They were close to arriving at Haven, something that Ruby could easily tell. The train ride was on the quieter side for the most part, something that Ruby was somewhat grateful for. It gave her a chance to talk with Weiss, something that seemed to be easier after their moment on the waterfall. Nearing their destination brought one thought to Ruby's mind, that being what the village of Haven was like.
She knew that Sun spent a long time living there, but from what she believed, he seemed to have been away for a long time. It didn't do anything to stop him from showing his concern for his home. Beside the fact that Sun knew the layout of the village the best, he was definitely pivotal in establishing a trusting relationship between the village and Ruby. She needed to ask him about all he knew on his home.
Ruby walked over to Sun, who was leaning by the door to the train car, and she leaned right next to him. "You need something, Ruby?" Sun asked when she settled in on her spot of the wall.
"What can you tell me about Haven, Sun?" Ruby asked.
Sun thought about it for a moment. "I'm guessing you wanna know just so that you're prepared for everything, right?" Ruby didn't say anything, giving Sun a nod as her response. "Ok, well, it's not that large of a village but a bit overpopulated because of where it is."
"Well, why does that matter?" Ruby questioned.
"Because we're the closest village to the Isen border. When the realm started to fall into ruin, everyone started to leave. Some people rested there for a day or two before continuing further into Vale, but there was more than a few people who decided to stick around and take up a permanent residence there. It's why Haven is overpopulated," Sun said.
"That sounds like it was hard growing up there," Ruby responded.
"Yeah, now that bandits are taking the few supplies that Haven has, everyone is going to get even less than they were before. I just hope that Ozpin sends some supplies to help most of them out," Sun said back to Ruby. He removed himself from where he was standing and started to walk over where he set his possessions. "Hey, Ruby," He said after walking a few feet away. "Thanks for listening, and for helping out my home."
Ruby nodded. "No need to thank me, I'm just glad to help," She said back to Sun, letting him continue towards his belongings. After watching him go, all Ruby could do now was wait until they arrived near Haven. So she stared out the window, looking out onto the mid day horizon.
They were due to arrive at their stop in a few minutes. Ruby was itching with anticipation, unable to sit still. Moments ago, she made sure that everyone had everything ready to go, her plan was to start off as soon as the train stopped where they needed it to. She wasn't the only one who couldn't sit still, Yang, Nora and Sun also appearing restless.
Soon enough, the train stopped and the doors opened. Ruby and company climbed on out, grabbing everything they would need for the hopefully short stop at Haven. Upon their arrival, a man whom Ruby assumed was sent by Ozpin met with them. They made sure that all of the possessions they did not need at that exact moment were in his care before they set off again. Weiss was indignant on keeping her bag with her, and when Blake decided to say that it wasn't that big of a deal that she had it, everyone seemed to let it be.
Finished with the man in charge of their things, Ruby led her company of fighters in a quick run towards Haven. She had Sun up with her so that he could guide them to the village in a quick fashion. They traveled swiftly, knowing that any longer could be disastrous for the village. Everyone was running at full speed, they knew that stopping was out of the question.
Not much later, they broke through the tree line of the forest next to Haven. Ruby could see a party of bandits massing outside the edge of the village, with a few of those believed to be some of those in charge of them walking towards the village with their weapons out. Before she could say anything to the group, Sun had already taken off into the village.
'I should've known he would do that. Oh well, guess we're going in,' Ruby thought to herself as she gestured for everyone to follow Sun in.
As they grew closer, Ruby heard the distinct shouting of Sun as he fought back against the bandits. The fight hadn't gotten violent yet, but the shouting was incredibly high and Ruby knew it would get worse in moments.
She also noticed that standing next to Sun, was his friend Neptune, whom they met before back in Atlas' capital. Remembering that he mentioned how Sun was a childhood friend of his, she realized why he was there as well. Ruby stopped everyone a few feet away from the group that was arguing, turning her head towards them so that she could pass on a message of sorts.
"If it gets violent, which let's be honest, it probably will, conventional attacks only. If you have to use something outside of a gunshot or a slash or stab, or whatever else you could think of, then do so sparingly. We don't want to destroy the place that we're trying to protect," Ruby said to the others. Despite stumbling a bit during her instructions, every managed to understand what she was saying to them.
In almost an instant, the bandits pulled their weapons out on Sun and Neptune, forcing the pair to act as well. While the bandits were only using simplified weapons, they severely outnumbered Ruby and those who followed her. When Sun pulled out his weapons, he fired the shotguns of his nunchaku at the bandits standing before him. Neptune's weapons was pulled out in the form of a glaive, and he ran forward and brought the weapon down into the third bandit. The last bandit attempted to run, but was soon stopped by Yang who had jumped towards him and knocked him to the ground with a single punch.
"So, what are the odds that they actually heard that?" Jaune asked everyone, hoping that the rest of the bandits that were outside the village weren't going to notice. Almost immediately, a battle horn trumpeted through the near silent air around them. Jaune let his head drop, his question was just answered for him. "Me and my big mouth."
