FIVE. THOUSAND. WORDS.
I'm not kidding. That's how long this chapter is. Consider it an apology for the really short chapter in the last update.
Also, there's now a TVTropes page for this fanfic! If you want to help expand it, I'd glady accept the help.
Chapter 11: Riders of the Storm
Without a doubt, it was indeed Ruby sailing towards the three of us, and from the looks of it, she was hurtling straight towards us. In particular, towards me. Eyes wide as dinner plates, she was flailing her arms as she tried to steer away from the hard surface of the temple floor. I ducked my head, and kneeled down, trying to protect myself from the inevitable impact.
It was a few seconds before I realised it never came. I cautiously opened one eye, and saw that Ruby was gone. In a tree nearby, I heard a dazed moaning, and rustling branches. Looking through the leaves, I saw Ruby lying on a branch, while Jaune hung upside down next to her, an embarrassed look evident on his face. Blake looked at the tree where the two hung, a confused look on her face.
"Did your sister just fall from the sky, Yang?" She asked. Yang was about to speak, when an explosion distracted the three of us. Out of the trees stumbled an Ursa, clawing wildly, as if trying to dislodge an annoying insect from its body. Another explosion rang out, and the beast began to fall. As it tumbled, we heard a yell. But it wasn't a battle cry. Rather, it sounded like a kid having too much fun on a bucking bronco.
"YEEEEE-HAAAAAW!"
As the Ursa flopped onto the grass, it's rider rolled off, landing on her feet, and her look of joy turned to one of sadness as she looked at the dead beast.
"Aw. It's broken."
Ah, yes. Nora Valkyrie. Hard hitter and constant smiler. Even though her love of battle bordered on the psychotic, I liked her. As she clambered back on the dead bear, a boy in a green tailcoat suddenly appeared beside the beast, clearly out of breath.
"Nora! Please… never do that again." He panted. As he looked up, his magenta eyes grew wide, as he saw that Nora had disappeared. Looking around frantically, his eyes finally rested behind us. I turned, only to see Nora looking at one of the White Castles with curiosity. As she snatched it, she began singing a dainty little tune, whilst balancing the relic on her head.
"I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!"
"NORA!" Ren yelled, causing Nora to stop, and me to jump. She smiled, saluted, tilted her head and caught the relic in her free hand.
"Coming, Ren!" she giggled, then started to skip off to her partner. Blake watched her depart.
"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" she wondered aloud. Yang went to answer, but never got a word out before a red-haired girl sprinted out of the trees, which were quickly uprooted by a giant scorpion pursuing her. It slashed at her, snapping its mandibles together, but she leaped forwards, the claw barely nicking her skirt.
"Jaune!" she yelled.
"Pyrrha!" He cried.
"Whoa!" Ruby exclaimed, as she jumped out of the tree, leaving Jaune literally high and dry.
"Ruby!" He yelled. Ruby landed beside me and Yang.
"Ruby?" Yang asked. Ruby looked to her, and a smile encompassed her face.
"Yang!" She yelled, moving to hug her. After a few moments, I decided to get everyone's attention to the approaching danger.
"Yang? Ruby?" I began, but before I could get any further, Nora popped up beside me.
"NORA!" She yelled, causing me to fall on my butt in surprise. As I jumped up, I saw Pyrrha still running from the scorpion.
"Did she just run all the way here with a Deathstalker on her tail?" She asked. As I was about to comment on her ability to narrate the obvious events unfolding before our eyes, Yang literally exploded in a ball of fire. I panicked, and ducked behind a pillar, scared of getting singed.
"I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! COULD EVERYONE JUST CHILL OUT FOR TWO SECONDS BEFORE SOMETHING CRAZY HAPPENS AGAIN?!"
Nervously poking my head out from behind the scorched pillar, I saw Ren finally run up to Nora, as she did a little dance. Apparently, she was incapable of standing still for a millisecond, though given her limitless energy; it wasn't hard to see why. Yang panted as the flames surrounding her died down, while Ruby tapped her on the arm.
"Um, Yang?" She pointed to the sky. Yang didn't even bother to look, she just slumped forwards in frustration. I cautiously walked up to her, and patted her on the back.
"Look on the bright side. Everyone chilled out for two seconds exactly." I joked. Yang shot me a murderous leer.
