An: Okay I'd like to thank everyone who review last time
The Guests, DragFire, and RedFalconWriter.
Johnnyfiveoh, I'd like to thank you as well, but by you own admission, you didn't really read my story, so while I appreciate the you took, I'd of liked it if you had read my work.
Well, here is the next chapter, still looking for a beta.
Well, enjoy.
Chapter 11
Thor knew something was wrong, with the way the doctors were talking about him and around him. They whispered and kept saying the tests were "still being worked on."
He knew what this meant. It was bad, whatever it was, but they weren't sure either of what exactly it was or how bad it really was. He'd seen this before, they did this to keep panic down. Which made him think whatever was wrong was either contagious, or the doctors thought it might be.
He knew he wasn't feeling better since the initial drip had been put in his arm. The effects had diminished considerably, and he did feel better than he did before he was in the hospital, but the sense of overall sickness still hung over him.
Word from the what was happening outside came from either Yang or Ruby, sometimes Jaune, and at least that seemed to be heading in the right direction.
The city had reached out to the settlement he and Yang had stopped in. From what he was told, several tons of the metal were shipped out, back to the city. Thor didn't know how they would use it in a defense, making a wall out of it or with it would be useless, it wouldn't cover the perimeter of the city, or probably even one block, but there were other options.
He'd have liked to talk to Qrow about it, but Ruby said her Uncle was not in any condition to talk. Something bad had happened to him, though he appeared to be physically fine.
Thor knew this…whatever had happened, had disturbed both the sister. They were worried about their uncle, but didn't seem to know what the issue was, or how to help.
A knock on his door broke him out of his thoughts, and looked up to see someone who wasn't his normal doctor or nurse.
This was a woman, one of the doctors he'd seen a bit of, but never spoke to.
"Mr. Odinson." She said quietly, closing his door. As she did this, he could have sworn the temperature dropped ten degree. "I'm Dr. Reily, I'm the one who's been running the tests on you blood work."
"Hello doctor." He raised a hand to wave, but didn't want to drag out whatever it was she was telling him, he thought for sure it wasn't good.
"There isn't an easy way to tell you this, but we've done as many tests as we can, and we only now have a fair idea of what's wrong." She spoke with a professional tone, but was far kinder than his normal attending doctor. "We thought it was a type of venom or poison at first, but after the tissue sample from the injury and blood work, we know not that's not the case, not entirely at least."
"How can that be? 'Not entirely', how can it only 'part' venom?"
She sighed and sat next to his bed on the chair Yang usually occupied. "This wasn't a normal poison. Whatever you were hit with, was a bio-engineered weapon, there is no other explanation for it."
"How can you be sure of that?"
"Your blood" She said "It's full of parasites we've never seen." She pulled out a file and showed him images of what looked like snakes. "That is a microscopic view of your blood." She said "They are feeding off you in some way, we don't fully know on what, but they are secreting some sort of venom, and that's what poisoning you."
"So." He said in a measured a tone as he could "How do we get them out?"
The look on the doctor's face told him everything he need to know. "We can't, and normal treatments we might have tired don't seem to be working."
"So, what are you saying?"
"I'm saying…we can't treat you." Her face was sad, genuinely so, but Thor could tell she had given similar news many times before. "We can keep you on the drip, but even that is losing effect."
Thor looked at the floor for a moment, she hadn't said it outright yet, but he knew where she was going. "How long do I have?"
"A week." She said softly "A little more or less, we can't give this sort of thing an exact number, but it won't be long, if you don't have things to set in order, I suggest you do so." She stood up and placed a hand on his shoulder "I am sorry we can't help you. We can discuss options, not now if you don't feel up to it, but we'll have to do it soon."
"What options?"
"Well, the treatment won't keep working, and when it stops, it's going to hurt, we need to talk about if you want your 'pain managed'." She put emphasis on the last two words, hoping he'd get the meaning. 'Pain management', in the right context, with terminal patients usually, was code for physician-assisted suicide, to avoid a protracted and unpleasant death.
But she received a bit of a shock as she looked into his face. He was smiling, and it wasn't fake, she'd seen that often enough. This was a genuine expression of joy.
"Thank you." He said "But that won't be needed, I'll last long enough for something else to end it."
She was a bit befuddled at this, but returned his smile and made to leave the room, asking one final question before she left "Is there anyone you'd like us to call?"
"Yes." He said far too calmly for someone given a death sentence "Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose if you please, they are at Haven now."
"Yes, I'll get right on that." She said then left the room and closed the door.
She told a nurse to call Haven, and deliver the message that the two girls, Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long, come as quickly as possible. She didn't talk to the girls directly, but left a message with the staff.
She'd given many patients the news they were terminal. But none had reacted the way this one did. He seemed almost happy to hear the news. Most either shut up or lashed out, but he was at peace with it. She knew from her experience what someone who was "okay" with their death, but was really putting up a front, looked like.
But not here, not with him. He was currently at the emotional level of people who had been dealing with their death for a fairly long period of time here. He was at the acceptance level already.
That was very unusual indeed. But he was an unusual individual, his medical history and his pure vitality showed someone who did not go down easily. In fact, he shouldn't of even made it back to the city with this parasite in his system. If it were for his unusually potent Aura, he'd have been dead, and probably the only reason the treatment he was on now worked as well at it did was his own Aura assisting in the healing process.
But the test showed it was only slowing the inevitable. The only thing that was good about this was the parasites didn't seem to be able to live outside of his body, and therefore couldn't spread.
That was the odd thing, even went transferred into other blood samples, they died almost instantly. It was truly bizarre, but for now, it was a good thing that it was at least contained.
Yang watched as Ruby and Jaune poured over the book and the notes. The return of the first book had seemed to re-ignite Ruby's initial enthusiasm for trying to decode the second book.
Yang honestly couldn't tell if they were making progress or not, but they seemed to think they were.
She might of even helped, but she had other things on her mind. Blake still hadn't shown up, and was well overdue for the time she'd been told her partner would come back. She was angry and scared at the same time. Part of her thought Blake had bugged out and run off again. But another part of her brain was telling her that she may have been hurt or worse.
