A/N: HEY AGAIN. It's good to be back oh gosh. Sorry we kind of let this one slide for a little while, but now that Season 4 is over, we're going to be posting this bad boy on Saturdays to keep that from happening again. Also um, they've got me on overtime at work so the chapters might be a little shorter than usual so please bear with us ;-;
HUGS,
D
Night fell, creeping darkness blanketing the valley in one fell swoop as the sun disappeared behind jagged mountaintops silhouetted in a gold-lined featureless black. Whatever warmth Blake had built up from the day's hike fled alongside the light, leaving her breath to rise in intermittent puffs of white.
The northern outskirts of Vale never quite reached the frigid lows she'd experienced during her missions in Atlas, but the ceaseless valley winds were starting to make Blake's Faunus ears ache. Winds that were excellent at keeping any Liliac-hiding cloud formations at bay, but also winds that cut straight through even her fleece-lined jacket, allowing a persistent chill to creep into her extremities.
The cold would never reach her core though - not through the solid heat source resting against her back. Blake pulled her eyes from scanning the moonlit horizon to spare a glance behind her at the bowed blonde head of her partner. Even while sleeping the brawler's hair seemed to emit a low glow, highlighting their small den-for-a-night of toppled tree roots with soft oranges and golds.
For a quiet moment, Blake was content to watch her partner's chest rise and fall in sleep. At least, she was either fast asleep or an expert at faking. The lack of Yang's usual nightly snoring and squirming about raised Blake's suspicions, but she still sincerely hoped it was simply a case of well-practiced field training rather than a case of insomnia.
Spirited as she'd tried to act, the dark bags Blake had seen beneath those usually-bright pools of amethyst made it exceedingly clear that Yang was feeling the effects of having been on watch that very same morning. As such, Blake had immediately claimed first watch, despite the dull bone-tired ache coursing through her every muscle, courtesy of the day's hike.
At the start, she actually had to hold herself back a bit, her own sheer speed and fluidity through forested terrain nearly leaving Yang in the dust. Towards the end of each day though, Yang's stamina tended to win out, the brawler still going strong when Blake finally began to flag. Exhaustion set in just before sunset, the hard pace they'd kept leading them straight to the shallow banks of the river they planned on following for the coming days - the coming weeks.
One month. That was the rough estimation they'd managed for how long it would take them to get back to Beacon on foot - and that was without any room for variation. In all likelihood, between the mountainous terrain, any time spent hunting for food, and the chance of skirmishes with roaming Grimm, it could take them up to twice that long. Yang had nearly turned right back around once they'd calculated out their final numbers, and yet, when compared to the years it took for Beacon's teams of research hunters to investigate towns suspected to have been irrecoverably overrun by Grimm, it was, sadly, still the faster option in the end.
For such a long trip, food was an especially tricky problem, and the more Blake thought about it, the more she regretted making this journey without the aid of Ruby's sniping capabilities. While Yang was perfect for cooking whatever they caught, as making fire was now literally a snap, catching things in the first place was trouble. It didn't help that they'd gone the entire day without seeing a scrap of wildlife larger than a songbird. Fortunately, the river they were following was filled with unsuspecting fish that found themselves bodily flung from their peaceful abode when a particularly famished brawler leaped and slammed flaming-fist-first into the water's surface, resulting in dinner literally exploding into the sky and raining down on the riverbanks, confused and helplessly flopping around.
It had been flashy, literally, Blake would give her partner that, but it would have at least been a little easier if they'd brought some supplies along from the town. Granted, they had no real way to carry any decent amount, and what small amount they could carry, Yang had insisted that they drop at the clinic.
That had been a strange visit. Blake still had no idea what exactly Yang had done after slipping inside the clinic's poorly-repaired window with both arms filled with canned goods – the Faunus had opted to keep watch a few feet away from the roof, scanning the surrounding icy surface for any stray miners that might have been looking to start trouble. She had even less idea why Curtis then appeared at the window with Yang, exchanging hushed words too quiet for even Blake's Faunus ears to hear. He didn't even try to follow. He just quietly watched them leave...
A frigid breeze played through the trees, cutting through Blake's thoughts. The crisp rustling leaves made it difficult for her to focus on the distant patter of footfalls she'd just picked up on.
Beowolves - an entire pack by the sound of it - and judging by the direction, making a beeline for the town. Blake shivered. Her ears perked when she felt the warmth against her back crank up in intensity.
Sure enough, Yang was still awake. Blake hunkered down a bit more against Yang, wishing dearly that she could simply drape her partner around herself like some kind of human-space-heater-blanket. "Sleep," she whispered over her shoulder, smiling at the low affirmative hum she got in response.
