Chapter Eleven
Winter was in Amity's C.I.C., briefing the officers on the potential threat they faced, and was going over protocol of what to do in case of attack. One of the adjutants that was present rushed over to her, slip of paper in his hands.
He snapped off a salute. "Ma'am! The scanners are picking up a sandstorm heading this way. It will hit us within the next thirty minutes."
Winter took the report from the young officer and dismissed him. They had been anticipating a storm, but the scans she now saw showed a wall of wind and sand that stretched across a third of Vacuo. They were about to get hit by a monstrous storm, and the grimm had been clearing out the mines leading to the city. Her sense of foreboding deepened, and she was about to start issuing orders when a broadcast from Theodore came through.
"Defenders of Vacuo! I just received a report that the sandstorm heading our way is inhabited by grimm. There is no word on Salem, but we need to prepare for the worst. I'm dispatching all available Hunter teams to defensive positions. Good luck." He broke the wide-band connection and then made a direct call to Winter.
"I don't need to tell you what to do. I don't like the idea of fighting in that storm, but it seems we have no choice. How are those new Paladins coming along?"
"They're going through a final shakedown now, and pilots have already been selected for them. We'll be able to count on them," Winter told Theodore.
"Good. General Merryweather ready for his first battle command over the combined Remnant forces?" Theodore asked.
"Yes sir. We're ready," Winter replied. General Merryweather was a career soldier who had been in the Atlesian Airforce for thirty years. He had held the rank of Captain until the Battle for Atlas, and in the wake of that battle had been promoted to fill the gaps left in the officer files. Winter thought he was capable, if reserved, and he had been chosen to command the combined forces in battle to leave Winter and Theodore free to fight on the front lines. Time would tell if the Vacuans would follow his commands, and Winter hoped that foolish pride and nationalism wouldn't get in the way.
She walked over to where the older officer was standing, hands clasped behind his back, staring out the observation window of the C.I.C. "We're as ready we'll ever be, Sir."
"It should be you, you know," he said mildly, still looking out the window.
"You have years more experience than me, Sir." Winter replied, standing next to him and looking out the window herself. She could see the wall on the horizon that she knew was the storm.
"You were General Ironwood's protégé. Everyone knew he was grooming you for command. And now you have Maiden Powers, as well." Merryweather's voice was still mild.
"And we all saw what happened to General Ironwood, Sir. The people know my association with him. I'm worried that they'll think that I'll snap like he did."
Merryweather's warm brown eyes met Winter's ice blue ones. "And they've seen what you've done to protect them. I think they'd follow you, Winter."
"Thank you, Sir. But I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet. I'm content working with Theodore and leaving battlefield command to you. I'm better suited for field work, anyway."
He laughed. "I won't argue with you there. But don't sell yourself short. You've got great potential to be a leader." Merryweather turned around to address the room. Most of the assembled soldiers were from Atlas, but there were a handful from other nationalities as well. Military representatives from Vale, Mistral, Vacuo, and representatives from Menagerie's militia contingent, were all present to relay orders to their respective forces.
"Defenders of Remnant. We're assembled here, in the first joint military operation ever in our history, as five nations united in one cause. There is an enemy force howling its way towards us. Salem herself isn't confirmed yet, but we can't rule her out. Something is commanding those grimm. We are here to stop them. Shade and its people are our first priority. The vault is our second. Many of you have experience fighting Salem and her forces, some of you don't. I can tell you that they will not give any quarter. They accept no surrender; they know no pity. They fight to the death, and so shall we." General Merryweather strode across the room to take his position in the command chair.
"All ships, you have permission to fire when targets present themselves," he commanded over the officer's radio band.
Winter snapped a salute to the General, and then left the C.I.C after he returned it and dismissed her. Her place wasn't on the bridge anymore, it was in the fight directly. She made her way to the launch bay. The remaining members of the Ace-Ops, as well as the newly formed Omega Paladin squad, were waiting for her there, and she would be giving them their orders. As she walked, she felt a faint shudder through the decking as Amity's weapons opened fire, and the gravity shifted under her as the thrusters fired. They were gaining altitude. She frowned, checking her earpiece, and then winced as a horrible shrieking noise emanated from it. She reflexively took it out to protect her hearing.
What in the world was that? She thought. Her walk turned to a trot, and then a run. She needed to know what was going on with their comms. As she rushed into the bay, Harriot, Marrow, and Elm greeted her.
"What happened to our comms, Ma'am?" Marrow asked as she joined them.
"I don't know," Winter replied. "They were fine a moment ago. I wonder if the storm is causing interference."
Harriet started to tap a foot, a nervous habit of hers that had returned over the past weeks. "I don't like this, Schnee. It feels too much like Atlas," she said.
"Harriet is right, Ma'am," Elm said, pointedly emphasizing the honorific while shooting a look at Harriet, which the other woman ignored. "It feels too much like we've been taken unawares."
"Attention all crew, the grimm are causing radio interference. Repeat, the ravagers are the cause of the radio interference. Termination of this threat is high priority," a voice said over the intercom.
"That explains that, then," Winter said. "Let's see what we can do about it. Reestablishing radio communications with our forces is our priority. I'll go first, you take the Manta and follow me down after I create an opening. Omega Team, you are to prioritize the thickest fighting. Drop where you can do the most good, I trust your judgment."
The Ace-Ops nodded their understanding and loaded onto the Manta, and Omega Team saluted her and made their way to their Paladins, nestled neatly into drop pods. Winter walked to the access hatch normally used by maintenance crews to access the outside of the structure, and climbed inside. Once the door sealed behind her, she tapped a code into the control panel to open the outside door. The sound of sand scouring the hull was deafening from this new vantage of hers, and she braced herself to leap into it. Only, the door didn't open.
Frowning, she looked at the panel. It was flashing an error code at her. Hydraulic Obstruction. What on Earth? A fleshy black shape suddenly obscured the window set at head level in the door. Winter recoiled reflexively, and then saw the fiery red eye staring in at her. The ravager shrieked, scrabbling at the door. Well, that complicates things, she thought to herself. She was going to have to override the controls if the door sensors were jammed up as well.
She firmly pulled the red lever set next to the console out and twisted it clockwise. It came loose and exposed a red button. She punched this as well, and the door blew explosively outward, taking the ravager with it. Winter smiled, icy winds beginning to whip around her as her eyes flamed blue. She stepped into the whirling maelstrom of howling wind and shrieking grimm, expanding her own personal storm outward.