Her Uncle was at the worst point of his life as far as she'd ever seen. His drinking, while never really handled well, was now totally out of control and he spent most of his time drunk or unconscious. With him out of commission, there one link to Lionheart had pretty much been destroyed. Other than the occasional information given from his assistant, a polite yet indifferent woman who taught at the school.
Then there was the apparent looming threat of a Grimm attack supported by White Fang soldiers. The city was preparing, and all hunters and hunters in training were on notice.
The Silver-steel was a point of contention with many in the preparations. It was divided into two camps, those who wanted to make weapons out of it, and those who wanted to build defensive structures out of it.
The argument for the weapons was they could be moved to where ever they were needed. And they could make more of them.
Those on the defensive side argued that with no known enemy numbers, they couldn't be sure if they could make enough to fight off the Grimm, but defensive structures would repel them.
Yang looked over a map of the city. All hunters and trainees had been given one. They were on tablets that constantly updated with assignments for when the attacks came, what the defense structures would be.
The problem Yang was seeing was it constantly being changed. Mistral was the largest Kingdom, and by extension had the largest capital city. There weren't enough Hunters and Huntress here at the moment to defend against a large-scale attack.
The City's natural defenses were excellent. Mountain to the north and a massive canyon to the south , east and west.
The area where Thor had seen the Grimm and White Fang was to the south, meaning they were on the other side of the canyon. That brought up what to do with the four bridges that crossed it.
Some wanted to trap them with explosives, and if an attack came, they'd blow them up. The opposition to this was if mass evacuation was needed, doing so by air wouldn't be an options. Not enough ships, and nowhere enough dust to full the ships needed to make that many trips if it was needed.
There were people in the middle ground who just wanted the bridges most likely to be attacked to be destroyed. But then there was the point if the attacks came from the air, no bridges meant they were stuck.
The paths through mountains may allow some to escape, but they were so narrow, they would bottleneck up quickly.
The pure bureaucracy of all these issues, it was slowing down any real work towards defense. She wasn't sure who she agreed with, but if the enemy came knocking and they were still discussing what to do, it would be a disaster.
The City was well defended most of the time, but so was Vale. The Grimm on there own, even these new ones, wouldn't of normally been of much concern to the capital city of any kingdom. But this was different and way the powers that be didn't seem to fully comprehend.
These Grimm were working with people in some capacity. That was part of the reason Vale fell, the Grimm attacked had been coordinated with White Fang assaults and the hacking of Atlas hardware.
These Grimm were smarter than the average Grimm, and she didn't know what that meant in a fight.
But what worried her the most was the people in charge knew where these things were held up. They hadn't taken Thor's word for it of course, but the scouting party they sent out had confirmed the reports.
The prevalent theory on their actions right now as they were sweeping the area around the capital first, and if what Thor had said was true, and she had no reason think it wasn't, they were eating, or rather feeding the people, to full-grown versions of the Shriekers. These overgrown maggots would then eat another Grimm and this would somehow result in the humanoid Grimm and their mount.
This lead to the idea they were building up numbers before the assault on the city. The estimation of the people of all the villages and towns that had been lost, assuming all were taken, was sitting somewhere between 50,000 to 200,000.
All reaming towns, villages and small cities and settlements had been ordered to evacuate to the main city, and that meant, sooner or later, they were going to realize there were no more people to take, and then they'd come here.
But the scariest thing was they took people living, they didn't kill them outright, but took them to be eaten by the giant worms. But they took the dead to, there was no way they could raid the towns without killing someone, yet no bodies were found.
Thor had told her the humanoid ones seemed to be eating the corpses of the those killed in attacks, which she also didn't understand. Grimm didn't need to eat, or at least she didn't think they did, they feed on negative emotions and death itself. That's why they just killed people and destroyed their building, why would they be harvesting dead bodies to eat?
The ringing of her scroll broke her out of this line of thought.
"Hello?"
"Miss Xiao Long? This is the RA for the dorm you're staying in. I've just gotten a call from the Mistral General Hospital, one of the Doctors said your friend there wanted to see you and your sister."
"About what?" Yang said, hiding the nervousness she felt.
"She didn't say, just that he wanted to see you."
"Okay, thanks." She said and hung up. It probably wasn't that bad, he was just getting stir crazy and wanted to see someone. "Ruby?" She called "Come, we're going to the hospital. "
Her sister looked up from her work, then looked to Jaune "Go on, I'll keep working on this."
"Okay." She stood up and put on her boots.
A couple moments later they were out the door.
"What do you think Thor wants?" Ruby asked as she walked next to her sister.
"Probably just bored, whatever poison was in him was probably as bad what Uncle Qrow had, and he still isn't completely better yet." Yang decided to leave out that their Uncle's slow recovery was likely due to his own bad habits just as it much as it was for the venom.
"Yeah, I bet he's board out of his mind there, I hope he get's out soon." Ruby muttered.
They continued on talking about simple things, like the weather, weapons modifications and so on. Yang had given half her Silver-steel to her sister, she didn't need much to modify her weapons with, and Ruby had in turned shared the rest of out with Jaune, Ren and Nora.
"It's crazy to think a metal could hurt Grimm, I mean that's a huge discovery. Weapons and Armor made of the stuff, I mean imagine if Atlas made their robots out of that stuff." Ruby was so excited over this discovery Yang couldn't help but smile. It was a bit like back before the fall, and she was glad to catch the moment.
But then Yang caught something out of the corner of her eye. She had to do a double take to make sure she saw what she saw.
"Blake?" She whispered, not quite believing her eyes. Ruby heard this, and turned to look in the direction Yang was looking.
"Blake!" she shouted and tackled her friend and teammate and throwing her to the ground.
"Ruby, please." Blake said frantically, "I'm happy to see you too but…"
Before more than a moment had passed Yang was pulling her little sister off their teammate.
"Ease up there." She said setting her sister down on her feet. "Blake, I know you're gonna give me an explanation, but…" She trailed off, looking at her partner. She looked horrible, her clothes were in tatters and there were huge bags under her eyes "are you okay?"
"No…I'm not." She was clearly shaken " Yang, I was heading to the school, Sun is heading to the Council, Yang they're coming, we need to get ready."
