{1.} I'm gonna be following the English dub of AOT, and I'll be watching it as I write this fic. However, as I'm understanding the dialogue by ear and not by subtitles, there might be parts that don't make sense. Still, I'd rather work from the dubbed version, since I prefer dubbed more.
{2.} About Blake's backstory/life: Personally, I believe that Blake spent her childhood living in a place generally known for being poor and run-down and reeking of poverty, but where the Faunus were worse off than the Humans, and where there was some sort of home (is that the right word?) for an underground market involving the selling of Faunus body parts and primary traits. Blake knew about this market, thus leading her to protest. She stood at the front of every rally because her father led them. Then at some point, the guys from the market decide to kidnap her, likely because she's the daughter of the then-leader of the White Fang, and Sienna Khan and Adam saved her (a lot like how Eren saved Mikasa when they were little, but probably without the part where they murdered three grown men).
Afterwards, Blake started training under Adam in order to become stronger and more capable of fighting back so she could hold her own, though her training was put on hold after Ghira stepped down from his position as White Fang Leader and the Belladonna family moved to Menagerie. Ghira was chosen as the Chieftain of Kuo Kuana, since the Faunus living there wanted a peaceful leader, which they knew him to be. Then Blake ran away from her family, maybe due to a clash of ideologies, given her admiration for Adam (I see Blake and Adam being a lot like Aizen and Momo during Bleach's Soul Society arc, at least probably until Aizen's betrayal), and so she joined Sienna Khan's White Fang, and resumed training with Adam too. After he took her under his wing, he then started going more out of his way to hurt Humans and have 'accidents' where he killed them. He was also beginning to want to prove the Faunus were superior to Humans, and appeared to care less about them getting hurt in their missions, and so Blake left because she feared what he was becoming, thinking his actions would escalate to him hurting his own comrades in the White Fang, including her.
I also really like the idea that Tukson is Blake's uncle, perhaps the younger brother of Ghira, and was not only the one who got Blake into books, but also the one who helped Blake realise what was going on with Adam and how dangerous he was getting, and so helped her escape, to some degree. On that note, I also have this theory that Tukson only joined the White Fang because he was more prepared to fight for and protect Blake than Ghira was, since Ghira was more of a pacifist and wasn't a big fan of fighting. And once Blake left, Tukson did too, since he had no reason to stay anymore.
{3.} So, I've got a few RWBY crossover fics in draft, and one of those is a Bleach/RWBY/My Hero Academia/Final Fantasy crossover. I'm not sure if anyone would want to see any characters from that fic in this one, but I think it may be a pretty neat idea to connect this fic to that fic's series. I just don't like the idea of bombarding the AOT cast with too many people from other worlds. Still, please tell me what you think!
Ruby Rose
Ruby stared, wide-eyed, at the gigantic face before her, its head looming over her from only a few feet away.
This... had to be the Colossal Titan, right?
She couldn't speak. Her heart had all but dropped down to her stomach. Her insides almost seemed to twist and knot as soon as her gaze fell on its macabre grin, which stretched between its ears. She almost couldn't bear to look, already convinced that she'd be seeing this face in a nightmare at some point, but despite all that, she found herself unable to look away. She was frozen in place, on the ground, her form completely still as she stared at its small and beady eyes.
Her train of thought had crashed on the track.
Just what... what the hell was that?!
Well, seemingly, the Colossal Titan, but—just—just—just what the hell?!
She fought Grimm regularly. Wanted to fight Grimm for a living. And, while some weren't nearly so enormous, she at least knew how to deal with monsters. Hell, she loved being on the battlefield enough to prefer boots and a cape to some pair of stilts she couldn't walk in and some fancy-shmancy dress that barely fit her style.
Still... she'd never expected anything like this.
A shiver crawled up Ruby's spine as the Colossal Titan peered down at the group, its relatively tiny eyes unreadable.
Somehow, the monstrosity became scarier, as she realised it didn't have any eyelids, or eyebrows. On that note, despite its rather humanoid appearance (ignoring the size, of course), the Colossal Titan didn't appear to bear much skin (as far as she could see, given she was only looking at its head and shoulders, while the rest of its body stood hidden behind the outside of Wall Rose). The Titan instead appeared to be made up of muscles and a bit of bone, most of it making up the Colossal's skull. She didn't see any lips on the Colossal, either. Instead, she found only two long rows of teeth pressed together. She didn't want to know what she'd see if it opened its mouth.
Now Ruby was seeing it, and up close, she definitely understood why these people were so terrified of this Titan appearing again.
Although she'd likely be a more capable fighter than these Cadets, given her Aura, Crescent Rose, and her Semblance, even she was petrified. She'd probably be even more scared if she'd lived in this world all her life, instead of Remnant.
If she'd experienced first-hand the destruction that this monstrosity had caused five years ago.
And to think, it'd been only minutes since she'd ended up here.
A blast of thick, scalding steam carried Ruby up and off the ground, and tossed her off the wall's inner edge.
She broke free of her overwhelming fear then, and began to freefall down the wall. It was a feeling akin to being wrapped in a body of chains that soon shattered and thus released her.
Tightening her grip on Crescent Rose's handle, her weapon opened up, fully extending into scythe mode. She spun it in both hands, before stabbing the blade into the concrete. The blade dragged then stopped, finding purchase in the wall, and she swung toward the wall, planting her boots on the surface and settling herself there.
A deep sigh left her lips. She was more tense than she'd realised, but she should've expected as much, given the situation. Her shoulders slumped while she spared a moment to breathe and collect herself. She rested her forehead on Crescent Rose's barrel.
This was now a battlefield; somewhere she felt comfortable and usually at her best. She usually performed consistently well in the field. The battlefield was one of her favourite comfort zones. Few things mattered when fighting ravenous monsters bent on the destruction of humanity, soulless or not.
Still, I wish this was a battle where it was just me and the enemy. It's been a while since I was left to fight freely.
The last time was when Madoka had sent her to Soul Society.
Fighting an enemy alone had always been easier, in the sense of it being less stressful – alone, as a one woman army, she didn't need to worry about keeping track of her teammates, or having to provide support if something happened to them. The same could be said for the Cadets now, too.
Cool, calm, and relaxed, she pulled her face away from Crescent Rose, and looked around the wall.
She found Eren not too far above her, a bit nearer her right, and falling rapidly. Both his hands gripped the blade holders she'd pointed out earlier, before a pair of iron wires burst out from each apparent piston-shooting pouch sitting on either side of Eren's belt. Four-pronged grapplehooks, rather basic in design, sat attached to the end of each wire, the hooks still closed. As they pierced the wall, the hooks opened, lodging themselves in the wall to keep Eren from falling as he pressed the soles of his boots against the concrete. When he slowed and stopped, suspended beside Ruby on the wall, she noticed each blade holder not only bore two average-looking trigger mechanisms on the grip, but also a third lever-like trigger poised and hanging over them. She also caught a switch sitting on the back of each holder, behind a currently empty slot where she figured the blades would fit.
Seeing the gear in action, the entire contraption looked expertly crafted to work in coordination with the wearer's movements, yet the design and the way it fit on the body gave her too much of a simplistic vibe; as if the gear designer had spared only a glance at the finished product, thought "eh, good enough", and decided to leave it at that – like it didn't need to have any more improvements made in terms of its design and how it fit on a person's body. Furthermore, the gear seemed irritatingly out of place when compared to the cannons she'd seen earlier.
If these guys are fighting for their survival, then I'd think their equipment should be the best it can be, unless that's what they consider their best equipment. Still, if they can create and build and use gear which uses piston-shot grapplehooks, without the use of Aura, then I don't see why they can't also make equally creative and effective firearms, stronger swords, or even improve the quality of the cannons.
She shook her head.
Now's not the time.
"You okay? The steam didn't burn you, did it?" Eren asked, prompting Ruby to face him.
"I didn't even realise the steam was hot enough that it could've burned me," Ruby answered somewhat blankly, offering a shrug of her shoulders. Then, a lighthearted grin tugged at one side of her mouth. "How about you?"
"A bit warmed up, but I'm not hurt. What about your teammates? I haven't seen any of them come out of it yet."
"I don't know..." Ruby trailed off. She looked up the wall, the steam clouds barely fading enough for her to see the ironically calm blue sky above the wall.
The sound of a muffled burst followed Blake as she blew out of the steam clouds, her sword in hand. Flying over the inner edge of the wall, she began to freefall, face-up, her arms outstretched at either side. Ruby barely noticed Blake's eyes calmly open. Golden irises darted from side to side, surveying the length of the wall, almost definitely in an effort to locate anyone along the wall.
"You think Blake's alright? Why isn't she saving herself?" Eren asked, voice rising with obvious worry.
"Don't worry, I have a feeling she's about to," Ruby reassured him. Her eyes met Blake's.
Blake rolled into an upright twirl forward, placing the soles of her knee-high black boots on the wall. She swivelled on her heels and took off across the wall, in Ruby's direction. Her hand slipped from Gambol Shroud's hilt, instead gripping the black ribbon attached to it, before she hopped from the wall and spun Gambol Shroud, giving the sword an appearance akin to that of a spinning disc. Following a twirl, she tossed the sword-disc at the wall. The spinning stopped as the sword pierced the stone, lodging itself in the concrete a couple feet above Ruby's left. Blake snaked her right hand around Gambol Shroud's ribbon, wrapping it around her palm and backhand. Tightly gripping the ribbon, she swung toward Ruby.
Planting her feet on the wall, she skidded to a halt at Ruby's left, level with Ruby and Eren.
"Ruby, before you ask, Weiss is still up there. I don't know about Yang, and I didn't see her on my way down. She's strong, though, so I doubt a simple blast of steam will do all that much to her—"
"SAMUEL!"
The scream came from higher up the wall, Ruby recognising the voice as belonging to Connie. Blake had landed on top of him earlier and he'd been pretty flustered by her while they'd introduced themselves. His voice had been fairly loud, then, too.
Eren's head whipped round, his gaze darting over his shoulder. Ruby and Blake followed the direction in which he was looking.
All but one of the Cadets seemed to have done the same as Eren, launching the wires from the devices on their belts. A couple pairs of grapplehooks were lodged into the stone at different areas along the wall, thus halting each Cadet's descent.
However, the one Cadet, Samuel, had been rendered incapacitated, apparently having suffered an injury from the blast. Drops of blood spurted from some area on his face – Ruby couldn't pinpoint exactly where, but it didn't really matter, given he was plummeting headfirst toward the district below. With no chance to save himself, he'd absolutely, undoubtedly die (probably splatter, specifically, though a horrid image) if he hit the ground. After all, Eren had told her earlier that falling from the top of the wall would mean certain death, no matter which side of the wall a person dropped down. Plus, even with Aura, that drop looked perilous.
Blake jerked her free hand, and with a sharp swing of her arm, she cast the ribbon at Samuel, the strip of fabric stiff and taut as it dove toward him. When the ribbon almost appeared to pass Samuel, it curled back around and rounded the other side of his waist, wrapping around his midriff some times over. Blake gripped her end of the ribbon with a seemingly iron-clad hold, and Samuel stopped falling, hanging by the ribbon.
"That was a close one," Blake breathed with a sense of relief. She looked at Eren. "I might sound a bit selfish here, but can one of you guys get him someplace safe? I wanna see if Weiss and Yang are alright up there. With the Colossal still around, I wanna give them some battle support, but I can't do that if I'm looking after him."
Turning to Eren as well, Ruby nodded her agreement. Actually, speaking of giving them some battle support...
"Sure. Makes sense, I guess," Eren answered, his eyes darting to the other Cadets.
Ruby's eyes landed on the Ice Dust magazine still loaded in Crescent Rose. She grabbed the magazine and unloaded it with a click. Gingerly flipping the matching Ice Dust magazine pouch open using her pinky finger, she stuffed the magazine back inside it, before closing that pouch. Then, she opened another pouch, containing two Gravity Dust magazines. Loading one magazine into Crescent Rose, she shoved the pouch shut.
She'd brought the Gravity Dust magazine for a reason (read: backup) – she could use it with her Semblance, if things got bad. And even then, she also had one of her Aura Spells (Style of the Self, Personal Art: Red Rose Ribbon) to help her, if she needed it.
"Hey, Sasha! Think you can take Samuel back to HQ?!" Eren called out, prompting Ruby's gaze to flick back to him.
Sasha's voice sounded a little shaky upon answering: "Yeah, no worries!"
The sound of wires zipping, while a pair of grapplehooks tore from the wall, drew Ruby's attention drew up and left, towards Sasha. Taking off in a sprint directly down the wall, Sasha's balance looked surprisingly steady.
From her peripheral, Ruby watched Sasha perform a somersault and fire her grapplehooks again. They lodged in either side of the roof adorning the first building that stood in front of her. A burst of gas from a silver emission-like device on the small of her back allowed her to swing toward Samuel and hook her arms under his knees and behind his shoulders.
Blake's ribbon unravelled, releasing Samuel's waist, before recoiling back toward Blake.
Holding Samuel close to her, perhaps to make up for being unable to hold him using her hands, Sasha shot toward the building, another burst of gas spurting from the emission. The gas stretched into a stream as she propelled herself onto the roof.
She'd admit it: their military had created an impressive, albeit elaborate, method of fighting within a three-dimensional space, especially without Aura, Semblance, or Dust at their disposal. But, despite their gear seeming so refined and advanced, it struck Ruby as surprisingly careless that the gear was allowed to pretty much hang off the body – as if the sheaths and their canisters totally wouldn't inhibit a person's agility or take up too much room in smaller areas, like alleyways. The Cadets also didn't have Aura, or, at least, have developed Auras. Still, Ruby could feel Eren's Soul if she focused, made easier since he happened to be one of the closest to her at the moment. That said, she wouldn't be able to keep a useful awareness of the Cadets by just tracking the new familiarity of their Souls alone. And without developed Auras, they'd easily end up hurt just like Samuel.
Watching out for any wires zipping about would be a pain, but she'd also have to ensure she didn't accidentally hurt one of the Cadets in the crossfire, if she ended up fighting other Titans today.
On Remnant, Aura and Dust allowed people to achieve certain skills and powers that would, more than likely, be almost unimaginable here. These guys didn't possess developed Auras, much less any technology that made up some parts of Remnant; and they likely wouldn't know the ins and outs of their gear, how it can be fixed if it was broken, or how to prevent it from getting broken. And, while it seemed possible their world happened to produce Dust and they just didn't know or hadn't realised it yet, she doubted it would prove useful if they didn't know about or even have Aura yet. And if they didn't yet have Aura, then they almost certainly wouldn't possess Semblances, either.
At this point, I'm gonna have to get something like a diary or journal so I can keep track of everything I'm learning, and the ideas I'm gonna come up with. Actually, I could get a notebook and take notes like Izuku does with the Heroes from his world. I wonder how Izuku's doing, anyway? I said I'd visit him at some point before the Vytal Festival, but I haven't been to see him. I'll have to check with Madoka later if I get a chance.
A thunderous explosion ruptured the wall, far below them.
The wall trembled.
Ruby's head whipped toward the source. From over her shoulder, she saw a large hole at the bottom of the wall, debris and rubble scattered in places nearby. Smoke – or maybe dust from the stone, Ruby couldn't tell – arose from the broken concrete. There had been a gate there, she remembered looking down at it earlier, but it had been reduced to little more than shattered brick and stone, and now only served to create an entrance for the Titans. The Colossal Titan had most likely kicked its giant foot through the actual gate, given its foot would've probably been in the perfect position to destroy it.
Through the debris and smoke and dust, a giant, humanoid, female-looking Titan flew backward into the district. She landed, skidding on her back, between two rows of houses, before her fair, feminine hands rose to rather gently grab the rooftop of each house standing next to her shoulders. Her movements appeared to be... quite controlled. Using the houses, she propped herself up, moving onto her knees. Her long, unkempt royal-blonde hair reached her waist, fringe parted above each of her brows, while a long, thick strand hung down the bridge of her nose. The strand barely reached the tip of her nose. Two more strands of hair hung beside either side of her face, only to reach her shoulders. The rest of her hair looked similar in style to Blake's, or Yang's. And unlike what Ruby had briefly seen of the Colossal, this Titan was covered in a fair shade of rosy skin, parts of which appeared to be burning a faint scarlet, as several areas of her body, along her back, legs, and arms, produced steam. Her feminine figure looked slim, but with some lithe muscle around her arms and legs, along with a rather toned abdomen and sides. All in all, the Titan looked pretty well-built. Ruby couldn't see her eyes, though, nor could she see any of the... other parts – which would honestly be a good thing. Encountering a naked, scary giant with everything out on full display would be pretty scarring, at least to Ruby.
Ruby heard shaky, almost ragged breathing next to her. Turning, she found Eren's eyes briefly set wide, before his face scrunched up in anger, his brows furrowed and lips curled into a prominent scowl, almost as if a switch had been flipped. Ruby and Blake shared a glance. Ruby had seen that familiar expression many times before, when Yang's Semblance activated during a fight, and even when someone or something tested Weiss' patience far too much, or when either or both girls had ever lost their temper. Ruby knew for a fact that Blake hadn't expected to see that same look on someone else besides Yang, and maybe Weiss.
"Oh god no... not again..."
Ruby's gaze wandered to each of the remaining Cadets. They each seemed horrified – Ruby understood full well why, and it was only natural they'd be so scared. For them, this would be the second time they'd been attacked by the Colossal Titan in the span of five years. For Team RWBY, this would be their first encounter. But even so, they were still equipped with better weapons to handle this type of situation, more-so than these Cadets.
