Cinder felt hot.
It was a feeling that came with intensity that she hadn't been adequately prepared for. It burned under her skin and stretched out through her veins. It filled her up and hollowed her out until she was nothing but what she had just gained. There was a sense of satiation, even as she felt as though she starved for power.
It felt as though she was so strong all of a sudden, that she would burst. An attempt at using her semblance would be an explosion so strong that she didn't even know if she could survive it.
But, Cinder supposed in a way was she began to gather herself back to her feet, she had survived fire and had only come out singed. She had been chosen by Salem, after all.
She was-
A maiden.
The others had decided to gather around her and watch her closely, but none said anything. Off to the side and behind all of them, Amber had gone limp and fallen to the ground, unbreathing and unmoving.
They'd won. The burning in her veins told her that it was worth it.
"I suppose that crosses that particular item off the docket." Watts said, sounding sincerely bored. "Staying here for too long will only waste time. We should get moving. At least before someone finds us with the girl's body."
"Moving where?" Emerald asked, and Cinder felt a spike of something horrible at that. It wasn't quite rage, but something else entirely. Not quite hate, but hot frustration. "If this was what we were supposed to do-"
"No." Watts snapped at the girl. "We will be going. You have likely outlived your use."
"We don't know that for sure, Watts." And oh, how confident Cinder felt as she said those words out loud. She looked down at her hands, flexing her fingers and stretching them almost experimentally. "We may need her again."
Cinder looked from Emerald to the others, then down to Amber's body.
"We should move on, though. The last thing we need is to be seen with-"
She locked her eyes onto Hazel, who managed to look very unhappy with the current situation. Even if he said nothing and didn't hold himself as though he was preparing for a fight, it was obvious. Tangible, even. "Is there something that you need to say?"
Hazel shook his head in denial, but the way that he looked and the careful way that he pressed a hand to his chest said otherwise. Cinder didn't know what his problem had been lately. All that she knew was that she didn't like having him so distracted. Perhaps with them finally moving on from the current assignment, he would stop.
She rolled her eyes and began to lead the way down the road towards Mistral, calm and easy. There was no reason for them to break off in the other direction. Besides, going to Mistral might have been enough to give them a chance to rest and to recuperate. Perhaps it would also be a place where they could finally figure out where their plans were taking them next.
The others looked amongst each other and said nothing before following after Cinder.
For most of the trip to Mistral, nobody said so much as a word.
It was quite obvious that it was because nobody wanted to.
Ruby skidded in the dirt, almost trembling from exhaustion. No matter how much they fought and how much they did, it felt like nothing was happening. Like progress had stopped existing.
"Are you going to be okay?" Jaune shouted to her, rushing into a position in front of her and holding his shield up to protect the two of them. Ruby looked back up at the monster, and she was able to catch a burning gold flash of light that had to have been her sister. She needed to get back to her teammates.
"I don't know." Ruby mumbled, standing up tall. "Do you think that you have things handled?"
"We should." Jaune answered before looking across the area. "On the count of three, you make a break for it."
The two of them counted down and Ruby sprinted across the space, doing what she could go get to the next piece of cover, or someone else that could be of help.
She saw a bright white glyph appeared and felt some relief, because Weiss was going to be nearby if that was what she had found.
Ruby caught sight of Weiss, and landed at her side. "Weiss!"
"Ruby!" Weiss hissed back at her, having decided that she wanted to hide out of view. "Where have you been?"
"Got carried away." Ruby looked back up at the grimm, trying to figure out what they were meant to do next. "What are you doing?"
"Setting up."
Before Ruby could even ask, Yang was landing on the glyph, her hair on fire. As soon as she was somewhat grounded, Yang was reloading. Her eyes were blazing bright red. Semblance, no doubt active. It seemed like Yang and Weiss had worked out a system that worked for both of them to keep attacks moving.
"Ready!"
"Got it!" Weiss swang Myrtenaster with one fluid motion. The glyph that Yang stood on pulled back with Weiss' hand moving backwards before Weirss released it and Yang was rocketing off and up towards the monster.
Ruby looked up at it, reminded of what had gone wrong. No matter what, it didn't seem like they were doing enough. Maybe it was something that they truly couldn't do without the help of more trained people. Real hunts,en that were going to be able to actually put on the heavy damage that they needed.
It was impossible as things were.
"Weiss, get ready to send me up."
"Are you sure?" Weiss asked, locking their eyes. "Because-"
"Yeah." Ruby repeated the words. "I'm sure."