"Don't even start, Darrel." She growled, and I immediately took my hand off of her, and looked to the sky, whistling innocently. Only then did I see a gigantic bird in the sky. It resembled a condor, but it was larger. Far, far larger. As in, Pacific Rim Otachi size. On one of the bird's talons, there was a white speck. Craning my neck, I saw that it was…
Weiss?
"HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME?!" She screamed down to Ruby. Ruby shrugged.
"I said, jump!" She protested.
"She's gonna fall."
"She'll be fine."
"She's falling."
Looking away from the two aloof warriors, I saw that Weiss was indeed falling. I was about to dash forward, when I saw a streak of black, white, and blue jump out of a tree, and catch the falling heiress. Right then, it was almost as if gravity had stopped for the two of them. Jaune had caught Weiss in his arms, a confident look on his face.
"Just dropping in?" He asked flirtatiously. Weiss said nothing, only looked down. Jaune followed suit, and very quickly realised his dangerous mistake.
"Oh, God!" He cried. The two hugged each other tightly, and began to fall again, Jaune screaming all the way down. I decided that maybe now would be a good time to spare Jaune some pain. I dashed forwards, and ran to where Jaune was about to land. As it turned out, he was heavy, far too heavy for me to carry. He sent me sprawling on the ground, our faces dangerously close to each other. I chuckled nervously, and looked up to see a still-falling Weiss. She landed on Jaune's back, crushing the wind out of him, and sending one of her combat heels careening into my still-numb testicles.
"My heroes." She said, her voice dripping with sarcasm as nonchalantly checked her nails.
"My back!" Jaune croaked, raising an arm up in pain.
"My plums!" I whimpered. Looking from side to side, I saw Pyrrha run to the temple, where the Deathstalker stopped, and gave a short growl, daring one of the other warriors to charge in. Throwing a blank Weiss and a moaning Jaune off of me, I looked up to see Pyrrha ungainly dive into the ground beside Ruby.
"Great. The gang's all here. Now we can die together!"
Oh, Yang, always with the deadpan…
"Not if I can help it!" Ruby smiled cockily, and charged headlong at the giant scorpion, screaming a war cry and unfolding Crescent Rose. Yang reached for her futilely.
"Ruby, wait!" She yelled after her. I shook my head, and dashed after her, activating the Iridescent Basilisks on my wrist. As Ruby was about to strike, the Deathstalker swung its pincer, sending her flying straight into me, and knocking us flat. Ruby got up and turned to the group still at the temple.
"D-do-don't worry! Totally fine!" she yelled out. I tugged her cloak.
"Uh, Ruby?! I'd focus on the thing that's trying to kill us!" I yelled out in a panic. I scrambled to my feet, and took off running for my life, dragging Ruby behind me. As the Deathstalker chased us across the field, Yang began sprinting to us, Ember Celica at the ready, and a scared look on her face.
"Darrel! Ruby!" She yelled. Hearing an unmistakeable cawing, I looked back. The Nevermore was swooping overhead, as if preparing to attack. It flapped its wings, and a tempest of feathers, identical to the one Yang had found by the tree earlier, erupted from its wings, slamming into the ground like daggers. Trying desperately to avoid the storm of blades, I leapt from foot to foot as the feathers struck around our feet. Although I had been successful, I looked back to see that a stray feather had pinned Ruby's cloak to the terrain, trapping her and making her an easy target for the approaching Deathstalker. I looked back to Yang. She had slowed down so as to avoid being struck by the feathers, and had been forced to watch as Ruby struggled with her cloak.
"Ruby, get outta there!" Yang yelled. Ruby continued to struggle with her cloak.
"I'm trying!" She yelled back. At this point, the Deathstalker was right on top of her, ready to make the killing blow.
This is the moment! Slay that monster, save your friend!
For once, lady, you and I agree.
I dashed forwards, blades at the ready, and began to slash at the feather pinning Ruby. She looked up in terror at the approaching golden stinger, but I was too focussed on freeing her to notice. I kept slicing the feather, but the quill was too tough for my blade to pierce. I turned, to find myself face to face to the stinger, inches away from my nose. I put my hands up instinctively, to protect myself, when a flash of blue light shone from my hands, sending the Deathstalker reeling.
As I looked at my hands in confusion, Ruby was pulling the quill out of her cloak, freeing herself. She tried to tug me away, but I was too distracted by the flash of light that had come out of… me. The Deathstalker recovered quickly, and was about to strike once again. I looked up, and covered Ruby with my body, her eyes closed in fear.
