Everyone was bustling about, trying to gather what info they could, running through mission briefings, all different kinds of things. It wasn't anything that Professor Port, now addressed as Commander Port due to being the only Huntsman with the experience to lead an army left in Vale. With Ozpin missing and Goodwitch trying yet again to gain support from the other kingdoms, the sole responsibility of fighting the war in Vale was his alone. Looking over the mission briefings, he heard the voices of two students of his, that if they were still in school, he would never expect to get along.
He turned his attention towards Jaune Arc, trying to talk to Cardin Winchester about something, but Commander Port didn't really pay much attention to it, believing that Jaune could do what he felt was right.
Jaune was having difficulties with talking to Cardin at the moment, but he still tried. "Cardin, you know that you've been given a few days off. You should seriously take them."
Cardin shook his head, adamant about what Jaune was saying. "You know that I won't do that Jauney-boy. I'm not leaving until you give me some work to do." Both Cardin and Jaune have grown respect for each other in ways that neither of them felt possible. Cardin eventually grew to be more open minded, for reasons he never told anyone else.
"You don't need to be here right now. You were given a few days because of what happened Cardin." Jaune pleaded with his now friend. Even Jaune himself couldn't believe it when Cardin began to work with him cooperatively.
Cardin sighed, he was eager to get into the fight again, get his mind off of things. "I know, but I figured that sitting around doing nothing isn't going to end this war." Cardin stated. He wanted this conflict to end just as much as everyone else did.
Jaune could see that it was eating at Cardin, so he walked over to him and placed his hand on Cardin's shoulder. "Cardin, I know you want to help, everyone can see that you want to help, but I also know that you and Russel were close friends. I can tell that you're hurting right now over what happened to him. Please, take some time off, not just for him, but for me as well. You need a rest just as much as the rest of us do, and no one will blame you for taking one." Jaune said to him, trying to sound as comforting as possible.
Carding took a deep breath and let it out. "Ok Jaune." He said to him, then gave him a pat on the arm. "You let me know if you need me though, even if it's in an hour from now." Cardin said as he started to walk back to the barracks.
As Jaune watched him go, he couldn't help but feel the weight of command on his shoulders. "I hope I don't have to."
Commander Port walked over to him and gave him a pat on the shoulder. "The weight of command is a heavy burden, and not for the light hearted, especially in a time of war. I know that you don't want to lose any more men, but in this war there is no guarantee that will happen. Considering what we've lost already, I'm sure that many of these young men and women will be grateful just to get out of here alive." Port said to Jaune, who nodded and gave a small smile back to the elder man. "Come now my boy, Goodwitch and Pyrrha should be trying to make contact with us by now." He turned and led Jaune over to the terminal the two women were trying to contact them from. "Ah Miss Goodwitch, a pleasure it is to see you again, though the connection could be better." He stated.
"Of course, though you can blame the White Fang for knocking out the Cross-Continental Transit Tower. I'm still surprised that these old terminals are still functional." Goodwitch stated from the screen. It was filled with static and hard to understand what she was saying, but Port and Jaune could understand enough to get by. "What news do you have for me Peter?" She asked.
"No new developments I'm afraid. Our dust supplies are growing smaller by the day, and we just lost two more young warriors." Port said, his usual bombastic personality being tempered by setback after setback. "How about yourself? Is the kingdom of Vacuo finally willing to send aid to us?" He asked.
"Unfortunately no. The White Fang are setting up for an incursion into the other kingdoms, and all of their leaders are more concerned with their own borders instead of aiding where the fight actually is. Combine that with Grimm activities near their borders, and you can see what they are more interested in. Those short sighted fools don't see how if one kingdom falls, then the rest will fall along with it." Glynda said, venom spitting out of her mouth. "Fortunately however, General Ironwood of Atlas is willing to send us some dust supplies, and robotic troops, though it won't be much."
Peter chuckled a bit after hearing that. "Ah well you know what they say, every little bit counts. Though I do wonder how they plan on getting it here without alerting the White Fang. Most ships get shot down when they fly over Vale nowadays." He said.
"Well we can figure things out at a later time. For now we both have to get back to work." Glynda said.
