Marcelle stared at her scroll, noting that all three of the messages she'd sent had been seen but the celadon-haired woman hadn't received a single reply. She shook it off, getting out of bed and changing into her outfit for today. She wondered what she should do about all this. But all she could do was wait. Would they come? Or would they consider this another moment where she lost her nerve? She did her best to not think about it, heading out to watch today's matches. She only had one match slated for today, and that was with the red-haired girl from Mistral. Sanctum Academy's very own Pyrrah Nikos. Marcelle smiled a little, deciding whether or not she should be using Umbra Falsa or a different weapon. She walked and walked, eventually stopping when she realized she was at Beacon Tower. She looked up at where his office was, sighing. "Again…?" she muttered. "I always end up here…" she was going to turn around and leave when she heard someone walk up behind her.
"Miss Merci." She turned to see General Ironwood.
"General…" she bowed to him. "What are you doing here?"
"I was going to go inform Ozpin about the current situation."
"Situation, huh…?" she sighed. "Everything is a situation now days." The general quirked an eyebrow at her, but walked with her as she started heading towards the tower. "I had something to tell him as well, but it can wait until you've told him your piece."
"… I see."
Marcelle hadn't really been watching the matches all day, but she still found herself wandering the grounds before her match with Pyrrah Nikos. The teams were still in the process of the doubles matches, but her team had already won their match so there was nothing to worry about. But somehow Marcelle was worried… not about her fight but about everything else going on. Ironwood's talk with Ozpin had gone badly, as things stood the general was over-imposing his military power and Glynda certainly showed her displeasure.
Some time later, after her wanderings, she arrived at the arena to see a crowd forming. She walked by them all, seeing Pyrrah waiting on the other end. "Oh dear… I hope I didn't keep you waiting, Miss Nikos."
"No, not at all." She smiled. Marcelle nodded, stopping as she hit the arena floor.
"Alright then… shall we begin?"
Marcelle had spent the last few days between helping Ozpin, watching matches, and dealing with constant challengers among the students. But today she took a break specifically because of what had happened. All the teachers did. "Miss Xiao Long didn't seem the type to attack an innocent."
"But her semblance is…"
"That's rubbish."
"Knock it off." Marcelle stated, feeling a headache starting to beat in the back of her skull. "All this talk is bad atmosphere…" she added, getting up. "We're at a festival, not a judicial hearing." She left the room, Quilin surprised but not saying a word as the older two continued their argument. Marcelle, though she wanted to, didn't even have the mindset to watch Pyrrah's match. The girl had gone toe to toe with the celadon-haired woman in their sparring, but the timer ran out before they could determine a winner. Marcelle looked up at the arena in the sky, then went back to wandering. It felt endless, the time spent on the grounds walking… waiting… trying to gather herself and organize her thoughts.
She realized where she was only after she heard something. A growl. In the middle of all these trees… She turned, eyes widening as she managed to back up from a Beowolf slashing at her, a guard shooting it down. "The hell…?" she looked around, horrified as she realized there were more. Hundreds… maybe even thousands of Grimm entering the area. She could hear the alarms beginning to sound, people scattering and trying to find somewhere to hide back a few hundred feet, but the people were all over the place. She backed up towards the clearing so she could swing Umbra Falsa around without obstruction. Along with the soldiers and guards, Marcelle started shooting down and slashing Grimm as quickly as she could, but there were so many and the area was too open for her to get them all. "Damn it…" She felt something nearby grab at her, managing to roll away. But she turned, seeing it moving slowly. She noticed a noise before the grimm started to dissolve. Like a clock striking the hour…
"Frustrated already? C'mon Merci, you're supposed to be a grimm hunting machine." The blackette rival from her Beacon days walked up, his cannon-like weapon in hand. "Where's that resolve?"
"Quil…?" she got up, realizing now what the pause had been. Quilin's semblance, Second Hand. "When did you…?"
