Volume Two Finale
Part Two – Witch Dance
/-\ Ruby Rose /-\
I stared down my opponent, that damned Persian, as it waved off the aliens lining up behind it. It said something in its native language, its voice layered. The other aliens gave it a look before breaking away, their guns trained on me until they were sufficiently far away. I assumed the ones at my rear did the same thing as my motion tracker showed them retreating.
I heard a crow squawk and my eyes flicked up to a saluting corvid that sat atop a building's roof. I smirked, knowing who it was. My gaze resettled on the Persian, it being none the wiser of my momentary distraction.
Suddenly, it blurred forward. I dodged, its spear an inch away from my aura. I lashed out with the butt of Onyx, barely nicking its retreating arm and throwing it off balance ever so slightly. The Persian rolled with the blow and sent a spinning kick my way, clipping me in the shoulder and sending me sprawling.
I burst into rose petals, reforming on my feet just as the Persian charged me again. I barely sidestepped the staff once more, this time choosing to retreat as Onyx Rose spat gunfire towards the Persian. The alien twirled its blade, the plasma eating my bullets.
Still keeping the trigger pressed, I reached into my pouch and grabbed a lightning bomb, throwing it at the Persian's feet. It reacted instantly, diving to the side as it offhandedly tossed a sticky my way. I spun out of the way, dropping my empty gun and drawing my sword as I charged.
Just as it looked back my way, I was upon it, cleaving upwards with Wilt. It barely spun around the strike, but couldn't dodge that and Blush's shot at the same time. Its shields flared as it dove towards me, drawing an energy dagger.
I dematerialized, allowing it to pass straight through me. When I exited my rose form, Noble Rose was already drawn and pointed at its head. By the time I squeezed the trigger, it had dodged just enough to where the round only grazed its shields – popping them, but not doing any lasting damage. I dropped it and drew my magnum and Wilt, unloading into the alien's armor as it swiped at me again. However, this time was different. It was much, much faster.
I yelped as its staff bit into my aura, burning my pauldron. I swiped at it in response – barely parrying the Persian's follow-up strike – only for it to headbutt me. Once again, I failed to fully dodge a strike, this one searing a path along my chest armo-
My leg exploded in pain.
I leaped back, putting any weight on it resulting in some of the most intense searing pain I've ever felt. I grit my teeth, focusing my gaze on my enemy as it switched off its energy dagger.
I reached for Onyx Rose but found its slot on my back empty; the Persian standing between me and the empty gun. I focused my aura on healing my leg as much as possible…
…only for it to break a moment later.
I gasped, a wave of fatigue washing over me. I rolled to the side, dodging as the enemy blurred towards me. Before I could get up from the hard cobblestone road, I found myself face-to-face with the end of its glowing blue blade. Right as it was about to impale me, a gray scythe hooked it, wrenching the weapon away from the Persian's grip.
I kicked out with my good leg, forcing it to miss the punch it'd thrown Qrow's way as he pulled back. Even so, he only barely dodged it. I grabbed Blush, squeezing off a few rounds at the Persian as I got back to my feet.
Only two rounds left the chamber before the rifle clicked empty and I threw it, hoping for some distraction. The alien dodged both it and my follow-up strike with Wilt. Instead of attacking me, it thrust an energy dagger backwards, only my retaliatory kick preventing it from skewering Qrow in the head.
He screamed as it grazed his aura, and I finally landed a good hit on the Persian. "Command, we need help!" I shouted, twisting around another energy dagger strike. Qrow swiped at its legs, but it jumped over his scythe blade.
"Negative, Sierra, all units are in full retreat."
"Full retreat?!" I shouted, diving to the side.
"Ay-firm. Covvies dropped out of slipspace, we're pulling back." I groaned, striking the Persian with Wi-
The alien caught my hand and squeezed.
I screamed, feeling my titanium bones crunch under its power. Involuntarily, I let go of Wilt. In a split second, it released me, grabbed the sword as it fell, and thrust it backwards.
Right into my uncle's chest.
