Chapter 23
Atlas
Day 6: Morning
The sudden detonation of the four Mantas behind him threw Qrow through the air, knocking Clover, his willing 'hostage', from his grasp. The air was driven from his lungs as he landed hard on his chest. He curled in on himself, barely having the wits about him to cover his head as flaming debris began to rain around him.
He tried to get back on his feet but the nausea and dizziness kept him on his hands and knees. The sounds around him were incredibly muted, the ringing in his ears drowning out all other noise. He was pretty sure he had a mild concussion.
As his hearing slowly came back, he began to hear screaming. The haziness in his mind cleared almost instantly as he remembered the mechanics hiding in the Mantas, trying to avoid becoming casualties of the battle.
But, thanks to James, they'd become casualties anyway. Around him, Robyn and Winter shakily rose to their feet. Their injuries, like his, seemed to be bruises and mild burns. Clover remained on the deck trying to catch his breath. The rest of the soldiers and Ace Ops in the hangar began to recover and Qrow realized that they only had seconds before Elm and Harriet were on them, but with their only means of escape destroyed, he had no idea what to do.
They were all surprised when there was another explosion, this time at the end of the hangar as a hole was blown in the giant blast door that was sealing the exit. A hail of gunfire came from the person-sized hole, sending the three of them and Ironwood's soldiers diving for cover. Four men, all carrying rifles, sprang through the opening and began to run towards the three of them.
Qrow quickly judged from the way their Atlesian armor was painted personalized and from the way they moved across the deck that they were mercenaries of some kind. They were good at the very least, overlapping covering fire for each other as they approached.
The mercenary in the lead slid into their cover. "Who the hell are you?" Qrow asked.
"Your backup." the man replied sharply, "There's a Manta waiting outside for you. Go, we'll cover your escape."
The three escapees got into a crouch, ready to move.
"Hey you," the man said, shooting a dirty look at Winter, "Tell Willow she's being charged triple for this, we weren't told there'd be Ace Ops here."
"Willow?" she said in disbelief, "How-?"
"Go!" the man yelled as all of the mercenaries popped out from behind cover and opened fire on the regrouping soldiers.
Winter had no time to contemplate the man dropping her mother's name as they sprang from cover and started to sprint across the hangar toward their exit. She covered their backs with a large glyph in case any of Ironwood's soldiers decided to direct any fire their way.
"Stop them!" Ironwood's voice yelled over the intercom, almost instantly she felt several rounds slam into her shield.
Qrow felt much too winded as he ran just in front of Winter. He was getting old, back in his prime that fight and a short sprint across a hangar might not have even made him break a sweat. He just had to power through now. He kept his eye right on their exit, now only fifty feet away. He heard a crackle of electricity some ways behind him, and glanced to his right just in time to see a streak that he could only only be Harriet, heading straight for Robyn at a velocity that he was sure would be lethal if they collided.
'No.' he thought, anger flowing through his veins, 'We've already lost so much, not her too.'
A strange feeling flowed through him and the blur that was Harriet tripped, her feet flying out from under her, sending the speedster tumbling head over heels across the deck.
As they arrived at the blast door, he helped Robyn through the hole. He was assisting Winter when he heard Harriet slam into the wall of the hangar, with a resounding "OW!"
He couldn't stop a grin from tugging at the corners of his mouth at the thought of Harriet nursing the bruises to her face and ego for the rest of the day. He turned back towards the fighting and caught Yang's gaze. There was a silent plea in her eyes, 'Find them…please.'
He nodded, 'I will…I promise.'
He quickly ducked through the hole and into the waiting Manta. Winter jumped into the pilot seat and they quickly pulled away from the academy. Qrow quickly joined the other two in the cockpit.
Winter almost immediately threw the Manta into a steep dive. Qrow grunted as the g-forces pushed down on his body. "You sure you know how to fly this thing?" he asked, once they'd leveled off amongst the tall buildings.
Winter didn't even look at him but he was certain she'd be giving him a death glare if she was able. "It is literally part of my job to know how to fly one of these things." she snapped at him.
"Fair enough." he grunted as Winter threw the ship into another hairpin turn.
"Schnee…" Qrow said uneasily as she skimmed uncomfortably close to the side of a building, "You're flying awful low…"
"Do you think Ironwood is just going to let us waltz out of the city?" she retorted, "I guarantee you he has turrets trained on us, and if we fly this low he won't be able fire on us without hitting civilians. Any higher and he'll blow us out of the sky."
