Chapter 6
Ruby gently reached out, touching the edge of the destroyed fountain. As she looked closer, she could see dozens of old claw marks, along with the new ones. A sickening feeling crept up from her stomach; this had once been a village before being overrun by Grimm.
Looking around, she began to be able to see the shadow of the former town. The nearby buildings looked almost like cabins, though she could only guess from the outlines. Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the nearest one, feeling a strange sense of solemn silence come over her as she did so.
The building had obviously been ravaged in the attack, and she could see claw marks everywhere. Kneeling in the doorway, she could see the scuff marks from where the door had been knocked in, and she could even find the marks from where the hinges had been.
Stepping further in, she had to lift her Scroll in order to get enough light to truly inspect it. The dust everywhere told her nothing had been in here for a long time, which only made her feel worse. The Grimm had cleared everyone out, and then just lived around it.
A crunching sound underfoot startled her, and she looked down to see small shards. Kneeling, she inspected it closer, surprised to find shards of what almost looked like fractured Dust. Panning the light, she could see more of them, sprayed out in a burst around the corner, where she could see some dusty objects. Carefully walking over, she set her Scroll down so she could inspect with both hands.
The first thing she picked up was a badly charred stick, with the top dissolving as she picked it up, and the bottom looked like it had been snapped. A second, less charred section confirmed her suspicions. Together, they seemed to form some kind of staff. Looking around, she realized the fractured Dust pieces radiated out from this point.
Turning the objects around in her hands, she realized it must have been a weapon. A sense of dread engulfed her as she knelt down, brushing aside the dust and fragments to reveal a badly charred hole in the ground. The blast point. Whoever had been here had gone out trying to take as many Grimm as possible with them.
Quietly, she put the Scroll back in her pocket, and backed out of the house, holding her breath. Once she was out the door, she allowed herself to breathe, free of the cloying dust. Even so, she couldn't bring herself to look away.
"Ruby, what did you find? What's-?" Weiss began to ask, before noticing her expression. Weiss' gaze followed hers, and her mouth set in a small line before cautiously putting a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Come on, let's take a look at it."
Ruby didn't put up much of a fight as Weiss half-dragged her over to the fountain, forcing her to sit down. For a moment, Ruby didn't say anything, but slowly, she lifted the pieces, looking over them. "They went out fighting."
Weiss looked over her and the weapon with a half-concealed look of sadness. "That's a primitive Huntsman's weapon. Of course they went out fighting."
Ruby nodded slowly, processing it all. With a sigh, Weiss sat down beside her. "Think about it like this; how many people do you think got away because this one Huntsman gave everything? Beacon exists because of the sacrifice of people like this."
"Yeah...you're right," Ruby agreed, sighing. "I just...wish they could have lived today, to see everyone living in peace."
"I'm sure their final thoughts were of the future they helped make," Weiss said quietly. "Now come on, we still have to search the buildings."
"Alright, right behind you." Gently, Ruby put the pieces into her pack. It didn't feel right to leave them behind.
Jaune clutched his sword tightly, looking down the hill at the small clearing. There were at least seven Ursa Minor he could see, but a few had wandered in and out of the clearing as they watched.
At the same time, he could clearly see the small pedestal in the centre, with a small helmet placed on it. There was no way that was natural, which meant it had to be one of the objects of their search.
"So, how do we go about getting it?" Jaune asked aloud, turning to his team. They looked surprised at the question. "What have we got?"
"There's too many of them to take head on," Ren noted impassively.
"Ren's over-reacting, I could handle at least two of them easily," Nora boasted, elbowing her partner. Jaune wasn't sure about that, but he knew better than to shoot her down immediately.
"Well, if there were more trees, I could get closer, but my chains don't go that far," Emerald offered with a shrug.
Jaune nodded, rubbing his chin in thought. Ursa weren't particularly fast, so once they grabbed the helm, there was no reason to stick around. The problem was getting to it. The Ursa were clustered around it almost protectively, which made it hard to get a good approach.