I gasped in horror. Suddenly, I was back on that moon; Pegasi Delta. In a flash, it wasn't Qrow being impaled by the Persian… it was my best friend – my only friend – being splattered across the rocks and my armor by a Brute's gravity hammer.
My vision turned back to reality just as the xeno withdrew Wilt from his chest.
As he slowly fell to the ground, a shocked expression on his face, my vision turned completely white.
/-\ Winter Schnee /-\
Everyone in the room stood shock still, not quite believing what just happened. "P- Parasites!" One of the Grunts shouted, fumbling with its plasma pistol.
I shot it square in the head.
The moment the rounds left my gun's barrel, the room erupted into chaos. Plasma streaked over our heads as Peach's arrows flew. I loosed as many rounds as my magazine held and then quickly switched to my sword, squaring up with a big Brute.
I nodded to Peach, who kept taking out the smallfry of the Covenant army. "Come to face me, little imp?" The alien said in its deep voice.
"Specialist, actually." I said, plunging my saber into the ground and summoning a pair of Beowolves beside me.
"A witch!" It shouted, roaring as it charged.
I smirked, my wolves bounding over the purple floor as their jaws snapped in anticipation. While its attention was focused on them, I summoned a circle of propulsion glyphs in the air, all centered around the Brute. It spun around, roaring as it swung a blow mighty enough to crush both of my summons in a single swipe, however, that merely left itself open.
I leaped onto the glyphs, passing the alien in a blink of an eye and swiping at it each pass. By the time I'd made only half-a-dozen swipes, it was barely upright, its hammer drooping as purplish blood leaked out from the gaps in its armor. Sprinting up to it and dodging a lazy swing, I impaled it through the throat.
As it fell, I flicked the blood off my blade. "Status, Peach?" I asked, not hearing any other noise from the rest of the room.
"'Lil winded, but I'm good." She said. "D'ya got any idea where we are?"
"Covenant ship." I answered. "Likely the one hovering above their base, though I do not know for sure."
"You've been on one of these things before, how do we get out?"
"I had a guide the previous time." I said. "But while we're here, I believe it would be a great service to Remnant if this ship no longer existed."
She quirked an eyebrow. "And how do ya think we'll manage that?"
I smirked, reaching down to the body at my feet and retrieving its spiked grenade, holding it up for her to see. "I have it on good authority that their reactors do not like these inside them."
"Y'know, I like the way ya think."
I clipped it to my armor, cuing my mic. "Command, we appear to have accidentally boarded a Covenant ship. Can you forward us directions to their reactor room?"
"And how do you accidentally- nevermind." Alice said. "Reading your transponder as coming from the Eve of Consecration. Schematics are uploaded to your VISR and waypoints are set; go finish the job."
"Much appreciated." I said, turning towards the waypoint on the compass and slotted a new magazine into my rifle.
Just as I had it stowed, the door hissed open, revealing a single Grunt carrying something. It waddled through, eyes glazed over for a moment before it noticed us. Its eyes flew wide open as it froze, a small trickle of liquid running down its legs.
I glanced at Peach, who was already knocking an arrow. She shrugged, loosing the arrow into the Grunt's neck. We continued on, stepping over its twitching body. I glanced back at it. "Was that strictly necessary?"
"Fuckers burned your home, Schnee." She said. "I'd've thought you'd have no problems with killin' 'em."
"It was obviously not a combatant."
"And what else would've we done? Drag it behind us on a leash?"
I frowned. "I'm merely raising the question."
"Well consider it moot; the bastard's already dead."
The conversation died after her comment. We continued walking through the hallways, my nerves on edge the entire time. 'Last time I was here, I lost my arm…' I thought, being sure to look up this time. As we crossed one of the wider areas, I saw a streak of plasma scoring along the walls, along with some of the deck stained purple in the middle.
"Whaddaya think happened here?"
"Our escape." I said. "Though I can only hazard a guess; I was unconscious at the time."
She hummed. "Have ya noticed how few covvies there are here?"
"I have, yes." I said. "I don't like this."
