/ | \

\ | /

Scene 13

Emerald Victory.

A/n:

This is not a new scene.

I just had to take it out and put it back in.

Calm down, don't panic.

Also, I'm testing to see what happens if I rate this story as T instead of M.


Goodwitch pov

Well, that's done I thought as I finished sending the emergency alert to the staff.

I turned to Ozpin to see how he was doing on his end.

It seemed he was just finishing up as well, as he put his scroll away. That being said, the frown on his face wasn't comforting.

"It's done, the Bullheads are being scrambled and as many Teachers as we can spare are heading there right now." I reported to him.

He nodded, acknowledging it.

"And you?" I asked hesitantly.

He sighed, looking exhausted once more.

"Well, there's good news and bad news." He began.

I raised an eyebrow questioningly at that.

"The good news, is that the V.A.F. will be providing air support for us, even a number of Bullheads." He stated.

"And the bad news." I asked, narrowing my eyes at him

He sighed again, taking a sip of his coffee to stall.

"On those Bullheads will be several squads of soldiers…along with… a squad of Watchmen." He answered.

Just the mention of those Watchmen caused me to bristle with anger.

"Those murderers are coming here?" I questioned icily, gritting my teeth and my grip on my scroll tightening enough to cause it to groan under the strain.

"Yes…yes they are." Ozpin answered regretfully.

"Tell them no." I coldly told him.

"I can't, it was one of the requirements. If they're going to be sending any support, then they want Watchmen here too." He answered sympathetically.

"Well then, I guess we won't be getting their support." I said stubbornly

"Glynda." He said, giving me a disapproving look.

"I don't want those murderers anywhere near these children!" I yelled at him.

"Calm down, I understand how you feel, I do, but we need them." He said, trying to placate me.

"No, we don't, we can do this by ourselves." I said stubbornly.

If he thinks I'll allow those killers anywhere near this academy…

"No, we can't. If we want to get as many of those kids out of here as possible, then we need them." Ozpin began to explain.

"More importantly, as much as we may dislike the Watchmen, they are effective. We could use their help to fend off the Grimm and save students." He continued, pleading his case to me.

"Yes, because we really need manslayers protecting the children." I retorted.

"If it helps, then yes." He answered seriously.

"They were created to kill us." I seethed.

"They were created to keep us in check. After the StarFall incident, you can hardly blame their creation." He argued.

I huffed, realizing that he had a point. It still felt like a betrayal, however, that after all we've done for them, the kingdoms decided to make hunter-killing units.

"Besides, they aren't, strictly speaking, murderers. They simply enforce the law when no-one else can." He explained.

"So do we, and we seem to be able to bring people in alive. Besides, we don't need them to police ourselves. We can do it just fine." I argued back.

"I feel the same, but after StarFall, the people disagree." He answered back, sympathizing with me.

He sighed, rubbing his eyes.

"Regardless, the Watchmen are effective, and they are here to protect and serve, not simply enforce. We can trust them to protect our students." He explained.

Realizing he had a point, I let out an angry breath. I closed my eyes as I tried to push out all that anger that came with thinking about the Watchmen, and instead thought about saving the students.

Still…

"You do realize this is just a thinly veiled attempt for them to spy on the school, as well as what the next generation of huntsmen are capable of?" I questioned.

He sighed again, realizing that no matter what I did, I would always hold hostility regarding the Watchmen.

"Yes, I do. But, I'd rather them have students to spy on, then turn the Emerald Forest into a graveyard of children." He answered tiredly, but with conviction.

"Fine." I said through grit teeth. "But I don't have to like it."

"I doubt anyone here does. They wanted to send three squads, after all." He added with a smirk

At that comment I had to give him a small smile. When he wanted to, Ozpin could be quite cunning. The fact that he managed to negotiate with the Vale armed forces command such that they dropped two squads is a testament to that.

That being said, the rest of the time he could be very lazy and laid back, much to my chagrin.

Then I noticed something move out of the corner of my eye.

Directing my attention back to forest once more, I searched for what it was. However, in the darkness brought about by the dark storm clouds, it was difficult to see anything. Then, a flash of lightning in the forest highlighted something in the dark. Something very bad.

And it was headed for the evacuation zone.

My eyes widened horror as I realized what it was.

"Ozpin, how soon will the V.A.F. be here?" I asked, hoping beyond hope they would be here in time.

"In about 23 minutes, why?" He asked cautiously.

"Shit." I cursed under my breath.

That got his attention.

"What is it?" He asked warily, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. He knew that I never cursed unless he either did something wrong, or something very, very, bad had happened.

"The Beacon staff won't be there for another 15 minutes at the least." I muttered under my breath, considering my options.

