Author's Note: An OC briefly appears in this chapter. Don't worry, he doesn't stick around long. Just needed him to make a point and move the plot along.
Chapter 8
Taiyang woke late in the morning. Even with all his anxiety he had had no trouble sleeping. He had never experienced such luxury and comfort. He was amazed the any Schnee could function in the outside world when their home was such a paradise. Of course being a guest was different from living there. Taiyang could recognize that such a place could easily begin to feel like a prison when viewed from the other side. He took a quick shower and dressed, expecting to head home to Patch. He did not want to give up, but with no leads as to where his daughters had gone, there was little he could do.
On his way out Taiyang pulled one of the servants aside. "Is Winter around?" He asked. "I wanted to thank her for her help, even if it came to nothing."
"She left hours ago." The servant informed him.
Something about the woman's face made him suspicious. "Might I ask where she went?" He inquired. "That way I can mail her a thank you."
"I am under no circumstances to tell you where she has gone, on her orders." The servant said. "She did leave a letter for you though."
Taiyang's anger was already rising. She could not possibly have… He opened the letter and began reading:
Mr. Xiao-Long,
I believe I have discovered where my sister and your daughters are headed. I have decided to aid them in their quest. It is unbecoming that I had to leave without informing you, but I could not allow you to get in the way. You may use one of my family's private airships to return home. A pilot is waiting to take you to Patch whenever you like. I will do everything in my power to ensure the safety of your daughters and their friends. You have my word.
My Sincerest Apologies,
Winter Schnee
"You're going to tell me where she went, now." Taiyang demanded through gritted teeth as he crumpled the letter. "My daughters' lives are at stake. I will do anything to protect them. I am a trained Huntsman, and I will not hesitate to use my skills to get the answers I need."
"That contingency has been prepared for." The servant said. She reached into her pocket and touched a button on her scroll. In moments dozens of soldiers rushed into the room. They surrounded Taiyang, guns drawn. "I suggest you return home Mr. Xiao-Long."
Taiyang had been betrayed again. It was happening a lot lately. "I will not forget this." Taiyang seethed. Good a fighter as he was, he was not going to take on a squad of elite Atlesian soldiers. He put his hands in the air and started for the door. Before leaving he turned back for one last statement. "One day, however long it takes, I will make you all pay for this. If I ever see Winter again, I swear I will end her."
The group was making great time. Originally hoping to arrive at their destination in the evening, they were on pace to make it to the village by mid-afternoon. But as they rounded a corner on the trail, it soon became clear that there was trouble. Previously hidden by the trees but now visible straight ahead, a large column of thick black smoke rose into the sky. It appeared to be coming from the general location of the village. There was no reasonable scenario in which that was a good sign. Spurred on by the desire to help, they rushed ahead, unsure of what awaited them.
As they neared the village they came upon a woman and a man carrying a child heading in the opposite direction. The trio were bruised and bloodied with terror in their eyes. "You've got to run!" The man shouted at the approaching group. "Get away while you still can."
"What's happening?" Weiss asked.
"Grimm." The woman said.
"There were so many." The man added. "There's nothing...no one left."
"A Huntsman stayed behind to buy us time." The woman said. "He was looking for other survivors too but I don't think…"
"We're Hunters." Ruby said. "We'll help."
"Just go, it's already too late." The man implored. "Don't throw your lives away."
"We're helping." Ruby declared.
"Yeah!" Nora shouted as she took hold of Magnhild.
"Try to save the Huntsman if you can." The woman said. "We're only alive because of him."
"We will do everything we can." Pyrrha promised. As the family of refugees continued their flight, the warriors headed straight for the danger.
As they approached the village they could hear gunshots. Someone was still alive. They picked up the pace, soon arriving at a scene of carnage. A stone wall had once surrounded the village but now large sections had been reduced to rubble. Inside just about every building was on fire or already burned out. Shattered a shredded bodies littered the ground. More Grimm rushed out of the forest, ignoring the group and heading into the ruined village. The warriors charged after, shooting and slicing their way through the monsters as they rushed toward the sound of gunfire.
In the central square they found a lone man wielding a revolver. He was surrounded by the rapidly evaporating remains of Grimm. He looked like a soldier, but the blood and soot on his uniform made identifying him or where he had come from all but impossible. A Beowolf came charging out from between a pair of burning buildings and rushed straight at the man. He turned, took careful aim with one of his guns, and fired a single bullet that blew the top of the Grimm's head off. It was soon followed by three more, all dropped by nearly identical shots. More Grimm came at the man and now the group was able to intervene. The Huntsman cooly reloaded his weapon as the new arrivals cut down the creatures.
"Who are you?" Ruby asked. "And why is everything on fire?"
"Colonel Asher Waters, Atlesian Army, retired." The Huntsman said with a salute. He was an older man and obviously severely injured, but he showed no signs of giving up. "I'd guess the fire was accidental. It was already burning when I arrived."
"What happened here?" Yang asked.
