Disclaimer: All characters belong to Rooster Teeth Productions

Co-authored with ToxicExotic

Under Attack

If there was one thing Ruby could say with absolute certainty, it was that she was incredibly tired of her mouth being filled with the taste of grass. It wasn't simply enough that just walking through the overgrown forest meant that it was common for a stray blade of grass to be kicked and work its way into her mouth, but with the frequency of Grimm attacks and hits being taken, she often found herself on the ground with a mouthful of the horrid tasting greenery. And this attack was no different. After taking a rather brutal hit from a Grimm, she had once again found herself sliding along the floor and spitting out the greenery as she looked up at the Berserker that stood before her.

Being a variant of the Ursa, the beast looked similar in many aspects. Both had bulky frames, armoured heads with Ursidae features, and a thick layer of fur; but the Berserkers had a few notable differences. The first, and most obvious was the fact that it was bipedal instead of quadrupedal. Instead of walking on all fours and attempting to crush people with its weight and slash them apart with their claws like Ursai, Berserkers walked on two hind legs and used their arms to land devastatingly powerful punches with their bulbous, armored fists that had grown to resemble boxing gloves.

The second notable thing about them was that their backs were no longer covered in the same spikes as its cousins'. Instead, what looked like a craggy trail of rocks stretched from the base of its skull, covering its back and arms making it almost impervious to sneak attacks. All of those things unfortunately made the beast stronger and faster than regular Ursai; and though Ruby had hoped to avoid encountering one by cutting through the woods instead of taking the west road, it seemed a few had wandered away and stumbled into their path. Unfortunately, as night had already begun to fall, they hadn't seen them until it was too late.

"ARRRGH!"

The ear splitting roar brought Ruby attention back to hers and Weiss' Berserker just in time to see it raise one of it's huge arms and send it screaming at her so fast that it became a blur of black and white. Fortunately, Ruby was faster and pushed herself out of the way as the fist slammed into the floor sending dirt and broken shards of stone everywhere. Landing beside her partner, she put a few shots into the beast's side.

"You good?" Ruby asked her partner, who had already been punched through a tree by the Grimm.

"Yes." She groaned and sent a stream of white spears towards the creature's fist, each one turning to ice as it slammed into the ground. "I'll be better when this thing is dead though."

"Then let's get it over with." Ruby smiled at her friend. "Ready for Ping Pong?"

"Still a stupid name, but yes."

Deciding not to waste time correcting the heiress on just how perfect a name it was for the attack, Ruby grinned and positioned her scythe behind her and fired off a shot to propel herself forward. At the same time, Weiss ignited a red glyph at her own feet and followed suit. Hearing the sounds of cracking ice as they approached, both jumped aside in time to dodge a spinning right hook from the Berserker and landing on a glyph either side of the beast, they began their attack.

Using their mobility to their advantage, they jumped from glyph to glyph. With each passing, they would take it in turns to land minor hits before once again ducking out just in time to avoid getting pummeled by its heavy fists. While the beast was quicker than Ursai, their speed was still too much for it. Unable to hit them, it began to swing wildly, its large fists shattering glyphs only for more to be made in their place; but Ruby knew it was already too late for it.

Whatever intelligence it had once held due to its evolution was now gone, and all that remained was a mindless beast flailing in desperation. And that was all she needed to be able to predict its movements. And after a couple of seconds, she found her opening.

"Stinger!" She called.

As it brought its arm down to smash through another glyph, Ruby gathered power around her legs and activated her semblance. Careening towards the beast, she twisted her scythe into position so that the fangs jammed into the crack between the armour on its arm and the bulbous bone glove. Firing off a shot to boost her speed as she knew it would try to resist, she landed on the ground and reached up to seize the bolt as she tugged with all her might while letting out a guttural groan.

With the combination of her semblance, the boosting shot, and her natural strength, the huge fist was torn clean from the Berserker's arm, though not before the Grimm was pulled from its feet and thrown through the air towards a large rock. Before he could even slam into it though, Weiss rushed past her, yellow energy crackling around her while the etchings of her rapier shined a bright white. Ruby watched as wind erupted from the back of the heiress' rapier and reacted with the lightning Dust. In what felt like a millisecond, the girl shot forward faster than lightning ever could; and in the next, she was knelt on the other side of the Grimm. The only evidence that remained of any attack being executed was the small hole that had been drilled through the beast's chest, which quickly began to expand, turning the Berserker to smoke before it could even hit the ground.