The Maiden powers surged through her, and she could feel the winds of the sandstorm pulling against the winds she had conjured. Winter focused, pulling strand after strand of the sandstorm into her own blizzard. It fought her. She could feel the primal forces of nature when she tapped into her powers, ancient and formidable, and the sandstorm dwarfed her. It felt like she was a child with a hand fan trying to redirect a hurricane. She slipped into a trance-like state, letting herself feel the storm, become the storm. With a surge of effort, she expanded her control in a wide burst, and tore the ravagers in the sky around the launch bay out of the air.
She let the wind slip from her control until she was only keeping herself aloft, and sighed in relief. Fighting and redirecting the sandstorm had not been easy. She put her earpiece back in and was gratified to notice that the feedback had mostly subsided. "Ace-Ops, Omega Team, launch!" she commanded. Behind her the Manta roared out into the storm, and she flew to land on top of it. Six more massive drop pods also fired from the underbelly of Amity, thrusters maneuvering them to advantageous positions in the city below. It was time for the counterattack.
"We need to do something about that blind worm!" Jaune yelled to his team as they sprang into action.
"Like what, Jaune? Do you see the size of that monster!?" Emerald yelled back as she fired a burst from her revolvers at a low-flying ravager. It tumbled over the side of the wall, smoke leaking from a half-dozen holes.
"I don't know, but until it dies, we have a Monstra situation all over again." He looked skyward, trying to pick out the airships through the raging sand. Almost directly above him, a Mistralian Sailship careened towards the ground, a dozen holes ripped into its sails and hull from the ravagers. A lone gunner on the deck continued to fire even as the ship crashed to the ground outside the wall.
"What's the plan Jaune?" Oscar asked, eyes following the ship as it went down.
Down the wall, the lancer to continued fire searing beams of energy at the seemingly inexhaustible horde of enemies. Jaune watched this briefly, then said, "We can't do anything to help the airships, and defending the wall is pointless since it's already been breached. The soldiers are better equipped for that anyway, we're best when we can be flexible. We're moving towards the blind worm. Let's go!"
"Hell yeah!" Nora cried, leaping from the wall top, Manghild crashing through the skull of a dromedon as she fell to the street below. A wave of grimm had appeared through the swirling sands, jackal-like anubis at the forefront. Nora charged them, hammer swinging.
Ren dropped behind her and covered her flank, Stormflower spitting out a hail of bullets that shredded the smaller grimm. Emerald sighed then followed suit, staying back a little and picking her shots carefully. Jaune nodded reassurance to Oscar, and together they leapt from the wall to the battle below. Jaune ran to Nora's left, shield bashing an Anubis, which Oscar deftly picked off by cracking its skull with his cane. Nora herself was laughing wildly, Manghild creating a maelstrom of violence around her as she crushed skulls and stove in ribcages. The smaller jackal grimm quickly dispatched, JORNE headed along the wall, making their way through the sandstorm for the gate.
They had traveled less than a block when a new threat emerged from the whipping sand, a huge three headed monstrosity that loomed up suddenly and brutally kicked Nora through a shabby plywood wall. She crashed through it, aura flaring, and landed sprawled on her back in the middle of a terrified group of people. Groaning, blinking the stars from her eyes, she got back to her feet, hefting her maul. "Rude!" she yelled as she ran back outside.
Oscar stuck his head through the ruined wall into the run-down tenement. "Make for the inner city!" he told the people inside. "The wall has been breached. We'll keep the grimm occupied, now go!"
The group bolted into the storm. Ren, who had just dodged another kick from the razor plated foreleg of the ziraph, activated Tranquility and masked the group of people as they fled towards Shade. It wouldn't last long as they moved away from him, but it would buy them time to get away from the grimm. The massive beast, a horrifying parody of a giraffe, stood thirty feet tall. Its black hide was patterned with red leopard-print, and the three bone-plated heads each had a grotesquely long tongue lolling from it. It made a low warbling noise from the middle head as the right-most head shot snake-like towards Emerald.
Emerald performed a beautiful aerial cartwheel over the ziraph's neck, blasting a series of shots into the back of its skull as she did. The thick bone deflected the bullets, however, and she cursed as she landed. She spun the cylinders out on Thief's Respite, dumping the spent casings on the ground. Her fingers nimbly plugged new purple-hued rounds back into the weapon as she circled the grimm, moving at a run.
Jaune, shield up, was rapidly assessing options as his team danced around the ziraph. They needed to get on it, somehow, or bring it down to their level. "Ren, Emerald, go high!" He bulled forward, drawing the attention of the middle head as he did. Nora was running straight for its front right leg, maul raised over her shoulder.
Ren and Emerald, recognizing Jaune's intent, scaled the hastily constructed buildings that the poor of Vacuo had built right inside the curtain wall, using the secondary functions of their weapons as grappling hooks. Nora, now in range, swung Manghild in a flat line at the ziraph's shin bone. There was a satisfying crack as the maul connected, and the ziraph stumbled forward. As the heads dipped, Ren and Emerald leapt onto the grimms back.
Nora, not wasting her opportunity, followed through with an additional blow to the head that was now shoulder level with her. Manghild connected with a solid crunch to the side of the ziraph's skull, fracturing the bony skull-plates. The ziraph shook that head groggily, and then the tongue shot towards Nora and wrapped around the hilt of her weapon along with her forearms, pulling the woman towards the grossly distended jaw.
On the ziraph's back, Ren and Emerald took on the left and right heads respectively. Ren used the elongated blades built into the grips of his machine pistols as pitons to scale the neck. He left a trail of smoking wounds behind him as he climbed, and once at the top he drove his blades into the base of the ziraph's skull with as much force as he could muster. The creature shuddered and the neck went limp.
Emerald used a different approach, leveling both of her revolvers at the point where the neck connected to the spine. Thief's Respite thundered as she unloaded all twelve gravity infused bullets. The gravity dust lending the rounds extra mass, huge, cratered wounds appeared in the ziraph's back. The right head also went limp as the vertebrae were severed.
On the ground, Nora was in a losing tug-of-war battle with the middle head. Her arms were now in the things mouth, razor sharp teeth ready to snap down on her. Jaune came to her aid, amping her aura as he stabbed the head right under the jaw. As Nora felt the boost of power, she bunched her muscles and concentrated the latent electricity in her body. Sparks flew from her eyes as she gave a titanic heave, ripping the tongue straight from the ziraph's head.