Really, her team's chances of survival just seemed to look far better by comparison.
"They're gonna get in... they're gonna get in... they're gonna get in!"
"One's already in," Ruby deadpanned, her voice echoing across the wall.
"I thought these Titans were mostly mindless, but that one's looking pretty mindful. Plus, she doesn't appear to care about us. If she did, she'd probably be clawing at the wall by now, just like the others we saw earlier," Blake pointed out, apparently just loud enough for only Ruby to hear. "I mean, she could've gone after Sasha and Samuel, with those two being so close to her location. But she hasn't paid them any attention at all."
The strange female Titan pushed herself to her feet. Ruby didn't know for certain, but she thought the Titan to be around 14 metres tall. The Titan took off toward the open gate, which appeared to be almost half as tall as her, the hole around 8 metres high. Her hands slammed harshly against the wall, one hand on either side of the hole, before she dropped onto one knee – perhaps to try and block other Titans from getting in, or even another kick from the Colossal.
"What's she doing?" Blake blinked at the sight.
"It looks like she's blocking the gate off from the other Titans," Ruby answered, offering a shrug of her shoulders. "That should buy us some time."
And then, Eren spoke:
"I will... this ends now!" He growled under his breath.
Eren's change in demeanour seemed to have flipped so quickly, it nearly gave Ruby whiplash. That quirky, awkward, and optimistic boy she was talking to just several minutes prior had suddenly become defiant and determined, and seemingly revenge-driven.
Well, he'd shown a similar, more passionate kind of determination earlier. But the clear, hot-blooded anger he practically radiated gave her the vibe that this had to be a personal vendetta of his. He'd seen his home destroyed through his own eyes, a survivor of the horrific attack and onslaught that the Colossal Titan had caused, and now that same Titan had appeared again to accomplish the same goal, five years later.
Of course he'd want revenge.
Who wouldn't?
Now, that being said, seeing how furious, how hostile, Eren was, it became clear he could easily become reckless, and the thought of him getting himself hurt... she didn't even want to imagine it. Ruby didn't want to let him or the others get hurt. No way. She and her team would not just stand by without putting their training and abilities to good use.
Of that, she was sure.
And so, she turned to Blake. "I'm not gonna let Wall Rose end up abandoned like Wall Maria. We can't let the attack get to that point. You're with me on this, right?"
"Do you even need to ask? Of course I am." Blake gave her a soft smile. "I'm sure we'll find a way to save the day. Since Weiss and Yang are still up there, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that they can still use their Dust."
Despite the anxiety rising in her gut, Ruby nodded. Even if we can use Dust, how are we going to fix that hole where the gate used to be? That Titan may be helping us now, but I'm sure she's gotta have her limits too. Hell, even Yang could be running on fumes, after the power she put into the attacks she pulled off to destroy the engines of that Bullhead. Shit, wait—! Ruby's eyes shot open. She tore Crescent Rose from the concrete. "YANG!" she called out in a panic as she twirled her scythe, aiming Crescent Rose's muzzle beneath her. She fired a Gravity round, launching herself up the wall, before activating her Semblance to give herself an added burst of speed. Scaling the wall, she fired shot after shot after shot.
Two wires zipped past her right side. Their grapple-hooks bolted into the wall's top edge. Eren followed, soaring up past her.
"This is it, people! DO OR DIE! Mountain Cannon Squad Four, take out the Colossal Titan!" he screamed while a trail of gas blasted out of the emission fastened to the small of his back, the gas allowing him to fly. "This is our chance! Don't let it slip away!"
Hearing him like this, his voice almost seemed to have some kind of commanding power behind it.
"RUBY!" Blake called, soon following. She dangled from Eren's left leg, gripping Gambol Shroud in one hand, while the ribbon from her other hand wrapped around his leg, just above his knee.
Firing another round in conjunction with her Semblance, Ruby burst past Eren and Blake, over the top of the wall, and somersaulted onto the surface. Landing on the other side of the nearest set of rails, she skidded to a halt, her knees bent. With Crescent Rose's muzzle aimed behind her, one hand held the black staff-handle, while her other gripped the red bolt handle.
Eren soon blasted above the wall. Blake then followed, and she swung forward on her ribbon, before it released his leg. While she landed softly, drifting to a stop next to Ruby, Eren was spinning through the air, his swords drawn and poised outward. His feet briefly skidded as he landed, stopping when his toes aimed at the Colossal.
Weiss bounced from a glyph in the middle of the Colossal's forehead. After a backflip, she landed in a crouch, a few feet in front of Ruby. She soon rose into her usual side-on battle stance, Myrtenaster poised and level with her hip, its tip aimed at the Colossal. The Dust chamber spun, pausing on Lightning Dust.
Yang somersaulted out of the steam clouds, several feet above the Colossal's head. Cocking her gauntlet, she pulled her fist back, her other arm outstretched and her hand flexed open. She dove downward, aiming for the crown of the Colossal's skull.
Ruby almost, almost, let slip a sigh of relief, only to catch Yang baring her teeth in a rather weary scowl.
She knows she's tiring herself out. How long is she going to keep pushing herself? How long will she last?
Weiss' Myrtenaster sparked. Yellow streaks and bolts of lightning surrounded and lit the length of the blade in an electric yellow glow. Electric bolts crackled, flickering along the blade. A pulsing point of electric energy gathered at Myrtenaster's tip.
The Colossal Titan's hand rose above the wall, bursting through the steam. Its fingers were set in a somewhat-slack claw motion, as the hand made its way up toward Yang.
"Rope of Sparks," Weiss muttered, and with an underarm swing, cast a yellow, crackling rope towards—wait, it was heading for Yang?
The electric rope reached Yang first, wrapping around Yang's midriff a few times. Weiss pulled Myrtenaster in an underarm swing again, the rope pulling taut with Yang being yanked toward the four of them, where they still stood on the wall. The electric rope drew back into Myrtenaster.
The Colossal Titan's hand stopped, raised level with its shoulder, as its eyes followed Yang.
Weiss released the spell. Myrtenaster's yellow focal point of energy flickered away. The electric glow lighting the blade's length sputtered, while the lightning bolts died out, crackling and dispersing into thin air.
Yang tumbled through the air, but managed to land on her feet, if a bit slowly. She skidded backward and stopped at Eren's other side, crouched nearly on one knee.
"What the hell was that, Weiss?!" Yang asked, her tone sounding incredulous.
"That was me saving you! You were either going to get crushed by its hand or you were going to break yours on its head!" Weiss shot a sharp glare over her shoulder, directed at Yang; as if to dare Yang to challenge her. "You're getting tired and your moves are getting sluggish and slow. I can feel it, Blake can sense it, and Ruby can see it just by looking at you. You're using your Semblance to keep yourself going as if it's a crutch, and I'm not going to let you run yourself into the ground like that."
"Just stand back and take a breather, Yang. Give your Aura a chance to recharge itself," Blake suggested, although her cool, matter-of-fact tone dictated it to be more of an order. She unsheathed Gambol Shroud's katana. "Let us take care of you for once."
"If you guys wanna stay here and chat, fine, but that bastard's not gonna wait for you," Eren piped up, voice full of intensity and clear exasperation. His grip tightened on his swords, and with a flick of the blades by his sides, he took off past Weiss and charged forward, toward the Colossal Titan.
Well, he is right. Ruby spared a glance at her teammates before deciding to follow Eren, setting off across the wall after him.
The Colossal Titan pulled back its right arm so far its shoulder and head also drew backward, into the steam clouds. Its arm then swung back toward them.
Eren sprang into the air first, Ruby leaping high up after him. Weiss sprang from a glyph under her feet, while Blake wrapped her arms around Yang and jumped into a somersault over the Colossal's hand.
Ruby fired a Gravity round and burst into a red blur, launching toward the Colossal's other shoulder. She skidded upon landing on the shoulder, her signature red rose petals fluttering and twirling around her figure. She looked back, finding the Colossal's hand tearing through the top surface of the wall, destroying the cannons on the way, as well as the rails.
Explosions blasted across the wall as the Colossal's hand crashed into the cannons. The broken pieces of each cannon blew into the air, while the explosions rocked its hand and covered the wall in smoke and debris.
A wire curled around the Colossal's back, finding purchase in the lighter pink piece of flesh in the middle of its shoulder blades. Eren swerved under its right arm, and flung himself high around its upper back, swinging towards the Colossal's left. He hovered not too far from where Ruby stood on the Colossal's left shoulder. He glared in the direction of the cannons, baring his teeth. She could almost see the gears spinning in his head.
"This was no accident," Weiss called out as she landed beside Ruby. When Ruby turned to face her, Weiss raised her Myrtenaster, forefinger flicking toward the wall. "Even when its attack didn't land on us, it only took out the cannons instead. It looked way too coordinated, like it knows the military uses the cannons to take out the Titans. This was planned."
"And that means it has intelligence," Ruby realised, her eyes widening.
Suddenly, the shoulder moved. Ruby's legs wobbled and Weiss stumbled a little, while the arm continued to rise, ripping through the steam clouds. Its hand stretched out towards Eren.
Ruby spun and swung at the Colossal's shoulder. After tearing the blade from the slight gash she'd inflicted, she swung again, the blade slicing deeper into the flesh, and deepening the wound. She swung again, and again, and again. She hacked and carved at it as much as she could, tried to push Crescent Rose's blade further into the wound with each slice, hoping she'd eventually carve deep enough for the wound to hinder the arm's movement.
She paused her strikes. "Weiss, let's try to prevent it from moving its arms. Use your Dust, use your spells, use whatever. Just try to stop it from using its hands," she ordered.
Weiss nodded and spun on her heel, taking off down the left arm. Myternaster's Dust chamber locked on Ice Dust. She sprang off the bicep, performing a somersault, before she stabbed her blade through the fold of the elbow. Immediately, frost began to sprout from the blade and cover the flesh of the fold, only for a layer of ice to spread out around the elbow, down to the outer fold below.
The Colossal's left hand tore through the steam clouds, opening in front of Eren, seemingly undeterred by Ruby's and Weiss' attacks. Eren paused on the gas blowing from the emission and dropped down through the air. The Colossal's hand passed steadily over Eren's head.
Then, its right hand swung toward its left, and its palm slammed into the front of the left shoulder.
The impact blew Ruby off its shoulder, just as her blade again pierced the wound she'd made. She inadvertently lost her grip on Crescent Rose, while her right ankle twisted ever so slightly, and she tumbled off the back of the shoulder with a sharp gasp and a shriek, her arms flailing to catch something – anything! But, she caught nothing, and with her hand outstretched, she dropped into the steam clouds surrounding the Colossal.
She gritted her teeth. What a rookie move! Taking your eye off the enemy like that! Shit! Alright, calm down, what do I have to help me—wait, my cape!
Her hands fumbled for her cape's bottom edges. Upon finding them, she clutched them in an iron-clad grip, her nails pressing the fabric into her palms. As she flipped herself over, her panic subsided, if only slightly. Her descent slowed. The flowing steam blew and billowed out her cape, forming a makeshift parachute.
She had never been more thankful for her own fashion sense. Who'd have thought?
A sudden blur of brown, teal, and silver swung into view. A familiar figure curled around her side, closing in as he wrapped an arm around her waist, his sword-holding hand resting against her abdomen. He pulled her into his side.
"Eren!" She was unable to keep the smile from her face as she released her grip on her cape.
Eren's eyes flicked to the side, meeting hers with confidence.
It was a look that reminded Ruby of the expression Ichigo had been wearing back when he'd rescued Rukia from being executed, essentially flipping a massive middle finger at Soul Society, its laws, and every Soul Reaper who'd gotten in his way to enforce those laws.
That thought soon left her, as he spun them around and his emission hissed. A burst of gas blew out, into a stream, and they swiftly burst from the steam.
"Go for the neck!"
Ruby blinked at him, curious and confused. The neck? Why?
Following the zip of one of his wires, the attached grapple-hook curled around and pierced the muscle of the Colossal's upper arm, just above the frost. She and Eren swerved under the Colossal's forearm, drifting around it as Eren's wire pulled taut, dragging them above the elbow. He released her waist as he dropped down on the Colossal's upper arm.
Her feet landed steady on the muscle. Then, while Eren set off in a sprint along the upper arm, Ruby crouched and planted her hand on the stiff flesh, charging up her Semblance.
She launched forward, a sudden burst of speed blasting her across the muscle. She burst past Eren while he took a leap of faith from the arm and glided around the Colossal's lower back, another wire hauling him upward. After a mid-air spin, Ruby accelerated further, her form becoming a crimson blur while she left red rose petals in her wake.
Ruby caught Crescent Rose by its handle. Tearing her scythe from the gash in the Colossal's shoulder, she left steam to sputter out of the wound. She burst from the crimson blur, as Crescent Rose's scythe blade and its supporting spine folded back, shifting into its war-scythe form. With her arm outstretched to maximise Crescent Rose's attack range, Ruby swiftly completed her spin, swinging at the Colossal's neck. Her scarlet Aura glistened across the length of Crescent Rose. The blade carved, broad and deep, into the side of the Colossal's neck. A crimson streak from her Aura followed the scythe blade through the muscle, allowing it to slice deeper into the neck.
She was incredibly impressed with herself. She'd dealt more damage with this one attack alone than she'd managed to do with her regular strikes just a minute prior.
Following another spin, she swung and hooked her war-scythe into the Colossal's lower jaw.
Blood burst out of the wound in the neck, quickly followed by steam. It splashed onto Ruby. She briefly closed her eyes, feeling a wave of blood splat across her eyes and splash across her nose, with some even mingling with her hair's crimson streaks. The rest of the blood, the majority of it, splashed onto a good part of her clothes and cape and even a few parts of Crescent Rose's staff; although, the blood soon began evaporating, steam rising from the rapidly-fading Titan blood.
A faint noise, almost like a cry or a scream of pain, sounding like it came from a man, slipped from the Colossal's mouth as its teeth fell open, its jaw ever so slightly ajar.
Ruby blinked, a brow raised in question. So the Colossal Titan can actually feel pain. But why now? My attacks on its shoulder didn't seem to faze it. Was it because I went for its neck, like Eren said? Is its neck some kind of weak point?
Ruby yanked Crescent Rose from the Colossal's jaw, landing on the steaming, closing gash between the shoulder and the base of the neck. The Colossal's open hand flew toward her, and Ruby jumped into a backflip. She bounced off the thumb with a second backflip, and skidded down the upper arm, stopping just before the frost. The Colossal's hand clapped against the side of its neck, palm covering up the gash.
"Nice one!" Eren called out, from somewhere above her. As she met his gaze, she found him standing atop the Colossal's skull. Bearing a proud grin, he aimed one of his swords down toward the back of the Colossal. "You might've cut him in the wrong area, but you still managed to hurt him bad enough to scream! Either way, looks like your attack must've caught him off-guard! Whatever happened, it's made him go on the defensive! We need to attack now before his injuries regenerate!"
Ruby was hit with a realisation then. If she really had caught the Colossal Titan off-guard, it would've likely been due to the Colossal being preoccupied with Eren and his movements. Ruby and her teammates barely knew what they were doing – or where they were supposed to be hitting. Since the Colossal seemed to have some level of intelligence, he probably wouldn't have been all that worried about Team RWBY killing him, since they didn't know if he even had a weak-spot, let alone where that weak-spot would be. On the other hand, since Eren happened to be a Cadet and had been learning how to kill the Titans, he would clearly know better than them where the Colossal Titan's weak-spot would be.
Blake sprang high into air, somersaulting before landing on the skull, beside him. "Where are we supposed to be attacking, then?"
Ruby gave Blake a smile. "We don't have time for him to explain, but the military teaches the Cadets how to kill Titans, so he should know where to attack this thing! The most we need to do is follow him to the Titan's weak point! It'll be on the neck somewhere!" Ruby turned to glance at Weiss, who stood on the Colossal's forearm. "Weiss, you get back to the wall! Blake and I will follow Eren and take out this thing! I'm leaving you to take care of Yang and the others!"
Weiss shot an incredulous, sidelong look back at Ruby. As Ruby did a double-take at her, Weiss sighed, loudly, and rolled her eyes. "Fine," she called out, giving a half-assed shrug of her shoulders. She spun on her heel and took off down the forearm, back toward the wall. "Yang, is anyone else on the wall with you?"
Yang, who stood atop the wreckage of the top of the wall, was propping herself up in a weary half-crouch, her hands gripping her bent knees. She lifted her head only to meet Weiss' gaze, before her head dropped again. "Connie and Thomas. I sent them to check if any cannons were unscathed, but it doesn't look like they're having any luck so far."
As Weiss landed beside Yang, Ruby turned away, looking back up at Eren. "We're with you! Lead the way!"
With a curt nod, Eren took off, diving off the back of the skull. Blake quickly followed him, also taking a leap off the skull.
Ruby launched from the Colossal's arm with another burst of her Semblance. She curled around the Colossal's left shoulder-blade. Firing behind her, she coursed over to the back of the neck, since that seemed to be where Eren was heading, when she caught him spinning and hauling himself, on a wire, toward the Colossal's nape.
Blake's katana folded into the chain-scythe. Casting it at the back of the Colossal's head, the blade soon made purchase in the skull. She twirled, and swinging toward the back of the Colossal's neck, the chain-scythe's ribbon pulled taut.