"Didn't stop him two minutes ago…" Robyn growled.
"Fair." Winter conceded, "But something tells me he won't do it this publicly right in the middle of the city."
Qrow grunted again as Winter began a series of high speed maneuvers, trying to shake off the pair of Mantas that had appeared behind them in hot pursuit, tossing him into the wall of the cabin.
"Would you sit down before you get thrown into the cargo bay?" Winter snapped.
Qrow dropped into the copilot's seat and Robyn took a seat in the cargo hold, both of them quickly strapping in.
For the next several minutes, Winter expertly juked and dodged through the city, managing to shake off one of their pursuers when it clipped one of its engines on the side of a radio tower. The buildings finally gave way to open sky and Winter poured on the speed, diving over the edge of the island, plunging straight down towards the tundra below. They punched through a thick layer of clouds, eventually emerging into the slightly snowy weather below.
Qrow checked the rear cameras and saw the single pursuing craft turning back towards the city, apparently having given up their chase. He breathed a sigh of relief for the first time in a while. Winter leveled off once they were out of turret range but kept the craft at maximum speed. She put a few more miles between them and the city before reducing speed and flipping on the autopilot. Robyn unstrapped herself and made her way forward to the cockpit.
"Alright," Winter said, pulling out her scroll and projecting a map of Atlas, Mantle, and the surrounding tundra into the air, "This area here is approximately where Weiss and Ruby's Manta went down." She indicated a highlighted region close to the mountains. "We'll start our search in that region and go from there if we don't find anything." She programmed the coordinates into the Manta's flight computer. "ETA is an hour and a half; I'd get comfortable, it's going to be a long flight."
Qrow nodded and left the cockpit to stretch out a bit in the cargo hold, the cockpit was cramped and Schnee was a little too agitated for his liking anyway. He noted that Robyn had stayed behind for a moment, staring at their plotted flight path, clearly focused on the part of the flight path that would take them past Mantle.
"Robyn, can you fly this?" Winter asked.
Robyn remained silent, staring at her city on the hologram.
"Robyn." Winter repeated, making the other woman jump slightly.
"Sorry," the former politician said, "I spaced out."
"I asked if you can fly this Manta if it should come to it."
Robyn nodded, "Required course at the academy. Admittedly, I'm a bit rusty, but I won't crash it if that's what you're worried about."
Winter nodded, satisfied with her answer, "You should get some rest, we don't know what we're going to find out there."
Robyn lingered a moment, her gaze still glued on the flight path, before pulling herself away and walking into the passenger hold.
Qrow watched as she sat down for a few moments, but quickly got back up again and began pacing up and down the deck. He opened his mouth to say something to her, but the look on her face told him that she didn't want to talk at the moment. He sighed and opted to close his eyes and try to get some sleep.
A loud clanging sound snapped him out of his light doze. He blinked away sleep just in time to see Robyn slam her fist into the door of the craft a second time.
"I SAID let me out!" she yelled at Winter, "You two can go look for your family, but my people need me!" She reached for the emergency hatch release.
"Woah, hold on…" Qrow said, springing up and grabbing her wrist. He didn't know what was going on, but he was certain that jettisoning the door onto the tundra was a bad idea. He looked out the window in the door and saw that they were flying by Mantle.
A small gasp escaped his mouth as he realized that Salem's whale hovered over the city, clouds of flying Grimm surrounding it. Even at a distance of several miles he could see more Grimm swarming through the streets of the city.
"Robyn, that's suicide." He said gently.
"The people down there need me!" she yelled, her voice taking on a note of desperation, "They're dying!"
"One person couldn't turn the tide down there." Winter said from the cockpit, "The Grimm down there are frenzied, you'd be torn apart before you could help anyone. Besides, I'm not putting this ship at risk to help you with your suicide mission."
The look of hate and rage Robyn directed at Winter sent goosebumps all down Qrow's back. Robyn shouldered past him with a snarl, trying to get at Winter in the cockpit.
"Woah, woah…" Qrow said gently, pulling her back towards the door. "As much as I hate to admit it, I agree with Schnee on this one, even if the way she said it makes her sound like a heartless bitch." He saw Winter roll her eyes in the reflection of the cockpit canopy. He turned back to Robyn, "There's nothing the three of us can do for them right now, all we can do is survive and bring them help when we can."