"SCREW YOU!" she screamed at the grimm, crushing its skull with a final overhead slam from her weapon. With all three heads destroyed, the grimm toppled over sideways, taking another shoddy building with it as it fell. Ren and Emerald gracefully dismounted the corpse as Nora stood triumphant, maul raised overhead, lightning still crackling in her eyes.
Jaune, now that the threat was neutralized, was searching frantically for Oscar. He spotted the younger man embroiled in combat with another pack of anubis off to the right. Oscar had been ambushed as his team engaged the ziraph, and in the low visibility Jaune had missed it happen.
The training Oscar had been undertaking, along with Ozpins combat muscle memory, made him a formidable Hunter despite his age. As Jaune ran towards him, Oscar used his agility and speed to dart around the jackals, his cane breaking bones and cracking skulls. He made it look effortless as he flipped over an anubis, delivering a killing blow to its head, then landed lightly and half-spun to the left, cane cracking a second anubis in the temple as it lunged past him.
Jaune caught up and ruthlessly stabbed the last jackal grimm through the neck, ripping his shattered sword free in a spray of black shadow-ichor. "Oscar! Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm good. You guys had the big one to contend with, I didn't want to distract you," Oscar said, breathing easily.
"Good. I'm glad you're ok. You've really improved, Oscar. That was impressive," Jaune said.
Oscar nodded to Jaune, smiling. They rejoined the other three and continued towards the blind worm. Once again, they had only traveled a short distance before another group of grimm appeared, howling and shrieking. Jaune cursed inwardly. At this rate he might have to use Ren to get them to the blind worm uncontested. He was reluctant to expend aura that way, but they were going to burn it anyway if they got bogged down with fights. He was about to make the call when he spotted another group of civilians trying to run from the grimm. Shit. Scratch that plan, we need to try to keep the people safe.
"Journey, with me!" he called as he charged the grimm horde, pulling their attention away from the terrified people they were hunting. With his huge aura pool, Jaune knew he could act like a beacon to the grimm. They had heard the reports from the battle with The Crown, and how the grimm had focused on Gillian when she had overcharged her aura. He would just have to make himself a juicier target than the panicking civilians.
The team of Hunters clashed with the horde of grimm, and Jaune set to his work with a will, hewing left and right with Crocea Mars, desperately hoping for something to turn in their favor.
As Theodore stood on his windowsill, sand-laden air whipping past him, he gathered his strength and leapt outward as far as he could. He angled himself in a head-down dive, the sandstone walls of Shade flashing past below him. When his trajectory put him in danger of colliding with the wall, he smashed downward with a tremendous hammerblow, gravity dust flaring. The blow cratered the side of Shade, and he flew outwards once more, tumbling in a somersault as he did.
Despite the speed at which he was moving, he had kept the landing pad firmly in his sights. The young Huntress, Dew Gayl, had collapsed from the effort of keeping the Manta in the air ahead of the storm. Qrow was fighting like a madman against a huge swarm of ravagers, his scythe a blur of steel as he ripped through the grimm, trying to keep them off the unconscious woman, while the Manta pilot took shots with his sidearm from the cockpit. They were making a good show of it, but would be overwhelmed shortly. There was no sign of the rest of Dew's team.
Falling now with his arms spread-eagled, Theodore angled towards the fight. At the last moment he tucked his arms in and flipped forward, landing in a crouch beside Qrow. Still moving in one fluid motion, he straightened to his impressive height of six foot six, adopted a wide stance, and swung a haymaker at the first ravager that attacked him. His ruby gloves flashed pale green as he unleashed the wind dust stored within them. A shockwave emanated from the point of impact of his fist on the ravager's nose, and the creature disintegrated. The shockwave spread outward at near sonic speed, smashing the rest of the ravagers in the immediate vicinity out of the sky. The air stilled for a moment, cleared of sand in the wake of Theodore's punch, and then the storm resumed with renewed ferocity.
"Good timing, Theo," Qrow panted, shielding his face from the wind. "That girl needs help. I don't know where they came from, but when I found them they were already on the ship, racing ahead of the storm. She put up a helluva fight to keep this thing airborne."
The Manta pilot clambered out of the cockpit and dropped next to the two Huntsmen. "Sir!" he said, snapping a salute to Theodore. "Reporting in from the mission to Wahatan! The town is badly damaged, Sir! A large blindworm destroyed most of it! Team NDGO has suffered casualties, Sir!"
"You don't say," Qrow said dryly, eyeing the ravagers high overhead, waiting for more to swoop down at them.
Theodore waved the Atlesian pilot off. "Secondary to the attack that is happening right now. Did any member of NDGO survive besides Ms. Gayle?"
"Sir, the others were all badly injured when we got them onto the ship! My copilot was killed, and I do not know the status of the Huntresses at this time, Sir!"
"Then your new orders are to get them inside and to the infirmary. Qrow, I want you to find Winter and link up with the defense wherever you're needed most," Theodore said.
"Got it. What are you gonna do?" Qrow asked the headmaster.
"Kill some grimm, of course." Theodore's eyes flashed dangerously, thin lipped grin on his face. "There's one bastard of a big grimm that smashed my gate. I think I need to return the favor."
"Good hunting," Qrow said, grinning back. He ran to the edge of the landing pad and leapt off, transforming into a crow as he did.
Theodore watched for a moment as Qrow made headway into the wind. There has to be more to that form than meets the eye, he thought, as the crow defied physics and flapped resolutely through the storm. He shook his head, then made his way towards the city wall, keeping one eye towards Amity as he did so. He was waiting for the telltale sign that Winter was in the fight, but so far, he hadn't seen anything. Tracer rounds crisscrossed the sky as the ships attempted to fight off the ravagers. Between Winter and Raven, we should be able to halt the storm. If we can do that, the ships can finally be useful against that blindworm. Those railguns better be able to punch through that thing's bone plates.
As he ran through the city, past civilians and vehicles that still crowded the streets as people tried to get to shelter, the sound of gunfire and then screams drew Theodore's attention. He made a snap decision and altered his course, heading towards the commotion. That had been small arms fire, and it was close, given that he could hear it through the storm.
He rounded a corner and came face to face with two men. One was dressed all in gray, with gray hair and matching eyes. Behind him a scorpion faunus was crouched over a pair of fallen men, steel tail dripping blood. Mercury Black and Tyrian Callows. The structure they were outside of was the Vacuan prison, and as Theodore charged the two men, Tyrian laughed wildly and tipped him a wink as he and Mercury disappeared into the building.
