Another chapter completed, hope you enjoy it.
I don't own RWBY or I wouldn't have spent ages trying to figure out where a Paladin ranks in terms of strength compared to Grimm.
Red glanced around the control seat and smiled as she examined the layout, it was almost like those old arcade games back on Earth. There were two joysticks, one on either side of the chair and both had a button where the thumbs were. There were three buttons on the chair itself one was glowing a dull grey and the other two were flashing green and blue respectively.
"Alright let's see here… joysticks for movement, damn it why is it inverted!?" growled Red as the Paladin slammed into a wall.
"Ok next what does this button do?" she wondered out loud before pressing the flashing green button.
Instantly more screens begin flashing different colours before a targeting ridicule appeared on the main screen, along with an ammo tracker. Her curiosity getting the better of her, Red pushed a flashing button on one of the joysticks as the reticule locked on to a flying Nevermore. Instantly the ammo counter went down as a barrage of missiles chased after the Grimm, knocking it out of the sky.
"Ok green button is missiles, what about the blue one?" she muttered as she began experimenting.
Upon pressing the blue button Red saw the ammo counter disappear and was replaced by some sort of blue bar displaying a 0%. Eager to test her new weapon she moved the reticle until it was aligned with an approaching Beowolf, grinning she pressed the firing button only to see the blue bar rapidly increase to 100% before a blast of blue energy came flying out and liquefied the Grimm.
"So cool…" gasped Red, her inner weapon nut already trying to piece together how the weapons worked. "I shall call you Freckles," she announced with glee.
However before she could experiment with the machine anymore Red heard an alarm blare throughout the cockpit before one of the screens enlarged to show a pack of Beowolves charging her Paladin from behind. Spinning the mech around she opened fire on the Grimm with the energy weapons, backing away as she did so to buy herself some more time. A total of eight Beowolves had been liquefied by the time the rest of the pack finally caught up to Red and leapt onto her Paladin, searching for a weak point in its metal armour.
"Dumb dogs get off Freckles!" growled Red in frustration, slamming the mech into a building and crushing the Grimm who weren't quick enough to jump off.
Seeing only two Beowolves remaining she grinned as she picked up the two Grimm and smashed them into each other before throwing them into the wall, "time to find Yang and the others," stated Red as she walked the mech down the streets of Vale. Only to growl as she saw a horde of Grimm blocking off the street.
Red sent the mech into a run as she literally ploughed through the horde of Grimm, crushing any under her feet who weren't smart enough to move out of her way. As she was making the Grimm's day miserable Red saw two familiar faces fighting nearby and grinned as she made her way over. Both Sun and Neptune finished all of the nearby Grimm and turned to face her Paladin with a worried expression. Red was confused until she remembered the White Fang logo emblazoned on the mech's shoulder, checking to make sure there weren't any nearby Grimm she opened the cockpit and laughed at their stunned expressions.
"You know if I really was a White Fang member you two would be in trouble," she teased.
"Oh please we could've taken you," replied Sun.
"You guys seen the rest of my team?" asked Red.
The two members of SSSN just shook their heads before all three of them heard a roar behind them, turning they saw a group of Ursa majors running at them. Closing the cockpit she frowned and started the mech back up before switching to the missiles systems, killing one and scattering the rest as Sun and Neptune charged them. Unable to fire either the missiles or energy weapons without risking hitting her two friends Red just sighed and sent the Paladin into a bull rush at the nearest Ursa. Shoulder bashing the Grimm with the force of a runaway bus she watched the Ursa collapse onto the ground, struggling to get up. Taking a brief moment to marvel at the creature's durability she curb stomped the Grimm and an unnatural predatory grin spread across her face at the sight of it, the tattoos covering her face beginning to glow again.
Turning to the rest of the combatants Red began laughing as she picked up one of the Ursas surrounding Sun and repeatedly pummelled it into the ground, not stopping until she saw the Grimm go limp in the mech's hands. The rest of the Ursas all attacked her at once as they prioritized the mech as the biggest threat, causing Red to frown as she forced the Paladin to jump into the air. Expecting to collide into a heavy mech the Grimm weren't able to stop their forward momentum in time and crashed into each other, only for them to be crushed under the Paladin as she landed.
