Once A Shadow Without Light
Pt. II


Blake held onto the railing above her as she looked out the open doors of the airship. It was hard not to be affected by the sight before her; the black tide of Grimm entirely consumed half the city. She could see the frontline of soldiers giving everything they could to keep them back, but more and more fronts fell and started to get flanked. Entire swaths of Grimm were being obliterated by the cannons on the Mantle of Responsibility, only to be quickly filled with more Grimm seconds later.

The gunner next to her kept his stream of bullets as the airship began it's decent near the frontline closer to the city's wall. As they got closer to the ground, Blake could see that this was probably once a park area, maybe an agricultural sector, but had quickly became filled with temporary housing with the bare minimum support. She could see people running deeper into the city as the defenders were overrun, and the creatures started running down the winding streets, hunting for the living.

An explosion stole her attention from the rising ground. It was behind the line, and she saw the familiar flames that could only belong to one person. Further on past that point, Blake saw a wall of ice grow down the street and cut off the advancing Grimm, leaving them vulnerable to the direct shots from the Dreadnaught's cannons.

Blake did not like the fact that the team was split up so quickly after they had all crossed the planet to meet up, but with so few Specialists available for this, it was the only thing they really could do. She was going to be the first one on the ground in this sector, so she needed to make sure it was clear for the rescue ships. She did not know exactly how she was going to do it, but she had her part to play, just like Yang and Weiss.

Looking back at the people in her airship with her, she saw that they were waiting on her. It was strange to her; she was in charge of these people, these Atlesian soldiers. To some of them, she was just another officer who put the chest plate on and put in charge of a random group of soldiers because their last one died. To others, she was an animal put into position because of her ties with Weiss. She could not see their faces behind their helmets, but she could feel the animosity coming from most of them. She wondered if Ruby felt this much anxiety about leading the team after initiation all those years ago.

"We need to secure the landing zone and get the barrier ready to get the survivors out safely! Groups of four need to focus fire to drop the Grimm, anything larger or with thick armour, call them out, and I'll take care of them!"

"YES, MA'AM" was the chorus from all of them. She did not know if blindly following orders was the mark of a good soldier or a bad one, but she ran out of time to reflect on it. The airship landed on the ground, and everyone jumped out. The second they did, Blake was deafened by the sounds of the weapons everyone was firing. Aiming her gun, Blake quickly went from target to target, firing her Dust rounds and taking care of the enormous amount of Grimm that they were dropped in the middle of.

She was lost in the motions of rushing from target to target, a blur of fangs and claws as she leapt from one side to the other of their established zone of control. She heard someone call out her rank, and she turned in time to see a colossal ape type Grimm charging right for them. She could see her reinforcements in the air coming towards them, but then the Grimm saw it too, and pick up a car that was sitting on the side of the street and throw it right in the air.

Blake watched in horror as the car collided with one of the airships carrying a Paladin walker under it. One of the wings was torn off and was sent into a spiral that crashed into a row of the temporary houses, sending burning debris everywhere. Blake prayed that they were empty already. Jamming a finger into her ear, she activated the Comms system Atlas had in place and radioed to her coordinator. "The zone's too hot! Don't send any more reinforcements until I deal with the threat! out!" She received a simple affirmative as she charged towards the Grimm.

As she ran, it roared at her and leapt to meet her head-on. Slipping a shadow off her body, she used it to change her direction when it landed on top. Bouncing off another shadow, she sprinted right past its legs, dragging her blades across the back of its knees and heard it roar out in pain. Leaping onto it's back, she screamed in the effort as she drove Gambol Shroud deep into the Beringel's neck, making it scream even more. Before she could pull her sword back, its large hand came up to grab her.

Infusing her Semblance with Fire Dust, she slipped another shadow off and let the Grimm take her copy. Running as far as she could from it, she watched as the Dust exploded, taking the Grimm's hand and forearm in the process. Taking advantage of its pain, Blake leapt back onto its shoulders, drove the thin blade right into its eye as far as possible, and used her cleaver sheath as a hammer to push it even further.

Riding the creature as it fell onto its chest and began to dissipate, Blake caught her breath as she looked around. The soldiers she was with had cleaned the area and were keeping the Grimm at bay. The younger ones were charging forward and were obliterated by a wall of gunfire while the older ones stayed behind cover the best they could. Without any more massive Grimm coming at them, Blake radioed the all-clear and watched as the second wave of airships began to fly towards her position.

Three Paladins slammed into the ground and immediately began to fill the streets with bullets as they began to spread out. A fresh wave of soldiers came in and began to set up hard light barricades and a landing platform for the airships to land to carry survivors away. Everything had been set up in a matter of seconds; Blake could hardly believe it. Picking her weapon up off the ground once the Grimm had dissipated entirely, she approached the sergeant who shouted orders to everyone else.

"Start clearing the immediate buildings; I'm going deeper to start bringing survivors,"

"Yes, Ma'am, you heard the Specialist! Clear these buildings! Third squad! Fifth squad! Get you asses moving!"

