August 27, 2021
Weiss plopped into bed at 11 P.M. From 5 in the morning to 10 in the morning, she spent 4 hours at the site. Then, she spent the rest of the day going to 3 funerals for firefighters, including the one for her uncle Alfred. Hermann and Winter's were going to be tomorrow. She had gotten only 3 hours of sleep the night before.
As she tried to sleep, she heard Pyrrha's familiar voice as her ghost entered the room. "So... Uhh... The last few days happened..."
Weiss sighed and replied, "Tell me about it, Pyrrha." She then got up to talk to her. "I never thought any of this would happen in my wildest dreams. Not even the Battle of Beacon comes close to this."
"I'm inclined to agree, actually," Pyrrha replied, pointing to one of her legs. "And I almost was permanently disabled by that arrow to the heel. If Ruby hadn't come when she did, I'd be dead. Well, I would have died earlier than I did, at least." She then changed subjects. "So, Ruby is gonna be marrying Delwyn IV, eh?"
"Yeah," Weiss replied before yawning. "That's also a thing. I never thought one of my best friends was gonna be royalty one day. Like, actual, real royalty, not business royalty like me." She then sighed. "Speaking of business royalty, I'm... I'm officially the CEO and Chairman of the SDC, effective today. I gotta deliver a speech at the SDC headquarters front entrance on the 31st. Then, I gotta start training Yang to drive the trucks at the firehouse, since she's pregnant and all and can't go into buildings for the next 9 or so months. Then, I gotta go to Atlas from the 6th to the 16th of September to deal with stuff over there."
Pyrrha then asked, "Is Jaune here?"
"He went to Beacon Academy for an officer's briefing with Ruby," Weiss replied. "He'll be home by midnight. I'm telling ya, if it wasn't for him, I'd be even more of a wreck than I already am now."
August 28, 2021
As Ruby sat at another morning intelligence briefing around 7:30, she got a call from Yang. She got up from the table and politely said, "Excuse me for one moment." As the rest of the table permitted her, she left the room and answered Yang's call outside the door. "Yang, what's up?"
"Ruby," Yang replied. "You'll never guess what George did." Ruby could tell Yang actually seemed kind of happy.
"What happened?" Ruby hadn't heard her sister be happy at all in 5 days.
"George proposed to me," Yang replied. "And I said yes. Ruby, we're going to be a family together."
Ruby smiled and replied to her sister, "Aww... I'm so glad, Yang." She then sighed. "Finally, some good news in all of this."
"I'll text you a picture of the ring after the call," Yang replied. "Well, I'll let you go. You're probably in some boring meeting, after all."
"Yeah," Ruby replied. "I love you, sis."
"I love you, too, Ruby," Yang replied before they both hung up.
Ruby then began to cry a little as she began thinking about her dad. "If only Dad was here to see this..." She then covered her face and sunk to the floor as she continued to cry. "I know he's watching over us... I know he's proud that we've achieved all of this... You were the best father anyone could ever ask for..."
At 12, Hermann and Winter's funeral began at a lavish private cemetery behind the Schnee House that contained the Schnee Family plot. Almost the entire Vigilant Fire Company, wearing their formal uniforms, had gathered there, since the service would also double as a general memorial service for the 15 dead or missing volunteers firefighters of the company.
A joint Atlesian-Valeanian honor guard flew the flags of Vale and Atlas and stood watch as the hundreds of attendees filed past the two caskets, draped in the flags of both Vale and Atlas, as well as official portraits of all 15 of the volunteer firefighters who had made the ultimate sacrifice. Any and all firefighters, police officers, and members of the Valeanian and Atlesian military, past and present, saluted both caskets as they went past.
Team RWBY, minus a still-hospitalized Blake, went past them together, led by Ruby. Whitley also accompanied Weiss. As they went past, he said to her, "Just as I was finally getting to know my father and my oldest sister, they're both gone."
Weiss wrapped an arm around him and said, "It hurts." Then, when they got to the caskets, Weiss saluted both of them. However, she soon found herself unable to hold it in any longer, and she broke her salute to cover her mouth as tears streamed down her face. "Vater... Schwester..." She was then helped along by Whitley after he saluted both caskets too.
