This chapter took a lot longer to write than I honestly thought it would, but it was a lot of fun to do, so at least there's that. Hope you enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 36: All Roads Lead To...
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.(Chapter Start)
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September 14th (Same night)
Saturday
Stormy
The stormy sky started to culminate as the streets darkened from the moon hiding behind dark clouds, forcing Azura to keep a hand on Ruby in case her sight failed her. They couldn't fall too behind or they would lose the two White Fang guards that they were tailing, and that would mean yet another dry trail, and Azura refused for that to happen. They sneaked through the street, hiding behind buildings as they slowly tailed in order to avoid detection.
Azura was confident that they were following a patrol route for the guards, starting to sense a pattern as they moved through the streets like there was a set path, making a radius around something. Which, if that was true, meant that they really needed to not lose the two guards. This was a chance that wouldn't pop up again, and both Azura and Ruby understood that, if their patience meant anything.
They pressed against the wall of another building, and Azura peaked around the corner to see what was going on, while Ruby was just behind him and Zwei kept silent and tense. What Azura saw made him narrow his eyes, though remain where he was.
The two guards were talking, though Azura couldn't hear them. The taller one waved an arm and stood out on the street while the other vanished into the building next to them. Once a minute passed without anything occurring, Azura felt Ruby's breath on his neck as she whispered to him.
"What's going on?"
Azura pulled away from the corner for a moment to whisper back to her. "One of them went into a building for something, the other is outside still. I'm not sure what they're doing, though."
She nods, responding quietly. "Do you think they are almost finished with this patrol or whatever?"
Azura nodded. "Figured you picked up on it. And my guess is that they're almost done. It's been about a half hour."
With that, Azura turned to look back over the corner of the building to see what was happening. The guard that had gone into the building was back and carrying a box with him now, talking to the other guard again. After a few moments, they started walking again as more dark clouds took to the sky, a rumble of thunder coming in. Azura glanced at the sky, hoping the storm wouldn't start soon. As the guards got a safe distance away, Azura tapped Ruby on the shoulder and started to move forward again, sticking to the shadows casted by the buildings, a hand running on the building.
Following them was easy at this point, now that Azura could see a somewhat set pattern that they were walking in, but he still remained cautious. They turned left down another street and Azura quickly switched over onto the other side of the street and moved swiftly to the building that rounded the corner onto the three-way intersection, then looked over the edge. The two guards had turned yet another left corner, and Azura frowned at the odd change in direction.
Though, it suddenly made sense why that was the case. They were now moving directly towards a building that looked much grander compared to the rest of the city, though just as uncared for and crumbling. It was a train station, Azura thought. The guards moved to the side of the building and then started going down the stairs that were next to it. Azura smirked, glad to have some trail that didn't end with nothing of use.
He turned to Ruby, still speaking quietly despite his excitement. "We found where they came from."
Ruby's eyes lit up at the news, though she also kept quiet. "That's great! We need to keep following after."
Azura shook his head. "You should go back and inform everyone else. I'll go after them."
"What?" She asked. "Alone? No."
"Ruby, someone has to get everyone else. But we can't also just not have some preliminary scouting in a place like this. Remember, these are Faunus people, Ruby. Most of the ones at night will have night vision to some degree like me, so I would know what they can and can't see."
Ruby frowned. "I can't just let you go in alone, Azura."
He smiled. "I'm never alone, Ruby. You know that."
It did little to help his case, if Ruby's almost disgruntled look meant anything. "And if you get caught and your aura breaks? What will you do then?"
Azura sighed. "Ruby, I'll be careful. You don't need to worry about me so much."
Ruby's chest puffed up like she was annoyed, her hands balled up into fists, before deflating. "Someone has to…"
He placed a hand on her shoulder as he responded. "And I appreciate the concern, but you need to trust me on this. I'll be more able to sneak around better than you in this circumstance."
"Okay, okay. I get it." Ruby grumbled. "I'll be back with them as soon as I can."
"Of course. See ya in a bit." Azura said, turning away and moving off without another word.
He quickly made his way to the train station, making his way down the stairs to the side, where the guards had gone. He slowly crouch-walked down, keeping alert for anything that caught his eye, mainly movement. The damp atmosphere kept growing as he kept going down the stairs, noticing just how far he was going down.
