Chapter I - The Tower of Beacon

When Ruby and her partner Weiss got to the base of the Tower of Beacon, they almost froze at the sight before them.

The very top of the building was in ruins. What was originally professor Ozpin´s office was now a pile of rubble and debris, chunks of stone littered the ground, the roof and parts of the wall were gone, scattered all the way along the courtyard. It was a good thing the school was empty now; Ruby could not imagine what would have happened if the stones fell when there were people around. The courtyard was always lively, always full of students or teachers, or even hunters returning from and going on missions. Now, as it lay devoid of all life, it gave Ruby a creepy feeling.

What was more, the destruction was still going on. Flashes of bright red and orange, and some sort of weird dark shine coloured the night sky and the castle under it. Parts of the building flew out from the tower at random intervals, accompanied by several large cogwheels travelling at incredible speeds.

And then there was the dragon-Grimm. The huge monster was circling around the tower, sometimes randomly smashing buildings in wanton acts of destruction, and loosing deafening roars.

"Pyrrha!" escaped Ruby´s lips in a horrified squeak. She had an ominous feeling, down at the pit of her stomach, which began when all of this started, back at the stadium, as she saw that happened to... what happened to Penny. All of this was wrong; it wasn't supposed to happen like this. Penny was gone, Pyrrha was missing, she didn't even want to think about Yang, the robots went crazy… And Jaune´s voice sounded so desperate and terrified in the phone.

"Careful now," stated Weiss in a resolute voice, looking at the dragon-Grimm in the air. "I don't think it noticed us yet, so let's keep it that way."

"We need to get to the top," countered Ruby urgently, "your runes would be the fastest."

"Too flashy," the white-haired girl dismissed the idea, "it would bring that thing over here faster than you could say Grimm."

"I don't think the elevators are working," the rose-haired girl noted dejectedly, pointing at the wrecked entrance and lobby. It was very obvious that there would be no fast automated way to the top.

The Schnee heiress scowled her eyebrows for a second as she looked around. Thoughtful expression on her face shifted into determined as she made up her mind.

"I will draw it´s attention," said Weiss primly and started running sideways from the way they came, "the rest is up to you!" and before Ruby could say another word, her friend was gone, dashing at full speed away from her, and readying Myrtenaster for a fight.

"Alright, time for team RWBY to-" Ruby stopped herself for a second in her victorious pose, "-time for team Ruby to win the day!"

And with those words she sprinted to the base of the tower, used her momentum to run several meters up the wall, and then activated her semblance to get her the rest of the way to the nearest alcove protruding from the building. But she only used it as a stepping stone and jumped even higher, unslinging Crescent Rose from her back and firing several times straight down, adding the recoil to her climb. Only when she was at the top of her flight curve, she used her semblance again to dash yet another few metres to a different ledge and jumped on from there.

As she dashed and climbed her way up the Tower of Beacon, she suddenly became aware of small icy comets arching towards the dragon-Grimm from the ground. They didn't do any damage to the monster, but they got its attention and it immediately shifted its wings to fly towards the source.

Ruby´s stomach clenched even tighter, with the additional fear for her partner. But she had to trust Weiss to take care of herself, her mission now was to make the diversion count. She put all of her strength and ability to the climb, even as she heard deafening angry roars and sounds of building failing.

"Just be alright, Weiss," Ruby mumbled to herself.

At the same time…

To Pyrrha´s surprise, she felt mostly tired and exhausted.

Logically, she knew she should probably feel angry, foolish, sad or scared, even though which one was still undecided. Angry that she failed to stop Cinder? Foolish that she ever thought she could? Sad that she would never get to see her friends and family again? Scared that she was about to die?

But as she knelt, all of her weapons gone, powers exhausted and tricks spent, facing her enemy... she felt only tiredness and emptiness. She guessed it was resignation. She gave it a shot, her best one even. Pyrrha could not remember ever using that much of her powers over metal at a single time, putting that much force into her attacks or swinging her weapons at those speeds. She truly went all out on Cinder, and it was not enough.

Did she truly believe she had a chance? True, she did not know all that much about the powers of the four Maidens, but the stories, and what professor Ozpin and general Ironwood told her, should have given her enough of a picture. Maybe she got overconfident, having not met truly worthy opponent for quite some time of her life – it was not arrogance on her part, Pyrrha thought. She truly thought many of her peers were simply better, more intelligent, more caring, more decisive. Everyone had their field in which they excelled, and hers was simply combat. She loved the training, the finesse, strength and agility it gave her, and she enjoyed the matches most of the time, the complex dance of moves and attacks. Like when she wiped the floor with team CRDL, even though she didn't particularly cared for them as individuals.

