"Make way! Make way for the militia!" Bellowed an armoured soldier, pushing through the screaming, panicked crowds. The streets were pure chaos. Families screamed as they were separated by a mass of shoving, desperate bodies. Children sat in doorways, crying and clutching toys to their chests, abandoned or lost from their parents. People yelled names and an old woman was shoved to the ground before being trampled on by the manic crowd. She didn't get up again.

Jaune stared out at the unfolding chaos, eyes wide and body frozen. Ruby looked somewhat similar, Crescent Rose awkwardly tilted in her hands. Only Blake seemed alright, her eyes scanning the chaos with a cool, detached look.

"This is madness." She whispered. She realised her comrades had not heard her due to the noise so she yelled it at them. Jaune nodded, though he seemed distant as he stared at the chaos unravelling before them. All it had taken was a single word and suddenly it seemed like the world was falling apart.

The militia were gathering at force at the top of the road. It connected with the main path that cut all the way through Snowmire and its famous market from the north gate to the south gate, which was why the militia needed the road to be clear, so that they could have a clear route to each side of the settlement. But the road ran through the middle of Snowmire, splitting the town in two. People were desperate, panicked and not thinking straight. They were trying to reach family or friends or safe houses like The Polite Crane where they could hide out in secure basements and wait out the coming storm. These two goals conflicted and mashed together in an unfolding mess that would likely be seen across the entirety of the town, and Blake shook her head as she tried to think over the sounds of screaming.

The house was burning. The scent of metallic blood filled her nostrils and made her gag. Smoke curled in her throat, making her chest wrack with raspy coughs.

"Mama! Papa!" She screamed, hot tears rolling down her cheeks. If they replied, she did not hear them. She could only hear the distant screams of dying people, the cracking of burning timbers and the thudding of footsteps behind her…

"Blake! Blake!"

She blinked. The fires faded. Blue eyes, Jaune's eyes, were staring into hers with open concern, his hands gripping her shoulders gently.

"Are you alright? Talk to me Blake!" Jaune asked, shouting to be heard over the screaming, acrid smoke pouring up her nose and making her dizzy, and practically rioting populace of Snowmire.

"I'm okay." Blake replied quietly, knowing he knew what she said from the way his shoulders relaxed and grip lessened. "I'm okay."

"What are we going to do?" Ruby asked and Blake turned to her, swallowing as she forced herself to think rather than remember.

"We need to get Jaune a weapon, maybe some armour if we're lucky. Then we are getting out of Snowmire and killing this dragon." Blake said, turning around and walking back into the alley, away from the screams and cries and panic, trusting they would follow her.

"How are we going to do that? I doubt any of the blacksmiths will be open at a time like this." Jaune asked and Blake ignored him, a plan formulating but not trusting neither Jaune nor Ruby to go along with it.

"Blake?" Jaune asked, and she turned to give him a reassuring white lie when she caught a gleam of gold and a flash of brown.

Gambol Shroud cut through the air, blocking the tip of the poisoned tail before it could penetrate the exposed, unsuspecting neck of Jaune Arc. A low growl forced its way out of her throat as she pushed forward, thrusting the hilt of the katana towards the gold eyes that glittered with madness. A cackle echoed around her as Tyrian Callows leaped backwards, a gleeful grin etched across his psychotic face.

"So the kitty still has claws!" He chuckled. "Oh what a joyful surprise! I thought you'd gotten soft little kitty, especially after I saw the strays you brought home."

Blake shoved Jaune backwards, stepping in front of him and Ruby, Gambol Shroud raised and at the ready.

"Stay away from them." She hissed, shifting her feet as she prepared to strike.

"Gladly!" Tyrian smiled, clapping with mad glee. "We have so much to catch up on after all!"

"B-Blake? How do you-?" Jaune began to ask but Blake cut him off with a single command.

"Run."