Once he reached the very bottom, he paused for a brief moment to look, before quickly dashing to a pillar and hiding behind it. The guards were close, having caught him by surprise, though he did manage to avoid detection. This time, he was close enough to hear them actually talk.
"You got that box inside and fitted?" One of them asked, a deep voice being noticable.
The other one answered with a gruff voice. "Just about, yeah. You think we have enough dust at this point?"
"Probably. Who knows how much that man wants, he just tells us to do it and we have to do it." The deep voice answered.
"Why are we even still listening to that guy? Didn't he get his ass kicked by some girls?"
A snort of laughter was heard. "He did. But, we gotta listen to him. He's working for the same woman who works with Taurus."
"Got me there."
"Now, come on. We gotta get through the security doors to get back underground."
The sound of their footsteps were heard and Azura exhaled as they started to get further away, not aware that he had been holding his breath. He peeled himself away from the pillar, looking over the edge before following after them again.
The two guards had entered a set of doors to the side, and when Azura finally got over there, he saw a "Workers Only" sign on it. Not a second later, he opened the door and entered into a dark hallway, following after the guards again. He had no room to hide, and if they so much as turned around they would see Azura right behind them. Luna went ahead of him and beyond the guards, watching them intently.
They both paused, and Azura froze in place. His heart was beating against his chest hard, and his fingers twitched, wanting to grab his weapons already. Then, the two guards spun around with dust pistols in hand pointed at him.
"Hands up! I don't want to see you use your aura either!" The gruff sounding one said.
Azura put his hands up, fully standing up and keeping silent.
"Who are you?" The other one asked.
Azura kept silent still, and the two guards slowly approached him. Once they were within five feet of him, Azura flared his aura and Luna instantly slammed their heads together, stunning the two guards as they dropped their guns and grabbed their heads. Azura dashed forward, slamming his foot into the gut of one of the guards to make him stumble onto his back, then jumped and spun and kicked the other guard in the head, who hit the wall and fainted.
The other guard was still up, but Luna kicked him in the head this time, and the other guard was now unconscious. Azura breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at Luna.
"Thanks." He said with a smile. "Always one step ahead of them, you are."
Luna smirked back, nodding her head. She then turned and waved him to keep moving.
"Right." Azura said, now jogging his way through the halls.
"I think we're almost through anyways. We should be coming upon another set of doors or something soon." Summer said confidently.
"Let's hope so." Azura replied.
The halls all looked the same, and other than the stairs going down, there was not much to differentiate his path. Finally spotting another staff door, he entered through that door and came into an empty building from the side. The halls were now different, much darker and dustier than before, and clearly not made of the same concrete as the halls and stairs that led him here. He slowed down his pace, making his way through the empty building, not seeing anyone else in it.
All of the windows were boarded or covered in debris, so he had no idea what to expect when he got out, but he continued on until he found an open space to get out. He slipped through it, and took a look around once he was back on his feet. He was inside of a large cavern, and he could tell that there were lights that were on and functioning somewhere on the other side of it. Buildings were all around him, and that was when he finally saw exactly what he thought the city would have had.
"Ghosts." Azura said, seeing the aimless specters sitting or standing around the edge of the buildings. "So many ghosts."
The inside of the buildings were so crowded with ghosts that Azura could barely even see any defining features on them other than a mess of colors that were faded and dull now. It reminded Azura of when he first saw Luna as a ghost, and more recently, Summer for the first time.
They were all standing there where all of the windows were, just watching. It was rather creepy to Azura, despite how used to seeing the dead he was. And they were clearly talking, though Azura couldn't hear them from here.
"Not like I would want to hear them anyway." Summer commented. "It's so...creepy to think about."
"To think about what they're saying?" Azura asked. "Because, if so, you aren't wrong."
"Let's just get going. Don't want to get caught by someone." Summer replied.
Azura nodded, moving towards the buildings that were nearby for cover. He didn't particularly want to be close to the ghosts, but he didn't want to be caught in the open more than that. As he stuck to the side of the building and moved along it, he could hear what the ghosts were all whispering about.