But even here, at the elite school of Beacon, one of the best, according to some the best, school for hunters and huntresses, she didn't meet her match in single combat. She could even take four of her fellow students at once, and come out hardly winded. It probably stood to reason that she developed some sort of unwitting arrogance. She knew for sure that she could take half of her teachers in a fair fight, but that did not mean she considered herself wiser, more quick-witted or experienced than them. It was her blind spot, she realised, her weakness. And these last few days hadn't helped that weakness at all, with her head getting filled with ancient powers, prophecies and legends, all knotting up in huge convoluted, confused mess that made her think she could be meant for something large, something more... that all of this was really her destiny.

She looked up over the drawn bow and into Cinder´s eyes, noticing there were tiny specks of tears glistening in them.

She spoke very slowly, softly.

"Do you believe in-"

Her question was interrupted by a deafening roar of the dragon-Grimm. It was so loud the entire tower shook, and Cinder had to balance herself, losing aim for a second.

"What?" the murderess snapped and turned to the side, seeing the creature veering off from the tower as something was attacking it from the ground.

Pyrrha also turned her head and recognized the white missiles; she knew only one person in the Beacon who was skilled enough in their use to produce this many. That meant some of her friends had not tried to get away, and instead ran here... to help her.

Suddenly, the exhaustion was gone, along with the empty, resigned feeling, and even though her aura was still gone and she doubted she could lift a teaspoon with her semblance, her muscles tightened once more into steel and got ready for one final burst of speed and strength.

Cinder turned her head back and her eyes hardened, her face turning cold and distant. Pyrrha knew what was coming, but now she was ready to fight it. As she got one leg under her, the healthy one, and started to move away, the woman with glowing red eyes hastily corrected her aim and loosed the arrow.

Pyrrha continued in her jump-dash-roll to the side, suddenly crying painfully at the burning pain in her left shoulder as the impact of the arrow almost knocked her off her feet, but she held onto her consciousness like a lifeline. If she blacked out, she would certainly die, and then who would stop Cinder from harming Weiss, and Ruby, as the rose-haired huntress was probably also nearby.

Pyrrha staggered across the stone roof of the tower and Cinder sent several more arrows at her, but the fiery-haired warrior kept her wits about her enough to make her movements uneven and unpredictable, so all the shots missed her, even though some very closely. As she slid behind a large stone block that offered her cover, she collapsed to her knees in pain, clenching the arrow in her shoulder with the uninjured hand. To her horror, she could not move her left arm at all, she could not even feel anything from it.

Pyrrha tried to control her ragged, painful breathing, but did not succeed as she gasped in pain and frenzy. She had to do something, move, attack, anything. Pain in her shoulder was only growing, burning sensation worsening and she could feel her eyes dimming – she was starting to lose consciousness. With the last of her willpower she gripped the arrow as hard as she could, clenched her teeth and pulled.

She woke up laying on the floor for some reason.

I must have blacked out after all, Pyrrha thought, but why am I still alive?

"You can't hide from me!" she heard Cinder shouting angrily from around the stone block.

It must have been only a few seconds!

Pyrrha got to her knees again, and in the corner of her eye she saw something dark and red on the ground where she lay, also dripping from her shoulder. Blood was not a very common in her world, full of people protected by auras, and the sight shocked her. But that was only for a second, as more of the dragon-Grim roaring startled her into action.

She summoned every ounce of energy she had in her, either left from the fight or the tiny bit that she got back in last few moments, and summoned with polarity a nearby iron rod into her hand as a makeshift weapon. It was no Miló, but it would have to do.

Cinder was coming towards her, she was certain of that, and without her aura even one arrow could kill her, since she doubted her armour would stop Cinder´s arrow at full power. So she managed to draw herself towards the fallen debris she was hiding behind, and then waited, listening to footsteps.

"I could blast you along with this entire tower to pieces!" Cinder bragged, her shouts coming from only a few feet away.

Yes, if you can, why don't you? Pyrrha thought to herself. You are exhausted, maybe not as much as me, but you are at your limit.

The fiery-haired warrior waited a few moments more, and then lunged from her hiding place, the iron rod swinging.

She managed to catch Cinder by surprise, but she mistimed her attack – instead of striking Cinder herself, she only hit the bow in her hands, knocking it aside.

