Author's Note: As promised, the second chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or its associated characters. The characters in this writing so far are mostly original characters, but I make no claim over the existing characters.

Chapter 14

PEAR

Evelynn's Perspective

Heat scorched through me, and I felt an odd sensation in my chest as the wound was almost instantly cauterized. My hammer, with Christine's tombstone still exposed to the open air, slipped from my grasp and fell to the ground. I willed my body forwards but it failed to obey my command, instead slumping backwards and collapsing. Dimly I heard Sergeant Phoenix call out to me, desperation tinging his voice. As I lay staring upwards at the night sky I squinted my eyes to block out the harsh light of the blue flare he had fired.

I frowned in annoyance, the flare was ruining my view of an otherwise beautiful night sky. I felt something grabbing at my shoulder, shaking me and trying to keep me awake. Phoenix loomed over me, he was shouting and his hands were glowing with some sort of golden energy. For some reason his face was getting more blurry the longer I looked at him.

I blinked to try to clear my vision, but it didn't seem to get any better. Irritated, I turned my head to the side, and caught a glimpse of my hammer lying beside me. I could just barely make out the inscription on Christine's tombstone. My hearing was gone now I realized, I couldn't hear the sergeant shouting at me. Some portion of my mind gradually realized that I was dying, which annoyed me because I still had something to do, but I couldn't remember what it was. My eyes were too blurry to read the inscription now, so instead I closed them, and focused my failing mind on the last good memories I had of Christine.

-/-

"Heeeeeeey'' Christine called out to me in a singsong voice "Wake up sleepy head!" I groaned and rubbed my eyes, feeling the cold of the snow underneath my sleeping bag as I sat up.

"Is it time already?" I asked groggily.

"Yup!" she said in a far too cheerful voice for this time in the morning. "Five thirty exactly! Time to go meet up with team FRIL!"

As I stood I felt a strange silence fall over me, startling me for a moment before I realized it was just Eugene and David coming back to camp. They both offered me fist bumps as they stepped into camp, then grabbed the pot of coffee Christine had been boiling over our small campfire. Our freshman team was out on our first real mission in the Atlas countryside, with team FRIL acting as our supervising team of senior students.

While we grabbed coffee and breakfast, Eugene and David told us about their scouting trip.

"There's a massive grim horde in the valley" Eugene signed, throwing his arms as wide as he could to demonstrate the size of the horde.

"It's a lot of Beowolfs and Barbatusks," David continued signing, "Nothing crazy but there's definitely too many of them to fight directly." I hefted my new warhammer, Bronze Forge, up on my shoulder and signed with my free hand.

"Nah, I could take them." I declared.

Christine snorted with silent laughter, hiding her face behind her hand to try to conceal her amusement at my comment. I held out my arms in mock indignance and made a face at her.

"You doubt me?" I asked. Eugene smiled widely and signed back to me.

"I'd love to see it, personally I believe in you." I gave him a thumbs up, and a not so subtle wink, then started breaking down camp with the rest of team PEAR.

-/-

After dousing our fire and packing up our respective gear we set off into the crisp morning air, moving at a light jog through the beautiful frozen forest. My breath puffed out in front of me as I ran in the front of the group with Christine. She had her compound bow collapsed and folded up on her back, with the top of her quiver secured to allow her to run and jump freely without worrying that her equipment would shake around or fall out.

I felt a small tension in the pit of my stomach as we moved through the forest, for some reason I couldn't shake a feeling of gloom this morning. I tried to figure out what was upsetting me, but couldn't identify anything concrete to point out as an actual problem. Christine noticed my depressive attitude and tried to engage me in conversation.

"So how's the new hammer feel?" She asked cheerfully. It was a pretty common tactic she had used on our team before, trying to stop us from feeling down by infecting us with her own positivity.

"It's pretty good" I responded, "But I'm still working on trying to get better at controlling the granite inside the head, for some reason I feel like I just don't connect to it very well."

She nodded sagely, which was somehow endearing on her normally unserious face. She held up a finger to demonstrate an idea as she jogged.

"What if it's because you aren't familiar enough with the rock?" she asked. "Normally you can see the rocks you control, but you can't really see the rock inside your hammer, even if you know where it is you don't know what it looks like. That could interfere with your ability to control it."

I was silent for a long moment, pondering her idea. I wasn't a huge fan of the concept of staring at a rock for hours on end trying to memorize how it looked.

