A/N: Hey! Last week ff was being kind of weird about sending out notifications, so if you missed the chapter, check it out. In an effort to somewhat improve on our abrupt chapter endings, we figured we'd just post all of this in a big chunk.
Good luck, folks!
- Fiercesomest
Qrow reached the coliseum first. He'd let the kids run ahead before he took off and now stood with both boots firm on the railing at the edge of the rows of seating, his dark hair stiff and ruffled from the flight. The Beowolf wasn't hard to find- it smashed into the wall beneath his perch, driving Yang into the metal hard enough to crumple the metal panel.
It immediately leaped away from the ensuing blast of heat, pacing left and right as it watched Yang growl and shake herself off. Her hair glowed, and she looked one hundred and one percent ready to tear a certain stupid Beowolf limb from stupid limb. Resettling into a loose fighting stance, she took a few menacing steps forward. "You're gonna have to do better than- Hey!"
The Beowolf had turned as she spoke, eyeing Pyrrha's swirling dome of metal for all of a split second before speeding away, making a beeline for the tent rapidly vanishing behind a patchwork of steel.
Pyrrha grit her teeth at the streak of black aiming straight for her. The distraction hadn't worked. She just wasn't fast enough with polarity - Pyrrha switched plans on the fly, paying no heed to the sharp clangs of metal dropping all around them as she released her magnetism. With a split second prayer that nothing would go awry she stood tall, threw out one arm, and reached for the latent powers she'd only just begun experimenting with. The Beowolf was practically there already, rushing her out of any room for hesitation, moving even faster as the air pressure around them dropped.
Inches from collision, an enormous gust of wind dragged the Beowolf clean into the air, flinging it around and around in an endless circle that quickly grew in size and speed as a spiraling wall of clouds formed around the medical tent.
Back at the edge of the coliseum, Qrow leapt down to the ground.
"Hey," he shouted to get Yang's attention before she could tear off towards the storm forming near the camp. "Get that Beowolf to your sister. Don't kill it."
Yang halted and whirled mid-step, turning to face her uncle with a confused red-eyed glare. "Wait- don't kill it?" A sheet of metal whizzed past her head, and she squinted, holding an arm up against the wind to better look back at the literal tornado that had formed around the medical tent. That was... certainly one way to keep Ruby safe. But... since when had Pyrrha's semblance involved wind? Yang grimaced - she could just make out a dark form whipping by with every unyielding revolution of the maelstrom's wall of wind, arc after arc of lighting just barely missing its mark. "It's... probably not me you need to be telling that."
"Yeah," Qrow said under his breath as he watched the localized tornado. It looked like Nikos was really warming up to her powers. Some of the tents were tearing free from their tent pegs and flying up into the air. Debris whipped by fast enough dent the railing near where Yang and Qrow stood.
Clang!
Sage's sword deflected another chunk of metal from Neptune as the two tried to assist in the hunt. They were spending more time not getting leveled s they were chasing the beowolf, though. A shriek rang out as- was that a vending machine?- hurtled past them without an inch to spare.
"Okay, new plan," Qrow put his arm around Yang for a second, and ducked his head in close, "we get in there and tell her to knock it off. And by 'we', I mean 'you'."
There was a lot that could go wrong in this situation, after all, and he wasn't about to try their luck.
Yang squinted at her uncle as best she could through her windblown hair. "Uh huh. And by 'get in there' you mean... what, just walk right on in? Take a lovely stroll through the tornado?"
"Yep."
Yang squinted even harder at her uncle, "...Okay," she expelled the tail end of her word as a resolute sigh, breaking away from his grasp and striding headlong into the wind storm.
A heavy gust forced her to stop about halfway there - she could already feel the wind trying to sweep her right off her feet. What she would give for one of Weiss's black glyphs right now... or a hair tie. Pushing her hair out of her face for the umpteenth time, Yang glared up at the storm barring her from her sister.
Small bits and pieces of metal and rocky debris pelted her nonstop, feeding through her aura into her semblance bit by bit... not that strength would do her any good against being yanked bodily into the air, and with no incendiary rounds to control her trajectory, the ground was absolutely where she needed to stay...