Cold rage engulfed Theodore, but before he could pursue the two into the building, a massive hairy fist decked him. He managed to raise his own arms in a quick guard, but the powerful blow still knocked him across the street and into a wall. He shook his head out, clearing the dust from his eyes, and sized up his new opponent.
The grimm that stood before him was a towering, eight-foot tall beringel. The ape grimm pounded its chest with its fists and bellowed a challenge. Theodore didn't waste any time and rushed forward again, ducking under his foes swing and hammering into its jaw with a massive uppercut. The beringel's head snapped back, but incredibly it stood its ground. The neck twisted unnaturally as the ape swatted Theodore away with a backhand.
Once again, Theodore was knocked away, his aura flaring. This bastard was tougher than it looked. As he sized up the ape with a fresh perspective, he watched as bony plates grew across its chin and jaw, providing extra armor. The vertebrae in its neck crackled as the head reset on its shoulders. That's not a good sign, Theodore thought, mind racing. A grimm that can adapt on the fly. Hound? He didn't have any more time to ruminate as the beringel rushed him, fists pounding the ground as it covered the distance at an alarming pace.
As Theodore raised his arms in a high guard, a low voice growled from the throat of the grimm. "THEODORE. KILL."
I think I just discovered the enemies play, Thedore thought as he danced to the side of the rush and delivered a series of brutal jabs to the ape's ribs, which the massive creature shrugged off. This just got more interesting. Let's see how tough these things really are.
Ruby and her team stepped through Raven's portal into a swirling, raging sandstorm several hundred feet in the air. There were hundreds of shrieking, bat-like figures swarming everywhere. Raven herself came through, the portal closed, and then all five of them were falling through the sky.
"Motherfu"- Yang started before Ruby intervened and swept everyone away in Petal Burst. As Ruby flew through the air, her form getting buffeted by the wind and sand, she spotted a manta barreling through the air, with a familiar corvid clinging to the hull. She made for it and circled the craft until a door slid open on the side.
Ruby bolted inside, deposited Raven and her team haphazardly across the interior, and took a big breath of relief. Qrow had followed them in, swearing as he returned to his human form. Marrow was sliding the door back closed as Elm helped a shaky Blake into a seat.
"Well, hi, guys! Long time no see!" Ruby said brightly to the three specialists in the Manta as her team and Raven all tried to cope with their unexpected fall and subsequent dematerialization and re-materialization after stepping through the portal.
"Ruby! Glad to see you and your team again!" Marrow exclaimed, tail thumping conspicuously against the wall. He got a wide smile from Ruby and weak smiles from the rest.
"Hare, I know you knew that that was me. The hell wouldn't you open the door for?" Qrow griped as he moved towards the cockpit.
"Didn't see you. And don't call me Hare," Harriet glowered back at Qrow.
"Bullshit you didn't see me. You all got briefed on my shape changing and I spent a solid five seconds on your windscreen before I was forced to move to the hull or get torn away."
"Enough, you two. We are on the same team," Elm said, trying to get Qrow to take a seat.
Qrow shook off the larger woman's hands. "Where's Winter? I thought she'd be with you lot."
"She was, but she thought she would be best suited trying to clear the ravagers from a frigate so we can get a shot at the blind worm," Marrow said.
"I thought you were only anticipating an attack, not that an attack was underway," Yang said, addressing Marrow.
"Well, we got hit. The grimm came with the sandstorm. Ravagers are swarming the frigates, making it hard for them to fight. A huge blind worm smashed in the gate, and the Huntsmen and Soldiers on the ground are fighting the grimm that it spawned." Marrow sat, holding onto one of the overhead handgrips. "Winter told us to assist them while she dealt with the ravagers."
They were all thrown sideways then, Qrow banging into a wall as he had not yet taken a seat. He yelled at Harriet in the cockpit.
"Sorry, I needed to take evasive action," Harriet said. Ruby didn't think she sounded all that sorry, though.
Qrow muttered some very nasty things under his breath, but took a seat and grabbed a handgrip anyway.
"Where do you need us?" Ruby asked.
"Well, you're a Maiden, too, right?" Marrow asked Raven. "Maybe you can help Winter."
"I think I'd be best suited somewhere I can see the whole city. Can you drop me on Shade?" Raven asked.
"We're headed away from Shade, to the gate," Harriet snapped. "I'm trying to get us somewhere we can be useful."
Raven sighed. "I'm trying to get somewhere I can be useful. And I think the city needs me more than it needs you. Hang on, everyone." She got up, opened the side door, and stepped into the air.
"The hell!?" Harriet cried as Raven dropped out of the ship.
Qrow chuckled as he slid the door back shut. "Trust me, Raven can be a bitch, but she's damn good at what she does. And I doubt she's wrong about the city needing her more. She's basically a realized Maiden, and if you haven't seen one in action, I gotta say they're impressive. She thinks Shade is where she's needed, then Shade is where she should be."
"I should have guessed your twin would be just as big a pain in the ass as you are," Harriet groused from the cockpit.
"Guys, enough. Elm was right, we're supposed to be on the same side," Ruby said, her temper starting to rise.
"I dunno, it kinda sounds like Harriet is asking for another ass-kicking," Yang said, glowering at Harriet.
"Enough, Yang," Blake said with a reproachful look at her love. "Look out the windows. We have enough to worry about without fighting with each other."
Yang subsided, and Qrow bit back the remark he had been about to make. "Where did you all come from, anyway?" Elm asked. "Altimeter has us at almost seven hundred feet."
"Yeah, so uh, Raven can make portals to certain people. Qrow is one of them. And since he was on your ship, well. There we were." Ruby explained.
"You'd think she'd be able to tell if her portal was going to open somewhere dangerous," Weiss said stiffly. "We could have died!"
Yang gave her a look. "You can summon a variety of things that can fly, Raven can fly, Ruby has her semblance, and it's not like that's the first time we've been thrown off something high-up."
Weiss colored slightly but held her ground. "That's rich, I heard you panic as soon as you realized where we were."
"Hey, that's just a natural fear response. I would have rallied," Yang countered.
As Harriet was about to tell them all to shut up, an alarm started to blare. They all looked towards the cockpit and saw that the windscreen was completely obscured by flapping black shapes. Harriet swore as she wrestled with the controls, trying to keep the Manta level while relying completely on the instruments to do so.
"We're going down!" she yelled.
Ruby reacted instantly, standing as a surge of anger welled up within her. They had all been bickering, despite everything they had been through and seen, and now they were in mortal danger. She had had enough. She could feel the silver light within her, awoken by her anger, and tried to harness it. She closed her eyes, focusing.
