Once again
Ursa Major launched her way, its claws razor sharp coming at her, and its bone armor cracked all around. She grunted as she prepared herself for the coming attack.
She bent her legs to give her the momentum necessary for the jump, the moment she saw the Ursa was close enough, she jumped, her hardlight dust swords striking at each crack in the armor.
When she finally landed behind the Ursa, it fell to the ground with a screech. The Ursa's body started to dust away, she took the time to catch her breath and call back her swords.
Yet, the world was against them as a Megoliath Grimm, who took on the appearance of an elephant, charged towards her. She sighed and prepared herself, her muscles screaming at her, but she smiled.
After all, it was a new feeling for her.
Just as the Megolaith approached, a giant White Knight prevented its approach. Penny quickly used her swords to cut the Grimm's legs off, making the Megolaith big body fall.
Penny jumped high, planning on using the momentum to crack the skull and kill it in one blow, and as she was about to launch herself, a glyph appeared under her, giving her more momentum to work with.
A small smile formed on her worned out face, and she stuck the Grimm down.
"How about you lay off for a moment Penny, you're exhausted." The voice called to her, she didn't need to turn, she knew it was her partner for the last three days on the field, Weiss schnee.
"I- I'm fine, I can still keep going." She said between gaps of air, it felt painful, her lungs felt like they were on fire, her body was sluggish and pained, she couldn't move her arm with putting a lot of effort into it.
And she loved it. The pain, the exhaustion, and the tired feeling that made her want to lay down and sleep. All those feeling that she never had now coming to her, she would cherish those feeling, the feeling of being alive.
"Penny, you're barely standing, that's it, you." She called to a nearby soldier, his once white armor was covered in a black liquid.
"Take her to the medical tent, she's suffering from exhaustion, make sure she doesn't move too." The soldier nodded, helping Penny to stand up and move.
"What about you?" Penny struggled away from the soldier, it showed how tired she was that she couldn't even do that.
"I have you know, I'll be just fine on my own, besides, we'll all finish soon enough." She assured her, with her usually confident smile, confident that she didn't possess.
Those three days were hell, each of her friends was sent somewhere around Mantle to protect it, dividing their forces to keep everyone safe.
They slaughtered hundreds upon hundreds of Grimm from all types, Beowolfs, Ursas, Deathstalkers, nevermores and more.
Ironwood said it was the first time in history for all of those types to come at the same time, yet here they were.
Weiss didn't know if her friends were alright, the last time she saw them was in the General's office, planning the defenses.
She and Penny were fighting at the front lines for so long that they barely kept each other safe, their aura never went above seventeen percent, and never lower than ten. They kept a good rotation, Penny rested while she fought, and Vice versa.
It gave Weiss time to think, even though she didn't want to, her thoughts kept wondering.
"What are we going to do now?" It was a simple question, yet she didn't get one.
Ruby shocked them when she revealed that there was a way to defeat Salem and that Jaune didn't come empty-handed.
Weiss felt relieved, finally, they could end this never-ending nightmare and finally be allowed to live peacefully.
Weiss stepped to the side, avoiding the deathstalker stinger and freezing it.
But then she had a realization, can they achieve that? The brothers were against them, the world creators were against them. Do they really have a chance of winning this?
Pincers came at her, but her knight blocked it, as she prepared herself to strike at the deathstalker weak point.
It was why Jaune was in the hospital, why Pyrrha came back, and why she almost killed her friend.
Weiss hesitated for a split second, a second that allowed the deathstalker to free its stinger and push Weiss away. She crashed into the snow.
Weiss started to feel her muscles getting heavier by the second, fatigue finally catching up to her.
She took out her scroll, only for a big zero to flash on the screen. She ran out of aura, which means she can't use summons or glyphs.
She grunted and stood up. She was a huntress, her job was to stand up and fight no matter what.
Yet, the world didn't care about how much they struggled, the world was cruel. She saw Centienl, Megolaith, Beowolfs and the deathstalker coming her way.
Weiss schnee won't fall here, she still had so much to do, friends to come back to, and a family that wanted her, that needed her.
A smile blossomed on her face as she stood up, facing all those Grimm with a smile on her face.
/-/
His semblance wasn't the best, it was useful to help villages and civilians around Grimm, but in something like this? A full-on invasion? He didn't know.
He placed the last package on the ground, his aura started to run low, and his true feelings started to show up.
A Beowolf looked his way, tasting the fear and panic he felt. It was quickly dealt with. Storm flower daggers moved inside of the Grimm and outside.
It left him out of breath, in about fifteen minutes, he'll be on the Grimm side for twenty hours.
"Ren here, I finished, I'll be heading back now." He waited a few moments for a reply.
