Ch. 81 Shadow of Beacon
Glynda Goodwitch walked in front of the student initiates.
They were currently on board a Beacon transport ship, the same one that would normally transport prospective students to the cliffs. Normally it would circle around the city of Vale, giving the students a view of Patch and Signal on a wide approach to Beacon.
Not today though. Today the ship was flying at a low altitude just outside of the exclusion zone.
"Hello, and welcome to Beacon!" she spoke glaring at the crowd of children before her, daring them to interrupt. "My name is Glynda Goodwitch."
A murmur of apprehension went through the crowd and Glynda had to resist rolling her eyes. These teenagers were briefed on the legal side of initiation before they even boarded the transport. Some of them were as young as miss Rose was last year, and she abhorred the world for pushing her to make a decision she disagreed with just a year prior when Ozpin made it. These were children and she was about to send them into a Grimm infested exclusion zone.
"You are among a privileged few who have received the honour of being selected to attend our prestigious academy! An academy that is currently under siege by the forces of Grimm. As future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to fight these forces. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task."
She paused briefly before continuing.
"But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction."
The crowd murmured in response, clearly unhappy with the assessment.
"There is no knowledge I can impart on you today that would free you of this. What I can do however is point you in the right direction. It is no mistake that today marks the date of your initiation. Today is the day we retake Beacon and it falls to you to do the most important part, protect and reclaim Vale.
The majority of Grimm will be drawn towards Beacon. It is your task to take advantage of this and clear the exclusion zone within the city of their you feel up to the task, step into the light."
On her word, the four doors to the outside of the ship opened, exposing the inside to the roar of engines. Goodwitch fledged her semblance creating an array of glyphs in each door, spinning counter clockwise and pushing back any overeager teenagers that tried to go out immediately.
"You will be launched out into the exclusion zone. Find others and do what you think is best. Bolster the walls, hunt the Grimm down or reinforce the main forces retaking Beacon if you think you can get that far. And most importantly, survive. The days of peace I spoke of only a year ago are gone and Remnant needs more Huntsmen and Huntresses than it did in centuries. Good luck!"
And with her piece spoken, she reversed the rotation of her glyphs, letting them speed up. One by one the students leaped out of the aircraft.
Glynda closed her eyes as the last of the students lept out. She knew it was necessary, but to use the fear and anxiety of untrained children to lure in Grimm closer to the automated defences left a bitter taste in her mouth.
O=O=O=
Taiyang watched as Beacon closed in. Despite the roar of the Bullhead's engine the moment Beacon came into view felt like everything went silent. The stagnant atmosphere of the ruined tower with a petrified Grimm wyvern wrapped around it was overbearing, stoking dread and unease even in his experienced mind.
This was his alma mater, and yet Beacon's tower stands broken, bearing scars of his daughters' struggles. It all felt wrong.
Tay chose to lead a group of seven older students. These were adults on the cusp of finishing their education at Beacon and yet, to him they felt no older than when he last saw them off from his classroom at Signal.
They too were marked by Beacon's fall. Their teams, broken apart through disagreements or worse, death, left them to forge new groups to continue the good fight.
He felt as much as saw the hundreds of red eyes turn to the approaching force. Beowolves roamed the campus in packs. Sabyrs stalked the shadows and some even lounged on trees and pillars. The pavement was broken in places, revealing dens dug by Creeps. Groups of Ursai slowly lumbered through the destroyed gardens, or clawed their way out from the broken building walls.
"Alright kids, we jump in about two minutes. We stay together and kill some Grimm. The goal is to clear the route to the buildings for the others. We're not the best team for interior fighting. Do your last checks!"
O=O=O=
"Do you believe in destiny?" Jaune heard Ruby whisper to herself.
He thought about it for a moment before turning his mind back to what they had just witnessed. And more importantly what the next step would be for their group.
Keel was the first to speak up. "I believe with this your curiosity is sated… or perhaps it isn't and only brought more questions? Alas, that is my story, nothing more, nothing less."