"They left us...abandoned us." The all said at once like a symphony. "Vale left us to die. To die."
It sent cold shivers down Azura's back, his hair standing on end from the mass of voices whispering the same words over and over. He tried his best to ignore what was being said in an attempt to keep his focus purely on not being caught at all. He couldn't afford to be caught, nor did he want to have to be rescued or something.
Moving from building to building offered little pieces of info for Azura. There were a large number of people here, all White Fang. No one else seemed to be here but White Fang members, and they were all moving boxes and yelling out orders to each other as they went. Something was odd about it all, Azura felt. He needed to find out what they were doing with the boxes. They all bore the same SDC symbol of a snowflake on it, meaning that it was likely all dust.
"Who needs so much dust? And here of all places?"
"We might need to get somewhere else, get a better angle." Summer said. "Just my suggestion."
Azura nodded, still moving building to building in the shadows. The ghosts were still all mumbling and talking next to him about how they had been abandoned, and he wasn't a fan of just how close they were to him. It was like they were trapped within their own minds, like not a single day had passed since the failure of the Mountain Glenn expansion for them. It's possible that was the case. Azura barely knew the way ghosts worked outside of what he learned from just watching Luna, and Summer contradicted some of those baselines he thought were true.
He was now on the other side of the cavern, up on a raised area that was still concealed in shadows. Some buildings still towered over him, but he was able to now see what exactly was happening.
They were loading up three trains with the very same dust that they had within the boxes, and if Azura looked closely, he could vaguely see Torchwick himself yelling and pointing with his cane in annoyance. He frowned, not liking the fact that Torchwick was likely in charge of whatever was going on here. Was it against his will? Did he willingly do it?
Neo would say no. Torchwick would say yes.
He shook his head, focusing on the task at hand. They were planning to do something with those trains clearly, but Azura wasn't sure why. As far as he knew, all paths out of this area were blocked off or even just gone.
"But, if there's some underground path open, how has it not been found?" Summer asked.
"I'm not sure, but we have to find out. We have to get closer." Azura replied, moving back down the raised area and over to the buildings again. His concern for what was being done here continued to increase as he moved, a sense of urgency filling his body. He needed to get a good idea of what was going on here and get out soon.
He pushed up towards the center of the cavern, having crumbled debris and stacked boxes to hide him. Compared to buildings, he felt much more exposed here, his level of caution high as he slowly peeked past the edge of a box to look around. From here, everything was much closer to him, fully visible now. The train tracks that were along the ground marked the place as some sort of large area for transportation. It was as if the underground area was made specifically for that, and Azura felt like he knew why the ghosts of this place were all down here.
They had died down here, and were now trapped. It would explain why he never saw any ghosts on the surface. Which means that their words about being abandoned were more than just a ghost being a ghost. It was true. All of the Hunters and Huntresses who were brought here to evacuate citizens were then recalled and left hundreds here to die. Azura felt sick to his stomach, but shook his head a moment later. He had to focus on the bigger picture, on what was happening at the very moment.
The next time he looked out, he focused more on what was going on instead of what the place looked like. There were three Atlesian Paladins moving around with a larger amount of boxes in their arms. One for each of the trains, Azura figured. He still had no idea why they were doing this, considering the closed pathways. He couldn't help but wonder what exactly the trains were being loaded for either. Assuming a way out existed, did no one who patrolled this area know about it? His thoughts kept moving as he tried to piece everything together, of how it could be taking the dust to another location for other White Fang groups, or how it could be getting used elsewhere.
He felt Luna tug on him urgently, and he instantly went to move from the boxes and into a more secure place to hide, but was met with resistance as he got grabbed by a big hand and tugged back against the boxes with a thud. Azura saw a big and burly White Fang member in front of him, and went to activate his semblance for Luna before something slammed into the side of his head unexpectedly, and he stumbled to the ground, sliding on the boxes behind him as his head spun and his ear rang.
His head was aflame from pain, and his vision swam as he felt himself get dragged by one of them. His focus was gone, and the only sense he had was the feeling of his feet being dragged on the stone floor and the blood streaming from his head. He couldn't pull his focus together to use his semblance at the moment, leaving him helpless and unable to grab for his weapons as his senses began to return to him.
