Jaune poked the fire he had been letting die for the past few hours. He had been woken up for the final watch, so as the sun had started to crest above the angular mountains that surrounded the forest, Jaune had barely stoked the embers to keep the heat radiating out of the fire pit. He hadn't bothered adding any fresh fuel. The sun would be up soon and they wouldn't need the heat anymore.
He looked across the smouldering ashes at Ruby. The younger girl had dozed off on her hand about an hour ago, but Jaune hadn't woken her up. Everyone was utterly exhausted, and he didn't want to steal her sleep away. Now though, it was dawn, and Jaune knew that everyone should start waking up soon. They needed to do some scouting and reconnaissance as well as figure out a way to get on the dust plane that was going to arrive tomorrow. He walked around the small circle of stones and shook Ruby's shoulder lightly. The younger girl's eyes slid open slowly and she looked up at Jaune. When she saw him her eyes flew wide open.
"Did I fall asleep?" She asked. "I did didn't I? Sorry Jaune." She said, and Jaune chuckled.
"It's fine." He replied, giving her a soft smile. "You looked like you needed the rest."
"Yeah, I think we all do." Her voice was chipper and upbeat, but Jaune could hear the fatigue slowing her speech.
The two walked over to where their teammates were sleeping under the small shelter they had made out of sticks and branches. Jaune looked down at his teammates, and even in their sleep they looked tired. The one that worried him most though was Nora. She had always been upbeat and energetic, but she seemed to be suffering badly from the long treks that the party had undertaken in the past few days. Being Nora, she had to look at every butterfly or flower that they came across, and expended a lot of extra energy in the process. She had deep shadows under her eyes, and Jaune sighed slightly in guilt as he shook her shoulder to wake her up.
"Pancakes!" The cry came the instant he touched her shoulder, and Nora was immediately awake. Next to her, Ren sat up immediately, looking around, his twin pistols drawn. He saw Nora, and dropped them back into his sleeves.
"When we get back, perhaps." He said to her, then the two got out of their sleeping bags. They didn't pack anything up though. If all went to plan, then they would be sleeping in the same spot that night. There was no need to pack it up. Jaune finally kneeled next to Pyrrha, her long red locks flowing around her head. One strand had made its way over her face, and Jaune tucked it behind her ear before gently calling her name.
"Pyrrha? Time to wake up." At the sound of his voice, her emerald eyes cracked open. She looked at him and simply nodded. An instant later she was standing next to Jaune and the rest of their teammates. "Alright team JNPR, looks like its gonna be a-"
PHWEET!
There was an ear splitting whistle across from them and Jaune clapped his hands over his ears. He looked over to see Ruby with a small silver whistle in her hands and all of her teammates scrabbling around in their bedsheets in sudden panic. The three other members of team RWBY finally came to and glared at their leader. Weiss stood up in a huff and grabbed the whistle from Ruby's mouth, snapping the small string that went around Ruby's neck. Weiss tossed it to Yang.
"Would you like to do the honours this time?" Weiss asked the blonde.
"My pleasure!" Yang said happily, tossing the whistle on the ground. Her arm came back and her wristlets snapped into place around her fist. There was a loud bang, then her fist came down on the poor little piece of metal, utterly obliterating it.
"Please tell me you don't have any more of those." Blake said, rubbing her ears underneath her bow. Jaune laughed a little at the scene in front of him.
"Do you three want me to start waking you up like that?" He asked, inclining his head to his teammates. He was met with three blank stares. "I'll take that as a maybe then." He said, chuckling.
A few minutes later, the eight of them sat in a circle around the dead fire. Jaune looked around the circle of his friends, each one as tired as the previous. Coming here a day early had been the right call. They needed rest, and even though they had had to push themselves harder to get there earlier, if they took the whole day to relax it should more than make up for it.
"Alright," Jaune began, organizing his thoughts before speaking. "We're going to have an easy day today. We'll separate into teams and see if we can scout a way into the old outpost. Once we get back, we'll rest and plan out how we're going to get in."