Her enemy only snarled, face contorted in rage, hands flying forward in a series of hard physical blows; the fact that her fists were coated in flames didn't help at all. Pyrrha fought as she did so many times before, managed to instinctively block first few punches, even landing two hits on Cinder with the iron rod, but after the third time she stopped the woman´s flaming fists with the rod, it flew to pieces, shattered. Pyrrha then immediately went into hand-to-hand stance and managed to hold her ground for few seconds on pure instinct. For a short while, the air was full of blows and counterblows, but then one, and moment after that two more of Cinder´s punches got through and scored painful, burning hits.

"Pyrrha!"

A new voice entered the combat. Cinder reacted instantly, forsaking the blow to Pyrrha´s stomach that would double her over, and turned to extend her hands towards the new arrival. Sound of several gunshots followed almost immediately, and Cinder seemed to block them with her palms. But in Pyrrha´s head, everything was starting to mesh together and her body was ceasing to listen to her. She wanted to turn her head towards Ruby, for she was sure it was her voice, and maybe shout a warning, or in joy, but her head and mouth were not responding to her commands.

Her hands were still in a combat position, ready to defend her, but suddenly Cinder was several steps from her. Pyrrha staggered, unsure where was up and where was down; she was sure she didn't move, but why was her foe five paces away?

And then all of a sudden Cinder had daggers in her hands and was engaged in close combat with red-caped whirlwind of gunshots and scythe-blades, everything moving so fast that Pyrrha´s eyes could not seem to track it. Only few seconds passed, and then she blinked, and after she opened her eyes once more, Cinder was sitting on the floor, part of her dress pinned to the ground by a huge red scythe, whose muzzle was pointing right in her face.

Pyrrha blinked once more, the image before her becoming clearer, the fog of pain and exhaustion lifting from her mind. Cinder was snarling something at Ruby, who was pointing a gun at her. And before the silver-eyed warrior or the fiery-haired girl could react, Cinder extended one hand at Pyrrha, and a stream of red energy, or flames, flew across the roof of the tower and smashed into the girl, sending her flying off the tower.

The last thing Pyrrha heard was Ruby´s terrified, angry scream.

5 minutes earlier…

Weiss Schnee was regretting her decision to play the bait. Of course she would be the one to end up being chased by the huge – flying – dragon – Grimm, while others would get the easy tasks and all the glory.

Stop complaining, Miss Schnee, she chided herself, you wanted to be the best teammate ever, so quit whining and get to work.

When she considered that she put enough distance between herself and the tower, she stopped in the middle of a street and slowly breathed in to calm herself down. Concentration and determination.

Her Myrtenaster started dancing in a complex pattern in front of her, readying the glyph she intended to use. Aiming was not a problem, she could hit a flying Nevermore at the same distance, and this one was far larger and even slower. Not that it would be any advantage for her…

As she unleashed her first barrage of projectiles at the monster, it did not surprise her that it had no visible effect, except maybe mildly irritating it. But it got the job done, the dragon-Grimm turned its wings and swung around to face her, flying low over and into some of the buildings.

Weiss wasn't waiting for it to crush her, eat her or incinerate her – if it could breathe fire at all – and rushed to the side, using hastily conjured glyphs as stepping stones for her jumps. It was a close thing, as the roaring monstrosity made up of black, oozing body, white skeletal carapace and bloody red streaks came crushing down amidst the buildings and streets where Weiss recently stood. She had to dodge several huge chunks of stone in mid-air, hastily conjuring glyphs around her to use as leverages. She also felt her aura diminishing a bit, as smaller stones and bits of glass went flying in every direction, and she couldn't dodge every small piece.

The dragon-Grimm roared in frustration as it tried several times to get at her with its jaws and wings. But Weiss kept dodging and weaving sideways, upwards or downwards. She was way smaller, and that meant she could change directions faster than the colossal beast on her tail.

It would almost be fun, playing this game of cat and mouse, because as long as the mouse had her glyphs, the cat could never hope to catch its prey; it was almost like an acrobatic performance. But Weiss had already fought for almost a full hour during the evacuation of the stadium, and then several times on the way back to the Tower of Beacon. She was getting tired, and the constant use of glyphs meant she had only so much fuel in her left. Dust was not a problem, she packed a full load from her locker, and it wasn't even halfway depleted… but even though using dust with her semblance made it easier and less tiring to conjure glyphs, there were limits.

Then suddenly, she tripped in her dance with the Grimm, and timed one of her jumps a little bit too late – a block of falling structure the size of a house (it was a house, in fact, at least a part of one) smashed into her. Her aura protected her from any lasting damage, but she was momentarily stunned, her concentration wavered and her next glyph that would get her away from the danger, failed.