The trees around the edges were pretty bare, but sturdy looking, Jaune noted, though he wasn't sure how that could help them. "If we could just get close enough, we could grab it and go."
"Ren's faster than them. He could distract some of them," Nora offered.
"That would probably draw some of their fire away, but we shouldn't get too spread out. Once we grab it, we need to be able to run. Nora, you should go with him. How hard does your hammer hit?"
Nora's grin was borderline psychotic. "I'll break every one of their limbs."
"That might actually be useful, but try to avoid taking too many risks. Ren, you fire on them from behind Nora to get their attention and keep them off-balance. Emerald, you and I will attack from the right side of the clearing. Once we get the opportunity, you go for the snag with your chain, go it?"
"If you say so," she replied, looking a little unconvinced.
"Hey, if this fails, its my skin. I'll be covering you. Everyone ready?" Jaune looked at them, trying to project confidence. "Alright, then let's go!"
Jaune could feel his heart in his throat as he shot out from the trees, holding his shield high. Behind him, he could hear Emerald's twin pistols firing at the Grimm, causing them to look up in surprise and annoyance. To his left, a couple of pink explosions toppled a pair of bears, while simultaneously gaining them ground. A green flash was the only sign of Ren rushing forward, his blades striking weak joints and eyes before flashing behind Nora's protective form.
The first of the Ursa tried to lunge, and he put up his shield, taking the brunt of the hit with it. Despite the force of the strike, the Ursa barely moved him, instead bouncing off. Its exposed belly was then shredded by Emerald, who dashed under his raised arm, digging the hook-like blades of her guns into it before spinning behind him. Jaune glanced at his shield for a moment, smiling slightly. "Alright. I could get used to this!"
Bashing the next Ursa's arm away, he caught a glimpse of the helm. They had already gained a lot of ground, but momentum was slowing, and he could see more Ursa coming from the other end of the clearing. "Emerald, up!"
Crouching, he held his shield above his head, and Emerald seemed to get his message, running at him. Her foot met his shield, and he pushed upwards, launching her above the line of Ursa. With a clear shot, she swung out her chain, sending the helm flying off to the left. Ren bounced off an unbalanced Grimm, and caught it before landing behind Nora.
Emerald swung her chain downwards, spearing the ground a ways behind them, but Jaune was too focused on the Ursa who were now taking advantage of his momentary imbalance. The first one had battered his shield, and had a better time of it this go around. Knocked to the side, he barely managed to block another swipe before one of their paws swung at his legs, knocking him down. His Aura thankfully tanked it, but now he could see the Ursa rising above him, paws aimed to crush him. "Not the face!"
They only found the earth where he had been, and he let out a girly scream as a sudden force yanked him back before he could be flattened. The clanking sound of metal told him it was Emerald's chain, and he found her arms under his shoulders, yanking him to a stand. "Come on! Let's go, you idiot!"
Jaune stumbled into a run, and Emerald barely paused, immediately yanking herself into the treeline. To his right, he could see Nora outpacing the Ursa even with her armour, and Ren was already at the treeline, firing distracting shots at the Ursa.
Once in the trees, the Ursa lost a lot of momentum, having to either brush them aside, or weave, while they managed to keep running largely unimpeded. Jaune couldn't help but smile as the adrenaline pulsed through his body. They had actually done it.
Eventually, they began to slow as they realized they had lost their pursuers. For a moment, they just stood and caught their breath, looking between behind them and each other.
Jaune couldn't help it; he started laughing.
"You almost died and you're laughing?!" Emerald yelled, halfway between anger and disbelief.
"I just can't believe it went so flawlessly!" Jaune admitted, wiping his eyes. "It was like a movie."
"You-! You almost got stomped by an Ursa!" Emerald pointed out, though he could see a smile struggling its way onto her face.