"How likely's a trap, d'ya think?"
"Somewhere between 'expected' and 'absolutely'." I said, glancing at her ears. "Can you hear anything?"
She held up a hand, her rabbit ears twitching wildly. "Nothin' but us breathin'."
"Let me know if that changes."
"Can do."
We advanced towards the reactor room, our footsteps echoing down the empty metal hall. A faint hum as the only other sound I heard; hopefully, the only other sound to be heard. I caught myself looking up at every bridge as we crossed under it, my sword at the ready and a tingle in my arm.
My eyes darted around every corner, every crevice, and every intersection; my heartrate spiking higher and higher the longer we walked on. Finally, I held out a hand to Peach. "Just… give me a minute." I said, my breaths ragged.
Her head tilted slightly. "Somethin' wrong? We've just been walkin' this entire time."
I took a deep breath. "Just… memories." I said, letting out the breath and taking another.
One of her ears twitched. "Ah, I think I understand. You good?"
"Yeah." I said, twirling my sword. "Let us continue."
I still found myself peering around every corner as we continued – and still unsettled by the lack of enemy contact – but I pushed through, finally leading us to the doors of the reactor room. My eyes darted around the corner but saw nothing as I entered the room. I whipped around, only to be met with another empty corner. I looked up.
Nothing.
Not even a spiderweb.
My heart hammered in my chest as I gazed towards the reactor; the giant ball of blue plasma suspended in the center of the room. Or should I say, at the center of the cavern.
The platform Peach and I stood upon was little more than an overlook, the only thing of note being a small console at the end overlooking the rest of the reactor. The main feature was the pillar stretching from floor to ceiling – only interrupted by the plasma ball – that had to be four or five stories tall.
I frowned. "It's… smaller than I would've expected…"
Peach hummed. "I agree with ya there. How long did you say this thing was before ya'll chopped it in half?"
"A little over five kilometers."
She strode up to the console. "Didn't look a hair over three from below…" She muttered. After a moment, she threw up her hands. "Welp, I can't read this here chicken scratch, how 'bout you?"
I took one last glance behind me, trying my best to settle the hairs that were standing on-end on the back of my neck… before leaning into the console and-
"MOVE!"
A weight smashed into me from the side, sending me tumbling. I heard a gasp of pain. I rolled to see what hit me, raising my rifle and-
My eyes widened when I saw Peach suspended mid-air, a red energy sword protruding from her chest. She grasped at it, struggling and gasping as her blood boiled away from its surface.
"No!" I shouted, squeezing off a burst at the assailant behind her.
She fell to the floor, the blade having ripped clean through her shoulder blade. The Elite's shield shimmered but held as its gaze snapped to my prone form. In a barely perceptible blur, the towering alien stood atop me, sword poised to strike.
I rolled to the side, the blade nicking my aura. I flicked on the dust feature of my rifle as I leaped to my feet. My foe deactivated its sword for a moment, freeing it from the floor. The shields shimmered once more as my rounds peppered it, but the alien didn't seem even slightly effected.
I willed a gravity glyph into existence right in front of it, sending the ali- The alien rolled to the side. I loosed my last burst, finally dropping the Elite's shields and its cloak.
Its armor shone pitch black in the artificial lighting, the only disruption in the color being its blood red slit for a visor. It growled, leaping forward again.
I jumped over it, giving its helmet a swift kick as I did so. I made a platform glyph to stand on, landing on it as I reached the apex of my flight. Stowing my rifle, I drew my saber and immediately plunged it into the glyph, concentrating.
After only a moment, a cloud of tiny Nevermores sprang forth. I smirked as the Elite merely stared at the spectacle before it, ignoring my other surprise I had brewing.
"I should have known…" It said. "Of course the Imp should have demonic powers."
That comment gave me pause, but I quickly shook myself out of it. I sent my flock forward, the alien slashing at them as they pecked away at its armor. Despite being completely out of its element, the Elite's strikes were still measured, precise, and thrown without a single miss. In only thirty seconds, my flock was almost completely annihilated. They did, however, serve their purpose.