*SHWING*
A white streak suddenly flashed past me, and the stinger was suddenly surrounded by ice.
"You two are so idiotic!"
A familiar voice. One that I remembered hating me with all its existence. Ruby opened her eyes, and I looked up to see Weiss kneeling in front of the ice on a light blue glyph.
"Weiss…?" Ruby muttered.
"And reckless, and borderline insane, and don't even get me started on your fighting styles. And I suppose I've been a bit…" She paused, as if searching for the correct word.
"…Difficult…to you two. But if we're going to do this… we're going to do this together." She lectured, leaning down to us. Ruby got to her knees, whilst I scrambled to my feet. Lifting her rapier, she pointed at Ruby.
"So if you quit trying to show off…" She then moved her weapon so it was pointed at my chest.
"And if you stop acting like a hot-headed know-it-all, I'll be… nicer." She finished, an inflection in her voice hinting that she did NOT want to do this. Ruby stepped forward.
"I'm not trying to show off and Darrel is not a know-it-all. I want you to know I can do this." She retorted. Weiss just gave a little huff.
"You're fine, and he kind of is." She stated, walking back to the temple. Ruby looked at me. I shrugged apologetically. Truth be told, I had been kind of a douche to Weiss on our first meeting. What better time to start building bridges than when our lives were in danger? Ruby just closed her eyes and whispered something about knees. I decided it'd be best not to ask, only look at how close we were to death. Looking at the massive iceberg that Weiss had conjured, the Deathstalker's tail was frozen straight through, immobilizing it. It struggled to free itself, giving little growls as if exerting effort in pulling its tail. As I turned back to the temple, Yang ran up, arms outstretched. I prepared for the hug, only to see her run straight past me and pull Ruby into her arms.
"So happy you're okay!" Yang breathed a sigh of relief as she checked Ruby for any injuries. I looked at the sisters, and gave a little smile at the sibling affection. Then I sighed sadly, hung my head, and began to trudge back to the temple. As I was about halfway, back, I felt a tender hand on my shoulder. Turning, I saw Yang, her cheeks subtly filling with colour.
"Darrel… I-I know that you were only trying to protect Ruby. But don't pull a stunt like that ever again. Okay?" She stammered. I gave a little smile. I don't think I had ever seen Yang this nervous since… well, ever.
"Yang, she's your sister, and my friend. I'm not going to let some stupid scorpion try and kill her." I stated. Yang smiled. Then she gave me a hard punch on the shoulder. As I rubbed it, she leaned in close, and whispered in my ear.
"That's for risking your life." Then she gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. As she leaned away, I looked at her in confusion.
"That's for saving hers." She smiled. I grinned, and then ran back to the temple, to find Jaune, Weiss, and Ruby had regrouped with Blake, Ren, a dancing Nora, and a smiling Pyrrha. Jaune was looking up at the sky, glancing at the Nevermore, which still glided majestically above us.
"Guys? That thing's circling back! What are we gonna do?" He pointed to the sky. Weiss strode up, a confident look on her face.
"Look, there's no sense in wasting any more time. Our objective is right in front of us."
"She's right. Our mission is to grab an artefact, and make it back to the cliffs." Ruby continued, nodding towards Weiss. Looking back at the struggling Deathstalker, she sighed.
"There's no point in fighting these things." She stated. Jaune smiled happily.
"Run and live. Now that is an idea I can get behind!" He grinned. Along with Ruby, he went to pick up a relic. Ruby picked a white horse, Jaune picked a white castle. They glanced at each other, and smiled at their respective choices. Blake tapped me on the shoulder, drawing my attention.
"Darrel, aren't you gonna pick out a relic?" She asked. I suddenly remembered: I had had trouble picking out one, but now… I knew which one I would pick. I stepped forward to the pedestal in the centre of the temple, and gripped the pawn resting in the alcove.
"Why'd you pick that one?" Pyrrha asked. I turned to her.
"Well, get a pawn to the end of a chess board, it can become a Castle, a Knight, a Bishop or a Queen. Ozpin must have placed this as a wild card, I guess." I explained, shoving the pawn into my pocket. Hearing a cracking noise, I noticed that the Deathstalker was about to break free from its icy prison.
"Time we left." Ren said. Ruby nodded.