Ruby pulled out Crescent Rose as a sniper, taking aim at the line of charging bandits. Pyrrha, Blake and Neptune joined her and opened fire on as many of them as possible. Ruby could see the bandits start to split up and make their way towards other parts of the village. "Everyone split up and do what you can to stop them from destroying the village," Ruby commanded while taking more shots with her weapon.
Nora shot off her grenade launcher, Manghild, into the crowd of bandits as they approached. They were still outside of the village enough that there wouldn't be much damage done, but as they grew closer, Nora transformed her weapon into the form of her giant hammer. Upon doing so, she leapt towards the bandits and brought it down on a group of them, then spun around and caught more of them in the swing. She cried out in a strange combination of glee and psychosis as she felt the bodies connect with her hammer.
Jaune and Pyrrha stood shoulder to shoulder as they held off any of the bandits trying to make their way into the city. It was almost as if they were in a dance together, their coordination was flawless. When Pyrrha would strike at one opponent, Jaune would move around her to block an attack and then counter it. With a swing of his sword, he cut at the chest of a bandit as Pyrrha ducked underneath it, transforming Milo into it's rifle form and firing at another bandit, before popping back up and striking again.
Yang charged forward into the line of fire, launching herself into a group of them where she would deal the most damage. As she dodged swords and threw her fists towards the bandits, her enemies didn't see Blake and Ren firing on them from the roofs of a few homes, bringing them down without them realizing it. Between having to defend against the frontal barrage from Yang, and the hidden strikes from her comrades, the bandits went down quickly.
As the bandits realized they weren't going to last much longer, they decided to leave the Huntress and her comrades a parting gift. They lit sticks of dynamite and threw them into the streets, and the tossed several bottles of ale with burning rags poking out of them towards the houses. Fortunately for the village, Weiss quickly acted, using her dust to freeze the air around the fire so that it melted into water that doused the flames. As for the dynamite, Weiss placed a glyph under each stick that was thrown and propelled them into the air, where they exploded safe from harm.
Realizing that they weren't in a position to do any more, the bandits quickly fled from the village, most of their number left dead where they fell. Ruby stopped firing when she saw the bandits running for the hills. Hearing the cries of her comrades as they felt proud of themselves for the victory on their part, Ruby couldn't help but smile and shout out her own excitement as well.
Her own excitement soon turned to dread and fear as she heard an eerily familiar roar, one that she hadn't heard in ten years.
It was clear that the others heard it as well, for the cries of victory had stopped and everyone seemed to wonder what was going on. Nora ran over to Ren and looked at him, hoping he would have answers. Jaune stood there frozen, letting his shield fall to the ground. Pyrrha looked around as she tried to find where the cry came from. Blake and Yang looked over to each other, almost sensing what was coming. Sun and Neptune, after stopping for a moment, jumped into action, leading the people of Haven to what they hoped would be safety.
Weiss, who stood closest to Ruby, saw the look in the Huntresses eyes. What she saw made Weiss start to shake. She saw fear in Ruby's eyes, the kind of fear that made the strongest of men men beg for their lives. Weiss could tell that Ruby knew what was coming, and it was the first time that she saw Ruby look terrified of anything before in the time that she knew her.
She was almost afraid to look up into the sky.
It wasn't much longer before the beast that originated the horrifying roar landed in front of them. It's hide was made of iron hard scales, the black wings blocking out the sunlight. Fire was cast from the beasts mouth into the sky, a signal of the destruction that was to come.
The Black Dragon, had found them first.
Everyone sprung into action, doing their best to lead the people out of the village. All except for two, Weiss and Ruby, both of whom were struck with fear. Ruby feared the beast that had haunted her dreams for years, while Weiss was afraid of how it affected Ruby, the woman whom she shared a kiss with the night before, the woman whom she trusted more than anyone else. Weiss felt her mind start to crack, she dropped to her knees as she watched Ruby stand there, helpless and statuesque because of her fear. Her emotions started to overcome her, creating a typhoon of doubt, fear, anger, sadness, affection, that crashed into her all at once.
'No, no no no this can't be happening. If Ruby is afraid then, then god dammit this beast is going to kill us all, going to kill Ruby! No I can't let that happen, not after what we shared together, no, I can't, I can't let that, I can't, I can't,' Weiss thought to herself. Soon, her mind just shut down completely, everything around her growing blank.
Ruby stared right at the dragon, her silver eyes wide and filled with terror. She had only felt fear like this once before, as a little girl who was too young to understand what was going on. Yet she still carried the same fear that she did when she experienced the event before. Her body began to grow warm, as if she was surrounded by fire, the shouts of those who were burned alive in her home's destruction echoed in her head.
The dragon turned it's attention towards the young huntress, it's eyes fixed on the girls destruction. Ruby could do nothing to stop it, her own body paralyzed at the sight. She felt as if it were the end, and she was finally able to close her eyes, almost as if she was just accepting death.
The pain never came, a blood curdling scream, different to that of the dragon, taking it's place.
AN: Yep, I left it on a cliffhanger. I know, I'm a terrible person because of cliffhangers, but it's honestly the best way to end this chapter. You guys are certainly awesome and would easily see why it had to be done, because there's no other way to do it.
Anyway, thanks for reading this chapter of Burning Rose and I hope you enjoyed what you read.