He felt rope being tied around him, and then he grunted in pain as he was thrown against the ground and one of them called out.
"Hey, boss! We got someone for you who shouldn't be here!"
Azura groaned as he tried to look around. His vision was still swimming a bit, his arms restrained as he tried to wiggle in it, and he could tell that the two people who caught him were standing behind him. Other White Fang members gave him looks, but still moved along to do what they were doing.
"Can't you tell I am a little busy, Biggs?!" The familiar voice of Torchwick yelled out before coming into view, pausing as he saw Azura. "Oh, really?! Who made the kid bleed? Come on, come on! You know that we can't just go around killing kids for fun now." Torchwick approached a little closer, smoking at his ever present cigar. "Well, you're dismissed."
The big and muscular one spoke this time. "You sure?"
Torchwick rolled his eyes, waving him off with his cigar hand. "Course I am. Look at him, he won't be able to touch me. We're just gonna...chat."
The two men left, leaving Azura on the ground and Torchwick in front of him.
Torchwick watched the two of them leave, waiting for no one to be in earshot of him, then crouched down and looked at Azura. "Well, you just couldn't stop yourself, could ya? Honestly, I give one kid some advice and he completely rejects it. What kind of savage world do we live in?"
"Kind of...hard to listen to someone involved with this stuff." Azura said, wincing. "Or maybe I've actually gone crazy listening to her…"
"To Little Red?" Torchwick asked with a chuckle. "I wouldn't be shocked if you did. Now, listen." He continued, taking a puff from his cigar. "I can't have you go ruining this. I promised Neo that I would take care of things here if she could set something up for me. We've both been very busy, and if some kid tried to interfere with such a thing, it could cause issues."
"Then, what are you going to do?"
The orange haired man smirked. "Well, isn't that the question of the night. You're putting me at quite the crossroads, kiddo. You feel the need to cause me a headache or something?"
When Azura didn't respond, the man continued talking. "Well, Neo can't play with you here, so you should be quite glad to be away from her and here in this wonderful cave with me. Other than that, maybe you and I can work out a little deal here. You tell me where Red and the others are, I let you go, and then we both pretend this never happened. How's that sound?"
Azura could do nothing but narrow his eyes, keeping quiet. He could have Luna appear, but he would have no time at all to do anything. It wasn't like she could help him get out of the ropes right in the middle of everyone, not without convenient timing.
Torchwick sighed. "This is how we're playing the game, then? Come on, kid, we're on the same side. Trying to survive!" He shrugged, adjusting his hat. "Well, you're trying to take down the people me and her work for, while we just try to survive the forced partnership, but that's besides the point."
Shouts and yells could be heard in the distance behind Azura, and the only thing he knew was that Torchwick did not like it.
"Course they come." Torchwick groaned, standing up. "Well, it was nice seeing you again, kid. Next time, can we not be involved with each other's business? Seriously, I can't go with a good consciousness knowing that this world will eat you up! That, or Neo. One of the two." He said with a laugh before growing serious and yelling out. "Get aboard or get left behind! Come on, you mutts! These trains are leaving!"
With a final wave, Torchwick was off and vanished behind a train a moment later. White Fang members were running past him, jumping onto and boarding the train as lights turned on and the trains started preparation to get moving. In the midst of all the chaos, he felt a hand land on his shoulder and a blade slice through the rope with ease. He was turned over, and saw Blake's concerned eyes looking him over.
"Thanks, Blake." He said.
"Mhm." Was her reply as she dragged him up. "You're bleeding."
"Yeah, I know." Azura responded. "Hurts like hell, but aura is a miracle worker."
"No time for chit-chat, all of you. These trains are starting to get moving." Oobleck said.
Azura turned, noticing that the trains were indeed moving off, still slowly, but making distance from them.
"Azura, Yang, left train! Ruby, Blake, middle train! Weiss, with me!" Oobleck ordered.
They followed the unsaid order to get going, already split off and moving to their respective trains. Yang had already jumped onto the ladder of the rear car, and Azura quickly followed after as she climbed to the top. All three trains were moving together at the moment, visible past the large concrete structures on either side. Lights lit up the tunnel, and Azura felt Yang bring him closer to her as she spoke.