"I came back from a mission to find almost everyone dead." Waters replied. He scanned the edges of the square for more attackers. "It must have been a hell of an attack to overcome the defenses. I got what survivors I could out."
"Now you should leave too." Blake suggested.
"No, I need to buy them more time." Waters said. "As long as the Grimm are here attacking me, they're not chasing down more helpless victims." He spotted something and fired a quartet of shots over Ren's shoulder. With a heavy thud an Ursa dropped to the ground and began to evaporate. "You kids are the ones who should leave."
"We're not going anywhere." Ruby said. "We're Hunters too. It's our duty to fight."
"Don't throw your lives away." Waters warned.
"Together we can win this." Pyrrha said.
"You sound confident but I can sense that they're gathering for another push." Waters said. "These Grimm aren't stupid and there are a lot of them. Just leave me."
"We're not going anywhere." Ren said.
"Those Grimm are going to pay!" Nora shouted.
"Damn kids." Waters grumbled. "Fine. But if we start getting overwhelmed you're to fall back. Understood?" No one said anything. They had no intention of retreating, no matter what the Huntsman said. "Now get ready. They're coming."
The man's uncanny sense for what the Grimm were up to proved accurate. With a cacophony of howls audible over the crackling fire and collapsing of buildings, a wave of Grimm rushed into the square through the paths created by the rubble. The funnels made them easier to kill. Ruby lined up a shot and with a single pull of the trigger downed a trio of Beowolves. With a mighty swing of her hammer, Nora knocked an Ursa into one of the burning structures where it was incinerated. The close quarters were ideal for Yang who got right up to one of the alleys and blasted away with her shotguns. Weiss added more fire, filling in gaps with flames as the Grimm attempted to enter the square. Blake and Ren had less firepower but together were able to plug gaps just as well as the others. In addition to taking pot-shots with Ruber Mors, Pyrrha used her semblance to pull metal debris from the rubble to pierce and crush the attacking monsters. With the calm he had displayed since they had met him, Waters carefully picked off any Grimm that managed to slip through.
The numbers were insane. There were far more Grimm here than there had been back on Patch. For every one killed two more seemed to take its place. Ammunition began to become an issue. The supplies the group had procured earlier in their journey were proving to be insufficient for a sustained battle. They had not expected to face anything but isolated pockets of Grimm. Just when things were looking bad the attacks began to slacken. The avenues of approach to the square were clogged with evaporating Grimm and it seemed their numbers had finally been exhausted. Then, for the first time since they had started fighting, there was near silence. Sure, the fire still burned and the creaks of collapsing buildings called out, but the howls, roars and gunshots were gone.
"Did we win?" Ruby asked.
"Clear over here!" Yang called.
"All clear!" Weiss yelled.
"No further contacts." Blake reported.
"They're all dead!" Nora exclaimed.
"I think that's all of them!" Pyrrha shouted.
"I guess we got them." Ruby said, heaving a sigh of relief. "I'm dry on ammo."
"Me too." Blake said.
"Empty." Ren said.
"I'm all out." Pyrrha said. The others still had some left but they were dangerously low. It had been a very close run thing.
"Alright then Colonel, let's get out of here." Weiss said.
"I'm afraid I'm not going anywhere." Waters said. He looked off into the distance. "The rest of you should really leave now." He started walking toward one of the edges of the square.
"What's going on?" Yang asked.
"Run!" Waters shouted. "Now!" He began firing into the smoke and flames that rose into the sky. "Take cover!" The others scattered as Waters kept firing. He emptied one revolver, holstered it and drew another. He emptied that into the blackness as well. He drew the first again, slammed the pair together and they transformed into a long curved saber. Before he could bring the sword to bear, a Giant Nevermore burst out of the smoke and flames and slammed into him with its talons before soaring back up into the sky with a deafening screech.
Nora converted Magnhild into its grenade launcher form and turned it skyward, blasting the massive Grimm with several projectiles. Weiss used a glyph to launch a stream of ice shards at the beast. Blake rushed over to where Waters lie motionless on the ground and dragged him to a covered position. "What's the plan?" Ren asked. "We can't even shoot at it."
"We need to get it on the ground." Ruby said.
"And how are we supposed to do that?" Weiss asked as she launched more ice at the circling Grimm.
"Forget that." Pyrrha said. "Buy me some time. I have a plan."
The Nevermore swooped down again. Yang blasted at it with the few shots she had remaining before diving aside. Just behind her Ruby ducked before lifting her scythe and slicing across the Grimm's abdomen. It screeched and kept flying, the injury little more than an inconvenience to it. It circled back and flew in low again. Using her glyphs Weiss created a wall of ice in the Nevermore's path. It crashed through the barrier effortlessly but aborted its attack run as Nora fired her last grenades at it.
"Pyrrha, are you ready yet?!" Yang shouted.
"Almost!" Pyrrha replied. She was doing something with the burning debris off to one side of the square.
