Ch 19: The Phantom Pain PTIII

The two of us had a great weekend at the Schnee's vacation. We went to the beach and into the town, enjoying the local cuisine. By Sunday we already wanted to return to Beacon, to our friends. We put our luggage into the car and Blake locked the door to the house. Wow, we had a really great weekend. "Mako, I just locked the door, let's go. I can't wait to see all our friends again, no offense." Blake stated as she got into the car.

I started the engine to the car, "No, I completely understand, I miss them too. At least we had a good time with each other." Putting the car into drive, we pulled out of the circle driveway and onto the quiet country road.

"You are right, we did have a good time this weekend. It was nice to spend time with just you." Blake said this and then closed her amber eyes. "Wake me when we get there, I'm exhausted." The ride back to the city of Vale was quiet. Not just because Blake was asleep, but also because I saw few cars on the road. This is weird, normally these roads have a good amount of cars on them. I shrugged this observation off as I continued to drive through the mountains before Vale City.

After about 2 ½ hours I could see something in the distance, it was burning. God no, how could this happen? I quickly waked up Blake with my right arm, tapping her on her shoulder. "Blake, wake up, you need to see something."

"What, what is it Mako? We aren't even back yet." She mutters in a sleepy and cranky mood. I don't say a word, instead I merely point at the horizon. It was jet black with smoke billowing from the fires that now as we got closer to the city seemed to be slowly engulfing it. It has to be another Grimm attack. I stepped even harder on the gas as the car picked up speed as we sped around the last few turns in the valley before the city. We then realized the scale of what was happening.

The City of Vale was burning, it reminds me too much of what happened to Atlas. "Blake, we have to get to Beacon. I can only imagine it is stuck right in the middle of all of this." I told her this as she readied Gambol Shroud. The roads are empty, where are the Grimm? "Also Blake, can you hand me my revolver and be on the lookout for the Grimm. I'm just seeing empty streets with burning buildings." She simply nods, reaches into the glove box and hands me my weapon. I use my right hand to ready it as I holster it onto my chest, all while still driving.

"Mako, it's too quiet. Are you sure Grimm would act like this?" She asks me with a now worried face. Don't tell her you have no idea what could possibly be happening. Tell her this will all be fine, that it's probably all over by now.

"Blake, we are probably hearing nothing because the fighting's already over. I can imagine the Grimm probably just went back into the forest. She looks at me, unamused by my attempt to lie to her.

"Mako, I know when you're lying. What do you think is happening?"

"Fine, you got me. I was lying, I think it's just the WF, no Grimm. Like you said, we would be able to hear them." We sit in silence until we reach Beacon, well what remains of Beacon. What did they do to our school? I stop the car as Blake and I get out and look upon the devastation left. The once proud spire that acted as a symbol of hope during the Great War and the War with the Grimm was now a hollow shell of what it once was, its tower destroyed. Flames were engulfing what was left of the school. Well the part of the school we could see from this side.

"Oh my gosh are those students?" Blake yells as she covers her mouth pointing at a group of bodies strewn across the lawn of the school. It seems as if a few of our fellow students tried to make a last stand. I quickly ran over to the group of bodies, searching for survivors, hoping no one from JNPR or the rest of team RWBY were among them. I kept searching, luckily I found no one from either team amongst the dead. All of a sudden, I heard two moaning voices coming from beneath a fallen beam, near the entrance to the school. I quickly ran towards the sound while Blake sat near the care watching from the edge of the perimeter, making sure no one snuck up on me.

I quickly lifted the beam up revealing a recognizable shield with a moon on it. "Jaune! Jaune are you okay?" I scream at the top of my lungs. Who was the other person though? It seems as if he was protecting him or her.

Jaune pushed the shield to the side revealing himself and Pyrrha. I had a feeling they would be with each other. Neither one of them say a word as they realize that someone has freed them from beneath the fallen Beam. They must be in shock. "Blake! Blake come over here, grab Pyrrha and put her in the car. I'll grab Jaune." Without hesitation Blake runs over to help pick up Pyrrha.

Pyrrha too weak to say anything else merely says "Thank you" to Blake as she sets her in the back seat of the car. I turn back to Jaune preparing to lift him up, all of a sudden he starts to speak. "Why did you come back?"

"Jaune, I'm confused what do you mean 'why did I comeback'?" I reply to his question with my own. I glance down at him. The blood and scrapes on him don't appear to be too bad, he should be fine if I can get him somewhere safe.

"The school was evacuated hours ago, Beacon's security measures didn't even see them coming," Jaune mutters beneath his breath, "Mako, they were coming for you." I look back at Blake, she too, had heard this.

"Jaune, I need to ask you one more thing. Did the rest of your team make it out, did Weiss, Yang, and Ruby make it out?" I ask him as I clench my fist.

"Yea they made it out, some weird guys in armor with the insignia GICD came and helped hold them back long enough so the majority of the school could evacuate. The rest of my team and RWBY were among them. I think some of those guys still might be near the dorm block, still holding their position. Maybe you can go help them Mako." I look from Jaune to Blake.

"Blake, put them both in the car. If I don't come back sooner or later, or if I don't make contact with you, drive them back to the Schnee's vacation home. Vale City is no longer safe." A look of disbelief arises on her face after I say this. "Blake, don't worry I will be fine, I'm just going to look for more survivors. Also this should go without saying, I love you Blake Belladonna." I move Jaune into the car and make my way towards the dormitories block. I begin to hear gunfire and shouts of orders. Guess the fighting isn't over. I ready my sword and round the corner finding five GICD soldiers attempting to hold a couple dozen WF soldiers at bay. The fighting was basically just shooting from one side of the hallway all the way down towards the other side, about 70 meters in distance.

One of the GICD soldier's was on a mounted gun, its distinctive never ending sound of bullets leaving the barrel making up the majority of the noise. I run behind the make shift cover they have made and move next to a soldier. "Why are you all still fighting? Shouldn't y'all be leaving?" I ask the soldier.

"No, we have direct orders from Commander White to hold this hallway until told otherwise" I look at him in disbelief, not believing the order.

"You do realize the evacuation has already occurred, you are holding this hallway for no reason." Bullets fly by us as the other 4 soldiers return fire.

"Orders are orders, this is what my men and I are meant to do." I couldn't see his expression behind the helmet he was wearing but I had a feeling he realized this was probably the end, whether he liked it or not.

"Do you have any, medical supplies I can borrow, 2 of my friends are pretty messed up." I ask this as I aim my revolver down the hall at the WF soldiers pulling the trigger twice, only one soldier falls. The soldier in charge merely points to a small crate.

"Take it, I don't intend on letting those bastards take it from my dead hands. Now go, we will hold them back!" He barks this last order at me then picks up his assault rifle and aims down the hallway as well. I grab the crate and take one last look at the 5 brave GICD soldiers who are attempting to hold the hallway to the last man. I don't think I will ever forget this. As that last thought leaves my mind, I hear the almost common sound of a crack. The soldier on the mounted gun collapses onto his back.

"You bastards!" The head soldier screams as he takes his place and starts unloading on the WF. After seeing that I couldn't take anymore, I ran as fast as I could to the car, loading the crate into the car.

"Blake, step on it, we have to get out of here." Just as she starts the engine the sounds of bullets being exchanged ceases. I guess they followed their orders. And with that we sped away into the night back to where we came from before.