Weiss nodded, and Ruby watched as layer after layer of glyphs appeared, creating a springboard of sorts. Weiss looked like she was utterly exhausted, like she might have been pushing herself too hard to be able to perform.
"Go."
Ruby leapt forward, let her feet hit the glyphs, and launched upwards.
Yang punched the grimm as hard as she possibly could, and felt it try to move to hit her harder in return. She didn't have the space to maneuver out of the way. Yang grit her teeth, raised her arms in front of her, and braced for the impact.
At the very least, she could get stronger from this. Assuming that her aura didn't finally snap and leave her helpless.
In front of her, something changed though, a black and red swirl of energy forming out of nowhere before someone or something flew out of it at top speed. Yang couldn't catch what it was just, but she couldn't have missed the streak of bright red and bone white. Like a grimm had come to aid for some reason.
The bright red slashed through the grimm's great clawed hand, before disappearing again into yet another portal. Out of view entirely. Yang tried to get a good look at it, but a proper view in the middle of battle eluded her.
The grimm roared and pulled back away Yang, but not enough to stop her from punching it so hard that she could have sworn that she heard something crack. Not that she knew what that would have been.
Somehow she managed to grab onto a length of fur and hold on for a moment. If she was going to be lodged there for a moment, Yang was going to keep on fighting. She drew back, and delivered punch, after punch, after punch.
For a second, she thought that she might have seen smoke.
Blake learned very early into the fight that there wasn't much that she thought she could do. She was able to blend into backgrounds, but being able to hear the things that were going on around her was useful. It helped her to know exactly where everyone on the battlefield was.
Getting to her current position had been a grueling ordeal. As things stood, she was up on top of the grimm's head, with the ribbon from Gambol Shroud wrapped up around one of the beast's horns. She wasn't going to fall, that was something that she felt confident in.
Mostly, she kept an eye open. If she could act by signaling opening to her teammates, then she was doing her job right.
From up where she was, everyone else managed to look like tiny dots dots and nothing else. All of them were brightly colored though, and that made it easier.
She needed to do something, but Blake didn't know what. It felt like she'd already managed everything that she could have done.
One of the things that Qrow hadn't quite prepared for going into this fight was just how old and even sluggish he was going to end up feeling. It had been a long time since he'd last been involved in such high-risk combat. He must have lost the feel of it years before, because once it had felt effortless for him to participate in.
Apparently, that wasn't exactly the case anymore.
Not to mention that his new role in the fight was that he was trying to keep a group of kids from getting themselves hurt or killed. He had to give credit where it was due, though. They were all doing pretty well on their own. Well, they were doing as well as they could have, all things considered.
Qrow stretched his wings and circled over the grimm, looking for some sort of vantage point. Blake was lodged up by the beast's horns. That was something that he could have used, if not for the fact that the best tactic he could think of for something like that would have involved a beheading and his sister.
There were a lot of reasons that wouldn't work. Too many of them to count, really.
A second bird fell into formation beside him, and Qrow tried his best not to concentrate on her. Raven could still pack a hell of a punch, but it seemed like something was off about her. He wasn't sure exactly what, though. Qrow locked an eye with her and let out a caw before moving straight into a divebomb, preparing to rip through his own muscle to become himself again and deliver a strike.
Raven understood, falling into a divebomb to do just the same as he had. She didn't need to do it this way, Qrow knew. But she was choosing to anyways.
Taiyang was fighting his way up the grimm's body, using its fur to fling himself higher and higher.
In the end, the tactic almost feels familiar.
Qrow dipped out of the grimm's line of sight and transformed, landing on the grimm's back and pointing Harbinger's tip down at it. He dug it in as best as he can, and let his legs carry him, opening up a long cut along the beast's spine.
"Qrow!" Tai shouted to him, having grabbed onto a long tuft of hair and using it to hold himself up. "Meet me up top!"
"Got it!" Qrow shouted in passing as he reached closer and closer to the monster's rear. He launched himself off with one clean motion and transformed so that he could fly back up towards the monster's head. Taiyang had an idea, and though they don't have Summer anymore, they could still work together and try.
Qrow reached his destination, turning into himself again just before Blake would be able to see. As himself once more, Qrow pulled himself up onto the grimm's head.
Blake looked over at him, her eyes wide. "What are you doing up here?"
"Fighting." Qrow responded, calmly. He grabbed onto the horn like Blake had, and felt the grimm shake its head in an attempt to get the two of them off. Blake didn't allow herself to budge, but Qrow had to do what he can to hold still. "What're you here for?"