"Likewise. Good hunting to the two of you." Peter said.
"Same to you Professor." Pyrrha said, speaking up for the first time that conversation.
"I don't believe that I'm your Professor any more young lass." He said to Pyrrha.
"Of course, and Jaune..." Pyrrha said to the young man standing with Professor Port. "...please be careful." She said to him.
"I promise I will, you be careful too." He said back to her.
"I'll see you again soon." Pyrrha said as the transmission was ended.
Jaune sighed, communicating between Vale and the other kingdoms was close to impossible nowadays with the loss of the CCT, and so they had to rely on old terminals to stay in touch with Goodwitch and Pyrrha, who were acting as ambassadors to the Huntsman defending Vale. Though they were met with very little success, everything they sent back was put to use immediately. "Don't worry Jaune, I'm sure Glynda and Pyrrha will return safely, with an army to help us quell the White Fang and stop this terrible war." Peter said, hoping it would calm Jaune down.
Jaune nodded, but before he could respond, he noticed that Ruby and Weiss had walked into the command center. "Ah, Ruby Weiss, it's good to see you two." Jaune said, walking over to them.
"Likewise Jaune." Ruby said. She sounded cheery and eager to get to work. Weiss on the other hand, looked stoic and impatient. She wanted to figure out what their assignment was, and get underway. "So I hear you have work for us?" Ruby asked.
"Yep, got some work for you guys. We're just waiting on Yang now. Speaking of, have you guys seen her recently? I don't know where she is, or if she is going to show up to this meeting or not." Jaune said back to them.
The glee in Ruby's eyes died down a little when her sister was mentioned. It hurt to see Yang the way she was and not be able to help her. She had managed to help when she asked Yang to help train her with her new weapons, but that only lasted a little while and now she didn't need the training anymore. "My guess is either the mess hall drinking, or in her bunk already passed out from drinking." Weiss said instead of Ruby. She knew how much it affected her seeing Yang like that and so she wanted to get the topic off of her and onto other things. "We can start without her and then fill her in when we find her. What's our job?" Weiss asked quickly, not giving Jaune a chance to respond.
Jaune stared at Weiss for a moment, looking to see if she would say anything through her body language, but all he got from her was a cold stare that told him to let it be. "Right, well there's a warehouse within the Industrial District, near the break in the river. Since it's in White Fang territory, the odds of it being defended are pretty high." Jaune stated.
"What's in the warehouse that is so important?" Ruby asked, switching gears and going into what she dubs 'leader mode'.
"A large supply of Dust and Food, which we need to bring back since our supplies are low." Port cut in. "Those supplies would go a long way to helping out over on our end, and it would both help us, and cut off some of the White Fang's supplies as well."
Weiss smirked. "Sounds good, now how do we get in there?"
Commander Port walked the two of them over to the map of Vale. On it was the markers showing the different borders and plans of attack. There were many different pins in different locations on the map pointing out many targets, and Port pointed to two that were really close to each other. "This is the location of the Warehouse, which fortunately for us, sits right nearby an old broken down Schnee Refinery."
Weiss could instantly see where this was going. "Let me guess, you want us to cut through the refinery to save time and to bypass their defenses, right?" Weiss asked, knowing the answer before she asked the question.
Port decided to humor her with an answer anyway. "Why child, you have a brilliant mind, and a strategic prowess to you." He said complimenting Weiss on her brilliance. "Yes, the two of you, along with Yang, will pass through the old refinery. Since it's former Schnee Property, I hope you would be able to use some of the old Schnee Access Codes to get into the building without having to fight your way through." Port exclaimed, his bombastic nature showing up yet again.
Weiss looked down at the map. She knew of the Refinery that Port had mentioned, but she also knew that it had been abandoned for some time, even before the war began. Who knows what they would find down in the ruins. Ruby looked at Weiss, and she could tell that Weiss was seriously considering if it was feasible or not to go through the old Refinery. "You think it's doable Weiss?" She asked.