As the beast faded from view, Ruby saw her partner attempt to get to her feet, only to lose her balance as the time dilation wore off. Rushing over, she caught the girl just in time and held her up.

"You okay?" She asked again, slightly worried.

"Too much Dust." The girl breathed quietly, slumping against her side. "Need a break."

Pulling out her Scroll, she checked their aura meters and saw that the girl was almost in the red. Despite possibly being the strongest on the team, though Yang would argue differently, Weiss' stamina had always been an issue; and with them having been constantly assaulted by Grimm throughout the day, it wasn't surprising that the girl was exhausted. In fact, what was surprising was that she had held out as long as she had. So knowing the girl needed a break before her aura drained completely, she gave a nod and looked to the side. Thankfully, Saber had already finished off his Berserker and was running to help Yang and Blake.

"Alright." Ruby agreed, helping the girl away from the battle and placing her down against a large tree. "I haven't seen you overcharge in a while."

"I needed to kill it." Weiss groaned as she leaned against a tree. "A regular charge wouldn't have gone through. Besides, I need to get better at handling that."

"In the middle of a fight probably isn't the best time to practise that." Ruby chuckled, sitting down beside her best friend. "Especially not when you're already low on aura."

The girl gave an uncaring shrug and pulled a drink from her pouch. "You gave me an order, I followed it."

"I can give wrong orders." Ruby countered as the heiress gulped down the water. "And I like when you all call me on them."

"And I shall do exactly that should you ever give me one." Weiss said firmly once she was done with her drink.

"Sorry. First actual mission here. Kinda nervous, you know."

"Well you are doing fine." Feeling a comforting warmth rush up her arm as Weiss grasped her wrist reassuringly, Ruby girl they girl a grateful smile. "So how far are we from the river?"

Pulling out the map from her own pouch and setting it on the ground, using her torch to illuminate it. Bringing up the compass on which she had marked the smoke's location, she pressed it against the map and quickly marked the clearing she was confident they were at. Thankfully, if she was correct, the river was not too far from their current position.

"Less than an hour." She replied. "Maybe more, depending on how many Grimm we see. Then we just need to follow the river down to where the smoke was."

"Good." A male voice said, appearing from the treeline with Blake and Yang in tow. "With any luck, we'll reach them before we lose all light."

"I doubt it." Yang replied and stretched her arms above her head. "Night falls fast on Sanus due to the mountains. We have about thirty minutes left till we can't see."

Ruby nodded in agreement. "Maybe we should camp here for the night? Weiss is tired and needs to gather her st-"

"I'm good to continue." Weiss replied, pushing herself to her feet.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." The heiress said and looked towards Blake. "If we are fast, then we can get to your parents tonight. Ensure that they are safe, and then get some rest in a more secure location."

"Alright then," She accepted her sister's hand and let herself be pulled to her feet. "Any objections?"

Just as she'd expected from Yang, the woman gave a thumbs up and a wide grin while Blake simply gave a reserved nod. Though the girl was still rather quiet, she had seemed a little brighter since their talk in the tower.

"Okay." Saber said, picking up the map and observing it. "If we go over this hill instead of around it, we can save maybe twenty minutes. But it's a steep climb."

"We can handle a steep climb." The ninja hummed. "A higher vantage point will also help prevent us from going off course too."

"Then that's what we'll do." The man said shortly, handing the map back. "Let's go."

"Right behind you, dude." Yang confirmed, though threw him a disapproving look as he walked off.

"He's just doing his job." Ruby smiled up at her.

Rolling her eyes, Yang threw an arm around her shoulder and they all took off after him. "He could be less of a dick about it though." She grumbled.

"That's fair." she chuckled, unable to deny that his disposition definitely left a little to be desired.

