December 4, 2020

Yang, watching the weather reports on TV with George in the morning, who had begun to move in to Yang and Ruby's apartment, saw that a blizzard was predicted to hit the city on the 5th. As the announcer babbled on, Yang said to George, "Looks like we'll be snowed in for a while. They're talking at least 7 inches of snow hitting us. We already have 2 inches on the ground."

"Oh boy," George replied. "I can only imagine the calls we'll get when that blizzard hits."

"You bet." Yang then gave George a kiss on the cheek. "You bet." She then felt her phone vibrate. She answered, "Hello?"

"Hey Yang," Ruby replied from Reese's house with Weiss. "Me and Weiss made it alright to Reese's place in Mistral."

"Good. How is it so far?"

"No suspicious activity yet. We're prepared for anything, though."

"Good. Anyways, here at home, we're gonna be getting a blizzard tomorrow. You're gonna miss out on all the calls." Yang laughed. "All the lift assists, people slipping on ice, car accidents, chimney and furnace fires, roof collapses, and so on. It's totally gonna be fun." Yang's tone of voice in the last sentence was sarcastic in nature.

"Wow. Over here in Mistral, we only have light snowfall, nothing major." Then, Reese and her younger 16-year-old sister came in from outside. Ruby turned to them and said, "How was your little snowball fight?"

"Awesome," Reese's younger sister exclaimed. "I totally won!"

"Yeah right," Reese replied, laughing. "You and Weiss should join us."

Ruby replied, "Don't worry, we will." She then turned back to her phone. "I just got invited to go pelt snowballs at Reese and her sister with Weiss. We're totally gonna kick their asses."

"Awww yeah. That's what I'm talking about, sis! Anyways, I'll talk to ya later. I love you, sis. Bye."

"I love you too, sis. Bye." Ruby then hung up and called to Weiss. "Weiss! Come on! We're gonna go outside and throw snowballs!"

Weiss excitedly said, "Did someone say snowballs?! Count me the hell in!"

At 1, Blake and Sun arrived at Blake's apartment from the hospital. Blake had a bandage at the spot where she had hit her head, but other than that, she seemed fine.

Sun asked her, "Got a headache?"

"Real funny," Blake sarcastically replied. "No, I don't. Anyways, I'm gonna go into work tomorrow from 8 to 12 at midnight to help make up for the time I missed. Rip in pieces my eyes. At the same time, I'm gonna be dispatching during a freaking blizzard, so whoopee."

"Oh man, I almost forgot about that! I gotta go do hunting training tomorrow from 10 to 8. It's gonna suck out there in the freezing cold." Sun then gave Blake a kiss. "Wanna warm up?"

Blake smiled and said, "Of course you'd put it that way. Sure." She then giggled and returned the kiss. "Meet me in my bedroom."

Then, Sun was interrupted by a phone call, annoying Blake. "Hold on, I gotta take this."

Blake sighed and said, "Sure. I'll be in my bedroom when you're done."

Later in the day, after dinner, the 3 huntresses were telling stories around a T.V. Ruby had just finished her story about a mission her mother had gone on where she saved the 15 survivors of a plane crash from Grimm.

Now it was Weiss' turn. "This story was passed down from my dad. He was directly involved in this story with my uncle, my mom, and my grandpa. It all began in 1999..."

August 6, 1999

Hermann was reading the newspaper in the Schnee residence. He looked at the stock market section as Winter, then just a few years old, was doodling in a colouring book. "Daddy," she said. "How did I do?" She showed Hermann a picture she had haphazardly covered.

"It looks great, honey," Hermann replied, smiling at his daughter's work.

Genoveva then came running down the stairs with Hermann's pager and her pager, saying, "Hermann! Hermann! There's a 3rd alarm fire at a dump complex! Vigilant's going!"

Hermann replied, "Got it." He then turned to a servant and said, "Me and my wife will be out for a call. Take care of Winter while we're gone, okay?"

The servant nodded and said, "Yes, sir. Good luck."

Hermann gave Winter a kiss and said, "Me and Mommy have to go to a fire, okay? We'll be back."

"Okay, Daddy." Winter smiled, wondering what it was like to fight a fire.

When they got to the firehouse about 3 and a half minutes later, Truck 201 had just begun to leave with a full crew. Hermann and Genoveva quickly put their gear on and jumped onto Rescue 201.

About 18 and a half minutes later, they pulled up to a burning building, with the dump behind it also ablaze. The smell of the fire was acrid, and the smoke was pitch black.

Hermann and Genoveva got out wearing airpacks, but no masks. Hermann said, "Honey, go pull the lines. I'll mask up and start hitting the fire with a 2 1/2 line."

"...The fire went to 6 alarms. As it turns out, a guy had bought the old rubber recycling site and began illegally dumping chemical products there. A whole bunch of firefighters got cancer from the fire, such as my grandpa, and died, like my grandpa."

Reese said, shocked, "Oh my God. That's horrible! Did the government do anything about it?"

"They sure did after the firefighters marched and protested," Weiss replied. "My dad and uncle were at the protest in their turnout gear, waving their helmets around and shouting, "No more cancers!" Vale finally began passing environmental laws, and medical research began on developing vaccines and treatments for different types of cancers."