Robyn was silent for a few moments, her jaw muscles working. "Fine." she eventually spat, "I really hate it when she's right…"
Qrow smiled, "On that we can definitely agree on." As Robyn stepped away from the door, something outside the window caught his eye, he quickly looked out at the whale hovering menacingly over Mantle. He could have sworn he'd seen some kind of green flash in its mouth, but by the time he'd looked there was nothing to be seen but flying Grimm. He headed back towards the cockpit with Robyn.
"We're about thirty minutes out from their mission site." Winter said as he approached, "We should start looking for signs since we don't know exactly where they went down."
Qrow once again plopped down into the copilot's seat, and Robyn stood between them. The three of them began staring out at the snowy ground, looking for any sign of the missing Manta.
After a few minutes, Robyn broke the silence, "Since we have some time to kill and I'm in desperate need of a distraction, why don't you tell me a bit about Weiss?"
Winter raised an eyebrow.
"Well, Qrow already told me all about Ruby," Robyn replied, "I figure I should know a little about the other person we're trying to rescue, plus she's the only member of Team RWBY I haven't met yet."
Winter was silent for a long moment.
"Well if she's not gonna say anything, I can give it my best shot." Qrow said, "She's a little cold like her sister here, but sweet when she wants to be. And you definitely don't want to be on her bad side, she packs a surprising amount of power in that small-"
"Defiant." Winter interrupted.
"Huh?"
"She's defiant," Winter repeated, "Against her family specifically."
"Oh…" Robyn said, some sadness in her voice, she'd been expecting to hear something nice about her, especially from her sister.
"You misunderstand, I meant it as a good thing." Winter replied, as if she could read her mind. "I regret that we're not as close as I'd like, but everything I know and have seen of Weiss shows me that she has made it her goal in life to be nothing like her family, even myself." Winter smiled, "I couldn't be more proud of her. She chose her own path and refused to bend to Jaques' whims."
Robyn snorted, "Yeah, you don't have to tell me what kind of person Jaques is." she said, a touch of bitterness in her voice.
"I had the opportunity to watch her and Ruby in the training room the other week." Winter said fondly, "They seem to be perfect compliments for each other. Weiss keeps Ruby more grounded, and Ruby brings out Weiss' less serious side." she nodded, a small smile on her lips, "They're great partners."
"Yeah," Qrow agreed, "They're pretty cute together."
A small frown crossed Winter's face. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked.
Qrow and Robyn shared a look, Winter didn't know about Ruby and Weiss being together. Weiss hadn't told her.
"Uh…Nothing." Qrow replied quickly, "We should concentrate on looking anyway."
Robyn shrugged, "Guess I'll just have to meet little-Miss-defiant in person then."
Tundra
Day 6: Morning
Weiss woke, shivering against the bitter cold of the tundra for the second day in a row. She blinked the sleep from her puffy eyes and realized that she was lying on her side next to Ruby's body, still bundled in her red cloak. She was covered in a light dusting of snow that, even now, fell from the thick clouds that covered the sky, preventing her from being able to tell what time of the day it was. She hadn't even had the strength to make it to the tent the previous night, collapsing into the snow where Ruby lay, her body too weak and her mind too broken to move from her partner's side.
She sat up, dislodging the covering of snow from her own form. She winced, pain shooting through her body, brutally reminding her of the battle she'd had with the Grimm the day before. Both her body and mind moved sluggishly, a night of sleep seeming to have made very little difference against the tide of exhaustion that seemed to permeate every cell of her body.
She began to clear the snow off of Ruby's body. She brushed off the metal emblem clasping the cloak shut, gently running her thumb over the engraved rose. A part of her braced for the crushing wave of anguish she was sure would wash over her.
But it never came.
She felt…
Nothing.
Empty.
It was the only way to describe it. Like someone had scooped out everything that made her Weiss and just left a hollow husk in her place. Maybe it was better this way. Weiss was broken, barely able to function without breaking down. If she was numb and empty, then maybe she could still do what needed to be done to get them home.
The snow was beginning to come down harder now; she slowly scooped up Ruby's body and placed it in the tent. She didn't want her to get wet.
She started to go through the motions of the morning routine. She tried to eat a little something, but the ration tasted like ash in her mouth and she wasn't all that hungry. She ate a few bites anyway, if just to keep her body moving, there was still a long way to go before she reached civilization.
She supposed that she should get moving and pack the camp up to continue the journey to Mantle.
'Why?' a part of her asked, 'What's the point? There's nothing there for you anymore.'
She found it hard to argue with that part of herself. Atlas, her former home, was gone, left to seek refuge high in the sky.
'Mantle is still there.' another part of her said.