Eren, Ruby, and Blake all swung. The tips of Eren's blades, the tip of Ruby's war-scythe blade, and the sharp, blade-like edge of Blake's sheath, all pierced the flesh, if only barely.
A blast of scalding hot steam exploded from the Colossal's nape.
The large, thick cloud barrelling out of the skin rapidly swallowed them up, flowing out all around the trio.
Ruby's eyes briefly closed before fluttering open, narrowed to slits. The intensity of the steam almost made her eyes water. Scarlet waves of her Aura pulsed across her body, starting from her front and coursing equally around her back, before fading halfway. Her Aura was trying to protect her from the burn of the steam. Though, the steam really seemed to be doing far more damage than she'd been prepared for.
She grabbed at Eren's jacket blindly, her grip tightening on Crescent Rose. She pushed her blade further into what she hoped had to be the Colossal's weak-spot. She didn't wanna get blown away.
She strained to hear anything other than the steam gushing past her ears and the slight clatter and tinker of Eren's gear. Faint shouts originated a fair distance away, from Weiss and Yang, likely from the wall.
Ruby barely managed to catch what they were saying:
"Damnit! Seriously, what's with this big ugly bastard and releasing steam from his body?! I can't see shit!" Yang was yelling. Apparently the steam had swallowed her and Weiss up too, given their shouting. "He's lucky my Aura's heat-resistant!"
"I'd be more thankful for your heat-resistance if you used it to stop my Aura from being melted away at here!" Weiss screeched in response, sounding perhaps a bit worried. Since Weiss had an Ice-Type Aura, any attacks involving heat or fire would do more damage to her Aura than any other element, what with fire and ice being opposite elements. Vice-versa for Yang and cold and ice attacks.
Similar could be said for Nora and Lightning, should their Electric-Type Auras be met with aqua-based attacks; and vice-versa, if Ruciana's and Tidus' Aqua-Type Auras were met with lightning and electric attacks.
Eren suddenly unleashed some sort of battle cry as she heard his wires tighten and pull him forward. As she released her hold on his jacket, he raised his swords with an animalistic ferocity, and made a clean, broad swing, slicing through the steam cloud.
The cloud dispersed, and swiftly dissipated entirely, apparently blown away by the swing.
The Colossal Titan had vanished. Without a trace.
Ruby struggled to register the fact that something so massive could escape from so many pairs of eyes, and had been successful in doing so.
She started to fall from the air, Crescent Rose's blade suddenly no longer supported by the back of the Colossal's neck. The same could be said for Eren and Blake, as they both began to drop, too.
Seeming to realise that, Eren launched his grapple-hooks at the wall. They lodged in the concrete.
Ruby and Blake apparently had the same idea then, as they both clutched each of his arms – Ruby wrapping her free right hand around his left elbow as Blake slipped her left arm around his right one. She pulled her chain-scythe back towards her, while making sure to keep her sheath away from him.
Firing a burst of gas, he shot towards the wall, apparently unbothered by Ruby and Blake both holding onto him.
As soon as Eren settled along the wall, Ruby stabbed her war-scythe into the stone, and released her grip on Eren, planting her feet on the wall. Meanwhile, Blake's chain-scythe unfolded into its katana form again, and she stabbed it into the wall, at Eren's other side, making sure not to touch him with her sheath while she settled her own two feet on the wall.
"Eren, where'd he go?! Did he get away or did you take him out?!" Thomas asked, appearing above them, atop the wall's outer edge. Ruby remembered him being the Cadet that Yang had ended up landing on earlier, and who she'd also overheard introducing himself to Yang.
Weiss and Yang approached Thomas then, joining him at the wall's outer edge. Weiss placed her hands on her hips, while Yang decided to lean forward with her hands on her knees, both of them peering down at Ruby, Blake, and Eren.
"He's gone! Exactly like five years ago!" Eren called back in response. Ruby and Blake both turned to him as his grip tightened around the handles of his swords. "He's here one moment, then gone the next! Just like that!"
"How does something that big just appear and then vanish like that without a trace? He couldn't have just shown up from nothing – at least, not without some kind of source that caused him to appear, much less gave him life. If he has the intelligence that we think he has, then that intelligence should have an origin," Weiss pointed out, leaning over the wall's edge, "even if it's not immediately obvious."
"So, you think he was being controlled?" Blake asked, as if for confirmation.
Weiss nodded. "I'm not sure whether from inside or out, but I am sure that someone was controlling him."
"Wait... are you saying someone summoned him?"
Weiss shrugged. "Well, it wouldn't be the first time someone's summoned a monster that size. And it would explain how he apparently vanished into thin air."
Yang's gaze darted to Ruby, Blake, and Eren. "Hey, guys! We can talk about what we know later! For now, you three should get back up here! Since the gate's broken, that means we're kinda on the clock!"
Ruby blinked and her gaze flicked upward. "Right! Come on, you two!" She spared a glance at Eren and Blake, before tearing Crescent Rose from the wall. The blade's position flipped down again, shifting to the regular scythe blade. Twirling the scythe, she aimed the muzzle below her, aimed at the ground. She raised her head and fired, launching up the wall and bursting into a blur with her Semblance. It took her only seconds to reach the top, rolling forward when her feet touched the concrete.
As she stood, she caught, in her peripheral, Blake somersaulting onto the surface and landing beside her. Then, pivoting in place, Ruby watched Eren's grapple-hooks catch onto the edge of the surface. Eren soon blasted up the wall, his gas following him as it steadily streamed out from his emission. He flew a bit above the surface, before he, too, somersaulted and landed, his feet skidding until he came to a stop beside Ruby.
Yang rushed toward both Ruby and Blake, wrapping an arm around each girl, and trapping them in a strong, warm, bear hug that felt a bit suffocating. "Are you guys alright? That steam didn't burn either of you too badly, right?" she asked, hasty with concern. Pulling back a bit, she glanced between them.
"I think we're fine..." Blake's voice had a humoured lilt to it, despite it sounding a bit strained.
Yang sighed, relieved, before releasing her hold on them.
Weiss stepped beside her, Myrtenaster back in its place beside her left hip. She was holding a mostly-white handkerchief which appeared to be made of silk, with silver snowflake patterns decorating the edges and the Schnee family emblem embroidered in the centre with icy-blue stitching.
"When we get a chance, we're probably gonna have to change out of our current clothes," Weiss suggested as she wiped her face with the handkerchief.
While Ruby was finally realising Weiss was sweating, likely from the heat of the steam, Weiss sighed and shook her head, only to fold the handkerchief and slip it into her silver satchel on the back of her hips. Then, Weiss lowered her head and closed her eyes, slowly inhaling, then exhaling. The muscles in her shoulders appeared to loosen as she visibly relaxed – releasing such a horrendous amount of tension that Ruby immediately found herself guilty for not noticing Weiss' state sooner.
"Are you alright?" Ruby cocked her head to one side. "You should get some rest soon. At the very least, take a power nap. You've been through the ringer enough for today, and the battle's only just getting started now that the other Titans have a way to get in."
"I can still fight," Weiss retorted, sounding defensive. Folding her arms, a defiant look crossed her face.
"I'm not gonna let you run yourself into the ground like that," Yang drawled, repeating Weiss' earlier words with a sly smile. Weiss levelled a grimace at Yang, before averting her eyes, aiming a glare at the ground. Meanwhile, Yang grinned, leaning into Weiss' personal space. "Come on – I'm sure that they'll ask me to do the same thing, so I'll be joining you anyway. I mean, even I'm feeling a little drained, to be honest. I'm sure we'd be a lot better off in the battle ahead if we let our Auras get back up to scratch again."
Weiss sighed, rolling her eyes. "Fine," she groaned, before turning away without another word. Upon making her way to where Connie stood, Weiss peered down over the wall's outer edge.
"I'll check what levels our Auras are at on my Scroll later," Blake offered. "We can base our plan of action around our Aura levels, so we can decide who would be in a better position to fight on the frontlines."
"Good idea. And if our Auras fall to low levels, we'll return to wherever the Cadets are gonna be grouping up. I'm guessing they have some sort of HQ down in Trost." Ruby nodded at Blake, whose eyes had started trailing toward Eren. Ruby followed her gaze.
Eren approached Thomas, his head hanging low. "I'm sorry, I—"
"Don't apologise," Thomas cut him off. "Look at us; we were too scared to move."
"HEY!" Connie shouted. Ruby blinked and looked at Connie over her shoulder. His eyes were stuck on Thomas and Eren. "Wallow on your own time! In case you hadn't noticed, there's a breach. We have to act now! If they start pouring in, that's it!"
"I agree," Blake said, as she slipped her katana back into its sheath. Planting Gambol Shroud on her back again, she crossed her arms and pulled a half-turn, looking at Eren and Thomas from the side. "We shouldn't relax just because they're not getting in just yet. For all we know, the Colossal Titan itself could've been blocking the other Titans from entering Trost, given he was standing so close to the wall and in the perfect position to destroy the gate. Us fighting it should've hopefully delayed the rest of the Titans. Plus, we also have the girl Titan down there, who's apparently trying to stop them from getting in. That said, even she'll have her limits. While I do want to believe in her, she's still currently an unknown, so we should at least expect that she can only buy us so much time."
Thomas tilted his head at Blake. "How do you think she got in if the others didn't, though?"
"She probably got in the way of the Colossal's foot when he kicked the gate in. If she's blocking the gate now, then she probably attempted to stop the Colossal when he first broke the gate, and got caught in the middle," Ruby suggested instead of Blake, and aimed her forefinger at the sky. "I'm surprised she's still standing though. She didn't look as injured as she probably should've, after an impact like that, so she must be pretty tough."
"And pretty smart." Blake glanced at Ruby.
"LOOK ALIVE!"
The disembodied shout came from an unfamiliar, more rough, voice. The continuous blasting of gas followed after his shout, reaching closer, up the wall's inner edge.
When Ruby turned toward the source of the voice, an older-looking man, clearly not a Cadet, landed close to the inner edge. His wires zipped back into the devices on his belt before his feet even landed on the stone.
The boys swiftly sheathed their swords, though kept their blades attached to the grips. A sword handle hung out of each metal sheath.
Connie rushed past the girls and stopped beside Eren, who stood to Thomas' right. All three of them pivoted to face the man, clenching their fists and holding them to their chests, the pinky-finger-side of their fists pressed over their hearts.
Ruby's face contorted in confusion. Curious, she wandered behind Eren to better observe the boys. She found all three holding their left arms behind their backs, their left hands also balled into fists.
Could it be some kind of salute? She'd never seen this kind of military salute before, but she probably should've expected as much. Still, she couldn't help but notice the way Eren held himself. His posture looked more tense than Connie's or Thomas', as did his left arm, which he held at a slight, upward angle, drawn in a bit tighter against his back.
"Operation Colossal Titan Response is in effect, I expect you to take part!" the older soldier shouted, prompting Ruby to flop up onto her tiptoes. She moved toward Connie, looking at the older soldier from over Eren and Connie's shoulders. He was equipped with the same gear as the Cadets, and his uniform, with the exception of the shirt under his brown jacket, looked pretty much the same as theirs, as she should've expected. However, the badge on his chest pockets stood out, given instead of the grey shield adorned with two crossed swords, the badge's crest bore two red roses, though set atop the same shield. Those rose-adorned badges caught Ruby's attention the most, but her eyes soon flicked back up to the soldier's face.
He was practically staring her down. She almost jumped out of her skin.
Eren glanced at her over his shoulder. As Ruby met his gaze, both of them seemed to realise the older soldier had to be trying to make sense of Ruby's appearance, or even just her presence. His stare then trailed toward Eren. Eren's head whipped round to face the soldier again.
"Who is she?!" the older soldier demanded.
Another male soldier landed atop the wall, standing almost opposite Thomas, a bit to Thomas' left. The second soldier wore the same badges portraying two roses.
"Sir!" all three Cadets answered.
"My name is Ruby Rose!" Ruby offered a sheepish smile, before raising her empty hand and waving at him over Connie's shoulder. In her peripheral, she caught Weiss facepalming, while Yang and Blake both held embarrassed, deadpan expressions.
"Ruby and her teammates appeared on the wall earlier, sir!" Eren answered, his shoulders growing more tense.
"And as for how we ended up here," Yang offered a wry smile, "let's just say it's a long story." And after her Ember Celica retracted back into bracelets, she folded her arms.
Weiss shook her head and dropped her hand, head lifting as she stepped forward, almost in front of Connie. She fully faced the older soldier, her posture straight and her shoulders square, holding her hands together in front of her skirt. "Sir. Given the current situation, I doubt our identities should matter. There's a breach, and we might not have much time before Trost could soon be overrun. The Cadets are likely going to be distressed, and the other soldiers are probably going to need as much help as they can get. So, as long as we can fight, the better all our chances look, am I correct?"
I don't know which God sent us Weiss, but thank you. Without her, I don't know how we'd handle any military people above rookie status, so thank you. Ruby let Crescent Rose's barrel rest on her right shoulder. Sunlight glinted along the blade while it hung behind her head, nearly two feet taller than Ruby herself. "We're ready to help however we can!"
"What she said. We can handle ourselves, since we're trained to fight monsters anyway. And since a lot of your soldiers don't seem to have much experience, we don't mind helping them through the battle ahead." Blake momentarily closed her eyes, hugging her midriff.
The older soldier's eyes briefly widened at Crescent Rose, but he soon composed himself. He glanced, somewhat severely, between the four girls. "Alright. If you guys want to help, then fine, but you're responsible for what you decide to do."
There was little time to waste in this kind of situation. Questioning where the team came from, their names, maybe even how they came to be in possession of their weapons, wouldn't be what the soldiers needed – not right now. Right now, they just needed help.
And Team RWBY would give them that help.
The older soldier glanced between everyone in the group. "Report to HQ! If you got close to the damn thing, we need details!"
Ah! Well, that was one question answered: they did have a Headquarters in Trost.
"Sir!" Eren and Weiss answered. Weiss' posture straightened.
"In that case, we've got a lot of details to offer!" Ruby raised her free hand.
Eren glanced at Ruby over his shoulder, only to nod, confidently, at the older soldier. "That we do, sir!"
"Yeah. While we didn't manage to kill it, we did end up learning a lot more about the Colossal Titan. Just the fact that we forced it to either retreat or go into hiding says a lot," Blake added, rather confidently at that. With a shrug of her shoulders, Blake's face and now-open eyes looked a bit brighter than before. Beside her, Yang nodded her head.
"Good! Then hop to! We're on the clock!" he ordered, and all of Team RWBY gave a curt nod of their heads. Seeming satisfied with their cooperation, he and the other soldier then dashed past Thomas.
"Sir! We pray the Advance Team will be victorious!" Connie called as the two older soldiers hopped from the wall's outer edge.
Their gas propelled them forth, letting them fly, away from the impromptu gathering.
Soon enough, the three Cadets visibly relaxed. A (rather loud) sigh of relief slipped from Eren's lips, before he pivoted to face Ruby, letting his salute fall.
Ruby looked up at him, meeting his eyes. "So, what do we do about the Titan down there? If she's helping us, then she's probably a friendly one."
Eren shrugged and scratched the back of his head. He averted his eyes, looking conflicted, if not a fair bit unsure. "I don't know what to think about her. She's helping us now, but like Blake said, she's still an unknown. For now, I'm willing to wait to see what she does," he told her, as he momentarily closed his eyes, folding his arms. "Do you guys have friendly Grimm, though?"
"No...?" Ruby answered, now also fairly unsure. She'd never seen or heard of any Grimm that could be classed as 'friendly', though that hadn't stopped one particular mad scientist from at least trying to use and modify the Grimm to fight against natural Grimm. "They come into existence already with the sole purpose of destroying mankind. That's their inborn purpose, and as far as I know, there haven't been any natural exceptions. The fact that their intelligence grows over time doesn't change their purpose, no matter how much any mad scientist thinks they can modify them. In fact, the Grimm only use their intelligence to go about causing that destruction in smarter and more strategic ways. Like one big Grimm teaming up with other big Grimm."
"There was a mad scientist that tried to modify Grimm?"
Ruby nodded. "Not too long ago, actually. We found out that the guy was actually half-responsible for the Mountain Glenn disaster."
At Eren's interested, but confused, look, Weiss interjected: "Mountain Glenn was an attempt at a south-eastern expansion by the Kingdom of Vale. It'd still been in the process of developing as a city when it was overrun by Grimm and destroyed. The reason why is because of that mad scientist, Doctor Merlot, who used to operate in Mountain Glenn. He and his company researched and performed experiments on Grimm, which all took place within the city itself. And, when they ran short on Grimm specimens, Merlot decided to start gathering the Grimm he needed to the city, which was what led to its destruction."
"For a scientist, he doesn't sound very smart." Eren blinked at Weiss. "You'd think a guy that spends his time trying to understand the Grimm would know better than to try and attract them. I mean, he had to have known they'd destroy something—"
"Uh, hey. You guys coming along?" Thomas called out to them from the wall's inner edge. His hands gripped his sword handles, now empty, his blades now back in his sheath boxes. "If we return quickly, we can introduce them to the other Cadets. Like Armin and Mikasa, and Jean."
Eren groaned, his lips pulling in either a wry smile or a grimace at the mention of "Jean".
Wait, he has a friend named Jean? That's weird, considering it sounds a lot like 'Jaune'. Ruby pushed herself up onto her tiptoes. "Is this 'Jean' some kind of leader or strategist type?"