"Well that was fun," she said with a laugh that rapidly turned to a cough as the light from her tattoos faded. On the main screen Red saw Neptune motioning for to open up the cockpit again, shrugging she climbed out and frowned at Neptune's expression.
"Wow Red that was brutal, remind me never to get on your bad side," laughed Sun, only to shut up at the look his teammate sent him.
"That was reckless and stupid Red, what made you think taking on all of them at once by yourself was a good idea?" demanded the blue haired boy.
"Don't worry about it Freckles here can take them," replied Red, giving the mech an affectionate pat.
The two boys just raised their eyebrows before Neptune continued, "Paladins are tough but they're not invincible Red. We're living proof of that."
"Where'd you even get that thing anyway?" asked Sun.
"'That thing' has a name Sun," reminded Red.
"Fine, where did you get…Freckles?" sighed the monkey Faunus.
"I borrowed it from a certain group of unsavoury people, somehow I don't think they'll mind," grinned the reaper.
"Red that isn't a toy, it's a war machine! You need to get out of there, you're not trained nor qualified to use it," lectured Neptune.
"Relax Neptune I've already got the basics down pact," she reassured him.
"That's not the point! You shouldn't even be in there in the first place," he groaned and began rubbing his temples.
"Sorry mate but I was ordered by Professor Oobleck to 'stay in the Paladin,' I'm afraid the teacher's orders outweigh yours," grinned Red.
"And did he also tell you to go around piloting it?" replied Neptune as his eye twitched.
Red plastered a thoughtful expression on her face as she rest a finger rested on her chin, "hmm…well he never said not to. Anyway cya guys later I've got to find the rest of my team."
"Red wait!" cried the blue boy only to growl in frustration as she disappeared back into the cockpit and the mech ran down a nearby street.
Leaving the two members of SSSN behind Red heard another alarm go off before something slammed the mech into the wall, groaning she saw numerous error messages popping up and was immediately flustered as she tried to make sense of the chaos. The Paladin was slammed again and this time Red could make out the large white serpentine head of a King Taijitu as she finally dismissed the messages.
"Game on," grinned Red as the Paladin's weapons began glowing a bright blue.
The massive white head hissed at her before it charged Red with its jaw wide open, revealing rows of sharp fangs. Seeing her target rapidly approaching she fired the energy weapons and her jaw dropped as the white head quickly weaved out of the way before continuing on course. Realizing she couldn't fire fast enough to stop it Red deactivated the weapons and grimaced as she used the mech's hands to hold the creatures jaw open, preventing her from being swallowed. This stalemate wasn't going to last for long however and the Paladin's servos began whining as Red was forced a couple of steps backwards.
"Come on Freckles, let's take this snake down," cheered Red as she switched to the back mounted missiles before firing it into the Grimm's open mouth.
The white head swelled up briefly before bursting like a bubble and Red was sent flying from the resulting explosion. Shaking her head as a ringing began in her ear, Red coughed up some more blood and stained the screen in front of her. The mech began sparking as she forced it to its feet and turned to look at the defeated Grimm with a grin that rapidly turned into a frown, 'wait didn't the King Taijitu have two heads?'
Just as she thought this the mech gave a sudden lurch and Red cried out in pain as her head was slammed into the screen again and a metallic screech was heard before the mech tumbled to the pavement. Groaning she looked at the main screen and saw the black head hissing as it held one of the Paladin's arms in its jaw. Firing the one remaining energy weapon at the head she growled as the Grimm expertly dodged the blast and wrapped itself around the mech. Unable to move the Paladin's hand Red switched to the back mounted missile launcher and fired point blank into the Grimm, causing it to screech as it let go and sent what was left of her Paladin crashing into the ground.
Inside the cockpit Red saw many of the screens turn to static as the main one showed the pissed off Grimm approaching her. Panicking she hit the button that opened the cockpit before grabbing Crescent Rose and diving out of the mech as the King Taijitu began constricting the Paladin.
"Good bye Freckles your sacrifice shall not be in vain," promised Red as she saluted the red mech and ran off before the Grimm realized that its prey had escaped.
Red was about to head down a street when she heard a familiar voice coming from the nearby town square. Grinning at her luck she began cutting her way through the horde of Grimm, keeping an eye out for the familiar blonde hair of her sister.
