The White Death
13 years ago…
The Metro
As she walked through this wretched tunnel, Summer couldn't help but wonder what she had done in her life that caused her to suffer this fate.
It was a simple mission; go to a village, listen to what kind of Grimm that had been causing them problems, exterminate it, and then return to Patch and have dinner with her family.
She had no idea how she managed to lost consciousness and found herself in this goddamn tunnel!
The first thing that she met was a strange animal. Said animal soon tried to attack her and Summer easily killed it. Then, another come. Then, another. And finally, a bunch of them.
Summer was at disadvantage; the narrowness of the tunnel meant that there wasn't enough room for her usual moves and maneuvers, which were what most huntsmen and huntresses depended on to win a fight against the Creatures of Grimm.
In the end, she had to leave her weapon and most of her Dust to blew up the tunnel, separating her from the animals. Fortunately, she managed to find an axe; the kind that firefighters used.
Unfortunately, it has been…hours since she got herself a rest. For hours, she had walked around the tunnel – which she realized to be a metro after encountering a destroyed train – and no sign of other people. It looked like that she was inside an abandoned metro, like the one in Mountain Glenn.
As she kept walking, Summer noticed that her vision was blurring. She wiped her eyes with her left hand and found that it was blurring because of tears. It was by then Summer realized that she was on the verge of crying.
She supposed that makes sense. If she got killed when fighting against Grimm, then she would only have had moments to think about her life before she lost her live. Currently however, she had a lot of time to think about what she would left behind if she was unable to return home, even if it was subconsciously.
Summer remembered how devastated Taiyang was when Raven left him with their daughter Yang. It took her almost a year to get him out of his depression. She also remembered how Qrow turned into alcoholic as well. Oh, sure, he already like being drunk even when he was still studying at Beacon. But Raven's abandonment made it worse.
Summer finally let out the tears dropped from her eyes. It was by now that she realized that she would left her daughters motherless. Even more so for Yang. True, she had no idea that Summer wasn't her biological mother. But the truth will come out sooner or later.
"Taiyang…Qrow…Yang…Ruby…forgive…"
Before Summer could finisher her sentence, she heard someone screamed. Then, it was followed by gunfire. Then, more and more gunfire until the only thing that she could hear was the sounds of guns being fired.
Summer immediately ran towards the source. Not just to give a hand, but also because if there was a gunshot, then there was a person who fired the gun. And if there was a person who fired a gun, then he or she might be able to help her to return home.
When she arrived at the scene, Summer almost put her hands on her mouth in shock. To say that what happened at the scene was brutal was an understatement.
At one part of the station, a group of soldiers were defending their position against the onslaught of massive numbers of the same animals that attacked her. They were using various weapons thought two that stood the most were the Gatling gun and the flamethrower.
At the other part of the station, there were other soldiers that were fighting a massive version of the animals. It was clear that it would take a lot of bullets to take it down.
Summer was about to help the soldiers when she noticed something. At a train carriage, she saw a man was trying his best to not get eaten by an animal. However, one of his hands was occupied in grabbing the tail of another animal who was approaching a…
"Is that a baby cot?!" Thought Summer.
The huntress immediately used her semblance and "flash stepped" at the man's location. There, she immediately killed the animal whose tail was being grabbed before focusing on the other one. With the threat gone, the man immediately stood up and grabbed a rifle before guarding the cot. Summer could hear him saying in a low, shocked voice "thank you."
Summer looked around and saw that several animals were attacking what appeared to be a temporary hospital. The doctors, nurses, and patients were struggling against the animals, with some already being killed and eaten.
Summer immediately went towards an animal that tried to bite the head of a patient. She swung her axe and decapitated it. Then, she struck an animal that about to pound a doctor. One of the animals managed to sneak on her and bite her left shoulder. Fortunately, her aura protected her but it still hurt like hell. As she screamed, Summer managed to get it off her before killing the animal.
Summer diverted her attention when she heard a loud roar coming from her back. When she turned around, she saw the massive animal was now at the center of the station. The soldiers tried to kill it, but they were either too distracted by the smaller animals or having their weapons ineffective against it.