There's no one in the area that could help, not in time. I thought, looking at all the angles except…me

And with that thought, my decision was made. I turned back to Ozpin to relay it to him.

"I'm sorry, professor, but I must take my leave." I said to him, my resolve ironclad.

"You're going to secure the Evac zone all by yourself?" He asked rhetorically

"If I have to." I answered.

He sighed, realizing he couldn't stop me.

"Well, I'd love to join you, but…" He trailed off, looking at me with a regretful smile.

"I know, and I understand sir." I replied

"Just, try not to die, okay? I'd rather not have to go through the paperwork." He teased with a smile.

As much as I wanted to scowl at him for it, I couldn't help but admire at the ability for him to still crack jokes at a time like this.

"Now I'm tempted, you'd actually have to do work." I retorted quietly as I turned to leave.

"That's what I keep Bartholomew around for!" He shouted back as I ran along the cliffs toward the LZ.

And at that, I couldn't help the smile that graced my face.

I just hope I make it in time.


Weiss pov

Finally I thought as the last Beowolf fell before me, bleeding from a hole in its chest.

We had finally reached the clearing where the evacuation zone was supposed to be after fighting our way through a small horde of Grimm.

This definitely feels like the nightmare all over again. I thought with a frown. And that didn't end well

"Where the hell is everybody?" Yang asked boisterously.

Well, I suppose there is one big difference. I'm not alone now. I thought with a small smile.

"I think they might have started preparing for the safe zone when we got our relics. They're probably on their way." Ren answered.

"So what, we got here early?" she asked back.

"Weiss's tactic was actually surprisingly effective. I'm willing to bet that most other initiates are being bogged down by the horde of Grimm in the forest." He answered

I bristled at his "actually surprisingly effective" comment.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, glaring at him with all the ire I could muster.

Sadly, it had almost no effect on his stoic face.

"I meant no disrespect, I simply meant that your plan worked better than we had hoped." He said, raising a hand up to placate me.

I huffed, but accepted it. Ren didn't seem to be the one to be hostile or passive aggressive.

Unless he's really subtle about it I thought suspiciously.

Shaking my head to get my more mistrustful thoughts out of my head, I looked around the clearing.

It was roughly a semicircle, and was about 400 yds from the tree line to the cliff side at the farthest, and about 500 yds wide. The clearing was mostly flat, but there were a couple small hills here and there. On the cliff face were several rocky ledges jutting out from the wall. They were somewhat far apart, but I wouldn't exactly say they were completely out of reach.

All in all, it was a pretty good evac zone, I just hoped that they would get here before anything bad happened.

SCCCRRRREEEECCCCCHHHHH!

The deafening cry of a Grimm incinerated those hopes before they truly got off the ground. The blast of sound forced us to flinch and cover our ears, it was so loud, sharp, and painful to listen to.

It I looked up to see where it was coming from and to my horror found myself staring at a giant Nevermore. It was hovering over the forest, just above the treeline, flapping its obsidian, clawed, wings for lift. Each flap sent a massive gust of wind at us.

Most birds would probably have difficulties navigating in a storm, largely due to the large gusts of wind. This Nevermore, however, was the size of a house. With its enormous mass, each blast of wind probably felt no worse than someone blowing on it.

In fact, the second it appeared the wind grew even fiercer. It howled loudly as it blasted my hair around, dampening any and all sound. And despite this, it still hovered there, ignoring the roaring winds.

It looked at me with those four glowing red eyes filled with hunger and hate. It felt like it was peering into my very soul, judging my worth. It saw me not as Weiss Schnee, a huntress in training, or even the heiress to the Schnee Dust Corporation, instead it saw me as no more than a meal, as food.

That's all I was to it.

It was…humbling…to be in its presence. Unlike the other, lesser, Grimm, this thing wasn't just a stupid little angry beast. This bird was ancient, if its size was anything to go by, and it had both seen and slain many humans before me, perhaps even other hunters.

Unlike the other Grimm, this creature was superior to me. I couldn't hope to kill it on my own, not right now.

Knowing that, I couldn't help but allow despair to fill my soul.

It is just like the nightmare. This is where I end. I thought in horror as I stared at the massive black beast.

"AHHH!" A voice cried out in rage

It was matched with a shining streak of golden light flying through the air and smashing into the Nevermore's face with a BANG!

The giant Nevermore shrugged off the hit like it didn't even happen, caring about it less than one would care about being hit by a pebble, but it served another purpose. That battle cry, that blast of explosive fire shocked me out of horrified stupor. It made me remember where I was, what I was doing, and most importantly, who I was.

That's right. I am Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust company, and I am not the food of some fucking trumped up piece of shit raven! I thought defiantly.

This wasn't a dream, or a nightmare, this was reality.

