December 2, 2020

The newly-revamped radio system had gone into effect recently. As on December 1, Districts 2, 3, and 4 utilised a new paging channel on frequency 460.5250. This was done to reduce the load on the original paging frequency in the face of rising call volumes. Additionally, the new volunteer fire companies were now in service, and the 3 school-based companies had been renumbered. In total, 33 new fire companies had been formed, increasing the number of stations to 120 volunteer fire companies and 13 paid fire stations. Now all that was needed to be done was reform the Fire Patrol. It was now expected to be complete by the end of January.

Meanwhile, in the exclusion zone, the wall was now under construction. Additionally, Mountain Glenn began to be reconstructed. Buildings that were salvageable were restored, and buildings too badly damaged were torn down. Unlike before, when Mountain Glenn had 3 paid fire stations, this time, the exclusion zone's new residents would be free to form their own volunteer fire companies. The first people would be moved in by February 15, and the new fire district lines would be drawn. Additionally, due to a land reclamation project on Patch that would double its size, as well as a bunch of new developments beyond Signal Academy and the immediate area, Patch would become its own district separate from District 1 by February 15. It was expected that 13 new districts would be created, and the Fire Alarm Office had frequencies for dispatching and fireground all laid out for them pending their creation.

At 6:30, Delwyn IV and Ruby arrived at the royal palace grounds. Today, they were going to hang out alone for the first time since their little "incident" in October.

In the king's personal bedroom, Delwyn said, "So, here's my room. Nothing too fancy, eh?" He couldn't be too further from the truth. There was a massive fireplace in the room, as well as a bed with gold-plated curtains and sheets. The walls were adorned with numerous paintings worth millions of Lien.

Ruby's jaws dropped as she said, "This place is even more amazing in real life."

Delwyn said, "It sure is. I usually keep the curtains open because who cares. This used to be only the King's bedroom. The Queen's bedroom was used until the reign of my great-grandfather, Byrn VIX. That's when he decided that he and his wife, the Queen back then, should sleep together instead. Now the Queen's bedroom is a guest room." He then pointed out the more modern amenities, such as a large TV and a computer desk with a brand new computer. "So, what's new?"

"Not much." The redhead sighed. "I had a few Code 99s over the past 2 weeks. Me, Yang, and Blake are all getting ready to take Intermediate Firefighter-EMT, while Weiss is registering for Advanced Firefighter-Paramedic. We begin in January." She then approached Delwyn from behind and whispered into his ear, "I've been thinking about you recently."

Delwyn blushed and replied, "Ruby... You..."

Ruby chuckled. "I gave us a lot of thought, and I've decided that we could try this. All I need to know is if you're okay with it."

Delwyn turned around and gave Ruby a kiss in response, starling the girl. He then pulled away and said, "Yes."

"Well then. Let's see, how can we make this work? You're the head of state of what recently became the most economically powerful nation in Remnant, and I'm just a huntress and a firefighter. 2 different worlds that usually don't meet indeed. But, I guess the power of lover or whatever can overcome that, right? Isn't that what fairytales tell us?"

Back at Weiss's apartment, Jaune had just completed moving in. He had unboxed and placed all of his various personal items in his new room over the course of 2 hours.

After dinner, Weiss and Jaune watched a movie on TV. The white-haired heiress said to Jaune, "The fire company elections are coming up real soon. Arthur's gonna be running for reelection as captain, while my dad and uncle are also running as well for reelection. Nobody's running against my dad, and only 1 person is running against my uncle and Arthur. Right now, the other big topic is if we should donate gear to some of the new companies in District 2."

Jaune replied, "Ah, good old politics. At Signal, there's a big fight right now over how much teachers should get paid. The full-time teaching staff is going on strike on the 13th. As for us part-timers, we'll be filling in the gaps."

"Good for those full-timers. We don't pay any of our teachers in any school enough damn Lien if you ask me." Weiss was then startled by a scream in the movie. "Agh! That scared the hell out of me!"

Then, she heard her pager go off for an EMS call. "Do you need to go?"