Summer flash stepped in front of the massive animal and wounded its abdomen. When it tried to retaliate, she flash stepped to its side and wounded that side as well. As the animal roared in anger and pain, it tried to kick her. Once again, Summer was one step ahead and flash stepped onto its head. She struck its head thrice with her axe before it moved its hand towards its head. She jumped back a from the head but was still close enough to strike it. She struck its back and created a massive wound as she dropped into the ground.
The animal let out a roar before it fell on the ground. It was still breathing but clearly was close to dying. Summer ran towards its head and struck it so much that its head could hardly be recognized.
"Wow. I must say, that's one hell of killing a Nosalis. Not going to argue its effectiveness thought."
Summer looked at the speaker and saw a bearded man in a military uniform. It was also at that time that she realized that reinforcement had arrived, now helping the local soldiers in exterminating the animals.
"Just doing my duty, sir." Replied Summer.
"Huh." The man put his hand on his chin. "Anyway, the way you kill that mutant by…teleporting around it, that's not something you see every day."
"Well, most huntsmen and huntresses do not possess similar semblances. So, I guess that's quite possible that you haven't see any huntsman or huntress with speed-related semblance."
Summer noticed that the man was now staring at her intensely. It was as if she had something that intrigued his interest. She reviewed what she had just said and found none of them anything unusual.
"You…will have a lot to explain once we get back to Polis, young lady." Stated the man as he pointed at her. "Before that though, may I know the name of the lady who saved this station?"
"It's Summer. Summer Rose." Replied Summer as she offered her hand.
"Well, Summer." The man accepted her hand. "You can call me Miller."
Present day…
The Metro
"After that, Miller and the Rangers brought me to Polis. And that was the start of my career as a Ranger." Said Summer.
The huntress-turned-Ranger looked at the girls for their reactions. It was clear that they were impressed by her first meeting with the denizens of the Metro. Feeling her throat was dry due to telling a long story, Summer pick her flask and drank the content. The girls managed to figure out the content from the smell of alcohol and got disgusted.
"Damn it, Mom! How do you managed to drink that stuff?! It smells even worse than Uncle Qrow's!" Exclaimed Yang as she pinched her nose.
"Well, the first time I drank shroom vodka, my reaction was like you girls. Years of experience basically makes me able to tolerate it." Explained Summer as she took another sip. "Besides, after surviving against waves of mutants, this vodka is actually quite enjoyable."
"When we return, maybe you should bring a bottle for Uncle Qrow."
"I'll think about it." Summer closed her flask and put it back. "Anyway, what happened shortly after I…disappeared? I can guess it was…nothing good."
Ruby and Yang became silent and stared at each other. After a while, they nodded to each other and told Summer about the events.
"After you disappeared, Dad…'closed up.' He withdrew from…basically, a lot of things, including his own daughters." Said Yang.
"I didn't remember much about your 'funeral', Mom. I did however remember how devastated Yang, Dad, and Uncle Qrow at that time." Added Ruby. "I don't think I ever see Uncle Qrow not under alcohol influence."
Ruby and Yang watched as their mother's mood went down. Seeing her hand moving, Yang thought that Summer would took out her flask again. However, after a while her hand stopped moving. Seeing that, Yang decided that it was now OK to continue the story.
"After you're gone, I managed to find out that Raven is my biological mother. Wanting to know why, and perhaps an opportunity to have a mother again, I…"
"Yang!" Ruby, knowing what Yang wanted to tell, tried to stop her.
"No, Ruby. This…is something that I have to tell Mom."
"Telling me what?" Summer felt a sense of dread approaching her.
Yang held Ruby's hand, trying to convince her that it was fine. After a moment, Ruby let out a sigh and drew back her own hand. After that, Yang continued her sentence.
"Because of that, I tried to find Raven alongside Ruby. In the end, had it not for Uncle Qrow, Ruby and I would get killed by Beowolves."
"You did WHAT?!" Exclaimed Summer.
Yang jerked back due to the yelling. While she already prepared for it, she still found it intimidating enough.
"Well…" Yang tried to make an excuse but found herself unable to.
"W…What…the hell…you…why…AGH!" Summer herself found it hard to make a proper sentence and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Mom, look, it's not…" Ruby tried to calm the situation down.