Yang groaned as she got to her feet and quickly shook her two teammates awake as numerous Grimm began pouring through the gap and into the streets. The three formed a circle as they were surrounded by the creatures of Grimm, each side waiting for the other to make a move. The stalemate lasted for a few seconds until they all heard the buzzing of rotors above them, quickly glancing up the blonde's jaw dropped as they all saw a fleet of airships and gunships hovering over the city. The gunships then opened fire on the Grimm, thinning their numbers greatly before dropping numerous robots into the city.
The remnants of team RWBY took this as their queue and charged the horde of Grimm as the Atlesian Knights opened fire. Taking fire from both sides the Grimm were in complete confusion and began taking heavy casualties, however that didn't mean that they weren't giving the trio of hunters a fight and Yang found herself panting as she struggled to defend herself from the horde. Trying to ignore a bad feeling that was growing in the pits of her stomach.
Red grimaced as she decapitated the Beowolf with her scythe before ducking under another member of the pack, Crescent Rose seeming to grow heavier with each swing. Panting from exhaustion she shot her new opponent in the head only to cry out in pain as a third used this as an opening to slash her across her back, creating large tears in her cloak. Spinning around Red bisected the Grimm before retreating slightly to catch her breath. Leaning up against a wall she tried to ignore the blood running down her back and continued to look for her team, her eyes finally spotting Yang's blonde mane in the sea of faces. Pushing herself off the wall she made her way to her teammate, leaving a path of diced Grimm in her wake.
"Yang!" she called as she approached.
Instantly the brawler spun around and looked at her in shock, "Ruby? What are you doing here!? You're supposed to be with Oobleck!"
"I'm not going to sit on the sidelines while the rest of you fight. I want to help," replied Red.
"No it's too dangerous! You can't fight without your aura protecting you! Now get out of here!" yelled the blonde.
"I can fight! I don't need aura to help me!" cried Red before she charged towards a Death Stalker.
"Ruby!" called Yang concerned as she chased after her sister.
Ignoring her Red switched Crescent Rose to its gun mode and blinded the Grimm with a rapid burst into its eyes. Screeching in pain and rage the Death Stalker thrashed about wildly with its pincers and Red was forced to jump over the incoming claws. Landing on the Grimm's back she slashed the stinger off its tail before slamming it through the exoskeleton with her scythe. Leaping off the collapsed Grimm Red turned to look at Yang with a smug grin.
"You were saying?" she asked.
Yang just glared at her before her eyes widened and she quickly ran at Red, pointing at something behind her. Turning she saw the Death Stalker she'd thought she'd killed earlier sending one of its pincers towards her at an incredible speed. Her eyes widening she tried to use her Semblance to escape only to find it fail to activate once again. Red could only watch as her death got closer when she felt something smack into her, knocking the reaper to the ground. Picking herself up from the ground Red turned to see what had hit her when a cold feeling flooded her body at the sight that greeted her. The Death Stalker had Yang caught in one of its pincers.
The blonde huntress in training screamed in pain as the Stalker realized it had caught something and began to squeeze. Red could only watch with a horrified expression as Yang's yellow aura flared briefly before it sputtered and died, the blonde's cries of agony growing louder. There was the sound of bones snapping as the Grimm increased the pressure on the blonde's body before Yang became limp in its grip. Noticing this the Stalker smashed the brawler into the pavement before throwing Yang away like a used chew toy. Red rushed over to where the blonde lay unmoving on the ground, her blonde hair stained with red.
"Yang are you okay?" she asked, only to get no response.
"Yang!? Yang! Enough joking around! Get up!" cried Red, her voice breaking as she shook the unmoving brawler.
"Yang I'm sorry just… please get up," she sobbed as her hands began to glow a faint black and everything disappeared.
All Our Days- RWBY Volume 2 Soundtrack
Snapping awake Red found herself in a familiar snow covered forest. Only the colour of everything was reversed, there was a white night and a black moon in the sky while black snow blanketed the ground. Looking down she saw Yang's body was missing and began panicking.
"Yang? Yang! Where are you?!" she yelled in alarm.
"Who's that?" asked a raspy young female voice.
Jumping Red spun around with a tearful expression, only to see a blurred image of a blonde toddler with piggy tails in front of her. It was like looking through smoke as the girl's yellow tinted image wavered in front of her.
"This is your new little sister Yang," came another raspy female voice.
Red turned to the new voice and saw another smoky image, this one tinted white and showing a white cloaked figure that was carrying something red in her arms as she approached the toddler. "Say hello to Ruby," announced the white one.