Letting out a low breath as she reached down to grab an exposed root to keep herself from falling, Ruby took a second to catch her breath. Looking down at her teammates she saw that both Weiss and Blake had decided against climbing the hill itself and settled for jumping from glyph to glyph instead. She couldn't blame them after though; after all, the hill was far steeper than any of them had thought it would be. In fact, to call it a hill would be rather generous. Where most hills had steady inclines, this one was almost a ninety degree angle causing them to do more scaling of its face than walking. Thankfully, due to having decent arm strength due to wielding a heavy scythe, she wasn't having much difficulty, and they were definitely still making good time.

Unfortunately, night was falling fast, and without the ambient light of the city, it was becoming almost impossible to see very far. However, she didn't need light to see her girlfriend since the girl's amber eyes shone in the darkness. So reaching out as Blake appeared just below her, she took the girl's hand and pulled her up to her level, wrapping an arm around her waist to keep her steady.

"Almost to the top." She smiled at her.

"Mhm." The faunus breathed. "I'm definitely considering just rolling down the other side."

"I'll join you on that one." Yang groaned as she passed. "Climb the hill, he said. It'll be quick, he said. Quick my fu-"

"Faster than going around." Blake cut her off, a slight hint of humor in her voice. "And we haven't seen any Grimm in a while."

It was true. Though the Grimm had previously barely allowed them fifteen minutes to breath, they had become oddly sparse in the last thirty minutes. With the exception of the occasional Nevermore flying overhead, not a single one had been seen on the way to the hill, nor as they'd been climbing it. It was a little disconcerting, but Ruby supposed she was simply growing used to the constant attacks.

"I guess we're just getting lucky." Ruby hummed. "We should keep going though."

"Mhm." Blake replied, her weight shifting off the arm as she hopped across to a glyph that appeared beside them before springing up to the next one above. "See you at the top."

Grinning up at the raven-haired girl, Ruby gave her a competitive nod before continuing to pull herself up the steep hill.

Finally, after five more minutes, she finally reached the top and collapsed onto her back. While she had definitely done more strenuous exercise in the past, the long day before the climb was enough to make her arms feel like jelly. Nevertheless, she still turned onto her front after a couple of seconds and reached out over the edge to pull her partner up.

"I really need to work on mobile glyphs." The heiress panted, falling to her knees the moment she was pulled up.

"Or just work on your arm strength." Yang suggested with a hearty chuckle.

"Says the one who was complaining about the climb five minutes ago." Blake pointed out.

"I may have complained, but I would also like to point out that I'm the only one still standing."

"Yes, yes." Ruby replied with a wave of her tired arm. "You're very strong."

Sitting up and activating her semblance to dull most of the aching, Ruby threw a quick acting energy bar at the woman to shut her up before pulling one out for herself and her other teammates. Enjoying the feeling of just eating something and feeling her energy return with each bite, she stood up with a groan and pulled out her scythe, walking to stand next to Saber who was looking out over the treetop from the other side of the hill. Realising she hadn't seen the man eat, or even take a break, all day, she dug into her pocket and handed him her last energy bar.

"Thanks." He grumbled, accepting the food and tearing it open to take a bite. "It's a straight shot to the river from here."

Despite him pointing towards it, Ruby couldn't see anything in the mess expanse of darkness. So lifting her sniper up, she popped out her four-times scope and activated the night vision mode. Sure enough, just as Saber said, she spotted the river only a short distance from the base of the hill hidden amongst some trees.

"Nice spot." She smiled, lowering her weapon again. "It must be so cool to have night vision."

"It comes in handy." He shrugged, though cast her a sideways glance. "As does my stronger hearing."

Ruby blushed a little at the knowing tone in his voice. Since he did have ears like Blake, she hadn't suspected that he had enhanced hearing.

"Your sister doesn't like me." He said matter-of-factly.

"That's just Yang." Ruby scratched the back of her head awkwardly. "But you did insult our friend when we first met, and you are a little impatient. Sooo..."

She trailed off as the man looked away from her and returned to scanning the treetops.

"I have reasons to not trust Schnees." He said simply. "And I am impatient because I want to save my Chieftain. And instead of sending me professionals, the Vale council sent me a team of first years who tire themselves out too quickly."

Though it hadn't been said in the kindest of way, Ruby could hardly deny that it was the truth. It was a truth that even she had realised when fighting alongside Velvet at the funeral. Despite being the best team in their year, they were nowhere near the level of the second years like Team CFVY, and even further from the third and fourth years. So to a professional like Saber who was commanding the guards of an entire island, it was understandable why having first years slowing him down instead of someone who could keep up with him.