"Ruby Rose!" Summer's word caused Ruby to froze. "This is between me and Yang Xiao Long. Stay out of it!"
"Mom…!"
As the family had their fight, Weiss and Blake focused on their surroundings. The latter's cat ears managed to catch a sound of a…mutant, was it?
"Silence, all of you!" Said Blake sternly.
"Blake, I appreciate your efforts. But…"
"No, Yang! I am serious!"
Seeing the seriousness of the faunus, Ruby, Yang, and Summer grabbed their weapons and increased their alertness.
"Ms. Belladonna, can you predict their locations?" Asked Summer.
"No, Ms. Rose. Their sounds are echoing through the tunnel." Replied Blake.
As they waited for the mutants, the railcar passed what appeared to be a hole in the wall. After several minutes, the mutants came from the hole and went towards Team SRWBY chose.
"Nosalises!" Shouted Summer as they saw the mutants, Nosalises, running towards them.
Team SRWBY immediately opened fire towards the Nosalises. When Ruby fired the Bastard, she noticed that after several rounds, it began to spray. As such, Ruby started to only fired burst shot; two or three rounds before stopping. When she looked at Blake, she noticed that she did the same thing unless a Nosalis was really close.
When one of the Nosalis managed to board the railcar, Yang – who was the closest to it – punched it off the car. She activated Ember Celica but put the safety on, not wanting to waste the irreplaceable Dust rounds.
When another Nosalis managed to board in, it got stabbed by Weiss and Blake. To finish it off, Weiss fired her Revolver at it, letting fell into the ground.
This happened many times. Each time a nosalis managed to get close to the railcar, it will either got punched by Yang or got stabbed by Weiss and Blake.
Seeing the large amount of Nosalises in a tight place, Summer grabbed a grenade and ignited the fuse. After waiting until the fire burned half of the fuse, she threw the grenade towards the group of Nosalises. It exploded, killing a large amount of them in a short moment.
With the quantity of the nosalises chasing them diminished, Team SRWBY became more relaxed. Killing the remaining mutants was now almost like shooting fishes in a barrel. When Weiss felt something on her back, she turned around and saw something that raised the hope of surviving.
"Look, a checkpoint!" Shouted Weiss as she pointed at the checkpoint.
Summer turned her head and saw said checkpoint. The guards there, upon seeing the nosalises, manned their stations. She approached the lever that controlled their railcar's speed and slowly decreased it. The huntresses-in-training continued to fire at the mutants until they passed through the checkpoint.
After that, it was the guards turn to fired on the nosalises. One of them used a mounted flamethrower and burned any approaching mutants. After several bursts of flame, he and other guards stopped firing to see the result.
In front of their checkpoint lied a large number of nosalises' corpses, most of them were burning. Far from their dead fellows, several nosalises looked to be hesitated in continuing the attack and – after several seconds – opted to turn around and ran back.
Seeing the retreating mutants, Team SRWBY let out a sigh and relaxed. Some of them also wiped out the sweat that they didn't realize that they've made.
"I admit, it might be easier than fighting Grimm. But it has its own taste of terror." Stated Ruby.
"It makes sense." Said Summer. "The Metro is narrower compared to where huntsmen and huntresses usually fight Grimm. Even forest has more space than here."
"Well, at least everything's over, right?" Stated Yang, who suddenly felt a sense of chill on her back.
When she looked to see why, she saw that Summer was staring at her. It was clear that she intended to continue their previous conversation.
Half an hour later...
Komsomolskaya, the Metro
Inside what can be described as restaurant, Team SRWBY was having a meal. The food on the table was mushroom soup with an addition of pork and the drink was mushroom tea. The latter was good news for the girls as they haven't got used with the shroom vodka.
"So, what will we do next, Mom?" Asked Ruby before filling her mouth with the soup.
"I managed to get ourselves a room. Not that big but should be enough for all of us. For the next part of our journey, we're going to need our full energy." Replied Summer who then took a sip of her tea.
"Why? Is the next going to be challenging?" Asked Yang.
"Of course, considering we're going to the surface."
The girls stopped their activities when they heard that. Summer had explained to them a little about the surface. It wasn't any better than the conditions of the Metro. In fact, it might be worse since you have to wear gas mask 24/7 if you are up there.