That smile vanished when a long, mournful howl echoed out over the forest, distant enough that only Blake's Faunus ears could pick up the faint, haunting tones. Ears flattened, head bowed, Blake sent a silent apology to Ruby, Weiss, and the remaining survivors of James Point.
"Really? Up there?"
"Yes. This is going to be the safest point."
It took a second to locate the source of Blake's voice - no easy task in the darkening light of dusk turning all the dry reddish-brown leaves of the towering tree above into one giant shimmering shadow. Yang silently cursed her lackluster human vision and leveled an incredulous look at the dark blob she assumed to be her partner, watching her lithe form move from branch to branch as fluidly as climbing a simple set of stairs.
Normally, watching a live example of Blake's acrobatic prowess would be supremely awesome... except that the fleet-footed Faunus wanted her to climb up there too. "This thing has to be like, fifty feet tall."
"Try twenty," Blake crouched down, having found a nice spot where a few thicker branches intersected to make something resembling a place to sit. "But, your poor judgment of distance aside, the simple fact is Beowolves can't climb trees, but we can."
Yang frowned up at the branch closest to her, still a good six feet or so above her head.
"You can. I'm kind of one limb short here, unless you've forgotten." Yang motioned to her right arm hanging limp at her side, wrapped tightly in one of Blake's ribbons near the elbow, right where Ember Celica's protection ended. She started when Blake suddenly landed right next to her - she hadn't even heard her jump.
"Maybe now you'll think twice before using your arm to block a Beowolf's teeth?"
"Hey, it worked though, right?"
Blake answered with a hearty roll of her eyes that she knew Yang couldn't see, facing the tree and bracing herself against its massive trunk to make a human ramp. "Come on," she called over her shoulder, "Get up there."
Gritting her teeth, Yang swallowed her complaints and carefully scaled Blake's back, muttering a soft apology as her dirt-caked boots scuffed the Faunus's bare shoulders. With a lot of legwork and solid core strength, the brawler managed to drag herself up onto the branch proper, though she nearly fell right back off when Blake appeared literally right behind her. Her partner's semblance was really something else at night.
The sun had relinquished its reign in the sky by this point, so Blake took her partner's hand, slowly guiding Yang up the branches, higher and higher into the darkness until they finally reached the area Blake had scouted out earlier. "I should still thank you though," Blake continued the flagging trail of conversation, filling the silence as she waited for Yang to situate herself, "I would be in a world of pain if you hadn't taken that hit for me."
"Blakey, seriously stop, you've thanked me for that like six times already. You know I've got your back," Yang shot back with a smile, "I mean, what are partners for, right?"
"R-r-right," Blake's response caught on a full-bodied shiver from a surprise gust of wind that tore through the air, setting the leaves rustling.
"Oh no, none of that. You. C'mere."
Fighting back a light blush of shame at how susceptible she was to the cold, Blake climbed over to her partner's open arms without a second thought, gratefully pressing her back against the brawler's natural warmth and settling into a sort of one-armed hug from behind. She gingerly lifted the brawler's injured arm, pulling it around her as well for a little extra warmth, and to get a better look at the makeshift bandage they'd thrown together for it.
The dark patches of dried blood were nearly impossibly to see against the black color of the fabric, but she could feel the way Yang tensed up whenever her touch ran too close to the wounds themselves. How hard must that thing have bitten her to pierce her aura like this? Carefully running her fingertips across the tightly wound ribbon, Blake could feel Yang's aura slowly working to heal the deep gashes beneath - aura that had been in short supply as of late.
Where the first week of their journey had been largely uneventful, the past three days had been nothing short of hellish thanks to the enormous pack of Beowolves they'd run across that had made it their personal mission to hunt them down. Between the ambushes (the first of which caused Blake to lose her jacket), the coordinated attacks, and the one-eyed, heavily scarred Alpha, it was clear this pack had been around long enough to learn some frighteningly intelligent tricks.
"Hey Blake?"
Wrested from her thoughts, Blake flicked an ear back to acknowledge her partner. "Hm?"
"What do you see?"
Blake threw a quizzical look over her shoulder. "...What?"
"I mean with your night vision," Yang answered quickly, "Just trying to get a bearing on our surroundings and stuff." It definitely wasn't because she thought night vision was the coolest thing ever, and had absolutely nothing to do with how much she enjoyed listening to her partner's voice.