"Sorry." She mumbled since it was their idea to come themselves instead of sending Team CFVY or Xanthia's team.

To her surprise, the man let out a loud sigh and took another bite of the energy bar. "Don't be." He said with a shake of his head. "It's good you want to help, but you need to learn how to pace yourselves better. Not every Grimm needs your biggest moves."

It was another thing Ruby couldn't deny. "Thanks for the advi-"

She was cut off as he held up his hand and stepped forward to peer out into the darkness. Though she couldn't see anything she joined him and tried to look for what he was trying to see.

"What is your scope?" He asked abruptly.

"Adjustable up to twenty-times. Why?"

"I saw something over there," He said and pointed to the distance. "But my night sight isn't good enough."

"Oh, uhh… sure."

Adjusting the range on her scope, she raised her sniper again and looked out into the distance. For almost a minute everything seemed normal and quiet, but then she saw what Saber had likely glimpsed. A single, red flash sparked in the darkness from between the trees, quickly followed by a yellow and purple one. They were tiny even with the zoom, little more than specks in the distance, but she knew they were gunshots. And the longer she watched, the more frequent they became.

"They're under attack." She breathed quickly and lowered her weapon.

"We have to go. Now." Saber said and began to walk to the edge. "Get your team and catch up, I'll go ahead."

Returning her scythe to her back as the man disappeared into the darkness again, she rushed back over to her team and pulled the backpack from her shoulders, quickly extracting the flashlights and handing them to Blake and Yang.

"What's happening?" Yang asked, the smile of whatever conversation had been happening fading from her face.

"We saw gunshots in the distance." Their reaction was instant, and all three of them stood up and began to correct their own backpacks. "Weiss, are you able to run?"

"If that's what you need." She confirmed as she picked up her rucksack.

Shaking her head, Ruby pointed to the bag and then to Yang. "Good. Me and you are the fastest so we'll go ahead. Leave your pack with Yang so we aren't slowed down. You two can bring up the rear."

"Then why give us the torches?" Blake asked quickly.

"Weiss can use a summon to give us a little light."

In an instant, Allie the Beowolf appeared between them and spread its soft white light across the hilltop. Looking at her partner, she saw the girl's rapier was drawn and ready for anything they might encounter, and gave the girl a nod before returning her gaze to her girlfriend and sister.

"Be safe and stay on coms." The faunus said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "We'll be right behind you."

"I will." She smiled briefly. "And we'll keep your parents safe as well. You two look after each other too."

"Always." Yang nodded, cracking her knuckles to show she was ready to fight.

"Good." She looked back to her partner. "Let's go."

Pulling her sword free as she left the cave, the faunus looked around the clearing and took in the horrifying sight that greeted her. Only twenty minutes ago, the small clearing beside the lake had been serene and peaceful, filled with tents and sleeping bags, people laughing and talking in high spirits as they ate fish stew by the campfire. But then the Grimm had arrived. Stampeding out of the trees and the river, all manner of beasts came crashing into the clearing, sending everyone running into the cave for safety while the guards fought to protect them.

But that wasn't her. She hated sitting back and letting others protect her, being forced to listen to the constant popping on gunfire and shouting of orders. So after making sure that the people they had picked up were safe and secure in the cave, she had turned back to join the fight. In the few minutes she had been inside though, even more Grimm had joined the fight. Beowolves, Ursai, Creeps, Grednels, Wisps, Croakers; even Griffons circled the sky above them. Multicoloured flashes filled her vision and loud bangs assaulted her ears as the guards tried their hardest to stem the tide, and the smell of Dust clung to the air around them so strong that she tasted the bitterness in the back of her throat.

Nevertheless, blocking out the taste and preparing herself to fight, she rushed into the fray in search of Ghira. As expected though, it was long before she felt the hair on her neck prickle slightly, and spun around to lash out with her weapon, the tip of the blade sinking into the soft flesh of a Beowolf cub and turning it to smoke in seconds. Continuing to fight through the sea of monsters, she finally saw the huge panther faunus in the distance and made her way towards him.

"Ghira!" She called over the gunfire when she finally made it to his side, chopping the head off a Creep that was approaching from behind. "Kali wants you back inside!"