It was, that was fair. But even now, she could see Salem's whale, apparently having returned sometime during the night, disgorging Grimm onto the unfortunate city. She was close enough now that she could hear faint bursts of gunfire, meaning that even if she did reach Mantle she'd have to fight her way to safety and, honestly, she just didn't want to fight anymore.
Ruby had been her reason for fighting, Ruby had been her real home. And now that she was gone… Well, Nothing really mattered.
Even if she got to Mantle, the city was a war-zone, a slaughter. And there was no way to get back to Atlas where her friends and family were. There was nothing for her there either. There was no point in moving from this spot.
So she sat. She sat for hours, hugging her knees to her chest and staring into the fire.
Day 6: Noon
Weiss slowly became aware of a droning sound on the edge of her hearing. She slowly glanced up and realized it was the sound of engines off in the far distance, spotting a low-flying Manta to the west of her camp. It seemed to be tracing the original path that their own Manta had taken almost a week ago now, as it flew slowly to the southeast. It was headed straight towards the destroyed base.
The Manta was much too far away to see her and it would be past her by the time she could get her aching body to its feet and launch a flare, so she remained seated; if they were looking for them they shouldn't have too much trouble tracking their movements back to their current position.
She supposed that she should be happy that she'd finally be getting off of this gods-forsaken tundra, but the only thing her mind could conjure was Yang's horrified and angry face when she found out her sister was dead.
The craft hovered over what she thought might be the destroyed outpost, eventually moving on after finding no sign of them. It began to fly in a search pattern, eventually locating their first campsite. It worked its way out from there, tracing a route all the way to the campsite from two nights ago. The camp where Ruby died.
It hovered low over that one for a long time, circling the campsite, looking for any sign of them. Eventually they seemed to catch sight of her trail out of the camp and made a beeline to her hill.
The Manta hovered over her campsite and almost instantly the side doors sprang open and two figures jumped out, despite being thirty feet in the air. One of the figures slowed their descent with a glyph while the other shrank and flapped down to the ground. The craft moved off a short way and began to lower slowly down to the ground a few hundred feet from the bottom of the hill.
"Weiss!" a voice cried as the first figure sprinted towards her.
'Winter.' she thought, as her sister slid to the ground next to her and pulled her into a tight hug, 'Winter came for me.' Her hands automatically went around Winter, reciprocating the hug but there was no strength behind her grip.
"I knew if anyone could make it out here, it would be you two." a gruff voice said.
'Qrow.' she thought sluggishly, 'he's here too.'
"Where's Ruby?" He asked, a hopeful smile on his face.
Her mind went through a dozen different ways to tell him but none of them sounded right. After a long moment, Weiss simply nodded at the tent.
"Ah, sleeping late, ." Qrow said, turning towards the tent.
Winter pulled away from the hug, and began to look Weiss over. Weiss could only imagine how awful she looked at the moment.
"Weiss, are you hurt? You're covered in blood." Winter asked, a worried frown creasing her features.
Weiss slowly shook her head, "It's not mine." she said softly.
Winter took a good look at her. Her hollow gaze, the blood all over her front, the anguish still etched on her face. Weiss saw the pieces click into place and a look of shock and sorrow passed over Winter's features.
She whirled towards Qrow, "Wait, Branwen, maybe you shouldn-"
But it was too late.
Weiss heard the sound of the tent zipper, then silence.
A choked whimper escaped Qrow's throat and he dropped heavily to his knees in the snow.
Winter stood and peered into the tent, confirming her suspicions. She slumped back down to the snow in front of Weiss, a tired, defeated look on her face.
There was silence for a long moment, punctuated only by the wind howling across the small hill.
"What…What happened?" Qrow managed to choke out, his voice quivering with emotion.
"Bran- Qrow, I don't think she's in any state to-"
"I did it." Weiss said quietly, "I killed her." they deserved to know what happened, to know who she really was. They'd find out eventually anyway.
Winter recoiled in surprise. Weiss didn't blame her, she'd have done the same. If Qrow had heard what she'd said he gave no indication; he just remained on the ground, staring at the small, red bundle in the tent. Weiss heard the crunch of boots on snow as someone else came up the slope.
"Gods dammit…" an out of breath Robyn Hill panted, "This hill is too freaking tall. Please tell me they're both ok, we really need a win tod-" Robyn's voice caught in her throat as her gaze fell on the tent and the body inside.
"Shit…" she cursed softly. She seemed to sag, the politician's mask she usually wore dropped, revealing the anguish and despair underneath. She turned away from the tent for a moment, gazing out at her home, her jaw muscles clenching, seemingly trying to gather herself back together.