Weiss launched more ice at the Grimm but she was exhausted. She could barely dive aside as it attacked her. Blake punished the beast for the attack, leaping and cutting into it with her blade as it passed overhead. Ren went one better. He leapt up and hooked one of his blades into the Nevermore's belly. He used that blade to anchor himself as he used the other to slice into it. The creature shrieked and flew in low toward a burning building. Ren dropped off just before being slammed into the flaming debris, and instead only the Nevermore was burned.
"I'm ready!" Pyrrha reported, not that it mattered. Either she would take the beast out or it would end them instead. The Nevermore circled around the square, the flames below casting orange light onto the creature. The others scattered as Pyrrha stood in the open. The monster spotted her and dove straight at her. Moving her hands as if casting a spell, Pyrrha used her semblance to lift a large and pointed metal beam out of the flaming rubble behind her. She thrust her hands toward the Grimm and the beam, glowing red-hot, rocketed skyward. The Nevermore attempted to avoid the projectile but it slammed into its chest, scything completely through it and bursting out its back. The beast screeched and came crashing down at the edge of the square. After a few moments it began to evaporate.
It was finally over. The Nevermore was down. They could catch their breath. "That was incredible!" Weiss exclaimed.
"I'm just glad it worked." Pyrrha said.
"I'm so turned on right now." Yang said.
"Yang!" Pyrrha shouted. Yang just laughed.
"Guys, come quick!" Ruby shouted. She knelt at Waters' side. "He's in bad shape!" The others rushed over and gathered around. Ren retrieved a first aid kit and pushed Ruby aside so he could try to help.
"I'm already dead kid." Waters said weakly. "Don't waste your time." He looked up at the group and smiled. "You're all incredible warriors. You should be proud of yourselves."
"We can save you." Ruby said. "There's another village not too far away. They'll have a hospital."
"I won't make it out of this village." Waters coughed. "I'd rather die right here. Everyone I cared about lived in this village and they're all dead. Just let me join them."
"One family survived." Ruby said. "We passed them on the way here."
"At least I saved someone." Waters said, barely audible. "I'm telling you, I'm not going to make it no matter what you do."
"He's right." Ren said. "Trying to move him will only kill him quicker."
"This is what we Huntsman do." Waters sighed. "We spend our lives fighting, but we never really win. We just leave the fight for the next generation. I'm sorry for that." He coughed violently. "I hope you find a happier ending than I did." The old Huntsman breathed his last. There was no time for mourning.
"We can't stay here." Blake said. "We're in no shape to fight if more Grimm show up, and we need to deliver the news of what happened here."
"Blake's right." Weiss said.
Nora stood in the back of the group, silently crying her eyes out. The scene was one that was all too familiar to her. Ren stood and hugged her while she buried her face in his coat. He remained as impassive as ever. "Let's go." He said. "There's nothing more for us to do here."
The group moved on and arrived at the next village shortly after midnight. Recognizing the ordeal they had endured, the mayor provided them with a free room for the night and promised to supply them for their journey. In the morning he would send out a party to look for survivors and bury the dead. Villages could be and were routinely wiped off the map without warning. It was a fact of life outside the kingdoms. The people living on the edge out there could only hope it would never happen to them, and try to help those it did happen to as best they could.
That night the group got little sleep. It had less to do with the horrors of the day than Nora. Her nightmares were back with a vengeance and she kept screaming in her sleep. Ren refused to let anyone wake her. When suddenly awakened from a nightmare Nora had a tendency to lash out in terror, risking injury to herself and those around her.
"What happened to make her like this?" Ruby asked.
"When Nora and I were little, our village was attacked by Grimm." Ren explained. "Nora and I were able to hide but everyone else was killed. We heard them screaming and calling out for help, and we heard those screams silenced. After a few hours a group of Hunters arrived and cleared out the Grimm. When we came out of hiding they tried to shield us from the scene but we saw everything. We had seen a few people killed while we were trying to hide, but when we came out we saw everything. People we knew, people we loved, had been torn to shreds. Everything we knew had been destroyed. Nora had seen her parents being attacked before we hid and when we came out she found their bodies. One of the Hunters had to drag her away from their corpses. She didn't stop crying for days. I don't know why, but I was never able to show that kind of emotion after that. I know I can seem cold and uncaring sometimes, and I would very much like to feel and display the same range of emotions as normal people, but guess I'm just numb. I guess that's how I cope, by never feeling much of anything. Nora copes by pretending to be happy all the time. She was always high-energy, but she's not nearly as manic or crazy as she can seem. It's an act. If she's busy being happy all the time she won't have a chance to feel sad about what happened."
"What's the story with her nightmares?" Weiss asked.
"She has them when she's stressed." Ren replied. "It's the only opportunity for her real emotions to come out. When she's actually happy, she doesn't have them. She can push those memories to the back of her mind. When there's trouble, she can't ignore it anymore. I wish there was more I could do for her."
"You already do plenty for her." Pyrrha encouraged. "I think just being there is enough."
"Maybe." Ren said. "I just wish I could make all that trauma go away. She was always so happy before that, but it was real happiness. Now, it's not the same. I can tell the difference. It makes me wonder if she'll ever be truly happy again."