"Keep your eyes open." Ruby added. "With that many Grimm, we probably won't be able to find an easy way."
"Unorthodox, just great." Weiss said flatly.
"Oh lighten up!" Yang reprimanded her teammate.
"Once we get to the outpost, we'll be ready for extraction then." Blake said, looking at Jaune levelly.
"Well," He laughed a little nervously. "Not exactly. We have no idea what's waiting for us in the outpost." The group was silent for a moment. "With the dust planes that have been flying in, I assume that someone else is in there. So we're going to try and time it so we get in just as our ride gets here."
"And if they're late? It's not exactly like they know what's going on here." Blake cut in, her voice a little exasperated.
"Hey," Ruby said, holding her hands up in front of her appeasingly. "No matter what way you twist this, we don't have a whole lot of choices. We need to get to the tower, which is surrounded by Grimm and possibly inhabited by a rogue group of outlaws."
"I for one would prefer not to stay in there longer than we have to." Weiss said, nodding to her team leader.
"It's settled then." Ren finished. Jaune looked at his friend thankfully. His team didn't speak up a whole lot when it came to meetings like this. Nora never really cared as long as she got to hit stuff eventually, Pyrrha had always been supportive of his decisions, and Ren just hardly ever spoke. When Ren added something, people listened. It made Jaune's life a lot easier.
"Are we splitting into our partnerships or teams?" Pyrrha spoke up from beside Jaune.
"We'll go in pairs. We have a pretty good idea where all the Grimm near here are, so there's no real reason to stay in full teams. We'll cover more ground if we split up."
"Everyone ready?" Ruby asked the party. Her question was met with a chorus of affirmations, and everyone paired up with their partners. Jaune and Pyrrha packed their bags side by side, and within ten minutes, the clearing where they had slept emptied as the four groups moved silently into the forest.
/
Ruby walked through the forest beside Weiss, both of them being careful not to talk. From their camp, they had come to the edge of where the trees thinned out and the sea of Grimm began, and were now walking along the fringe of the trees. Neither of them dared to whisper a word, and they stepped silently. No more than fifty paces from them was the largest congregation of Grimm that Ruby had ever seen, and despite being confident in her combat abilities, she didn't feel like taking on hundreds of Grimm.
They had been scouring the edge of the forest for over an hour, trying to figure out a way to sneak into the deserted scouting outpost to no avail. Ruby wasn't about to give up though. They had to find a way in, there was no room for failure. She looked at some of the higher trees, hoping they might have some long branches that might get them partway there, but she couldn't see anything that would bring them anywhere close to where they needed to go.
Ruby felt a tap on her shoulder, and turned to see Weiss tilt her head back towards the woods. Her partner wanted to take a break, and Ruby nodded. They walked away from the clearing until Ruby was confident that none of the Grimm would hear them.
"If only we had a few giant Nevermore." She said sadly.
"You can't be serious."
"We need to get in there Weiss, no matter what."
"Oh yeah, why don't we just ride a Goliath into the outpost? That seems like fun too." Ruby looked at her partner, a spark of energy flaring up in her eyes.
"Weiss!" She exclaimed. "You're a genius!" The heiress looked at her, absolute shock plastered on her face.
"No! We are not riding a Goliath, Ruby Rose. Don't be absurd."
"Well why not? It's tall enough that the other Grimm couldn't reach us."
"And how do you propose we get it to go where we want? It wouldn't work, we need something more concrete."
Ruby sighed. Weiss was right. They couldn't ride a Goliath around, no matter how much the idea would excite Nora. She had just gotten excited because it was an idea of some kind. Ruby sighed, wracking her mind for any way they might get to the old scouting outpost. They couldn't go straight to the outpost thanks to the Grimm, and they couldn't jump to it. There weren't any trees that would get them close enough, and even with the help of dust, they wouldn't make it. Unless..
"Hey Weiss, you remember the first time we fought as a team?"
"Against the Nevermore?"
"Yeah, we slung Gambol Shroud between two pillars and you fired me through the air."
"You're thinking we can do the same here?"