"Good job Renny. Come back so we can blow them up." he chuckled at the nickname.
Even though four days have passed since Pyrrha's betrayal, he didn't know how to feel.
She betrayed them, her family, betrayed just like that for some unseen creators who are bitter about us finding another way instead of relaying on them.
It took him by surprise when he started to see people's feelings. Jaune told him about it, but not how he got it. Ren didn't expect to get it after what happened to Jaune too.
It wasn't useful in a fight by any means, but it helped him locate people when he was stuck in waves of Grimm.
He saw the pink light in the distance and rushed there. He saw his partner, gracefully swinging her hammer and killing Grimm left and right.
She spotted him in the middle of the black sea of Grimm and smiled. It wasn't her usual, full of energy smile, that one died two days ago with the never-ending waves.
No, this one held more, it was relieve, relieved he came back safe and sound.
"Renny, is it ready?" She got him in a hug, and he smiled and returned it.
"Of course, you want to do the pleasure?" He took out the detonation device, and waved it in front of her. He only noticed after a moment that his hand was empty, a spike of panic took over him, only to disappear when he saw Nora giggling menacingly with the device in hand.
"Can you two quit flirting already? Some of us want to die in peace." Flint called them out, they didn't mind it, and even Nora looked at him with an evil grin.
"WHO WANTS TO SEE SOME EXPLOSIONS!" her scream made the Grimm that were swarming them shy away for a moment.
At that moment, she used it to click on the button, the only sound left was the Grimm around them struggling to get through the soldiers. Everyone held their breath waiting for the reaction.
"Is this broken? Come on-"The explosion erupted like a volcano, echoing across the field of Grimm, they saw the pink aftermath, yet it wasn't done.
Another roar came from the other direction, then another, and another. Soon enough, the whole battlefield was colored pink, and all eyes turned to Nora.
"What? It looks cool." She said, looking everyone in the eye challengingly.
"More coming." Neon pointed behind them and went back to the fight. Ren saw multiple large Grimm in the distance and grimaced.
"I'll go deal with them, keep holding here." He cloaked himself with his semblance, all fear, worries, and safety left his body, leaving him to only feel the state his body was in, tired.
Ren knew the situation wasn't good. Atlas has been under invasion for some time now, thankfully, it started to slow down, but he feared what that might mean.
"We have the weapon, we can take them out, we can take Salem out." He kept reminding himself, it was the only thing keeping him and Nora up.
The hope of an end, the hope that their leader brought to them, the hope that Pyrrha almost destroyed.
The first large Grimm Ren encountered was an Ursa Major. He quickly used his momentum to slide down, cutting the creature's stomach open.
It roared at the sudden damage, and Ren took it to climb up, removing the head and letting it fall.
His semblance made him like a shadow for the Grimm, which allowed him to take out the most dangerous Grimm first.
Then there was Oscar, two of their teammates turned against them, both against their will.
Ren took a minute to observe his surroundings. In the middle of Grimm, fighting with only one hope in sight.
He looked at the sky, crimson red, he closed them and smiled, he could feel the Grimm rushing all around him, he could feel the pain in his muscles from pushing his body too hard, and he could feel his aura slowly depleting, inching slowly to nothingness.
"We are counting on you, Jaune."
/-/
She took a deep breath to calm herself down.
She closed her eyes, focusing on the fight and clearing her thoughts. She could feel the vibration all around her, she dismissed the sounds of growling and focused.
She felt the Grimm approaching, the rhythmic sound of it legs hitting the ground kept getting closer. She flexed the right balm of her hand, the mechanical feeling wasn't that strange after so many battles with it.
Yang snapped her eyes open, a Megoliath was rushing her way. She launched herself at it and smashed it with her right hand.
She saw the cracks on the Grimm's skull and smirked. It quickly disappeared when she noticed the cracks on her own hand too.
"Take this, you elephant wanna be." She yelled, pushing her hand further and releasing it, her right arm disconnecting as she jumped back.
The arm was stuck in the middle of the Grimm's skull, it tried to shake it off, but Yang activated it and the Grimm was launched back. Yang's robotic arm worked like a small missile, sending the Grimm away and exploding.
She saw more Grimm approaching, her left hand fell back, and when she didn't sense anything, she cursed.
Activating Ember Celica on her left arm, she punched through the coming Grimm. She got two Beowolfs and dodged the third, the Grimm wanted to follow, but a ray of fire came down on it.
"Hey, mind landing me a hand?" Yang asked with a smirk, and Blake rolled her eyes, throwing a metal object at her.
Yang caught it with her left, it was a replica of her right arm. She quickly slotted it in and tested the arm.
"This is the third one, we don't have any extra." Blake said with concern.
