RWBY is property of Roosterteeth! I only own my characters.
CHAPTER 18
"All units be advised, additional Order forces closing from the Southwest. The distress beacon has been activated. I am deploying additional platoons now. Fall back to gateway position. Repeat, fall back to the gateway."
Sven nodded to himself as Admiral Dietrich's message broadcast to all EDC and Guardian forces in the area. The Maw of the Abyss was still valiantly holding out against the larger force of smaller Order ships, though sizable sections of its hull had been peeled away by missiles and plasma. As Dietrich had promised, a wave of transports and gunships was beginning to descend on the city to lend their support.
"Sam," the Reaper spoke into his own radio, "go ahead and make a move for the gate when you get a chance. I'll grab Rei and follow."
"Gotcha," Sam replied. "Hold up for a sec." A trio of rifle cracks echoed off the ruined buildings, followed by the shrieks of a Banshee that had managed to pass Sven's notice. "See you at the gate. Don't take too long."
Sven broke off towards Rei's position, taking swings at Shades and Order troops with his scythe as he ran. A moment of respite presented itself as Sven left the area where the fighting was heaviest, allowing the Reaper to slow his pace. A part of him regretted the decision, as some of his adrenaline subsided and he became aware of the lancing pain across his body.
His fight with Ion had not gone off without a hitch. The Lord's lightning-based attacks had successfully overloaded the Guardian's shields and left patches of severe burns across both the armor and Sven's skin underneath. He winced in pain, concentrating to activate his quickened healing. Not for the first time, Sven idly wished that his regenerative ability was automatic instead of needing his direct input.
Ion and Enmity had retreated not too long after Eve had left, due in no small part to Rei breaking several the female Lord's ribs. Left without his partner, Ion had fallen back, but had continued to let his sizable force attempt to seize the EDC position.
Sven became aware of further injuries on his person, including several bullet wounds and what felt like a dislocated shoulder. He quickly dealt with the arm so his ability to fight wasn't hindered, but decided to save his dwindling energy for dealing with Rei's inevitable injuries. The wreckage of a large car flew across the Reaper's field of view.
"There he is," Sven whispered out loud. Rei was a good friend and a peerless brute in a fight, but he wasn't exactly what someone would call "subtle". Upon rounding the corner from where the vehicle had flown, Sven bore witness to Rei finishing off a Behemoth by clubbing its head off with a streetlamp. The Rage Inheritor's beast-like visage snapped towards the Reaper, letting out a growl as if he were awaiting instructions. "Dietrich's dropping in the big guns to help mop up the rest of the Order. He wants us to head back to the gateway."
Rei's head inclined once to nod his understanding. He deactivated his ability, the dark gray armor that had covered him fading into black mist. Without the plating supporting him, the Rage Inheritor began to fall. Thankfully, Sven was used to doing this, and was ready to support his friend.
Rei looked absolutely terrible. Blood streamed from his left nostril and corner of his mouth. His legs were barely holding him up, and his right arm hung limply at his side. Sven assumed that he was likely sporting several broken ribs and more bruises than he could ever hope to count as well.
"Alright, what's the most pressing beyond the legs and arm?" the Reaper asked, carefully lowering and leaning Rei against a wall and going to work with his ability on his friend's injured limbs.
"I can survive the rest," Rei adamantly coughed out, leaving a small amount of blood on his gauntlet as he covered his mouth with his fist.
"Sounds like a punctured lung," Sven stated, placing his right hand over the organ in question and concentrating. "There. I'll leave the rest of your idiotic pride intact."
"Thanks."
"No problem. Now, let's get moving to the gateway." Sven offered Rei his hand to allow the other Guardian to stand up.
The pair worked their way back towards the EDC position, the sounds of gunshots and the steady pulse of artillery fire drawing ever closer. By this point, Sven had deactivated his Bloodline ability to conserve as much energy as possible. The pair of Guardians stepped out onto a main road that gave them a straight path to the gateway's location.
A wall of Shades stood between them and the EDC, all varieties of the shadowy puppets swarming about like Piranhas. Blasts of fire erupted among their numbers as the EDC artillery strikes impacted the ground. The Maw above them had reduced all but six of its opponents to burning slag, and continued to trade fire with the remainder.
"Sam," Sven tapped his radio, "looks like our planned path to you is blocked. You got a work-around?"
"Hold on, let me find you... There you both are," Sam replied. Sven caught a glimpse of scope glare from the top of a mostly-intact skyscraper near their destination. "The Order has the ground routes locked down, but it's turned into a stalemate for the moment. You might be able to pick your way through them if they haven't noticed you."
"Copy that," Sven nodded. "What do you think, Rei? Up for a little more fighting?"
"I don't think we'll have to," Rei answered, "Take a look." The Rage Inheritor pointed at the sky. Bubbles of distorted space began to form in the air, rippling and shimmering. The mirage-like entities burst open into over a dozen portals, through which ships bearing EDC insignias arrived.
"This is EDC-MATF-Naval Group 12, responding to your distress beacon. We are en-route to assist."
"Cavalry sure took its time getting here," Rei commented.
"Ah, crap," Sam muttered aloud as he gazed on the damaged form of his gateway. The EDC was now in the process of mopping up the last of the Order forces. When the additional allied vessels had shown up, Ion and Enmity had promptly retreated with their remaining ships.