A chorus of 'yes sir' was heard as people rushed forward to help those who needed it. With everything settled, Blake turned and began to run down the street with another squad in tow to help her escort as many people as possible. It did not take long for their team to engaging with Grimm, but they were quick to focus fire while Blake dashed forward with her blades. They needed to be as fast as possible; the bombardment could only thin out so many Grimm before the people inside the city would be overrun.

Then the walls that were supposed to protect the people would only trap them.

They were quick to enter buildings and began shouting. Blake had to break doors down and carry children back to the checkpoint. She noticed that most of the people that lived in this area were Vacuo refugees and Faunus minorities. Right now, Blake was much more grateful for being a Faunus. Atlas was known for its prejudice against the Faunus, so her having her ears out opening made people much more willing to go with her to safety.

Building by building, they escorted as many people as they could back to the safety zone, but with each group they took back, it was getting harder to make sure everyone was safe. The horde of Grimm was getting closer, and the concentration of the creatures was getting thicker. Blake watched in horror as entire buildings were consumed by the Grimm, she could hear the screams of the innocent mixed in with horrid cries of mindless beasts. Only for it all to be silenced when one of the soldiers threw a grenade into the building, making it a target for the Mantle of Responsiblite's cannons.

Time was running out, and she needed to save more.

Rushing into another poorly built apartment building, she could hear screaming coming from the hallways above her. Leaping up the stairs, she saw smaller Beowovles crashing through doors, and Blake charged into action. Screaming to get their attention, she slid under the first and second legs before leaping into the face of the third one, leaving a shadow made of stone to land on top of it.

Using the walls to her advantage, Blake kept moving out of range of their claws as they tried to bring her down. What she wouldn't give to have one of Weiss's time dilation glyphs right now, but she had to make do with herself since the hallway was too enclosed for the soldiers to open fire with her in the middle of it. Using the cleaver to break through defences and the razor-sharp katana, Blake made quick work of the Grimm, but she could still hear more coming up the stairs ahead of them.

"Start clearing out the upper floors!" Blake shouted as they headed towards the stairwell. She watched as three soldiers charged towards the stairs and aim their weapons down. Their features lit up by the muzzle flashes of their rifles before tentacles wrapped around their necks and began to pull them down towards the horde below. Before she could help any of them, the last one fought against the Grimm long enough to grab all the grenades on his vest and pull the pins before he was dragged down to the floor below. The explosions were followed by a deafening silence as Blake stared, trying to comprehend what she just witnessed.

A cry stole her attention from a broken door next to her. Looking inside, she saw a child, no older than seven, screaming and shaking man that was sitting against the wall. Half his chest was covered in blood, and his arm was missing. He talked to the child that clung to his bloody shirt, but she just continued to cry.

"DADDY!" Her broken voice chilled Blake to the core as she took deep breaths and kept trying. A roar came from the stairwell, and Black needed to get her out now. Running inside, Blake and the man connected eyes, and she could see the begging in his eyes.

"Please, my baby girl…" From how weak his voice was, Blake could only guess he had a few seconds left. She could not trust her own voice, so she scooped the child up, but she refused to let him go.

"NO! DON'T LEAVE MY DADDY! DADDY, HELP!"

"It's okay, baby girl. I'll be fine, go with the nice lady, she'll keep you safe…" he just gave his daughter a smile when Blake managed to pry the child's hands off the bloody shirt and was about to run out when something caught her eye.

A single framed picture of the child and the man. Both were smiling as they sat in a small plastic pool. A split second passed, and Blake grabbed the picture and ran down the hall, urging everyone in it to hurry out. The child in her arms still struggling to return to a dead body as they all converged in the street. She looked around, and there were maybe fifty people they saved from that building. All of them looked scared and looked at her.

"Keep moving, we're bringing you to safety!" She shouted as the soldiers all began to move down the street back towards the checkpoint. They all ran as quickly as they could with whatever they could grab quickly. The child in her arms continued to cry out for their father to save them from Blake, but there was nothing she could do to calm them. Maybe in the future, she will understand why Blake did what she had to do.

The whole group managed to get past the Paladin as it opened fire past them to whatever horde followed the concentration of negative emotion she was guarding. Luckily for her, there was already an Airship waiting for them to leave. Everyone pilled on, and Blake handed the child off to someone onboard. Before it could lift off, Blake pressed the picture frame into the child's hands and forced them to hold it. "Remember him," Was all she could say before the airship began to lift into the sky. She watched as the airship turned and headed straight for the Dreadnought in the air and felt like she finally took a breath.

"Specialist Belladonna, come in," Came the voice of the woman who was overseeing her portion of the city.

"I read you, over,"

"We're seeing a group of people out in the street near your location getting surrounded by Grimm. Someone's there protecting them, but it's not looking pretty, Over."

"Understood, where are they? Over,"

"South by southwest. Best be fast, Specialist, retrieval protocols are executing soon, out."