I was correct earlier, I couldn't hope to take this beast down myself. But, I wasn't alone. I had three other capable, if odd, fighters with me. Each one had proven themselves in their own way to me.

I didn't know too much about any of them, but I had seen them fight on the way here. I knew a little about their fighting styles, and that's all I really needed to get the ball rolling. Now that I was myself again, my mind raced as I thought of ways to take the black bird down.

While I thought, I looked around.

Yang had a face of enraged fury as she throw round after round of explosive slugs at the Giant Nevermore. The Nevermore, in return, simply looked at her like one would look at a particularly loud and annoying toddler. Finally, in a stroke of luck, one round got it in the eye.

SCREECH!

It howled in rage at the injury dealt to it.

Eyes are a weakness, noted I thought, taking account of any advantages we could use to get the edge over this massive beast.

The Giant Nevermore directed its attention to the one who dared to injure it before releasing another screech of anger. It then flapped its wings with more force and fury than before. It sent dozens of obsidian feathers spearing toward Yang.

Most missed, instead littering the ground with man-sized black feathers. One, however, was right on target, and flew straight and true towards her. In response Yang simply backhanded it angrily away from her, before reloading.

"Yang!" I called out to her, having to yell over the loud, howling, wind that had developed.

"What!" She angrily called back, irritated at being interrupted.

"I have a job for you!" I began.

"I'm a little busy!" She snapped back.

"I want you to distract that!" I directed, gesturing to the giant Nevermore.

"What!" She asked, not hearing me.

I grit my teeth, hating having to repeat myself because of this Goddamn storm.

"PISS OFF THE GIANT FUCKING BIRD!" I shouted at her

She paused for a second at my outburst, before grinning at my request.

"Can do princess!" She replied with an eager grin.

I resisted the urge to snap at her for calling me "princess". Right now I had other priorities other than getting into a shouting contest. As I began to turn away from her I saw her running around the field, shooting round after round of her explosive slugs at the flying Grimm. The giant Nevermore, in response, angrily flew after her, occasionally shooting its obsidian feathers at her.

I turned to my left, where Nora and Ren were standing.

Ren was talking to Nora, who seemed to be just as eager as Yang to run in and shoot the Nevermore, regardless of how effective it would be. I walked up to them, trying to get them involved in my plan on how to figure how to take this beast down.

I needed Yang to buy us time to come up with this plan. I was confident in her ability to not die. I had no faith in her being able to take it out by herself, but that wasn't the point. I just needed her to keep it away from us, to give us space, time, and peace to work this out.

"Ren." I shouted over the winds, getting his attention.

He turned to me with a question on his face.

"Yes?"

"Do you have any ideas for taking down the Nevermore?" I asked

"Explosions!" Nora yelled her suggestion.

I just looked at her oddly.

Does she even fucking see what Yang's doing? I thought questioningly

While, yes, Nora's grenades did hit noticeably harder than Yang's explosive slugs, I highly doubted it would be enough to take the Nevermore down. It might be enough to hurt it slightly, but I doubted that she still had enough ammunition to take it down.

Even worse, the slower moving rounds would be more affected by the roaring winds, causing her shots to fly far off course. She might be good enough with her weapon to be able to correct for that, but I doubted it. Not in these winds.

"Any other plans." I asked, shooting down her idea.

Nora, in response, pouted.

"Well, I think its hide is too thick for any of our weapons to get through. At least, at range. Nora doesn't have any of her HEAP rounds on her, and I don't know if Yang has anything armor piercing." Ren commented, talking over the winds.

I nodded in agreement. Myrtenaster didn't have anything that could pierce its armor at range either, and nothing I did with my glyphs or Dust would really be able to hit it while it was flying around in these fierce winds. And so that was the problem. Everything we had that could touch it wasn't able to hurt it enough to kill it or take it down. Anything we had that could do that, couldn't reach it.

So, we need a way to bring that fucker down to our level. I thought.

"Ren, do you have any way to bring it down? To ground the Nevermore?" I asked, hoping that he did, because I sure didn't.

At that Ren frowned, narrowing his eyes. He seemed to mull something over, to consider something. Finally, he sighed.

"No, but Nora does." He said, turning to his friend.

Nora, in response, was bouncing on her feet in anticipation of what her friend was about to say. "Ren, does this mean I get to do the thing?!" She said excitedly.

He glanced at me for confirmation.

"Do you need her for anything?" He asked

I thought about it for a second, trying to think of any possible plan that would require Nora that would be better than her just taking it down herself.

"…No, not that I can think of." I responded finally, shaking my head.

He sighed again, resigning himself to the course he set his friend down.

"Well then Nora, you can do the thing." He allowed.