After everyone took positions, lined up in front of the caskets, Weiss led the bi-national honor guard from this point forward. She turned to the guard and said, "Lift the flags." Immediately, 8 Atlesian soldiers and 8 Valeanian soldiers lifted and unfurled the flags on both coffins with precision. She then marched over to a 7-man firing squad (4 Valeanian, 3 Atlesian), standing at attention right behind them. "Firing Guard, Attention!" Immediately, all 7 stood at attention. "Ready!" All began to ready themselves to fire. "Aim!" All aimed their rifles to the sky. "Fire!"
All 7 then fired a single volley of shots. "Fire!" Another loud volley followed. "Fire!" The final volley then rang through the air. "Present... Arms!" All 7 then placed their rifles on their side and stood at attention again. Everyone standing in the lines opposite of the caskets also saluted as well.
Then, a Valeanian soldier on a set of bagpipes began playing the song "Going Home." It was required by law to be used for the funerals of military and public safety personnel. As the song continued, Weiss, saluting, began breaking down again, tears rushing down her face as she tried to compose herself. Then, the song ended, the bagpiper saluted, and a small marching band of Atlesian soldiers readied themselves. Then, the drummers of the band began playing a slow beat, followed by trumpeters and buglers forming a melody. Once the introduction was done, the drummers of the marching band, as well as all Atlesian military personnel present, began singing Atlas's military funeral song. Weiss also joined in quietly.
Ich hatt' einen Kameraden,
Einen bessern findst du nit.
Die Trommel schlug zum Streite,
Er ging an meiner Seite
In gleichem Schritt und Tritt...
In gleichem Schritt und Tritt...
Eine Kugel kam geflogen:
Gilt's mir oder gilt es dir?
Ihn hat es weggerissen,
Er liegt zu meinen Füßen
Als wär's ein Stück von mir...
Als wär's ein Stück von mir...
Will mir die Hand noch reichen,
Derweil ich eben lad.
Kann dir die Hand nicht geben,
Bleib du im ew'gen Leben
Mein guter Kamerad!
Mein guter Kamerad!
Then, the soldiers holding the flags over both caskets began folding them as the heartbreakingly sad Atlesian song ended. Once all 4 were folded, a Valeanian soldier presented the two from Winter's casket to Weiss and saluted her. She saluted him back and then took both flags, holding them close to her as she walked back to the lines. Another soldier presented Hermann's flags to Whitley, who broke down into sobbing as he took both flags.
Then, as everyone in the lines put their hands down and stood at attention, Weiss radioed to Fire Alarm, "Car 5 to Fire Alarm."
"Car 5."
"Activate the Vigilant Fire Company's pager and siren tones in remembrance of all 15 of our members who gave their lives on August 23, 2021, please." Weiss could barely contain herself by the end.
"10-4."
A minute later, a dispatcher transmitted, "Standby Vigilant Fire 5." Then, as the tones of the company played out, everyone's pagers rang. Then, they heard the roar of the siren of the fire company from several blocks away as the dispatcher read outy, "Vale City Fire Alarm on the air for Vigilant Fire 5 for an activation of your tones in remembrance of the 15 firefighter from your company who gave their lives on August 23, 2021, at Box 99-99-134. The hearts of all in the Vale City Fire Department ache at the great loss of life, especially amongst our own, that occurred at the Union Square Centre. Let it be known that all who gave their lives did not do so in vain. May you all rest in peace and rest easy. We will take it from here. Time is 1223 hours, Dispatcher 651."
August 30, 2017
Weiss, Whitley, and Jaune had finally finished unpacking and moving furniture around at the Schnee House at around 6 P.M. They had to move all of the stuff from Weiss's apartment to the house, a large mansion located on the same street as the Vigilant Fire Company just a few blocks up that took up about two acres and included a 3-storey 30-room house with a garage, a pool, and a fenced off private cemetery.
Jaune, tired out, said to Weiss, "So, when will the apartment go up for sale?"
"I put it up now," Weiss replied to him as she drank a glass of water. "I did it all on my phone. Anyways, our room will be in my old room up on the third floor. Car 5 is parked in the garage."
Then, as she placed her glass on the table, her pager went off. She also heard Whitley's pager go off from upstairs. She yelled up to Whitley, "I'll take you to the station in Car 5!" She then gave Jaune a quick kiss goodbye.
Whitley ran down the stairs as he and Weiss both ran to the garage. They then jumped into Car 5. Weiss opened the garage door with the push of a button as she turned the car on and radioed, "Fire Alarm, Car 5 is en route."