Ruby saw the breaking and bleeding city in her mind's eye. Images flashed past, of the people and places she had so desperately tried to protect in the past. She grabbed onto it let it flow over her, bathing her in its silver light. She caught a brief glimpse of a golden dragon, and then it was gone.
She opened her eyes and looked out into the world. Her team, Qrow, and the Ace-ops were lit up, their auras, their souls, painting them in colored light. She could also feel thousands of presences in the city below her, and hundreds of anti-presences in the sky all around them. With a sense of wonder, she realized that the presences she could feel were the auras of the people of Vacuo, and the void-like anti-presences were grimm. She focused on the voids, and light began to flow from her and towards them. As the silver light poured into them, they drank it greedily, absorbing it until they burst and burned out, the pure light destroying the shadow essence that they were composed of.
The wave of silver fire washed over the city, and a fine layer of ash blew away on the winds. Ruby fell to the floor of the Manta, her consciousness flickering as it was overwhelmed by everything she had seen. I just saw everyone's souls. And the lack of souls that the grimm have. She finally lost the fight, and her consciousness was swept into darkness.
Raven flew towards Shade, harnessing the winds to aid her. She wanted a high vantage if she was going to try to corral this sandstorm. As she flew towards the pyramid, she saw a crater blasted into the stone high up the side of the structure. What in the world caused that? she wondered. She reached the peak of the building, and hovered in the air, focusing her power. As she drew tendrils of the storm into her control, a pack of ravagers broke towards her. Chain lightning flashed, and thunder rumbled. The ravagers fell from the sky, burning. Her concentration unbroken, she kept at it, thunderclouds piling high into the sky above her, winds coming under her control.
Raven could feel another locus of power in the direction of Amity, frigid and tempestuous. The only thing she could compare it to was when she had battled Cinder at Haven. But where Cinder's power had been a raging inferno, Winter's were icy and knife-blade sharp. She sent a streamer of power towards Winter, trying to draw the other woman's attention. Winter responded, and then they somehow connected. There was a brief moment when Raven's consciousness entered a pseudo-realm, and she saw Winter clear as day. No words were spoken, but the two women reached an understanding in an instant. Winter nodded to her and then vanished.
Together, they combined forces to redirect the sandstorm. Raven had never felt so alive before. She had a vast storm at her fingertips. She could feel the wind and the lightning responding to her merest thought. Crackling feelers extended out over the city, and she could feel the sandstorm submitting to her. It was exhilarating. Winter, less experienced, followed Raven's lead and leant her power.
As another swarm of ravagers descended on her, she started to call more lightning down, but before she could a wave of silver fire engulfed them and they burned to ash, still on the wing.
Gods. She's stronger than even Summer was, Raven thought. She would have been proud of you, Ruby.
Her attention was suddenly pulled in another direction as a huge bolt of lightning was wrested from her control. Who the hell was that? She refocused her efforts, determined to redirect the storm, and tried to figure out what had just happened.
Jaune's team had been fighting nonstop for the last two blocks, in some of the worst combat they had ever seen. Between the howling wind, the scouring sand, and grimm coming at them virtually unseen, they had been on a knifes-edge the entire time, reduced purely to using reaction speed and skill to prevail. They had seen other squads of Hunters and soldiers through breaks in the sandstorm, all of them fighting desperately against the tide of grimm. Jaune himself still had reserves of strength, but he could tell his team was starting to flag. Even though they had trained for it, high speed, high adrenaline combat took it out of you pretty quickly. They needed an alternative, but he wasn't willing to risk the lives of civilians by masking his team.
As yet another wave of grimm rushed them from the direction of the blind worm, the temperature dropped noticeably. Jaune looked skyward and was greeted by the sight of a howling gale emanating from Amity Command Center. Winter had just unleashed her Maiden powers and counteracted the storm in a bubble around the floating structure, clearing a small portion of the sky in the process. Now that Amity had breathing room, a number of pods launched from the bays set in the bottom of the building.
One of the pods howled in Jaune's direction and crashed down with a deafening boom. Bolts on the outside of the pod rattled off with a series of hissing pops, and the pod folded outward like a bulky steel flower. Towering fifteen feet tall, an Atlesian Paladin stomped out and into the fight. The gatling cannon on its right arm spun up and unleashed a torrent of high-caliber rounds at the grimm rushing down the street, then a shoulder mounted railgun barked out and punched a hole straight through the carapace of a deathstalker. The immediate threat neutralized, the mech turned to Jaune, smelling of ozone and oil.
A deep, augmented robotic voice emanated from a speaker. "Huntsmen. Our objective is to clear a path to the blind worm. I'll provide heavy fire support." It paused, barrels of its gun still ticking rapidly. Jaune had the feeling that it was staring at him, but the polarized glass plate of the cockpit was unreadable. Then it turned and started stomping down the street.
"HELL YEAH!" Nora yelled in jubilation. "Let's kick some grimm ass!"
"Glad to have you, OCL-19," Jaune said as they moved off, reading the serial number off the Paladin's shoulder plate. "We've been trying to get to the gate, but there are just so many grimm."
"I'll handle the heavy lifting. You keep the small ones from flanking me," it said in its monotone rumble.
"You heard 'em, JORNE, we're fire support," Jaune ordered his team.
With the Paladin taking point, they made much faster progress, and Jaune and his team were able to recharge a bit with the help of Jaune's semblance. As the group neared the gaping hole in the wall, yet another weather phenomenon lit up the sky. A thunderstorm was now swirling in the sky over Shade, crackling ominously with lightning. That has to be Raven, Jaune thought. Good. Things are finally going our way.
They rounded a corner and came face to face with the titanic blind worm. Jaune's breath caught momentarily in his throat as he stared up at the huge, coiled figure. It wasn't as big as Monstra had been, but the thing was still massive. They had their work cut out for them. The worm had coiled in on itself, presenting only bony carapace to the world. The courtyard inside the gate was flooded with black water from which grimm were still rising. They were also, as far as he could tell, the only team that had progressed this far. Other than some bodies floating in the water, he couldn't see any other soldiers or Huntsmen teams.
The Paladin opened up with its gatling cannon, shredding the fresh wave of monstrosities that were rising from the flood of black water covering the courtyard. Right, now how do we kill it? Jaune asked himself, frantically weighing options.
Nora, Manghild in its grenade launcher form, started thumping off shots rapid fire at the masses of grimm that were rushing them. Ren and Emerald were firing as well, but they may as well have been spitting into a raging inferno for the amount of good they were doing. "Mask us, now!" Jaune shouted, catching onto Ren's aura with his semblance and pumping energy into the other man. "Emerald, distraction!" he added, splitting his semblance in two and sending a stream her way as well.