Eren blinked at her, before glancing at the sky, in thought. Then, he met Ruby's eyes again and shook his head. "Not exactly a strategist, but a few of the others seem to think he's got some real leadership material about him. Especially Marco." Eren tilted his head at her, his eyebrows slightly furrowed. "Why d'you ask?"
Ruby settled flat on her feet again. "Well, it's just that we have a friend called Jaune, and he's also the leader of his own team, like me. Talking about this 'Jean' friend of yours kinda reminded me of him a little, that's all."
"I don't know if I'd call Jean and I 'friends'," Eren almost rushed to say. "We don't really like each other, and he's always trying to pick a fight with me."
"Ah," Ruby answered, feeling awkward, as she offered an equally awkward, wry smile. Well, time to change the subject. Wait, come to think of it, we still don't exactly know how to kill Titans, or if they do actually have a weak-spot. "Anyway," she started again, "when we were fighting the Colossal, you went for the back of his neck. Since you didn't bother going for any other body parts, and you only went out of your way to attack the space between the back of the head and the nape of the neck, then I'm guessing that'd probably be a Titan's weak-spot?"
"Oh! You catch on quickly," Eren remarked with an approving smile. "A Titan's weak-spot is at the back of its neck. To kill a Titan, you'll need to cut the space between the back of the head and the nape of the neck. Unless you do that, the Titan will just heal or regenerate. The weak-spot is one metre high and ten centimetres across, and when you attack it, the cut needs to be deep." He patted the sheath boxes strapped to the outsides of his thighs. "That's why we carry these blades as part of our gear. With these blades, we can kill them, since they were made strong enough to cut the flesh of any Titan. Well—maybe not the Colossal, or the Armoured, but they should do the job for any run-of-the-mill Titan, if you're brave enough to attack first."
"Is that the only method?" Weiss questioned.
"Well, yeah, as far as we know," Eren answered, his shoulders seeming to hunch as he looked at Weiss. "But still, at least we have a way to kill them. And since we know they can be killed, that means they're not invincible, and that gives us hope that we can take them down. And besides, the weak spot isn't too small of a target to hit. All you have to do is cut across the back of the neck, and cut it deep. A shallow cut will just heal."
"My Ember Celica won't be that effective in killing the Titans, then," Yang muttered, as she folded her arms and eyed the ground, as if contemplating something. Then she blinked, her gaze landing on the swords still hanging from her belts. She smiled, with obvious pride, before grabbing the handles of both swords, and pulling them from between her belts. She flipped both swords in her hands and caught them upright. The tips aimed at the sky as sunlight glinted along the blades. "Actually, looks like I'm more prepared than I thought."
"Nice to see at least one of us thinks ahead," Weiss remarked under her breath, planting her hands on her hips.
"By the way," Eren piped up again, glancing between Weiss and her Myrtenaster, "will you be alright with just that sword?"
"Of course! My Myrtenaster should work just fine." Weiss' hand wrapped around Myrtenaster's grip, almost reassuringly. "And besides, I still have other skills I can use to assist."
"Guys!" Connie just-about groaned, standing at the wall's inner edge. "We oughta get going already! The others will be wondering where we are. Let's leave the Titans to the Advance Team and that female Titan down there."
"Right!" Ruby and Eren answered simultaneously, their shoulders tensing. After sparing an (awkward) glance at one another, they both soon took off, after Connie and Thomas, over the wall's inner edge. As they flew down into Trost, Weiss, Blake, and Yang followed close behind.
HQ turned out to be a lot more eventful than she'd anticipated. Even with Eren's guidance, they'd barely been able to make it through the countless soldiers – most of them Cadets – running through the courtyard, a good number of them scared out of their minds. But eventually they managed to make it to the room in which a good few soldiers were preparing and coming up with a plan of action.
Or, at least, Ruby, Eren, and Blake did. Yang and Weiss had gone to look for the supply room, in hopes of a chance and a place to change their clothes, as well as take that power nap Ruby had suggested earlier. Connie and Thomas had also split from the group, early-on after their arrival at HQ, in order to prepare themselves for the battle ahead.
"So, uh, what do we do?" Blake muttered, leaning toward Eren. Her golden eyes flicked from a woman wearing glasses and bearing a head of short, shaggy, platinum-blonde hair, all the way to a tall, lanky-looking man with his even shorter, dull blond, almost brass-coloured hair parted in curtains down the middle. "Which one do we talk to?"
An idea hit Ruby then.
She stepped forward.
Ichigo... I'm gonna have to channel your attitude for a sec.
Ruby's form tensed. Despite her rising nervousness, she threw her arm high above her head and waved, trying to keep her voice stable:
"HEY! Outsider girls here!" she called out, trying to act bold. "Who're we supposed to talk to about the Colossal Titan? We fought him and want to give the details! So who's in charge of info gathering here?"
The two soldiers Blake had just been looking at were the first to notice. Then, a more tan, well-built man, with a light, thin, but otherwise fairly stable, beard lining his jawline (no moustache in sight), joined them in staring, wide-eyed, at Ruby.
"Or, we can do like one Ichigo Kurosaki and just act a little rowdy to get their attention," Blake remarked, folding her arms.
Eren performed his salute again, face contorted into a look of apology. His own form grew tense. "My apologies, Captains. These are two of the girls that appeared on the wall earlier. They're a bit eager to share their information with us while we have the time."
"Wait, Captains?" Blake's head whipped toward Eren, her eyes wide.
The silver-haired woman sighed as she slipped a gas canister into the space atop a metal sheath box. Standing up from her seat on a windowsill close to the trio's left, her deadpan gaze met Ruby, then Blake. "Just you two? We'd heard there were four outsiders. Shouldn't there be two others with you?"
"Weiss and Yang went to change and rest," Ruby explained, turning toward the woman. "They just need to recharge their energy for a bit. It's okay though, since they found out the same things we did, so they don't exactly need to be with us right now."
Blake nodded, her composure regained. She looked at the silver-haired woman. "Anyway, can we know your name? For future reference?"
"Rico Brzenska. I'm one of the Captains of the Garrison Regiment," she introduced herself. "And you two are?"
"Ruby Rose!" Ruby shifted onto her tiptoes, then back onto her heels.
"Blake Belladonna. And our teammates are Weiss Schnee and Yang Xiao Long. We're all Huntresses-in-training."
"Alright..." Rico sounded unsure of what to make of that. "So, what did you learn from the Colossal?" She folded her arms.
"He has intelligence," the trio all said at once, the eagerness clear in Ruby and Eren's voices.
"When we took the fight to him, he used one of his failed attacks as an opportunity to take out the cannons," Blake started to divulge, before throwing a glance Eren's way. "He also followed Eren more than the rest of us."
"Yeah! I realised it during the battle, but it looked like the Colossal wasn't really focused on us as much as he was focused on Eren. I thought it was because we didn't know about his weak-spot, and Eren did, and the Colossal somehow knew that Eren knew about his weakness." Ruby raised her index finger. "But if that really is the case, then that means the Colossal would know that you guys know how to kill Titans, specifically by slicing the weak-spot on the back of the neck. Oh—! But, I guess that would mean that the Colossal, or whoever might be controlling him, also has some awareness of the military, and how you guys are trained."
At Rico's raised brow upon Ruby mentioning the possibility of someone controlling the Colossal, Blake stepped in: "For clarity, we're considering that someone may be controlling the Colossal due to how he disappeared into thin air when we—" she gestured between herself, Eren, and Ruby—"went for the kill. Since we weren't sure how the Colossal could've just vanished, and without a trace, at that, we considered whether he could've actually been summoned by someone. But, at this point, it is just a theory."
"Well, a theory based on our own personal experiences," Ruby quickly added. "I mean, we've seen people summon things a few times, from large frogs to a giant in a samurai suit. You guys probably won't believe it, but someone being able to summon something like the Colossal wouldn't be all that weird... to us, at least. We even have a few friends that can summon some pretty strong beings, or even arsenals of weapons." Beside Ruby, Blake nodded along, as if to confirm everything Ruby was saying.
Eren glanced, wide-eyed, between Ruby and Blake.
"I... see," Rico said blankly, her eyes equally as wide. Like she didn't know how to react or respond to such an outlandish theory, let alone one posed and explained by such outlandish girls, if Ruby saw it from her perspective. It was only expected, since their explanation probably would've sounded a little crazy. It also probably didn't help that they'd been talking so fast. Rico soon cleared her throat, though, before managing to scrape up a response: "Well, uh... thank you... for the information. I'll make a report on your findings as soon as I can, and your theories will be duly noted. Cadet," she looked toward Eren, whose posture straightened under her stare, "I assume you'll be helping them find ways to assist us in this situation. So, if you haven't already, you'd do well to inform all four of the girls about our plan of action for Operation Colossal Titan Response. And, while you're at it, make sure they have some... calmer attire."
"Yes, Captain! I'll get right on it!" Eren performed the salute again, before stiffly dropping his arms by his sides. He looked to Ruby and Blake: "Let's go!"
Both girls nodded and spun on their heels, making to follow Eren, before Ruby suddenly recalled the female Titan from before. She paused, then pivoted, facing Rico again. "Oh! I almost forgot! Another Titan appeared, too!"
"Another Titan?" Rico blinked, suddenly alarmed. "Not the Armoured, surely."
Eren stopped near the doorway, turning back around. "Oh—! No, the Titan that Ruby's talking about looked female, Captain."
"I thought we were forgetting something," Blake sighed, shoulders falling. Stopping beside Eren, she, too, turned, also facing Rico. "When the gate was destroyed, a female Titan was thrown into Trost. Last we saw of her, she was blocking the gate from any other Titans, even throughout our battle against the Colossal. She seemed to possess intelligence, and also appeared to be a bit tough, since she looked like she was trying to stop the Colossal's foot from blasting the gate open, and ended up getting caught in the crossfire of the attack. She didn't seem to have any interest in us, either. She pretty much ignored Sasha and Samuel, despite them briefly being so close to her location. I'd assume that, if the Advance Team hasn't killed her yet, she's probably helping them in trying to defend the wall."
Ruby pulled a fitted, dull-black henley shirt on over a form-fitting, jet-black tank top. The henley shirt's sleeves just-about reached her elbows, while its hem settled just past her hips, wrapping around the top of her thighs. On the front of the shirt, three small, scarlet buttons led down from the middle of the shirt's round neckline, stopping at her chest.
Head low, Ruby's gaze fell upon her strapless, metallic backpack, sitting on the polished wooden bench before her. The bench spanned the length of the wall behind it, the backpack leaning against the smooth stone.
A few feet to her right, Blake pulled a fitted, jet-black shirt over her head, folding its thick turtleneck collar over, and letting it settle around her neck. Her black ribbons already laid wrapped around her forearms and hands, up to her knuckles and just below her elbows, the ribbons practically skin-tight. "Do you plan on taking your Scrolls with you?" she asked, glancing sidelong at Ruby, as she folded the long sleeves up until they reached her upper arms. The folded cuffs settled just above each elbow.
"Yeah. To keep an eye on our Auras, in case things go bad for any of us." Ruby grabbed the pair of slim-fitting, all-black pants that she'd packed inside the backpack. As she pulled them on, over the black tights she was wearing, she glanced back at Blake. "Why'd you ask?" She pulled the elastic rim of the pants to sit atop the hem of the henley shirt. Two also-black belt-loops sat on either side of the rim.
Blake grabbed a pair of wide, fairly-thick, dark-violet bands. As she slipped them around her wrists, the bands looked fairly tight against the ribbon-wrapped skin. The bands almost touched the heels of her palms. "What do you think about wearing both Scrolls? On ourselves, that is. Maybe on our wrists, so that we can quickly check our Aura levels before we go out looking for more Titans to fight. Would... that be a good idea? I mean, they'd be easily accessible."
Ruby paused, considering it. "Makes sense." Grabbing the thick crimson belt from the package tube in her backpack, she slipped it through the belt-loops adorning the rim of her pants, clipping both ends together at the front by clasping the silver, metallic side-release buckle closed in the middle. "Let's do that. But, we're gonna have to be careful about wearing all of our Scrolls out in the open, especially if we'll be calling each other during the battle." Picking up her silver brooch, made in the shape of her rose emblem, she pinned it to the front of her belt, covering the buckle.
"Right," Blake almost mumbled under her breath, tugging a pair of fitted black pants over her violet-tinted, thigh-high black stockings. She pulled the rim of her pants over the hem of her shirt, which wrapped around the apex of her thighs, too. Her pants also bore two belt-loops on either side of the rim. "Would you like me to run the idea by Weiss and Yang?" She grabbed her earlier midnight-purple belt. Guiding it through the belt loops, she clipped the silver, metallic side-release buckle closed in the middle, at the front of the belt. Then, reaching into the package tube in her own backpack, she brought out her midnight-purple, thigh-high, low-heeled boots.
Ruby grabbed her own knee-high, red-soled, black combat boots. Slipping her feet into them, she pulled them over each lower pant leg, up to reach her knees. Sitting on the bench for a moment, she fastened her boots' red laces into thin bows atop the front of each boot leg, just under the thick, red, silk band attached to the rim of either boot. "Sure. But! Tell them that we'll be going with your idea unless they can come up with a better one—oh! And I almost forgot! I also wanna look for that girl called Spring. Y'know, the one that Eren said was the daughter of an inventor. I wanna know if she's the same one from that village I told you about, before we ended up here."
Blake nodded as she slipped her feet, then her legs, into her boots, which covered her pants as they reached her mid-thighs. "Yeah, I remember." She tapped the toes of each boot on the ground a few times, before picking up her three silver-lined, deep-violet, square-shaped pouches, all three emblazoned with her belladonna flower emblem, in white, on the front of each pouch's body. She clipped one pouch to each side of the belt, between each belt-loop, and clipped the last pouch to the back of the belt, in the middle. "Weiss was worried whether she'd survived these past six years, since there was no guarantee that she would've been transported to the same place her Dad had ended up."
"Yep. I figure it's too much of a coincidence," Ruby put forth, hopping off the bench. She grabbed four of her red-lined black pouches. The front of each pouch's body bore a scarlet symbol, each one symbolising which Dust rounds filled the two magazines sat in each pouch. One pouch's symbol, a flame surrounded by a circle, made clear the pouch was filled with Burn Dust rounds. Another pouch bore a dot with arrows pointing in four directions, all surrounded by another circle – symbolising the Gravity rounds in that specific pouch. She clipped the Burn and Ice Dust pouches between the two belt-loops on the left side of her belt. Then, she planted the Electric and Gravity Dust pouches on the right side of her belt. "Plus, if those crystals Eren mentioned are actually Dust, then she could've built some better equipment under the military's radar." She picked up two wide, black thigh bands, and proceeded to drag them over her boots and up her legs.
"Makes sense, I guess." Blake hauled a slim, midnight-purple, magnetic backpack (with straps) out of a separate package tube. Dropping the tube back in her metallic backpack, which also sat on the bench, she adorned her other, non-metallic backpack. The straps – which were fairly thick – covered her shoulders, wrapping around them as they settled against her shirt, each strap wide enough to reach from her underarms down either side of her torso. The backpack settled fairly smoothly on her back, pressing almost comfortably against the back of Blake's shirt. "By the way," Blake began, glancing at Ruby from the side, "that part about the Colossal being at least familiar with the military – did it just come to you while you were talking earlier?"
Ruby hesitated, then shrugged. "More than when I considered it on the way." She pulled the last band up to the apex of her right thigh, just like she'd done with the left one. Then, grabbing two more red-lined black pouches, this time both without any symbols on them, she clasped each pouch onto either band, around the outside of each thigh.
"How'd you come up with it?" Blake asked. Grabbing her slim, small, black infinity scarf, she planted it around her neck, covering the folded turtleneck collar.
"Well, if this military's soldiers are the only ones who study Titans and train to kill them, then the Colossal would have to know that any one soldier, even a Cadet like Eren, could kill him. And he'd also have to be able to recognise military personnel on sight, too. Which means, for our theory that the Colossal Titan was summoned to work, the summoner would have to have inside knowledge about the Titans' weak-spots, and also be smart enough to avoid underestimating the Cadets, too, despite their lack of experience on the frontlines. All things considered, I don't think we're dealing with a civilian here," Ruby explained. She slid a pair of slim, fingerless black gloves onto her hands. The arms of the gloves stretched up to the top of each forearm, just below either elbow.
"Still, why would anyone within this military want to destroy the walls and kill people?" Blake grabbed the long-sleeved, mainly-crimson jacket Ruby was gonna wear, its sleeves ending with black cuffs. She lifted it up, holding it open for Ruby.
Ruby slipped her arms into the sleeves, before pushing them up her forearms, nearly up to her elbows. "That's rhetorical, right? Because I can't answer that." Picking up a pair of thick, broad, crimson wristbands, she tugged them on, around her wrists.
Blake shook her head. "I was just thinking. I mean, maybe whoever it is thinks a lot like that Seymour guy, who Tidus once told us about." Grabbing Gambol Shroud, Blake stuck it to her magnetic backpack. Then, once she'd dug both of her Scrolls out of her strapless, metallic backpack, she planted her closed, smaller Scroll on the backhand side of her left wristband, and her bigger Scroll on her right wristband.
Grabbing Crescent Rose's closed form, Ruby stuck her weapon to the magnetic silver strip sitting central on the back of her belt. Then, she dug through her own strapless backpack for her own two Scrolls, sticking the smaller Scroll to her right wristband, before planting the larger Scroll on her left wristband. "Yeah, maybe. By the way, what's in your backpack?"
