RWBY: A Thorn in My Heart

Chapter 18: Battle for Beacon Part 1

30 Minutes ago….

*Slape*

"What the hell did you say to her!?" Yang yelled at her father after striking his face. Her eyes red from both rage and her semblance.

Tai did not respond right away, still reeling from the humongous amount of guilt building up in his body. Yang was growing impatient; she clenched her fist almost ready to strike his stomach this time if he didn't explain why her baby sister ran away in tears. He was snapped out of his lethargy by the sudden crying of Thorn, and looked over to see him squirming in Raven's arms. He simply pointed to him.

"That's what I talked to her about, I asked her to think of him." He said

Yang wasn't satisfied with this response, it made no sense to her.

"What are you talking about? Ruby's a great mother, all she does is think of him!" she yelled in defiance. In her mind, it was like her father implied Ruby was negligent as a mother. That was absurd, for Ruby had always provided her own child with love and care.

Tai rubbed his stomach, still feeling the pain his youngest daughters fist inflicted it. He took a heavy breath as he just knew his oldest one was likely to do the same and with her fire fist, it would burn worse.

"I agree, that's exactly why I told her…" he said before Yang cut him off.

"Told her what?!" she impatiently snapped.

Her rage soon transformed into shock at what her father said next.

"I told her to quit being a huntress. That she needed to start looking after him instead." He somberly stated.

His confession caused Yang to double back while her and her friend's eyes widen in shock. They all knew how much Ruby idolized the profession since childhood, even after she suffered a rape during a mission.

"Do you have any idea how horrible that sounds?" Yang said slowly, still collecting herself. She knew if this shook her up, it was no doubt shattering Ruby to have heard it from their usually supportive father.

"I get it, I do, but she's been through too much and needs to think about leaving her son without a mother if she keeps this up!" he argued.

Weiss averted her gaze witnessing this argument and grasped her stomach. She could sympathize with Tai a bit, after all she once thought Ruby should quit her profession to avoid any possible trauma attacks after what she endured. Weiss felt a chill as the images of those White Fang goons and Timber appeared in her mind, almost making her gag. She remembered her own near rape during only a few days ago and how frightening it was to even look at Faunus she didn't knew now. She also remembered the disgusting look Timber gave her during their last battle (and his disgusting desires for her in turn) and knew how hard Ruby had it going through that same situation, only worse.

"Lets ease up on him, he's only looking out for Ruby. While I may not agree with him fully, we should just calm down and wait for Ruby to come back and let her decide." Weiss said sympathetically.

"Calm down! After he asked Ruby to do the impossible. No one has the right to make her quit her dream. Just think how bad she's feeling right now hearing that from dad! We can't leave her alone now!" Yang yelled, ignoring the cries of her startled nephew and glare from Raven who obviously wanted her to quit down.

"Okay then, I'll go check on her. One person will probably make her feel more comfortable to talk than a huge group." Blake announced as she quickly walked off after her lover. She didn't want anyone else to get a march on her.

"I think you guys should listen to Weiss and cool down. Maybe just watch some TV till we get back." Blake said before heading off into the woods.

Despite Thorn's crying, the area turned silent as no one had the strength to say anything in this glum atmosphere. They simply did as instructed and entered the house to do just that, but not before giving Tai the stink eye. He hung his head slightly in shame, these looks making feel a new pain from his stomach.

Present time…

Ruby glared heavily at the TV, still showing the damaged school and students fighting the hordes of grim that invaded the main plaza. It was obvious the sheer number and variety of flying and animal grim were quickly overwhelming the students. She knew her team had to do something to help. She turned to her team and gave them a sharp glare and they nodded, knowing what their leader was thinking. They opened Ruby's duffel bag and strapped on their weapons and ammo, Weiss in particular attaching some new ice dust to her belt, and they made for the door. Ruby felt a jolt across her arm as she felt a hand grasp it firmly, almost with enough force to crush it. Despite the shock, she didn't even turn her head around for she knew the source came from her father.

"Dad, please let go and let me do my job." she sternly said, her calm tone failing to hide from everyone her clear anger.

"Ruby that's crazy, you kids can't expect to take on a whole army of those things by yourselves!" Tai said nervously. It exasperated him that his daughter just came home after being injured and now wanted to throw herself back into the lion's den.

Ruby merely gave him a sharp glare that caused him to gasp in surprise. Her look said it all; she was going regardless of his blessing.

"I get your scared, but I need you to trust me." She softly but sternly said.

Tai stood there motionless, still struggling to process his mixed feelings from those words.