"Umm, Ms. Rose. Why are we going through the surface rather than from stations to stations?" Asked Blake.
"Well, Ms. Belladonna…"
"Please, call me Blake."
"Alright. In turn, I want you to call me Summer." Summer made a small smile before returning to serious. "This station and the station where we came from belong to Hansa. When it comes to entering and leaving stations, they're incredibly strict."
Summer stopped for a moment and took out what appeared to be a passport.
"You need passport or other forms of identification to travel through Hansa's stations. I also receive…shall we say, 'privileges,' for being a Ranger."
"Wait, if we need identification, then how we managed to enter this station and that one?" Asked Weiss.
"Well, in the first one, you girls are basically wounded and Hansa is quite 'generous' in that part." Explained Summer, who seemed not wanting to explain further. "For how you girls entered this station, let's just say it's combination of who I am and paying the right people."
The girls nodded their heads, not wanting to hear further than that. As Team SRWBY continued their meals, Summer noticed that Ruby's mood seemed to be decreasing.
"Something wrong, Little Gem?" Asked Summer.
"Oh, nothing Mom." Replied Ruby. She played with her food for a second before continuing. "I just can't believe that had it not for you, we might won't be able to survive in the Metro."
Summer stopped eating after hearing that. She knew what Ruby was trying to say; she couldn't believe that Hansa would rather letting someone got killed than giving a service for free. Truth be told, Hansa wasn't that bad; she knew several of them who were willing to help people without expecting something in return.
It's just that like the rest of the Metro, Hansa was also trying to survive in this post-apocalyptic age. As such, Hansa will try to increase their chances of survival. Even if some of the methods were quite…unpleasant.
"To be honest, is it any different from huntsmen and huntresses?" Said Summer which surprised the rest of the team. "After all, it's the huntsmen and huntresses that chose the missions that they want. What if they consider a payment for search and rescue mission too little? What about search and destroy? Or even a perimeter defense mission?"
Silence fell as Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang considered what Summer had just said. Blake knew that one of the criticisms of the huntsmen and huntresses was that they were merely glorified mercenaries. Weiss remembered how her father tried to stop her from going to Beacon, including saying that no Schnee shall become a mere mercenary.
"Well…" Ruby found herself being stared by her mother and teammates. "That might be true. There's always bad apples, no matter what you do."
There was silence again as Ruby stopped speaking. However, she then continued it. There was also the fact that her mood went up.
"However, I know that most huntsmen and huntresses are good people at hearts. Sure, they still want payment for their jobs. But hey, it's hard to live without money." The team laughed at the joke. "Anyway, if the push comes to shove, then you can bet that the huntsmen and huntresses – no matter where they come from – will do their best to solve the problems."
"You sound very confident about that, sweetheart. Got anyone in mind?" Asked Summer with a smile.
"I know several. One of them is with us, in fact!" Ruby stood up and raised her hands.
It took Summer several seconds to realize that Ruby was talking about her. She started laughing in amusement, happy to know how proud her daughter was with her. The mood of the team went up and soon they continued their meal.
After they finished the meal, Team SRWBY went towards the room that Summer acquired for them to rest. At the back, Summer watched as her daughters and their friends having conversation with each other. Her happiness soon turned into sadness as she remembered what Ruby had said about her.
"Ruby, if you know about the sins that I have committed, will you still see me the same way?"
Answers to some reviews:
Psihopatul: My theory is that rather than Dust not being able to work outside of Remnant, it's actually unable to work in the vacuum. As long as there's air or necessary gas, Dust can work even outside of Remnant. Like on Earth.
Evinco: If you trying to say why Summer doesn't try to awaken the auras of the denizens of the Metro, then there are two reasons.
First, Summer is a great huntress but not quite good as a teacher. Teaching people how to activate their auras beyond advices is not her forte.
Second, it is said that someone with considerable training can unlock the aura of another person. It's not stated whether it's considerable training in the usage of aura or training in unlocking it. Summer has little training in the latter.
And this chapter is done.
Next up, Team SRWBY will exit the Metro and visit Moscow.
If you have question or suggestion, feel free to tell me.
Review please.