Ruby asked the question Yang was about to "Who's coming?"
Before Blake could answer, a loud Horn like roar echoed into the from South. It sounded like a foghorn or trumpet. Ruby and Yang looked, and in the mountain and hills a thick and heavy fog rolling over the top towards the city.
Jaune was reading the book Blake had given to Thor, and this one was far easier to understand. It was written more like a textbook, which wasn't exactly engaging to him, but it at least had illustrations and wasn't written in vague poems or riddles.
But the sound of…a horn? Broke his thoughts, looking out the window, he saw the fog.
He didn't know for certain if it was the Grimm they had encountered or Thor, or just the weather. But he was suddenly scared that he wasn't with Ruby.
He picked up his sword and shield and ran out of the room to make his way to the hospital.
He was maybe halfway to the hospital when the fog finally overtook the city. He kept running and did so until the sound of thundering hoofs seemed to come from all directions. With the buildings and fog, the sound was not traveling normally and he couldn't tell where it was coming from.
As time went on, the sound got louder, and ground started to shake. He also started hearing screams, and these were clearly people.
He then noticed the light coming through the fog. It looked familiar, but he started to notice more and more, and before he knew what was happening a dozen of the Grimm where on him. He reacted on instinct, and blocked the attack of one, and swept at the legs of the other Grimm it was riding.
The Horse Grimm wailed and fell throwing its rider. The others kept on moving, leaving him with the one he'd dismounted.
It stood up and roared so loud Jaune could feel the vibration in his bones. It rasied a glowing weapon, which he now saw was the light he'd spotted as they came.
This thing loomed over him by nearly two feet, and looked like pictures he'd seen in Thor's book, and the Ursa Grimm head looked like a head-dress rather than the creatures actual head, but it still had claws. And where he'd thought a Human face should have been, there were just the red lines found the Grimm bones, but in a black, leathery skin with no facial features, but had some aspect of the form of a human face.
It raised its glowing weapon, which looked vaguely like a sword, but rough and uneven. It roared and attacked him, swing with the level of skill he'd once used. Which was to say not very much, but it was using tools, which was an improvement over most Grimm. And it was bigger and stronger than him.
He tried to block and parry the attacks, but the thing never let up or got tired.
Eventually it hammered his shield hard enough to throw it out of his hand. Next thing Jaune was aware of was a hand that seemed half human, half bear around his neck.
The last thing he could remember thinking was what he'd been told about these things. They took the living and the dead.
Stabbing forward with his sword, the beast cried out in pain. Not the low horn-like call it had been using, but the Shriek he'd come to expect from the Shriekers.
He saw the stomach of the creature glowing like Embers and then it threw him hard into the neighboring ally. He smashed into a wall and fell into dumpster there, and was unconscious in no time.
Jaune woke up an unknown amount of time later, his head throbbing. It took him a few seconds to realize where he was and why he was here.
He was surrounded by trash, and he felt there was some sort of comparison to be drawn, but he was too sore to appreciate it. He climbed out and rolled onto the ground. After a couple moments of sitting on the ground, he pulled himself to his feet.
His sword and shield were close, and with the fact he could see them, he knew the fog had lifted. Picking up his gear, he tried to remember the last thing he saw.
The Grimm's stomach burning like embers was the strongest memory, but it didn't feel like the last thing he remembered, just the strongest. He looked at his blade and wondered if that was the effects of the silver-steel he and Ruby had added to it, or if it was just a fact about this particular Grimm.
Shaking his head to try and get rid of the cobwebs, he remembered where he was going and why he was in the street.
He took off running to the hospital.
Jaune didn't know if they'd still be there, or would have left and come back, or maybe needed to be treated themselves, but he was close and knew this was his best chance of finding them, given in his excitement, he'd left he Scroll in the room.
He went to Thor's floor first, but as he did he noticed marks on the wall, claws marks, and some of the windows had been smashed.
But once he was on the floor where Thor was, he noticed a few things.
First was Blake was in the hallway, with Ren rubbing her shoulders. Nora was sitting on a bench, with her head her hands in unusual display of despair.
He walked closer, and saw that Blake had Ruby in a tight hug. All he managed to say was "Hey…"
They all looked at him, and Ruby and Blake broke their embrace, and Ruby's eyes were bloodshot and filled with tears.
She broke away from Blake and hugged him hard enough to almost crack ribs. "Jaune!" He sobbed "It's not fair, he just came back!" she cried hysterically.
He returned the hug but looked around to try and assess the situation. He spied into Thor's room and saw him on the bed, and Yang by his side, holding his hand.
"What happened?"
One Hour Earlier
The Grimm attack had come too swiftly and so suddenly that no proper defense was in place, certainly none of the planned ones, and even the standard defenses didn't have time to responded, they had been hit that quickly.
Yang only thanked God, whatever god that would hear her, that this hadn't full-scale attack. It had been a raiding party at best, a few hundred of the Grimm. They had come in, attack some of the defenses, and rode off with hundreds of civilians.
What was more, the fear they had induced was almost palpable in the air. Now other Grimm were likely to come, and make things harder.
But Yang was thankful she and her sister had made it through the attack. The Silver-steel in their weapons made a marked difference.
They made their way to the hospital, both out of the desire to complete their original task, and to make sure Thor was okay.
The Hospital had been hit by the raid, but not as bad as some areas, that was likely due to its location on the northern end of the city.
But a few Grimm had made it in, and done some damage.
But, either lucky or unlucky, they had left before long. They had rushed the bridges and demolished the gates before they could be closed and had started just abducting people on the streets or breaking into their homes to take them.
The number of the Grimm that had come was uncertain, as it always was in the mist with these things. But as of now, the estimate was a couple hundred, maybe an even thousand, but nowhere near all of them, even by the account Thor had given, there would be more.
The casualties were not known, but it had left a panic in the air.
But what scared Yang the most was they had left, that was completely atypical for Grimm. They had come in, hit the city, taken an unknown number of people, and left. This had other people scared too, the unknown of what these things were, how smart they were, had the city in near total panic.