"It's fine, I'm sure they will send us back up soon. Although I'm a little worried about Ruby." Yang pulled a familiar black ribbon from her pocket and tied her hair up in a ponytail.
Sure, her hair was awesome just like her, but fighting for so long with minimal rest made everything feel awful, and her hair started to get in the way.
Her arm on the right hand, kept getting damaged, to the point where she had to get more replicas so she could fight. Thankfully, the team of soldiers that they were helping offered to get her more, which allowed her to keep fighting.
Alongside the sleep, none of them could get a full night of it, not in a warzone, they either got two hours, or until their aura reached green.
"I'm sure Ruby is fine, she's strong just like her sister." She smiled at her, yet Yang couldn't stop this weird feeling.
"Let's go." Yang activated Ember Celica on her right arm to match her left, just as the next wave of Grimm started to come.
"Those leaves will make Salem Ascend, which basically means we can kill her. Jaune got them from the everafter, and they were made into bullets. If I get a good shot on Salem, we can end this."
Ruby's word echoed in her head, even though she already felt awful for snapping at Jaune, now she felt worse. He had a plan, he had things under control, yet, she acted like an immature child.
"If I don't survive this, Ruby will blame herself even if I tell her not to, so, you're the only one I can trust with this knowledge, Yang."
Her conversation with Jaune came to mind, those leaves, those the weapon that would save Remnant, the same weapon that took her sister away because of her inaction.
"We were blinded, each of us falling into our own problems. We all looked to Ruby, we were unable to see what she suffered as much, if not more than us."
Yang tore through Grimm like butter, every shell taking out a Grimm, while her eyes slowly fell to crimson.
"And when she snapped, it was too late for us. S- She took her own life, thinking that by doing so, a more qualified person would come and help us."
Tears swelled in her eyes, she was pissed.
Pissed at Jaune for telling her this, pissed at her future self for being this blind, and then at her current self, for only noticing now how much her sister held on her own.
She remembered Haven. When Jaune first came, she remembered how he tried to shoulder her sister's responsibilities, how he stood beside her even though he just saw his dead friends back.
She wished she had seen it sooner.
"We all look up to Ruby, and she knows it, she tries to assure us by acting fine while she isn't, so please, Yang. Look after her."
Her semblance ignited, powering up her punch and removing multiple Grimm in an instant.
"I was so lost in my hatred that I lost what's important to me, it won't happen again." She closed her fist and whispered.
"For what it is worth, I'm sorry."
The word of that Bastard came to her mind.
When she was beaten, when she was about to die, he came and saved her, him, the man who took her arm.
Her left hand traced the line on her neck, it still hurts even with aura, yet, if someone like him can change, or if someone like her deadbeat mom can change, if the future can be altered, then she can help her sister, she can make sure her team, her friends and family won't end up like that grim future.
Yang felt her aura lowering into the red, and she saw the Grimm that started to surround her. Yet, she scoffed.
Thanks to her semblance, she can return twice as much damage as she can take.
"Come on bastards, let's end this."
/-/
"I will save them." Her voice echoed across the field. Grimm turned to dust as barely conscience Ruby Rose walked.
Her Silver eyes were glowing a faint white, it was not the first time she used them in this battle.
As the Leader, she took it on herself to fight alone, as the other places needed them. She was the strongest of her friends, she was the only one who could fight on her own, with her silver eyes and maiden powers.
As all the surrounding Grimm disappeared, another wave came in just as fast, her hand fell behind her back to her weapon.
Crescent Rose was deployed, and just as quickly, she started to dance around with it, the blade of her scythe enveloped with lightning as she made a quick work with everything around her.
"I- can't let them down." Her voice kept telling her. Through exhaustion, Through her pain.
She stopped for a moment, seeing two Geist Grimm. It looked like the one she and Team RNJR fought, but this one had a different body.
It used two Atlas Mechs as the bodies. She prepared herself to fight, using wind to boost her speed and immediately cutting the first one down the middle, while encasing the other in solid rocks to keep it from moving.
Instead, the Grimm used the missiles attached to the mech and launched them at her. She used what remained of her aura to activate her semblance, she avoided them and struck the Grimm mask, shattering it.
Only for a Nuckelavee, a Grimm so rare that she has only seen it once, used the horse part of its body to push her away.
She grunted, her eyes shining brighter, as silver light vaporized the Grimm.
"I- If only I could have done that then." She murmured, her body feeling much heavier. She saw another type of Grimm approaching, she didn't know what it was, she was too tired to think.
The Grimm looked somewhat humanoid, with bones covering the chest like a rib cage, while having a skull that protected the head.
She looked into the red eyes, and somehow that made her feel more tired.