"Not quite sure." Blake answered. "I think we wanted to try to garotte it."
"Sounds risky." Qrow grumbled, seeing a flash of gold up towards the top. He's expecting it to be Taiyang, but instead its his niece.
"Yang!" Blake greeted her teammate first. "What's the new plan?"
"I think Weiss is staying down on the ground." Yang answered, breathing hard. "Ruby was coming up I think."
"Got it."
"You two better figure out what the hell you're doing quick!" Qrow shouted at them, and relaxed if only very slightly when Taiyang finally bounded up to the top, looking a little bit more the worse for the way. "Because we're setting up for something."
"Yeah." Yang answered, bracing herself. "Right. Blake, we should-"
"Good idea."
Blake passed off the length of ribbon to Yang and the two of them split, with one at each side and holding the ribbon taut between the two of them.
Taiyang looked at it and grinned wide.
"Hey, Qrow-"
"You're thinking it too?"
"What?" Yang asked. "You two are totally going to steal our tactics, aren't you?"
"Nah." Taiyang shouted. "We could just use the boost."
Qrow swung Harbinger, and thrust its blade down into the grimm's head so that he couldn't lose his position. There was a barely controlled streak of red, which Qrow soon recognized as his other niece hurtling towards them. The girls prepared and braced themselves, and Qrow watched as Ruby landed on the ribbon which stretched before launching her back up into the air.
"Tai, now!" Qrow shouted, and he watched as Tai leapt off of the grimm's body and landed on the ribbon, leaping off of it to propel himself up high. He prepared to do the same. "You girls better have landing strategies prepared."
With that, Qrow launched himself upwards and tried to meet Tai in the air, transforming Harbinger into a scythe again in the process.
Tai caught him by the leg and held on tight.
They only had so much time. Qrow could only hope that luck was on his side.
Ruby kept as tight of a grip on Crescent Rose as she could possibly manage on her descent, twisting herself and firing the rifle to push her forward faster and faster. She almost laser focused in on what her target was, throwing her scythe out at her side and holding on tight.
She caught the grimm by the neck and fired over and over again, pushing her further and further against it. The blade began to slice into the grimm's neck, but not nearly doing enough to take the head off.
Up above, her father slammed down onto the grimm's head, her uncle's sword stabbing into the monster's forehead. She heard him shout for someone, and a portal appeared on the other side of the grimm's neck, a woman racing out and slicing through what was left of it before falling back out of sight behind another portal.
Ruby swallowed hard and looked to her teammates. Blake and Yang were still there up by the monster's head, but now that was falling and they needed to move. She looked back down to the ground and saw that the ones down there were already moving and running, trying to clear the space to avoid any of them getting injured.
She had to brace herself and fell down, down, down. As she got closer to the ground there was the cushioning of one of Weiss' glyphs slowing her down. With the control that she was able to use with Crescent Rose, Ruby was able to ensure that she landed cleanly and without too much injury.
Blake and Yang ended up in a nearby tree. Her dad ended up riding the monster's head down, and Qrow had disappeared into nowhere.
The group of all of them gathered there by the grimm. It wasn't dissipating as fast as Ruby had ever seen one turn to smoke before.
"It's... dead." Pyrrha said, sounding a bit surprised and more than tired. "What happened?"
"I don't know." Ruby mumbled, shaking her head. She looked over at Weiss and walked to her teammate. Blake and Yang joined them, and moments later the four of them were folding together into a warm hug. It was comforting.
They were allowed to rest for a few minutes, but before any of them got comfortable enough, Oobleck took the helm with the statement that while the threat may have appeared to be gone, their work was not over.
It was going to be a very long night.
"Professor Ozpin."
Ozpin picked their head up and looked back over their shoulder to see that Ironwood had come to join them. He looked worried and tired, but he also wouldn't have rushed to visit them without a good reason for it.
"James." They greeted him. "Is something the matter?"
"I just received a report that it's fallen." James said, standing up tall and seeming to calm just as quickly. "There will still be more work to do, but for now-"
"The people of Vale will be able to rest." Ozpin said, feeling a certain sort of melancholy that threw them back to conversations from decades before. This was not the first time that they had seen something like this. "Thank you for reporting to me, General."
"You know that it's no problem." James said quietly. "The others should be staying out for the rest of the night." There was a long pause, like James almost needed to catch his breath. "I'll contact Winter to inform her and Glynda of the change in situation."
"Thank you." Ozpin said calmly. "I'm expecting that we'll be hearing from Taiyang and Qrow soon."