"Currently, just some other supplies. Mostly medical stuff – y'know, bandage rolls, gauze pads, some small towels, and those healing ointments Momo and Hanatarō gave me, back when we were in Soul Society."
"Wait, they gave you gifts? All I got was a training session from Byakuya on improving my Aura control so that I could handle spells a bit better."
Blake chuckled light-heartedly. "You say that like you don't need such help," she told Ruby. "Anyway, I was also considering putting some spare gas canisters in with the medical stuff, too – as backup, in case anyone runs out. But, I don't think they're gonna fit in the bag. I mean, the canisters are a bit too long to sit comfortably in there without probably getting bent or crushed."
"I had that same problem when I was trying to redesign the ODM Gear!"
The warm, kind, somewhat-soft voice had originated behind Blake, clear and pleasant to listen to – much like Blake's, if only a bit less deep and mellow.
Blake whirled around while Ruby tilted her head, leaning to her right to look past Blake.
A few feet away from Blake, stood a short, female Cadet, who appeared to be no more than 5 feet tall, at most. Bearing a heart-shaped face (much like Shaye), her complexion looked rather fair and rosy, as if to contrast her straight, chocolate brown hair. Her fairly-deep, royal-blue eyes were a bit round in their shape. Her badges looked identical to the ones each Cadet wore, so she had to be one of them; though, unlike the other Cadets, her uniform and gear had been modified – to quite an extent, too.
Firstly, the brown, leather jacket she wore – as part of the military's uniform – looked a bit longer than the ones Ruby had seen on the other Cadets so far. The jacket also looked more fitted, though that might've been due to the fact she was wearing her jacket sleeves somewhat-broadly folded up to her elbows, with the sleeves wrapping comfortably around her upper arms and the paler, makeshift cuffs circling the fold of either elbow. The jacket itself sat atop the back and sides of a thick yet form-fitting black shirt, which matched the fingerless black gloves she wore, the arms of which stretched up to the top of each forearm.
The position of her metal sheaths were also different: a gas canister laid attached to the bottom of each sheath, instead of along the top. Three slots were also spaced across the topside of each sheath, instead of four slots being embedded into either sheath's front face. Further still, she'd also apparently replaced the normal sword handles with a pair of revolver-like hilts, the grips a deep crimson while the thick barrel of each revolver had been split down the middle, starting from the muzzle and stopping just before the slightly-broader-than-average revolver chamber. Ruby guessed the split through each revolver barrel likely had to act as a slot for her blades.
And lastly, but much to Ruby's slight relief, no wires appeared to connect either hilt to the other parts of her gear.
That said, how would her gear work, though, without anything to control its different functions, like the gas or the grapple-hooks?
Unless...
"Are you... Spring?" Ruby tilted her head.
The girl nodded, offering a small smile. "My name's Spring Petallisa. Eren came to tell me about the 'spectacle' that occurred earlier, atop the wall, and how a team of four girls dropped from it. I figured it had to be a portal that one of my Dad's devices would've made. Which means, you guys must be from Remnant, too, right?"
Blake nodded with a soft smile, planting her hands on her hips. "Where else would we be from?"
"Good point." Spring's smile turned awkward as she averted her eyes.
"Anyway, looks like you modified your gear," Ruby pointed out, giving Spring a small smile. "I trust those revolver-hilts are functional?"
Spring blinked, her gaze flicking to Ruby. "Oh! Yes, they are!" She nodded with confidence. "But this gear I've got equipped is one of a few prototypes I've made thus far. That includes the blades and the revolver-hilts. So, while the whole thing is functional, and I am satisfied with this model, I don't exactly think of it as a... finished product, I guess." She gave either sheath a soft pat. "But still, I've trained with this gear plenty of times, so I'm pretty confident in it. Besides, I'm pretty happy I get to use one of my creations in a real battle, as well."
"Have you managed to practice any Aura Spells?" Blake asked, before turning away as she began stuffing her previous attire into her metallic backpack. She clipped it shut before meeting Spring's eyes again.
"Yeah! I've been practicing a lot of them," Spring reassured her with a small wave of her hand. "Mostly during any free time I had during these past three years in the Cadet Corps."
"By the way, do you use your Aura to activate your gear as well?" Ruby had to ask. The lack of wires attaching the revolver-hilts to the rest of the gear had to warrant some sort of answer, if only to sate her own curiosity and confirm her suspicion.
"Of course!" Spring nodded, twice and a tad more rapid. It seemed like talking about her creations tended to get Spring into an almost excited mood. Spring shrugged her shoulders. "No different to you guys using your Auras to activate and use your weapons." She blinked. "But, speaking of which, have you guys met Mikasa yet?"
Mikasa Ackerman
Where is he...?!
Had Eren returned to HQ yet? She'd heard as much, but apparently he wasn't in the courtyard, given she hadn't found him yet despite how she'd raced all through the area just to see him.
Maybe he was in the supply room? She didn't know where else he'd be.
Just like she also didn't know whether he was harmed when the Colossal Titan showed up – after all, he'd been stationed so close to it; and, if she did know one thing, it was that Eren would've tried to fight that Titan bastard.
She needed to find him, to know if he was unharmed.
And with an impending invasion being the current situation, keeping calm about Eren's location and wellbeing had become... not undoable, but... more difficult.
If they cared enough to look, her peers and the other, older soldiers from the Garrison Regiment would see only a carefully-crafted, calm, cool façade. But, if any of them bothered to note her brisk walk into the supply room, her steps rapid and still quickening with every tense footfall, then perhaps they'd see the way her sense of urgency was racking at her legs, giving away her need for haste.
Everyone outside in the courtyard had rather quickly broken down. Most of them were barely holding themselves together. Heading into the supply room, where Armin had to be and where Eren would hopefully be, she noticed plenty of the Cadets holding their heads in their hands as they sat or stood in various places, each frozen with fear and confusion. The remaining Cadets were simply trying to get to grips with reality while they carried supplies to different places. If they didn't look like they were trying to keep busy, then they looked either lost, confused, terrified, or depressed. Hell, even mixtures of all four weren't uncommon.
A sad sight; truly.
"Out of the frying pan and into the fire, Cadets! Time to put your training to work! I have faith each of you will be a credit to your regiment!"
Heading farther into the supply depot, Mikasa passed by Franz and Hannah. They seemed to be confiding in each other, forming promises that they would protect one another. No surprise there, at least. It happened to be no secret to Mikasa that Franz and Hannah were actually a couple. It'd been made all too clear by Eren just this morning, when he'd been a bit irritated about how they were acting. Mikasa distinctly recalled that Eren's outburst had made them both embarrassed.
All before he'd been tasked with cannon maintenance atop Wall Rose.
Right. Eren.
Mikasa headed toward the gas supply.
As she'd expected, Armin was sat there, currently trying to fill a gas canister. He appeared to be shaking, trembling far too much to actually attach the gas pipe in his hand to the canister he was attempting to fill.
Eren was kneeling beside him, his mere appearance a pleasant surprise. He looked unharmed – untouched, really.
Mikasa let slip a silent, relieved sigh as she halted some feet behind them.
Eren tilted to one side, into Armin's space. "Armin, what's wrong?"
Ah.
If that question alone told Mikasa anything, Eren must've just barely arrived beside Armin when Mikasa found them.
"I—don't worry, I'm fine," Armin told him – the lie obvious and unconvincing. He avoided looking Eren in the eyes as he spoke, instead keeping his gaze trained on the canister he was holding. "Just—give me a second for my nerves to settle." His breath sounded shaky. "This is bad, isn't it? There's a hole in the wall eight metres high and we don't even remotely have the engineering know-how to plug it. That huge boulder near the front gate was our best bet, but we couldn't figure out how to hoist it in place!" His voice cracked. "Unless we seal the breach, the entire city's as good as dead!"
Mikasa tried to ignore the way Armin's desperate, almost-hysterical tone seemed to send chills up her back and arms.
"How long do you think before they take Wall Rose? Seriously, how long?! Think about it!" Armin's voice grew a little louder, his tone a little more frantic. "Anytime the moon strikes if they could wipe out the human race in an afternoon!"
"Armin!" Skin clapped against leather as Eren gripped Armin's wrist. He levelled a hard stare at Armin. "Listen to me – you're focused on the past. Look ahead! We're not gonna be the victims anymore!"
As if Eren's words carried some kind of power, Armin soon seemed to calm down and steady himself. His form, tense and trembling just a minute ago, began to relax, and his breathing eventually evened out. More calm and collected now, he eventually managed a response, his voice soft and quiet as he spoke: "Sorry... I'm okay..."
And with steady hands, he managed to attach the pipe to the canister (much to Mikasa's relief – she wouldn't admit it out loud, since Armin more than likely would've just felt guilty about it, but the clanking of the pipe and canister had been quite irritating).
"That's better." And, for the first time in what felt like a while, the corners of Eren's lips curled to form a small, sweet, genuine smile. "By the way, I have something to tell you. You're probably not gonna believe this, but something pretty incredible happened on the wall just before the Colossal Titan showed up."
"Would this happen to involve those lights that shone all over Trost?" Armin asked, as he detached the canister from the pipe and closed the canister. After placing the first canister down, on the floor, he then attached a second canister to the pipe, and while the canister filled with gas, he turned his head to face Eren. "It came from where you were stationed, right? But nothing up there would've—or, should've, really, been capable of reflecting all those colours, especially so far across Trost. Plus, I heard Sasha telling people about four girls that somehow showed up when those lights appeared. But... surely that wouldn't be possible, though, right?"
"Those lights weren't caused by a reflection. Plus, the entire thing seemed impossible at first. I... I can only describe it as a ball of light. It just... opened up above our heads. And it started off small, but grew big enough to measure the width of the wall. We could've put all of our squad in it and still have enough room to fit more! The colours that came out of it were what you and everyone else in Trost saw." Eren sat on his heels, his smile never leaving his face. "And then four girls dropped out of it. They were as confused as we were as to how they ended up here, but they were nice despite their situation. Oh—! And they're called Team RWBY; as in R-W-B-Y, which are the first letters of each girl's name.
"And here I was thinking that you'd hit your head. Again," Armin replied, cracking a nervous smile. "But if your whole squad saw them and reacted to their presence, then I guess I can believe it. Besides, I've never taken you for the type to just make up something like this. It just seems so random... oh—but still, do you know who they are individually, at least? Or where they're from, or something?"
"They're from a world called Remnant, which I don't doubt. When I fought with them against the Colossal Titan, I witnessed first-hand just what they can do and how skilled they really are with their weird weapons. But specifically, they're from a kingdom called Vale, where they attend an academy called Beacon. They're training to become Huntresses that fight monsters called Grimm. Oh, and their names are Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang. They were on some sort of mission to get back some artefact or device, which ended up activating when they came in contact with it. It sounded like that device was what caused that weird thing we saw them drop from. Anyway, I thought Ruby was pretty cool. We get along pretty well, but she said something about the gear that I haven't been able to get out of my head since I got back here. Oh! And they also had a friend called Shaye who they'd apparently been with on the mission, but she didn't end up coming with them."
Armin blinked almost owlishly at Eren, before slowly nodding. "Right..."
Eren had never really been known to ramble on with excitement or a sense of thrill. But neither Mikasa nor Armin seemed to mind: at the very least, it made a change from him usually being so tense, and often quick to anger. Seeing him so calm, almost carefree in a way, if not even happy, was a pleasant sight to see.
Even if it did feel strange to see Eren like this.
Armin continued to stare, almost bewildered, at Eren, as he finished filling up the gas canister and detached it. Armin then placed it on the floor, before picking up the last empty canister beside him, and attaching it to the pipe. "So, what did she say about our gear?"
"She said our ODM Gear might be the only impressive thing we have after spending a hundred years behind walls. And that the cannons don't even compare to the gear... and that we also got complacent with what we have instead of continuing to try to improve our equipment and better our chances against the Titans. She also mentioned a flaw of the gear, aside from the blades being pretty easy to dull or break." Eren shifted, perching his rear on the floor and resting his arms on his knees. He looked up at the ceiling, likely deep in thought. "She said that it looked too simple, but also complicated at the same time. That our gear looked like it relied on all the parts being manually connected together in order for it to work, so if anything happened to even one of the connecting wires, our gear wouldn't work."
"Well, she's right about that." Armin glanced back down at the canister. "How did she know that, anyway? I doubt you or anyone else in your squad told her about our gear."
"Ruby admitted that she's obsessed with weaponry and things like that. So, she's bound to know a lot about our equipment just from observing how it works and how we use it."
"Sounds like she's pretty smart, then. I wouldn't be surprised if she manages to impress a few people with her powers of observation alone. And with what insight she could provide in regards to our current equipment."
"I know, right? That's why I suggested that she talk to Spring! I have a feeling those two are gonna be almost inseparable if we let them work together."
"You think they'll be able to get along and work off each other?"
"I think they'll get along just fine. From what I've gathered so far, Ruby has a habit of thinking of efficiency first when it comes to gear and equipment, particularly in the case of weapons. Spring's pretty much the same way, but she also thinks of the equipment's effectiveness, and how she might be able to use different gear to her own advantage.
"Hey, girlie, you alright?"
Mikasa almost jumped out of her skin. Ignoring the surprising glances she received from Eren and Armin, she spun to face the owner of the somewhat light, mature voice. A taller, fair-skinned girl bearing a head of lengthy blonde hair and deep, lilac eyes stood almost behind Mikasa. Her hands, covered with fingerless black gloves, cupped either side of her own hips as she tilted her head over Mikasa's shoulder, her lighthearted and energetic gaze laid squarely on Mikasa.
Mikasa took a few steps back. As the blonde straightened her posture, Mikasa managed to catch a better look at her.
Her golden hair reached her rear, if not just below. She was dressed in a brown button-up shirt, its sleeves folded at the elbows, a yellow button fastened on each one to keep the folded cuffs there. The shirt had been half-tucked on her left side, the right side hanging near the start of her right thigh, while both legs were covered by fitted black pants, with a calm-yellow belt wrapped around her hips. A stiff, large, rectangular bronze pouch hung on the left side of the belt. Her shirt's gold-coloured buttons had been left undone once reaching her chest, leaving the shirt open enough for Mikasa to see the low-cut yellow tank top she wore beneath it, its straps a bit visible under the loose, folded collar. A yellow emblem resembling a burning heart decorated a small pocket on the left chest of the shirt, the pocket fastened shut by another golden button. A matching emblem, this time in the form of a black, metal brooch, laid pinned to the front-right side of her belt, a bit covered by the right tail from the front of her shirt. A small, slim, orange infinity scarf sat around her neck, while a lilac bandanna laid wrapped around the folded rim atop her right knee-high brown boot, the knot tied around the outside of her leg. Both brown knee-high boots bore gold metal caps on the toes and the flat heels. The leg of each boot hugged the legs of Yang's fitted black pants, which had been tucked into each boot.
Her fingerless black gloves reached up to the top of each forearm, just under her elbows. And a pair of what appeared to be yellow, metal bracelets laid securely on her wrists. On the small of her back, two unfamiliar, slim swords, adorned with crimson grips, each sat in a black sheath which seemed to fit each sword perfectly. The sheaths seemed to be stuck to her shirt, one sword placed a bit higher up the back than the other. The higher-placed sword laid with the grip set in the same direction as the tip of the lower sword's sheath, while the grip of the lower-set sword pointed in the direction of the blonde girl's left. Another, smaller, portrait-ways rectangular brown pouch, stuck to a brown strap, sat wrapped around the top of her right thigh, the pouch set against the outside of her leg.
"Ah, Yang! I see you're up and about!" Eren calmly called out, pushing himself up from his knees. He stopped near Mikasa, facing the blonde, Yang, as she shot him a warm smile. "You and Weiss have recovered then?"
"Well, my Aura's back up to ninety-five percent, which is more than good. Weiss took a bit more of a beating before we ended up here though, so I think she'll need to rest for a little bit longer. It shouldn't take too long for her Aura to recover, though." Yang shrugged her shoulders. "Anyway, who are these two? These your friends?"
"More like family, actually. This is Mikasa. My family adopted her back when we were little." Eren turned toward Mikasa, holding his open palm out in front of her as he introduced her. Then, he glanced over his shoulder at Armin. "And back there is my best friend, Armin. I met him before I even met Mikasa."
"Nice to meet you both! My own name's Yang Xiao Long. Ruby Rose, the girl Eren was talking about just a second ago, is actually my little sister." Yang's smile looked honestly disarming and more cheerful than any smile Mikasa could ever remember witnessing. She offered Mikasa a brief, curious look, but didn't say anything before she instead looked back to Eren. "Speaking of Ruby, you got any idea where that girl ran off to?"
"She was supposed to be getting changed with Blake, last I heard. In one of the other rooms—"
"Hey, Yang!"
Eren smacked his lips shut.
Yang's eyes seemed to brighten as she turned, gaze landing on the approaching owner of the sharp, refined feminine voice. Mikasa followed her gaze to a shorter girl, who wore her white, slightly longer hair pulled back into a side-ponytail surrounded by a bun, with some kind of silver icicle-shaped tiara fitted in-between the start of the ponytail and the inside of the bun, the icicle-shaped points wrapping around the ponytail's beginning. A somewhat shallow, jagged scar laid over the girl's left eye, spanning from just under her eyebrow to just above her cheek. Her complexion looked pale, as if she'd lived in perhaps a more colder place for a good majority of her life.
