Fine, but if you're in the slightest bit of trouble, you get out of there as fast as you can. We meet up with you as soon as we can." I nodded my head in understanding.
"Relax, I'll be fine." I stretched my arms out before I turned to Jaune again. "Fancy giving me a hand." Jaune let out a sigh before crouching down and placing his shield above his head. "See you on the other side." Ren just nodded at me as I ran toward the night, jumping on top of the shield. Jaune pushed upwards with all his might propelling me up in the air. When I felt myself falling, I aimed my Gauntlets to the ground and started shooting myself upwards.
"Relax, I'll be fine." I stretched my arms out before I turned to Jaune again. "Fancy giving me a hand." Jaune let out a sigh before crouching down and placing his shield above his head. "See you on the other side." Ren just nodded at me as I ran toward the knight, jumping on top of the shield. Jaune pushed upwards with all his might propelling me up in the air. When I felt myself falling, I aimed my Gauntlets to the ground and started shooting myself upwards.
Hi, guy's, I hope you enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think. I don't usually do stories in 1st person. Have a good holiday, and stay safe.