Indistinct shouting in the distance momentarily pulled Yang's attention from the storm - she spotted Neptune waving wildly at her from his hiding place behind Sage. He was... pointing at something... Yang turned to look just in time for a pack of crackers to smack her dead in the face, but it was probably the entire vending machine behind it that he was trying to warn her about. "Back so soon, huh?" Grinning, the brawler braced herself for impact.
From afar, Neptune grimaced at the ensuing crunch of metal audible even over the howling winds. He hunkered down further behind Sage, watching wide-eyed as Yang pressed forward, using the weight of the machine to ground herself... for about ten feet.
There was no way to warn her about the stray section of rebar sweeping across the ground straight for her, and all he could do was watch as it struck her mid-stride, just hard enough to sweep her off her feet and send both her and the vending machine hurtling up into the air.
Acting on instinct, Neptune grabbed Sage's arm, stepped out from behind his guard, and took aim with his trident.
Yang had no idea what hit her - all she knew was one moment she was hurtling head over heels through the air swearing up a storm worse than the one she'd just been battling, and the next she'd been knocked straight into the storm wall and clean through it, landing much to her chagrin, directly on top of Weiss.
The heiress hadn't even noticed the earlier rush of canvas as the medical tent got caught in the storm, and she certainly didn't notice Yang until she crashed full force on top of her and Ruby. She slammed down on the edge of the cot so hard it cracked- or her ribs cracked. Either way, everything went black for a second and when it came back she'd lost her hold on that sick feeling from earlier and was on her elbows, throwing up a dark liquid on the packed dirt next to the cot while Yang scrambled to get off.
Qrow stood back, his ragged cape flapping in the unnatural wind. He'd watched Yang vanish into the stormy column of dust and debris whirling around the medical tent. "C'mon..."
They'd get the beowolf to Ruby, but he doubted the mutt could do the actual transfer. Heck, it might have shot back here to take her down and claim the rest of her soul for its own Grimm purposes. Who knew? Either way, they'd probably need someone to act as a conduit to get that part of Ruby's soul back into her.
And it definitely wasn't going to be him, if he could help it.
"Weiss?!" The tornado contorted under Pyrrha's brief lapse in concentration thanks to Yang's spectacular arrival, the school vending machine now joining the Beowolf and Yatsuhashi's stag in circling overhead, and the sounds of Weiss retching. "Yang- what-"
"You have to stop this storm!" Yang shouted over the howling wind at Pyrrha while she fretted over Weiss, grabbing her hair and holding it out of the way.
"I- what?"
"It's destroying the camp!"
Pyrrha paled, dropping her arm at once. "I- I'm sorry! That's not what I-" A violent crack of lightning drowned out the remainder of her apology, arcs of blue electricity coursing through the storm as it slowed and contorted further, collapsing in on itself.
Yang barely heard the lightning, she absolutely didn't hear the small clang of something ricocheting off of a large airborne vending machine, but there was no way she could miss the streak of black dropping right past her, bright silver staring her down for a split-second eternity. "You-" It was already gone, the empty cot where Ruby had been lying seconds prior already flying into the weakening wall of wind amidst a sea of black petals.
Qrow started running when he saw the streak of black. The storm was dying down, so that was good, but the beowolf- he gave a groan of frustration and put on extra speed, dodging chunks of metal as the whirlwind dropped them from the sky.
The Grimm had Ruby's limp form in its mouth by the shoulder, stumbling and tripping over itself as it ran, gunning for the doorway to the underground maintenance corridors and ultimately the back exit... that is, until two figures appeared there.
Blake and Yatsuhashi, both panting from their full sprint back, stopped short and stared in shock as the Beowolf shifted course towards the main entrance, only to be halted almost immediately by the vending machine landing inches from its face, forcing it to tuck and curl around Ruby as it all but gutted the machine with its shoulder spines in the unavoidable collision. Forcing itself back to its feet, the Beowolf leaned back against what was left of the battered machine for a moment, silver eyes darting all around. Qrow in one direction, Yang in another, Neptune and Sage in yet another. Panting hard, it dropped Ruby and stood over her on all fours, teeth bared and bristling.
The only direction it didn't look was up.
There was a flicker in the space above the Grimm, and half an instant later a steel spike stabbed at the base of its neck with deadly precision. Neo dropped out of the air, feet bracing on the creature's spiked shoulders.