"I guess you might be right," I finally admitted. "I'll try getting more familiar with the granite."

"Or," She continued, "You could just customize it, that would make it a lot more easy to visualize then a flat piece of rock."

I grunted my agreement, amazed that she had once again managed to bring me out of my negative thoughts and redirect my nervous energy somewhere else.

-/-

Around six in the morning we arrived at our destination, Team FRIL's camp on the edge of a large ravine. They had already broken down their camp, and were waiting for us to arrive. Isaac Fin, the leader of team FRIL was sitting on one of two large crates of dust explosives, and looked up to greet us as we arrived. Christine waved a greeting, then reached out to touch my shoulder as we pulled to a stop. Her green eyes flashed with a small light as her semblance activated, and she whispered softly to me.

"Don't take the bait please."

I frowned at her in confusion, but she just smiled brightly and turned back to talk to Isaac and the rest of his team. Christine's semblance was a unique presentation of foresight. While some semblances could make their users precognitive in more impressive ways, Christine instead always knew the best piece of advice she could give you between the time she made contact with you and the next time you would touch. It was a significant factor in her being selected as our leader.

While Christine chatted with Isaac, the rest of our teams mingled together. David translated sign language for Eugene to Larry Lichen and Indigo Hill, Team FRIL's two dueling specialists. I found myself standing next to Jade Ripley, the only faunus on either team.

"Hi, I'm Evelynn" I said, sticking out my hand to shake. She took it gingerly, like she was eager to minimize contact with me.

"Hello." She replied coldly. I cleared my throat.

"So," I asked. "Are you excited for the upcoming mission?" Jade finally turned to look downwards and meet my eye. She was about two thirds of a foot taller than me, but that wasn't abnormal for my height.

"Not really" she said in an indifferent tone "This wouldn't really be a mission for us, just a chore. I'm glad you're excited though."

She put an extra patronizing tone into her voice when she said 'you're.' I could feel my face flushing at the implied insult, and I was about to snap at her when I noticed Christine glancing at me meaningfully out of the corner of her vision. I forced myself to take a deep breath, calming my initial emotional reaction.

"Well" I said with my best fake smile, "I guess that's why you guys are the seniors, I'm glad to have you guys along."

"Yeah," Jade said slightly miffed that I hadn't reacted to her comment. "Well…" she trailed off, "You too I guess."

She pointed to the crate that Isaac Fin had been sitting on a few moments ago,

"We brought the explosives, do you know where to set them up?"

Now that we had turned to business it seemed that she could put aside the sass.

"Yes, I'm familiar with the region, I've got a map on my scroll to double check as well." I replied.

She nodded.

"Good, as far as I know, the plan is for us to monitor your team from a safe distance and act as observers for you guys." She gestured to Isaac, "He's got the detonator codes, so after the bombs are set up you guys get to a safe distance and we'll trigger the landslide to redirect the Grimm migration."

"Sounds good to me" I replied, hefting up the crate of explosives on one shoulder. It weighed a few hundred pounds with all the shielding around the dust, but the real problem was that the bulk made it hard to keep control of it. Not wanting to lose face by asking for help to carry it, I walked carefully over to where David was translating for Eugene with Indigo Hill and gingerly set it down, then hopped onto it as a seat. My feet dangled in the air slightly, but I did my best to play it cool.

"Hey Evelynn" David greeted me, "Meet Larry Lichen and Indigo Hill, we've been talking about the mission plan." Larry was a tall, friendly looking man with broad shoulders. Indigo was a bit shorter and slimmer. He sported a sullen look that I sympathized with this early in the morning. I shook hands with the two senior students and turned back to David, making sure to angle my face so that Eugene could read my lips from his spot a few feet outside of the group.

"Good to meet you guys" I said, "Jade tells me you guys are going to be spotters?"

Larry shook his head, a genuine smile appearing on his face.

"Nope, those two are" he said pointing to Isaac and Jade. He clapped his hand on Indigo's back with a cheerful gesture "We're going to be down in the valley playing bait to make sure the horde goes the right direction so that you guys can work without needing to fight an entire horde. You just make sure to finish getting clear of the bombs before we run out of space in the ravine okay? I don't want to get stuck down there with an entire horde." Indigo nodded solemnly in agreement, but offered no further comment.