He couldn't see what Emerald did, but between her and Ren the wave of grimm veered off and ran into the city as they chased phantoms. Jaune breathed a sigh of relief. The Paladin had stopped firing as well, catching on very quickly to what Jaune wanted. He waved his team into cover, dropping his boost as he did. "Right, we need a plan. How do we kill it?"
"The railguns on the frigates should be sufficient to crack its carapace," the Paladin rumbled. "They just need a break from the ravagers to bring the guns to bear."
Jaune looked skyward. Amity was clear, but the other ships were still being mobbed by the flying grimm. "Well, that's not something we can help with. We'll have to table that for the moment. What can we do, now?" Jaune asked.
"Jaune, hear me out," Nora started.
"No," Jaune and Ren said simultaneously.
"Aw c'mon, you didn't even hear what I had to say," she wheedled.
"You want to go inside of it. Out of the question," Jaune said. "No suicide missions."
"Look, our big metal friend has a maul on their left arm that can probably be infused with dust, yes?" Nora said, nudging the Paladin as she did.
"It can be, yes. You want me to supercharge you. And then you want to get swallowed?" The Paladin asked.
"You got it, big guy! No armor on the inside of that thing. Easy peasy." Nora said.
"No! Nora, I'm not risking you that way. We have to find another way," Jaune said emphatically.
"We're running out of time," Ren said.
"Oscar, that cane have another blast in it?" Jaune asked.
"Yes, but it's the only one. Ozpin and I both wanted to save it for Salem, if possible," Oscar said.
"We might not get another chance at Salem if we die here," Jaune replied.
Across the courtyard, another group of Hunters emerged and began battling with a fresh tide of grimm. They too had a Paladin escort, but even so they were fighting a losing battle. He needed to make a decision, now.
"Do it, Oscar, we need to end this as fast as we can," Jaune ordered.
Oscar nodded and moved out of cover, the gears on Ozpin's cane beginning to whir and glow. But before he could let loose the magic stored in the cane, a huge canid grimm of a type Jaune had never seen tackled the young man to the ground.
"Oscar!" Jaune exclaimed, wildly charging towards him. That wasn't another Hound, was it? Jaune bulled into the grimm, sword piercing its ribs as he did so. The creature cackled, jaws snapping at him. They caught his forearm and crushed the armor like a tin can in a press. He felt his forearm break under the extreme pressure and cried out in pain. The grimm continued to savage him, ripping its head back and forth. Jaune felt like his arm would be ripped from the socket.
There was a thunder of gunfire from over Jaunes shoulder, and the grimm's head exploded. The body disintegrated into nothingness. Not a Hound, then. Jaune winced as he cradled his arm, turning to look for his savior. Emerald looked at him arm with horror, her twin revolvers smoking.
"I'm so sorry! That was a new one, I didn't catch it with an illusion, and you and Oscar got hurt!" Emerald was genuinely shaken, her face pale.
"It's ok, Emerald. Really." Jaune shrugged off the pain and turned to tell Oscar to fire the cane again, but stopped suddenly as he caught sight of Nora. Ren was watching helplessly as she crossed the haft of Manghild with the Paladins left arm, which ended in a huge maul. Lightning coursed down the length of the weapons, and Nora had started to glow and crackle with power.
"Boost me, Jaune!" she yelled at him.
"Dammit!" Jaune screamed as he directed his amp in Nora's direction. He had no choice. She would burn out if he didn't help her at this stage. His aura surged, and he could feel the bones in his arms trying to knit back together. It was not a pleasant sensation.
As Nora's hair started to rise in a halo around her head and electricity sparked from her eyes, a wave of silver fire washed over them. Jaune looked skyward. The ravagers had just been destroyed, burned to a fine ash. Ruby! Now clear of the swarms that had effectively taken them out of the fight, the frigates finally brought their guns to bear. The first one fired, the railgun round leaving a contrail in the sand as it hurtled towards the blind worm. Jaune and the others watched with bated breath as the round struck the blind worm dead on. And glanced off, ricocheting wildly into the sky.
Jaune groaned inwardly. Nora broke Manghild free and charged towards the monstrous creature. Jaune desperately poured as much energy as he could into her, trying to give her the best chance he could. He started to glow, golden light connecting him and Nora as she charged across the battlefield.
The grimm closest to them turned to the flare of aura like moths to a flame. Emerald, Oscar, and the Paladin turned to face the threat, weapons spitting out a hail of bullets. After a moment Ren tore his gaze from Nora and added his firepower to the mix.
Jaune couldn't look away. He focused with all his might, doing his damndest to keep Nora from burning out. She had almost died once, attempting something like this. He wouldn't lose her. She ran, leaving a trail of sparks behind her. Overhead, another railgun boomed, and again, the shot ricocheted off. The worm was moving now, coils undulating as it turned towards the pests shooting at it. One of the bony protuberances on its back bulged and then explosively launched outward. The bone spear smashed through the plating on the nearest frigate, and the ship started to list as it slowly fell from the sky.
Nora continued her sprint, lightning arcing from her splashing footfalls as she ran through the water. The thunderstorm atop Shade had responded as well, expanding rapidly to encompass the entire city. Either Raven was extremely strong, or Nora was channeling the storm itself. Lightning crashed to the ground around Nora, immolating the grimm that impeded her. As the worm turned its face skyward to issue a bellowing challenge to the remaining ships, Nora leapt, and a pair of coruscating wings sprung from her back, carrying her into the air. She disappeared into the worm's mouth, a blinding ball of crackling power. Jaune could still feel his connection to her, and he held onto it desperately.
The world slowed to a crawl. Bullets inched through the air, lightning crept towards the ground, and bodies fell excruciatingly slow. Jaune could see individual grains of sand and drops of rain falling through the sky. He ducked as a clawed appendage tore at his face, drawing his attention away from the blind worm. His connection to Nora was still up. Please, he thought.
Thunder crashed, and the side of the blind worm's head erupted, lightning fulgurating wildly over the bony plates. A mandible exploded outward, painting the nearest building with smoky black ichor. The creature reared, shrieking in pain. As it did, another railgun round took it square in its unarmored belly. It continued to thrash, and a figure was dislodged from its gullet. Nora, still sheathed in lightning, flew outwards in a wild fall. Jaune breathed a sigh of relief. She was still alive.