The one upside was that she'd finally seen firsthand what this Silver-steel did to Grimm. When she had punched one of the horse Grimm, the area erupted in an incredibly nasty looking burn. It even glowed like hot embers, and the thing feel over in its side in its death throws before expiring.
The wound her punch had made seemed like it had burn a hole roughly the size of a soccer ball into the neck of the Grimm.
The others had similar experiences, this metal was absolutely destructive to the Grimm.
As they approached Thor's room, they saw him talking to his doctor. He spotted them and held up one finger to indicate they should wait.
After a few more minutes the two finished talking and the doctor left.
"So, when are you getting out of here?" Yang said as she walked into the room and kissed him on the cheek.
She felt his hand on her back, and it was…surprisingly tender. Not that he was rough, although he could be, but this felt like a much softer touch than normal.
"Yang." He started, looking at her, then turning to Ruby, "Ruby, both of you should sit down." He gestured to the chairs opposite of his bed.
The sisters exchanged looks and worry was plain on their face, but they did what was suggested.
"Is everything okay?" Ruby said, wringing her hands together in a nervous manner.
Thor sighed, and looked at her, he didn't want to tell her. He didn't want to tell Yang either, but Ruby's childlike nature made it harder for him to tell her things that would hurt her. He'd tried to shield her as much as he could, when he could. Yang did the same, but was much better at judging when it might be beneficial or not.
But there was no hiding this. Better for them to see it coming than for him expire suddenly.
"No way to say this easily." He said looking from one to the other. "This" his pointed to the injury still on his cheek "That girl had something on her blade, when she cut me it got into my body."
"So…Poison?" Ruby asked, clenching her skirt, wringing it.
"Something like that." He decided that knowing the whole story was irrelevant at this point.
"So, what's the news then, are you going to be out of commission for a few weeks or something?" Yang asked.
Thor shook his head "It's terminal Yang, the Doctors can't stop whatever it is, right now this." He pointed to his IV drip "Is keeping it a bay, but it's not going to work forever." He looked at the floor as he said this, the expression on their faces were breaking his heart.
"Wait!" Yang said standing up, and running her hands through her hair. "Just wait, you mean…they think it could be terminal right, like the treatments aren't working?"
Thor shook his head "Yang, it's going to kill me."
"No!" Ruby jumped up, making him jump a bit himself. She ran to his bed and grabbed his arm "It's just…we need to find them a cure, I mean every poison has one right?"
Thor could only think they were taking this as well as he expected. Ruby was looking him in eye, but he looked to see what Yang was doing. She hand her hands on top of her head, fingers laced and was walking back and forth in the room in a very quick and agitated manner.
He turned back to Ruby "No, this is…whatever she had was a weapon meant to kill, no cure."
Ruby's eye's filled with tears, and her grip tightened. He wanted to lie and tell her he was going to be fine, but in the end she would just resent him when he went.
Yang was still pacing, and eventually she stormed out of the room, pulling her scroll out and started dialing someone.
It had to be Ren, Nora or Jaune, she didn't know anyone else in the area other than her Uncle, and he hadn't exactly been reliable this whole time.
Ruby was now hugging him, hard, and he embraced her with his prosthetic, and stroked her hair with his real hand.
Ruby clutched to Thor as hard as she could. She felt like if she held onto him hard enough, it would somehow keep him here or fix his issues.
She knew that was absolutely ridiculous, that it would never work, but she couldn't help but try and hold him here.
His hand was stroking her hair, but then he gently pushed her away so he could look in her eyes.
"Ruby…little sister." He used his nickname for her, and it had the opposite effect it normally did. Instead of making her happier, it felt like a stab in the heart, reminding her of their bond, and how he was leaving her. Just like her Mom, Pyrrha and Penny. And she hated him in that moment. How could he?
But she knew it wasn't his choice, but she was angry at him. Why couldn't he have guarded himself better? Or avoid the hit? He let this happen to him.
"You've read that book, yes? The one Blake gave me?"
Ruby knuckled her eyes trying to push the tears away, nodding, because she didn't think she could talk right now.
"You know what I believe right?"
She nodded again. The Viking believed in fate and that upon death, if they fell in battle, they'd enter Valhalla.
"The skein of our lives was weaved on the day of our births. Sadness and fear, they are nothing to let into you life. Your fate is fixed, no matter what I did, I would not live a moment longer."
Ruby hated that. She didn't believe in fate or destiny, at least not in the way where it was totally fixed and couldn't be changed.
She knew he was trying to comfort her, but it wasn't working. But he spoke again.
"Sorrow and fear profit a person nothing." He smiled as he said this, and she could tell he believed this completely, his smile was real.
His words did nothing to comfort her, but his smile had eased her heart by the tiniest degree.
She was still crying as she responded "I need to go find Yang." She stood up and left the room with a quick walk.
Yang hung up her scroll. She'd tried to reach Jaune, but he wasn't answering. Nora and Ren had picked up right away and were on their way over. She was worried about Jaune now, on top of everything else. She didn't know if she could deal with that right now.
She leaned against the wall, bracing it with her arm. This wasn't right, it just wasn't…right. What was killing her was, if she had beaten that girl back on the train, this wouldn't have happened. This was her fault. She'd killed Thor as surely as if she'd shot him.
Tears started to run down her cheeks and she wiped them away and stood up straight taking a deep breath.
She needed to be strong. Her sister needed someone to be. Their dad was on the other side of the world, and their Uncle was completely unreliable right now. Thor was here, but they had no right to ask him to be strong. He was the one who needed it now, more than them.
Footsteps behind her told her that her sister was near. She turned to face her, trying to put on a brave face.
But Ruby's expression told her either she had failed in her attempt, or otherwise it wasn't going work anyway.
She wanted to say something to her, but couldn't think of what to say. Instead she just hugged her sister.
Her embrace was returned and her sister started to sob into her chest.
"It's not fair!" She wailed into her sister's chest.
"I know, it never is." She whispered into her ear. "But we have to put on a brave face for him, right? As hard as this is for us, it's a thousand times harder for him."
Ruby surprised Yang by pushing her back and it startled her to see anger mixed in with her sister's grief "No it's not!" She near yelled "You hear what he said? He's completely okay with it!"