"Before we get going here, do you need to sit back?"
"No, I can fight." Azura said, shaking his head. "Promise."
"Good." Yang said, grinning. "Wouldn't want to steal the show."
Azura smiled back for a moment before running ahead. "These trains are being used for something. We need to find out what before it's too late."
The trains were picking up speed now, Azura's sweatshirt blowing in the wind as it whipped past him. Yang's hair was a similar state of affairs, but he ignored it in favor of opening the top hatch of the train to look inside.
The car was chocked full of dust crates and a singular device in the center that had blinking lights. There was nothing else in the train car other than that, as if there was no need to be careful with it at this point in time. Azura didn't know enough about dust care to say if that would be a problem or not, but he did not like the device in the center at all. It looked like an explosive to him, but he didn't want to be wrong here.
"What?" Azura asked aloud, raising his voice to be heard above the wind.
"That's odd!" Yang said, also raising her voice. "Let's check the next car!"
They moved on to the next train car, looking inside from the top hatch. It was the same setup within that one as well. They moved on to the third train car, opening the top hatch again, and saw the same exact setup as the other two. Yang looked at Azura as he looked at her, speaking.
"They're explosives, Azura!" she yelled. "They're trying to blow something up with this train!"
"That's insane!" Azura yelled back. "They're trying to blow open the blockades in the tunnels!"
Yang's eyes widened. "They're trying to bring Grimm to Vale!"
"What?!" He exclaimed.
"The blockades! The tunnels lead to Vale, Oobleck said so!" Yang explained, the wind whipping her hair all over the place. "They must be leading Grimm to Vale and opening holes to the city itself!"
"Fuck!" Azura swore. "What are they thinking?! The White Fang have lost their minds!"
"No time to think about it! We have company!" Yang said.
Azura stood up, swiftly taking out his weapons and looking forward. A group of five White Fang guards were coming upon them, all with what he assumed to be dust-infused rods, all of them lightning.
"Stun rods, huh?" He remarked.
"Straight out of the movies, I have to say!" Yang said with a loud laugh. "Let's wreck 'em, Azura!"
They all rushed forward, and Azura and Yang ran forward as well. He heard a crack as Yang punched on of them, and quickly sidestepped as a stun rod came swinging down at him. Azura grinned, whacking the guard on the head with the hilt of his sword, then flipped over him to swing both blades at the next guard as Luna appeared and slammed his head on the train car.
A yell was heard as the guard Yang was fighting went flying into another one, knocking them all the way onto the next train car. Azura winced, not wanting to imagine the impact, and dodged yet another swing. Shooting two shots of ice dust at the guard in front of him, he slammed his body forward, toppling the guard down, then moved on to the final one as Yang rocketed a fist into their stomach. By that time, Azura had taken care of the last guard, leaving all five of them on the train, unconscious.
He kept his weapons out, starting to move forward. "Come on! We have to keep moving!"
Yang nodded, and the two of them ran along the top of the train cars, jumping every few seconds onto the next car. As they ran, Azura glanced to his right and saw Ruby and Blake doing the same, while Weiss and Oobleck were fighting off a group of White Fang guards of their own. He turned back to focus ahead, finally making easy progress now that they knew what the train was being used for and no guards were getting their way.
Once they got most of the way to the front of the train, about seven or eight cars behind, however, a new problem rose up in the form of an Atlesian Paladin. Azura stumbled to a halt just at the end of the train car, noticing that there was a drop off onto a flat train car where the Paladin stood before them. Yang was at his side, already yelling at him over the wind.
"We'll have to work together for this, Azura! I've taken one of these things on, and they are strong!" She said as it came to life, someone already inside where the cockpit was. "I'll distract and take its focus, you get on it and disable it any way you can!"
"Right!" Azura yelled back.
They jumped down onto the flat train car, the sounds of the wheels on the tracks grating on his ears now that they were much closer to them. The Paladin stepped forward, towering over them as it raised its arms up and began to bring them down. Azura dashed forward, rose petals flourishing, and was behind it and away from the attack. He spun, stopping his momentum with his feet and a hand, and watched Yang fall back down after jumping to avoid the attack, and slam a fist into the glass in front of the cockpit and a cracking sound was heard.