Pinned to each earlobe laid a pair of flat, red, diamond-shaped crystals embedded in silver, the gems matching the red coating the inside of the otherwise white jacket which was cropped to reach the middle of her back, as well as left open down the front, while its short sleeves stopped at her elbows, black frills adorning the end of each sleeve. Beneath the jacket, she wore a white A-line turtleneck dress with a slim, straight miniskirt. The turtleneck collar had been folded to cover the bottom half of her neck. The dress appeared to be sleeveless. She also wore skin-tight black gloves on her hands, too, with the wrist and backhand of each glove sat hidden under red-piped-but-otherwise-white hand covers, which wrapped around each wrist up to her mid-forearms, an almost-triangular-shaped covering adorning each backhand. Each backhand was also decorated in the centre by a black emblem shaped akin to a snowflake, matching the black leggings covering her legs, which ran down into a pair of knee-high, black-soled, white, high-heeled boots. Wide, folded pale-lavender cuffs, split in the middle at the front, topped each boot. Scarlet laces started from a red diamond-shaped gem embedded on the foot of each boot, and crossed up each boot, into a bow which sat in the split between each cuff. Meanwhile, a lavender sash, fastened into a small bow at the front, laid wrapped through the belt-loops surrounding her hips.
Some sort of rapier-like sword, bearing a colourful revolver chamber as part of the crossguard, hung at the girl's left side, from the tightly-wrapped lavender sash that held the sword to her hip, the fabric laid securely over the start of the blade, caught on the guard. Wrapped around the wrists, atop the hand covers, a broad, metallic silver band sat, tight and secure around each wrist. Several diamond-shaped crystals, each one a different colour, laid embedded in and along each band, the crystals being the same colours as the ones which adorned the chamber of the rapier. Mikasa even caught a glimpse of a large, silver, almost rectangular leather pouch on the back of the lavender sash.
"I see Weiss is up now. I guess she's rested enough," Eren said, his tone hopeful, as he looked up at Yang.
"Seems like it." Yang shot a smile at Eren, before her gaze flicked back to the newer girl, apparently the one named Weiss. "Hey, Ice Queen. You feeling any better, or are you just being stubborn again because you heard me get up?"
"I'm feeling a lot better, actually," Weiss sharply retorted, her hands on her hips as she stopped next to Yang. She stood about a head shorter than Mikasa, so she was likely about 5'3" in height – in those high heels, at least. "Have you got some kind of plan going yet? Or did you at least manage to find out what everyone's supposed to be doing?"
"Not yet. I only got up a bit before you did." Yang shook her head, planting her hands on her hips. Then, with an open palm, she gestured toward Mikasa and Armin, as she introduced them: "But before that, this is Mikasa, and that's Armin. Mikasa is pretty much Eren's foster sister, and Armin is Eren's first and childhood friend."
Weiss' eyes flicked, barely interested, between Mikasa and Armin. "Right. Well, I'm Weiss Schnee. And I'd like to get a move on. The Titans could get into Trost at any moment and I'd rather not let them get a headstart." Her hand rose up to rest on her hip. With a quirk of her opposite thumb, she gestured back to the entrance.
And from the entrance, another unfamiliar girl sprang out toward them, dressed in mostly black and midnight-purple. Her low-heeled boots smoothly skidded until she halted beside Weiss, her left hand wrapped around a black ribbon stretching all the way from outside the entrance, while the ribbon seemed to also wrap around her hand, up her left arm. Another black ribbon wrapped around her right hand and arm, too; and on her wrist, a rectangular transparent-black screen lined on either side with white borders seeming to act as grips. The grips bore soft, curved corners, while a purple button, shaped akin to a belladonna flower, sat on the inner edge of the grip hovering over her backhand, half of the button hanging over a bit of the screen. The screen spanned from her backhand to almost her mid-forearm, and looked to be stuck to a fairly thick dark-violet band wrapped around her wrist. A smaller pair of white grips looked stuck to the band on her other wrist, the grips stuck together, with another purple button, in the shape of the apparent belladonna flower emblem, sitting in the middle, atop the line which indicated where the two grips seemed to be connected.
In the hand partially covered by the screen, she held a pair of short, slim blades, perhaps barely the length of Mikasa's own upper back, each one sitting in a crimson sheath. Each sword's hilt looked like a type of gun she knew, which Spring had called a Desert Eagle, or Deagle for short, and Deag for even shorter. The grip panel on each grip looked the same shade of crimson, while a matte-black coating covered the rest of each Deagle, with silver accents along each barrel. Each blade sat in their respective sheath seemed to be attached to the top of each Deagle's barrel, making them rather similar in design to the cleaver-like black sword laid across the girl's back, as her sword also bore a gun-hilt, though her hilt appeared to be shaped more like a pistol.
"Oh, hey Blake!" Yang offered a smile at the newcomer, apparently the girl called Blake. "Your timing's impeccable."
"Please tell me you and Ruby have at least thought of some sort of plan." Weiss turned toward Blake, folding her arms.
"I have an idea to run by you both," Blake started, golden eyes glancing between the wrists of both Weiss and Yang. "On second thought, you two might be good. You guys have at least one of your Scrolls on you, though, right?"
"I have both," Weiss and Yang said simultaneously. They blinked, before sharing a look.
"Right. Well, I thought it'd be easier if we wore them on our arms, so we wouldn't have to waste time getting them out when checking our Auras or calling each other, but I don't think that's gonna work for either of you." Blake's gaze lingered on the yellow metal bracelets around Yang's wrists. "But since you're both fairly recovered, for the most part, I think you'll be alright."
"We can keep our smaller Scrolls on our belts," Yang suggested, brows raised as she looked down at Weiss.
"Alright, but we can make those adjustments later." Weiss raised her hand, motioning for Yang to stop. "Is there anything else? Have you heard anything about what's supposed to be happening?" she asked Blake.
"Not yet, but there is gonna be an assembly in a few minutes that should explain what the plan is. Otherwise, I have a message from Spring, the inventor's daughter Eren told us about. It's for Mikasa."
"Me?" Mikasa piped up before she could stop herself. What would Spring want this time? Maybe she thinks now's the time to give me that new ODM Gear she told me she was working on? "What does she want?"
Blake's golden eyes met Mikasa's own steely grey ones, and she held up the two sheathed blades. "Spring wanted me to give these to you. Apparently you made first of the top ten of your class, and she figured you'd need these. She said they're supposed to be more durable than your own blades. They should be able to clip to the straps on your sides there, or you can remove the sheaths and carry them open on your back. The blades also open up longer, in case they look a little short. She said you should know how to get them to extend," she swiftly explained.
Well, that last part would be correct. Only a few months ago, Spring had taught her how to use her "power" in order to operate weaponry and machines, among other equipment. Actually, now Mikasa was thinking about it, Spring hadn't told her the name of the "power" they apparently shared, but that had probably been because Mikasa hadn't exactly been all that interested in learning about it. Mikasa also hadn't really believed Spring either, at first, until Spring had performed a few weird and colourful abilities she'd called 'spells', as well as proved to Mikasa that she, too, possessed incredible strength, and even happened to be capable of impressive speeds using the ODM Gear. Mikasa still couldn't understand how, despite her skills, Spring hadn't managed to make it into the top ten. Spring could've easily taken her place as first in class, yet somehow she hadn't even made tenth place.
Mikasa nodded her affirmation to Blake, as she grabbed the sheathed swords by their gun-hilts, hands wrapping around the grips while her forefingers curled around each trigger. She pulled the blades out of the sheaths, a pair of short, silver scimitar-like blades slipping out as they followed, attached to the top of either barrel, just as she'd suspected. "I'll be sure to thank Spring for her support," she told Blake, planting the blades on her back, where they stuck to the padding covering the top of her back, under her jacket. Spring had somehow managed to make the magnetic padding recently, and had offered it to Mikasa to wear earlier this morning, her only request being to report back whether Mikasa found it useful. As the blades settled, crossed-over and blade tips pointed down, on the square of her back, Mikasa tried to ignore the question of how nothing else had managed to stick to the padding yet. She hadn't even ended up in an incident with someone else's ODM Gear yet, and even now, pulling her hands away from the gun-hilts, only the blades seemed to attach themselves to the padding, despite the jacket hanging between them.
"Sure. And it's nice to meet you," Blake said, as if she'd just remembered. Then, glancing between Weiss, Yang, and Eren, she told them: "I'll be waiting outside with Ruby. Once I find her, at least. I can't promise she and Spring aren't talking each other's ears off."
"I want everyone to split into four squadrons, as practised! All squadrons are responsible for supply routing, message relay, and enemy combat under the command of the Garrison Regiment! The inner south squadron will be taking the Vanguard! Cadets will be taking the Middle Guard, led by the support squad! Rear Guard will go to the elites! I expect you all to man your posts, knowing the Advance Team has been wiped out!"
The gasps from the other Cadets filled the courtyard.
With the Advance Team being completely annihilated by the Titans...
"They were supposed to be using the cannons to hold the Titans off, right?" Spring asked, looking up from where she stood at Mikasa's left, her voice quiet. She didn't seem fearful; just curious, as if she was simply checking.
"Doesn't seem like the cannons did any good," Mikasa made sure to keep her voice equally quiet. Upon saying that aloud, Mikasa could've sworn her stomach almost dropped, and she narrowly avoided visibly cringing.
It almost didn't seem real – how the fears of everyone around her had became such a harrowing reality in an instant.
But Mikasa knew better.
She knew how cruel the world happened to be; how cruel it could be. Miracles were few and far between. She'd been forced to stare that fact directly in the face more than once. She knew this, all of this, had to be real.
And no amount of denial could hope to change the reality, the absolute hell, they were living in.
"That's right! The outer gate is history!" Captain Woermann declared. When she swore she heard a slight crack in his voice, Mikasa blinked, her eyes narrowing. "The Titans are in! This means the Armoured Titan is likely to reappear! If and when he does, the inner gate will also be history!"
Whispers instantly rose among the Cadets. With the muttering and mumbling from the Cadets surrounding her, Mikasa could hear the fear sink into their hearts. Their voices, their tones, betrayed them. Mikasa could easily relate to that fear: the possibility that the Armoured Titan could make a return sounded terrifying, and from the bottom of her heart, she hoped the other Cadets wouldn't have to bear witness to such destruction. And for herself, she hoped she wouldn't be alive to witness the Armoured Titan shatter the inner gate to rubble a second time.
But she couldn't – wouldn't – die yet; not while she still had Eren to fight for, and could still fight for him. And if the possibility of the Armoured Titan reappearing, let alone breaking through the inner gate, made her want to be already dead if it ended up happening, then Eren would have had to be long since gone from the world as well. Like hell she'd accept her own demise any other way. She'd make damn sure of it.
"QUIET!"
The whispers and cries quickly died down.
"Right! Those of the Vanguard, be ready! Your mission is a very simple one! Defend the wall 'til the evacuation's done!" Captain Woermann lowered his head, but kept his eyes level with the Cadets, like he was sending them a rather nasty glare. His expression made him look as if he was trying too hard to prove he wasn't scared out of his mind like the rest of them—actually, scratch that, more than the rest of them. "Now, be aware, all of you, that desertion is punishable by execution!"
It didn't sound like a threat; more... like a warning. One that needed to be heeded, maybe as much as every soldier here may need each other's manpower to survive this shitstorm.
As a round of gasps escape the lips of most of the cadets, Mikasa's eyes flicked over to Spring. As expected, she looked rather tense, but seemed to be holding herself up just fine. She wasn't trembling like the other soldiers, including the much taller one stood in front of her. She'd been relatively calm, perhaps a bit eerily collected and cool, given the situation, but otherwise she'd been handling it much like Mikasa, for the most part. At least as far as appearances went. But now, she looked more on edge, perhaps a bit agitated.
Must be because of the desertion warning. It's not like she's the only one here that's shocked by it. Plus, she's from a different world, just like Team RWBY. I wouldn't expect things to be the same there, let alone the punishments for deserting one's post. Mikasa's eyes flicked back to Captain Woermann.
"If it comes to it, lay down your lives! DISMISSED!"
"SIR!" Mikasa and the rest of the Cadets called out. Mikasa's voice sounded steady and clear, while the voices of most of the other Cadets near her sounded shaky and sickeningly full of fear.
Mikasa already knew some would prove themselves unable to handle the Captain's warning. But had they not been warned, how many more hopeless soldiers would have deserted their posts, too afraid to fight for the survival of Trost, nay, of Wall Rose? How many more of them would be joining the civilians at the gate? How many more would use their gear to make their way up the wall and retreat behind Wall Rose?
She didn't want to entertain that train of thought.
The rest of the Cadets scattered.
Mikasa spun on her heel and faced Spring directly, only to find her equipped with her own personalised ODM Gear. The metal sheath boxes looked a bit shorter, maybe more compact than Mikasa's, as either one looked almost half the length of an average pair of sheath boxes. Meeting Spring's blue eyes, laid at either side of a thick strand of hair which fell a bit toward Spring's right side as it reached the end of her nose's bridge, Mikasa released the salute she'd been holding. "I hate to seem a bit desperate, but I was wondering if you would look after Eren for me, in the event that he and I get put in different squads."
"Oh, I know you'll get put in different squads. You're an elite superhuman genius, so you're probably gonna end up with the Rear Guard," Spring sounded calmer than she'd looked only a moment before. She seemed to have composed herself, standing fairly relaxed in front of Mikasa. "But I'll do what I can. I don't like the thought of him getting hurt or dying either, and I'm sure at least one of the girls in Ruby's team will want to team up with someone they're familiar with."
"Thank you," Mikasa offered. "But, I also need you to do something else."
"What is it?"
"Can you direct Eren to me when things start going south? It sounds hopeless, I'm sure, but I already know the plan's gonna fall apart at some point, and when it hits the fan, I'd like to be with him so I can protect him. However, I won't really know how to find him on my own. I know you'll be able to track me down, though."
"I mean, I can try, but even I'm not sure if I'll get put in the same squad as him. You're better off telling Eren directly that he should come find you. Or, you could ask Team RWBY if they can do it. Like I said, one of them is bound to join Eren's squad. Plus, Eren said whatever they did was up to them. The higher-ups of the Garrison Regiment don't really know what to do with them, apparently, so they're letting them do what they want, as long as they help."
Mikasa paused, blinking at Spring.
She's right. I shouldn't rely on someone whose squad placement is going to be fixed regardless of whether she'll be in Eren's squad or not. I should go to one of those girls and figure out who plans on fighting alongside Eren.
"Why'd this have to happen now?" Mikasa paused when she heard Jean's voice. Throwing a glance over her shoulder at him, she found him standing near Bertholdt, slightly bent forward at the waist, one hand planted against half his face, his fingertips poking through a few strands of his hair. Over Jean's shoulder, Bertholdt peered down at him, looking rather conflicted. "Just one more day and I would've been heading for the interior..." Jean muttered.
Only a couple feet away, to Jean's right, Daz was throwing up, crouched on all fours as the remains of whatever he'd recently eaten pooled onto the ground. Crouched almost on one knee beside him, stood Christa, rubbing his back. Her expression looked soft. "You gonna be alright?" she asked him, her tone of voice sounding as soft as the look in her eyes and on her face, like usual. Daz lifted himself up to look at Christa, before he turned back to the stone ground in the blink of an eye and puked again.
Jean let a growl or a grunt slip from his mouth – Mikasa couldn't be sure which. He tore his eyes away from Daz.
Mikasa caught Blake jogging over to Jean. Just as she approached him, stopping in front of him, he took off forward. His side slammed into Blake's as he inadvertently knocked her out of the way. He appeared to either be too preoccupied to realise, or was flat-out ignoring the gasp that Blake let slip. Jean didn't stop, though, or seem to notice Blake there, much to Mikasa's surprise. Blake narrowed her eyes at him, glaring daggers into his back.
Bertholdt blinked at the entire... interaction, if one could call it that, but Mikasa noted he looked more surprised by Blake. Mikasa figured it would only be normal – he probably hadn't heard of or met one of the girls yet.
She watched Blake step forward, about to follow Jean.
"Hey, Spring!"
The last one of the unfamiliar girls, who Mikasa presumed to be Ruby, approached Spring and Mikasa. Ruby wore the same 'Scrolls' Blake had been wearing, with hers on the backhand-sides of her wrists, which were adorned with red bands over black fingerless gloves. A red-and-black hunk of metal sat clipped to the back of the belt wrapped around her hips. She was equipped with six pouches too – four on the belt, and two on her legs. She wore a hooded, mostly-crimson jacket, left unzipped as it fluttered behind her, while black cuffs ended the sleeves that she'd pushed up almost to her elbows.
"Oh, Ruby!" Spring greeted the new girl – rather cheerfully, given the current situation. So, Mikasa had been right: this girl happened to be Ruby. "Are you gonna join Eren's squad?"
"I don't know yet. I know Weiss is in Eren's squad, though, since she thought taking the Middle Guard would be a good idea, given where her Aura's at. Didn't wanna take on more than she could handle, y'know? Anyway, Yang decided to join the Vanguard. I don't know about Blake either, but I think she's gonna be joining the other Cadets, so she'll be in a different squad." Ruby glanced over her shoulder at Blake following Jean, only to turn back. She did a double-take in Mikasa's direction, only to tilt her head and raise a brow. "I don't think we've met yet. It's probably not a good time, but I'm Ruby Rose." she tilted on the balls of her feet, then back onto her heels, her hands waving restlessly, almost excitedly, at her sides.