"If we connect Gambol Shroud to two trees, you can fire one person off at a time, and you can come last. We jump to the ruins instead of trying to find a way to walk in." Weiss looked at her, hmm-ing in affirmation.
"There is one problem though." Weiss said pointedly, and Ruby lowered her eyes.
"We'd have to leave Gambol Shroud behind."
"Exactly." Weiss affirmed.
Ruby knew what it was she would be asking Blake to do. Being the team leader, she had taken it upon herself to learn as much as she could about her teammates since she had come to Beacon, and she knew that Blake had come from a life where she had almost nothing. As far as Ruby could tell, a dusty, leather bound notebook, a few bows, a couple changes of clothes and Gambol Shroud were all that Blake had owned since she was a child. Blake had given up that life, but nonetheless, her weapon had been with her through a lot. All of her hardships in the White Fang, fighting Roman and even the Grimm she had encountered since then she had faced with Gambol Shroud. Ruby cherished Crescent Rose, and with everything her scythe had gotten her through, Ruby would be hard pressed to ever give it up. She could imagine Blake's attachment to her weapon would be just as, if not more, profound.
"Alright," Ruby said, realizing she hadn't spoken for a moment. "If anyone has a good plan other than that, we don't bring it up. But if we can't find another way to get to the top of the hill, we might have to ask Blake to give up Gambol Shroud."
"I know," Weiss said softly. "I just don't like the thought of it. This should have been an easy mission. There weren't supposed to be hordes of Grimm or possible rogue bandits hiding in the extraction point."
"Well, we're pretty much huntresses now. It's our job is to be ready even when we can't possibly prepare for what comes at us. After tomorrow, we'll be back at Beacon and we can talk to Ozpin about this, maybe get some real huntsmen and huntresses to come and flush out whoever's in there. Let's just focus on getting on board the dust plane tomorrow."
Ruby met Weiss' pale blue eyes, and her partner nodded at her. Ruby smiled back at Weiss, then the two moved on. They went back to the forest edge, trying to find anything else they could use to reach the scouting outpost, but they came up empty handed. As the sun started to peak, the pair headed back to camp. Everyone had decided to meet up at noon after scouting and share what they had found. Ruby and Weiss were the first ones back, and the two opened their backpacks to pull out some food for lunch.
Ruby looked at her partner furtively, making sure Weiss wasn't watching her. Sure that the heiress was preoccupied with finding her own food, Ruby reached into a pouch in her bag and pulled out a small chocolate chip cookie. She popped it in her mouth and took a bite, letting the wonderful taste of chocolate flood her mouth. Ruby smiled contently, closing her eyes and letting the wonderful taste envelop her.
"Hey! What do you have there?" Weiss' voice had an accusatory tone, and Ruby's eyes shot open. She looked at her partner guiltily.
"Nph-mm." She tried to say around her mouthful of cookie. She took a few quick chomps and swallowed the cookie. "Um, nothing?" She corrected, but it came out more as a question.
"Cookies again?" Weiss reprimanded, her hands on her hips.
"Yes," Ruby admitted, lowering her gaze.
"Just don't let Nora find them." Weiss rolled her eyes, and Ruby grinned. It wasn't so long ago that Weiss would have shouted at her for bringing an 'unnecessary luxury' on a mission.
Ruby pulled out her real lunch, a few slices of cheese and some bread, and quickly made her cheese sandwich. Most food would spoil after a few days out in the wilderness, so their menu options had been limited. Having Ren around helped a lot for dinners, but other than that, food on the mission was pretty bland. Weiss pulled out some canned tuna and dug into it.
"Something smells good." Came the familiar sound of Blake's voice behind them. Ruby turned to see the faunus girl's ears twitch slightly as she smelled the tuna. Yang and Blake sat beside Ruby and Weiss, and the four of them gathered around the fire pit to eat their meals. Blake, of course, had grabbed a can of fish for herself, and Yang had pulled out some dehydrated meat.