"I won't let what happened to mom happen to me or anymore kids at school. We are going to Beacon and we are going to save them and that's final!" she yelled.

Qrow placed a hand on Tai's shoulder and gave him a sharp look.

"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on them, you and Raven just stay here and guard Thorn, Cinder may target him again." Qrow ordered his half-brother. He didn't put it past the witch to use this attack as a distraction to try another attempt on the infant's life to spite her archenemy.

"Why should I stay too?" Raven bitterly argued. She wanted to kill some grim right now to get some stress relief from holding this squealing boy.

"If things get dicey here you can teleport to me and get away safe with him." Qrow said. His explanation instantly quelled her anger as she, with a sigh, accepted reluctantly.

"Now, we just need to get to Beacon asap." Qrow said. He knew from Patch it was a couple hours drive to Beacon but time was of the essence.

Knowing the fragile timeframe already, Weiss instantly thought up an idea to cut the time to get there.

"Don't worry, I'll give my sister a call. She's Ironwood's captain of the Atlas forces and has authority in Vale's military. She could definitely get them to send us a ship to Beacon." Weiss confidently stated as she got out her scroll to call her sister.

Atlas

Winter Schnee slammed her fist on the desk in frustration at the sight of Adam's dead body on television.

"Son of a…that stinking animal just had to get culled in our warehouse did he!" she exclaimed in anger. She could just hear the screaming her father was going to rip into her eardrums later. After all, a faunus employee being killed while working for them and worse, they lost a huge amount of dust to the White Fang. These two things would surely prove disastrous for the Schnee's reputation.

"Just how did the news even get a hold of this video? Nothing from security should get past father before going to the police." She asked herself. Her frustration only intensified as she saw someone approached her office door. She imagined it was father ready to ear-rape her right now, but to her surprise and mild irritation it was someone else. Entered a teenage boy with white hair like hers and with a skinny light frame. This was her little brother.

"What do you want Whitley?" she asked with an annoyed tone. He only smirked, amused with her obvious irritation.

"Just dropped by to see my "wonderful" big sister and comfort her on her losses like a sweet little brother should." He said in a sarcastic tone. Winter's patient had officially run out as she arose from her desk quickly to his mild surprise.

"If your just going to waste my time and tease me then GET OUT! Unlike a spoiled brat like you I actually have to work for a living!" she yelled.

Whitley frowned in anger, he always hated how Weiss would inherit the company. It should have been his birthright, but now he knew it was only a matter of time before he would be casted out of the family to make his own living. Winter knew this too and honestly felt slight amusement her spoiled brother who did nothing with his life till now would not likely survive working to provide himself.

"Well then, I best be on my way, just don't go crying to me for comfort when daddy's company falls apart on you both." He bitterly stated. Ignoring her yelling in response, Whitley almost made the faintest of smiles as he left her office.

"Things will play out well shortly." He softly said to himself.

Winter exhaled as she finally had some peace and quite in her office for the time being. Her short period of relaxation was ended with a jolt as her scroll rang in her pocket. She sighed as she imagined it was father this time, but to her slight joy it was her little sister Weiss.

"Hey sis, I know your busy but…" Weiss instantly said Winter answered the call.

"Oh boy what does she want now?" Winter thought to herself. She just remembered Weiss usually only called her when she needed something such as allowances or a ride.

"This better not be something trivial I am very busy right now!" Winter countered, cutting off Weiss who briefly paused on her end. She knew her sister was tied up cleaning up the mess they made in Atlas and tracking down the escaped convicts, but this was more important.

"Didn't you see the news? Beacon's under attack!" Weiss exclaimed. Winter's eyes widen in shock as she turned her tv back on to see her sister was correct. The news was broadcasting from a drone the school being attacked by hordes of Grim. Winter gritted her teeth in frustration, another new problem just had to arrive right now.

"You want the military to aid them right? I am sorry sis but most of us are tied up here keeping riots down and repairing the damages your friends made." She bitterly said.

"We don't need your soldiers, just a ship to get to Beacon faster from Patch. You know the commander of a military base there right, do you think you could convince him to give my team a ride?" Weiss asked.

Winter's eyes widen in astonishment from what she realized Weiss wanted.

"Your seriously expecting me to help you face an entire army of Grim by yourself!" Winter yelled.

"Not by myself, I got my team and the rest of the school and huntsman there to help. We can't just do nothing." She countered.