"I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET!" she screamed at the blind worm, her wings halting her descent. She flew back to the huge grimm, Manghild crackling with power. As yet another railgun round punched through the creature's stomach, Nora smashed her hammer into the side of its head. Forked lightning struck with her blow, and the worm bellowed deafeningly as the energy burned through it. It crashed to the ground, convulsing. As it fell, crushing buildings with its bulk, every last gun in the sky converged their fire on the beast. A fusillade of rounds pounded the huge worm as it thrashed. It finally stilled, but the airships continued to fire, ensuring that the beast was truly dead. It began to hiss as it dissolved, and thick plumes of roiling black smoke poured into the sky.
Nora's wings gave out and she fell to the ground, exhausted. Ren sprinted the distance to her, discarding his weapons, and caught her just before she hit the ground. She looked weakly up at him, her lightning scars lit up in a bright arc-blue from the power she had harnessed, and smiled.
"How'd I do?" she asked as Ren stroked her hair.
"Wonderfully. I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you have to share that kill with the airships," Ren said, smiling down at her.
"Yeah, what gives? I was more than a match for that big beastie. A girl can't fight a monster worm hundreds of feet long on her own?" she griped.
"Nora!" Jaune exclaimed, skidding to a stop next to her and re-extending his semblance to her. "I'm so glad you're ok. How do you feel?"
"Tingly. Did you see I can fly now?"
"Yeah, that was awesome. Just take it easy, ok?" Jaune told her, laughing even as tears formed in the corners of his eyes.
"You take it easy, mister. I saw what happened to your arm. You need your aura more than me, I think."
Jaune just shook his head in negation, continuing to supply her with energy. He'd live. He needed to make sure she would too.
As the trio talked, Emerald and Oscar moved into covering positions around them, but they didn't have much work to do. The pair of Paladins had mopped up most of the remaining grimm, and there were multiple Hunter teams and squads of soldiers now in the courtyard. The sandstorm had abated and been replaced with a thunderstorm. It was raining heavily now, the streets awash with water. There were cheers and laughter from the various defenders. The Vacuans in particular were staring at the sky in amazement, letting the water drench their upturned faces.
Jaune breathed a sigh of relief. That could have been worse. In fact, he had expected it to be. Salem hadn't shown, and even though the air fleet had lost some ships and there was extensive damage to the gate and the city immediately inside of it, the fight had ended fairly quickly. Jaune shook his head. Whatever the case, he was just glad his team had made it out relatively unscathed. Nora was even sitting up already, joking with her teammates as her scars faded back into their normal color. Her ordeal in Atlas when she absorbed that defense field had almost killed her, but she had come out the other side stronger for it. His arm would heal. A small thing, really, compared to what could have happened.
As more soldiers and Hunters poured into the courtyard, celebrating in the rain, Jaune's team started to relax. The fight truly was over. Now they just had the clean-up to deal with. As relieved as I am that things went this well, what was the purpose of this? Was Salem testing the defenses, or was that a true attack on the city? Jaune suspected that there was more to it than just a simple assault, but only time would tell.
Theodore and the beringel fought furiously, trading thunderous blows back and forth. Every time he landed a solid blow on the creature, it grew more muscle and bone over the affected spot. It was a juggernaut with ferocious recuperative abilities.
The beringel favored huge, well telegraphed blows, and so far Theodore had avoided most of them, but he knew he wouldn't win a fight of attrition. He ducked a haymaker and unleashed a gravity powered right cross into the grimm's ribs. There was a tremendous crack as the ribcage fractured, but then he was forced backwards as the monster tried to knee him. A normal opponent would have been floored by the blow Theodore had just delivered, but this grimm was a different breed.
The Hound that was in Atlas was a grimm that had been fused with a person. A silver-eyed person. Assuming this creature is a similar experiment of Salem's, I should be able to stop it if I can find where the brain is housed. But how to get to it? Theodore's mind was still calculating, even in his cold fury, and a plan formed. Not the greatest plan, but one that he was sure would work. If it could regenerate, then he'd just have to hit it faster and harder than it could heal, right?
He waded back in, feinting with another right cross, and then pummeled the beringel in the stomach with a left uppercut. This time he didn't try to dodge the counterattack, and instead blocked it, letting his aura soak some damage. He knew a single blow couldn't get through this grimm's defenses, and he was going to have to rely on his semblance.
He continued his assault, throwing punch after punch into the ape. The more blows he could chain together, the more powerful his final attack would be. He took several blows in return, and he felt his aura shatter, followed by a rib. He grunted, ground his teeth, and continued his attack. He could feel the bone plates on his opponent cracking as he continued to pummel its abdomen.
He jabbed with his right fist, once, twice, and then performed an uppercut with his left. He could feel the muscles in the creature's side beginning to separate. An elbow cracked him in the head, but Theodore didn't relent even as blood obscured his left eye. Uppercut, uppercut, cross, jab, cross. Theodore let his consciousness, his pain, his body's insistence that he needed to stop slip away. He fell into a trance. There were two things left in the world: the wall in front of him that needed to be taken down, and his fists.
He was a machine, fists pistoning into the beringel again, and again, and again. His ruby gloves started to glow with blue flame as his semblance charged. The beringel, unrelenting foe that it was, refused to back down and gave as good as it got. Theodore tried to punch with another left jab, but his arm refused to follow his commands. Ah. This is it, then. He cocked his right arm and delivered a straight-armed blow to the grimms chest. He poured every last bit of accumulated power he had into the punch. Windows on either side of the street blew out, raining glass down over the pavement.
Theodore stood, arm still outstretched, as rain began to pour over him. When did that start? he wondered as the water dripped off of him. The beringel crashed over backward with a gaping hole straight through its chest. Theodore staggered forward but caught himself. He watched as the grimm form melted away, leaving behind a human corpse. The man that had been transformed had been huge in life, well-muscled and tall. He wondered who it had been.
On numb legs, he began walking towards the prison. He needed to catch Tyrian and Mercury. He needed- He fell forward in a faint, his will finally giving out to his body's basic need to survive. He lay face down in the street, rain washing over him as frightened onlookers rushed out of the buildings and to his aid.
Later, as crews began reconstructing the gate and the city had started on clean-up and mourning the fallen, RWBY met up with JORNE, Qrow, Raven, Winter, and General Merryweather in Theodore's office. The Headmaster was present, looking very much the worse for wear. One arm was in a sling, his ribs were wrapped tight with bandages, one of his eyes was a slit underneath a large protuberance on his forehead, and his bare knuckles were bruised and split. He had told them of the beringel 'Hound' he had fought, and of the presence of Tyrian and Mercury.