"So, did you two find anything?" Ruby asked. She would have waited for Jaune and his team to return before talking about the scouting, but she was really hoping that her sister and her partner had found something. Ruby didn't want to have to bring up the plan her and Weiss had come up with.
"No, I don't know how we're going to get into the ruins. Between the Grimm and the shelter of the forest thinning out near the hill, there's not much we can do." Yang said, though she seemed unfazed.
"Maybe JNPR have found something." Blake suggested.
"Nope!" Jaune called as he walked into the clearing, his team behind him. "We met up with Nora and Ren on the way back, neither of us have anything." The blond leader sat down with a heavy sigh. "We have to figure something out soon. You four didn't find anything at all?" Jaune looked up and met Ruby's eyes.
Inside her mind, Ruby was struggling. She was torn between telling everyone her plan and protecting Blake. If there was a chance that they could find any other possibility, Ruby didn't want to sacrifice Blake's weapon. On the other hand, her responsibility was to everyone, not just Blake. That's what it meant to be a leader, and they would all be trapped if they didn't get into the scouting outpost. It was her duty to tell them. Weiss looked at her, and Ruby nodded at her, giving her permission to speak.
"Ruby actually came up with a plan, but we wanted to see if anyone else had any better ideas first."
"Why?" Blake said with a bit of a laugh in her voice. "How bad can it be?"
"We are talking about the same Ruby that thought piggy-backing a Nevermore was a good idea." Yang reminded her partner.
"What is it?" Pyrrha asked Ruby.
"Do you remember back during initiation when we killed the Nevermore? Weiss launched me off of Gambol Shroud. If we could stick Blake's whip into two trees, we could fire everyone into the structure one at a time. Weiss would come in last, but we'd all get into the outpost."
"Wait, but then what happens to Gambol Shroud?" Yang said, her voice tense.
"We'd have to leave it behind." Jaune mused, his brow creasing. Ruby looked over at Blake, but she couldn't read her friend's face. Blake looked back at her, and their eyes locked. There was a long pause.
"Okay," The faunus said finally, nodding her head and unsheathing her weapon. It collapsed into its pistol form, and she tossed it to Ruby who caught it deftly. The other girl turned away and started to walk, but Yang laid a hand on her shoulder.
"Blake, you don't have to. We can find another way." Yang spoke softly, and Blake turned back a bit to face her.
"There is no other way." Blake stated flatly. "We can't fight our way in, and we don't have the ability to drop in from the air. The plan makes sense." She turned away as she finished speaking.
Everyone else was silent as Blake walked back towards their lean-to. She sat down on her sleeping mat and then was still. Guilt rumbled through Ruby's stomach. Asking someone to give up a weapon was asking them to give up a part of themselves. Jaune walked over to her and laid a hand on her shoulder comfortingly.
"It's alright. You had to ask her or we'd all be stuck out here."
"I know, but it doesn't make it any better." Jaune nodded in agreement, but didn't say another word.
The rest of the afternoon was spent resting. Most people took naps, but Ruby didn't feel like sleeping. She just sat by the fire pit with her maintenance kit making sure Crescent Rose was in prime condition. She didn't know why, but she had the feeling that she would need it the next day. She kept an eye on the tower throughout the afternoon, trying to see if there was anything that might give away whatever the ruins were concealing, but she saw nothing out of the ordinary. As dinner approached, Jaune waved her over to where he was sitting a little ways from the lean-to. She walked over and sat beside him.
"What's up Jaune?"
"Just wanted to talk to you about the order of the launch tomorrow. I want to know who you think should go first."
"Why does it matter?"
"It shouldn't, but I want to be prepared. Just in case we meet someone on the other side." Ruby thought for a second. If they did meet opposition right away, it would make sense to have the better combatants go first. She and Pyrrha had the best combat scores of the eight of them.
"Pyrrha and I first." Ruby suggested. Jaune nodded.
"I'm thinking Pyrrha and I go first. We both have shields, so we could defend better if we're outnumbered while everyone else lands. We'll be able to cover the rest of you coming in. Then you next for sure."