"C'mon, I used to be able to find you anywhere on campus just to piss you off. I still got it." He looked to the Grimm and shot them back away from the girl. "So… you lose your edge or something? The Merci I remember from before Beacon was NEVER this weak."
"I'm not weak." She retorted, standing up. "Distracted, maybe… but not weak." She put away Umbra Falsa, sighing as she turned the gears on her clothes. "Fighting with you is gonna be hell."
"Shut up."
"It's a good thing I have a weapon that's not "in the way" on me." She opened up the cane sword that she had used in a test against Qrow, Quilin immediately noticing its similarity to their headmaster's weapon. A small group of students paused in their evacuation along with the guards, staring at the two former rivals fighting side by side. Quilin's Second Hand in combination with Marcelle's Vitality meant that the two could single handedly destroy this whole hoard without missing a beat. Not a grimm would get by to the students.
"Guh…" Exhausted from using his semblance, the second Quilin let up, an arrow flew his way. But Marcelle managed to deflect it and it landed hard into a nearby tree. The assailant rushed off, knowing their chance was lost. "Damn, she's headed for the school!" Quilin rushed after her, Marcelle slashing the last of the grimm before following.
"How did you know it was a her?" she asked as the guards got the students to evacuate. Quilin didn't answer. The festival grounds quickly became a disaster area and she did her best to push the Grimm back without hurting any of the bystanders around her. She took out her scroll and tried calling Ozpin, but no answer. "Damn it." She heard people screaming, realizing there were Ursa all over the place.
"Go." Quilin said, taking his cannon and firing into a group of Ursa.
"What? But you're already-!"
"C'mon don't be sympathetic to your rival now." He laughed. "That's just not the Merci I know at all." He turned to her. "You're worried about him, right?"
"… Quilin…"
"Get going, Merci. I'm sure the old man's waiting on you." Marcelle stared at him, but nodded and took off not soon after. Quilin sighed, shaking his head. "Get it together, man… she's outta your league anyway." He swung his cannon at the grimm nearby, diving right into the fray again.
Marcelle ran across the courtyard, having noticed the grimm focusing in on the tower. "Ozpin… where are you?" she asked, taking down grimm along her way and sliding to a stop next to the students. "You guys okay?" she asked, noticing the bunny girl almost passed out and the others looking haggard.
"Miss Merci!"
"No way, shouldn't you be helping the other teachers?"
"I would but Ironwood gets on my nerves sometimes." She smiled. But she noticed some people missing. Pyrrah wasn't there… and her team leader, too… the blackette cat girl and Yang as well. "You're missing members… where are they?" she asked.
"Pyrrah and Jaune went into the tower with Ozpin." Ren told Marcelle as she stabbed through another Grimm coming their way. "And Blake and Yang went off to deal with the White Fang."
"Into…" she sighed. "Damn it Ozpin." She shook her head. "I need you kids to step back…" she added.
"What?! But we can totally help!" the monkey faunus exclaimed.
"You'll get in the way." She stated. "I… was raised to hunt down Grimm like a machine… I can clear the court yard but you guys NEED to back off." She added. They all noticed an air around her that almost scared them. They stepped back into the shadow of the tower, Marcelle nodding and opening up Umbra Falsa to its last form. "As soon as it's clear, go help your friends attacking the White Fang… I'll go find the other two… I know that tower like the back of my hand."
"But there are so many…" Nora looked horrified at the sheer number of Grimm she was saying she'd take on alone. Marcelle stepped forward, one of the larger Grimm charging her. She was almost slashed when the claws stopped just short, her spearhead driven through the Grimm's center.
"I'm waiting." She said as the Grimm before her dissolved. The students watched in awe, wave after wave Marcelle was using all her weapons to fight off the grimm. She changed weapons out after taking down a grimm. But then one caught her and threw Umbra Falsa across the way. But instead of rushing for her weapon, she kicked the Grimm off of her, two match box sized boxes detaching from her belt. As the next line of grimm charged, the boxes opened up and into what looked like guns. The flurry of shots that emerged were all colorful, the grimm falling and dissolving before the woman as she stood perfectly still.