Emerald had paled when she heard that her old companions had been present and was looking at the carpet. Nora was leaning against Ren, looking drawn and tired. Ruby herself was groggy from her earlier experience, but stood firm next to Jaune, whose own arm was wrapped tightly in a cast.
"Callows and Black broke Jax and Gillian Asturias out of prison, using the attack as cover. They killed several guards in the process. The beringel intercepted me when I tried to go after them. I'm sure that this was the purpose of the attack. They both have very powerful semblances, and a reason to want Vacuo to fall. Knowing how Salem operates, I'm sure she wants to recruit them." Theodore's voice was low, rasping.
"They were the two that led The Crown, right?" Ruby asked, her voice soft.
"They were, yes. It doesn't bode well that Salem has them," Theodore said.
"Should we send a team after them? I'd be more than happy to lead the Ace-Ops in a mission to recover them, Sir," Winter said.
Theodore sighed. "Callows is extremely dangerous. I don't know that it would be a good idea, especially now that they have those two with them."
"If I may?" Merryweather asked, clearing his throat. "I think now is the best time to go after them, before Salem can fully get her claws in them. I would readily approve a mission to achieve this goal."
Theodore looked at the other man, considering this, and then nodded. "Fine. I'll leave the disposition of the group to you. If I may make a recommendation, Yatsuhashi Daishi of Team CVFY would be an asset in this endeavor. He's young, but his semblance directly counters Jax's, and he's fought the twins before."
"I'll make to sure to talk to him then," Merryweather said. "Do you vouch for the rest of his team, as well?"
"I do." Theodore rubbed his scalp with his good arm. "Jaune, I want to send your team to Atlas, to further that project we discussed earlier. Take some time to let your arm heal, but remember that time is of the essence."
"Headmaster, permission to accompany Jaune's team?" Ruby asked, stepping forward.
Theodore considered her for a moment, then smiled. "Granted, Miss Rose. Qrow, Raven, I'm afraid you'll have to stay with me, if that's not too much trouble."
"Not at all, Theo," Qrow said. "Just let us know where you need us."
"We suffered a blow today, but all in all casualties were not nearly as high as they could have been. Thank you all for your dedication to the defense of the city," Theodore said. "Now, if you don't mind, I have another couple dozen meetings to get through."
The group disbanded, everyone filing out of Theodore's office. Winter and Merryweather returned to Amity, Qrow and Raven went off into the city after Qrow hugged his nieces and Raven gave them a stiff nod, and the young Hunters returned to their dorms.
Weiss made a fuss over Jaune's injury, clucking at him. "You should be more careful! I know you have much more aura than the rest of us, but you're still human."
"To be fair Weiss, he saved my life," Oscar said. "He got hurt because I was careless."
"And you were in trouble because I was careless," Emerald said.
"Well look at you three, being all selfless and taking the blame," Nora said.
"I can't believe we missed the fight," Yang said, with a hint of disappointment. "We spent the whole thing in a stupid Manta with Harriet complaining at us the entire time."
"Eh, you didn't miss much, I had it covered," Nora boasted.
"Yeah, we saw the light show from the air. I can't believe you called all that lightning down," Blake said.
"It was pretty sweet, I know," Nora said, grinning. "But now I need a week's worth of sleep and a mountain of pancakes," she added, elbowing Ren in the side.
"I'll see what I can do," he told her.
"And we had Ruby over here, taking out most of the ravagers single handedly," Yang said, hitting her sister playfully in the shoulder.
"Yeah, it was different this time, though. I could see your guys' souls. It was really weird," Ruby said, still sounding tired.
"You couldn't before?" Blake asked.
"You could see my soul?" Yang asked, impressed.
"I think that's what it was. Usually, I would just get a feeling of intense, I dunno, righteousness, or something, and then lots of silver light, and then a feeling of exhaustion. But this time I could see people's auras, and the grimm were just like black holes."
"You're not turning religious on us, are you sis?" Yang asked. "Feeling holy all of a sudden?"
"What? No, not like that. Like I want to protect people, and it feels right to do it, that sort of thing," Ruby said.
"Well, whatever the case, it's good you're back with us," Oscar said, smiling warmly at her. "You and Raven made that fight a lot easier."
"I don't know about all that," Ruby said, blushing. "You guys are all amazing, too, I mean your team fought that blind worm on the ground, and everything."
"And you gave the air force a chance to fight back. Don't sell yourself short," Oscar said.
Ruby didn't respond to this, other than to blush some more, and before long the teams were back to their dorms. As she threw herself into her bed, exhausted, Ruby thought about her earlier experience some more. I'll have to ask Maria if she's ever experienced anything like that. It feels like my power's gotten stronger. I wonder what else I can do with it. Ruby drifted off to sleep then, dreaming of silver light and rainbow auras.
Hundreds of miles away, in a clockwork tower overlooking a broken city, Salem sat at Ozpin's old desk and smiled. A seer floated serenely next to her, Tyrian's grinning face fading from view. The assault on Shade had been successful. The Asturias twins were on their way to her, and things were moving ahead according to plan. Her next gambit was already in motion, her pieces far afield and ready to strike. Soon, very soon, she would finally have the thing she had waited millennia for.
It's almost over, Ozma. Can you feel it? Oblivion comes for us all, and you're just as powerless as ever to stop it.
Author's Note
And so ends part one! That last chapter was a beast to write, I spent a lot of time trying to get everything right, from rewrites to shifting around the order of events to more rewrites. I hope you all enjoy it! As that is the end of part one, the next few chapters are going to be shorter and uploaded a little more sporadically as I flesh out the outline for part two. I have several short interlude chapters and character vignettes in the works before we get to the meat of the second portion of this tale.
I want to say thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed my work, especially my repeat reviewers: RWBYGLVol10, Kitsuna G, merendinoemiliano, Luffy L Deathwalker, and to the guest who has been leaving reviews. Your kind words mean a lot to me, so thank you thank you thank you!
If ya'll need something to pass the time while waiting for me to update this fic, I highly recommend Grimmling by RWBYGLVol10. It's a story about a Huntsman who falls in love with a woman who is part grimm, and the ramifications that that has on the world. While the protagonist is an OC, plenty of canon characters show up as well in various forms, and I've enjoyed seeing the twists that have been written into the story. If that sounds interesting, please check it out!
Thank you all for coming on this journey with me, and stay tuned for the interlude chapters.