Nora's eyes lit up with exuberance, "Really?!"

"Go ahead." He nodded

"Thankyou!" She squealed, hugging him tightly, if briefly, before speeding off to the cliff.

When she reached the cliff she started to jump up the ledges, climbing up them with the aid of her explosive hammer, using the recoil as a boost along with aura-enhanced jumping.

"…What was that about? What's she going to do?" I asked, turning to Ren for answers

He sighed again, before answering.

"Bring the Hammer." He answered cryptically.

I just stared at him quizzically for a couple seconds, wondering, What the hell does that mean?

I shook my head, instead focusing on what we needed to know and do in order to kill the Nevermore, as opposed to the oddities surrounding the girl with an affinity for light violet.

"Regardless, when will she be able to ground the Nevermore?" I asked, "We need to time this right."

I had a feeling that if we didn't, the Nevermore would simply get up and fly away. Even worse, it might not fall for the same trick twice.

Unfortunately he shrugged.

"I don't really know when she'll be ready, but it'll be very obvious when she is." He answered.

I sighed loudly, "I suppose that's the best we'll get, isn't it?" I remarked.

He just gave me a small sympathizing smile while he nodded.

Shaking my head at this, I refocused again.

"So, what are we going to do when she brings it down?" I asked, trying to brainstorm a plan for how to permanently ground the Nevermore.


Yang pov

"WHY WON'T YOU DIE!" I roared at the giant flying Grimm.

I had been fighting it for who knows how long, I had certainly lost track of time. The entire time it was a sort of stalemate. It couldn't hit or kill me with its razor-sharp feathers, and I was in a similar position with my Ember Celica. Despite how big it was, it was flying around surprisingly fast. Even worse, the roaring winds kept throwing my shots off.

It was relatively easy when it was just hovering, but now it was almost impossible to hit the damn thing anywhere important. Even worse, my explosive slugs didn't even make a dent in its jet-black hide. The only time it actually hurt it was when I got the lucky shot in the eye. Everything else just seemed to piss it off.

I was fine with that for a while, but now I was starting to get seriously frustrated.

"COME DOWN HERE AND FIGHT ME LIKE A MAN YA DAMN FLYING CHICKEN!" I roared at it again.

Still, Weiss told me to piss it off, so that's what I was doing. Hopefully her and captain stoic could figure out some way to take this giant fucking bird down.

I'm surprised that Nora's not here shooting it with me I thought with a tinge of disappointment.

Logically speaking, in these winds, she probably wouldn't do any real good. Still, at least she would liven things up with those big pink explosions.

Boom!

No sooner had I said that than did one of those large, pink, explosions detonate right in the Nevermore's face.

Screech!

It roared in rage. It banked away from its pursuit of me to search for the mortal who dared to challenge. I joined it, wondering what the hell took Nora so long. We didn't have to look long.

"HEY BIRDY!" She called out to it, getting its attention

Nora was standing on top of the cliff, staring down at us with a manic grin. A flash of lightning behind her went off, highlighting her silhouette.

"Why the hell is she up there?" I said to myself.

The giant Nevermore, on the other hand, didn't bother wondering why. Instead, it arced away from her, before banking back toward the cliff, but this time with a sizable lead.

Screech! It challenged in a deafening cry as it charged straight at her.

I looked back at Nora suspiciously, wondering if she had a plan going here.

Bathoom! The thunder from the storm echoed, setting the atmosphere for the clash.

Nora only grinned wider at the Nevermore's challenge, she only seemed to be energized by the storm raging around her. She then shifted her weapon back into hammer form, before raising the silver Maul high into the air, as if beckoning something to come forth.

And the sky answered her call with a deafening, roaring, piercing,

CRACK!

The blast of thunder was so severe it rumbled my bones, vibrating every part of my body with its fury. The brilliant light from the flash of lightning burned my eyes, it was so bright. I flinched, no, cowered in its power and fury. But, for the instant I could see through the blinding light, I could see something incredible.

A blinding flash of lightning streaked down from the sky, arcing, twisting, and stuttering straight down to her. Like a finger from heaven, it touched her hammer, and imbued her with its blessing.

And blessed she was.

She stood tall from the lightning strike, not even the slightest bit thrown off balance from the blast. If anything she seemed…brighter, more energized. Even from this distance power just seemed to roll off her. She smiled even more brilliantly than ever before as the mania radiated from her form violently.

Before, Nora seemed happy, if random. She was slightly crazy, but energetic and wild, doing whatever she felt like whenever she felt like, even if it didn't conform with what was considered "normal". She kind of seemed like a livewire, like a bolt of electricity. But now?

Now she was the force and fury of lightning given form. She was the wrath of the sky in a human body.