Jaune looked over at Ren, making sure his teammate was listening. "One of the things we seek your advice with has more to do with your nature as a tree of living wood rather than your domain. To that end Ren has come to discuss a matter of using wood grown from flesh to reclaim the arm which it has overtaken. The man in question has asked Ren to be the sole craftsman responsible for building a prosthesis and so I'll leave my friend to discuss it with you afterwards.
Before that I ask for your opinion on the feasibility of the… binding we spoke about before."
"Ah yes… What I said stands, you'd have more luck asking the Wizard."
"Unfortunately, that doesn't seem wise considering it is the Wizard, the Infinite Man himself, whom we wish to imprison."
Keel's eyes widened.
"You wish to bind… truly? Well… certainly it isn't unfeasible, but to… well perhaps if he left his body willingly…"
"That may be the case. On behest of Oscar Pines, Ozma's newest host, I've vowed to attempt to extract Ozma's soul into a receptacle which would then be placed into a mechanical doll, one based on our friend Penny."
"The girl of metal… certainly that can work… somehow I doubt you'd be unable to carry it out yourself."
"You are correct… I plan on deceiving Oz. I plan on binding the receptacle to myself through my semblance. To that end I need for the receptacle to not only hold the wizard's soul, but to contain and imprison it in such a way to keep my own soul safe from his influence."
"...that is… most foolish."
"I do not deny that…"
As Jaune discussed the details with Keel, Raven stood stunned at the revelation.
It was her brother who brought her out of her thoughts. "So this is what the kid meant by fucking over Oz."
"...yeah, scratch creepy, he's plain old insane."
"You know, I think he can actually pull it off though." Qrow pointed out, only for his gaze to be met with a look he hadn't seen Raven give in a while.
"...that's the scary part, he's both insane and capable of delivering. The kid wants to permanently cripple an immortal!" she whisper yelled.
"Fate worse than death if you ask me. It's nice to know he's on our side."
"Is he?" she asked, her doubt laced with a tinge of fear.
"He married Ruby, you're like… kinda his… stepmom in law? Or something like that, point is the kid is family and at this point I think he's gonna do better by us than Oz ever did. He fixed me Rai. I don't know if you realise just how big of a deal that is for me… Oz gave me a role to play in life and I repaid him through years of loyalty. My family was the one thing I warned him not to touch. Yet here we are, Yang and Ruby were pulled into this shit by him and I can't forgive that. They are still children and chose to be involved based on lies and incomplete truths."
"You were always soft, Qrow…" Raven replied, but before Qrow could protest she continued "...but you don't always run away like I do."
O=O=O=
"Roman! What are the odds! It's been hours, we'll have to field resupplies for the students at this rate and we don't have the logistics for that!"
"Dammit Glyn, do you think I don't know that! I know I know, don't call you that. Hold that thought." Roman barked out into his headset.
He was flying a Bullhead on his own, mostly due to comms still being unreliable at longer range. He had a live overview of the second battle of Beacon as well as a map visualisation of team positions and movement displayed on his dashboard.
He has been tapping into his semblance too often in the last few hours, to the point where his Aura got drained faster than he could replenish it. Still he focused on the odds again.
"The odds are still rising. We're doing something right, it's only a matter of time now."
"We don't have time!" Glynda yelled through the headset.
"You think I don't know that? You think I don't check the odds of failure? Guess what those are rising too! Somebody is going to get hurt if we keep it up, but we won't retake Beacon if we pull back! I…" whatever he was about to say was pushed aside in an instant as another voice cut through the ether.
"Command! This is Xiao-Long. We have visuals on… Actually you need to see this sending image now!" an image projected itself over the command visualisation.
"Shit…" Roman whispered as he laid eyes on the screen showing a student with a tower shield holding back an Ursa Major. That wasn't the focus of the image though. Behind him, closer to the main building was a smoking piece of petrified Grimm oozing the same black goop they saw during the first battle of Beacon.
"Taiyang! I need visual of the Wyvern stat!"
"Wha… Oh, oh shit! PULL BACK! We're retreating! ...command, sending visual now… I think we might be royally screwed here…"
Roman looked at the image then out the front windshield of his Bullhead and again at the image.