Weiss leaned her hands against the table that the map sat upon, her mind running the numbers. "I guess as long as we stay on our toes, then there shouldn't be any problems from the place." Weiss stated after a few moments of contemplation. Ruby noticed by the look on Weiss' face though, that she wasn't 100% sure of the decision, but from what she could tell, it didn't look like there were many other options that they had.
"Excellent!" Port exclaimed yet again. "We will be sending over boats to where the old Refinery connects to the river. It will drop you off there, and then wait for you to return with the supplies. Once you've secured the warehouse, we will send more teams in to gather the supplies that we can, and blow the rest." He stated.
"Just be careful guys. I can't tell you how important this is, but staying quiet and being quick are pretty important here. The longer we're there, the more likely they are to send reinforcements, especially if you're caught before we can get the warehouse secure." Jaune stated. "Get in without alerting the guards, secure the warehouse, and help load the supplies into the boats." Jaune threw a switch over to Ruby. "When you've secured the warehouse, use this to let the recovery team know that they can start to move in and get the supplies." Jaune stated.
"Sounds simple enough." Ruby stated.
Weiss moved her hand to cover her face. "The last time you said that, you nearly brought a building down on top of me." Weiss stated, recalling a recent mission the two of them went on. "You're lucky I was able to make it out in time."
"Relax Weiss, you didn't get crushed then, nothing bad will happen now." Ruby said as she wrapped her shoulder around the Heiress. "Loosen up a little won't ya?" Weiss didn't even give her a response, instead electing to just shake her head at Ruby, who had turned her attention back to Commander Port and Jaune. "We'll go find Yang and fill her in on the way."
"Good, now move out! Those supplies aren't going to move themselves." Port said to them, which gave them the reason to leave.
Ruby and Weiss walked out of the command center and turned towards the Barracks, they had to search for Yang and hope that she was in a good enough state to function. Ruby ran towards Yang's room, coming up on it almost immediately. Knocking on the door, she hoped that Yang was there. "Ugh, it's open." Ruby heard from the other side of the door. Slowly she opened the door and looked inside, noticing that Yang was on her bed, trying her damn hardest to sleep. "Hey Ruby, you need something?" Yang said.
Ruby looked at Yang, who was starting to sit up. She was really hit hard by Blake's death, and it changed her the most out of Team RWBY. She lost her usual smile, and the blinding enthusiasm that she showed, it being replaced by depression at the loss of the one she loved. When she wasn't going out on suicidal missions, she was killing herself by drinking whenever she could. Anyone who had seen Yang before the war would have been shocked to see how she was now.
Even her physical appearance changed slightly, though the differences weren't that many. Her brown jacket was longer, and went down to her waist, and she wore black leggings instead of booty shorts. The only other changes she had, were the more significant ones. She wore the ribbon that Blake used with Gambrol Shroud around her arms, the ribbon crossing over each other, wrapping itself tightly around her arms. But what was the most drastic change, the one that had Ruby really concerned, was that Yang had decided to cut her golden mane of hair. Now it only went down to right above her shoulders, a really big sign of just how far down into depression Yang was. Yang loved her hair, she took care of it more often than anything else. Before, if anyone had even pulled out one single strand of hair, she would burst into a fiery inferno and destroy whoever had caused that strand of hair to fall out. Now, it was as if she didn't care anymore about what happened to her, something that had Ruby often wondering if Yang would truly be ok after the war was over.
"Hey Yang, how you feeling?" Ruby asked, walking over to Yang's bunk and kneeling down next to her. Yang was given her own room, so that no one could bother her and get killed by the blonde haired fury.
Yang started to stand up and stretch out, prompting Ruby to sand up next to her. "I'm fine." She said. Yang didn't like how she worried Ruby so much, so she thought a little lie here and there would go a long way to helping Ruby get through what she was going through. "We got work to do?" Yang yawned, it was clear that she had just woken up. Yang rubbed her head to clear the haze of alcohol that was washing out of her system.
Weiss was waiting outside the whole time, letting Ruby have a moment of privacy with her sister, despite being able to hear everything going on. It hurt her to see Yang having to lie to Ruby like she did, but she understood just what it was like to have to lie to family for their own sake. "We have a warehouse to steal some supplies from." Weiss heard Ruby say as she led Yang out of her room. Yang was putting her gauntlets on as she was walking and checking to see if she had everything.
