Two weeks. It had been fourteen days since the tragedy that ended with two of Beacons star students losing their lives. Coco Adel and Velvet Scarlatina were gone, the latter being infected by the grimm and began changing and the former unwilling to live without her took her own life at the same time. The atmosphere of the academy changed, students and staff alike had no desire to do their classes or any work, especially Velvet's godfather, Sin Helms. The huntsman who doubled as a teacher and doctor, the man who would lock himself in his private lab for days at a time to research a cure for this virus, he had vanished after Velvet's death being found several days later in his lab which he had all, but destroyed.
Ruby and Professor Ivy had found him in the corner huddled between a cabinet and the wall over a dozen liquor bottles around him and crying as he clutched a picture of his little girl to his chest. Ivy carried him from the lab along with Ruby taking him back to his room in the faculty dorms before informing Ozpin and Goodwitch, no surprise to any of them he was suffering more than anyone. The next week dragged by after the first few days Sin finally left his room and returned to his lab his feet dragging across the floor like a zombie as he walked to his desk, the note he spent a month compiling and going over ripped apart and burned, the computer he used to store his findings destroyed with a desk drawer sticking out of it.
He sat at his desk taking hold of a clipboard and scanning over it, his own handwriting and notes appearing as a foreign language to him now. Setting it down he opened the bottom drawer fishing out an unopened bottle of vodka using the cap as a shot glass as he poured his first and downed it followed by a second. Five shots later and he set the bottle aside taking hold of a pen and a new sheet of paper.
He looked up when he saw a hand waving in front of his eyes, Ivy standing in front of him along with Glynda and Ozpin each of them harboring a worried expression. They looked at the paper he was writing on, twelve hours and he didn't even finish a single sheet worth of notes, normally in a single hour he would have dozens written and set to the side and yet, half a day and he hadn't finished one. The state of his lab, the pace of his work, the liquor next to him and the look in his eyes, broken and lost.
Goodwitch was the first to break the silence, "Sin" she began walking around the desk next to him, "I can't begin to imagine how terrible this is for you. I know you're hurting and feel lost, but we're here for you. You don't have to be alone in this."
Sin never answered, instead he lowered his eyes to the picture of Velvet on his desk and again began crying.
"It'll be ok Sin" Ivy told him taking the side opposite of Glynda, "I don't know when, but one day it will be."
The remainder of the week Sin stayed in his room with Ozpin, Glynda and Ivy rotating hours to check on him when not attending their other duties at the academy. He sat at the half-circle couch in his room a half filled whiskey glass in one hand and wrapped in a grey blanket, his eyes red and cracked and his expression, nothing. It didn't matter who came to check on him, Ozpin, Glynda or Ivy he wouldn't talk would barely react to their presence, the only time he moved was to refill his glass or use the restroom.
Ivy arrived and Ozpin got up to leave, "Thank you Ivy" the headmaster said, "I'm sorry I could not stay longer, but there's an assignment I must hand out, there's trouble in one of the towns to the south."
"It's alright" Ivy replied, "We still have a job to do, you more than the rest of us."
Ozpin wished her luck and returned to his office to find eight students waiting for him. A third-year team and a first-year team.
"Thank you all for coming" he said walking over to his desk, "A town in the south, Torch is requesting immediate emergency aid. A rather large horde of grimm has been spotted and local authorities are not equipped to deal with their number so I'll be sending you to assist them. Team CRDL, Team KAKI, you will leave at once and assist in the evacuation."
Kayla Jade, the leader of the star third-year team nodded, "Yes sir."
Kayla turned on her heel ordering her team back to their room to pack before heading for the bullhead to meet up with CRDL. Kayla Jade, Alex Branwen, Kylie Mauve and Talim Isabelle Eden, Team KAKI. From the day they were brought together they were unstoppable, becoming the number one team amongst the first-year and when their second year began they secured their place once more as the best even giving several third and fourth-year teams a run for their money.
Kayla stretched before tucking her black shirt into her blue jeans and draping her yellow scarf from her shoulder, "Ready?" she asked her team flipping her black, blue and yellow hat in her hand.
Kayla Jade, born to an upper-middle class family she could have had almost anything she wanted, but instead she chose to become a huntress. Training herself day by day until she finally made it to Beacon and was ready to take down the monsters that tainted their world. A tall girl standing just over six feet she boasted superior strength over most, but her upbringing, and success left her confident in herself often thinking herself above others with the exception of the few that managed to prove themselves worth her time and energy.