It had no time to react, simply crumpling atop Ruby like the world's angriest Beowolf blanket.
Qrow pulled up short a half dozen yards off. The silver eyed Beowolf had just dropped. Just like that. He stared at the downed Grimm and the girl perched on its shoulder spines.
Neo leveraged her small weight so the Beowolf toppled sideways a bit, taking most of its weight off of the girl underneath. She stepped aside, dusting off her hands like it was a job well done.
Yang did not pull up short. She did not stop until both of her fists were buried in Neo's tattered collar, yanking the smaller girl clean off the ground. She heard fabric rip. She didn't care. She had no idea why Neo was here right now. She didn't care. "What have you done?" Yang forced the words past clenched teeth, licks of fire flaring from her head and shoulders as she held Neo inches from her own face. "What have you done?!"
"Yang!" Blake was already at Ruby's side, checking her for injuries, but her eyes were trained on the wolf, "It's still alive."
"What?" Yang dropped Neo without a second glance, scrambling to kneel beside Ruby as well. From here she could clearly see the Beowolf's silver eyes, wide and wild, evidence that the pint-sized maniac had not in fact snuffed out half of her little sister's soul before her very eyes.
Neo scrambled back and flickered to the top of the vending machine, momentarily out of Yang's reach.
Sage gripped his sword, ready in case the Grimm decided to get back up.
Qrow joined Ruby's teammates. The Beowolf wasn't moving, and it was alive. That was convenient. He glanced at the small girl perched warily on top of the wrecked vending machine. He didn't exactly have time to spend wondering what her deal was. Ruby was looking paler by the minute. "Alright, someone grab the Schnee kid."
"I'll get her," Neptune offered, already sprinting towards the medical tent as he spoke.
Caught between tracking the Grimm and the alarmingly skilled girl atop the vending machine, Yatsuhashi took his place next to Sage, similarly inclined to draw his weapon and keep it at the ready.
With Yang too busy gathering her sister into her arms and choking back tears, Blake took it upon herself to ask the obvious, arching a single brow at Qrow. "What do you need Weiss for?"
"We're going to siphon whatever part of Ruby's soul got stuck in this thing," he nudged the Beowolf with his boot without looking away from his nieces, "back into her."
Back at the mostly undisturbed site of the medial tent, Weiss was recovering fast, or trying to.
"Get off me, I'm fine," Weiss pushed Pyrrha's arms off as she levered herself onto the nearby low cot. Throwing up had interrupted her panic-fueled attempt to get back to Ruby enough for her to calm down and think. At least she thought enough to a) regret the chocolate from earlier and b) let someone else handle her partner for a minute while she caught her breath.
Pyrrha hovered at her side in case she retched again, "But Weiss-"
"Weiss!" Neptune stumbled through the ripped tent opening, but stopped short at the sight of her, panting and pale, standing near a puddle of half-digested chocolate on the ground.
"Neptune?" Pyrrha went to him, peering around him as best she could to see the small group standing a fair ways away, "Did they get the Grimm?"
"Yeah! Well, sort of?" Neptune rubbed the back of his head, his eyes falling to the ground as he elaborated, "Ruby is still down though... and that hunstman guy is asking for Weiss."
Weiss looked at him like he had to be joking before pushing herself to her feet. So much for leaving Ruby to someone else.
"You want her to what?"
Yang's voice carried across the coliseum as Neptune offered a hand to Weiss despite her supremely irritated expression. "Are you okay to walk?"
Weiss shot him a glare but didn't have enough energy to do any more damage than that as she strode past his offered hand.
In the middle of the cluster of people near the vending machine, Qrow ran his hand through his hair, "Look, whatever she was trying to do, it split her soul. At least part of it is in this thing. If we kill it, her soul might rejoin its other half or quarter or whatever, but it might just vanish, and that's not a chance I'm particularly willing to take."
He caught sight of Weiss heading their way. She didn't look great, but her eyes were clear and she held her head high, still ignoring Neptune, who still seemed worried that she might drop.
Qrow turned to Yang, "Your sister's soul will seek its other half. Whether or not it can get there is the issue, so we're just giving it an easy pathway," he gestured to the heiress with his thumb, "She connected to her earlier, right? It'll be easiest for her."