After several moments of composing herself, she turned and walked back towards them. Her mask was mostly back up and she had a sympathetic look but Weiss saw through it, it was only a brave face for her benefit.
"Weiss? I'm Robyn Hill, I don't think we've met, but I've heard amazing things about you from your friends and family." she put a hand on Weiss' shoulder "We're going to get you home, ok?"
Weiss nodded numbly. Qrow, his hands shaking, picked up Ruby's body from the tent, cradling her in his arms, and began making his way down the hill. Weiss couldn't see his face and she wasn't sure she even wanted to, his body language alone told her exactly how deep his anguish was.
"I'll get your things." Winter said quietly, giving Weiss' shoulder a squeeze; she stood and made her way over to the makeshift sled.
Robyn gently helped Weiss to her feet, holding on to her left arm to make sure she didn't fall. The older woman was clearly distracted; Weiss could tell she wanted to fully be there for her but her constant glances at Mantle showed exactly why her attention was split.
Winter returned shortly with Crescent Rose and Myrtenaster. "This is all I could find that wasn't supplies, Is there anything else you want to bring?" she asked, handing Weiss her weapon.
"No." the broken woman said softly. She stared at her sword, the blade forever tainted with Ruby's blood, sheathing it at her waist after several moments. "There's nothing left for me."
"Come on," Winter said softly, taking her other arm, "We've got you."
The three of them began to make their way down the hill, the two older women keeping Weiss steady as they made their way down the hill in silence. Weiss understood, she had no idea what she would say in their situation either. Walking mostly on her own, they guided her down the hill and made their way towards the idling airship.
As they reached the bottom of the hill, Weiss looked up to see Qrow placing Ruby's body down in the passenger hold of the Manta. She sighed, the utter nightmare of the tundra was over but the thought of revealing the truth to her friends back in Atlas was somehow even worse.
Qrow stepped back out of the hold, looking up at the sky with a frown on his face, clearly having heard something.
Then Weiss heard it too. Another engine, smaller than theirs but definitely an engine. She glanced around trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. She quickly spotted a small craft about a mile away, seemingly having come from Mantle. As it got closer, she was able to make out details through the falling snow, realizing it was a small Manta flying just a few feet off the ground and kicking up massive amounts of snow behind it. It skidded to a stop a few hundred feet away from them, the three older Huntsmen placing themselves between the craft and Weiss. The hatch popped open and its pilot violently launched itself high into the air with a burst of flame.
Cinder Fall landed a dozen yards away from them, white-hot flames eagerly dancing in her palms. "I guess it's my lucky day!" She said, a triumphant grin on her face, "There's even more of you here than I expected!"
Instantaneously, before her sentence had even finished, weapons were out and pointed at the new arrival. Weiss was almost surprised to find Myrtenaster in her hand and half-heartedly pointed at Cinder; she had reacted on pure instinct.
"Salem will be very pleased when I not only deliver her servant-to-be, but all four of your heads as well." the fall maiden said, a cocky sneer on her lips.
Robyn snorted, "It's four on one. Maiden powers or not, we're still taking you down." She aimed her crossbow right at Cinder's head.
"Four?" Cinder grinned, "Don't make me laugh, the princess back there can barely stand on her own. And calling yourself a combatant is being pretty generous, wouldn't you say?"
Robyn bristled but remained silent, not giving in to the rogue Maiden's verbal jabs.
Cinder tilted her head to the side, a dark look coming over her face, "Unless of course you're referring to Ruby Rose, she and I are due for a rematch." She looked around, a look of frustration growing on her face. "Where are you Ruby Rose?" she yelled into the snowy sky, "Stop cowering and letting your friends do all the fighting; you owe me an eye!"
The only response was the wind howling across the barren Tundra.
She directed her flaming gaze on Qrow, "Branwen, where the hell is she? I know she's here. Stop hiding-"
"SHE'S DEAD!" Qrow snarled at her, "Your people made sure of that…"
Cinder jerked back, as if she'd been physically struck, her eyes wide with shock. Her face quickly turned to rage and she began to shake. "I…didn't know…Watts failed to mention that…" Cinder fell silent for a moment, practically trembling with rage. "Rose was supposed to be mine." she seethed, clenching her Grimm fist, looking down at the ground "She was supposed-"
Acting almost as one, the three older Huntsmen surged towards Cinder, and before Weiss even had time to blink were engaged in a vicious duel with the sadistic Maiden. Even with them catching her slightly off guard, she quickly regained her footing and lashed out at an attacking Qrow with a blast of fire. Winter and Robyn both closed in on her and Weiss began to lose track of the battle, her brain too tired to keep up properly.