She flipped back to avoid a sweeping arm, blocking a fist with crossed hands and aura. Her yellow aura crackled visibly, and Azura didn't waste a moment more to build up Summer's semblance in his legs and leap towards the top of the Paladin. As he landed, he stabbed his dagger into it, finding a grip as it sliced through the armor.
The Paladin spun, and Azura nearly lost his grip on the dagger as it did so. He grunted, gritting his teeth as he tightened his hold. As it continued to move, Azura sunk his sword into the armor, now having two grips for him to hang onto. The shaking and spinning stopped as a thud echoed just below him, and the Paladin sunk down onto one knee. Taking his chance, he put his feet against the mech and more rose petals flew wildly in the wind as he jumped up and landed heavily on the top.
Finding the entry point on the mech, he pulled it open, and then had to pull his head back as dust bullets came flying out of the top. Once it stopped, Azura braced his aura, and stuck his head and arms into the cockpit, slamming his fist into the very much humanoid skull before dragging the guard out and throwing them onto the train car.
"Just for you!" He yelled out.
"Aw, thanks!" Yang replied back loudly, knocking the guard out without a second thought.
Azura slid off of the mech, grabbing his weapons as he went, then jogged towards the door of the next train car as he sheathed them. He hadn't seen any other guards up ahead, and getting inside would give a bit of breathing room for them before moving forward again. He opened the heavy door, hopping across to get inside. He kept it open as Yang jumped in as well, then closed it a moment later after looking out.
He leaned against the wall, taking in deep breaths to get some air, then closed his eyes. He could hear Yang doing the same, and opened his eyes to look at her. She wasn't sweating, but the Paladin had clearly taken a toll on her. Summer's active presence in his mind made concern the primary emotion to come to him, but he shook it off as best he could.
"How're you faring, Yang?" Azura said, finally able to speak normally with no wind interfering with noise.
She waved towards him, taking her scroll out. "Fine enough for now."
"Aura levels?"
"You're high eighty, I'm low sixty." She said. "Ruby and Blake are going good, and Weiss is a little low, but Oobleck is fine."
Azura nodded. "Right. I'll take lead in case there are actually more?"
Yang nodded back. "Sounds good."
There was no room for debates here, they both knew that. They stood there for a few moments, looking out at the boxes of dust and the object in the center that Azura felt was a detonator, before getting off the wall and jogging forward again, feeling energized again just by the idea of needing to stop the train before it was too late.
Azura had taken the lead now, as they agreed on, and they moved from train car to train car from the inside. They had to take a few seconds for the doors, yes, but Azura knew it would take just about the same amount of time to get to the head of the train. They passed through a few more train cars, and Azura could see that the head of the train was just ahead of this car, meaning that they were at the train car just before.
"We made it." He said, still moving forward.
"Let's get to stopping this thing, then!" Yang said.
They moved forward, but just before they got to the door, a loud slam was heard across the train car, shaking the entire thing and knocking the two of them off balance. A loud roar was heard as the metal of the train car squealed under the pressure, and Azura could easily recognize the sound of that roar.
"How did it even get out of there?!" Summer's voice exclaimed, just barely overheard as it roared again.
A large clawed hand pierced through the metal, the blade reaching down towards the ground of the train, and the sound of metal being ripped apart hurt his ears. As the claw and blade shredded through the metal, Azura and Yang dodged to each side of the train. The top of the train car was then ripped off with another roar coming through, and the massive Grimm was visible.
It was watching Azura intently, its red eyes seeming to pulse with hatred. It roared again, jumping down into the train and slamming its arms against the sides of the train and completely tore it off, boxes of dust going flying over the sides at the sudden change. The wind whipped through Azura's and Yang's hair again, and he could hear Yang yell out.
"What the fuck is that?!" She exclaimed, swearing loudly in shock.
"I have no idea, but it's very dangerous! Yang, this is going to be a hard fight!" Azura said, activating his semblance and having Luna at his side. "It's gonna take all we have!"