"Yeah, but you got me out of there. Nice work Em!" he complimented before turning to Ren and Nora. "You two did amazing out there. You weren't kidding about that hammer. How many legs did you smash?"
"I wasn't counting."
"I believe she disabled four Ursa, smashing a grand total of nine limbs," Ren pointed out breathlessly. Barely able to lift his arm, Ren offered the helm to Jaune, who took it and carefully began to inspect it.
It wasn't much to write home about, but it was definitely old. Probably like a school trophy item or something added to the hunt if he had to guess. The thing actually looked a bit like an Ursa skull, but fashioned from metal. "Well, let's just hold on to this for now. In the meanwhile-"
The sound of gunshots cut him off, and all of them raised their weapons, reflexively forming a defensive ring as they scanned the treeline. After a moment, he realized it was further off, but not too far out. "Sounds like someone else. We should go help."
"Why? We just barely got out of that last fight," Emerald pointed out.
"They might need it," Jaune pointed out as he began to run. Nora followed without pause, and Ren followed her. Emerald sighed, and began following them a moment later.
"Get down!"
Ruby ducked as Pyrrha hissed a command, and she was about to ask what was happening when the sky went dark, and she felt a horrid, bone-rending cold pass over her. For a second, it became hard to breathe, and she could feel her grip on her gun shaking.
But in the same instant it was over. Ruby looked up to try and spot the source, and she felt her knees go weak at the sight. It was a Nevermore.
The massive, bird-like Grimm passed over them as casually as one might pass an ant, but she knew it was because it hadn't seen them. If it had, it would be on the attack.
"We should go," Weiss instructed, moving to retreat into the deeper forest. Ruby just stared at her in surprise for a moment.
"We're running? Why!" she half-demanded, trying to keep her voice down.
"We're not prepared to kill that thing," Weiss tried to explain, keeping her voice low and quiet. "It's not our fight."
"What about what you just said? This is exactly the kind of thing. Besides, think about it, if we take it down, imagine how impressed Ozpin-"
"Ozpin won't be impressed if we're all dead!" Weiss countered. "Get over here, now!"
Ruby frowned, gripping her rifle tightly. How could Weiss disregard what she had just said? This went against the principles of being a Huntsman. This was-
Her thoughts were disrupted by an ear-splitting caw, and they all turned to see the Nevermore banking, adjusting course towards them.
"It's seen us!" Weiss cried out, jumping into cover. Ruby cast her a glare, readying her stance and aiming her rifle. Her heavy hitting Gravity shots were ready and loaded, and she was going to hit it with everything. "Ruby what are you doing?!"
Ruby didn't answer, instead rapid firing at the Nevermore. It was an easy target, and wasn't even dodging. Each shot hit it and visibly made it shake, but as it neared, she could feel the aura of dread cold close around her, making it harder to move. Finally, panic seized her as she realized that it wasn't affected by her shots, and she took a half step back. That was when it struck.
The Nevermore pulled back suddenly, its wings acting as a massive break before it suddenly whipped them forward, razor sharp feathers flurrying forwards at unbelievable speeds. Ruby's eyes widened as she realized she couldn't get out of the way in time.
A sound like a blade across a mirror shrieked towards her, and it took her a second to realize that it came from her right, rather than ahead of her. Opening her eyes, she saw Weiss standing in front of her, rapier raised upwards, pointing to the pinnacle of a wall of ice. Before she had a chance to react, both of them were yanked to the side, under cover of trees.
Ruby was disoriented as she found someone gripping her tightly and throwing her behind the cover of a tree as the Nevermore buzzed over their position. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!"
Everything refused to process for a moment, even as Weiss towered over her, anger clear on her face, while Pyrrha fired distracting shots, dashing between trees as the Nevermore tried futilely to land a strike on her. Ruby just stared at her hands, realizing how close to death she had come. Slowly, she looked up, barely able to form a thought. "You...saved me."
"What else was I going to do? Let you go out in a blaze of glory?" Weiss asked, disbelief oozing from every word. "At the very least you could have talked about a plan or something!"