The Nevermore, however, didn't seem to either notice or care about it, though. Instead it continued to charge on, heading straight for the recently christened demigod. Nora, in response, backed away from the cliff a bit, disappearing over the lip.

Then she ran and leaped off the edge with tremendous force. The sheer power she put into her jump caused the edge of the cliff to loudly CRACK and crater in response. It was so strong chunks of the cliff face actually broke off and fell to the ground, hitting it and breaking up with loud CRASH's.

And Nora?

She soared. She flew high up into the air, far above the Nevermore. As she reached the top of her arc she reared giant silver hammer back and roared, "IT'S HAMMER TIME!"

And with that, gravity took hold of her form once more as she descended back to the earth. But she wasn't coming alone.

The Nevermore, the stupid Grimm that it was, wasn't even able to comprehend what was happening to it, let alone respond. Never in its life had such a thing happened. Never had a mere human dared to challenge it in the skies without the aid of one of their metal machines. So stunned by the existence that was Nora, it was helpless to do more than stare at her.

She slammed into the giant Nevermore, swinging her hammer down at its face. It hit the Grimm like the Fist of God, smashing down so hard that it created an explosive shockwave with a loud

BOOM!

And with the Fist of God, Nora smacked the flying Grimm back down to earth. It was sent hurtling down like a falling star, before it slammed into the ground with another loud, explosive,

BOOM!

The blast from impact kicked up a giant dust cloud high into the air and sent another shockwave at us.

When the dust finally cleared the Nevermore was laying awkwardly in a large crater in the ground, caked with dust and covered in loose dirt.

Is…is it dead? I wondered.

Then it opened three of its bright, glowing red eyes, which seemed to be filled with more fury and rage than before. It began to stir, shaking off some of the dirt from its back.

I guess that answers that question.

"NOW!" Weiss cried out loudly from my right.

No sooner had she said that than did she fly forward with the assistance of her glyphs. Before the Nevermore could react, she reached its left wing, which was still on the ground. She raised her rapier high into the air, before stabbing down with all the force the white haired girl could muster, along with a glyph or two.

The second it speared through the Nevermore's thick, obsidian, feathered, wing, it erupted in ice. A giant wall of ice spikes shot up from the Nevermore's wing, in some places erupting out of the Nevermore's wing in a small POP of blood, feathers, and gore.

And with that, the Nevermore's left wing was pinned to the ground by a beautiful wall of spikes of pale blue and crimson, glimmering in the light.

SCREEECH! The giant Nevermore roared in agony as its wing was violently torn apart and nailed to the ground with spikes of ice.

Then I saw a flash of emerald out of the corner of my eye to my left. Turning toward it I saw Ren running forward towards the Nevermore as well.

While the Nevermore was feebly trying to rip its tortured wing from the frosty nails holding it down, Ren climbed the other side of it with acrobatic skill I didn't know he had. In just a moment he was on top of the black bird, and it was his turn to do some damage.

Whipping out his machine pistol blades, he stabbed them into the shoulder of the Nevermore, eliciting another SCREECH of pain. And then, with an almighty pull, he tore a giant gash in the shoulder of the bird, ripping a hole in its thick, obsidian hide.

The Nevermore started violently bucking, trying to knock him off, doing whatever it could to survive. Ren, in response, stabbed one of his machine blades back into the shoulder of the Grimm, using it as an anchor.

With the other machine pistol, he stuck it into the giant gash in the bird's shoulder, and fired into the muscle, bone, and tendon holding it's wing to its body. With each POP another small explosion of blood flew out from its shoulder, and its wing twitched violently.

The whole time the Nevermore is screeching in agony as its slowly torn apart, piece by piece.

Finally, its right wing goes limp, falling to the ground. Now it was simply held in place by the skin and remaining muscle. It would never be able to use it again.

His work done, Ren jumped off the obsidian beast and landed on the ground in a crouch. His emerald clothes were stained with blood spatter from the Grimm, but he didn't seem to mind.

Instead, he looked to me.

"YANG!" Weiss called out to me over the agonizing screeches of the dying Grimm, the sound of thunder in the distance, and the roaring wind.

I turned to her with a bewildered and questioning look. In just a handful of seconds, these three had turned a once fearsome, ancient, and deadly Grimm into a beaten and broken shell of its once majestic form.

"FINISH IT!" She said to me.

And with those two words, a savage grin grew on my face.

That, I can do.

Reloading my gauntlets, I slammed them together as I flared my Aura again, wreathing me in my golden flames.

Without wasting another word, I surged forward to the white masked face of the Nevermore.

One wing had been torn apart at the shoulder, the other was pinned to the ground by a series of icy nails. The Grimm's mask was already cracked and one eye broken and bleeding from when it was smacked out of the sky.