Weiss shook out her hair, as she joined the group, "What will be easiest for me?"
Blake's mouth was set in a thin line as she looked to Weiss. "He wants you to be a conduit for them," she motioned to Ruby and the Beowolf.
"I'll do it," Yang said at once, "I can do it."
"Shut up, Yang," Weiss snapped without much bite. Assuming the man had some legitimate reason for choosing her over her teammate, she fixed her gaze on Blake. "What kind of conduit?"
"What does it matter?!" Yang snapped back at Weiss, then rounded on her uncle, "I said I'll do it, now tell me what I have to do to get my sister back."
"Keep her still, then, okay?" Qrow grabbed Yatsuhashi. From the looks of Ruby, they didn't have a lot of time. "Hey, big guy, drag the wolf over here. Princess, you want your hand here, over its heart, and here, over hers. Yang," he knelt so he could look her dead in the eye, "you want to ask questions? Fine. You want to take charge? I understand. I really do. She's your sister. But first, whose got a better track record of dealing with Grimm poison, you or Schnee Junior?"
"My name is Weiss," Weiss scowled to cover her repulsion as her hand sank in the stiff black fur on the Beowolf's chest.
"What do you know about what we went through-" Yang spat with fire in her eyes, ready to go however many rounds it took for Qrow to listen. At least, until she felt a gentle touch on her arm.
"Yang," with that single word Blake had her partner's full attention, "Weiss has brought Ruby back to you before." When Yang opened her mouth to protest, Blake squeezed her arm and kept going, "You know you can trust her. Ruby will need you here if things go badly."
Yang snapped her jaw shut, gritting her teeth over her inability to find a response that didn't sound petulant. With a final imploring look at Weiss, she bowed her head in resignation.
Weiss was determined not to lose her partner, and it showed in her eyes. She glanced away from Yang to Blake, "Please don't let this thing bite my arm off."
The Beowolf's chest rumbled under her hand in one continuous growl.
"We'll take care of it," Qrow edged close enough that Weiss could smell the alcohol on his breath as he explained, "You're like a bridge. You want Ruby's aura to cross in that direction," he gripped the wrist of her hand over Ruby's heart. "Her aura and nothing else, got it?"
Nothing else? Weiss remembered the black competing with Ruby's red during her attempt to heal the dog. Drei. The creature emitting the gravelly rumble under her hand was hard to reconcile with the fluffy white pet he used to be.
"What do I do if I... go in," there had to be a better way to explain that, but Weiss didn't know it, "and she's still there." At Qrow's blank look, she elaborated, "The woman."
"The woman?" his brow creased. Something seemed to dawn on him, and he turned pale, "Did she have red eyes?"
Weiss gave a short nod, her fingers gripping the front of Ruby's shirt.
"Yeah. Okay," Qrow's eyes scanned the four of them- Weiss, Yang, Ruby, the hunk of growling fur and bone that was the Beowolf- as if trying to come up with an idea. "You just worry about putting the pieces together, kid. You got all the warnings when your professors first told you how to do this, right?"
As much as Weiss would have liked an hour long tutorial about how to accomplish this, or at least an answer to her question about the woman who was clearly bad news, she wasn't sure her partner would last. She wasn't sure how she was even breathing now. Her chest was cold, even through her clothes. So without answering Qrow, Weiss took a deep breath, summoning up her aura. She would just have to deal with whatever came her way. Come on, Ruby.
At the edge of the group, Sage watched in trepidation. Neo leaned over the top of the vending machine, intrigued.
"Weiss," Blake called softly enough that it hopefully wouldn't break the heiress's concentration, "if you do get pulled in… make sure you come back as well."
Weiss made a dismissive sound, but didn't bother with much more than that as her aura surrounded her in a soft white glow. She closed her eyes as the stadium seemed to slide away.
She'd seen enough ruthless power plays in her own family to understand Qrow's insistence that she be the one to siphon Ruby's aura back into her- Yang was a member of the family. Even in the most desperate times of the Great War, siblings weren't allowed to serve with the same unit. That way if operations collapsed, at least the family back home might have one child survive. Obviously Qrow wouldn't want to lose both his nieces in the same span of minutes.