Then she felt it, a slight rumbling in the ground underneath her feet and the sound of dozens of paws pounding the snow. And even above those sounds, she heard the sound of leathery wings beating at the air.
A massive black shape dove out of the sky, slamming into the ground near Cinder, scattering Qrow, Robyn, and Winter in all different directions. A dozen Beowolves ran up behind the newcomer. Weiss looked at the black mass and as recognition dawned, a spike of adrenaline shot through her body.
The Hound was back.
Oh, she was very much awake now.
It definitely looked the worse for wear, some of its silver light inflicted injuries not having healed at all and its bony faceplate was still cracked. Unfortunately it appeared to move just fine as it walked towards Cinder.
The three other huntsmen quickly regrouped at the Manta with her, warily staring at the newcomer as it now stood nose to nose with Cinder.
" L?" it growled at Cinder. The deep gravelly voice sent a shiver down Weiss' spine, despite having heard it before. It was deeply unnatural. Cinder looked at it quizzically.
"Grimm…Grimm don't talk." Qrow said, disbelief and fear in his voice.
"So what the hell is it then?" Robyn asked, aiming at the goopy thing.
"Hound." Weiss said quietly, "It's one of Salem's creations. It almost killed me." she swallowed thickly. "Ruby saved me. Again."
" L?" the thing asked again.
Cinder finally shook her head. "Rose is gone." she said uneasily, clearly very uncomfortable around the tar-like monstrosity.
It cocked its head at her, not comprehending what she said.
"Dead…she's dead." Cinder clarified.
The creature grumbled unhappily, a growl deep in its throat.
"But I guarantee her body is in that Manta." Cinder said, smiling slightly, the creature's ears perked up, "Help me kill these fools and we'll bring it back to our master together."
" D." the Grimm thing growled after a moment of thought. It gestured with its head and the pack of Beowolves moved to surround them; they snapped their jaws, some of them salivating in anticipation.
"Over my dead body…" Qrow snarled.
"Yes, that's the idea." Cinder replied with a smirk, "I'm taking the corpse of your pathetic little niece whether you like it or not." her gaze slipped off of him, like he wasn't even worth her time, her attention now focused on Winter.
"Weiss," Qrow said through gritted teeth, snapping Harbinger into its scythe form, "If anything gets through us, you put it down permanently."
Weiss nodded, her hand clenching on Myrtenaster. A renewed sense of determination surged through her; they'd already taken Ruby from her once, she wouldn't give them the opportunity to try again.
"We'll finally have a fair fight this time." Cinder said grinning cruelly as she advanced on Winter, "Your robotic friend can't save you all the way out here." The Hound growled menacingly beside her. "This is going to be fun."
Winter's eyes narrowed as she moved forward to meet Cinder. Qrow came up and practically shoved her aside.
"She's mine." he snarled.
Winter's eyes went wide when she saw the look on his face, not wanting to argue with the rage she no doubt saw burning there.
They all moved simultaneously, Qrow meeting a leaping strike from Cinder with equal ferocity, rage blazing in his eyes. The hound leapt at Robyn with its fangs and claws bared, only to be intercepted by Winter's Manticore. The ghost-white Grimm slammed its horned head into the Hound's side, digging two gouges into its side and sending it skidding across the snow.
The pack of Beowolves began to attack Robyn who unleashed a hail of crossbow bolts into their ranks, dropping a few of them outright. When the rest of them got too close, she expanded her weapon and began to slice into the Grimm with the wing-like blades.
Weiss could tell Robyn was a bit rusty at fighting Grimm, but her training from Atlas academy was very apparent in her movements as she held her own against the onslaught of Grimm.
A small group of Beowolves broke off from fighting Robyn and made a beeline towards her, towards the Manta and its precious cargo. There was no way in hell she'd let them get to Ruby. Salem would never have Ruby, alive or dead, if she had anything to say about it.
She called a small swarm of glyphs into existence behind her, all of them glowing fiery-orange. A flick of her wrist unleashed a hail of fireballs on the monsters who were trying to take her Ruby. She took a perverse pleasure in the Grimm's screams as they died, consumed by the last of her fire dust.