For a moment he closed his eyes hoping it wasn't real, then opened them and accepted reality. The Grimm Wyvern was shedding the stone keeping it frozen in place.
"Roman!"
"I know Glyn… it's waking up…" his eyes shot open as soon as he said it.
"Wait! Xiao-Long! You people still down there?"
"Not for long we aren't. Why?"
Roman felt his Aura drain as he mumbled to himself in disbelief "What are the odds?"
"Roman? What is it?" Glynda asked only to be cut off by a disbelieving cackle of laughter.
"That's it, Glynda. That's the thing we were waiting for. We just need to… shit no time." Roman's tone shifted to serious again "Xiao-Long...Taiyang… I want you to do me a solid."
"Torchwick?" Taiyang answered with some confusion.
"If I don't manage to kill it I want you guys to finish it for me."
He didn't wait for an answer, trusting the huntsman to do his job.
"Roman! What are you doing!" Glynda demanded to know, but Roman fell silent as he grasped the controls of the aircraft and set a course.
"One last petty theft… no… one last GRAND LARCENY!"
Whatever Glynda yelled at him through the headset he didn't hear as he threw the headset into the pilot seat and went to grab his cane.
For a moment he considered grabbing an emergency parachute but considering the number of Nevermore in the air that would be a suicide.
He stood in the open doors for a moment, about to check his semblance before deciding he didn't want to know.
One thing you don't practise often as a thief is your landing strategy.
O=O=O=
Taiyang heard a Bullhead close in on them and turned back towards it. Whatever Torchwick decided to do… no, it was fairly obvious what he planned to do.
The Bullhead looked tiny in comparison with the massive frame of the Wyvern, but Taiyang had to give the thief props for good thinking. Torchwick's aim was true and the now unmanned Bullhead slammed right in the Wyverns centre of mass, creating a sizable crater in its chest.
In that moment a thrill shreek echoed through the battlefield as the petrified stone flaked off all at once and the Wyvern fell off the tower.
Taiyang watched as a number of Grimm perished under the weight of the fallen Wyvern and silently applauded his decision to back away when he provided visuals. The seven students with him were caught up in the wave of debris launched their way but overall didn't sustain any injuries save for a sliver of their Aura.
"Alright guys, we confirm the kill and retreat. This place is way too hot for just eight of us."
They watched as the dust cleared and a few of them, including Taiyang, swore at the sight. The Bullhead was still lodged in the chest cavity. Unfortunately despite the large hole it created with its impact into the petrified flesh and bone, the Grimm was still alive.
"What the fuck is that!"
"Grimm don't have hearts…"
"Well this one does and it's still beating."
"Quiet! All of you!" Taiyang screamed to silence the students and took a second to look at the beating heart before continuing.
It was a mess of white bone and off white sinew in the shape of a human heart. It was massive, easily the size of the Bullhead's cockpit and beating, pumping the same black goop that its flesh turned into before and the same as the goop that dripped from its jaw. When Tay noticed that the machine gun turret of the Bullhead pointed straight at the heart he also noticed another thing. The hole was filling back up with the black Grimm tar, the thing was healing.
Time for a split moment decision "Change of plans. You kids evac now! Find another group and reinforce them. I'm killing that thing."
"Professor!"
"GO NOW!" He yelled with a commanding voice he rarely ever used with his students before taking off with a sprint towards the Bullhead's mangled but still open door.
O=O=O=
Author's note:
Second battle of Beacon is underway! Now, before anyone points it out in the reviews I'd like to say that the timing is unfortunate and I didn't realise the significance of Roman's stunt when I wrote it. Honestly it probably wouldn't even be noticed if not for the date of release.
Now with the unfortunate stuff out of the way, some obvious stuff, Roman's life is kinda in the air, pun intended, Taiyang is doing a dumb brave thing and students are scared... not an unreasonable reaction. And since I want the build the suspense, that's it from me.
But hey if you want to support me you can do so on P a treon . com (slash) OlympianScribe
Anyway I hope you enjoyed and are looking forward to the next chapter: Ch. 82 End of a heartbeat