"Makes sense." Ruby said. Though Ruby would be more than capable of defending herself, she wouldn't be able to do anything for her friends trying to land. Once Pyrrha and Jaune landed, the two would be able to make a shield wall for everyone else to land behind. "I think Blake should come second last. She's only going to have her sheath to fight with."
"Good point." Jaune smiled at her. "So Pyrrha, me, you, Yang, Ren, Nora, Blake, then Weiss?"
"Sounds like a plan." Ruby said with a nod.
The two made their way back to the campfire. Ren had started it up again to cook some more food for the night, and everyone else was crowding around to get their share. Jaune told everyone about the plan for the next day, and they all agreed. Once dinner was finished, they set up the watch schedule for the night, and everyone got into bed. Ruby didn't have to go on watch until just past midnight, so she happily tucked herself into her sleeping bag. Even though they had taken the day off, she was still extremely tired. It only took a few moments from when her head hit her travel mat for her to fall asleep.
/
Blake's eyes opened as she felt a hand touch her shoulder, and she tensed immediately. She looked around, realizing it was still dark out. The stars shone through the treetops, blotted out temporarily by small petals drifting lazily overhead every so often. Her eyes finally focused on Yang.
"Good morning!" She sang. Blake rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless. "It's yours and Ruby's turn for watch. Come on, up and at 'em."
Blake rolled out of her sleeping bag, seeing Ruby do the same a few beds down. They made their way over to the campfire, and sat in front of the warm coals, stoking the fire every so often. The winter winds had started blowing through the northern reaches of Forever Fall, so it was a cool night, and Blake wished she had thought to bring a jacket. The cool air pricked her bare arms, making her shiver and huddle up closer to the fire.
"Hey, Blake," Ruby said from across the fire pit. "I just want to say I'm sorry. I didn't want to suggest using Gambol Shroud."
"It's alright," Blake answered, though the thought still brought her some sadness. She loved her weapon. It had been the only constant in her life. Between the radical changes in the White Fang, the chaotic missions, abandoning that life in favour of Beacon, and everything that had happened since, Gambol Shroud had always been strapped to her back or held in her hand. The thought of leaving it behind was like the thought of leaving behind a little bit of who she was, but she understood the necessity. "We have to make it to the ruins or we'll be stranded out here. With this many Grimm out in Forever Fall, I wouldn't give ourselves much time before being overrun. We have to do it."
Ruby nodded to her in thanks, but the two didn't speak much after that. Blake didn't really feel like making small talk right now. She was tired, a little upset, and consequently, irritable. Fortunately, her team leader seemed to pick up on her mood and didn't try to start a conversation. Eventually the light of the moon and stars faded as the sun began to rise. Once it had broken the horizon, Blake and Ruby woke their teammates along with team JNPR. Fortunately, the one they had broken yesterday had in fact been Ruby's last whistle, so Blake didn't have to worry about the high pitched shriek of the metal. Blake rolled up her sleeping bag and travel mat, stuffing them into her backpack. The bag was essentially empty now. There were two cans of tuna, a few water purification tablets and her notebook alongside her sleep equipment, but other than that, she had nothing with her. They needed to get out of Forever Fall today. If they didn't, they would run out of supplies quickly.
Once she had everything packed and ready to go, she waited by the campfire as everyone else got ready to go. Once the rest of them were packed, they dismantled the lean-to and hid it's components as well as dousing the fire and scattering the rocks that had made up the pit. There wasn't a whole lot they could do about the scorch marks, but no one really cared. The chances of them being tailed this far into the wilderness were slim to none, and they would be out of the forest by noon if all went according to plan.
The party moved out from the camp, some of them chatting idly as they walked towards the edge of the forest. Blake didn't say a word. Yang cast a few worried glances at her as they walked, but Blake would just look away and her partner didn't press the matter. They finally came to a spot between two large, thick, tall trees and Ruby pulled up.
"This looks like it'll , take this tree, I've got that one." Ruby said, indicating the nearest tree first and then the one a bit further away. The two scaled about halfway up their respective trees before Blake heard the familiar shot of her whip being fired. Gambol Shroud whirled through the air, and Yang caught it. The blond wrapped the long strap around the tree, then buried the blade in the trunk to secure it. Ruby tied the other end of the cord around her tree, then the sisters descended.