She turned back and took in the progress of the battle and a wave of fear washed over her; her friends were losing. Qrow had been holding his own against Cinder, but now was steadily losing ground under a brutal assault of blasts of fire and attacks with her burning glass weapons. His scythe whirled around him in a blur, it was all he could do to keep the Fall Maiden at bay. And to make matters worse, in the distance, she saw at least a dozen more Beowolves heading right towards them.
She heard Winter yell and her head snapped around. The Hound's jaws were inches from her sister's throat, the only thing keeping them at bay was Winter's blade wedged into its teeth. Robyn was unloading bolt after bolt into the monster's side to no effect, even as the former politician was quickly surrounded by the arriving Beowolves.
Cinder finally broke through Qrow's defenses, sending the man flying with a fireball to the chest. She created a red-hot scimitar in her hands and began to run at the prone scythe-wielder.
Weiss began to tremble as a powerful rush of emotion surged through her body. They were going to die, more of her friends and family were going to die and she couldn't, she wouldn't let that happen.
"NO!" the scream tore from her throat, loud enough to startle all the combatants into staring at her. "NO ONE ELSE DIES!"
An image of Ruby's smile popped spontaneously into her head and she felt a familiar sensation: a piece of her soul screaming for attention, clawing for release. She raised her hand and focused, pushing the piece of her soul to the outside, just like she did with all the rest of her summons.
A rapidly spinning glyph SLAMMED into being with a blast of force, hanging in the air in front of her. As the glyph slowly came to stop, hanging stationary in the air in front of her, Shock, revolution and horror coursed through Weiss' body as she was finally able to see the glyph.
A single name echoed through her mind.
Ruby.
It was Ruby's glyph.
Her partner's ever-present rose emblem shone brightly at the center of the glyph, surrounded by stylized scythes, her beloved Crescent Rose with her even in death.
It was final, undeniable proof that she had killed the girl she loved.
But she didn't have time to think about that, the glyph began to glow brightly and she felt a massive flow of energy surge from her into the glyph. She squinted as blinding silver light blanketed the area, emanating from the glyph hovering inches in front of her palm. Silver light she'd recognize anywhere.
Silver light she expected to come from a ghostly apparition of her partner, but it only seemed to come from the glyph with no ruby in sight. She was simultaneously glad and disappointed, part of her wanted nothing more than to see Ruby again; but she knew that if she saw Ruby bearing the white color of her summons, the guilt would crush her until there was nothing left.
Movement from the corner of her eye pulled her back into the battle. Even despite the blinding light, the Grimm surrounding Robyn had begun to stalk towards the woman. The monsters were her first victims as Weiss turned the glyph on them, focusing the intense beam of light on their hulking forms. The Beowolves screamed in agony and began to evaporate, turning almost instantly to ash. Robyn's face was shocked, even as she shielded her eyes from the onslaught of silver light.
Weiss was about to ask the older woman if she was alright but the deep growl of the Hound drew her attention away. The dripping monstrosity was trying to kill her sister again, just as it had tried to kill her days earlier. She took no small pleasure in turning the glyph on the hulking creature, bathing it in light, willing it to burn.
It reared back, screaming in agony as the black goo boiled and evaporated off its form, once again revealing the silver-eyed man trapped inside. Winter surged back to her feet, and sunk her sword deep into its torso.
But Weiss hardly saw the death-blow Winter inflicted on the creature, there was an all-too-familiar feeling creeping down her right hand and demanding her attention. She looked and saw a faint, red energy emanating from the glyph. It entwined itself with her fingers, gently caressing them and beginning to make its way down her wrist.
It was Ruby's aura, she'd know it anywhere, as did her own aura which seemed to vibrate simultaneously with joy and anguish. Something between a sob and a laugh escaped her throat, and she felt tears cascading down her cheeks.
But there was no time to figure out how any of this was even possible as a scream of rage from Cinder grabbed her attention. She tore her eyes away from the glyph but was briefly distracted when she spotted more Beowolves in the far distance coming towards them.
She quickly refocused as she heard another angry cry, this time from Qrow. She saw the man throw himself at Cinder, who was crouched on the ground, a look of fury on her face. Weiss' weary eyes focused on the cloud of black dots hovering behind the Fall maiden. Qrow slammed into Cinder, knocking her sideways.
The dots grew bigger in her field of vision and Weiss couldn't figure out for the life of her what-
She felt a sharp burning sensation and her left leg buckled, sending her crashing to the ground, landing roughly on her back.