Underneath the overlook we fought upon, a dozen Beowolves crawled out of their glyphs, claws digging deep into the metal deck plating. As the last bird fell and the Elite reached for a sidearm, my new summons pounced.
It reacted quicker than I'd hoped, dropping the side arm and slashing at the first pair. They burst into a snowy cloud as they died. Their brethren climbed over the lip and attacked as well, more than half of their number joining the original two.
I leaped from my platform glyph, my sword ready to decapitate the alien. It wasn't facing me, dealing with the latest attack from my Beowolves and vulnerable to my stri-
It moved.
I kicked off a small glyph I hurriedly summoned, trying to get my strike back on targ-
Its sword lashed out.
Pain shot up my arm… a burning, piercing, familiar pain.
I gasped as my own disembodied arm landed next to me.
/-\ Ruby Rose /-\
I groaned, sitting up as my eyes flickered open. I gasped. "Qrow!" I shouted, crawling to his side as fast as I could. His head rolled to face me, complexion dangerously pale as blood leaked from his lips.
"H- Hey, Tinny…" He muttered.
"Don't talk. Save your strength." I said, whipping out my medkit and grabbing the mini biofoam injector. "This is gonna sting." Before he could say anything else, I shoved the tip into his wound and pulled the trigger.
He winced, squirming as the life-saving medicine filled his chest. I tossed the injector aside as the last of the foam emptied, his wound turning pinkish with a small amount of biofoam dribbling down his shirt. I sighed in relie-
He shoved me aside.
I rolled onto my feet, wincing as a firestorm of pain lanced up my leg. I suppressed the feeling, glaring at the cracked Y-shaped visor of the Persian that put us in this mess. It growled, tearing away the helmet and revealing its bloodied face.
The face of a Prophet.
It spat a glob of red onto the ground. "You… witch." It growled. "First, you dare defile sacred artifacts of the Ancients, then you attack our holy and righteous people with no provocation." It growled. "And now… and now you use mass witchcraft on our sanctified cit-"
A massive boom echoed out through the cobblestone streets, the Persian's jaw literally flying off and yanking its head sideways. Just behind the alien, Noble Rose fell from Qrow's grasp, barrel smoking. I saw my opening and lunged forward, knife in hand. The Persian looked back – eyes wide – just in time to dodge, my blade drawing a cut only a hair's width across its grey cheek.
It summoned its energy dagger, a barely dodged swipe cutting across my vambrace and singing the skin beneath. I winced, lowering my shoulder to bash the lithe alien onto the ground. It dodged, blurring forwa-
A searing hot lance of pain burst through my stomach.
I grunted, punching the Persian's exposed face as it withdrew its energy dagger. The alien reared back, clutching its face as its foot landed on Onyx Rose's frame…
…which slid out from under it.
The Prophet managed to turn the fall into a summersault, but that didn't change the fact that it practically flung my rifle into my hands. I quickly slammed a new mag into my gun, sighting the alien just as it brought up its blade to block.
A few rounds got through, making it twitch in pain. Its face remained neutral as it slowly walked towards me. My eyes glanced towards Qrow's prone form, who was struggling to work the bolt of my sniper scythe. I refocused on the Persian, noticing a slight limp to its stride.
It blurred forward, slashing upwards at my chin. I stepped inside its guard, Onyx barely having time to complete its shift to mace form as its shaft connected with the Prophet's forearm. Before it could respond, I sent an uppercut into the exposed roof of its mouth.
Its head snapped back with a crack, body standing completely still for just a moment. I didn't waste the opportunity, drop-kicking the alien into a nearby building. A moment later, Noble Rose barked again, the chest of the alien's body bursting open in a shower of red.
My eyes narrowed, not trusting that it was well and truly dead.
I ripped a grenade off my belt, ignoring the searing pain from my many, many wounds before priming and chucking the explosive towards the Persian. As the it rolled towards its target, the alien's body shifted, limbs slowly and weakly trying to drag it out of the killzone.
Too slow.