The fighting had left the gateway in poor condition. Bullet holes spat sparks angrily, and the device's power supply was leaking pools of bright cyan coolant. The problems just seemed to be piling up.
"How long do you think it'd take to fix it?" Sven asked from his seat nearby on a piece of rubble. Rei was elsewhere, having his additional injuries treated by an EDC medic.
"No idea at the moment, but there's a more pressing concern."
"What's that?"
"The-" Sam's explanation was drowned out as an EDC Dragonfly dropship came to a hovering stop above them and began to lower itself to the ground. A single passenger disembarked the craft. A Guardian with long blood-red hair in a functional ponytail. She waved a farewell to the pilot of the transport that had dropped her off and turned her bright green eyes towards the other two Guardians.
"Sven! Are you okay?" she yelled as she ran over.
"Still in one piece, El. Don't worry."
"Really? Then why are you leaving a trail of blood?" she narrowed her eyes at him before roughly placing a hand over the injuries. She closed her eyes for a moment and the wounds stopped bleeding and closed. "What have I said about staying safe?"
"He doesn't listen because you constantly heal him if he goes overboard," Sam supplied. "Evening, Elise."
"Hi, Sam," the redhead nodded. "Well, if Sven isn't going to take care of himself, I guess it's up to me."
"You're the best little sister, you know that?" Sven stated, smiling at the banter.
"Flattery isn't gonna let you off the hook," Elise smirked. "So what's happening here?"
"I was explaining the status of the gateway," Sam gestured to the damaged device. "The system isn't picking up the beacon we sent through before. It's possible that either the transmitter or the gate itself has been desynchronized due to damage. That, or the transmitter was never activated."
"Wait," Sven stood up from his seated position, "please don't tell me that we ended up stranding Eve."
"What?" Elise's ears perked up, "What does Eve have to do with this?"
"We sent her through the gate earlier along with a beacon for the gate to open in a specific location. However, that signal isn't working," Sam explained.
"Why'd you send her through by herself!?" Elise demanded.
"Sam was supposed to go with her, but the portal closed before he got through," Sven said placatingly. He put a hand on Elise's shoulder, getting her to take a deep breath and calm down.
"Sam," the female Guardian breathed out slowly, "Fix the gateway as soon as you can to send another beacon through. I'll take it myself while you work on finishing the repairs."
"That's exceedingly risky," Sam replied,"but not impossible. I can construct a second beacon and get the gate to open a small portal with a few days of time... but you realize that you'll have to search for Eve on your own. There's no guarantee that you'll pop out where she did."
"You sure you don't want me to come along as well?" Sven asked.
"No, you and Rei need to rest and defend this side," Elise shook her head. "I can't really trust anyone more than you two to do that. Don't worry, I'll find her-" Sven cut her off, placing both his hands on her shoulders.
"-'Because that's what family does'. I know."
"Got everything packed?" Luna asked, settling in next to Alex on a couch in Ruby and Yang's home.
"Yeah," the blond soldier nodded. "We should be good to go tomorrow." Luna edged closer and hugged his arm.
"It was kinda short, but it was fun, right?"
"It was. Shame it has to come to an end, but that's how life goes," Alex shrugged.
"Back to the old grind," Luna smiled and winked at him.
"I guess so," Alex chuckled. Luna yawned. "If you want to turn in for the day, I'll be there in a bit. Just gotta shoot a message to Dimitri and the others letting them know when we'll arrive."
"Alright," Luna quickly kissed him, "just don't stay up too long." The blue-haired woman rose from her seat and gave Alex a parting wave as she ascended the stairs of the house. The blond soldier quickly typed out a quick text to Dimitri, letting the Russian know they would be arriving in Vale around noon. His old friend responded quickly with an affirmation and let Alex know that he would meet them when they got back.
A series of footsteps caused the EDC Major to look up. Ryland sat down across from him, an oddly muted expression on his face. Alex placed his scroll on the coffee table and sat up to speak with his fellow soldier.
"What's up?" he inquired, tilting his head slightly.
"Nothing, really," Ryland sighed. "Just... thinking about home..."
"Your parents?" Alex said understandingly.
"Yeah..." the orange-haired boy nodded. "It just hit me... that they probably think they lost both their kids to the war back home... I dunno, meeting with Yang's Dad just started me thinking."
"Well, you're definitely more complicated than you'd have people believe," a voice commented. The two soldiers turned to find Qrow leaning against the doorway to the house's kitchen, a bottle of some sort of alcohol in his hand. He took a gulp of the liquor before continuing to speak. "Guess I can respect that. People tend to look at you sideways if you share everything." Qrow sat down roughly next to Alex. "The ability to keep things to yourself, even from people you trust... guess that's both a blessing and a curse."
Alex noticed Ryland's expression fall a bit, likely because he felt guilty for not sharing how he felt with Yang. He noticed that Qrow seemed to be observing them.
"I don't think Ryland was planning on keeping it from Yang forever," Alex commented, shooting the young soldier a glance, "right?"
"Y- yeah. Right," Ryland nodded quickly.
"Well, it ain't none of my business what you keep locked up in your own head. But, I need you both to do something for me..." Qrow's expression sobered. "I have a message from Ozpin. He says that there is something he needs to speak to you EDC-types about. But, he says if you aren't capable of keeping what he wants to say secret, that you can back out now." The Huntsman paused as the two soldiers eyed him warily. "So, what'll it be?"
A/N: This one turned out okay, I think. Pacing might be a tad off.
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