Blake brought her hand down from her ear and looked in the direction she needed to go. The retrieval protocol was their exit strategy from the city, and it involved a lot of fire. She needed to hurry if she was going to save those people. Knowing she was going to be faster on her own, Blake told the squad she was with to start securing the street they will be using to get back, and she took the rooftops to the location.

From above it all, she saw the carnage that ravaged the city. Everything from a certain point was utterly destroyed by the Grimm and bombardment fire from above. She could track the horde's path, and she quickened her pace across the rooftops and willed the people to still be alive.

Jumping from the last rooftop, she caught a glimpse of the still alive people and the one protecting them. Staff in hand and a tail holding a baby from the snapping jaws of a Grimm. Landing next to the man, she drove her sword through the Grimm's head and let it dissipate before looking at the man she just saved.

Sun just stared at her with his mouth agape as he stood up straight. "Blake…" He finally said as she walked past him.

"We can talk later, right now, we need to save these people,"

"Yes, ma'am," He said quickly as he kept the baby in his tail and walked up to her. Blake rolled her eyes as she looked around to make sure the coast was clear. "Where are we going?"

"We've got a checkpoint nearby that's ferrying people up to the Dreadnought. We need to hurry though, we're getting ready to pull out soon."

"But, the people…"

"I know, but we saved as many people as we could. We can't risk the lives we've already saved for the ones we can't save…" Blake hated the words that came out of her mouth, but they were true none the less.

Like pulling a child from a dying man so she could live.

"This way," Blake said as she, Sun and the few people they were with began to run down the streets, shooting any Grimm that dared to show their fangs. Above them, Blake heard the cannons firing at whatever was behind them and the Grimm's screams that were chasing them. Picking up speed, they rounded the corner and began to sprint towards the checkpoint.

The Paladins were already starting to bunch up, preparing to be lifted back up to the Dreadnaught when she saw already halfway towards it. Above them, she saw a streak of fire fly and landed right on one of the Paladins. She watched as the flame splattered across the metal and began to eat away at the material, causing it to fall over and melt.

Looking back, she saw a Grimm she had only seen in textbooks crawling towards them. Like a massive centipede with a bloated body, large, toothy mouth with melting plasma dripping from its mouth. Seeing the monster, the remaining Paladins turned and began to open fire on it, stopping it from getting any closer while Blake and Sun gathered everyone who was left on the landing pad to get on the next ship.

Blake could do nothing as the plasma melted through the other Paladins like they were made of butter. The people behind her cried out in fear as Blake desperately tried to think of anything to protect them from the next launch of plasma when it was hurled at them. Blake could do nothing but close her eyes and wait, but as the seconds stretched on, nothing happened. Taking the risk of opening her eyes, she saw a single figure standing in front of them.

Neo stood with her back to the Grimm, umbrella opened, and the ground behind her completely melted. Just what was that umbrella made of? Before Blake could say anything to Neo, she took a deep breath and focused her attention on the ship in the air. The next second, her vision was filled with shattering glass as the ground broke under them, and she found herself on the airship they were just under. The familiar sensation of nausea filled her stomach, but she managed to keep it down, the same could not be said for half of the people Neo just teleported up to the ship, including the baby Sun hand in his tail.

Looking back at Neo, she saw her on her knees and having trouble breathing. Quickly rushing to her side, she saw that her colour had paled, and she struggled to stop shaking. Did she teleport too many people? Overuse her semblance? There was nothing Blake could do other than rub her back as her colour began to fill back in. After she caught her breath, Neo stood back up and nodded to Blake.

"Thanks, where's Yang?" Blake asked, only for Neo to point at another airship in the air, where Blake saw the familiar blonde hair unrestrained in the wind. A tightness in her heart lessened at the sight of Yang in another airship, the same for Weiss, when she saw the woman flying on her own glyph with people sitting at her feet as they all made their way back to the Mantle of Responsibility.

With a wink and a smile, Neo shattered into glass and disappeared from Blake. She had no idea where she was going, but Blake was just happy she was alright. Dragging her feet to where Sun had sat down, she sat down next to him and rested her head against the cold metal behind her. The two Faunus just took deep breaths, trying to will the adrenaline from making their bodies shake. After a few minutes, Sun finally broke the silence.

"Good to see you again, Blake,"

"You too, Sun… You too…"


A/N: Another apology for the wait but I've been dealing with a number of things as of late so I can only write when I get the chance.

Thank you so much for understanding and I hope everyone is doing well and is staying healthy out there right now. I know I'm not kind to my characters but we all need to be kind to each other!

StreetAngelJ is still out with his surgery but is making a speedy recovery and hopefully will be back to editing my garbage soon!

If you enjoyed, leave a Favourite! If you already have, leave a comment! I love reading them and I love replying to them. This story is also posted on AO3 under the same name. So if you read there as well, come show your support! I also have a Tumblr: AngryFaceWritings come say hi!

And as always, thank you for taking time out of your busy days to read my slice of madness!