I never said I wanted a 'happy' life but an interesting one. From separation and loss, I have learned a lot. I have become strong and resilient, as is the case of almost every human being exposed to life and to the world. We don't even know how strong we are until we are forced to bring that hidden strength forward - Isabel Allende


The entire base was up in arms at the news, Field Commander Rob had been popular with the men. Now even as the doctor desperately tried to bring him back to life the base was in complete silence. Not that there wasn't anyone there, in fact at least half the Division stationed there stood cramped in that hallway as the doctor within fought to save the lives of the two bleeding men. The soldier was easy, just a simple bullet to the side which his assistant finished in just a few minutes while he brought out the defibrillator on the commander's chest. Jolt after jolt did nothing to warm the corpse of the commander and eventually, he was forced to admit defeat and withdraw the black polyethene body bag he kept under his bed.

When the body was brought out on a simple metal cart (Usually reserved for bringing patients in) the sea of grey uniforms parted with no fuss and the caps, berets and helmets of the men once under him stood in silence with the only noise reverberating from the grey stone wall being the squeak of the cart.

At that moment all who stood in that corridor swore, perhaps not at the same time, perhaps with different wording. They swore before their fallen leader's corpse as it was carted away 'someone will pay for this…'

The atmosphere of the corridor changed, the cold of the grey stone walls disappeared and was replaced with the fire burning inside those men's usually cold and calm hearts.


All the wounded had already been cleared from the room as Ruby finally sat up. In their panic, the men who arrived kinda forgot about them as they ran with the two bodies in a makeshift stretcher made of their coats. Daria also sat to the side of her, deep in thought. The remaining live person was the soldier that hugged against her, he had stopped sobbing and now simply hugged against her, his slight breathing brushing against her black uniform in a timely fashion.

The mad officer who'd caused the whole incident still lay on the broken table. Even with his head annihilated the soldier who lay on her she could still see his torn lips and jaw forming that maddened smile. Suddenly she felt the soldier on her moving, he slid to the side; getting up on his hands as he brushed himself off. "Overseers" he began in a monotone "We must tell HQ of this immediately"

"Are you sure you're alright?" asked Ruby as she herself got up

"Yes, while I lay there on you I felt something in my mind… It was The Commander"

"Commander Rob?"

"Yes, he told me that we needed to call High Command ASAP. They need to know about this, they have eliminated most of the command staff, the troops are in disarray and this is the perfect chance to attack" Said he as he paced to the radio "Shit!" he cursed as he lifted the panel "He cut the wires, we need to find another one"

As he ran out of the room Ruby followed "Wait, how do you know any of this. Aren't you just a Guard?"

"The Commander spoke to me mentally just before his demise, we must act fast before the Grimm start attacking"

"Mentally?"

"That's his semblance although he rarely used it, he found it creeped people out so he preferred speaking in person. Anyway, here we are" They stood before yet another door, this one bearing the label 'tech support' in white paint beside the handle.

"Who goes there?" asked a voice, probably from within judging from how it muffled from beyond the door

"It's me, Thomas. We need to talk to you"

"Come in, It's not like I'm busy or anything"

The door opened with a squeal and they stepped into the office. No, this was more like a server room where someone put up a cot, table and desk. The current resident was sitting by one of these servers with a few tolls around his waist and the server's cabinet open; perhaps inspecting something?

"We need to borrow your radio, the one in the command room is broken"

"Broken? Have you tried turning it on and off? Oh, I see… Your serious expression tells me this ain't the time for jokes but…" he shrugged awkwardly "It's been moved to the lower valley FOB (Forward Operating Base). What's the issue with our one anyway?"

"The wires for it have been cut and we need to notify High Command that The Commander was assassinated"

"Assassinated? Oh, that's what all that was about…" he hesitated for a second before continuing "I mean if you went by Offroad you could probably make it there in an hour providing nothing else happens"

"I see. Come then Overseers, we must hurry"

They ran out of the room and through the hallways, passing few soldiers as they finally made it out of the front door. The Offroad (An open-backed car) was available and they were able to requisition it with few problems (Mostly due to the Overseers' presence) and soon they were off driving at breakneck speed down the mountain. There were unfortunately only two seats in the front cabin so Ruby was left to be tossed around as she held onto the handlebars around the edge for dear life. 'This thing probably wasn't designed for speed anyway' she guessed as yet another sharp turn shook the car's frame.