Winter sighed as she rubbed her eyes. She knew her sister had a history of being stubborn, but this took the cake. If she got herself killed or performed sloppy on tv right now, Whitley would inherit the company and that would prove disastrous for the Schnee name to have a worthless brat like him in charge. At least Weiss was hard-working for her privileges and had skill's to back up her talk unlike him. She had to do something to increase her chances of survival. A sudden idea burst into her head.

"I don't have to call the commander, I have just the ship here that's fast enough to get you and your friends to Beacon." Winter confidently said.

She then pressed a button on her intercom.

"Penny Polledina, report to my office immediately." She said.

Ruby heard her friends name over the scroll call.

"Penny!? Penny is going to fly us to Beacon that's awesome!" she yelled, her audio so high Winter almost felt she was right next to her despite only being on a scroll.

"In a way, Penny can transfer her consciousness into our network and connect to a ship at Patch military. She can power up and upgrade the ship to make it fast enough to get you there and provide cover fire against those flying grim." Winter explained.

Waves of sighs of relief were heard over her scroll. Team RWBY and JNPR were happy and relieved to have a means to quickly get to school to save their fellow students and teachers.

"Thanks sis, I know we can always count on you." Weiss sweetly said as she hung up. Winter couldn't help but tear up a little and smile from this kind statement. Out of all their family, Weiss was the only one that tried to show her true affection, something she secretly appreciated.

As Winter pondered these warm feelings, she quickly wiped her tears and regained her composure as her soldier entered.

"Penny Polledina reporting for duty captain!" the robot girl said with glee.

"I have an assignment for you. Feel grateful, you get chance to fight with Team RWBY again." Winter said with a stern tone.

Penny instantly flew with her rocket boots into the air with joy and excitement at this announcement, to Winter's annoyance at the burn marks on the ground she had to have cleaned now.

"Whohooo! I get to play with Ruby again!" She screamed with joy.

Meanwhile at Beacon…

"Push them back, do whatever it takes!" Glynda yelled as she whipped her riding crop in the east direction of the plaza. The electric fence that held back some Bear and Hound grim, as well as a serpent, had finally crumbled apart allowing them to enter. Her student's outfitted themselves with armor and shields to try and push the grim back, but Glynda saw their red faces, drenched in sweat. It was obvious to her that the student's weren't physically on par with these monsters, and it was only a matter of time before they were overrun. She charged up her Aura and waved her crop towards them. The student's felt a surge of pressure behind them that almost felt like a hurricane.

"Whoa! My feet are moving on their own!" Cardin yelled as his legs turned purple and he started pushing the grim back through the fence.

"That's professor Goodwitches, *ugh*, Semblance. She can control gravity and mass to restore things to their original place or push them down in place." Coco explained as she grunted. Her signature shades fell to the floor as sweat drenched her forehead, to her annoyance. She wasn't the bulky type and needed her shield to keep a bear grim for clawing her. She was extremely grateful to the professor for the aide, despite deep down feeling frustrated with herself for needing it. She decided to take her anger out on this bear.

"Hey Smokey! The forest isn't gonna burn but your nuts are!" she yelled as she kicked the bear grim in the groin, causing it to duck its head in pain. This, and the gravity added, gave velvet the boost she needed to kick its face and sent it flying onto the snake grim.

"Nice job student's now get clear!" Professor Ooblock said as he prepared his canon. Glynda quickly panicked and uses her crop and waved it to force the student's to fly back towards her. She didn't want this over eager teacher to cause collateral damage to their allies.

Ooblock's canon instantly disintegrated the down grim, as well as the surrounding walls. Revealing more groups of grim such as Beowulf's and scorpions to be heading towards the school.

"Are you serious!?" that was the look Goodwitch gave Ooblock who only sheepishly grinned in return.

"Don't suppose you could fix that?" he said softly. Glynda smacked his forhead with her crop out of annoyance. As he winced in pain, she activated her semblance and began reconstructing the electric fence and walls. As much as her aura was draining from this, she knew she had to keep the grim at bay for as long as she could before the military could arrive for backup. She cursed how long they were taking. She knew their forces were spread thinly since the war trying to bring order back to remnant, but they needed help now more than ever. As she finished reconstruction just in time, Cardin got up from the ground laughing.

"These stupid beasts don't stand a chance, let the military take their time well kick all their asses before they get here." He arrogantly stated.

Before Glynda could admonish him for his cocky behavior or tell him to watch his tongue, she turned pale. Not just from exhaustion, but at the sight of a giant shadow enveloping the group. It came from the sky, not a bird nor a plane, but a large dragon grim.

Cardin was instantly snatched in the claws of this beasts feet as it landed in the center of the plaza, letting loose a fierce screech that made everyone's ear drums feel like they would rupture.