"Right. Let's go!" She commanded. Waving us over, the group began to run. I prepared to run, when I noticed Yang hadn't joined us. I turned back, and sprinted back to her. Blake had also stopped beside her.
"What is it?" Blake asked her. Yang looked proudly at Ruby, who had jumped on a boulder, and waved to her allies. Yang just shrugged.
"Nothing." She said. Blake gave me a knowing look, and I smiled. Then she flashed me a thumbs up and took off. I glanced back at the Deathstalker, which had begun chipping away at the ice with its pincers. I knew it wouldn't be long before it broke free, so I turned, and hotfooted it, following Blake towards the cliffs.
As the nine of us broke through the trees, we came across some old ruins, clearly built to protect the former inhabitants from any attacking Grimm. The structures had crumbled and faded to time, but they still held strong, as I took cover alongside Nora and Ren. The Nevermore flew overhead, and landed atop the tower which was the only obstacle between us and the cliff. As it cawed, Yang growled softly in annoyance.
"Well, that's great!" She said sarcastically. As I looked to Jaune and Pyrrha, I noticed he was looking at the forest we had emerged from. As I looked, the Deathstalker ploughed through the trees, moving faster than ever, and obviously very angry.
"Oh, man, RUN!" Jaune yelled. Given how well Ruby and I had gone against that leviathan, it was probably the best idea. I dashed out from behind the pillar, and began to leg it to the bridge spanning the chasm.
"Nora, distract it!" Ren ordered. As the Nevermore unleashed a hail of feathers, she pulled out her weapon, a massive grenade launcher, and began to fire at the massive bird. As pink explosions plumed all around it, I looked back to see Blake and Ren slash at the approaching scorpion, while Weiss took Nora and catapulted herself and her giggling cargo next to Jaune, both women hitting the ground running. As I ran alongside Jaune and Pyrrha, she looked back to see Blake and Ren running for their lives.
"Go, GO!" She yelled, and dropping to one knee, she unloaded a few rounds from her rifle into the approaching beast, while Ren pulled out his bladed machine pistols and emptied the clips, to no visible effect. It crashed through the pillars, barely missing the two gunslingers and Blake. As we ran across the bridge, I remembered that the Nevermore would blow through the bridge, separating us into our respective teams.
"Guys, WE NEED TO MOVE!" I screamed, seeing the approaching Nevermore out of the corner of my eye barrelling straight towards us. As we ran, the Nevermore grew closer and closer, until finally, as I predicted, it torpedoed through the bridge, splitting it into two. While everyone was forced to the sides of the bridge, I was thrown up into the air, grabbing onto the Nevermore's tail, and holding on for dear life as the wind whipped at my face.
I remember screaming as the Nevermore began to buck and spin, trying to dislodge me from its tail. As I continued to grip tightly, I heard Yang yell out my name, before my friends disappeared behind a cliff. The Nevermore screeched as it bucked and thrashed. One of my hands lost its grip, and I was nearly sent careening into the abyss.
At that point, I had an idea. Flicking my wrist, I fired a grappling barb up towards the creature's eye, impacting it through the mask. The massive bird screeched in pain, and I began to climb up the wire that I had fired, towards the Nevermore's head. Even though it thrashed like a wild animal in pain, I held onto the wire, and finally wrapped my legs around the beast's neck. Still clamped onto the wire, I gripped the barb stuck in the beast's eye. Gritting my teeth, I fired another barb forwards, not aiming at anything. Then when the barb was at the right length, I whipped the wire forwards, and as I expected, it whipped through the monster's beak, making a makeshift rein. Wrapping my wrist around the wire, I pulled left, and even though the beast resisted, I could feel my new mount pitch to the left.
I cheered in delight at what I had accomplished, but I soon realised my mistake as the Grimm started to buck again, causing me to pull my reins tighter to keep the beast under what little control I had. I growled in exertion, desperate to stay on.
"Shut up and turn around!" I snarled into what I thought was the Grimm's ear. It spun around, and flew back to where the temple was. Immediately, the beast was bombarded with blasts: clearly, Ruby, Yang and Weiss hadn't seen me surfing on the creature's back. As I tried to steer the creature away so I wouldn't come to any harm. But I saw a flash of black swinging through the air on a ribbon. Blake had seen me, and was sailing through the air. As she leapt up, before I could blink, she had zoomed forward, slashing at the beasts back. I ducked, hoping she wouldn't take my head off by accident. She leapt off of the beast, and it turned around, trying to find where Blake had disappeared to. As I looked down at my wrist, I noticed that somehow, the rein on my left wrist had snapped, and I no longer had control of the monster.