And I was going to finish the job.

When I reached its face, I lead in with a punch thrown forward with my whole body behind it, eliciting another large CRACK!

It head was thrown back violently, but the mask held. It screeched again in pain, but was helpless to do anything about it. When its head snapped back down to my reach, I jumped on top of its head, using one hand to grab onto the white spike coming out of the back of its head for support.

Now that I was stabilized, I was free to let loose, and let loose I did.

Bang! CRACK!

Bang! CRACK!

Bang! CRACK!

Each punch was thrown forward with all the force I could muster, and punctuated by the Bang! From my Ember Celica triggering in its face, and the CRACK! As its mask began to loudly fall apart from my onslaught.

The whole time the Grimm cried out, in either rage, agony, or terror. It tried with all its might to throw me off, to get me away from it, to save itself, but it did it no good. I just held on tighter and punched harder.

It cries of agony were like music to my ears, fueling the fire in my soul.

Finally, with one last almighty CRACK! I punched through shattered its mask.

Before it even had time to blink I released its spike, jumped up in the air, and slammed back down, fist first. My fist punched through its thick, obsidian, hide, but was stopped by its thick skull. Didn't matter, that was the plan after all.

Now, with a fist wrist deep into its face, it was really panicking. As it thrashed its head in agony, I triggered my gauntlets, unloading round after round of explosive slugs inside its head. Each shot was punctuated with a subdued pop as the pressure inside its face was increased. It gave one last pained SCREECH! before the pressure was finally released.

BOOM!

Finally, its head exploded, sending me flying off the Grimm covered in crimson, wet, gore. I landed several yards away on my back, staring into the sky with a satisfied grin on my face.

After basking in the glory of my kill for a second, I used my legs to flip myself back up.

Were there once stood a mighty, majestic, deadly Grimm, now lay a tortured and disassembled creature. It's face had exploded under the pressure of my exploding slugs, leaving a partial skull covered in blood, muscle, and gore.

It would evaporate soon enough, but for now the dead beast lay dead in the crater. As I beamed at my handiwork, Weiss walked up to me.

She cleared her throat to get my attention.

"What is it princess?" I asked, turning to her with a beaming smile on my face.

"I would just like to say…good work." She began to thank me.

"Thanks to you keeping it distracted we were able to come up with a plan. Without you, we wouldn't have been able to do this. Also…good work on finishing it off." She finished with an extended hand, looking somewhat uncomfortable but pushing past.

Wow, the ice princess is actually thanking me…

I must take advantage of this I thought, my smile getting even brighter, but now tinged with mischief.

Abusing her offered hand, I pulled her in for a tight hug, one she was not prepared for.

"Come on now, princess, don't be like that!" I cheerfully spoke to her, still high on the thrill of victory.

"Stop it you stupid blond oaf!" She cried out indignantly, blushing fiercely.

"Oh, but Princess, we just killed a giant monster bird together! We deserve a team hug for our first major victory!" I giggle in response.

"Stop it! You're getting blood all over my dress!" She complained.

"I'm just sharing our soaring success!" I chirped back.

"Now you're getting your stupid on me!" She fumed.

"All according to plan!" I replied

"Yang." Came a calm, flat voice from behind me.

My mind came to an abrupt and total halt with that one word. The flat, placid, way he said reminded me of my missing sister. If it wasn't for his baritone voice, I would have thought it was her.

As it was, the reminder was still enough to shock me out of my euphoria. Still, I was able to hold onto my façade enough to calmly release Weiss, instead of freaking out completely

"Sorry Ren, I guess I just got caught up in the victory." I apologized with a guilty smile, trying hide the fact my mind was brutally criticizing me for daring to feel happy while my sister suffered.

How dare you forget her? That little voice in the back of my mind said, judging me.

And it was right. Once again, even if it was only for a second, I completely forgot about her. She's probably out there, cold, scared, and alone, and here I am, at school, having fun with my new friends.

I guess I am scum I thought guiltily

But, I'd never let them see that side of me. The side that regrets everything I've done, and only wants to see her lost baby sister come home safe. To see her smile that old, sweet, smile one more time.

"How do you do that?" Weiss asked, still blushing from the unwanted contact and trying to wipe the Grimm's remains off her.

Ren just shrugged helplessly in response, unable to give an answer.

A few seconds ago, I might have actually been able to get some joy out of that exchange. As it was I had to give a hollow, fake, chuckle.

Fortunately I had lots of practice with my façade.

"Well, I bet it's cause of all the practice he gets with Nora, isn't that right lady-killer?" I asked, keeping up the teasing act.

Ren, in return, just stared at me with a raised brow. All he need was to tilt his damn head, and he'd be spitting image of my twisted sister. Another reminder of my failings.