"Ruby…I know he's trying to put on a brave face-"
"Yang!" Ruby's voice was getting louder "Try and talk to him about, he think's it's destiny or something, that he can't avoid it."
Yang knew that Thor was generally a bit fatalistic, but she'd never thought he'd taken his own death so lightly. In fact she didn't think he was. He'd shown back at Beacon he tried constantly to protect Ruby.
But now it had backfired, and she was now dealing with anger mixed in with her grief.
"I'm gonna talk to him." She said walking away from her sister, but giving her a reassuring rub on the shoulder.
She didn't want to leave her sister alone, but she wanted to talk to Thor about what he said.
"Yang?" She heard a voice that wasn't Ruby off to her left. She turned to see Blake, looking more haggard than ever, but overall unhurt.
They had gotten separated during the raid, and frankly she'd half-expected her partner to of bolted again.
"You still here?" She said coldly, and regretted it almost immediately.
Blake looked hurt by this comment, but didn't say anything " I deserve that, after leaving all of you."
"No, Blake, I'm sorry, it's just…" she trailed off, not know how to deliver this news. She felt like it wasn't exactly her place to do so, but wanted to vent it some way "It's Thor, he's…sick. The Doctors don't think he's gonna…make it." She finished weakly.
Blake's eye's widened at this, he'd seemed fine when she saw him the other day. "How…what…what's the…" she stumbled over her words, not sure how to ask.
"When he fought Torchwicks assassin, she poisoned him."
All the color ran out of Blake's face. That could have been her, but Thor had ended the fight before it could happen.
Thor had been the immediate target, but the initial attack could have been for her just as easily.
'This was her fault' was all she could think.
Present Time
Jaune felt like the bottom had dropped out of his stomach. Thor was the biggest, strongest, toughest person he knew. It didn't seem real that he'd be dying from something like this. It didn't seem right, especially after what he'd read about his people.
Death in battle, that seemed right for him. Jaune didn't want him to die, but this seemed such a sick way for him to go. It wasn't going to be quick either, it would drag out for days, maybe even weeks.
He looked into Thor's room and he seemed fine, more or less. Maybe he was a little pale, but he was in a hospital. Maybe the doctors had made a mistake.
That hope flared in his chest before he crushed it himself. They wouldn't have told Thor this unless they were reasonably sure. But still…it was possible, right?
Jaune had spoken to the doctors, and while unwilling to divulge any details, they simply reassured him they weren't wrong.
This was terrible, and he wasn't sure how much he could take. It just seem to keep losing, and losing. With the impending attack of the Grimm, he wasn't sure he'd ever felt this beaten down in his life.
He still was grieving for Pyrrha, and add to it all this new stress. He felt like he was being pulled in several directions at once. Ruby was in emotional tatters, and Yang was at the hospital most of the time.
Blake had come back, and that was one of the few good things to happen in the past few days. But she was with Yang more often than not.
The city was in turmoil, anyone who could afford to do so was fleeing to Atlas or Vacuo. But Mistral was the biggest and most populated Kingdom, and the vast majority of its population was unable to afford the move.
But on the plus side, the city had finally managed a plan of action. All but one of the bridges to the city had been demolished, leaving one point of entry to the city. This one Bridge was barricaded with most of the Silver-steel at the far end.
There wasn't enough to make a true wall the would be high enough to keep the Grimm out, but a series of steel bars of varying length were tipped with the metal, forming a wall of spears the stretched the area of the coverage into a broader and taller defense. Barbed and razor wire made the metal were run between the spears as well to keep the gaps from being exploited.
A another series of spears and wire were placed at the opposite end of the bridge closer to the city itself, if the first failed.
One last defense of explosive were placed along the bridge, to blow it apart if the bridge was overrun.
Jaune didn't like the idea of that, because if it came to that, it would mean that most people were trapped.
The passes through the mountain were narrow, and frankly not all that safe with the bandit activity being as high as it was.
But now at least they had some level of a defense, and at the very least the Grimm would bunch up in one spot to make them easier to deal with.
Blake sat across from Yang and Thor as Yang sat next to him as he slept. He had taken a sudden turn for the worst. The treatment the Doctors had been giving him had stopped working as well. They were pumping more and more of it into him, but he was still sliding away.
His skin was pale now, and while he was always fair skinned, now he looked sicklier than before. His eyes had dark shadows around them and his face was looking more and more hollow.
She didn't say anything to Yang, she just wrote in her notes.
"What are you writing?" Yang asked seemingly out of nowhere.
Blake looked up at her partner, and looked a bit confused before responding "I'm writing about the Grimm who attacked. They aren't like anything I've ever seen, I'm trying to…document them."
"What have you got so far?" Yang asked, in a tone that told Blake she was just looking for a distraction, but she'd help her any way she could.
"Well, the first form, the small ones, I've decided to go with your and Thor's name, 'Mist Mauraders', and once they get to their bigger size, once they go underground, I've labeled them as 'Shriekers'."
"Okay." Yang said, her tone not really interested, these were thing she already sort of knew.
Blake sighed and continued "But the third form, the one produced by the full-grown Shriekers, I took the name form that book on Thor's people, I've decided to call the 'Wendo'." She said pronouncing the "W" as a "V".
Yang didn't seem all that interested, so Blake decided to move onto the speculations she'd formed.
"I think I know why they take people alive." She said, looking at her own notes.
That got Yang's attention "Why?"
"It's just speculation, but I think it has to do, in part at least, to what Grimm really feed on." She said, pulling a page of notes out. "Grimm don't eat their victims, but rather it's believed they feed on negative emotions brought about by there attack. By capturing people and feeding them living to their 'mother', they produce much more fear and despair than just a normal attack."
Yang looked skeptical at this and asked "You really think they're that smart?"
"Maybe." Blake said "But they also have human or Faunus assistance, they might be controlled or directed in these activities."
Yang looked concerned about this, but asked her next question regardless "But what about the feeding of the them and the Grimm to the big worms?"