She then drove out of the garage and onto the road, lights flashing and siren blaring. After about 2 minutes, she pulled up onto the firehouse apron and dropped Whitley off. After he left the car and ran into the station, she sped away to the call, which was for a car accident with possible entrapment.
Within 4 minutes of the call, Weiss pulled up to a two-car accident. One car had rear-ended another at an intersection, and the car that had been rear-ended had its doors jammed shut. By then, Ambulance 201 and Engine 201B were already on scene. She stepped out of the car and walked around back, grabbing her red helmet from the trunk of the car. She then went back to her car and radioed, "Fire Alarm, Car 5 is 10-84 at the accident, establishing Vigilant command."
A military firefighter said to her, "We're talking with the patient. He says he is unable to get the door opened for either him or his wife."
"Got it," Weiss replied as she grabbed her portable radio and switched it to District 2, Channel 1 Operations. She then radioed, "Car 5 to Truck 201."
"Go ahead," replied another firefighter.
"We got two patients," Weiss replied. "The military is currently grabbing their extrication tools off of their engine. I want you to grab chocks and assist."
"10-4," the firefighter replied.
Weiss then switched to District 2 Dispatch (Unit-to-Dispatch) and radioed, "Vigilant Command to Fire Alarm."
"Vigilant Command, go."
"Tone out Situ Mingyu Rescue Squad for 1 ambulance to the scene," Weiss replied. "We have two patients, both conscious with minor injuries. We're gonna need to pop the doors for them."
"10-4."
September 2, 2021
Ruby had just started a 12-hour-long duty shift from 8 in the morning to 8 at night when a fire call came in at 8:33 A.M. while she was talking to Delwyn on her cellphone. The call was for a reported structure fire in the first-due of the North Vigilant Fire Company. Penny was with her as well.
As she grabbed her gear and was about to slip her boots on, the newly-made 2nd Captain, Dafydd ap Llewelyn, told her as he went past her, "Go get in the tillerman seat of the old truck!"
"Got it," Ruby replied. This would be the first time she ever drove a tiller ladder from the rear. She put her sneakers back on and then carried her gear to the temporary Truck 201. As a driver, she did not need to have her gear on. The 69-year-old truck, though old, was very dependable. After she stuffed her boots, coat, helmet, and mask in a spare compartment below the tiller seat, she climbed aboard and sat down as the truck started up and waited for more volunteers to show up. By now, Engine 201B and Ambulance 201 had already left, and Penny had been aboard the ambulance.
For the truck, there were two seats in the front for a driver and an officer, and one seat in the rear for the tillerman. Everyone else had to ride on the side running boards and hold on. After waiting three and a half minutes, Truck 201 pulled out of the station with 10 firefighters on board. As the truck turned to the right, Ruby steered to the left, since the tillerman's steering wheel had to be turned to the opposite direction of where the driver wanted to go.
As Truck 201 sped down the busy streets of Vale's 2nd District, Ruby smiled and said to herself, "This is fuckin' awesome!" She was clearly having a good time driving the tiller ladder to the call. She even waved to a few people on the sidewalk that waved back at her. Some even recognized her as the Queen-to-be and cheered, which Ruby found a little odd, but she rolled with it.
Once they pulled up at around 8:44 A.M., Ruby jumped off and grabbed her gear from the spare compartment. As she put it on, Dafydd went up to her and said, "We don't have any more packs on the truck. You'll need to grab one from Engine 201 after you help with raising the aerial ladder. By the way, you drove pretty good, Ruby."
"Thanks," Ruby replied as she fastened her helmet to her head and ran over to the ladder turntable on the truck. The fire involved an apartment on the third floor of a building and was mostly smoky, with only some flames visible from the outside. Ruby and four other firefighters, three of whom were wearing air packs, then grabbed the large hand cranks of the wooden aerial ladder and proceeded to turn them to raise the 85-foot ladder. They then grabbed another set of large hand cranks to turn the ladder. Once that was done, they grabbed the first set of hand cranks to continue raising the ladder until Dafydd, who was guiding them, gave them the order to stop. Ruby said to another firefighter, "This is tiring!"
"Tell me about it," the other firefighter replied before they all turned a third set of hand cranks to extend the ladder to one of the third floor fire escapes. Once it was in position, the three firefighters with packs took their helmets off, donned their masks, put their helmets back on, and climbed up the ladder with pike poles to begin doing truck work. Ruby looked up and said to herself, "This truck's older than everyone using it. Oh well, that's what happens when you lose all of your trucks in a major attack."