"Sounds fun." Yang said, trying her hardest to put on a smile for Ruby. Weiss caught up to them and nodded to Yang. "Morning Princess." Yang said, throwing an arm around Weiss' shoulders.
"You're more chipper than usual this morning Yang, what gives?" Weiss asked.
"What, do you expect me to be a depressed drunk all the time? I hurt at your words Weiss." Yang said, though Weiss could tell that she didn't really put her heart into it. It was almost like Yang was just going through the motions right now.
"Whatever, I'm sure you're well enough to run on autopilot right now, so stop wasting time." Weiss didn't mean to sound rude, but it hurt to see how Yang's behavior affected Ruby. If Ruby wasn't around, Weiss would have told Yang how badly she is affecting the young girl, but she never got the chance to do so before. Ruby was almost always paired with Weiss or Yang, or even both at the same time, and so Weiss couldn't say a word to the blonde. "What did Ruby tell you so far?" Weiss asked as they continued walking.
"That we're hitting a warehouse for supplies." Yang said immediately.
"Ok, well to get there, we're going through an old abandoned Schnee Refinery. We don't know what we'll find in there, but it shouldn't be anything we can't handle." Weiss stated once they got out of the base and onto the destroyed streets of Vale. "We need to be quick and quiet while we get there, else the White Fang will send in reinforcements and we get nothing." Weiss said.
"So I guess we know why Weiss is coming along then. She get's to play doorman huh?" Yang said, throwing a nonchalant insult Weiss' way.
Weiss had started to grow tired of it. Between the remark that Yang had just said, plus all the times that she felt taken for granted because of her powers, she was fed up with the way she was treated. She felt more like a tool than a person at that point, even by Ruby. But before Weiss could blow a gasket on Yang, Ruby stepped in. "Come on Yang, that wasn't really appropriate. You should apologize to Weiss." Though it was moments like that, where Weiss felt better about herself, moments where Ruby stood up for her like the person she really was.
"Fine, sorry about the doorman comment Weiss. I didn't realize just how upset you would get about it." Yang said. Part of Weiss almost didn't believe her, but when she looked at Yang, she saw that Yang had that same look of guilt that she had whenever she thought about Blake.
So Weiss believed it, mostly. "I accept. Now can we keep moving? I want to get this over with." Weiss stated as she continued to walk over to the refinery, with Ruby and Yang following close behind.
AN: So this chapter is clearly not as long as the prologue was, however I feel that is fine. There is much more dialogue in this than there was in the prologue with helps move the plot along well in my opinion. Plus we get to see the first appearance of Yang in the actual story, and not in a flashback of what has already come.
The prologue was mostly written to provide you all with some background information as to things that are important in the story. I figured it would be better to explain details that were important to not about the setting before getting into the actual story, so that you could see just who led up to where they were in the present moment. Which is why most of the prologue was a flashback. If I didn't write that in, wouldn't you guys just be confused as to why everything was the way it was?
Character designs for all of the important characters, such as Ruby, Weiss (who both already have their designs up), Yang, Jaune, Pyrrha, etc. will be posted onto DeviantArt under my gf's account, since she is the artist for this story and onto Tumblr, whenever she gets around to that. And the comic that is going to be drawn along side this will be posted to both places as well. If you guys are interested in seeing the art that we already have done (which unfortunately isn't much) then you can check it out there. (DeviantArt info is in the notes of the prologue)
In all honesty though, I'm fortunate about what had happened in the actual episode of RWBY that came this past thursday, because I'm already using points that came up in it within this story, and I will use more later on down the road. The CCT being implemented into the story makes a great point as to one of the reasons why Vale is pretty much on it's own.
Anyway, if you guys are ever interested in speaking to me, you can message me here or on Tumblr with any questions that you may have about this story or any other story that I have. Given that I have at least 5 stories that are either in progress, or need to be written out, I have plenty on my plate ahead of me. In any case however, thanks for reading this. Please give a review as to how you think the story is going, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.