That Blake had many idea's on, but decided to stick with the one she thought was most likely. "I believe they somehow merge part of the person with the Grimm being eaten. That's how they make these smarter Grimm, these 'Wendo', because being control or not, they are much smarter than other Grimm of similar age. They display simple reasoning skills and tool use when only a few days old."
"How so?" Yang asked, now interested.
"They use primitive weapons ,but when they attack the other day, they attack defensive structure, energy souse and control panels, and actively disabled things that could slow them down or hurt them." Blake responded.
Yang looked pensive for a moment, and didn't respond.
"You really think they're that smart?" she finally asked.
"Yes I do."
They sat in silence for a bit before yang asked her final question. "But why do they eat the dead?"
Blake didn't have a real answerd for than, other than one "I belive it's to scare the victims they take, to create even more fear."
Jaune was worried about Ruby. She hadn't been to the hospital since the day she'd found out about Thor's condition. That he understood, even if he didn't think it was a good idea.
But she was just laying around her room, not doing anything at all. She wasn't even bathing or changing her clothes. She was starting get dirty and smell pretty bad, granted he'd never tell her that.
He just sat with her most days, not saying anything as they watched whatever was on, while not really watching it.
Today she was as despondent as ever, not saying more than a few words.
Eventually the silence was broken with her voice "It's not fair Jaune, it's not right."
He'd heard this before from her, and while he agreed with it, he had run out of things to say in response other than "I know."
"It's scary too." She added.
Jaune looked at her, this was new for her to say, even if he agreed "How so?"
"Life is shorter than I thought, or really realized. Three of my friends, all only a little older than me, dying. My mom, even though she was really young." She mumbled.
"Yeah, I know." Jaune couldn't help but think of his own personal issues on the matter.
In his own thoughts, he hadn't noticed Ruby had moved next to him. When he noticed her, he jumped in surprise.
"Ruby!" He gasped, holding his chest. "What is it?" he asked looking her in face, the face full of sorrow, but also something he didn't quite recognize.
Before he knew what was going on Ruby closed the distance and kissed him full on the lips.
He was shocked at this, in part because it reminded him of Pyrrha's kiss. Her lips were soft just like her's, and the passion was there.
But this was very different in other ways. For one, Ruby hadn't been washing herself for a days now, and her smell was rather unpleasant, but that wasn't as alarming as something else.
This felt right, like he'd been waiting for it for some time.
He pushed her off gently, and saw he face was glowing red.
All he could think was the act had to take a lot of courage. But he was feeling incredibly conflicted, between how right it felt, and how guilty it made him feel.
"Ruby…" He began but didn't know how to finish, so he just stopped talking.
Her eye's went wide, and before he could say anything else, he vanished from the room and cloud of petals.
"Damn it." Was all he muttered as he went to look for her.
It had started to rain as Ruby walked the streets. She couldn't believe she'd done that, let alone done it when she hadn't bathed for three or four days. She was beyond embarrassed, which was another feeling to add to her emotional overload right now.
She found herself at the docks. She watched as the ships came and went into the air, most people leaving, or those who could afford to anyway.
This sight made her angry. The people feeling were only thinking of themselves. They not only thought the city wasn't safe, but the fact they were leaving was causing more panic.
Grimm, the normal types anyway, were coming more often near the city. The standard defense were handling them alright, but it was depleting resources that could be used to handle the larger threat.
She idly watch a Bullhead land, and was surprised to see someone unloading gear, rather than loading in. In city where everyone was leaving, the sight of someone coming was odd to say the lease.
Then she saw the telltale white hair of the owner, and her heart soared for the first time in days.
She was running across the landing pad before she even know what was happening.
Weiss didn't care much for the rain, but she'd dealt with worse. She picked up her bag and started to make her way to the terminal.
Next thing she knew she was on the ground, with something crushing her rib cage.
For a moment, she thought she was being attacked, but then she heard the voice.
"Weiss, oh my god, I am so glad to see you!"
Ruby, of course. She hadn't been in the city five minutes and her old partner had found her. While she'd never say it out loud, her heart soared at this, seeing part of her old team again.
"Ruby! Get off me!" she shouted, and her partner obliged and let her stand up. She got a good look at Ruby now, and overall, she looked more or less the same, she was soaking wet from the rain, but she still looked like Ruby. "So, tell me what you've been up to." She said trying to sound as nonchalant as she could.
What she didn't expect was the whole story of what had happened since they had been separated. Her journey, Yang and Blake's stories, and Thor's survival of the fall.
But once she got to the part about Thor, she shut up and Weiss could tell clear as say something was wrong.
"Ruby…what's wrong?" She asked, in a cautious tone. Frankly she was happy to hear Thor was alive and well, as annoying as he could be at time, she did like him, and was happy she hadn't lost another friend.
"He's sick Weiss, and the Doctors don't know what it is really…" Ruby said, trailing off, her tone conveying all the sadness she clearly felt. "He's not doing well, I don't think…" She could bring herself to say it.
"Oh…" was all Weiss could say. Hearing one of her friends was alive, after thinking he was dead, then finding out he was dying, it made her head spine. She shook her head to trying clear her thoughts.
"Weiss." Ruby started, her tone slightly lighter than before "You don't think your family might…be able to heal him?" She asked in a tone that made it clear she didn't want to hope for something, but was hoping anyway. "I mean you're from the richest family in the most advanced Kingdom in the world, if anyone could help him-"
"Ruby" Weiss cut her off "I won't say it's impossible, but Atlas has closed off its borders, if we could get him there, maybe, but the effort…it would be hard." Weiss said, not telling Ruby that she had just fled the Kingdom and didn't want to go back. Not that that mattered, if she could save Thor's life, she'd go back instantly. But she didn't even know what was wrong with him, there was no guarantee there was anything for him there.
Then there was the fact the trip could kill him outright, depending on how sick he was. That she needed to see for herself, if for no other reason than to apologize to him for how she'd been a brat to him while at school, and make amends before it was too late.
"Can we go see him?"
Ruby felt a bit taken aback by the request. She hadn't been to see Thor since the day she found out how sick he was. But if Weiss could help him, or get him help, she'd go back in a heartbeat.