"Ready" Alex answered sliding his katana through his belt and his pistol into its holster. His red armor with black highlights securely fastened he pulled at the edge of his gloves tightening them as he tapped his dark brown boots on the ground, "Let's get this done with."
Alex Branwen, originally from Mistral before his family moved to Vale both of his parents had graduated from Haven academy becoming accomplished hunters, but when he was six the town they lived in was attacked by the grimm leaving both of his parents and a dozen others dead. Alex himself nearly died that day had it not been for a woman with long dark hair dressed in a shallow cut black and red dress saved his life. He watched from his hiding spot as the woman single-handedly wiped out the attacking grimm and saving him. Seeing the cowering boy she took him in adopting him and teaching him how to survive. Three years ago he left to enroll at Beacon thanking his adoptive mother for everything before leaving.
Kayla looked at their other teammates, "Kylie, Talim, you two ready?"
Kylie nodded, "I am" sliding her arms into her sleeveless purple dress with white and yellow trims. She wrapped a yellow scarf much like Kayla's around her neck and titled her head to the side with a smile.
Kylie Mauve, like Alex she was originally from Mistral, for most of her youth it was just her and her mother Alice, her father dying before she was born. Everyone always had the same first impression when they met Kylie, she was the shy, bubbly girl from down the street, but that impression was shattered when they learned what a short fuse the girl had. She was nice and friendly sure, but it did not take much to upset her and pray for those who did.
The last girl nodded, "I, I'm ready as well" she answered finishing the laces to her shoes and securing the strap to her armor. A full black body suit with red shoulder and shin guards.
Talim Eden, as friendly and polite as they come, but surprisingly shy even around her own friends. Her parents had graduated from Beacon and she wanted nothing more than to be like them. No one would know it by looking at her, but she was a faunus, a jaguar faunus. A secret she kept even from her own team, afraid that others would look down on or make fun of her. While other faunus had animal ears, or a tail or even claws, she had none of those, instead she had fangs and from her personal experience a powerful bite, another reason she hid her faunus traits not wanting to be seen as a bloodthirsty animal.
Kayla nodded and ordered her team out the door and to the landing pad where they would meet with Team CRDL. None of them were looking forward to working alongside Cardin Winchester and his team, they were known bullies, but they were also inexperienced and would likely just get in the way. The four male students were already waiting for them, making jokes and testing each other's strength until they saw the third-years walking toward them.
Cardin scoffed, "Took you long enough. Any longer and we would have left without you."
"And died" Kayla told him, "Let's go ahead and get this straight and out of the way, my team are the seniors here and as the leader I call the shots, you and your team will do what I say when I say, is that understood?"
Cardin huffed, "Whatever, keep telling yourself that."
Kylie stood between them, "Come on you two we can discuss this on the airship we need to hurry."
Kayla regarded Cardin with a disgusted expression, the boy was not worth her time. As the eight of them loaded onto the bullhead she spoke up once again.
"Here's the deal. Primary goal is evacuation get everyone to safety, if the grimm do show up CRDL will continue getting people clear while we fan out and engage the grimm."
"Oh yeah sure" Sky Lark said, "Take all the glory for yourselves while leaving us with the grunt work."
"You're first-years" Alex said crossing his arms and leaning against the wall, "You lack the experience to take on this number of enemies, if you tried best case scenario you make it back with some broken bones, worst case you die."
Russel said, "And I suppose you think you'll make it through just fine being the oh so powerful Team KAKI."
"We have experience" Kylie told him, "And no offense, but our team coordination is a lot better than yours. From what I've seen your team struggled against a single opponent you often got in each other's way."
"Maybe we're just not afraid to go in swinging" Cardin said, "Like men, but I wouldn't expect any of you to understand that."
Alex spoke up again, "You know what happens to people who rush in? They die, the ones that don't wish they did. As Kayla said your team will handle the evacuation if the grimm show up, if that's going to be a problem you can stay on the ship and we'll handle this ourselves."
Kayla looked behind her, Talim was adjusting her violin, "You ok?" she asked her.
"The strings are just loose" Talim answered quietly without looking at her, "I need to tighten them to make sure I shoot straight."
Kayla kneeled next to her, "You're so cute when you get focused like that" she said running her finger down her teammate's spine.
Talim shivered and raised her shoulders to hide her face, "Ka, Kayla now isn't the time for that."