"And let that thing roam free while we scurry away?"
"No! If we had a plan, we might be able to do something, but now it knows we're here, and now we just have to survive until it gets bored. Which might take a while. Nevermore are tough, you can't just shoot them out of the sky!"
Ruby felt her face flush, both from anger and embarrassment. "I...I never learned much about Nevermores. They probably covered it in the two years they skipped me."
"You…" Weiss began, but just sighed. "Alright, listen. If we had talked, this would have gone better, so we need to talk now. I'm sorry I made it sound like we were going to leave it be. I'm sorry I assumed that you would just have no questions or ideas. But right now we need to work together to stay alive, and that means you and I need to talk, alright?"
Ruby bit the inside of her cheek, trying to swallow her anger. "Alright, fine. I'm sorry I acted without thinking."
To her surprise, Weiss smiled softly, and she could easily see the sadness hidden behind her eyes. "I understand, I really do. But we have to keep a level head. Otherwise we make stupid mistakes."
Ruby's eyes immediately flicked to the scar on Weiss' face, then away as she realized Weiss knew what she was doing. Weiss reared back, hissing slightly before taking a deep breath. She looked away with a sigh, before looking back at Ruby, a soft, saddened expression adorning her face. "So, are you willing to work with me here?"
"Alright, let's kill this thing," Ruby said with a nod.
"Pyrrha, what's the situation?" Weiss demanded, turning to the other Huntress, who was scanning the trees above for glimpses of the bird.
"It does not know exactly where we are, but it can sense us. It just cannot see us," she summarized, looking up nervously.
"Alright, then we have the chance to get the drop on it, but we need to keep calm," Weiss said, emphasizing each word. "Ruby, do you have any Ice Dust?"
"I have a cartridge of them; twelve shots total."
"We need to force it to lose altitude. How easily do you think you can hit its wings?"
Ruby glanced up at the sky nervously. Despite its large size, it was deceptively fast. "I could do it, but it might be a tricky shot."
"Alright. Once you take its wings out, it'll have to crash down in the forest. We have to keep it there so it can't take off again. Any ideas on how to keep it down?" she asked, looking between them.
Ruby unclipped the cartridge from her rifle. "I have some Gravity Dust, three shots left. Can you do something with your glyphs?"
Weiss nodded as she accepted the cartridge, shoving the first bullet into the hilt of her rapier. "This should be able to hold it temporarily. We need to take out its wings. Without those, it can't attack as well."
"We should be on the lookout for Grimm. Something that big falling out of the sky is bound to attract their attention," Pyrrha noted, her voice dire. "I do not think my weapon is going to do much to its wings, but I can keep it distracted."
"Guess that means its up to me, huh?" Ruby asked nervously, holding Crescent Rose closer. It was practically made for this task, but she couldn't help but doubt. After all, the shots had barely done anything to it, so what was a scythe going to do? Still, it was a better plan than nothing. "Alright, I'm ready."
"Good, let's kill this bird," Weiss affirmed, taking a deep breath. Ruby nodded, then turned around, getting a run up before leaping up into the trees. Quickly, she worked her way to the top branches, where she could get sight of the Nevermore without being seen easily herself.
The Grimm was circling, one of its red eyes focused downwards, scanning the ground. It let out another horrific caw, but it was far enough away to only be mildly uncomfortable. Slowly, Ruby forced out all her breath before inhaling, tensing her torso as she leaned into her rifle, peering through the scope.
Beneath her, she could feel the tree sway slightly, and she mentally adjusted her shot to account for the wind. The Nevermore was tilting for a side pass, which meant it would be the biggest possible target. Carefully, she planted the back of her rifle into the tree to soak the recoil. She would need to have the best shots possible for this to work.
The Nevermore reached the apex of its pivot, and Ruby saw her chance. Her shot rang out, flying towards the bird. She only waited long enough to see it hit the upper wing, frosting the muscles over before she pulled the bolt, lining up the second shot.