The grenade exploded, detonating the two sticky grenades that were strapped to its belt. Its legs and pelvis were gone when the dust cleared, leaving only a twitching upper torso that was only barely held together. I rolled onto my side, bracing my now-reloaded gun as I emptied the entire magazine into the alien's remains, leaving it as little more than a blob of mutilated flesh, bone, and metal.
I sighed, collapsing onto my back for a moment. I laid there, only half-lucid through aura-depletion and pain. Suddenly, Qrow shook my shoulder, kneeling next to me with his off hand pressed to his red chest. We spoke no words as he helped me up and helped me gather all my weapons strewn about the courtyard. I threw my arm around my uncle, using him as a crutch.
From the shadows, I saw Grunts and Jackals fearfully watch as we headed for the outskirts of the enemy base. Any that strayed too close got a mouthful of lead, courtesy of either Onyx Rose, Harbinger, or both.
As we exited the compound, I saw a pair of Longswords swoop down on a flight of Banshees, swatting them out of the sky easily. Half-way through no-man's land, our breaths became ragged, Qrow's even more so than mine.
I stowed Onyx Rose, pressing my hand to my ear. "This is… hah… Sierra-B312…" I started, my breaths ragged. "Requesting… medevac. Times one huntsman… hah… and times one… Spartan casualties." I hit a function from within my neural lace. "This message… will now repeat…"
Qrow slumped against me just before we reached the treeline. I grunted, my aching leg buckling under the added weight. We fell to the ground, hitting with a loud thunk. I groaned, feeling the hard and bare soil dig into the burned flesh on my stomach. I grit my teeth, throwing his arm around my shoulder and crawling towards the cover of the bushes.
Every movement only aggravated my wounds further. The muscles in my arm were barely functional, even the nicking strike of the Persian's energy dagger having severely reduced their output. I winced as the tip of a small rock entered my belly wound, ripping open the charred flesh as I continued to soldier on.
We were only a few meters from the bushes now. My feet slipped as I crawled, something… wet lubricating the ground. I screamed, pounding the dirt to make a better handhold. With a flick of my eyes, I brought up a health monitor for both myself and Qrow. He… was doing better than I was.
At least as far as vitals were concerned.
Finally, I dragged us through the thorny bushes, only a few getting snagged on Qrow's clothes. I saw a few nicks and scratches bleed through his shirt once we crossed into the open forest, but nothing too serious.
I rolled over, taking my medkit with trembling hands and started to patch myself up. I looked backwards, seeing a trail of blood streak back the way we came. I winced with every suture I applied to my wound, but I was still conscious, if only barely, when I finished.
I only allowed myself to lay there for a moment… for a minute… for a… while. My breathing grew ragged and shallow, my eyelids becoming heavy. I heard the dulled crunch of twigs around me, blackness eating away at my vision.
I reached for my pistol, turning towards the source. I grunted, seeing the glowing red eyes of a Beowolf approaching, tongue licking its sharp and jagged teeth. My gun snapped up slower than I'd've liked, but I still managed to put three rounds into its skull. One struck true, piercing its eye and dropping the Grimm to the ground.
Behind it, three more pairs of those same evil eyes stared back. My eyes narrowed as I reached for Harbinger, but it didn't budge; jammed in Qrow's sheath. I took aim once more, setting the quivering sights held in my shaking hands right between the eyes of the closest monster.
Before I could even pull the trigger, a burst of automatic gunfire boomed from deeper into the forest. The Grimm whipped their gazes away from Qrow and I. In a flash, the battle was over. The last thing I saw before darkness finally took me…
…was a giant's golden visor peering down at me from above.
/-\ Winter Schnee /-\
A haze overtook my vision as I slipped into unconsciousne-
My eyes snapped open and I rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the crimson blade. I threw every single ounce of strength I had into a kick, sending it into the back of its knee. The alien stumbled for only a moment, but it was enough for me to roll away, pry my sword from my own severed arm, and stand up.
My sole remaining Beowolf stood at my back, growling lowly. The alien pressed a hand to its neck, blue blood gleaming between its fingers. It roared, charging at us blade first.