Back within the cabin, Daria was thinking. 'Sure we could get there in an hour but what if we broke down or were attacked en-route?' she mused and turned to the driver beside her "Hey, maybe as a backup we should send a message with the train? Just to be sure"

"Good Idea, give me a sec" he turned the wheel and the car surged left, through the city streets, nearly hitting some old lady carrying a cane and eventually halting with a turn which nearly sent the car turning over "Call me the manager! This is an Emergency!" he yelled out onto the shaken crowd of travellers.

It took a few minutes but eventually, the elderly Station Master came out wrapped in a scarf and mittens and demanded "What the devil do you want at this hour?"

"Station Master, we need you to send a message with the next train. We believe an attack is coming and HQ needs to send us immediate reinforcements"

"Oh, alright. Let me just get that down…" said the old man as he withdrew a notepad and a pen

"No time!" yelled the soldier "We need to leave now, I trust this message will be delivered; Ensure it at all costs!" His foot came back down on the pedal, driving past the few who'd be travelling at this late hour and even grazing someone with the mirrors as the car was launched out of the town and across the plains on a single grey track of gravel which led down to the FOB.

They made the journey in complete silence; even Ruby had stopped grunting as she was knocked up by the occasional rock, possibly having finally gotten into a comfortable position. Finally, as they came over one last hill of the rolling green valley they saw it. A literal black fog was emanating from black dots scattered all 'round the base. As they drew yet closer until they could actually see the FOB's gate, the single sign designating the location as a military facility having been knocked over and trod on by something heavy.

They dismounted and the soldier drew his Breaker Rifle from the sling and clicked back the safety. Noting the sign both Ruby and Daria reached for their own weapons before realising… 'Our weapons are still a packed up back at base…' they both mentally deadpanned. Fortunately, they hadn't taken off their swords and scabbards so at the very least they weren't completely unarmed.

"Hey, now might not be the right time for this but… can you tell us your name? It's kinda awkward just referring to you as 'Guard'" noted Ruby as she walked with the man and Daria as the wind picked back up and dissipated the black fog they were about to enter.

"Marwick, the name is Marwick. Just call me Mare. You go in first, I'll cover" replied the newly named Marwick as he brought up his rifle's sights and slid back on the bolt, chambering a round with a ring

They stopped talking and Ruby moved in first followed by Daria. They entered the FOB and found several bodies as well as a single Beowulf who was dispatched with a loud crack from Mare's rifle. There were visible signs of conflict: torn sandbags and overturned barricades and even a watchtower, but the most unusual thing was… bullet holes? "Hey Daria, this place was shot up pretty bad, since when do Grimm carry guns though?" she asked, turning to Daria who was staring at the corpse of some poor soldier with several holes in his chest "Daria?"

Daria looked at the body and kneeled down, removing the fallen soldier's vest to frown "This man wasn't killed by Grimm… Ruby check the others, do any of them even have slash marks?"

"No, none of them do" Interjected Mare "Anyway, I found tracks leading back to the main base. I think the remainder fled. Anyway, remember what we're here for, find that radio"

Sure enough, it was in one of the prefab structures; packing up both it and the battery onto the Offroad while Ruby stood watch. She wandered around, trying to find the tracks Mare had mentioned. Sure enough there they were, judging from the direction they were heading back to base but as she kept looking she noticed something. There were other tracks coming up the hill, the grass having been trampled as if a stampede of bulls had come across here.

Suddenly the radio Daria and Mare carried buzzed "All available forces respond! Mother base is under assault! I repeat Mother base is under assault from Grimm forces and unknown hostiles wielding firearms! All available units return to base!"

"I thought we had no radios at the base?" noted Daria as they loaded the Radio in the Offload's rear

"Well we needed a long-range one to send a message back to base, that's the whole reason this lot were given one; so they could inform High Command directly of any incidents. Anyway let's go, we need to get back as soon as possible" replied Mare

"Couldn't we just message them now then? We have the radio don't we"

"As much as I'd like to the command radio frequency is known only to dedicated radio operators and commanders, unfortunately I don't happen to be either so we need to get back to the base so the operator there can send the message"

But as the conversation bounced behind her Ruby began thinking 'We can't afford another half an hour of travel, I have my teleportation power but there's no way to throw a pebble that far and running with my semblance won't work in such mountainous terrain…' she thought for a moment before taking a look around her. The black fog had fully disappeared and now the peak of the mountain was clear for all to see, the white snow up top slowly melting into the grey/brown below, then it hit her; theoretically her teleporting power could attach to any object… how about a bullet?'