"No!" He replied adamantly, catching a Wisp by the throat and crushing it with his bare hands. "I will not leave my people to fight alone!"

"Well, can't say I didn't try." She smiled to herself.

She'd expected that result when the guards had asked her to bring him back. In truth, the only reason she had agreed to try was to get out of there herself. So, not bothering to waste time on what she knew to be a fruitless effort, she turned her back to him and settled in to helping the Menagerie guard fight the horde.

Unfortunately, after what felt like another half an hour of fighting, it was quickly becoming clear that they may have bitten off more than they could chew. For every Grimm they killed, three more would join the fight; and while the Menagerie guards were strong, they were slowly getting outnumbered. To the right of the clearing, she saw Cyanna take a heavy hit from an Ursa that caused her aura to flicker and retreat backwards while others covered for her. The left was very much the same, and even her own breathing was becoming shallow and ragged as the endless horde continued to swarm them.

"Sir, you have to retreat!" One of the guards nearby called, blocking a Croaker's spiked tongue with his sword. "We'll cover you."

"This is the most fortifiable position for miles around." Ghira replied. "If we go anywhere else then we leave ourselves exposed."

"Better exposed than dead." A female guard shouted over her own gunfire. "The people need a chieftain who is alive to guide them, not one who died to protect them."

Begrudgingly, she had to agree with the guard. "She's right, Ghira. We have t- GHIRA!"

Distracted by the conversation, none of them had seen the Alpha beowolf that leapt from the treeline. The great, snarling beat slammed its four paws into Ghira's chest, and though he tried to remain firm, it pushed itself off and sent him tumbling out of sight. Raising her sword and rushing to help, the beast barely paid her rapier any mind as it used its large paw to smack her aside, her sword slipping from her grip and rolling away. Though she was confident in her abilities against lesser Grimm, older one such as Alphas were things she generally tried to avoid; but there was no avoiding this one.

Low on aura and weaponless, all she could do was push herself backwards and search frantically for her weapon as the beast walked slowly towards her. With each step it took and every desperate grasp of her hand that was met with empty air, she felt fear begin to rise within her at the realisation that there was nothing she could do against the Beowolf.

"H-Help!" She shouted weakly to the surrounding guard.

Unfortunately she received no reply. Grimm were still flooding into the area, and everyone was busy fighting for their own lives. There was no help, there was no-one to save her, and as the beast readied it's back legs to pounce at her, she couldn't even muster the will to scream at what was surely death.

But it wasn't. As the pitch black monstrosity leapt into the air the area around them was suddenly bathed in a soft white glow, the source of which confused her beyond belief. A shining white alpha Beowolf like nothing she had ever seen in her life slammed into the beast's side and wrestled it to the floor in a mess of snarls and gnashing teeth. Eventually though, the gleaming white wolf won, it's jaw clamping around the neck of the dark wolf and biting down hard, smoke seeping from the side as the Grimm began to disintegrate.

"Good girl, Allie." A voice called from behind her.

Turning around, she saw a girl sprint from the treeline. Clad in red and black and holding a vicious looking scythe, the new girl launched herself at a group of nearby Grimm and dispatched them with such speed that she knew instantly that the girl was a Huntress. Given her age though, she likely wasn't a fully trained one, but that didn't stop her from immediately tearing through an Ursa like it was nothing more than paper as she made her way over. In seconds, she was standing directly in front of her, her silver eyes gleaming in the darkness and a confident smile on her face.

"Are you okay?" She asked hurriedly, offering a hand out.

"I… Umm…" She wasn't sure. "There was a white beowolf?"

She knew it probably sounded stupid, but with so many things happening at once, her mind seemed to latch onto the most confusing thing first in order to make sense of it all.

"Oh, that was Weiss'." The girl replied, her smile widening and only serving to make her soft features even prettier. "I think she has your weapon too."

Seeing the girl nod to the side, she turned her head and saw the bright beast stood defensively at her side with Lightning Lash in its mouth. Before she could even reach out and take it though, it's head turned towards a nearby group of guards that were under assault by Boarbatusks and let out a low growl, dropping the spiralled rapier and taking off towards them. Shaking her head disbelievingly as it snatched up one of the horrid pigs and shook it like a play toy, she picked up her weapon and accepted the girl's waiting hand, letting herself be pulled to her feet.