The Nevermore's body jerked, and it flapped its one good wing in an attempt to gain altitude, forcing her to adjust her sights. Feeling the burning in her chest from needing air, she pulled the trigger, and nearly let out a cry of excitement as she hit the other wing. By this point, the fall had pivoted it enough to start it heading towards them. Collapsing her weapon, she jumped down, barely pausing as she activated her Semblance.
"Grab on!" Ruby shouted, stretching out her hands as she momentarily pulled out of her Semblance. Both of them looked surprised to see her appear out of a trail of petals, but thankfully reacted fast enough as she activated it again, rocketing through the trees. As she raced forward, she could feel the cold aura of the Nevermore, telling her she was headed the right way. Even so, it seemed weaker than it had been, for which she was grateful.
The sound of crashing trees made her veer to the side, and not a moment too soon as the Nevermore swept above them. Quickly, Ruby stopped, and turned Weiss towards the Nevermore. After a brief moment of disorientation, she lifted her rapier, taking her stand. "Oh no you don't!"
With a flourish, the blade turned black, and she speared her rapier into the earth, causing a massive glyph to appear below the Nevermore, and Ruby could hear the crunch of its massive wings as it was forced into the ground. Ruby met Pyrrha's gaze and nodded, slinging her scythe back before firing the Aero round.
Pyrrha charged forward, firing shots from her muskets at the beast's face, causing it to flinch away. She kept the fire up, aiming for its eyes. Ruby, meanwhile, flew under its wing, her scythe cleaving halfway through. Landing on the other side, Ruby dug her heels in, heaving against the momentum to swing Crescent Rose the other way. For a moment, it felt like she was going to spin out, but when she pulled the trigger, she found herself flying back the way she came, and her scythe finished its job this time, shredding all the way to the base of the wings.
Landing, Ruby looked back in excitement as the wing turned to ash, and was just about to position to do the other when suddenly the massive fan of tail feathers came rising into view, blocking out the sky.
The whistling of razor feathers filled her ears, and she threw up her arm in a futile defense, only for something heavy to impact her from behind, forcing her to the ground. The sound of beating on metal made her look up, surprised to see Jaune, shield raised. Once the hail had stopped, he stood up, offering his hand.
Ruby was yanked to her feet, and the pair of them fled from the range of the Nevermore's tail. Jaune looked at the huge beast with obvious fear. "What's the plan?"
"I need to get to the other side and take out its wing," Ruby informed quickly, trying to figure out how to get over the massive body.
"I'm going to need to refuel in a second!" Weiss yelled, her rapier slowly being forced out of the ground. "We'll need to keep it down!"
"Nora, keep it from taking off!" Jaune commanded, to which she saluted.
"Aye aye captain!" she giggled, jumping at the Nevermore. She smashed the sharp back end of the hammerhead into its side. With a kick, she looped onto its back, keeping the spike lodged in its side the whole time.
"Emerald, get Ruby over there!" The green haired girl nodded, leaping towards the Nevermore. Ruby had just enough time to wonder what was going on when a chain wrapped around her waist, and she was yanked off her feet, not even able to scream as the air was forced from her lungs.
Emerald tossed her other chain to Nora, who grabbed it with her off hand, and yanked. Hard. Both girls accelerated over the top of the bird, and Emerald twisted to toss Ruby to the side of the wing before using her chain to land on the opposite side. From her height, Ruby could see Jaune and Pyrrha working in tandem to slash at the Nevermore's leg as it flashed out, one taking the hit to allow the other to land a blow on it.
Stumbling, Ruby shook her head and focused, seeing the wing in front of her. However, at that moment, she could see the glyph fail, and the beast stood up, lifting the wing out of range.
"No you don't!" Nora yelled from atop the beast's back. Dislodging her weapon, she fired her hammer, rocketing upwards before spinning to face her target at the peak. Arching her back, she fired a moment before impact, and Ruby could see the splintering of the bird's bone beak mask even from where she stood. The force slammed the bird's face into the ground, but also sent Nora flying off the front.