Weiss, on the other hand, was more or less expendable. There wasn't time to let it rub her the wrong way, though. As often as she had been on the receiving end of aura healing, and as hard as she'd been trying to support Ruby with it the past few days, she knew that they had no idea what they were doing. Qrow seemed to have some knowledge of the operation and was obviously much more wary of it. That only confirmed Weiss's impression that they were playing with fire, and that there might be some sort of consequences to go with it. Maybe something beyond the emotional scarring that came with dropping into someone's nightmares, even.
As she concentrated, she felt the stir of her partner's aura on her left, from the Beowolf. Ugh, the combination of the familiar warmth and the unwashed black fur made the hair at the back of her neck prickle up. There was another presence there, too. The black that had competed with Ruby's aura before. It wasn't hard to tell the two apart, though, and it didn't attempt to make the crossing.
The red glow mixed with her white, moving slow, like syrup, up her arm towards Ruby's unconscious form. Making sure her partner's aura travelled one way wasn't going to be difficult, considering she could barely sense anything on her right. Dust, she needed to make this happen faster. Wasn't Ruby's semblance speed? Why was her aura so slow?
No sooner had the thought crossed her mind, when the red of Ruby's aura reached her chest. Her breathing seized and she clenched her fist in Ruby's shirt as sharp pain blazed across her arms, the back of her shoulders. For a split second, the red burned hot, outshining her white aura for a moment as it ran in a torrent into Ruby. Weiss gasped and must have flung herself backwards because she was falling and strong hands caught her. There was an overwhelming taste in her mouth like copper and- of all things- strawberries, and it burned like she'd swallowed a mouthful of hot sauce. Not only like she'd swallowed it, but like she'd washed her face in it and tried to breathe it. Her eyes burned, her chest lungs burned. She pressed her palms to her eyes, trying to get it to stop.
"Hey," the voice came from far away, "here, take her."
Sage dropped his sword to scoop Weiss up. Her breathing hitched, coming fast and short, and her frame was taught with pain as she curled against his coat.
Qrow, after handing the heiress off to one of the big students, knelt by his youngest niece. Her brow was furrowed. If it hadn't been a life and death matter, she would have looked like she needed to sneeze, but the red of her aura still glowed around the edges of her skin. Qrow's hand closed over the grip of his weapon as he urged her, "Come on, kid."
There was no whisper of wind among the empty branches of the black, thorn-twined trunks. The circle of light had dimmed so much that the thousand red eyes seemed to cast their own glare over the girl in the snow. In a few more moments, that pale light would be gone altogether.
Except... it wasn't. Seconds slipped by, but the circle stopped dimming, and the light didn't go out.
At the center of the pack of Grimm sat the six-tailed creature, her head bowed towards the girl half-covered in snow, the small light that remained reflecting in her red eyes.
The light pulsed, prompting the creature to straighten its posture.
All at once, a blinding rush of warm red erupted from the girl's back, briefly bathing the area in a flash of crimson light.
The creature watched, still as a statue as the light coalesced, taking a shape much like its own... but larger, heavier, and shaggier... a white dog, with silver eyes.
No sooner had it taken form, then the dog dropped to the ground in a confused heap, scrabbling back up to his feet at once. He seemed dazed - at least, until he noticed Ruby.
Barely paying any notice to his audience, the dog whimpered and cried, licking her face and nosing her shoulder in earnest, over and over, ultimately plopping down in the snow beside her in sheer exhaustion. Not that it kept him from continuing to lick her face from his new position.
Six tails twitched in curiosity.
You want to help her?
Ears twisting like crazy to pinpoint a nonexistent voice, the dog looked up, seemingly noticing his company for the first time. Lacking the energy to lift his head, he simply whimpered.
The creature tilted her head, slowly rising to stand.
You'll die.
Silver eyes never strayed from watchful crimson as the dog continued to whimper and nuzzle Ruby's face.
Eventually, those crimson eyes slid shut, and the creature took a step forward. The forest and every Grimm within seemed to hold its breath as she dipped her head, lightly touching the dog's nose with the tip of her own.
The dog stared, wide-eyed... then exploded, the light from which it had formed rushing right back into Ruby with enough force to clear the snow from the surrounding area. The circle of light around her flickered and flashed, expanding in one fell swoop that decimated every Grimm in its wake.