Her leader chuckled as she stood up to sit next to the rest of their team. Two hours later and they landed at the town, where other ships were landing along with them.
The town's sheriff greeted them, "You must be the students from Beacon. I'm Enrico Briggs, sheriff of Torch."
"Nice to meet you sir" Alex said, "How does it all look so far?"
"Follow me" he said leading them to the ridge overlooking the town and surrounding forest, "The grimm first started appearing a few days ago, just a few of them at first nothing my men and I couldn't handle, but then more of them started showing up enough to exhaust all of our weapons and ammo and we wouldn't even put a dent in their numbers, that's when we sent word to the council and Beacon. At first they were just wondering about, but they've slowly been getting closer so I told the mayor to get ready for a full evacuation while our help, you guys would wipe them out. The ships are here so we're going to start loading people into them, but in the event those monsters get too close I'm going to need you to engage and keep them at bay until everyone is safely in the air."
Alex nodded, "We can do that. Should the grimm show up Cardin and his team will keep helping with the evacuation while my team and I fend off the enemy."
Briggs nodded before his scroll rang, "Yes Wedge?"
"Sir!" the deputy's voice shouted, "They're coming! Dozens of them" gunshots echoed and they saw birds flying from the trees in the forest, "Even more than we thought, we need to get everyone out now before..." a roar and grunt followed by the sound of the scroll dropping to the ground.
"No, no no!" they heard Wedge yelled before screaming in pain.
"Wedge!" Briggs yelled only to hear his deputy's screams devolve into gargles and then silence, "Dammit!"
"No time" Kayla told him, "We need to get everyone out, signal the evacuation to start."
"But the other ships aren't here yet" Briggs told her.
"Then use the one we came on" Kayla told him, "We need to start getting people out now."
They returned to the town and Briggs rang the town bell signaling everyone to come to the square to begin evacuating, following the orders from the sheriff and the eight hunters. Alex took to the town's perimeter with Talim he would keep watch for the grimm while she searched for anyone left behind. Many of the homes and shops had been boarded up, they doubted anyone would still be there, but they had to be sure.
"They're here!" Alex called seeing movement in the tree line drawing his pistol, "Call Kayla and Kylie."
Receiving the call Kayla and Kylie quickly joined their teammates spreading out within six meters of each other to engage the grimm. The airships weren't coming fast enough, the grimm had entered the town and not even half the population had been evacuated yet, if any managed to get past KAKI then it would be up to CRDL and the sheriff and his men to fight them off.
"Cardin" Alex yelled into his scroll as he evaded a beowolf, "How's it coming?"
"Half done" Cardin answered annoyed by his assignment, "This is so boring, if you're having that much trouble maybe we should just switch places."
"No" Alex told him, "You stay with the townspeople and get them to safety, we'll handle the grimm here. You are only to engage if any make it past us."
"Tch" Cardin sucked his teeth before lowering his scroll and watching as his team directed the townspeople into different lines as they waited for the next bullhead to arrive.
"Grimm!" someone yelled pointing to their flank, a group of grimm had appeared from the other side of the forest going around KAKI and heading straight for them.
"Everyone stay calm!" Briggs yelled before looking at Cardin, "We'll handle this, keep those things off us."
"I don't take orders from you" Cardin shouted grabbing hold of his mace and rushing in along with his team.
His backhand swing connected with the beowolf's head knocking it to the ground leaving it open for an overhead swing that crushed its skull, "Hah! Not so tough now are you?" Cardin taunted before turning to face the rest of the grimm only to see more coming from the forest, dozens upon dozens of them.
He froze seeing their numbers, appearing from the tree line one after the other, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, more and more kept coming. Dove turned to him asking what they should do, but the thought never formed in Cardin's mind before he heard Russel screaming. He was surrounded and forced to the ground by a charging boarbatusk leaving him prone and defenseless as an ursa major loomed over him its claws coming down damaging his aura one after the other. Russel could only scream for help from his team before his aura was depleted and the next claw swipe ripped his hoodie and shirt and sliced at the flesh beneath. Russel's final screams were silenced as the ursa major's heavy paws crushed his chest preventing him from breathing any further.
"Russel!" Sky yelled before the ground beneath him rumbled tossing him off his feet seconds before a king taijitu erupted from the ground.
"Dove, Cardin!" Sky screamed getting to his feet and running toward his team only for the giant serpent grimm to lunge down and snatch him in its jaws swallowing him whole.