"Yeah, let's go now!" she said a more excited tone than she'd been using in the past few days. Hope swelled in her chest as she pulled her partner behind her, not even realizing she was using her semblance.
"Ruby! Stop!" She could hear Weiss yelling behind her, and realizing she'd acted a bit rashly, she stopped suddenly. Ruby, ready for the sudden stop, stayed on her feet, Weiss however was thrown to the ground, landing in a puddle of mud and water.
"Oh, my god, Weiss I 'm so sorry!" She started saying while she helped her friend to her feet. A real fine way to great her after so much time apart.
"Ruby…it's fine." Weiss said standing up and wiping as much mud off herself as she could "I just need to go back for my bag first." She said as she headed back to the port.
Ruby was a bit taken aback by Weiss's relaxed reaction. Had this happened while they were at school, she would have been certain of a chewing out from her friend.
All she could think of was whatever she had gone through had mellowed her out quite a bit.
Weiss didn't know someone could look so close to death and still be alive.
Some of her shock, she knew, had to come from the injuries he'd gotten during the fall of Beacon. The scars and missing body parts looked bad. But his pale color and his waxy skin, and the bruising around his eye's, he almost looked like a corpse.
Yang sat next to him holding his hand, stroking his arm gently.
He wasn't even awake, but she didn't think he needed to be to tell her how he was feeling.
"So, you think you can get him help?" She heard Ruby muter in her ear.
The answer was short and simple, no. He was on deaths door, and the time it would take to get him to Atlas or get help her from Atlas, she didn't think he'd last that long. Even then, she didn't know if there was anything in Atlas that could help him.
But she said instead "I'm not sure." She couldn't help but try and shield her friend.
"Ruby?" a raspy voice called out, making Weiss jump before she realized it was Thor. His eye' were open and almost completely red with broken blood vessels.
"Yes?" Ruby said hesitantly, stepping forward, clearly not wanting to get a good look at him in this condition.
"The book…could you bring it to me?" he croaked out.
"Umm..yeah. What did you need it for?"
"I to want to see if final rites are in it." He said in voice that seemed like it hadn't been used in years.
Weiss looked at Ruby and saw her tearing up, and she was leaving the room.
Looking at Yang for what she should do, wanting to go after her partner. Yang nodded and said "go", and with that went after Ruby.
Ruby felt her hope dying in her chest. He'd given up, and was ready for it to end. She'd get him the book, she even knew what he was talking about. She thought everyone on her team did after spending some much time reading the book. Only Weiss didn't, and that was going to change soon enough.
"Ruby slow down!" Weiss's voice called from behind her.
"I'm just getting the book Weiss." Her voice telling her partner that she was trying to be nonchalant, but failing.
"Ruby." Weiss's hand grabbed her shoulder and turned her around. "You can't run from this!" She scolded her "He' doesn't have much time left, and if you just avoid him…you're going to regret not spending what time you have with him left."
Ruby didn't respond at first but just bit her bottom lip. "I know, it's just, I'm scared of losing another friend." She eventually muttered.
"I know, but you have to face reality." Weiss muttered "It's not going to be easy, but a little discomfort now will save you a lifetime of regret."
As they neared the room Ruby was staying in Weiss thought, or hoped she'd made an impact. She didn't seem as agitated as before, if a little somber.
As Ruby opened the door to the room, and Weiss was greeted with the sight of someone she supposed she shouldn't be surprised to see.
Jaune was sitting on the bed as they came in and stood up as they entered.
"Ruby I-"He started but caught sight of Weiss, and Weiss felt her blood chill a bit at this. She hadn't exactly been the nicest person to him at school. But all he said was "Hey Weiss, could you give us a minute?"
She was a bit surprised to be dismissed by the boy who had pinned over her, but the air was thick with a tension she couldn't place and knew now was a better time to back off.
She stepped out of the room, but left the door open a crack. She told herself it was to make she if anything happened, she could step in. But she knew it was just her curiosity, wanting to know more about her friends after being separated from them for so long.
What she heard didn't make a whole lot of sense though, because Jaune and Ruby were talking in way that made her think whatever it had made them uncomfortable saying it out loud, just saying things like "You know what." Or "That thing.", Her problem was she didn't have any context for these terms.
That was until Jaune said "I think…maybe…I like you too? You know in the same way?"
That got Weiss curious enough to look in the crack, and was just in time to see her two friends close in and kiss.
She didn't keep looking , but instead turned away as quick as she could.
She felt a very weird and very disturbing feeling in her stomach, which she couldn't quite place. All she knew was she had a sudden urge to interrupt them without barging in.
So instead she knocked "Can you two hurry up with whatever it is you're doing and grab the book?" She didn't quite yell, but said in an elevated tone.
There was some shuffling and mutters inside the room and soon both Ruby and Jaune came out, both with a bit of color in their cheeks and Ruby holding familiar book.
"Can I see that?" Weiss asked, not wanting to address them on what she'd seen, though they didn't know she'd seen.
"Umm, yeah, here." Ruby said handing the book to Weiss. "I've marked the page Thor was talking about, the one with what he wants read."
Weiss read it, and it wasn't very long, it read more like a short poem than a traditional last rite.
But this book made her wonder about something she hadn't thought of since her last Semester at school. "Thor's father…you…haven't found him, have you?"
Ruby shook her head, and Weiss felt a bit of disappointment at that. She'd had another of those dreams while she was at home, and was hoping that maybe the man who could interpret them was near. With his son on deaths door, she'd have thought he might have been.
The dream was as vivid as the last one she had, but it was a completely different type. This time she'd dreamt of a giant word or snake made completely of fire looming over her, and as much as she attacked it, the fire still burned.
She pushed the idea to the back of her head, and said "Let's get back to the hospital, Thor will want this." She said, turning to leave, and thought she saw Jaune and Ruby joined hands, and she felt her heart skip a beat.
When they arrived at the hospital, Ruby noticed everyone in the city who knew Thor was there, even her Uncle, who looked soberer than she'd seen him in days.
They were all around Thor's bed, and she felt a sudden sense of dread come over her. Was this it?