"Those are…" Coco smiled. "Oh man, to think she'd pull out Grigori and Argent here…"
"Grigori and Argent?" Nora asked.
"Those twin pistols were her second-best weapon to Umbra Falsa. They shoot dust, but the random effect makes them hard to handle." Coco stated. "She doesn't normally use them since they're random but I guess in a situation like this she doesn't mind."
"Wait… the dust is completely random?!" Sun exclaimed.
"Doesn't matter much against Grimm like this though… in a fight against people it's a totally different story." Neptune stated. They continued to watch until Marcelle completely decimated the grimm in the general area. She sighed, going to pick up Umbra Falsa and return it to her belt holster, walking back to the others. "I assume you've all had some rest?" she smiled.
"Y-yeah…"
"We can take it from here."
"Good." She nodded her head. "Now get out of here. The military is waiting to escort the remaining students on the ground." Once they rushed off, she turned back towards the tower, sighing. "Alright." She rushed in towards Beacon Tower, arriving just as Jaune and Pyrrah arrived at the exit. They were both exhausted… traumatized… "Both of you should get to safety."
"Right." The blonde nodded, looking determined and holding Pyrrah's hand.
"Wait…" Pyrrah looked at Marcelle. "That fight down there…"
"I know." She smiled. "I've known since I graduated Beacon… about all of this." She looked to the elevator with a sigh. "I have a few tricks too, Miss Nikos." She bowed to them both. "Thank you… for trying to help Ozpin. But I cannot leave him alone."
"… Then please be careful." She replied. Marcelle nodded, hurrying down to the basement. The ride down was tense as hell, but she had to find Ozpin… she had to help him. She arrived to see Cinder and Ozpin's magic clashing, the lights almost blinding. She stopped just for a second, readying her weapon and taking a breath. "Cinder!" she called, the woman turning and eyes widening to see her.
"You…" she growled, throwing a ball of fire in Marcelle's direction, only to be jumped by Ozpin. The fight carried on; and having to deal with a second opponent with so much experience was wearing on the girl's energy, even with the Fall Maiden's powers. But she never threw a fatal blow at Marcelle. It made her wonder why. Why was Cinder taking it easy on her? Just like the last time. Cinder, having had enough of this, prepared a serious attack at Ozpin. Marcelle jumped to his aid. As the room fell silent, Cinder believing that she had destroyed them both, headed out. But suddenly something flew at her and struck her left side, causing her to fall and her arm to get thrashed badly as she tried to remove the clawed hook embedded in her side and shoulder. "Lune!"
"Hehe… seems like you let your guard down." She swung the weapon back, tearing Cinder's arm to shreds. "I'm not so easy to kill… or did you forget?" she asked, bleeding heavily but still standing. She began to fight Cinder head on, the woman's power was now weaker thanks to Ozpin's assault, however she did not use that magic against the girl one on one. She wasn't complaining, but it made her wonder what the hell she was thinking. In her current condition, Marcelle would be dead if Cinder was using her power. Was it because her arm was gone? No… no she still had that fire in her eyes.
"Damn you!" Cinder, in a frenzy, swung out at the huntress in front of her, but missed. Marcelle took the opportunity and slammed Carbide Acco into Cinder's chest, blasting her back into the elevator. The woman gasped for breath, managing to escape in the elevator with her good arm. She wanted to follow, but a wave of exhaustion overtook Marcelle and caused her to take a knee. As she tried to push off the ground, she felt herself blacking out. But her head never hit the floor.
"Marci… hang in there…" Ozpin whispered as her strength left her, letting herself pass out.
((It's been a while so I thought I'd post a second one. Might have a third new chapter sometime in this coming week?
-Winter Cheshire))