Cardin screamed as the beast threw him upwards into the air and opened its jaws.

"Hang on!" Glynda screamed. She knew what it was about to do and couldn't let her student die right in front of her. But as she raised her crop and tried to activate her semblance, her aura guard suddenly collapsed as she fluttered purple dust from her body and plopped to the ground exhausted. She cursed herself, now of all times she ran out of Aura. Her frustration turned to horror as she heard Cardin's scream grow louder and saw his body become wrapped in flames from the dragon. It closed its jaws on his torched body, blood oozing from its jagged teeth as it clearly wanted a cooked meal. It turned its eyes to the shocked and horrified staff and student's still struggling to process this gruesome scene.

"Now what do we do?" Glynda thought to herself. She cursed herself for her current helplessness and need for aide. As much as she couldn't stand him, she was beginning to wish Qrow would just show up and help them.

Nurses office

"My arm! My Arm!" screamed on teenage girl who rolled on her bed in agony, ignoring the nurse who told her to stay still or her bloody bandages would unravel.

"Oh god this too much!" Velvet thought to herself as her mind raced at the sight before her. She had left the infant daycare under professor Ports and his teams guard while she went to nurses office to lend aide, but she didn't expect a room with dozens of students riddled with gruesome injuries. One student was passed out, quickly getting an IV of blood to replace the amount he lost from his mangled leg, still having grim teeth lodged in it. Another student had her forehead cut open and was getting stiches while another one grasped her hand as she cried from pain. Velvet's heart sank as she saw these students in pain. As much as she wanted to save them, she was beginning to doubt their limit manpower could do it.

She was brought out of this by a sudden demand from the head nurse.

"Velvet, we got a patient in need, turn around already and treat him!" the nurse ordered. She could tell from experience the young rabbit girl was overwhelmed, but she needed to collect herself if these people were going to survive. Velvet instantly complied, smacked her cheeks to compose herself and turned around to see a smile from the face of her patient. Her eyes widen as she realized who it was.

"Thank you for treating me "doctor" if you could do something about my burning be that would be terrific." The old man said as he pointed to his charred leg, still glowing a little green and blood oozing a little.

"Headmaster Ozpin!" she yelled, she couldn't believe the most experienced huntsman in the school was now her patient.

White Fang Base

Cinders sat in her recliner as she watched a portal of the attack on Beacon. She smirked in amusement seeing the staff and student's fall one by one.

"This is definitely justice long delayed." She said to herself as she turned to see an unconscious Emerald sleeping at her bed with bandages and ointment on her. Though she had absorbed her father and gained his semblance to avoid feeling pain, her heart still burned with anger at the sight of her only friend in pain at the headmaster's hand.

"I should make sure my pets don't kill Ozpin, I want to make sure he lives long enough to feel the despair of failing to save his precious students and friends." She said as she gripped her grim arm. It suddenly gave her a weird sensation.

"Must be from summoning all those grim and that dragon." She thought. It did take a lot of energy for her to produce all those grim, including that behemoth that just ate a roasted Cardin to her joy.

As she rationalized this, the scene cuts to a dark void inside Cinder's arm.

Salem was tied up by dark vines, her hair let loose and her eyes without pupils. She was obviously in terrible condition, and her condition worsened as red lines of energy enveloped her skin. She yelled in pain as they glowed as Cinder activated her powers again to command her grim to avoid killing Ozpin. Salem suddenly regained a little conscious as her eyes regained pupils and she growled in anger.

"Of all the orders, you make that one… you little brat!" she huffed as she collected her breath. One way or other she would return and kill Ozpin with her own hand, but not before she makes her "daughter" pay for her treachery. She didn't even care if she did alone as she looked away from the sight of her husband Hazel hanging unconscious right across from her.

"You never really could help anyone dear. Even your own family" she bitterly said to him as another wave of pain overtook her, causing her to scream. But the pain she felt from this was nothing compared to the agony her heart felt remembering her husband of all people fail to save their daughter or her from their fates at the hand of that Grim. She chuckled a little in amusement, she wasn't sure out of that snake grim, Cinder, or him who the real snake was.

Well there you have it, Hazel and Salem are alive in a way and being used as batteries for Cinder's new power over grim. Best part is that annoying Cardin creep is dead. Will Glynda join him soon from that dragon's hands? Will Team RWBY, JNPR, Qrow, Sun and Penny arrive in time to save everyone or will Beacon Fall like it did in canon? Find out next time in CH19: Battle for Beacon Part 2