"Alright, Pyrrha and I are going to go first." Jaune stated, looking at the two teams. "We'll use our shields to create a wall as the rest of you land behind us. There shouldn't be anyone there, but we need to be prepared. Yang, you follow, the Ren and Nora should go. Blake, you come second last since you only have your sheath. Weiss, of course, will come last."
"Got it," Ren said stoically. They all lined up in front of Gambol Shroud except for Weiss, who stood behind it. Pyrrha climbed up a nearby tree, then tossed her shield in front of her. She landed on her shield as it met the cord, and Gambol Shroud stretched like the string of a bow. One of Weiss' glyphs appeared behind the redhead, stabilizing her and drawing her down towards the ground. Once Pyrrha had stilled, Weiss held her sword up and swung it down. The black glyph turned red, and Pyrrha was launched into the distance. Jaune had already climbed the tree, and as Pyrrha was sent rocketing towards the tower, he jumped onto the cable. One by one, her friends were sent into the distance until Blake followed last. She hopped onto the cord and found she didn't have to keep her balance. Weiss' glyph pinned her in place, and a moment later, she felt her old weapon's cord tighten. Blake was flung into the air as though she weighed nothing. She reached the peak of her trajectory a few meters above one of the tower's windows and tucked into a ball. She passed through the shattered glass, feeling a small shard pressing cut her skin as she rolled onto the short platform of wood that hadn't collapsed yet. She was three stories above the ground floor, and saw a hole in the roof of a room below her. She could see her friends on the ground floor, and she dropped down behind Pyrrha and Jaune who were directly below her. She landed in a crouch, and stood again to exam the room.
The first thing she noticed was that there was no dust. She had been expecting a layer of grime and dust to be coating everything around her, seeming as the place had supposedly been abandoned a long time ago. The interior, however, seemed in fine condition. It was a small room, maybe twice the size of her dorm back in Beacon, with shattered windows lining its back wall. On the right end of the room there was a small door in the center of the wall. She looked down at the floor, noticing it was made of some sort of metal with no rust markings on it. It was new. Blake's eyes continued to search the room, and then they fell on the reason why nobody had made a move yet. Across from them, standing in the center of the room, were Emerald, Mercury and a handful of White Fang soldiers. What are they doing here? Blake wondered. The White Fang had no reason to be out in the middle of Forever Fall. And why are Emerald and Mercury here?
"Um, what?" Ruby said, mirroring the confusion of the seven other students.
"Come on kiddos, we've got a lot of work to do!" The call rang through the room from the door on the right, and Blake froze, every muscle in her body becoming rigid. That was a voice she would recognize anywhere. It was a voice that had haunted her mind for months during her first year at Beacon. It was the voice of the man who had almost destroyed Vale two and a half years ago. She turned towards the door slowly, dreading what she would see.
Roman Torchwick walked through the door, wearing the exact same clothes as he had been last time she had seen him. That white coat, the black bowler and even his damn cane. He froze when he saw them, and his other companion, Neo he had called her, walked in behind him. She cocked her head at them but didn't say a word. Roman studied the eight of them, and Blake didn't dare move a muscle. She was shaking, anger overwhelming her. Roman Torchwick embodied everything that Blake had tried to escape, and he was standing here in front of her, free once again.
"Hello everyone!" He said, his mouth twisting into a grin as he removed his cigar from his mouth. He tossed it on the ground and stomped it out with his cane. "Neo, why didn't you tell me we were having a party today?"
So that chapter was a bit longer than most, but I was getting so tired of exposition! I just wanted to get to the part where we meet Torchwick again (I know you all saw this coming). This is when the plot really gets rolling, so I just wanted to get to the first really exciting part of the story. Next chapter should be fun, and be out next weekend! Any peer review, criticism and thoughts are always more than welcome! Other than that, see you all with the next (and finally exciting) chapters!
-Unjax