Yet, She kept on moving forward. Even when her eyes stopped opening, even when her scythe fell to the ground and more Grimm became on top of her.
"I can't give up."
The pain and exhaustion became too much, and Ruby laid on the ground, accepting her fate.
"Like mother like daughter I suppose. Idiots."
The mountain of Grimm on top of Ruby was gone in one swift motion, as a red blade made a quick work of the rest.
Ruby heard the woman grunt as she took out the Grimm with the skulls, and she suddenly felt more relaxed.
"Ruby." She didn't have the energy to open her eyes or to answer, as the familiar yet so distant voice called her name.
"Take her away to camp, of course she would walk away and take on all the Grimm, idiot child." The other person said.
"I didn't expect you had a portal for her, Raven."
"Raven? Who was that again?"
"You think I'm a heartless bitch Qrow, but I always kept an eye on everyone, including Summer's and my idiot child." A long pause had Ruby a little worried, she tried to open her eyes but failed.
"Dammit, Qrow, I'm going to get Yang or she'll die, take care of this one."
"Qrow? Uncle Qrow." She realized and relaxed, letting go of her consciousness.
"Dammit Ruby, you don't need to fight alone, you have your team behind you, and you have your friends to support you. Try and rely on them when you're tired kid." Qrow carried Ruby and dashed forward as fast as he could.
By the looks of things, she looked tired. A little Beowolf bit her shoulder, but nothing aura can't heal.
"Qrow here, Rose is safe, passed out, but safe. What about the other?" His finger touched the device on his ear.
Those kids fought way longer than they should, they deserved a well-earned rest.
"We took way too long." He complained, as he moved past soldiers who gave him cover.
/-/
"This is big." He commented the obvious, no one paid him attention. Except for his bitch of a sister who rolled her eyes.
"Of course it's big, the fact she's throwing all of this means she fears us." She said. They all stood around a large table, which showed the battlefield they were on.
"Grimm never used military tactics before, I'm sure this is Ozpin's work." The head of the table said, he was a General after all, as much as Qrow hated to say it, but he knew his stuff.
"Which gives us an advantage here, those tactics are old, which isn't surprising seeing the last war he fought in was the great war. Technology changed how wars are played." He felt confident, something he didn't feel in a while, after they discovered what Ozpin really was. His hand fell to the flask on his hip but stopped.
"I sent team RWBY and JNPR with Penny to all the locations Ozpin might take advantage of, there's a big number of Grimm, but not as many as here." He pointed to the side, where a lot of Grimm were gathered around a giant Whale Grimm that Qrow only saw once while he was scouting the grimmland.
"We're going to strike the middle of their forces, I'll help you reach the front with my flagship, it is small enough to go past any Grimm that might threaten it, while also powerful enough to take out Grimm."
"In that time, the Ace-Ops would be taking a powerful bomb as far as they could to drop it on top of the Grimm, while you clear out the middle." He explained, looking at them.
The last time they stood together like that was at a funeral, yet Team STRQ stood together once again to fight.
"So basically, you're going to drop us in the middle of the Grimm, and we're supposed to survive?" his sister asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, but you will be supported, and Specialist Schnee will be with you, she already took care of most details." Ironwood said, after a long pause.
"This is too much for the kids, it says here that it is expected they will fight for a week with a constant wave of Grimm coming there. They just lost their friend, and the other is in a coma, you can't expect them to be in the right mind for this fight." Taiyang slammed his hand on the table, with a pained expression on his face.
The mission sounded just like last time too, so Qrow understood where he was coming from.
"I have faith in them, right now they aren't fighting to protect just Atlas. They are fighting to protect Remnant, because not only have we lost humanity's greatest ally, but we also have the only weapon to win this war once and for all."
Qrow knew the situation, he heard about the kid being from the future, hack he wanted to talk about things with a good drink, yet, they all have been running around to save this damn world.
"Don't worry Tai, they are strong kids, trust them." His words seemed to have an effect on the man, who relaxed a little.
"Besides, we have this useful taxi over here who can tell us if anything happens." He pointed at his sister. The glow of her eyes was enough to make him cower away.
"Then, let's start, if we are lucky, we can end this and help them out." Qrow assured them, as he walked out first.
"You're going to wake up to hell kid. Be ready."
Note: I originally wanted jaune to meet up with each of his friends in the middle of combat, but when I saw I could do this, I said, Why not? I even wanted to end it with Ruby losing consciousness and be like, Did she die?
But nah, Raven came in time to save the day, although I'm not too sure about what's gonna happen to Weiss.
Thank you for reading the story , I really appreciate it, and I hope you can leave a review and tell me your opinions.
Free Palestine.
And goodbye.