"Guys! I have an idea" she yelled as she grabbed a rifle from one of the corpses and ran over towards them "Part of my semblance allows me to teleport to objects I've marked, how about I mark myself to a bullet and just shoot myself over there?"

"Are you serious? No, wait, you're serious… Okay, if you're going to make that shot you'll have to range it properly; you don't want to overshoot and land in the forest on the other side…" he pulled out his map and set it on the ground

"You're actually supporting this? Ruby that's madness, no way is that going to work!" countered Daria, shocked at Mare's implication "There's no way she could survive!"

"Daria, this world is full of weird shit, Ruby's semblance being one of them. Frankly we have no other choice; They say an Overseer is worth a hundred soldiers, I'd say our boys at base could use all the firepower they can get" he turned to her "Okay Ruby, we're about five kilometres out, the sights on your rifle go up to a kilometre, I'd recommend you set them that way and then aim about… two centimetres up from there you'll be able to cover two kilometres at an absolute maximum"

"So I'll have to do two and a half 'jumps' then?"

"Yes, by then the bullets should have lost most of their kinetic energy so you shouldn't end up too far underground. Anyway, the bullets you've got there travel 800m a second so… they should arrive in about two and a half seconds, don't use your thing until then" He gestured at her "Stay safe Ruby, take some ammunition with you, god knows what's waiting for you over there"

Ruby nodded and took a chest gig off one of the fallen soldiers. She took the magazine from her rifle and withdrew the first bullet, drawing her sword she made a small cut on her thumb and re-sheathed the weapon. Putting a thumb onto the very tip of the bullet she concentrated 'yes, I can feel it in my hand' she thought and loaded the single round into the chamber.

She saluted at Daria and Mare as they reluctantly climbed into their Offroad and took off at max speed back down the road towards the town.

She breathed, taking aim as Mare instructed at a point just below the mountain and pulled the trigger. The rifle let off a crack which reverberated on the surrounding valley as she concentrated, she could still feel the bullet moving until it suddenly ground to a halt 'Must have hit the ground' she assumed as she let the feeling take her, closing her eyes and concentrating on that single dot over a kilometre away…

She teleported and instantly felt water seep into her boots; she must have landed in a bog as even her high boots couldn't keep out the green, kelpy water as it began to seep in. Climbing out and repeating the Marking procedure she fired again, at the mountain itself this time. Feeling the round impact against something hard she teleported once more only to slip and fall on her back as the gravel was disturbed by her sudden appearance.

She could see them now, gunshots flashing up above her as creatures of Grimm tried to desperately claw their way up the steep rock. One more shot brought her a little way above the camp so she tread down, somewhat winded by her travel. She was greeted by no one as she walked into the base itself as gunshots and cries of the wounded filled the air. 'Wait… wounded?' she ran over to one of the men screaming "Soldier, who shot you!?" she asked loudly as if to outyell the battle itself.

"The Grimm! Those fuckers learned to shoot back!" cried the man as his stretcher was moved further away from her by the white-coated medic and some other guy.

Ruby thought back to the FOB 'this must be the same thing' she thought as she ran over to the sand bags from which the two remaining squads took pot shots at any Grimm daring to poke so much as a hair over the ridge. She found herself suddenly pulled down as she tried to peer over and see what's going on.

"Stay down Overseer!" yelled the offending officer "Something's shooting at us!"

"Where is it Sergeant?! She yelled back getting on her knees and watching as the soldiers huddled behind their meagre cover

"They must be further up the mountain! Anything that goes beyond that rock is within their reach!" he pointed to a rock a few meters in front "Baker Squad just got wiped! Please, can you take them?!" he pleaded "We've lost half our men to those bastards, they need to go!"

"Affirmative" replied Ruby as she dripped yet more blood on a bullet and loaded it in

"Overseer, with all due respect. We can't hit them, I doubt you could either from over here…" noted the Sergeant as he saw what she was doing

"Just tell me the distance" Replied Ruby with a gleam in her eye "I'll take care of the rest"

"They're about halfway up from us, so I'd say 400 meters? Look, I don't know! I'm telling you it's suicide to go out there!"

"But she no longer listened; setting her sights to 400 and vaulting the sandbags she began to walk. One step after another she reached the rock , turned and aimed at the mountain. A second. Two seconds. Three seconds. Her iron sights lined up at the flash above her, time slowing to a crawl as she fired in turn, sending her own round up into the grey. There was no time to wait for impact, or even to try and sync with her mark. She simply went, dodging the bullet by a millimetre as she appeared in the air, moving eight hundred meters per second as she flew straight at the grey rock.