"Nah, the paid guys on the ambulance can handle it." She then muted her pager. As the movie entered a commercial break, Jaune got up to get a glass of water.

Weiss checked her phone and saw a text from someone she hadn't heard from since the year she participated in the Vytal Festival Tournament in Beacon. "Reese Chloris? Why did she text me?"

The text read, "no time 2 explain. call me."

Weiss then dialed her number and waited for her to pick up.

Reese, living in her hometown of Massalia in Mistral, tiredly answered and said in Mistralian, "Γειά σας, Ποιος είναι?"

"Reese," Weiss replied. "It's me, Weiss. You texted me earlier."

"Oh yeah! Sorry for answering in the wrong language, Weiss." She then took a deep breath. "Listen, something bad happened to my family, and I need your help."

"Was it that girl in Huntingdon in Vale?"

"No, she's not related to me. Maybe distantly through immigration, but not directly. You see, my brother was arrested in Vale for alleged drug trafficking. One of his friends wanted him to come to Vale to pick up what he thought were cosmetic supplies. They were not cosmetic supplies at all."

"Okay then, what do you want me to do about it?"

"To make matters worse, his friend was apparently picking up drugs for someone connected to the White Fang, and now they're threatening to kill me and my entire family for my brother's quote-unquote "failure." I'm scared, Weiss."

"Okay then, I'll head over to your place within 2 days. I'll schedule a flight to Mistral and my team will meet with you there." She then heard her pager go off, followed by the siren tone. "I gotta go for a fire call. I'll talk to you later, Reese." Weiss then hung up and said to Jaune, "I gotta go!" She then ran out of the apartment.

At 7:04, 2 minutes after the call came in, Weiss arrived. She quickly got her gear on and jumped aboard the rescue. The call was for a 3-car accident with possible entrapment and a fire at a busy intersection. Goodwill was also dispatched, as well as the brand new Situ Mingyu Rescue Squad 92 for the ambulance assignment.

As Weiss climbed aboard, Blake arrived and quickly put her gear on. As she did, Car 5, who was just arriving on scene, requested Enterprise to respond to the scene as well for another ambulance. Blake then hopped aboard the rear step of the rescue as it pulled out of the station.

At 7:07, Rescue 201 pulled up on the scene. Weiss quickly got out with an SCBA strapped to her back as one of the cars involved burned up. 3 police officers and 2 civilians had managed to pull the 2 occupants of the burning car out before the fire department arrived.

A firefighter tapped her on the shoulder and said, "Grab the blue line from the rescue, Weiss."

Weiss replied, "Got it." She ran over to the pump and grabbed a hand line that was coloured blue for convenience. She said to the pump operator, "Charge this as soon as I stretch it to the car!"

Meanwhile, Blake was hauling a box of cribbing to another car where the 5 occupants were trapped. She put on her gloves before she laid out a green tarp to set down equipment on in the street. She said to another firefighter, "What do you want me to grab next?"

"Grab the airbags and the ram, probie! I'll grab the cutters!" He then ran back to the rescue and opened a compartment containing the cutters and spreaders.

At the burning car, Weiss and another firefighter signalled the pump operator to charge the hand line as they closed in on the fully-involved car. "Stay upwind! If the wind shifts directions, stop what you're doing and put your mask on!" The 2 firefighters then felt their hand line fill with water. Weiss quickly opened up the nozzle, and she felt the 'kick' of the hose as water sprayed onto the car.

As they wet down the car, a police officer screamed, "The 2 patients from the burning car are going into cardiac arrest!"

Another voice screamed, "Call every company in District 2 to the scene! We got an 18-person van involved here, and 4 are in cardiac arrest!"

Once the car fire was under control, Weiss immediately dropped the line to assist 2 police officers and a firefighter-paramedic in doing CPR on one of the people from the burning car. As she did compressions, the medic administered drugs through an IV.