In an attempt to seek sweet relief from my guilt, I looked to Nora, hoping to find a blush, a pout, anything.

Instead, I saw her staring at the skies behind us, looking at the dark clouds quizzically.

Then she pulled out her silver hammer, grinned manically, and cried, "BIRDIES!"

I turned to see what she was talking about…

And was horrified by what I saw.

SCREECH!

SCREECH!

SCREE-SCREECH!

There, hovering in the sky, was a whole flock of the damned birds. They looked smaller than the giant one we had just killed, but there was at least seven of the fucking things.

If one took all four of us working together to kill, how could we hope to take out seven of them? Even if they were smaller, it wasn't by much. Even worse, their obsidian bodies were hard to see against the darkened skies, the winds had picked up even more, and it was beginning to hail on us.

The tiny balls of ice fell, about the size of a marble each. With our Aura, they weren't enough to hurt, but they were annoying, and combined with everything else it would be enough to severely hamper our ability to fight back.

The only thing in our favor was the fact it looked like they were having a difficult time staying still in the air. It seemed that with the rising winds, it became more difficult for them to control themselves. If they were normal birds, that would have been enough to deter them.

But they weren't normal birds, they were Grimm, and Grimm were driven by hate and hunger. Young ones held no care for their own safety, they were only driven by their base desires with no sense of survival instinct. They didn't care if they died, so long as they got the chance to kill us, to eat us.

Such was the existence of the Grimm.

And that lack of a survival instinct was one thing that made them so terrible. They felt no fear, they couldn't be scared away. You had to kill them to the last in order to win, making every fight long and dragged out. It meant that you couldn't ward them away with simple show of force, you had to keep killing them, over and over.

And it meant in the middle of a terrible storm that would tear them apart out in the open, they would rather come out to try and kill us than go hide in safety. It meant that after seeing the largest of their own taken down, they didn't even falter, instead it only whet their appetite.

"Princess, any ideas?" I asked, reloading my gauntlets one last time. I had no more ammunition left, this was it.

Weiss glanced at me, "Just…they're smaller than the giant one, so they're probably weaker too. They might be vulnerable to your explosives."

She was trying to hide it, but she was scared. I couldn't really blame her, though. Why wouldn't she be?

"I only have one clip left, and I can't promise how good my aim will be in this storm." I answered with a grim look.

"That's…a problem." She grimaced.

"Nora?" She asked, turning to the orange haired girl in question.

"Sorry, I'm out." She replied with a guilty smile

"Great." Ren sighed, holding up his machine pistol blades. "I only have two magazines left for my Stormflowers."

"Well, I guess we can all die together then!" I said with false cheer, using a bit of gallows humor.

Weiss in response just grit her teeth, and tried to push past the fear to find a solution.

Meanwhile, the Nevermores just looked at us hungrily, before one decided to start the party. It flew toward us, squawking loudly at us.

Then, out of nowhere, something flew overhead us and speared the Grimm in the chest. It looked like a large spear made of ice. I glanced at Weiss, wondering if she did it, but she looked just as stunned as I did.

As the impaled Nevermore screeched loudly in pain and surprise, it began to fall to its death, blood pouring from the wound, its wingbeats getting slower and weaker with each beat. As the others squawked in surprise they began to spread out.

Not that it did them any good.

One got speared with another lance of ice, and another got shards of ice shot into its eyes, blinding it. Soon enough both crashed into the ground, one from death, the other from pain. The blinded one, still screeching loudly in agony, was soon silenced as a large mass of ice balls swarmed its head before crushing it with a wet, bloody, crunchy, POP.

Yet another one got hit with a storm of the ice balls, each one flying fast enough to tear it apart, as if each was a bullet from a machine gun. Finally I turned around to see what, or who, it was that saved us, as did the others.

And to our surprise, we saw Ms. Goodwitch standing on the edge of the cliff, using her riding crop like a conductor's baton, commanding an army of hail to her will.

Each stroke of her crop sent a new variety of icy death towards the Grimm, and each one died a bloody death, screeching all the way to a crimson oblivion.

When it was done, all the hail she used simply fell to the ground. She let out a brief breath of either relief or exhaustion, before jumping down the cliff. She landed from the 40 ft drop like it was little more than step, with that elegance and grace she always exuded.

She walked up to us, her eyes constantly darting left in right. She both took in our forms and various states, while she also kept a lookout for incoming Grimm. Finally, she reached our awestruck forms.

"I'm glad to see you are all in one piece." She said, relief evident in her voice.

"Ms. Goodwitch, what are you doing here?" Weiss asked, the first one to break out of her awestruck stupor.