"Storing up all that energy was pretty worth it, I guess!" Yang said, shaking her arms out.
The Grimm did not wait any longer, roaring again as it moved forward, slashing the claws and blade forward diagonally several times, forcing Azura and Yang back. Once the attacks stopped, Azura jumped up, petal swirling behind him as he jumped up and over the Grimm, sliding down its back and slashing at one of the green spikes on it. The blade bounced off, the force numbing his hand for a few moments.
He landed, rolling forward, and called out as he got back up. "The armor on this thing is heavy! Sharp weapons won't break through the armor itself!"
The sound of metal hitting metal was like a loud screech, and Azura saw Yang slide along the ground and stop next to him.
"Yeah?! Well, what do we do?!" She asked, hair wild as she swept it out of her face.
They dodged a heavy paw slamming down on their position with a jump back, then Azura answered. "It's focusing on me specifically, I think! We have to use that to our advantage and try to break through the armor!"
"Got it!" Yang said, the two of them sidestepping another heavy slam.
Azura saw Yang run towards it, sliding under its body and to the other side. It barely took note of her as it roared and charged Azura with a series of slams and slashes with its forearms. Azura dodged back the first few and then jumped up as it slammed its arms down, landing on the arm itself and bouncing towards its more exposed face and slashing at its eye as he passed over it and landed back on the other side while Yang gave a vicious punch to its exposed hindleg and made it stumble a little.
Its roar was much louder this time, and much angrier. It started lashing out in every direction it could, snapping its jaw to bite while slashing with the blades and claws, even slamming its body towards one of them. Azura was completely on the defense now, and he caught a glance of Yang doing the same. They could do nothing but dodge while the Grimm attacked with all of its might, its energy seemingly endless as it continued its reckless attacks.
Azura didn't like how he was forced into Summer's semblance as the speed of the attacks increased, and his worry for Yang grew because there would be a point where she wouldn't be able to dodge. The large Grimm was no longer focused purely on Azura, and was now just attacking whatever it saw.
To the left, then to the right. Duck, jump, dodge back. Anything to keep out of the attacks. One good blow would likely knock them off of the ripped open train car, and they couldn't afford something like that. Azura hoped that the creature would stop its attacks soon, feeling his aura slowly drain from the semblance usage. It was at the point that he needed to keep Luna in her passive form, which was not good at all.
They needed it to stop for something to be able to hit it again, and Azura took his chance when he saw one of the Grimms' massive paws raise up. He crossed his weapons as the creature then went to slam one of its blades down on him, forcing aura into his arms to brace for it. He winced as it landed, feeling his entire body vibrate from the impact.
"The armor, Yang!" He yelled out as best he could, his arms starting to shake from the massive weight of the Grimm trying to crush him.
"One step ahead of ya!" She yelled back.
The sound of shotgun shells could be heard as Yang came up and over the Grimm, and she grinned as her hair blazed to life like a wildfire and her eyes became a bright shade of red. She crashed down with a yell, slamming her fist into the arm that Azura was holding his blades against. The pressure on Azura was lifted suddenly as the armor on the creature completely shattered, and the Grimm was sent back a few steps as it roared again, this time in pain.
Yang landed next to Azura, and the two of them looked at each other, nodded, then prepared themselves for the Grimm to start attacking again. They were out of breath and Azura wasn't sure if they could keep up the pace with aura alone. The Grimm clenched its paws for a brief moment before flexing back and roaring directly at them much louder and full of energy than before, forcing them to wince and cover their ears at the intense noise. It then slammed its paws down forcefully, rattling the entire train car and rendering them unable to move.
It rushed forward then, crashing into them and sending them flying against the backside of the head train car, with Yang going flying through the door, completely snapping the metal to the sides as she went through. Azura groaned, his ears ringing and vision dizzy. The Grimm roared again, and Azura tried to get up onto his feet by rising against the wall.
"Azura! You have to power through!"
He could hear Summer calling out to him, as if far away. He was trying to listen to her, trying to get up, but his entire body was protesting against the action, as if totally against it. He looked up, seeing the Grimm approach him, and tried getting up faster only to fail. His legs shook with effort as his senses still spun and did not return to him. The ringing in his ears seemed to reach a fever pitch as Summer's shadow movements tried desperately to pick him up. The Grimm raised its bladed arms, sending them crashing down towards the ground where Azura struggled to stand.