The toddler looked at the red bundle in the white one's hands with an excited expression, "hello my name's Yang, welcome to the family Ruby," she greeted.
"You'll need to look out for each other from now on Yang. Promise me that if something happens to me you'll take care of her," begged the white one.
"Don't worry mom I'll keep her safe," promised the yellow toddler and Red saw a small hand reach up from the bundle and grab the toddler's pinkie finger.
The trio of smoky figures then disappeared as if blown away by the nonexistent wind as Red tried to touch them, to share in their happiness. Red's eyes began watering as she stared at the now empty spot in front of her before she heard the sound of a child's laughter next to her. Spinning around she saw that she was surrounded by numerous smoky images of the two sisters, and Red felt herself drowning in the memories of each. The joy of playing games with Yang back home at Patch, the excitement of sneaking into the kitchen together at night to steal ice-cream and cookies without their parents knowing, the warm feeling when Yang read books to her at bed time or complimented her on her skills, the comfort she provided when their mother died. All of it…gone.
Red felt tears run down her face as the images faded from view and were replaced by blurry but recognizable forms of a teenaged Yang and Ruby, each appearing to be on their dorm beds. "Hey Yang?" came Ruby's raspy voice.
"What's up sis?" asked Yang.
"What if…during a mission together…things happened and I got killed or something…what would you do?" asked Ruby as she looked down at her hands.
"Ruby what's brought this on?" replied Yang with a frown.
"I just have a bad feeling about combat class tomorrow, like this might be the last time we see each other. Still what would you do?" pressed Ruby.
Yang suddenly burst into laughter, "You? Of team RWBY got killed? The youngest prodigy to ever attend Beacon? Don't be silly Ruby that will never happen."
"How can you be so sure?" questioned Ruby.
"Don't you remember? We promised to look after each other no matter what. As long I'm around I'll protect you and you'll protect me. Nothing can stop our unbeatable combo," stated Yang with a fist pump.
"But what if we're separated?" continued Ruby sadly.
Yang jumped down from her bed and walked over to her sister before embracing her, "Ruby that will never happen, I'll be by your side forever and ever."
She watched as the image of the embracing sisters faded away, "Sis…you big liar," whispered Red with tear filled eyes.
"It's not nice to insult the dead especially when you're the cause of it," came a familiar voice. Spinning around Red saw a bloodied Yang appear before her, the brawler's blonde hair was streaked with blood and her face as caked in the red liquid.
"It's not my fault! I did all I could please believe me," begged Red.
A look of rage crossed Yang's face, "And it wasn't enough! Roman was right you have gotten weak."
"No! I've gotten stronger! I beat him!" denied Red with a shake of her head.
The blonde looked on unimpressed, "but you didn't kill him. You could have ended all this before it even began but now all these deaths are on your hands."
"I don't want to kill again," muttered Red weakly.
Yang released a low growl, "and that childish and selfish desire is what got me killed just like Roman predicted!"
"I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry," sobbed Red as she fell to her knees.
"Shh it's okay you can make it up to me," comforted the blonde.
"How?" asked Red, eagerly.
"Simple Red, you just need to…correct your mistake," replied Yang as she placed a black outlined hand on Red's shoulder.
The blonde gained an odd smile as Red's eyes glazed over at her touch, "you know what to do," she stated.
"Kill Roman Torchwick," answered the reaper with blank expression.
"And what if others get in the way?" questioned the smiling blonde.
"They're threats," replied Red coldly.
"And what do we do to threats?" asked 'Yang.'
"Eliminate them," answered Red as her aura began glowing a black colour and the last slivers of red were consumed.
The brawler just watched with a pleased expression as Red was consumed by the darkness before the image of Yang melted away to reveal a pure black, masked, red eyed shadow. Walking away from the scene it entered the twisted forest as darkness rushed in, devouring any remaining light it could find. Finally the shadow stopped in front of a collapsed red hooded figure, watching as its weak vibrant red glow died before the shadow turned and left with a satisfied smile on its face.
"Grief and guilt, now that's the real unbeatable combo. Isn't it Ruby?" it murmured in amusement.
As the shadow walked away it didn't notice the single red rose clutched in the collapsed figures hands and glowing a weak warm red, the last light in a sea of darkness.
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