Christine, having apparently finished going over the plan with Isaac, called out to the group, and I hopped off the crate of dust then hefted it up again to go over to meet up with her.

Christine confirmed for the most part what I had already heard from team FRIL, but also pointed out on the map where their team would be placed. The ravine we would be blocking was intercepted at a perpendicular angle by a second smaller ravine. This small cut in the ground trailed off towards a dead end in one direction, but the other led back away from the village we were working to defend. We would be blasting the top of the main ravine to cause an avalanche and miniature landslide to block off the channel and redirect the Grimm back out into the wilderness.

With the plan sorted, we prepared to set off. Christine and I would be taking the south side of the ravine, while Eugene and David took the north side. Before we stepped off Christine gave a round of fistbumps to the team, offering a small word of advice to each of us from her semblance.

"You can make that shot." She told Eugene. "You'll know which one I mean." To David she offered "Watch his back, he won't hear it." Finally she approached me, I extended my fist to bump it, she made contact, and her eyes flashed. She blinked, surprised, then pulled me into a hug and whispered "Don't blame yourself."

I blinked, confused and concerned by her comment, but she just flashed a smile at me and gestured for me to grab the crate so we could set off.

-/-

Forty five minutes later we arrived at our designated point at the top of the ravine on the north side of the split. The two ravines formed an X as they cut through each other's path, like some giant creature had decided to play tic tac toe but had given up before finding someone to play with. Christine's advice worried me, but she had refused to elaborate, and hadn't offered to activate her semblance again.

"The fate is set" She explained to me "And if I were to try to change it then I would never know it to begin with, it's okay." We traveled the rest of the way in relative silence, both of us feeling an awkward tension not knowing what would transpire today. We stayed as quiet and as hidden as we could as we hustled through the forest, me carrying the heavy box of explosives and her scouting ahead to keep the way clear. As we neared the horde of Grimm, the occasional Beowolf or Barbatusk would intercept our path. Every time we came across them however, Christine would drop them with one or two well placed arrows.

As we approached the edge of the ravine the snow grew deeper, enough that I had to slowly trudge through it as I was burdened down by the weight of the bombs. Christine was still light on her feet, and practically danced along the top of a snowbank as I slowly walked towards our objective. Her relentlessly positive attitude helped put me at ease, and I temporarily set aside my worrying to focus on getting my job done as well as possible.

Across the ravine I could see David and Eugene also arriving, carrying the bulky box of dust bombs between them as they moved. Down below I heard a short staccato of pops, followed by a long uninterrupted chain of gunfire as the two members of team FRIL began their distraction, tricking the Grimm into following them down the dead end path of the second ravine, instead of following down the main path.

I dropped the crate I was carrying into the snow, flipping open the lid to reveal six bombs. I gingerly withdrew the first one, ensuring that it was functional and ready to be armed. Carrying the large cylindrical bomb in both hands I strode over to the position that had been marked in my scroll, planting it in the deep snow and flipping the arming switch to activate it.

"Grimm incoming!" Christine called out to me in a cheerfully singsong tone. I hurriedly made my way back to the crate to begin setting the second bomb as Christine began firing arrows into the approaching wave of shadowy monsters. Fortunately the only ones we had to contest with were the few that opted to climb the edge of the ravine, the vast majority of the Grimm remained down below, either intent on reaching the members of team FRIL or simply opting to stay with the horde instead of scaling the sheer cliffside.

With the second and third bombs planted I began to feel somewhat better about our chances of getting out of the mission without a scratch. Unfortunately my hopes were dashed when my scroll crackled to life, and Isaac's voice came over our comm link.

"My men are running out of room faster than expected PEAR, you need to hurry up and get those bombs planted so we can detonate them and get my team out of there!" His tone was angry, clearly blaming us for not getting the bombs set quickly enough.

I grabbed the fourth and fifth bombs with one hand each, and set off as quickly as I could in the deep snow to where they needed to be set. I risked a glance across the ravine to see that David was busy setting up another bomb while Eugene provided sniper fire to clear away some Grimm that were trying to head him off. As I set the fourth bomb down and flicked the activation switch Christine called out to me again, this time her voice was less excited and more worried.

"There's a bunch behind you!" she shouted "I can't get them all!"

I looked over my shoulder as I started to move to where I needed to plant the fifth bomb, and saw six Beowolves gaining on me as they ran on all fours through the snow. I redoubled my speed, churning up snow as I tried to make it to the bomb's position before I had to turn to fight. Two of the Grimm dropped with arrows through the back of their heads, but one caught up to me before I reached my destination, and the swipe of its claws knocked me off my feet to go skidding in the snow.