Raising a brow, Blake obliged with a half-smile, "I see the walls of the canyon pass between the mountains that we'll be heading into come morning, I see the river that cuts through it, I see the tree line, the stars, that Beowolf over there that's been watching us for about twenty minutes-"
"Wait, what?" Yang snapped out of the pleasant lull she'd slipped into, scanning what little she could see of their surroundings. Her arm instinctively tightened around Blake when she caught sight of a disembodied pair of glowing red pinpricks sitting stock still in a nearby cluster of bushes. She balled her good hand into a fist. "Should I shoot it?"
"Save your ammunition," Blake covered her partner's fist with her hand. It was the same Beowolf with the broken left-shoulder spine (a battle scar inflicted by a mere glancing blow from the brawler currently looking to finish the job) that had found them already up in a tree the night before, prowling about near the trunk before growling up at them and leaving. "It's probably keeping watch."
"That's... not even remotely reassuring."
"Fine, it's playing hide and seek and losing terribly."
That earned an appreciative chuckle. "You know, something tells me you'd be amazing at hide and seek."
Amused amber glanced back to meet warm amethyst. "You think so?"
"Yeah! At least, you'd be better than-"
Ruby.
The pair fell into an awkward silence. Neither of them had mentioned either of their teammates since they'd left, neither wishing to speak the names of the ones they'd betrayed.
"You know... she could never sit still so..."
Blake didn't know how to respond, so she didn't, leaving a gaping opening for all of the nagging worries and regrets that had built up over their journey to fester unimpeded. It was only when Yang began to shake that she finally pushed herself to speak.
"Yang-"
"I should have said something to her."
Velvet ears flattened in dismay. "Yang don't-"
"I should have left a note or - or given her a hug, anything. Anything would have been better than leaving without a word..." Yang knew it was a little late for regrets, but she buried her head between Blake's shoulder blades all the same, as if she could hide from what she'd done, knowing full well that one look at those silver eyes would have shattered her resolve to leave. How had their mother done it so easily?
Blake bit her lip, whatever words of comfort she could find falling prey to a gnawing sensation of guilt over the impossible choice her decision to leave had forced upon her partner.
"Blake."
The Faunus in question stiffened, preparing for an outburst of blame.
"What am I going to do if she's not there when we get back?"
"Don't say things like that," Blake whipped around as best she could in Yang's hold. She halted at the terror shining in the brawler's eyes. If Blake knew one thing well, it was self-destructive thinking, and Yang was imploding right before her eyes. "Weiss is with her," she tried to sound reassuring, "They're strong partners. Two extremely skilled huntresses. They're going to be fine."
Yang hung her head, heavy with the weight of a loss Blake understood all too well. "I thought mom was going to be fine..."
A single mournful howl pierced their conversation, more and more voices joining the first in eerily sophisticated harmony until the air itself was practically vibrating. They stopped all at once, leaving Blake and Yang's ears ringing, the former letting out a low curse when she took stock of their surroundings.
The entire pack had arrived, and seeing them all at once was not encouraging. She never recalled packs of Grimm being this large when she lived outside the kingdoms.
"How bad is it," Yang's voice was low, inches from Blake's Faunus ears.
"There are probably about two hundred of them. We're surrounded. But they still can't climb trees so-" Blake paused to watch the Beowolf that had been stalking them from the bushes. Her heart dropped into her stomach when it came up to the trunk of the tree and leaned on it - a perfect mirror of how she had done so earlier. "Oh no."
They'd learned. They'd watched and they'd learned.
"What?"
A second Beowolf ran up its back and made it onto the tree's first branch, howling at its success, rattling the leaves around them as it began its shaky path upwards. One branch later it slipped and fell, only to be replaced by nearly a dozen more using their fellow Grimm to clamber up after it. Blake didn't even have to ask for Yang to release her.
"Run."
They leaped from the tree in perfect sync, straight into the writhing mass of teeth and claws below. Blake was on the defensive almost immediately, frantically dodging strikes coming from all sides, loosing shadow clones with every step. Not ten seconds in she lost sight of Yang in the fray, cursing herself for allowing the Grimm to separate them.
Black velvet ears twisted towards Yang's voice calling for her over the din of snarls and guttural barking. She could feel the sharp edge of fear threatening to pierce her composure upon realizing just how far away she'd gotten. "Yang!" Three clean strikes toppled the three Beowolves blocking her path to her partner, but five more took their place. "Yang!" Blake tried to keep her voice level, "This way!"
The seconds of silence that followed were deafening, breeding desperation that tinged her next shout.
"Yang, please!"