Meanwhile, Blake had just pulled the roof off of the 5-person car after assisting with the extrication. All 5 patients were pulled out immediately. As Blake lowered a bloodied patient with an amputated right arm onto a backboard, the patient began seizing. She said, "He's seizing up! Something's wrong!" The patient then threw up onto Blake, covering her face and lower body in vomit and blood. "Agh! Fuck!" Blake turned away, coughed, and threw up on the ground as 2 firefighters rushed to her and ripped her helmet off. They then poured bottled water on her to try and clean her up.

"We got a contaminated firefighter," one of them shouted. He then helped Blake take her coat off as she staggered to the rear step of Rescue 201 before collapsing on the ground and hitting her head on the rear step, cracking her skull and making her lose consciousness.

Yang, who had ridden on the truck and was tending to a patient with minor injuries, immediately ran over and shouted, "Blake! Oh my God!" A whole bunch of firefighters followed her to help their fallen comrade.

Blake was lifted up by Yang and 4 other firefighters, who all noticed the giant gash in her head from where she hit the rear step. They then lifted her onto a backboard and rushed her to one of the ambulances that had just pulled up.

December 3, 2021

Blake didn't wake back up until 10 in the morning afterwards. As she woke up she groggily said, "What... Where..."

A doctor said to her, "Hello, Miss Belladonna. You suffered a linear skull fracture yesterday at that bad accident." He then pointed to news coverage of the accident on the TV news.

The headline read: 10 DIE AND 15 HURT IN 3-VEHICLE ACCIDENT, OVER 300 FIREFIGHTERS RESPOND

Blake replied, "How is it?"

"We determined it's not serious enough to warrant surgery, but you won't be fighting fires until December 25. If it wasn't for your unlocked aura, you'd probably be out a week or 2 longer."

"Where is everyone? Only Yang and Sun are here." She looked at them.

Yang replied, "Weiss and Ruby had to go to Mistral. Doc, you need to not hear this next part. This is a matter of national security."

The doctor nodded and stepped out. Sun said, "Reese Chloris, the girl whose team you fought years ago and became friends with, was threatened by the White Fang. It's hard to explain. Weiss and Ruby are gonna be in Mistral protecting her until the 7th. Their plane left this morning."

Blake replied in confusion, "What? Why Reese?"

"Her brother was conned into smuggling drugs for someone connected to them and was caught in Vale," Yang replied. "She's really scared. I would have went, but I decided to stay here with you."

Sun then turned to the doctor by opening the door and said, "You can come back in now, doc."

"Thank you," He replied.

"So," Weiss said to Ruby as they drove to Reese's house in the Mistralian countryside. "You and Delwyn are now a couple?"

"Indeed," Ruby replied, smiling and feeling giddy about her and the king. "I guess I just warmed up to him. You know, the king is kinda like me in a sense. We both are kind of socially awkward, and we're both young and put in a role where we wield a lot of power, me as a Lieutenant in the military, and he as, well, you know. So, how's Jaune?"

Weiss blushed. "He's... Well... He's great." She then uneasily laughed. "I'm trying not to gush over him like some 13-year-old girl who just got her first boyfriend or something."

"Awww, c'mon. You're so cute when you show emotions like that." Ruby laughed.

"I'm not... Ah, forget it." Weiss then turned up the radio.

Her GPS squawked out, "In 0.2 miles, turn right, then, turn left at the next intersection."

"Hey Weiss, can you pull over? I gotta take a piss."

"Fine." Weiss pulled the car over in a densely-forested area.

Ruby got out of the car and said, "Thanks." She then knelt down to do her "business." As she did, Weiss received another call, this time from her dad.

"Hello?"

"Hey there, my beautiful daughter. Just wanted to drop by and say, oh I don't know, where the hell are you?"

Weiss sighed. "Dad, listen to me, me and Ruby headed over to Mistral because one of our friends was threatened by the White Fang. It's hard to explain."

"You should have told me first. Anyways, I don't want you getting hurt or killed. I also don't want you getting yourself in trouble. Be safe, and don't do anything stupid, okay?"

"I'll try- I mean, I'll do it. Bye." Weiss then hung up.