Only the woman remained, her expression placid, despite being forced from her previous form. Unwillingly bathed in the light of day, she began to sink into her own shadow, pausing about halfway down to reach for the girl still lying on the ground.
"Leave," she spoke aloud, pale fingertips stopping just short of red-tipped hair, "before you forget how."
Ruby groaned and lifted her head a little, just enough to get a bleary look at the grass and leaves that had been exposed by the rush of light. There was a shadow too...
Her vision blurred.
She blinked and found herself gazing up into a blue, cloudy sky.
The arms around her tensed.
"...Ruby?"
Ruby blinked again, trying to clear her vision as she became aware of the cold air in her lungs, and the warm someone who was holding her. Her voice came out sounding like she hadn't used it in days, "... Yang?"
Yang's voice was hoarse for a very different reason, a few drops falling from her face and landing smack between Ruby's eyes. Her silver eyes. "Hey sis..."
It was all she could get out before she dissolved into tears, crushing her little sister in a fierce hug.
Beside them, Blake heaved a sigh of relief, half-smiling as she placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "How do you feel?"
Ruby almost couldn't speak under the sheer pressure of Yang's embrace. She squeaked out, "... is Pyrrha okay...?"
Somehow the deflection didn't quite work as well as usual. That dream had been worse and more confusing than the others, and her eyes went blurry again. Her hands found her sister's sleeve and gripped like her life depended on it.
A few yards off, Weiss was shoving Sage away, only to have her knees buckle under her. She scrubbed her eyes as the burning sensation faded, and she tried and failed to get up.
"Hey, kid- Weiss," a hand on her shoulder to stop her. It was Qrow, kneeling beside her. "Take it easy."
The heiress bristled but relented, sitting back on the ground for a minute to get her bearings.
"She's okay?" when she spoke it came out shaky, and she shrugged Qrow's hand off more out of principle than anything else.
"Yeah, well, she's awake, at least," he got to his feet. "You did good."
Blake stepped back from Ruby and Yang to give them space, stealing a quick glance at the vending machine. Unsurprisingly, Neo was nowhere to be found. She tried not to think about Drei as she passed the disintegrating Beowolf on her way to check on Weiss, ignoring its ashes slowly rising into the overcast sky.
Taking Blake's lead Neptune quietly pulled at Sage's arm, motioning for them to start cleaning up. Sheathing his sword, Yatsuhashi joined them.
Standing beside Jaune's cot in the ruins of the medical tent, Pyrrha watched from afar as the three boys started to clean up the mess she had created. Her hand clenched in Jaune's shirt. She hadn't helped at all. Thankfully things seemed to have turned out fine but... all she'd done was make things worse. That seemed to be all she knew how to do now. Pushing her bitter thoughts aside, Pyrrha focused, calling upon her polarity once more. Metal lazily flew from the surrounding area and coalesced in a pile before her. If she was going to make a mess of things... the least she could do was clean up after herself.
Weiss meanwhile fixed her posture and fussed with her hair in an attempt to appear dignified despite sitting exhausted on the bare ground. Yang was crying and she couldn't tell about Ruby. She gave Blake a look, "Please tell me I didn't go through all that only for Yang to suffocate her."
With a weary, amused shake of her head, Blake took at seat beside Weiss. She'd seen Ruby like this before, in the dead of night back at Beacon - that same haunted glint of silver after waking from horrific nightmares Blake never would have expected from such a positive soul.
Fortunately, Yang was never far... though, the unbidden thought that Ruby may have suffered nightmares like that during the weeks she'd forced the sisters apart steamrolled Blake with a fresh wave of guilt. She took a deep breath. Ruby had already forgiven her. The team was together now. Ruby's soul was together now. They were going to be fine.
As if speaking it aloud would somehow force her assertion to remain true, Blake returned Weiss's look with a half-smile and stated with full certainty, "They're going to be fine."
A/N: Yeah! We got Ruby out of there! With almost zero casualties, even. (RIP, Drei.)
SO this marks the week we'll be gone for a while. Keep an eye on your inboxes- we'll update in a big chunk when we get to another okay breaking point.
In the meantime, keep being awesome!
- Fiercesomest