In response, Ms. Goodwitch frowned, "Did you think I would leave you children to fight for your lives? That I would simply watch as you fought and died?" She asked, almost insulted

"Er, no, it's just…" Weiss trailed off, not knowing what to say.

"She's just surprised to see you here." Ren said, saving her.

Ms. Goodwitch took a moment to readjust her glasses and brush her golden hair out of her eyes.

"I suppose that's understandable. Regardless, I spotted this flock of Nevermore coming from the cliff, and I couldn't just stand by and watch you get torn apart by the beasts." She responded.

"Still…I must commend you on your work taking down the leader of the flock, it was quite the accomplishment for a team of freshmen such as yourselves." She congratulated, her face softening ever so slightly.

"Yea, we're not garbage." I cheered without any real feeling behind it.

In response, she glared lightly at me, which quickly shut me up.

"In any case, the Bullhead should be here in a few minutes. Until then, we need to hold this position." She explained.

"W-where's Professor Ozpin?" Weiss said, slightly nervous under the gaze of her headmistress.

"He is…" She began before sighing.

"Unfortunately he had to head back to the school. Right now every teacher is on their way here, leaving the school mostly unattended. Professor Ozpin is going back to ensure the safety and order of the students there." She said tiredly.

"Every teacher?" Weiss questioned, speechless.

"All the able-bodied one, yes. In fact Professor Ozpin actually enlisted the aid of the V.A.F. to assist us in evacuating students." She explained

Then, for an instant, she seemed to tighten up about something, before releasing a breath, and relaxing once more.

"Once the Bullheads get here, I want you four on the first one out." She ordered.

"But!" I began to protest, wanting to say we could still fight.

I didn't want to run away when we could still help out.

"No, you are still children, not technically even students yet. You are tired and running low on ammunition and Aura. You will be on the first Bullhead out of here, and that is final." She commanded sternly, glowering at us.

Pushed into submission by her steely gaze, all we could say in response was, "Yes ma'am."

"Good, I don't want to see any of you hurt because you tried to play hero. Leave this to the teachers, it's our job after all." She said, her gaze softening.

We nodded numbly in response, unable to truly argue with her.

"Now then, I believe we have company." She said, directing her gaze behind us.

As we turned we were met with the sight of several Beowolves, Ursai, and Boarbatusks gazing at us hungrily.

"Well then, why don't we give them a warm welcome." I said as I let my blazing Aura flare again.

"You're going to make me dumber just by being around me, I know it." Weiss retorted with a frown as she got into a fencing stance.

"You know you love me." I responded cheekily with a grin, a comment that earned me a glare from the heiress.

"I love you!" Nora screamed with a manic grin

"Thanks!" I answered with a grin.

This time it earned me a dark scowl from Nora.

"Not you." She seethed at me before turning to her hammer, "Magnhild!" she cried, rubbing it against her face.

"I…what?" I remarked, trying to process this.

"Just don't." Ren answered, readying his machine pistol blades

"It's hard not to." I responded, my face scrunched in confusion.

"Children." Ms. Goodwitch chastised us.

"Sorry." We all muttered, though it was more of a formality than anything else.

And with that word, the Grimm charged us, rushing us with that hunger filled suicidal fury only the Grimm possess.

Still, as we prepared to meet them, I couldn't help but think one, traitorous, selfish, thought.

Hopefully, for one moment, I can forget again.


A/n:

I hope you can see why I split this shit up now. These past two chapters combined make about 14k words, not including A/n's

That's too damn much for one chapter

And I still have two more before it ends.

Also, this is once again a kind of first drafty kind of version. If you have any complaints or legit concerns you want to raise about this chapter, please do, I'm not sure if its very good right now.

That said, I have been waiting to throw this scene out for a long ass time.

Ever since I saw what Nora's semblance was in Volume 3 I couldn't wait to write supercharged Nora bitch smacking a Nevermore into the ground.

But yeah, that's team WYVR's fight.

Next time, team ANBL gets there's

Also, we got to see Ms. Goodwitch fight a bit

Don't often see that.

Also, I'm really trying to convey that during this whole time there's super intense and awesome storm going on. Am I conveying that? I'd really like to know.

Also, do you think this story is worth a M rating so far? Because, frankly, I realized that except for gore, its actually not that bad.

In addition, said gore is exclusive to Grimm, so its not as bad.

I thought I'd have, like, four times as much cursing in here.

And as for sex...yeah...that's probably not happening anytime soon.

At the very least it's not in the outline I have right now.

But who knows?

Maybe Nora'll surprise me and rape someone.

I don't know.

But yeah, Scene 15: The Red Girl Dies is coming in soon, don't worry.

Then there's scene 16 to wrap up the whole Emerald Forest Arc, and I can finish Act I and move on to Act II.

See you soon.