"Cardin!" Dove yelled shaking his leader, "Cardin!" the grimm got closer and panic became fear as Dove took one last look at Cardin before turning his back and running for the airship.
Finally out of his trance Cardin followed suit turning tail and sprinting back toward the ship leading the grimm right towards the townspeople. Fear, primal fear caused him to run faster catching up to his last remaining teammate and running past him toward the airship at the same time KAKI had returned to help. Seeing only Cardin and Dove, Kayla concluded the other two didn't make it and ordered them to stay with the townspeople while her team distracted the grimm.
The third-year students danced across the battlefield expertly dodging the grimm and striking back with lethal blows dispatching them one at a time while staying close enough to cover each other. A vicious uppercut swing from Alex's katana split a beowolf in half giving him room to draw his gun and fire at the next one keeping it distracted long enough for Talim to load her crossbow and fire a bolt into its head killing it before ducking and spinning her crossbow turning into a sword and shield to block an ursa's swipe. Holding the ursa at bay Talim angled her sword and shifted stabbing the monster's throat killing it as she pulled the blade out shifting her weapon back to its ranged mode and firing another bolt at a boarbatusk that was charging Kayla stunning it long enough for her leader to finish it off.
Kayla turned bringing her great sword down decapitating the grimm, shifting her grip and planting her feet as she pivoted swinging the blade out it a wide arc cleaving a pair of beowolves in half before she stopped. Pressing a switch at the hilt of her sword the blade segmented, the once smooth surface was now serrated and began rotating before she jumped and brought the spinning blade down on an alpha the sword's spinning teeth ripping through it bit by bit until its body was cut from shoulder to waist. Turning she held her sword up to block another strike, pushing it away and cleaving the attacking monster into bits.
Kylie leapt over her target pulling a hilt from her belt with a near transparent blade which was soon engulfed in flames before she attacked, her strike cutting the grimm and igniting it before she kicked it away and turned. The blade's flames died out replaced by a ghostly blue glow, making her next strike she cut along a beowolf's arm encasing it in ice, freezing it to the ground leaving it open to a follow up. Pulling her sword back the blue glow vanished like the flames before it and was replaced by arcing electricity and the sword was driven through the grimm's stomach electrocuting it from the inside, the smoldering body dropped after the sword was removed.
The final airship arrived and landed and the townspeople began rushing up the ramp, but a shadow engulfed the area and a loud shriek pierced the air as a large nevermore swooped down. The people ducked except for Dove who was too focused on running up the ship's ramp to hide himself. In the open and no cover to hide behind the avian grimm snatched him in its talons and carried him off raising its caught prey to its beak which snapped shut around his head before ripping it from his shoulders with a single pull.
Seeing his last teammates carried away Cardin's fear and turned to terror and he began forcing his way through the crowd of people, still at the rear of the group, but determined to get on the ship where it was safe. Trying to force his way through the crowd Cardin finally makes it to the top of the ramp only for a griffon to swoop down and tackle him, the grimm dug its claws into the ground sliding to a stop as Cardin rolled away from it the momentum from the hit carrying him. Getting up to one knee Cardin trembled as he laid eyes on the grimm slowly advancing on him, its wings flapping one last time before it roared and leapt at him pinning him to the ground with its clawed feet its beak clamping down at the center of his throat ripping it open.
The griffon felt something slam into the back of its next and roared before dozens of serrated teeth tore through its neck removing its head. As the griffon's body collapsed Kayla looked under it seeing Cardin dead, the life gone from his still open eyes as the blood pooled beneath him, his gored trachea clearly visible. Turning off her chainsaw sword Kayla turned back and yelled for her team to retreat rushing to help the last of the townspeople onto the bullhead.
The ramp retracted and the door closed once the members of KAKI were onboard and the ship took off just in time as the grimm horde flooded the spot where the ship was resting. The townspeople were all safe save for a couple of deputies, but Cardin and his team didn't make it. The bullhead landed in the city of Vale where the evacuated population would be taken care of until their town could be reclaimed, meanwhile Kayla and her team had to return to Beacon and give Ozpin their report.
"CRDL didn't make it" Kayla told the headmaster, "They're dead."
Ozpin hung his head, locking his hands together in front of him, "I see" he said with a heavy exhale, "I thank you for your hard work Ms. Jade, you and your team can return to your dorm now, you deserve a rest after today."