I kept a tight grip on the bomb, protecting it from impacting the ground, then gently set it in the snow before standing up and drawing Silver Forge from my back. I set my feet and swung the hammer, bringing it around to smash into the jaw of the charging Beowolf.

The impact of my swing snapped the Grimm's neck, and it dropped dead with a whimpered howl, beginning to fade away into nothingness. A second beast leapt over its decaying body and attempted to bite me, but I brought my weapon back around from its swing and blocked the bite with the head of the hammer. The Grimm's teeth chipped and shattered on the titanium shell that had been reinforced with earth dust.

I flipped the safety on my dust launcher off and pulled the trigger for a short squeeze, only allowing a small amount of dust into the chamber of the launcher before firing it. A miniature fireball erupted out of the back of the Grimm's skull, and it too began to fade away. A hail of arrows distracted the third Beowolf before it reached me, and I turned to swipe at the fourth as it came at me from the side.

I swung my hammer while dropping my stance low, driving one knee into the snow and ducking under the Grimm's wild swing. My hammer skimmed along the top of the snow to impact the knee of the beast's hind leg, shattering the unnatural bone within it. The Beowolf howled in pain, swiping at me again with both sets of claws on its forelegs. I stepped back smoothly as its uncoordinated attack missed me, the claws of its right foreleg generating a breeze that tickled my face, then drove back in with a downwards strike to crush its skull, killing it. The final Grimm died when an arrow from Christine finally found a vital point, and it dropped.

We had no time to celebrate however, as a new wave of Beowolves and Barbatusks attacked Christine, forcing her to move from her position and start fighting defensively. I grabbed up the bomb and made a break for the next position as she activated her bow's transformation, turning it into a short spear and ramming the blade right through the eye of a Grimm that was attacking her. I quickly set the fifth bomb into position and flicked the arming switch, then turned around to see Christine becoming swarmed as more Grimm surrounded her faster than she could kill them.

"Christine!" I shouted, setting off at a sprint back towards her. I raised my hammer as I ran to fire blasts of dust into the oncoming horde, but realized that Christine was close to the last bomb, and if I caught it in the blast radius I could accidentally set off a chain reaction. Instead I hurled the hammer like a javelin, it sailed across the open terrain between us to crash into a Beowolf that was about to strike Christine's unprotected back.

I reached out with my semblance to the granite block inside of the hammer, struggling to visualize where I wanted it to go as I tried to call it back to my hand. Silver Forge lurched awkwardly back towards me, only to fall into the snow a half dozen feet to my left. I scrambled to the side to recover it, skidding in the snow as I scooped it up. My scroll crackled to life again as Isaac blasted our communications channel.

"We're out of time!" he shouted, "I need to set off the bombs now before they are swamped down there! Get clear!" I grabbed up my hammer and ripped my scroll off my belt, jamming down the transmit button with my thumb.

"No!" I shouted back at him, "Christine isn't clear of the bombs! I'm going back in to get her!" Below us the precise rhythm of gunfire had degenerated into frantic bursts as Indigo and Larry tried to fend off Grimm and climb out of the ravine at the same time. "It's too late," Isaac said sadly, "I'm sorry, but I have to protect my teammates." I charged towards Christine, throwing my hammer at another Grimm to keep her clear as I ran the last fifty feet separating us. As my hammer was still in flight I made eye contact with Christine. She looked at me with a soft expression, and for a moment time stood still.

Then a massive fireball erupted from the bombs, the initial blast also setting off the final bomb that lay only a few feet away from her. The explosion enveloped her in flame, and the shockwave blasted both me and my still flying hammer backwards away from her. I hit the snow hard, driving a furrow into it as I slid backwards until my momentum was halted by a tree. Disoriented, I pulled myself up to my feet and struggled to walk towards where Christine had been a moment ago.

As I walked I found my hammer, buried halfway up the haft in snow. I pulled it free to see that the dust projector had been damaged by a partial chain reaction caused by the explosion, ruining the projector and exposing the granite block inside the hammer. I stumbled forwards, my ears ringing from the explosions, and looked up to see the ground in front of me collapsing forwards into the ravine below.