I commanded my Beowolf to attack from the left side. The last thing it would ever do was lunge at the charging alien, buying me just enough time to slip into its guard and return the favor. I retreated back out of harm's way right as its sword arm fell to the ground.
The Elite staggered backwards, cradling its stump. "Doesn't feel good, does it?" I asked, flicking my sword in its direction and splattering the alien's armor with its own blood.
It didn't even flinch, instead rushing me again as blood poured out of the gaping wound. It ignited a smaller, blue energy blade out of its remaining wrist, lunging for me. I sidestepped the alien, its movements noticeably slower than before, and sent a strike towards its head. A sudden lance of pain threw off my aim by just enough, the sword bouncing off the armor with a shower of sparks.
My enemy was quick to exploit the opening. I almost dodged the kick, sending me spinning in circles. I recovered just in time to dodge a decapitating strike from its blade. With a yell of effort, I thrust my saber at the alien's blood-covered neck.
It jumped backwards, my slash only landing as a graze. I rolled to my feet, my eyes narrowing at the creature as it stood there, its chest rising and falling while blood gushed from its stump. I readjusted my stance, trying to compensate for my own… shift in weight distribution. My foot hit a fleshy obstacle; the Elite's severed limb.
The moment I took my eyes off my opponent, it lunged forward. I almost dodged the strike, its blade piercing my aura, my armor, and my skin, leaving a shallow but painful scorch that ran from between my breasts all the way up to my right shoulder.
The attack had cost me, but it left the alien in a vulnerable position with its sole remaining arm extended. I screamed, slashing under its arm and across its torso before leaping back. It grunted in pain, pressing its sole remaining hand to its chest…
…and forgetting about the energy blade it held.
It immediately yanked the weapon out of its own abdomen, standing shock-still. I lunged forward, my sword biting into its neck and severing its head.
Its decapitated body stood upright for a moment; long enough for me to wonder if I had to cut something else off too. It did, eventually, tumble to the ground, a pool of blue blood slowly forming around it.
I let out a deep breath, pain suddenly lancing through my chest as the motion disturbed my wound. I grit my teeth, sparing my severed arm a glance. I shuddered, fire lancing through my stump. I squeezed my eyes shut, tears leaking through, and sunk to my knees.
A heavy and armored hand fell upon my shoulder, making me leap to the side and point my sword at the alie-
…I pointed my sword at the giant humanoid as he stood over me.
His gold visor stared back at me, completely stoic. He gripped a UNSC shotgun in one arm, pointing it towards the wall. I couldn't even see him breathing through his olive green armor… is this their equivalent of an Atlesian Knight?
"Specialist Schnee." She said. "I have been sent to aid you."
My sword drooped, striking the metal floor as I propped myself up. "Well, it appears you have impeccable timing…" I muttered, glancing at my disembodied arm as I stood up. I looked at the reactor. "How do we destroy it?"
Without prompting, she grabbed the spike grenade off my belt, priming it. "I would start running if I were you."
My eyes widened. "But wait, where do I-"
Waypoint added.
She reared the explosive back, readying the throw. "I'll be right behind you."
I nodded, turning around and sprinting through the door. I focused all my aura on suppressing the stinging pain coming from my ar- from where my arm was. I could deal with that later… as long as I survived this place.
A loud explosion boomed out from behind me. I spared only a glance backwards and saw the armored giant sprinting full-bore away from the room, an explosion bursting into the hallway behind her. She easily caught up to me, hoisting me onto her shoulders with seemingly no effort.
"What is the meaning of this?!" I shouted. "I can run by myself!"
"You're too slow." She said. "We only have five minutes before the ship goes full Wildcat and we do not want to be here when that happens."
I stared back at the corridor where the blast hit, the once-purple walls now blackened with soot. "…Only five minutes?"
"Grenades aren't exactly gentle with nuclear reactors."
I winced, both from the pain of my chest wound being jostled and the accuracy of her statement. "I suppose not…"