It threw its head back, sending me into the air. I tried to grab onto its tail again, but the monster had wised up to that trick, whipping it away out of my reach. Not to worry: I still had the grappling barbs in my crossbows.
I aimed, and fired a round. Nothing happened. I fired again. Nothing. Did I just seriously run out of ammunition?! I fell past the four girls, getting a good look at the expressions on each of their faces. Ruby's eyes were frozen in confusion, and her mouth was hanging open, as if she couldn't believe that I was riding that Nevermore. Blake looked horrified, her mouth hanging open and her golden eyes wide as dinner plates. Yang looked terrified, reaching out for me in futility. Weiss had a faint pink handprint on her face, as if she had just slapped herself in an attempt to wake herself up.
"DARRELLLL!" Yang screamed. I yelled out in fear, not wanting to find out if this cliff had a bottom that consisted of a bouncy castle or sharp stalagmites. The wind whipped through my hair, and caused my eyelids to flutter. I shut my eyes, spread my body, and waited for the end.
As it turned out, it was sooner than expected: I opened my eyes to find myself resting above a black glyph. I looked up, and saw Weiss flick her fingers upwards. The glyph morphed from a black to a blue colour, and before I knew it, I was rocketing back up into the air, screaming once more. As I reached the apex of my flight, Blake threw her ribbon, entangling my arm in a streak of black, and yanked me to back to the temple. As she untied the ribbon, I found myself panting breathlessly.
"You okay, Darrel?" Ruby asked.
"I just got kidnapped by a Nevermore, I managed to ride it like a mount, I get thrown into the air like a rag doll and I barely survive a fall into a bottomless canyon? No, I'm feeling just peachy." I spat. Before anyone could call me out, I heard a familiar screech. Looking up, the Nevermore was hurtling towards us. Getting to my feet, and spinning the circular drum that Blake had shown me approximately a thousand years ago, I let it stop on the explosive arrows.
"UNLOAD!" Ruby screamed, and we began to fire everything we had at the approaching bird. It seemed to shrug it off like puny little ants were trying to kill it with leaves, and shot through the tower, causing it to crumble to rubble. Yang grabbed me, hoisted me up into a fireman's carry and began to jump from rock to falling rock.
"Yang, how is this possible?!" I yelled. She just flashed me a wink and grinned at me.
"If I think about how I can do it, I can't do it anymore!" She yelled back. Finally, after the debacle was over, she put me down. I stumbled unsteadily on my feet, before regaining my balance.
"Stay here, Darrel! You've done enough." She said, then blasted to the top of a nearby pillar, and began to pelt the circling Nevermore with blasts from her gauntlets. Looking at the beast, I saw that the barb I had shot into its eye was still firmly lodged in there. Looking at the drum on my gauntlet, I saw it was still set on explosive arrows. Maybe if I could direct the Nevermore to where it needed to go…
I fired an explosive arrow at the ground, a streak of light ejecting from the crossbow and embedding into the ground. Standing over it, I shielded myself from any harm with my Aura, and felt the arrow explode, launching me up in the air. The Nevermore saw me, and turned to my falling body. I smiled: the beast had fallen for it. Without thinking, I twisted in mid-air, dodging the Nevermore's open beak, and grabbing onto the barb lodged in its eye. The Nevermore shook its head, but I gripped on for dear life, desperate not to fall again, as I don't think Weiss would save me a second time.
Stabbing into the beast's neck with a sword for an anchor, I ripped out the barb, sending out a shower of blood, vitreous fluid, and God knows what else. Screeching in pain, the giant bird began to shake its head wildly, but I managed to hold on. Flicking the barb clean of as much blood as I could, I started to climb back up to its neck.
"Come on, you son of a bitch!" I growled, as I clambered up with an agility that I never even knew was physically possible. Sitting on the neck, I watched as Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha and Ren battle the Deathstalker. But while my attention was elsewhere, the Nevermore screeched loudly, and tried to buck me off once again. Learning my lesson, I stabbed the Nevermore in the neck, using my blade as an anchor once again. While it was a wild ride, I managed to hold on.