"Damn. Here, we have volunteers, but they're only in the small towns. Most of the cities have entirely paid departments. My town has volunteers, though I don't know much about them. Haven Academy and Sanctum Academy have volunteer firefighters as well."

"Just like Signal and Beacon," Ruby replied. "Anyways, what's your story for the night, Reese?"

Suddenly, they were all interrupted by the sound of breaking glass from the back of the house.

Ruby grabbed her personal pistol since Crescent Rose was upstairs and cocked it. "They're here," she whispered.

Then, a loud voice shouted, "Where are you, Reese Chloris?!" It was followed by the cocking of several guns.

Ruby got up and began quietly walking in the direction of the voices, making sure not to make much noise. Then, she rounded a corner, pointing her gun, and fired at the intruders.

The intruders fired back, causing her to retreat. Weiss and Reese soon joined her and fired at the intruders from the corner as Reese's younger sister got up from her bed and grabbed a shotgun upstairs.

Then, Reese's younger sister charged down the stairs and fired 3 blasts of an 8-gauge shotgun at the intruders. She screamed, "GET THE HELL OUT OF OUR HOUSE!"

Then, the dust settled, and Ruby turned on the lights. Reese ran to the phone to call 111, Mistral's emergency number, and Weiss looked at the dead and injured intruders.

Only 1 intruder survived. He said to Weiss as she walked over to him, "You human bastards... Especially you, you snow-haired freak..." He then held his gun up in the air, aimed down at his forehead, and shot himself, splattering Weiss in his blood.

Weiss immediately backed away and gagged. She yelled, "That fucker just shot himself, God damn it!"

December 5, 2020

Yang's job decided to cancel work for the day due to the blizzard. As a result, Yang went to the firehouse at 7 to standby for the entire day. She was joined by at least 12 other Vigilant firefighters and the 2 paid guys. George stood by at the Goodwill firehouse for the day with 6 other Goodwill firefighters.

Outside, the wind howled and the snow fell hard. Inside, Yang drank coffee and watched T.V. A firefighter said next to her, "I'm glad I ain't out there, at least without turnout gear on."

"You can say that-" Then, the pager tones went off. "Again..."

As the dispatcher squawked out an EMS call for a man unconscious after a fall, the 2 paid guys and 3 volunteers walked out to the truck bay to get aboard Ambulance 201.

Alfred walked over to Yang and said, "Say, Yang, where's the rest of your little group?"

"Your niece Weiss and Ruby are in Mistral and Blake is working at Fire Alarm from 8 to midnight. Plus, Blake can't respond to calls until the 25th due to her head injury."

Winter then walked in, wearing a Vigilant Fire Company sweater and a winter coat while holding her 10-month-old daughter. "It's horrible out there." Behind her, her 4-year-old son poked out from behind her legs. "My husband's at work, so I brought the kiddos along. Be sure to watch your language." Winter then laughed.

Her son walked up to Yang and said, "Yang-Yang!"

"Hey there, kiddo!" Yang gave him a high-five. "You must be pretty happy that your mommy brought you to the firehouse today, huh?"

"Yeah!" He was beaming with energy. "Where's Ruby, Auntie Weiss, and Blake?"

"Her and your Auntie Weiss are in Mistral helping a friend." Yang wouldn't dare try to explain exactly what was going on with Reese to a young child. "Blake is at work from 8 to midnight."

"Wow! That stinks!"

Yang laughed and said, "It sure does. Imagine if you went to school for that long."

"Nooo!"

Then, the pager tones went off again, this time followed by the siren tones. Since the siren control panel was located in the rec room, it sounded like a very loud bang when it clicked on and off to power the siren.

Winter calmed down her daughter and left her with a member of the Ladies Auxiliaries she was close to. Yang said to Winter's son, "I gotta run, little dude. Me and your mom will be back eventually."

"Bye, Yang-Yang!"

The now 14 volunteer firefighters left at the station ran to their gear and put it on. The call was for a car into a building. Winter jumped into the driver's seat of Rescue 201 while Yang quickly grabbed the seat next to her.

Winter said, "Well that's the first time I've seen a probie in the officer's seat in years."

Yang laughed. She then radioed, "Rescue 201 to Fire Alarm."

Surprisingly, Blake answered back. "Rescue 201."

"We're en route with a crew of 9." Yang then said to Winter, "That was Blake!"

"Oh yeah. Too bad she's stuck working at Fire Alarm in this shitty weather."

Back in Mistral, the team had not gotten any sleep as a result of the failed raid by the White Fang. Ruby and Weiss were packing up and getting ready to head back to Vale.

Reese said as she helped Ruby pack clothes, "Thank you guys again for helping me. Me and the rest of Team ABRN should come over to Vale one of these days."

"Don't mention it," Ruby replied. "We'd love to have you guys over."

Weiss then called to Ruby, "Vale City is getting hit by a blizzard! We'll have to delay our flight to 8 at night!"

"Got it!" Ruby the muttered to herself, "Fucking blizzards..."

"You know, we haven't had a blizzard in my area for years. Must be the slightly warmer climate."

"You lucky bastards." Ruby then zipped up her bag. "Well, looks like me and Weiss will be stuck here then for a few more hours. Wanna play that new video game you got last week?"

"Oh yeah! Sure thing, Ruby. I'll win, too, just like last time."

"Yeah, right!"