"I am too." James mumbled. "We'll recall the groups in the forest as soon as we can."
"Of course." Ozpin said calmly, but there was still more to this that neither of them seemed to want to touch. There were still other kingdoms which were going to need to be contacted, headmasters that were unaware of the situation in Vale.
It would be likely that passing on an update on Vale's condition would be of use. "I trust that you will be able to handle those arrangements?"
"Of course." James replied, still standing tall. "What will you do?"
"I..." Ozpin's voice trailed off for a moment. "I believe that I have things which I will need to check in on myself."
"The Relic?"
"Yes." Ozpin confirmed, frowning. "Although I'm afraid that reaching the vault will be-"
"If you're just looking to check that the vault is still secure, it should be enough." James mumbled. "Without Miss Rainart here..."
"It will remain closed." Ozpin confirmed, feeling a sinking feeling down in their stomach that they weren't going to be able to forget. It was yet another reminder of old sins, and of bonds which had broken years and years before. "I will do what I can to contact her come morning."
"Of course." James said, sounding not exactly pleased himself. "Do you want me to go to Atlas and do a similar check?"
"If you would not mind." Ozpin sighed. "I believe it would be of great use."
"I'll make the arrangements when the time comes." James said quietly. "Getting in contact with the Winter Maiden should be relatively easy."
Ozpin wanted to feel satisfied by that statement, but it wouldn't be enough to do the trick. They waited for James to leave, and when they were finally alone, Ozpin hesitated. There was too much that they were going to need to do, and a lot of possibilities for things that were going to come in the near future.
They were going to need to start by checking in on Vale itself. Once that was done, then they'd make contact with their various agents.
Until that time came, all that they could really do was wait.
They made it back to Beacon early in the morning, only once permission had been given for them to return. Weiss felt like she was lagging behind her teammates a little too much, and her body was going to drop any second. She'd almost assuredly overused her semblance that night. She wanted to sleep for at least a week, if the opportunity was given to her.
Among other things. Fighting giant grimm weren't high on her list of things to do. That didn't mean that she felt like she'd actually managed to get all of that much done in the fight itself. Throughout the whole thing, she'd lingered to the back of the fight. She'd provided support and took care of the others.
It made her question her work again. Whether or not she could be a huntress like her sister, or like her mother once had been.
The other three went into the room first, all of them talking and some seeming more nervous than others.
"Weiss." A voice down the hall made Weiss pick her head up. She looked and saw that Winter was there, also looking worse for the wear and her hair having fallen loose. "Are you alright?"
"I am." Weiss mumbled, rubbing at her eyes. She wants to just go to bed and sleep forever. "Are you?"
"I am." Winter stepped in close to her and Weiss fell into the hug that was being offered immediately. Winter stroked her hand through Weiss' hair. "I heard that you did well out there."
"I..."
"You should be proud, Weiss." Winter said, taking a step or two away. "Going up against a monster of that size and being able to take it down is something to be proud of." She looked down at Weiss in a way that looked sad and apologetic. A way where Weiss wasn't going to be able to forget about it.
Weiss nodded. Blake was lingering by the door, giving her a weird look. "I'll be right in." Weiss reassured her teammate and was able to relax a little bit when the door closed. She looked back up at her older sister. "I don't feel like I did that much."
"That's fine." Winter offered, standing up tall. "You should still be proud."
Weiss nodded and furrowed her brow. "Winter, I don't..." She shook her head a little bit. "Should we be worrying about what's going to come next?"
"What do you mean?" Winter asked her, cocking her head to the side just slightly. "Because I'm not entirely sure what you're saying."
"You're only here because of that grimm, right?" Weiss locked her eyes with her sister's. "If it's gone, then you will have to go back to Atlas, won't you?"
Winter shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you right now, Weiss. I haven't been passed down any orders, and the ones that I do have have to be treated as though they're classified."
"I just don't want to lose you again."
"You won't." Winter reassured Weiss, but somehow it all just came up feeling empty and almost meaningless. "Trust me."
"Okay." Weiss whispered, forcing a smile up at her sibling. "I trust you."
"Get some rest, Weiss." Winter offered. "I'll let you know what's happening when I know. For now, I imagine you just want some sleep."
Weiss hugged Winter one last time and said a goodnight before stepping into the room and crawling into bed. The others hadn't even bothered getting out of their combat clothes. Weiss couldn't really blame any of them for that personally, since she felt just as tired.
She slept like a rock, dreaming of black wisps of smoke.