*BOOM!*
An explosion resounded near me as a ball of fire impacted the creature in the side of the head, right where the gaping hole that used to house its eye was. It screeched, and flew straight for its attacker. I heard a yell, and before I knew it, the creature's beak was being held open.
"I! HOPE! YOU'RE! HUN! GRY!" A voice yelled. Looking around the head of the monster, I saw Yang firing round after round down its throat, punctuating every shot with a yell. I looked up, and saw the cliff wall fast approaching. If I hit that, I'd be crushed. Yang leapt out of the way, landing on a bridge. I didn't think I could do it. I was exhausted and my Aura was spent, after leaping and flying around and steering the giant bird. All I could do was jump free, and hope my legs wouldn't break on impact with the ground. As the bird spun around, I leapt off of its neck, rolling as soon as I hit the ground. Unfortunately, the Nevermore was back on its feet in an instant, its foot pinning me to the ground, and one of its talons dangerously close to my groin.
"What do you have against my testicles?!" I screamed out to no-one in particular. But it was the wrong move. The bird took flight, with me trapped in the grasp of its foot, it's talons slicing into my side. Trying desperately to break free, I saw Weiss leap up, and fire an ice blast at where the bird had once stood. Its ascent halted, I broke free of its grasp, and began to fall. Loading the bloodstained barb into my crossbow, I aimed at a pillar behind the group, hoping to get out of the way quickly. But before I could fire, the giant bird reached down, and plucked me up from the ground by my tunic. Screaming in terror, the Nevermore threw its head up, launching me skyward.
'This is it. All this effort I've put into surviving, and I get eaten by a giant condor. What a way to go.' I thought to myself. I shut my eyes, and waited for the Nevermore to clack its beak together, and swallow me whole. If I was lucky, I'd probably make it choke.
Right then, through my squinted eyes, I saw a red string of light shoot underneath me, pinning the Nevermore to the cliff wall. Looking up, I saw that Ruby had wrapped the blade of Crescent Rose around the bird's neck, primed for a decapitation. A pain in my side, I spun around, and fired the final grappling barb at the bridge. Looking back to Ruby, who was already running up the side of the cliff, I let out a yell.
"Yeah! Gut it, Ruby!" I yelled in encouragement. Swinging under the bridge and arcing into the air, I landed behind Yang, who had jumped down from a nearby pillar. Holding my aching side, I watched as Ruby beheaded the giant monster in a shower of blood and rose petals. As the body of the beast fell to the chasm, Yang, Weiss and Blake looked up at Ruby, standing atop the cliff, Crescent Rose hoisted above her shoulder.
"Well… that was a thing!" she said. I chuckled, causing the three ladies to turn to me.
"Darn right, Yang. Nobody comes close to Ruby." I snickered, clutching my side. I just assumed it was a bad stitch: I had done a lot of athletic work, after all. But what happened next surprised me.
Yang's face turned from pride to shock. Weiss looked scared at what she saw, while Blake grimaced. I shrugged, confused.
"What? What's the big deal?" I asked. To be honest, I had been feeling a little dizzy since I had landed from the. Yang pointed to her left hand, silently telling me to do so as well. I took it away from my stinging side, only to discover that the skin had been stained a deep crimson. I looked down, and was horrified at what I saw.
Half my jacket had been mangled, and the clothing underneath had been ripped to shreds. Underneath, the wound appeared to be severe: Most of my abdomen was covered in deep scratches, and part of my side had been mauled so badly, I could literally feel the shredded muscle and broken bone heaving beneath my fingers. Blood was pouring down my legs, pooling at my feet. If an ambulance had seen me, they would have just skipped the hospital and sent me straight to the morgue. Suddenly breathless, I fell to my knees, and then collapsed onto my back.
I heard a muffled cry through deaf ears: I could not tell who it was, or where it came from. As my vision began to blur, the last thing I saw was Yang kneeling beside me, and signaling for help, giving orders to Blake and Weiss. Then my vision swamped into blackness.
Yes, Darrel was kind of OP, I admit, but anything less than what I've written would have caused him to die mid-fight.
Anyway, by my time, it's 4:25 on the 7th of Feb. 8 hours out from my birthday. Consider it a little early birthday gift to myself.
Either way, feel free to post a review, tell your friends, and, if you REALLY like it, put it on the FanFicRecs page of TVTropes.