The incredibly loud avalanche was only a muffled roar to me as my eyes scanned the terrain, desperately searching for Christine. Across the way I could see Eugene and David fighting off more Grimm. They had gotten clear of their bombs enough to avoid the initial blast, and Eugene's dampening semblance had likely helped to protect them from the shockwave. David leapt forwards with his shotgun to intercept a Barbatusk that had snuck up behind Eugene, then blasted its head off with both barrels. I had partially regained my balance now, with my inner ear finally restoring order to itself after the disruption it had experienced. I lurched forwards at a half jog, still trying to find Christine in the piles of rock and snow that were collapsing towards the bottom of the Ravine below.

Finally, I spotted her, at the base of the ravine, buried in the snow with only her hand exposed. She wasn't moving.

"Christine!" I shouted again, my still ringing ears barely even hearing the word as I felt it rip out of my throat. I leapt off the stable terrain I had been standing on to join a small flurry of snow that was tumbling down the side of the mountain. I fell and tumbled with it, losing my grasp on Silver Forge and rolling as I made my way down the ravine as quickly as I could manage. I finally reached Christine's exposed hand, and began frantically digging at the snow to free her.

I unburied her head and shoulders to see that she was bleeding profusely from a head wound, and her right arm that was still partially buried was folded awkwardly, likely broken. Christine blinked and looked up at me as I continued trying to dig her out of the snow.

"Evelynn" she croaked softly, "Stop, you need to go, before the Grimm get you."

"No!" I shouted back, my fingers scratched rock underneath the snow, and I felt around to try and get an estimate of the size of the rock that was covering Christine's lower half.

"Evelynn" She said again, "It's not your fault, you did great." Warm tears dripped from my eyes to splash in the freshly overturned snow as I continued trying to dig her out. I focused my semblance and what little aura I had left on the piece of rock covering her, and forced it to shift upwards. The piece was too large for my semblance to move properly, but I managed to move it enough that I could partially see Christine's legs. They were crushed, with an ugly amount of red blood oozing out of her destroyed leg guards to stain both her uniform and the snow bright crimson.

Christine pointed upwards with her less injured arm, indicating the top of the ravine.

"There's more that's going to fall, Evelynn" she insisted. "You need to go before it crushes you too." Just as she spoke, a small boulder broke off of the cliff side, tumbling down towards us. I shoved my hand outwards towards it in a blind rage, my semblance knocking it off course with the absolute last of my aura. A pathetically quiet shattering sound came from my outstretched arm as my aura gave out, and I slumped forwards, exhausted. Christine took hold of my hand, and her eyes flashed, then began to glow strongly as her semblance took hold. The glow became brighter and brighter as she looked further and further into the future, seeking the next time our souls would cross paths. The glow became so bright that it blinded me, and I had to shield my eyes with a hand to protect myself.

After another moment it faded, and I looked back at her to see that she had a gentle smile on her face, blood running down from her forehead all the way to her neck.

"Evelynn" she whispered, "You're going to be a great leader, all you have to do is trust them. More importantly, you need to trust yourself to lead them." With a final gasp her hand fell limp, and she stopped breathing.

"No!" I screamed hoarsely "No! No! No! Christine wake up!" A tremendous roar sounded above me as another series of boulders broke off the cliff and began tumbling towards us. I ignored the boulders as I resumed digging, almost welcoming their presence, but a force slammed into me from behind before the boulders could crush me.

"I've got you!" David shouted, and I felt his semblance extend out over me as the landslide phased through us. He pulled me upwards, dragging me away from Christine as she was buried under tons of rock and snow, then I lost sight of everything as we were covered ourselves. After a long moment we emerged from the tremendous pile of rock and snow back into the air, and I sucked in a deep lungful of breath as David released his semblance.

I lunged back towards where Christine lay buried under dozens of feet of rock and snow, but David grabbed me and hauled me backwards.

"She's gone!" he yelled into my ear. "We need to go," he said more softly "There's still a few Grimm that will climb over that wall to get us, and we can't fight them off like this."

"She can't be gone." I sobbed, thrashing against his grip, unwilling to leave Christine's body behind. An unnatural silence fell over us and Eugene placed a calming hand on my shoulder. I looked into his eyes, seeing the sorrow in them. He pulled me into a hug, and I stopped fighting, instead squeezing him with all of my strength. He released me from the hug, then gently led me away as David contacted the surviving members of team FRIL to organize our retreat.