"Mikasa Ackerman. Do you know where Eren is? Or Weiss?" Mikasa may have come across rather cold, but she needed to know. She needed to find at least one of the two, for her own temporary peace of mind.
"Oh, so you're one of Eren's close friends! That makes sense! Weiss said she was going with Armin so he could explain the plan to her in further detail. And I was with Eren just a second ago. He should still be over there," Ruby explained. With a quirk of her thumb, directed Mikasa's attention to one of the pillars a couple feet behind her, over Ruby's left shoulder. Near the pillar, stood Eren, talking seriously to Mina, though showing some evident concern for her. "I've been helping him look for a lot of the other Cadets that are supposed to be in his squad. Mina, Thomas, Armin, and two guys I haven't met yet. He's trying to help them compose themselves and tell them where to wait so he can gather his other teammates. And since Weiss is also joining them, I'm trying to help him find her, since she's still probably with Armin."
"Right. Uh, thank you, Ruby," Mikasa quickly offered, briefly planting a hand on Ruby's shoulder. Then, removing her hand, she set off in a power-walk, brushing past Ruby as she headed toward the pillars. I don't think I'll need Weiss after all. If I can get Eren to listen to me, I doubt I'll have to ask for her help.
"No problem, Mikasa!" Ruby softly called out. Mikasa could hear the smile in her voice. "Which squad in the Middle Guard do you think she's in?" she heard Ruby ask.
"I don't think Mikasa's gonna be in the Middle Guard. She might be a Cadet, but she's one of the best. I call her an elite superhuman genius, because she pretty much is one. I think she's good enough to be chosen for the Rear Guard," Spring sounded fairly upbeat as she answered.
"Rear Guard's the actual last line of defence, right?"
"Yeah. The elites are gonna be defending the inner gate while the civilians evacuate Trost, so that none of their lives will be lost on top of the military death toll. It's a big honour and compliment to you and your skills if you get picked for the elite team."
A compliment Mikasa didn't really care for. She already knew her worth as a soldier – she carried the strength of 100 of them, making her worth at least that many – and the fact she knew how well she could use her skills to protect Eren probably spoke more than enough about her confidence. She didn't need an ego-boost through being given special treatment by the higher-ups. Their opinions didn't matter a whole lot to her, anyway. The only opinions that mattered to her were those given from her friends; particularly Eren and Armin, and maybe Spring, occasionally.
"That's so cool! Getting picked for the elites, I mean," Ruby asserted, voice a bit soft but also a little hyped-up.
Mikasa drowned them out as she reached one of the pillars, two standing between her and Eren, who was still trying to encourage Mina. Planting a hand on the pillar, which stood to her left, Mikasa tried not to seem too obvious as she watched him from the side, occasionally peeking around the pillar.
"I'm gonna pretend this probably isn't as creepy as it looks," Yang whispered beside her, breath ghosting over Mikasa's ear.
Mikasa blinked as her eyes snapped wide open. Whirling around, she backed away from the pillar, toward the wall behind her and further into the shade, whipping her hands up close to her chest.
A few feet away from her, Yang planted her hands on her hips, feet shoulder-width apart. "That's twice now I've managed to spook you, because you weren't aware of me being behind you. I'm guessing you weren't really taught any sensory abilities despite having a fairly developed Aura and presumably having been trained to use it on the battlefield."
That caught Mikasa by surprise. Her arms lowered slightly, and she blinked twice. Aura? She thinks I have the same power as her and her teammates? "You... think I have Aura too?"
"Oh, I know you do. So does that girl Spring. She must be the one who taught you how to use your power, right?"
"Spring didn't tell me the name of the power we apparently shared, and I never cared enough to ask. How'd you know she taught me? Did she tell you?"
"No. It was just an obvious conclusion, considering she gave you those blades that look like they're stuck to your jacket right now, and the fact that you admitted you knew how to activate the blades in order to get them to extend. I'm assuming they double their length, right? To match the length of the regular blades you carry with your gear, or probably a bit longer. It would only make sense, since she's gotta be pretty smart and resourceful to make gunblades, anyway."
Mikasa threw a glance over her shoulder and raised a hand, fingers absentmindedly grazing the gun-hilt of one of the blades on her back. Her gaze returned to Yang. "So, what are you aiming at by bringing up my power?" she had to ask, dropping her hand and planting it on her hip. "What's your goal here?"
"Oh, me?" Yang threw her arms up and crossed them, her elbows up and her fingers intertwining before pressing her palms to the back of her head. "I don't have any goal here. I'm just curious – about you and Spring, and whether there's anyone else like Spring inside the walls. I can't exactly say I was expecting to find a whole lot that seemed familiar here. Besides, I can sense you're strong. Your Aura Reserve feels a bit bigger than average. Around the same as mine is, whenever I'm not using my Semblance. Your Aura's also a bit more intense, though. What else did Spring teach you?"
Mikasa hesitated, but soon composed herself, deciding there probably wouldn't be any harm in telling Yang. "She calls them spells. She said there were only a couple that she could teach me, since there were other spells that I would need a different source of energy for."
Yang nodded, offering a knowing smile. "She likely meant Dust, the source of energy we use for our weapons. They're produced by the planet in the form of crystals – ones which take the appearance of different colours, usually in accordance with their element. Burn Dust is red, Electric Dust is yellow, Aero Dust is green. It's known as an energy propellant. Or Nature's Wrath, if you want to be poetic about it," she explained, her tone a little light-hearted.
"Get lost! It's bad enough we're all gonna end up as Titan fodder, but the last thing I need is to be pitied by some damn outsider who doesn't even know why we're all so confident that we're gonna be a Titan's breakfast!"
Mikasa and Yang both blinked as Yang's smile dropped. Mikasa looked past Yang, toward Yang's left, only to find Jean grimacing as he spun on his heel, heading away from Blake. Blake continued to follow him, though, almost like a lost puppy, yet also somewhat fierce. Her hand clamped around his wrist, grip tight and crumpling the leather near the end of his jacket sleeve. Jean stopped in his tracks, and shot her a glare over his shoulder.
"I am well aware," Blake's voice sounded low, her tone intense. She spoke a little slow, but with resolve and a whole lot of purpose, as if to make sure Jean heard and understood every word she said. "We face a very similar threat in our world too. Our monsters may be somewhat different in history, and definitely in appearance, but the concept remains the same. They are monsters that pose a threat to the living, bent on the destruction of mankind." Her glaring gaze looked full of conviction upon her eyes meeting Jean's. "The Creatures of Grimm are the main reason Huntsmen and Huntresses exist in our world. The main reason my teammates and I own these weapons, and wield them with maybe more experience than you and comrades have with your own gear. So you can call me a 'damn outsider' all you want, but I only offer my help because it damn-well looks like you damn newbies are gonna need a hell of a lot of it to even survive!"
Jean blinked at Blake's outburst, breath seeming to catch in his throat, before he bared his teeth and scowled. He yanked his hand out of Blake's grip with surprising ease, almost as if Blake wasn't even putting up any resistance to letting him go. Perhaps she had no more left to say? Even so, her glare and the fierce look glinting in her golden eyes remained strong, and she furrowed her brows with something akin to frustration causing the crease between them, as she watched Jean twirl on his heel and damn-near march away. His hands balled into fists at his sides, the scowl never leaving his face, even as he glared down at the ground.
Yang and Mikasa shared an awkward, wide-eyed look.
"I... promise Blake's not normally that pissed off," Yang offered, slow and unsure, as she planted one hand on her hip, while her other scratched the back of her head. "I think this kind of situation has her a bit edgy. Plus, what happened just before we ended up here has to be on her mind. It doesn't help that we ended up leaving our friend, Shaye, behind to clean up our mess. But don't get me wrong, I'm pretty sure Shaye's more than competent. It's just that Blake tends to worry about stuff, and she has a habit of not telling anyone what's bothering her."
"I don't think there's any need to worry," Mikasa said. Her choice of words might've sounded reassuring, but her tone definitely sounded more matter-of-fact. "There's a whole lot of us here who must be just as on edge as Blake, if not more so. Some of them don't have the skills we do. More of them don't even really come close. I'm not intending to be arrogant or anything, but the only Cadets here who aren't really afraid are the ones who made the first five places in the top ten – the ones whose chances of surviving should be better than nearly everyone else's."
And those were just the cold, hard facts. Mikasa's eyes flicked toward Eren, who'd ended up in fifth place. Then to Bertholdt, who'd attained fourth place, and followed up with her gaze darting to Annie and Reiner, the latter talking more to Annie than Annie was talking to him – Annie had placed fourth, while Reiner had been awarded second place, just below Mikasa, as she'd made first place.
"You... gonna tell me who those five are?" Yang tilted her head.
"Myself, Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie, and Eren," Mikasa divulged, jerking her chin forward at each of the others as she pointed them out. "All in order, from first to fifth."
"Huh," Yang said, sounding awfully curious as her gaze trailed from Mikasa to Reiner and Annie, then to Bertholdt, then to Eren. Finally, her hands dropped to her hips and she turned back to face Mikasa. "What about your other friend? Armin, was it? The one that's going over plans with Weiss?"
"He... didn't end up making the top ten," Mikasa admitted. She hadn't realised until now just how much she'd be worrying about Armin, too. The facts she'd presented to Yang only a moment ago were true, but... well, could she dare to hope they weren't so absolute? She figured Spring would be an exception, so wouldn't Armin also be capable of somehow defying the same odds? "But I have faith he'll make it," she cautiously put forth. She couldn't say she happened to be one for superstition, but she hoped she wouldn't jinx Armin's chances of survival. "Spring didn't make the top ten, either, but I'd say her chances are probably better than ours."
"Not to knock you guys, but I think her chances might be a bit better because she's more like us, since she has a developed Aura and other gear. But I will admit, it is good that you're holding out hope for your friends. Though I find it a bit weird that she didn't make it into the top ten."
"I often wonder about that, too. I heard one of the other girls, Ymir, gave up her shot at placing tenth just to give it to Christa instead. Spring could've done the same thing, since her skills would've got her first place."
"Instead of you?"
Mikasa nodded. "I was honestly surprised when I found out I'd made first, rather than her. Quite a few of us were. When we asked, she suggested that using the gear she'd modified herself might've affected her ranking and the points that went toward her final grade."
"Ohh, so that's how you guys were ranked. Based on points. I get it." Yang raised a hand to her jaw, forefinger tapping her chin, while her other backhand propped up the elbow.
Mikasa opened her mouth, about to ask Yang how she'd previously thought the Cadets were ranked, but stopped herself short of speaking as she noticed Jean pass by only a few feet behind Yang. His hands still balled into fists by his sides, he traversed the stone ground with quick strides, his head lowered and his eyes pressed shut, clearly not looking where he was going. She pressed her glossed lips shut. Her eyes briefly met Yang's, before her gaze darted past Yang's shoulder, before landing on Jean again. Yang blinked, her brows rising, and with a pivot, she, too, looked at Jean, eyeing him from over her shoulder.
Eren strode into view then, heading Jean's way, his head down and eyes shadowed over by his fringe. He soon barrelled into Jean, the sudden, abrupt collision barely knocking Jean back. Both of them stumbled and took a step back from one another. They both lifted their heads, either boy staring at the other with widened eyes.
The moment lasted briefly, however.
"Move it!"
Jean barged past Eren, knocking Eren aside.
Eren whirled around and grabbed Jean's elbow at the fold. "What the hell, man?! What's wrong with you?!"
From the corner of her eye, Mikasa caught Ruby and Spring looking over at the two boys. Ruby's eyes betrayed her concern, while Spring's facial expression appeared deadpan; entirely used to Eren and Jean butting heads, Mikasa guessed.
"What kind of question is that?! We're all about to be Titan chow! You expect me to sing you a happy little song?!" Jean was almost shouting as he grabbed a fistful of Eren's shirt, getting in Eren's face. Eren pulled himself back to avoid literally butting heads with Jean. Jean appeared not to notice, or perhaps he didn't care, but even so, he continued on: "You're loving this, aren't you, you little psycho?! 'Course you are! Your whole life's aspiration is to be eaten!"
Mikasa took a step toward them, aiming to stop the argument before it escalated any further.
With only a single stride, Yang was suddenly standing beside her, and had wrapped her hand around Mikasa's wrist. "There's no need to worry. Look at Eren. I'm sure he's thinking of a way to calm Jean down. You don't need to get yourself caught in the middle."
Mikasa's eyes landed directly on Yang instead, hoping she'd at least look like she knew what she was talking about. Mikasa caught a hint of unsureness in Yang's eyes, but Yang still gave off a confident vibe regardless, as if she believed in her words but wanted to stay prepared in case the situation defied expectations and went south at some point. Figuring she knew where Yang stood, Mikasa momentarily closed her eyes, nodding before stepping back. Yang let go of her wrist.
"Good. You should trust him to look after himself more often," Yang quietly told her.
Was that what I was really doing? I thought I was simply operating on the belief that my skills would be enough to protect him so I wouldn't have to lose him too. But if I gave Yang the impression that I didn't have faith in Eren's ability to look after himself, then has that been how Eren's felt this entire time? If that's true, how could I not have noticed sooner?
"I was one day shy of shipping off to the MP!"
"Jean, get a hol—!"
"No! Not all of us are suicidal!"
"Damn it, shut up for a second!" Eren pushed forward and forced Jean backward, slamming Jean's back into the pillar behind him. Eren's closed fist clutched a clump of Jean's shirt, pressing his fist against Jean's chest. "We're trained for this! What do you think the last three years were about?! We survived. We stared death in the face and we lived. Not everyone can say that, can they? Some people couldn't take it, and either ran or were thrown out. Hell, some people actually died, but not us! Am I right?! We powered through for three years, what's one more day?!" As Eren was almost yelling, his tone growing more intense, Mikasa noticed that some of the defeated recruits were lifting their heads. Though, whether their reaction spawned from Eren's motivational words, or them simply wondering what Jean and Eren had to be butting heads about this time, Mikasa didn't know and couldn't tell. "You can do this, Jean. Right? The MP will still be waiting for you tomorrow," he added, as he let go of Jean's shirt and stepped back.
For a moment, Jean only stood there, seemingly still reeling from Eren's speech. Then, he lowered his head, tilting it slightly to one side while he averted his eyes, his gaze dropping to the ground. "Shit..." he muttered under his breath. He spun on his heel, walking away from the encounter. "Daz! On your feet! Stop bawling!"
"That was the complete opposite reaction I was expecting, if I'm honest," Yang sighed, the muscles in her shoulders relaxing, as she watched Eren. Her gaze flicked to Mikasa, then. "Looks like I was right after all, though, huh?"
"Yes. I'm beginning to see what you mean," Mikasa had to admit, meeting Yang's eyes.
"Hey, Eren!" Ruby called out, approaching Eren with incredible speed, a breeze and a small flurry of red rose petals following her. Her sudden speed, appearing so fast beside Eren that Mikasa almost hadn't been able to see her move for the split-second it took for her to dart across the courtyard, appeared to catch Eren off-guard, to say the least. That being said, he looked as if he was getting used to her speed.
Mikasa, on the other hand, would have to watch out for Ruby's speed. After all, she could travel from point A to point B faster than the eye could see. If she ended up fighting alongside Ruby, her own reflexes may not be able to keep up, should Ruby unexpectedly get in her way.
Blake and Spring jogged to catch up with Ruby, stopping beside her as she asked: "Do you think you'll be alright with just Weiss on your team?"
"Depends. I'm pretty confident we'd probably do just fine, but I don't mind if any of you three want to join her," Eren offered, glancing between Ruby, Blake, and Yang before returning his attention to Ruby. "Besides, if everything ends up going to shit and the plan just starts falling apart, all the squads will most likely merge together anyway. Strength and comfort in numbers, and all that."
"I've checked my Aura, and I think it'd be best if I fight alongside Weiss in your squad. Since Weiss took more damage prior to this, even with her Aura recovered, she still has the second-lowest Aura Guard, even though it's still up there. My own Guard is just slightly lower than hers, so it'd be best for us to stick together, for a while. That being said, don't be surprised if we end up splitting up, since I'm fairly worried about leaving this base unguarded. If the Titans manage to get past the Vanguard too, then I'm going to come back here and defend this place, plus find a way to help the supply team."
"Sounds like a solid plan, in theory." Yang folded her arms again. "Hope for the best and prepare for the worst, huh?"
"Something like that. Though, I will admit... hope seems to be rather scarce around here," Blake carefully pointed out. Her gaze glided over the courtyard, across and over the heads of the other Cadets muttering to themselves and sounding as deep in despair as they looked.
"Well, in any case, even if it's only for a bit, I'm glad you're gonna be joining us," Eren cut in, "since you being there along with Weiss will hopefully make Armin feel a bit more relieved. After all, both of your skills are better vouched for than anyone else in our squad. Actually, I should go and find Weiss and Armin to let them know."
I don't exactly know what these girls can do and just how skilled they are, but they fought the Colossal Titan and nearly killed the bastard, and Eren was there to see them demonstrate some of their abilities. He might just be impressed by them, but even so, I'm just gonna have to trust that he can truly vouch for the skills of these girls. Besides, if they can give Armin a little hope at a time like this, and Spring already knows what they'd be capable of better than either Eren, Armin, or me, then I may as well give them the benefit of the doubt.
"I can come with you, if you want," Blake offered, watching Eren as he made to step away from the group. "To find them, that is. My sensory abilities are on a similar level to Weiss', and she's got the best sensory skills on our team."