Before it could hit him, however, a dark red portal appeared in front of him and a blade slashed upward horizontally as it disappeared. Both of the blades on the Grimms' arms were shaved almost in half as it staggered back again. The woman was now fully in Azura's vision, slightly hazy and shaky as it was.
A short red and black dress was seen with alternating colors, the skirt stopping short and black leggings covering over her pale legs. A belt was wrapped around her waist, with the sheath for her blade. It was long and bulky, and her red blade was longer than that, looking like some sort of Eastern blade from Vacuo. Red armored gauntlets could be seen, and black gloves covered her hands. Feathers and a white mark of sorts hung from her waist as well, but the woman's most notable trait was her long ebony black hair that reminded him of Yang.
When she flicked her blade to the side, tapping her fingers along it, Azura suddenly realized who had come in and likely saved Azura's life. It was the very same woman who exited Summer's life before, and he could already remember the blood red eyes that she had. The very same eye color of Yang's semblance.
"Raven…" He said, his voice strained as Summer's own voice easily overtook his own for a moment.
She briefly turned to look at him, and he could see her eyes past the small series of eye slits along the mask which resembled a Grimm's head with the red marks along the pure white color. She spared only a moment to look at Azura before turning back to the very large and very angry Grimm she had just attacked. It rushed forward towards Raven, and she simply waited for it to try and slap her off of the train with one paw before slashing upward again and completely severing the paw off of the Grimm.
Azura was shocked to see her make such short work of the Grimm, and was even more shocked to see the Grimm stumble back and almost become fearful as it jumped off of the train and crashed onto the ground quickly disappearing as the train sped past it. Azura barely had a moment to feel relief before he felt Raven grab at his clothes and pull him towards her with one hand, the other taking off the mask. Her red eyes and face reminded him of Yang so much, and Summer's breath seemed to hitch as if she were the one physically there.
"What are you?!" She asked, her black hair waving rapidly in the wind. "How do you know my name?! Why can I feel Summer from you with my semblance?!"
Azura was shocked and at a loss of words, though he couldn't tell if that was because of him or because of Summer at this point in time. He simply stared up at her, and her unshakable gaze suddenly broke off from his and she dropped him.
"Do not play games, Summer." She said coldly before glaring at Azura. "And you...a child should know better than to play with the dead."
She turned away and put her mask back on, slashing the air with her sword as a portal appeared. She steps through it without another word, and the portal then closed. Azura felt much more hurt and saddened by that than he knew he should, but he couldn't fight off Summer's emotions this time. He got up then, hand on the wall of the head train car, and moved into it. Yang was still there, starting to get up with a groan.
Azura pushed past her, looking at the controls for anything that could stop the train. Anything that was usable seemed to do nothing as Azura pressed and pulled at the controls, and everything else was destroyed or locked in. As his worry grew, he took out his scroll to maybe try and contact the others, but could not do so. The connection was dead, leaving him with nothing but aura bars. Yang's was at twenty-two percent, while he was in his mid forties.
"That damn woman left us here!" He said aloud, angrily.
Looking up through the window, he saw that they were approaching the blocked path that would have led them into Vale. He only had a few seconds to take an action, and he used Summer's semblance to dash to Yang, embracing her to cover her body with his as he felt her stiffen up in his grip.
"Brace for impact!" He said.
Pulling his aura up, he watched Yang slowly do the same, and then braced his body as he waited for the impact. A moment later, it was like the entire world had just exploded, and Azura felt stone and rubble smash into him as he and Yang were launched into the air and slammed back down. It was the last thing Azura felt before the world slipped under his feet and he blacked out.
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.(Chapter End)
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Well, I won't be dramatic here, but we've finally reached the "fever pitch" of what I internally call Volume/Part 2 of GVLP. I mean, following canon, it makes sense to me. I'm actually also in the midst of finalizing all of my plans for Volume 3, and I'm almost finished outside of a few things.
Have a nice day/evening!