She looked down, trying to figure out why her leg refused to support her anymore. She was surprised to find that everything below her left knee was horribly mangled, sliced almost to ribbons by the burning, black daggers stuck in the snow by her feet. Blood poured out onto the snow, staining it bright red. She'd shifted most of her aura to her hand to power the glyph, so Cinder's daggers had torn right through her combat gear, carving deep, burning gashes into her leg and foot. There was shockingly little pain, but she knew that wouldn't last terribly long.
She felt most of her aura rush away from her hand as her body began to desperately try to stem the flow of blood and heal her leg; the glyph began to flicker and fade. In the background Weiss vaguely heard the howls of the new pack of Beowolves as they neared.
'I can't stop.' she thought, 'They're all still in danger. No one else dies.' She gritted her teeth against the pain as she propped herself up on her elbow.
With a scream of effort, she redirected the aura that was rushing to her leg and sent it straight back into the glyph which blazed back to full strength, pointing it in the direction of the onrushing horde. She continued to sustain the glyph for what felt like hours, her eyes never leaving the shining rose emblem in front of her, never leaving the faint, red energy wrapping itself around her hand, the rest of the world all but forgotten. She felt consciousness begin to slip away from her, an all-too-familiar sensation from the courtyard at Haven.
"Weiss!" A voice cried, she felt someone skid to a stop next to her.
'Winter.' her mind sluggishly thought, 'She's ok.' but she still kept the glyph going, the others were still in danger and-
"Weiss, you can stop now, she's gone. She's running away!"
If she let the glyph go, she'd never feel Ruby again, never feel her aura, never-
"WEISS, STOP!" Winter's voice screamed, finally snapping her out of her trance.
Reluctantly, she finally let the glyph go, her hand falling limply to her side.
"I'm sorry…" she whispered to the glyph. The glyph faded, much slower than her other summoning glyphs, as if it didn't want to leave. But soon it was gone, dissipating into white particles.
She finally collapsed fully into the ground, staring up into the falling snow, too exhausted to even move.
Winter's terrified face appeared in her field of view. "Fuck…" her sister swore. Weiss almost mustered a laugh, it was so unnatural to hear her overly-proper older sister swear. There was a tightening sensation around her leg, but it seemed to be very far away.
"Weiss I'm going to…"
Weiss didn't hear the rest of Winter's sentence as her ears didn't seem to be working properly anymore. Her head went incredibly light and she closed her eyes, now much too heavy to keep open.
She was fairly certain that she was bleeding out.
Dying.
Almost certainly for real this time if the state of her leg was anything to judge by.
Surprisingly there wasn't too much sadness attached to that thought.
She vaguely felt something cold on her mangled leg.
'Well…if I am dying this time,' she contemplated, her thoughts sluggish and surprisingly calm, 'Maybe I'll get to be with Ruby again…' she relaxed, a brief image of her partner flitting through her brain, comforting her.
She'd kept everyone safe, Winter would be sure Ruby's body got back to Atlas. She'd kept her promise. Maybe the universe would let her rest now.
She could feel the approaching tide of oblivion rushing towards her and greeted it with open arms.
I hope the wait has been worth it, this is a doozy of a chapter! I'm pretty sure a decent portion of you saw the Ruby summon coming from a mile away! I've always been fascinated with the idea of Weiss' semblance and human summoning, and I'm having fun getting to play with the concept. I'm surprised there aren't more fics exploring this (if there are any, please send them my way, I'd love to read them).
I promise I won't leave you hanging on that note, the next chapter is gonna be LONG, and will be the final chapter of the current arc of this story. After that, this story will be going on hiatus for a number of months so I can write the next arc. During the hiatus, I'll be posting a number of feel good WR stories I've had kicking around my head for a while. I'm currently writing the rough draft for something I'm referring to as the Boat AU. It was originally intended to be a short story but it's up to 20 notebook pages and I'm not even 75% finished with it yet, so look forward to that one!
I commissioned some amazing art for this chapter from the incredible Sy ( x_xwhiterose) on Twitter! Please go check them out, their art is super good, and they're an absolute pleasure to work with! I love the details on the glyph they made, they really helped me bring this chapter to life! Also check out Moose ( Tired_of_Retail), who did the art for Chapter 16! And an extra special shout out to Pao ( AkAkumu43) for doing some dope fanart based on this story! Links don't work here on FF, if you want to see the art for this story you can find it under the same title over on AO3. I'll also have the latest stuff on my Twitter ( Strudol)
Leave a comment letting me know what you thought! As always, thanks to my wonderful wife V for being my beta/editor and thanks to YOU for reading!