Eren stopped, eyes flicking back toward Blake. "There's no need. I guarantee you I know where Armin would've gone, and I'll likely find Weiss with him. But if you still wanna help, you could go find Thomas and Mina. They're in our squad again, along with two other guys: Nack Tierce and Milieus Zermusky. Thomas and Mina can help you find them, since you haven't met Nack or Milieus yet."
"I'll get right on that, then." And with that, Blake darted away from the group, her sudden speed more reminiscent of an ability Spring had called Flash-Step.
"Ackerman!"
At the familiar voice, Mikasa turned, almost to her left, finding none other than Ian Dietrich, the Captain of the Rear Guard standing a few feet behind where Eren had suddenly paused again. The other girls and Eren turned to look at the Captain too. Ruby and Eren shared a look.
"Isn't that one of the Captains that was in the room with us when we were giving our info about the Colossal?" Ruby asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Yeah, that's Captain Ian Dietrich of the Garrison Regiment," Eren told her. "He was selected as the Captain of the Rear Guard."
Seemingly unperturbed by Ruby and Eren recognising him, Captain Dietrich continued on, his gaze firmly set on Mikasa as he addressed her: "You're with me. You've been assigned to the Rear Guard on special orders. Let's get moving."
"See, Ruby? What'd I tell you? I knew she'd get chosen for the Rear Guard," Spring said then, leaning closer to Ruby, her voice hushed.
The Rear Guard consisted of the best elite Garrison soldiers in Trost and, as such, had been chosen to act as the last line of defence against the Titans. They were also tasked with helping the citizens of Trost evacuate behind Wall Rose and protecting the civilians from any Titans that got past the first two rows of defence. For a Cadet to even be assigned to the Rear Guard would've been an incredible honour.
Not to Mikasa, though. Well, not at this moment, anyway. Being placed on the Rear Guard would only make getting to and protecting Eren more difficult once the plan went straight to shit.
"But sir! I'm a Cadet! I'll slow everyone down!"
Eren, Spring, and Ruby shot Mikasa an incredulous look. Yang momentarily closed her eyes and turned her head away, a small, knowing smile on her face.
"I figured she wouldn't wanna go with them," Yang muttered under her breath. At the tilt of Ruby's head and a questioning 'Hm?', Yang continued: "Being on the Rear Guard will make it a bit more difficult for her to get to Eren when the plan will eventually go out the window."
"Oh, I see. So you wanna protect him," Ruby ascertained, before offering a calm, unoffended shrug towards Mikasa. "Makes sense. I know a few people that'd wanna do the same."
So, Ruby understands.
"You're not being asked for a self-evaluation here," the Captain cut in, his brows furrowing slightly at Mikasa. "The mass exodus is falling apart. We need as many elite soldiers as possible to get things back on track."
Mikasa made to step forward. "Sir! With all do respect—!"
"HEY!" Eren's forehead slammed into Mikasa's. Mikasa took a step back again, shrinking into herself. Her hands rose up to hold her forehead, in an attempt to comfort herself – the impact had been sudden, after all. Eren stepped closer, the anger in his eyes clear as day, and his temper almost rising with his voice. "You've been given a direct order. Pull it together – now! This is bigger than the two of us, and you know it! We're on the verge of extinction here! Have some damn perspective!"
Mikasa blinked, before lowering her head, her gaze dropping to the ground in shame. As much as she wanted to protect Eren, she knew she needed to be able to trust that Eren could take care of himself, like Yang had told her. Plus, Weiss and Blake would be there to help if things went awry with their squad.
Mikasa had the power to kill Titans more than any other cadet, except perhaps Spring or Annie. However, that didn't mean she would always be able or there to use it in order to protect Eren, especially when situations happened to be this dire, with even their elite forces stretched so thin.
For now, anyway, she could only trust in Weiss', Blake's, Armin's, and Eren's skills, and hope they survived. When she saw them again, she wanted nothing more than for her childhood friends to be in one piece. She didn't know what she'd do if she lost them...
"You're right, I'm sorry..." Mikasa's voice sounded barely above a whisper. "This whole situation just has me out of my head."
"Uh, hey, are you okay? That headbutt looked like it hurt," Ruby's brows slanted in concern as she approached Mikasa.
"Yeah. I'll be fine." Mikasa nodded her head, sullen beyond her own belief. Eren began walking away, leaving Ruby, Spring, and Yang behind, with Ruby worrying over Mikasa. Mikasa didn't waste a second, grabbing Eren by his sleeve to briefly pause his departure. "Just promise... promise me one thing. Whatever happens, don't get yourself killed."
Eren stared for a moment, only to wordlessly snatch his arm from Mikasa's grasp, and start off back toward the supply depot.
Spring looked at Ruby then. "You said you use a gun-scythe, right? One of the most dangerous weapons ever designed? And your skills are said to be on par with that of a Huntsman using that same weapon?"
"Yes...?"
"Then you should join the Rear Guard too!" Spring suggested, sounding rather cheerful. "They're supposed to be the last line of defence, so I'm sure your skills would be incredibly appreciated."
Ruby considered Spring briefly, then nodded and shrugged. She threw her hand high and waved at Captain Dietrich, who'd just been about to turn and leave. "Uh, sir? Do you mind if I join the Rear Guard as well?"
Squall Leonhart
Three knocks managed to rock the black-painted wooden door to their dorm room, a hint of haste being caught in the way the knuckles rapped on the door.
"Squall," the familiar voice of Shaye called out from behind the door, her voice clear, mellow, and fairly deep, and her tone firm. "Can I come in? I'd like your help with something."
What now? Squall flopped upright in the double-bed he had to share with Star, who laid on her side, with the back of her head facing him. He caught her glaring at the door from over the top of the all-black cover adorning their bed. Squall's eyes flicked back to the door a bit toward his left, several feet in front of the end of their bed. "The door's open, but this better be quick."
"Can it not wait five more minutes, at least...?" Star sighed, her equally-mellow-but-lighter voice near-enough hissing out from under the cover, tone still as somehow pleasant to listen to despite the quiet, yet still obvious, exasperation. Her medium-length, usually-straight chocolate-brown hair now looked fairly wavy and ruffled out of place as a result of her bedhead, and her softer, lighter-orchid-pink irises peered between narrowed eyelids, her gaze still a bit unfocused, at first glance.
"Or else what, Squall?" Shaye asked, clear voice muffled as she spoke through the door. She sounded genuinely curious.
"Or else you can get lost and leave us to get a few more hours of sleep in."
Shaye abruptly swung open the door, letting it hit the wall at her left. A thick, comfortable, thigh-length, royal-purple cardigan bore long sleeves ending almost at her knuckles, hovering close to the bandages wrapped around her hands, covering each knuckle. Meanwhile, her cardigan sat over a lighter-rose-pink shirt reaching down to her thighs, with her legs and feet adorned with a pair of black slacks and purple-soled black flats. In one of her bandaged hands, she carried a container, decorated with pale vein-like lines across the surface, a pair of clasps on the front used to lock the lid shut. Her fingers sat wrapped around the handle attached to the lid.
"The hell happened to your hands?" Squall raised a brow, his own blue eyes flicking between Shaye's purple eyes and her hands. "What, did you underestimate one of the upperclassmen again?"
As far as he knew, Shaye normally wore fingerless gloves, not wraps. He distinctly remembered her telling him once that she could never understand why people wore white wraps around any part of their body, as the wraps could easily be mistaken for bandages upon a quick first glance, and so it would leave people to think she was hurt or injured. "All that fuss about your wellbeing, for the sake of style or looking good? No thank you," she'd said.
"No. Though I was in a fight earlier this morning. Team RWBY and I were getting those stolen artefacts back," Shaye explained, holding up the container. "They're in here. It's a long story, but the short of it is that Torchwick had actually stolen the second device in a separate heist, and Team RWBY and I went out to get them both back at about daybreak. Since you told me to be quick, it's Team RWBY's involvement that's the problem I'd like your help for."
"Let me guess, Little Rose is in big trouble?" Lightning asked, looking over the red bed covers adorning the black mattress on the low futon bed, near the corner of the room, a couple feet to the right of Squall and Star.
Shaye nodded, before kicking the door shut behind her. "These artefacts are actually devices that caused most of the residents of a village on the kingdom's border to disappear six years ago, seemingly off the face of Remnant altogether. They are activated via making contact with a person's Aura, and one of them ended up hitting Ruby, and it ended up activating. I was fairly lucky not to get caught in the reaction, but I can't say the same about Team RWBY," she explained, holding the container low again. "They vanished just like those village residents six years ago. I got the devices back, but I must admit I don't exactly know what to do given Team RWBY is now missing."
Squall fell back into his bed, his head hitting his scarlet pillow. "I'm not gonna follow in their footsteps based on one of your hunches."
"Why do you want one of us to help you, anyway?" Cloud asked, sitting upright on the double-bed futon stood between Squall and Star's bed, and the bed Noctis and Tidus were sharing toward the other side of the room. A few feet of space separated Cloud, Terra, and Firion, all of whom were sharing the futon, from Squall's side of the bed, as well as Tidus' side of the opposite bed. The trio's futon also laid a few feet in front of the somewhat low bookshelf spanning the length of the window it sat under, the shelves filled with plenty of books, while Cloud's Buster Sword laid on the flat surface lining the top of the bookshelf.
"I plan on following Team RWBY myself soon, but I don't know what to expect. The village residents haven't been found in six years despite an intense search for their whereabouts, and thus I'm not confident we'll simply find Team RWBY somewhere outside the kingdoms. I need time to prepare all of my equipment. Perhaps an hour, maybe two. A lot of us have visited various worlds before, and I'm not ruling out the possibility that these devices caused a similar occurrence to happen, just through a different method than being sent by that Goddess, Madoka."
"Ah. So, you must believe the villagers and Team RWBY to be delivered to the same world. Or perhaps your hunch varies from my thinking?" Y'shtola asked, crossing her arms. Cupping her chin between her thumb and forefinger, she glanced at Shaye from the futon sat against the wall, organised perpendicular to Lightning's futon, with the ends of their futons meeting only a couple feet diagonally from the corner of the room.
"I have my suspicions, based on the devices themselves. There may be some exceptions, but as a general rule of thumb, Dust cannot be used outside of places where it is found, meaning outside of Remnant or anyplace that's somehow linked to Remnant. Since these devices appear to be fuelled by Dust, I would think its only logical that, if they were to transport someone off the face of Remnant, they would send that person to a world quite similar to Remnant, likely in the sense of its atmosphere being at least Dust-friendly, or their planet somehow also producing Dust."
"Makes sense. Why Squall, though?" Noctis asked, propping himself up in his bed, leaning on his palms. He then supported himself on one hand, throwing his other up to pinch the bridge of his nose, before rubbing his eyes as he woke up.
Shaye blinked, hesitating to answer for a moment. Then, after glancing at Squall, she closed her eyes. "I'm not sure. I think it's because I have a fair amount of trust in him, and I know him a bit better than I know the rest of you. Plus, he's better at Aura-sensing than the rest of you."
Yeah, she definitely only thought of that now. Still, it's not like I can say she's wrong. I have adapted to Remnant better than everyone else so far. A sigh slipped from Squall's nose. "Alright, fine. I'll go," he declared, deadpan, as he propped himself upright again. He lazily swung his legs over his side of the bed, shooting her a rather harsh glare from the side. "I assume you have a way for me to contact you between those hours you'll be getting ready? You know, so I can confirm your hunch?"
"Whether I'm right or not, if you aren't able to call me through your Scroll, I'd just suggest praying to Madoka so you can talk to her and then she can connect you to me from there." Shaye shrugged.
Star softly patted Squall's bare right arm. "Make sure you bring Yang back soon. We were supposed to have another extracurricular sparring session this coming week on Tuesday and Thursday. Oh, and Pyrrha wanted to help Ruby with Aura control and spells, too, on those same days," she reminded him, offering a small quirk of her forefinger, briefly flicking her fingertip toward the ceiling. "Just so you have something to do if you manage to find them."
"If my hunch turns out to be right, then if none of us are back by tomorrow, or Tuesday at the latest, you and Pyrrha can use the devices to come and join us," Shaye suggested. "I'm thinking of telling my team as much, too, just in case. Also, Squall, I'd recommend you choose someone to leave the devices with, for the time being. Someone sensible, who knows better than to let anyone know that we're in possession of stolen artefacts, preferably," Shaye pointed out, a somewhat sarcastic small smile accompanying her faux-polite tone, as if putting forth a subtle warning, while reminding him of how obvious it should be that holding onto these artefacts would be questionable at the very least, if not borderline illegal.
Then again, Shaye's former profession as an Assassin had involved some form of premeditated murder, under the guise of cleaning up Anima and trying to rid it of the serious scumbags inhabiting the continent. And she'd been one of the best Assassins on the continent, if not in the entire world; second only to her own mentor, as far as he knew. Ever since his death, she would've taken his place as the current No. 1 Assassin in Anima – if there was anyone still keeping track. A much milder, lesser crime, like being in possession of stolen items, likely wouldn't mean shit to someone like her, unless the situation would just bring about unnecessary difficulties in the future.
"Yeah, sure..." Squall absentmindedly replied, dropping next to the bed and pulling out his wide, flat-lidded black chest, bordered in silver and adorned with a Griever emblem on the front and on the lid, in white. He hauled his usual attire out of the surprisingly larger space inside, the interior a solid black but also lined in silver. He raised his head, a deadpan gaze set on Star from over the side of the bed. "Star, I'll leave them with you. If you decide to come with us, give them either to Lightning or Cloud."
"Huh? Me?!" Star shot up from her pillow, her upper body propped up by her palms. The rounded collar of her long-sleeved, orchid-pink tunic shirt nearly hung off one shoulder.
"I'll leave them with you afterwards, then, Star," Shaye told her without hesitation.
Star threw her open hands out before her. "Wait! If you're gonna leave those devices with me, don't you think I should know how to activate them?"
"Just grab one of the devices. But, if that doesn't work, the round device has two buttons you'll have to press simultaneously. Also, keep your distance from everyone else when activating the devices. Like I said, I was lucky to not get caught in the reaction. Also, Squall, we should meet outside."
"Got it. Just let me get ready first." He pulled his clothes towards his chest and headed to the bathroom door in the wall over to his right, near the far corner closer to the door. He narrowly dodged Bartz and Zidane still sleeping in mellow-yellow hammocks, which hung above the bed Cloud, Terra, and Firion shared, with Bartz and Zidane laid only a fair bit below the ceiling – enough that they wouldn't bang their heads on it when they woke up. Squall approached Shaye and she looked up at him almost blankly yet with confidence, as if that would answer his glare. "By the way, you owe me for this. Whether your plan works out or not."
"Of course." Squall caught what had to be a humoured glint in Shaye's eyes. "I'll be sure to join you soon. Hopefully."
And that's this chapter done! I'm sorry if the ending seemed a bit abrupt, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope you're enjoying this fic so far!
That being said, I have a few more things to add. Basically a lot of the main characters from Dissidia Final Fantasy and a few from DFF NT are here in Remnant. This is after the champions seemed to end the war in the first Dissidia, but also before a few characters have begun their own adventures in their respective FF games – Cloud being a prime example, as he was brought into this between the end of Crisis Core and the start of FF7, around the time he'd just formed his idealised identity based on Zack, but before he managed to make it to Midgar where Tifa found him. His story and how he fits into the RWBY/Remnant storyline will hopefully develop as this fic progresses, since I want to explore Cloud's mental and psychological state, even if it might end up being somewhat in the background. That being said, I feel like giving Cloud the personality he has in the FF7 Remake, since I'm more familiar with how he's presented in that, and if I'm not mistaken, I think his character is a bit more fleshed out in that? At least in the first part (which I'm solely putting in here now because there are a few more parts on the way).
It probably sounds a bit confusing, so I'll be sure to explain all of that in the fic at some point. But you'll have to bear with me on that too, I'm afraid, since it'll be a while before anyone can sit down and just talk.
Now, as for the pretty lengthy Blake notes at the start of the chapter: I want to entertain the idea of there being more to Blake than wanting to fight for her people – which by itself is completely fine and fits with her rather righteous nature, don't get me wrong; but I've always wondered whether her selflessness and social awareness (I hope I'm saying that right) alone would give her enough... incentive(?) to cover/hide her own heritage (her cat ears) behind a bow, so she could temporarily pass as Human for as long as she wanted. So, I'm entertaining the idea that Blake more-so covers her ears due to previously being targeted by people who made their business mutilating Faunus for their primary characteristics/traits (animal ears, tails, etc.) so they could sell them on an underground market. I realise it's a dark-as-fuck topic, but I feel like this would make more sense, as Blake was shown not to have covered her ears while in the White Fang, what with being surrounded by Faunus who would provide her with protection and support, and seemed to only adorn the bow when she left. My theory is that she wanted to protect or perhaps hide herself from anyone that might be in the Vale side of that underground market, especially since she's the daughter of the man who formerly led the White Fang. I'm sure that at least one of us has seen a movie, perhaps a fic or two, where someone's past or notable presence in society brings unwanted attention to their family, and probably ends up with a member or two of said family being kidnapped. That's pretty much what I'm suggesting happened with Blake.
And before anyone asks, yes, there will be scenes regarding Blake's past and showing what happened – thank the similarities to Mikasa's backstory for that. There will also be scenes regarding the backstories of some of the other RWBYverse characters.
I hope you understand! And thank you for reading this so far!
— Spring