"Ruby." Qrow said to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry for the last few days, it's just…something happened." He said looking at the floor, with what could only be described as shame "I lost someone I was supposed to look after, but forgot about everyone else I needed to look after." He looked at her directly now. "I'm here for you now…if you need anything."
Ruby didn't answer her Uncle, but nodded and moved past him, taking the book to Thor.
"Thor, I've got the book…and the last rites you wanted." Her voice was soft, almost completely silent.
"Good little sister." He croaked out. "Now, if you could-"He was cut off by a blaring horn. It was the siren to call all hunters to their defensive positions. "Go." Was all Thor said, as he closed the book.
"But!" Ruby cried out. She had just gotten here, and had steeled herself for what was to come, to spend time with him, and now this?
"Don't worry, my rites will come before I go." He said. "Now go."
Everyone else was on their feet, watching them.
Ruby knew she had to go, and while it killed her to leave him like this, she knew if the Grimm got past the city defenses, it was all over.
She stood up, and hugged him, said goodbye and started towards the door.
Everyone else said their goodbyes and started to head out until only Yang remained.
Yang looked at Thor in his bed, and her heart was breaking. She did not want to leave him, because she was sure he didn't have long now.
"Go." He said, looking at her "They'll need you, the Wendo won't be so easily defeated as other Grimm."
She knew he was right, that every single person would be needed here. If they got past the first defense, and she was certain they could, those bastards were so damned smart, they'd have to hold them at the city gates.
But he was slipping away, he was holding on by his fingernails at this point.
But what else could be said that hadn't been said, other than the one thing they'd told each other countless times already?
She walked over to his bedside and said it anyway "I love you."
With this she kissed him, not passionately, but softly, gently and with love.
He returned what he could with his energy, and said "I love you too, now go and protect the city."
Her eyes fogged up at this, and she knuckled the tears away. "Okay, but…you better be here when I get back!" She said in completely false bravado and jogged out of the room to catch up to her friends.
She left in such a hurry she didn't hear his response "I know I won't be."
The defensive wall on the City end of the bridge was covered with the spear like defenses and barbed wire of the opposite side. But this one had added gun mountings and places for hunters and soldiers to fire at the enemy.
Ruby took her place at one of the higher points, where she could snipe the enemy if they made it past the first defense.
The engineers who had built these fences said there was no change of that. This new metal would repel lesser Grimm and even the stronger ones would be torn apart by the wire or impaled by the spears.
Ruby wasn't so sure, but the fog had rolled in from the hills and she spotted seven giants likes of light coming down from the mountain. Thor had told them these were the Wendo riding in formation, and each line was one group.
Ruby looked away from the massive number of Grimm to look at the bridge they were guarding. It was huge, incredibly wide, and Ruby didn't know why this one was chosen to keep. The other bridges were smaller and more easily defended. Ren proposed the City council didn't want to have to try and fix the largest one once the fight was over.
Ruby didn't know about that, but she still felt it was bad decision for whatever reason.
"You ready?" Yangs voice came in from behind her.
"No." was all she could say at first. "I wish Thor was with us."
" I know but-" The sound of explosions for the other end of the bridge stopped her sister from responding.
Another series of popping noises that could only be either gunfire or explosion soon drew all the hunters and soldiers on the bridges attention.
"What the hell is happening!" One of the other hunters shouted.
Another pulled out a pair of what looked like binoculars, but Ruby knew they were more advanced than that, with multiple visions modes, and looked.
"It's the White Fang!" He called "They're demolishing the first line of defense!"
A chorus of voices started talking and shouting.
But all Ruby could think of was how they hadn't seen this coming. Using people who the metal had no effect on to open it up. It was now clearly a glaring flaw in the plan for defense.
She doubted they'd be able to completely destroy it in a such a short amount of time, but knew they didn't have to, just open up enough of an area for the Wendo to charge through.
He heart began to sink as the light started to form in the mist that had gathered at the far end of the bridge.
He heart began to sink at this, soon they'd be hit with the full force of the combined Grimm and White Fang.
But then she heard the grinding of metal behind her. For a moment she wondered what it was, before turning to see Thor dragging his ax behind him, the blade cutting shallow grooves into the-the concrete.
Before she could reconcile what she was seeing, it started to rain.
She made to run to him, but a strong grip on her shoulder stopped her.
She looked to see Yang, and even in the rain, she thought she could see her sisters tears. "Ruby, let him go, it's not going to matter in the end. This is better for him than in his bed."
Ruby wanted to argue with her sister, but knew she was right. This was how'd he want to leave this world.
Turning back to Thor and his limped passed the barricade to stand in the front, he tripped once, and braced himself on a spear for a moment before standing up and moving on into the front line.
Jaune watch as Thor walked like a half-dead man into the front line. He looked to all his friends, who were all watching him. Ren and Nora next to him, Yang and Ruby just behind Thor, and Weiss and Blake off to Thor's right. All he could think was "what is he doing?"
Then he heard Thor speak the first line, just as the light of Wendo became viable and the sound of the hooves of their mounts closes in.
"Lo there do I see my father." Jaune recognized this as the first line of the final death rites he wanted read.
The thundering of the hooves grew louder and Thor continued, but now Jaune and Nora joined in.
"Lo there do I see my mother and my sisters" they said then Ren joined in as they all said "and my brothers."
Now the bridge was shaking with the coming threat, but they all continued.
Now Yang and Ruby joined in, catching on as they all said in unison "Lo there do I see the line of my people, back to the beginning."
The lights of the Grim weapons started to shine through the mist, and now Blake and Weiss joined in as all eight of them near shouted "Lo, they do call me, they bid me take my place among them."
Now the Wendo started to appear as shadows in the mist, but they continued with the Thor's rite's none the less.
"in the halls of Valhalla!" They all near yelled as the Wendo started to make their own cry, as if in terrible counter to the Viking prayer.
"Where the brave!" Jaune felt himself shouting particularly loudly at this part to try and drown out the sounds of the enemy.
"May Live!" He heard Yang shout in defiance.
"Forever!" Ruby shouted at the top of voice, and with the that, Thor shouted a battle cry, and the gun fire rang out as the Enemy came into range of the hunters.
AN:Well, Read and Review and tell me what you think.