"Th-Thanks."

"No problem." The huntress said earnestly and raised her hand to her ear. "Weiss, where are you?"

She couldn't hear whatever the other person on the line said, but the redheaded girl in front of her gave a small nod and looked over to the beowolf, which had already finished dispatching of the Boarbatusks.

"Alright, Allie's done on the ground, so take care of the Griffons."

At the girl's command, the Beowolf vanished into mist and she lowered her hand.

"You can go to safety now if you want. We've got this."

Giving a shake of her head, she pressed the trigger and activated the lightning Dust in her rapier. "I can still fight."

"Alright." The huntress smiled. "Keep the smaller Grimm off our backs, and we'll protect you from the bigger ones."

After giving her an understanding nod to the girl, the redhead raised her scythe and charged at a nearby Ursa, effortlessly dancing around its attacks and dispatching it in seconds. However, as much as she wanted to stand and watch the reaper fight some more, she spotted a small group of Beowolf cubs run out of the forest and moved to engage.

Time was lost as she slashed away at whatever Grimm charged her way. It could have been ten minutes, it could have been an hour, she didn't know. All she did know was that the horde was finally getting smaller. With the redheaded reaper focusing on the larger Grimm and her friend, who had arrived in a storm of white spears riding what looked to be a giant white Lancer, taking care of any Grimm that tried to approach from the air, the Menagerie guards were left to freely kill any lesser Grimm that tried to join the fight. At some point in the fight, their captain, Saber Rodentia, had even showed up and resumed command immediately. Even Ghira had rejoined the fight with renewed energy, his claws out and tearing through Croakers and Sulfur Fish like paper.

They were finally pulling back from what looked like certain defeat, and hope was once again blooming in her chest. With any luck, the Grimm would be stopped before midnight, and she might actually get some rest. Unfortunately, all that hope didn't stop her from being tired. Her arms ached and her legs screamed for her to take a break as she ducked under a Croaker's long tongue, returning in kind by extending her rapier into it's whip form, the tip drilling into one of the beast's eyes causing it to pop and release a nasty black fluid. Unfortunately, she had intended the attack to kill, and since it didn't, the spiked tongue was quick to wrap around her legs and began to drag her towards it's gaping maw.

And that was when she saw it. Something she thought she would never see again. As she raised her weapon to try and cut the sticky appendage, a large beam of purple light flew past her vision and severed it for her. She knew that light, knew that move, and as if one instinct, her head snapped around to the direction it had come from. Stood in between two dying Grimm, her eyes shining and her hair so much darker than the night around her, was Blake Belladonna.

Why was she there? Why was she back? Why was her heart still racing at the mere sight of her? And why was her teeth grinding in anger? Confusion immediately rushed through her, and she felt her body shifting between colours as her emotions battled for dominance.

"H-Hi, Ili-"

"Blake?" A gruff voice said from behind her.

The raven-haired faunus had clearly heard it too despite the gunfire, and her amber eyes widened, filling with conflict as she looked to the side. Almost immediately, they filled with tears, and Ilia saw Ghira's large form push past her and rush towards the girl. Despite the Grimm that still flooded the area, despite the gunfire and shouted, he swept the girl up in his massive arms. Though being a few feet away, Ilia heard the girl's weapons drop from her hands, Gambol Shroud sparking as the blades clashed with each other and her arms wrapped around the man's back, the delicate fingers digging into the back of his jacket as they both collapsed to their knees.

Raalm's Note

Oooo, Blake and Ghira finally reunited :P

Honestly, this was mostly a bridge chapter. Though we mostly wanted this chapter to show that while they have been allowed to undertake the mission RWBY are still rather inexperienced, and as such are prone to going a little overboard. As you can tell, there is also another character that you might not have expected, and it was fun to write from a new viewpoint for this story. Anyway, that's all from me, I hope you enjoyed, and we shall see you again for the next upload.

Chapter 54 - Parents will be up on the 11th of February.

Oh, also since I like to tell a little about the Grimm we feature too, the Berserker is actually a Grimm from Weiss' Manga. However, I altered it a little bit to make it more interesting :)