"We're good!" she heard Weiss yell, and the glyph returned, crushing the Nevermore back to the earth. Looking across, she could see Emerald, blades extended. Ruby nodded, and fired her Aero round backwards, just as Emerald hit the wing with a chain, rushing forwards.
The two raced towards each other, and their blades hit the wing at the same time, rending it in half. The bird gave a loud screech, drowning out the sounds of gunfire and slashes.
Ruby backed off, watching it for a moment. Despite the loss of its wings, it was somehow still fighting. Emerald looked equally surprised, if not more. "What does it take to kill one of these things?!"
The sound of shattering drew Ruby's attention to the ground, where she saw the glyph under the Nevermore suddenly disappear. Her eyes widened, and she barely thought about it as she ran forward, firing again as she slid under the Nevermore's body. "Weiss!"
Rolling into the light on the other side, she immediately looked for her teammate, only to see her in Ren's arms, standing to the side of where she had been, which was now impaled with feathers. Quickly, she slid out of his grasp, nodding her thanks. Ruby sighed in relief, rushing up to her side. "What are we supposed to do now?"
"I don't know! That should have killed it," Weiss explained, looking distraught. Jaune rushed over, looking exhausted, his shield having a few new scuff marks.
"Does it have any weak spots?"
"Only the soft tissue under the armoured skin. And the eyes, but those are too close to the mouth to be a good target."
"Not for us it's not!" Nora interrupted, waving at them. Ruby wondered what was going through her mind, only to be startled as Ren ran towards her, and she realized that she had been waving to Ren.
"Wait!" Jaune called, but Nora seemed to either not hear, or not care as she leapt forward with an explosive assist, smashing her hammer into the Nevermore's head, knocking it off balance. For a moment, it's head was against the ground again, and that was all it took.
Ren flashed forward, digging the blades of his machine guns into its eyes. Nimbly, he spun, kicking his feet onto its armoured brow crest, ripping a vertical strip up the side. The sound of a chain came from the far side, and he grabbed the end, pulling up. As he fell downwards towards its head, Emerald flashed up, a trail of smoky material behind her signifying a successful strike on the opposite eye.
Landing on the other side, she yanked Ren off its head, while Pyrrha gave a quick magnetic pull on Nora to try and get her back to them, just as the Nevermore reared back, flailing angrily. It began to shake its whole body, and Ruby had just enough time to realize what was happening. "Everyone to cover!"
All of them fled into the trees using whatever means possible, and she looked back in time to see Jaune lagging behind, with Pyrrha behind him. In a flash, she pushed him forward, forsaking her own speed to do so. However, before Ruby could worry, she unslung her shield, hovering it for a split second in mid-air before kicking back off of it. The unaimed jump sent her careening into a tree, but no one had enough time to worry as the death volley shredded the edges of the trees.
The storm of death lasted for what seemed like ages, and when it ended, they all still flinched slightly as the body finally crashed to the ground, spraying dust. Looking out over the battlefield, Ruby could see it was littered with the feathers, turning it into a solid wall of black. Anyone out there would have been dead by now.
"You alright Pyrrha?" Jaune asked, helping her up. The champion just nodded, rolling her arms a little.
"I took a little damage to my Aura, but not enough to be a concern. Thank you for asking though," she assured with a smile, extending her hand towards the field. Her shield rocketed out of the sea of black, slamming into place on her arm.
"That was a Nevermore…?" Ruby turned to see Emerald standing at the edge of the trees, watching the monster dissolve into ash, along with its legion of feathers. She looked...horrified, which surprised Ruby.
"Emerald, right? Are you okay?" she asked. The girl looked at her for a moment before seeming to realize how she looked. Shaking her head, she coughed, composing herself.
"Yeah, fine. Let's uh...let's get moving, okay?"