Roughly twenty feet away, a bellowing roar born of frustration and rage erupted from Yang in a very literal sense - a crimson storm of swirling flame blasting the surrounding Beowolves into ash. Blake locked onto the towering inferno marking her partner's location, leaping right over a Beowolf's snapping jaws and using the Grimm's head as a springboard into the air, dashing forward with her semblance to gain extra height and distance.
Angling her descent, she impaled a Beowulf gunning for Yang's injured side through the ashes of its fallen packmates. Landing, she rolled into the brawler's flames to swipe the legs right out from underneath the Beowolves creeping up on her partner's back as Yang spun with a fierce left hook, knocking the jaw clean off a Beowolf that dared near her wall of fire.
Yang was visibly flagging, but she held her flames in place, feeling ten thousand lifetimes stronger with Blake standing at her back, even as the pack circled around them, wary, waiting. There was no way she would admit it... but there was no way they could fight surrounded like this.
"We're running," Blake whispered to her partner, clearly lacking any aversion to admitting they were outmatched.
"Okay, where?"
"The canyon pass."
The brawler felt Blake take hold of her hand - the useless one that had regained barely enough strength for her to feebly grip back. The Faunus tapped her finger against Yang's knuckles once... twice... three times.
Yang dropped her flames, and they shot forward together, bursting right through the wall of Beowolves blocking their path. Blake led the way, eyes locked on the dark opening to the canyon pass looming in the distance as they ducked and weaved, evading direct combat as best they could.
Which, actually proved to be surprisingly easy. If anything, it seemed as though the pack was allowing them through, and so they ran with abandon, finally breaking through the last of the Grimm's ranks and sprinting out into open terrain.
Blake didn't need to look back to hear the pack following them, oddly patterned howls and yips sending chills down her spine as they neared the pass. This was their ticket through the mountains. If they could get through here, it would be a clear shot back to Vale, with Beacon's tower to guide their way.
At least, that was the plan until the canyon opening literally exploded.
It wasn't an explosion of dust or heat, but one of sheer brute strength - a huge black white and red mass bursting forth from the canyon pass, sending chunks of rock wall flying in every direction.
Yang stopped just short of being crushed by an ursa-sized boulder, pulling Blake to her side to keep the Faunus from meeting a similar fate as she seemed to have halted in her tracks to simply stare, transfixed.
A Goliath. Riding atop its head, the Beowolf pack's Alpha.
As laughably absurd of a picture it made, the thought of different kinds of Grimm collaborating against them made Blake sick to her stomach. Somewhere in the back of her head, she knew the pack of Beowolves was fanning out around them, closing them in against the Goliath blocking their path through the mountainside.
Squaring up against the pack advancing behind them, Yang glanced over her shoulder, catching a glimpse of what had grasped Blake's attention. Glowing red eyes a disturbingly high distance up from the ground. The outline of stark white tusks gleaming with starlight. Yang set her jaw and returned her attention to the pack, pressing her back against Blake's.
"Let me guess. It's big."
Blake's smile was wry. "You could say... it's Goliath."
Yang flashed her teeth in a grin, uncertain whether she wanted to laugh or cry.
There were just so many of them. So many... and then suddenly there was one less.
The Alpha Beowolf jerked sideways off its perch, bits of fur and bone exploding from its head for seemingly no reason.
Crack, a sniper rifle's report caught up to the bullet as the Grimm tumbled down to sprawl over the Goliath's massive tusk.
Yang's breath hitched. She knew the sound of those high-caliber shells by heart. Blake watched with wide eyes as the Goliath began to sway from side to side. With the towering Grimm's sheer size lending its movements the illusion of time having slowed, the Goliath lowered its head, allowing the Alpha to drop. Its body sifted away into ash before it even hit the ground.
The Beowolf pack erupted into a frenzy, surging forward with wild abandon, met head on as Yang dove straight into the fray that engulfed Blake soon after.
Ruby loaded another heavy round and slid Crescent Rose's bolt into place and looked through her heavily modified scope just as the wave of Grimm swept over her older sister and Blake. "Whoops."
Beside her the repaired sled loaded with the rest of the gear. Drei, his heavy white winter coat all fluff in the cold, stood in his makeshift harness. His warm breath puffed out, and his ears perked as Ruby swung her scythe back into its compact form and braced herself on the icy ridge.
"Show time."
A/N: So we're already alternate timeline, but after Volume 4 we thought, "What the heck? May as well go all the way." and now we're an AU.
No huge differences, but just a heads up, we're definitely going to diverge from cannon in terms of backstories and history of Remnant stuff, along with some other details that'll turn up eventually.
For now, let's get ready to fight a whole bunch of Grimm.
See you next week,
- Fiercesomest