Her landing was not too smooth as she was sent rolling through the sharp rock until she eventually came into one which she couldn't roll over and stopped, sending pain jolting in her arm and the mangled remains of her rifle flying off the edge and into the valley below.

"Well well well… What do we have here?" asked a voice from her side "I do believe you weren't here a second ago" It taunted "You were down there with the rest of the lambs I've cultivated for this little slaughter of mine"

She rolled over to see the familiar white eyes of the man she'd seen annihilated during Mare's outburst in the bunker. Yet it was no longer just his eyes that were white, his face and hands also resembled the fresh snow laying up here. His hands bearing a scoped rifle of unknown origin. "You!?" Cried Ruby "But we just killed you?!"

"That you did my darling" taunted the lunatic as he sat down by her "And yet you know how disrespectfully they treated my body? Rude and unbecoming I tell you" he said as he unbuttoned his shirt "See these cuts?" he pointed "I got these from when your fellows stuffed me in a bag and threw me down the valley. It sure is a good thing I had my friends with me, no?" he chuckled

Ruby now noticed the two other men, both also of white face, as they came out from the rocks, bearing strange weapons of their own. "These here are my friends, Jack and Jill! And wadaya know, were up a hill! We all know how the rhyme goes now little Overseer!" he exclaimed with a maddened giggle

"But that makes no sense!" said Ruby back, unable to handle this insanity "They both come tumbling down the hill"

The man turned, his white eyes wide and gazing into her own "Is that sooo… little Overseer?" he teased "How about you make it happen then? I dare ya!" he winked

"So what are you then? The bucket?" fired back Ruby as she drew her sword

"Me? A bucket?" Laughed the madman "I'll have you know I'm my White Queen's beloved, far above a bucket I tell you"

"Are you sure, I mean a bucket would be significantly above you if that's what you are!" said Ruby defiantly as she drew her sword; her side still hurt but the aura helped significantly.

"You dare insult my bride! I'll have your head served to her on a platter!" he yelled back, shooting a round at her.

The battle had started, she dodged the round; feeling it's impact reverberate from the rock to her boots below 'I can't afford to be hit' she decided as another passed her by. Using her semblance she swiftly moved forward, swinging the sword in a short arch only for it to hit the wood of the madman's rifle. Withdrawing and striking again, she moved back, drawing her pistol and putting a twelve gauge slug right into the fucker's face.

He fell back laughing in pain as he clutched his head. Ruby advanced upon his twitching form, sword in hand before a robe blocked her path "I'm afraid I cannot allow Master Patricus to fall here, you will never pass me" said a still young voice "He is too important to lose to his own foolishness"

The other slightly shorter robed character shuffled over to the still twitching body and began chanting, sending black smoke emanating from his body. This could mean nothing good as Ruby resumed her onslaught upon the young man in front of her. He drew a staff, white as bone and blocked every strike. She couldn't get even a single strike in as his staff moved with grace through the mountain air.

Ruby fell back a few feet panting, unlike that imbecile this guy knew what he was doing, she owed him that much "So, is your name really Jack and Jill?" she asked kinda jokingly as she composed herself.

"We are whatever Master desires, although at the moment I seem to be Jack and my sister there Jill" replied the figure nonchalantly as he swung its staff at her legs only to be blocked by her blade "Why do you attack us, this is not your fight"

"Hell is this not my fight. I may have no Qualms withy you but the man behind you murdered a fellow officer and laughed about it. I cannot let that stand"

"I see, It is a matter of honour then?" wondered the figure as he kept her at bay with his staff "It is good to see such people still exist these days, even if you are on the wrong side"

Ruby twisted her sword, pushing the staff to the side and drawing closer to the cloaked man. 'There!' she thought as she punched him as hard as she could with her pommel, sending him tumbling over the edge as he lost his balance to the rocks beneath him.

"Brother!" Yelled the smaller figure in panic as she stopped the spell and ran to the side "BROTHER!" she yelled her voice hoarse and raspy as she began to cry.

In all honesty Ruby wasn't sure what to do now. It may have been the perfect opportunity but no. she could not bring herself to do it. 'This was just wrong…' thought Ruby as she made sure 'Master Patricus' was dead and headed back down to the base. Leaving the girl up there, her sobs and yells echoing for miles around the valley as Ruby headed back down with the body of their mysterious assailant.

Whelp, this went on for longer than expected but I'm quite happy with this. (Even if it wasn't what I originally planned) Tell me what you think of it in the Reviews section