Then she lunged, Gambol Shroud aimed at Callows' scarred, mutilated chest. The Faunus cackled with joy at the prospect of coming violence, his wrist blades forming an X across his chest as he blocked the blow and locked the katana in between his wrist blades, the tip of it inches away from the flesh covering his heart.

His tail shot through the air like a blur, but Blake saw it coming with her sensitive, attuned eyes that could see in the dark and ducked under it, letting go of Gambol Shroud to sweep the scorpion faunus off his feet. Tyrian cackled as his feet were swept upwards by her sweeping foot. His arms moved apart and Gambol Shroud hovered in the air before Blake grabbed it once more.

Tyrian's tail shot behind him and curled up on the ground like a coiled snake ready to strike. It prevented him from falling onto the cold hard ground and suddenly he was moving again, using his tail to propel him onto the wall of a nearby house before lunging towards her like an arrow. Wrist blades and katana grinded against one another, sparks flaring from the screeching metal.

"Nice move kitty. Learned anything else you want to show me?" Tyrian asked mockingly, and a searing hot rage pooled in her gut at the sight of his smiling, condescending, psychotic face. She hawked up whatever spit she had in her dry mouth and spat it in his gleaming golden eye.

He flinched, and Blake struck, sliding herself and Gambol Shroud around his now blind right side and slamming the hilt of her blade into the side of his head. The faunus yowled, slamming into the wall of a nearby house. Blake moved forward, knowing she needed to press the initiative whilst she still had it. Gambol Shroud swung towards his neck, ready to sever it off in one clean blow.

However, Tyrian saw it coming and raised one arm to block before striking with the other. Blake yelled as one of the blades cut a red line across her cheek, and in the brief moment the shock of the blow froze her Tyrian had moved and swung around, performing a roundhouse kick that ended with his heel in her stomach and spittle flying from her mouth as the air was stolen from her lungs and the dirty, cold ground scraped against her back after she landed from being sent flying five feet across the air.

"Nice trick kitty but now it's my turn." Tyrian smiled maniacally, licking her blood off of his wrist blades whilst her lungs gasped for air and her hands grasped for Gambol Shroud.

Something flashed in the air behind Tyrian and Blake tried to scream as she saw Ruby rocket towards Tyrian, her scythe raised into the air like the axe of an executioner. The scythe fell, silver metal glistening as it inched closer towards a killing blow, only for it to be stopped at the last second when Tyrian deflected it with the hardened tip of his tail and kicked Ruby in the stomach, propelling the girl backwards and into Jaune, causing them both to topple onto the ground.

"Not that the strays have been put to bed." Tyrian giggled, as if telling a hilarious joke to an old friend. Then he was advancing towards her once more. Her lungs ached, her muscles screamed and adrenaline made her head pound. Gambol Shroud was inches away, but that felt like a thousand yards as Tyrian steadily advanced towards her, grinning evilly.

Then her watery eyes saw a glimpse of yellow, and her eyes widened as she saw Jaune behind Tyrian with a plank of wood in his hands. Her eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as he slammed the neglected, rotting plank of wood into the back of Tyrian's Head. The wood broke as it crashed against the unsuspecting faunus' head, making Tyrian groan before he swung his leg around, heel smashing into Jaune's temple and sending the poor boy flying headfirst into a nearby wall.

Tyrian shot her a cruel grin before advancing towards the groaning boy, who clutched his bloodied head in one hand. Her hands finally found purchase on Gambol Shroud's hilt and she willed her legs to move, barely managing to stagger onto her feet as the terrifying thought of what was about to happen forced its way into her mind.

"I'm not going to make it, he's going to kill Jaune."

Her horror must've been written on her face, because Tyrian cackled evilly and Jaune looked at her, dazed eyes shining with tears, blood trickling down the side of his face and a sad, forgiving smile splayed across his face.

Then white light engulfed her, surrounded her and drowned everything. Her back cracked against the paved stone ground and the last thought before her head smashed against the stone was the haunting smile on Jaune's face as Tyrian's wrist blades prepared to rip open his throat.

A/N: Next chapter will be released March 5th 2022