She landed on the ground, hard, right between the legs of the dragon-Grimm.

The heiress of the Schnee family looked up, and up, and up, meeting the glowing red eyes of the monster. It gave out a weird, staggered rumbling sound, and only after a few seconds Weiss realised that it was laughing. Grimm never, ever laughed. They were mindless monsters, avatars of fear and death. They weren't ever supposed to laugh. But, on the other hand, Weiss had to acknowledge, that this was no ordinary Grimm. It was probably capable of such things.

It was also stupid. Taking time to gloat, while your prey is helpless in front of you, was just… just… unprofessional. This angry thought helped Weiss clear her mind and concentrate once more. If this rapscallion had the gall to laugh at her in the middle of battle, she would show it how one was supposed to comport oneself during combat.

As the dragon-Grimm finished the scary, rumbling laugh and raised its front paw to smash her into the ground, Weiss had several moments of time to spare, and she used them well.

She got to her feet, crouched a little, and pointed Myrtenaster behind her, conjuring two quick glyphs. Black and white rotating circles on top of each other, two contradicting forces of gravity, coiling like a spring as she willed them apart from one another. It was quickly getting more and more difficult to hold it…

Just before the paw of the dragon-Grimm descended, Weiss Schnee released her hold on the glyphs, and they catapulted her like a bullet forward, at slight angle, into the air. The heiress almost had to stifle a laugh, as she heard a confused sound behind her, coming from the monster, as its prey simply disappeared.

She landed several hundred metres away, but in the same street she started in, managing to slow her descend with several more glyphs. The dragon-Grimm eyed her as she turned to face it once more, seemingly appraising her anew. Just because she felt like it, Weiss sent one quick white missile at its head, to prove a point.

But then her high euphoria from the successful escape faded, and suddenly the look the monster was giving her was positively scary. It would not play this time, it would simply go in and kill her, it seemed to be saying, its eyes gleaming with malice. And she was almost exhausted. Maybe it was time to clear the field – she was certain she could at least run away from it. On the other hand, she needed to distract it for as long as she could, so Ruby would have more time.

She risked a quick glance at the tower. Ruby was nowhere to be seen, so it had to mean she managed to climb to the top. Or maybe she already grabbed Pyrrha and ran away? Damnation, what was Weiss supposed to do now?

It was decided for her, when the dragon-Grimm suddenly raised its head and also turned it to the tower, as if listening. And then it got into the air and flying straight to the centre of the school in one motion so swift that it left Weiss with no doubt that she wouldn't last a second against the monster, if it really put its mind into killing her. There was debris arching behind the place the dragon lifted off, so powerful was its first beat of the wings.

"It would seem this is the time for me to run," Weiss mused, but then pursed her lips tightly and started running and jumping, also towards the tower.

The white-haired girl immediately realised she had no chance of beating the monster to its destination. It was simply way too fast, and could travel in straight line, not jump and weave as she had to. But it seemed to be ignoring her now, even as she tried to get its attention with several missiles of ice.

Their fight pulled them quite a distance from Beacon, as was Weiss´s intention, but now it worked against her. By the time the monster got to the tower, she would be only about halfway there. Much too late to do anything. And she didn't feel like repeating her catapult trick, because it required more concentration and energy than she now felt was left in her.

Still, she sped up and kept using her glyphs with more and more force, propelling herself a bit more than was probably safe. But it was in between two of them, running across a straight roof probably three hundred meters from the tower, when the dragon-Grimm got to the top of the tower, when several things happened at once so fast she had to remember them all after, to put together what happened.

First, there was large gout of flame from the top of the tower, and a person emerged from it, or maybe was pushed by it, into open air, probably hundred and fifty metres above the ground. Even at that distance, Weiss recognized the form of Pyrrha Nikos, her limbs tangling loosely – she was unconscious, and probably out of aura.

Then there was the unmistakable voice of Ruby, screaming on top of her lungs, heard all the way down here. Along with the scream, there was a growing white light coming from the top of the tower, getting stronger as Ruby´s voice was louder and louder.

And third, the dragon-Grimm sank all four of its legs into the structure of the tower, enveloped the very top in its wings and raised its head to strike, most likely at the source of the strange silver light.

All that happened in span of half a second, then the light suddenly flashed so bright that Weiss had to close her eyes. She already knew what she needed to do in next few seconds – so she blindly jumped high into the air, trusted her spatial awareness and fired as many counter-gravitational glyphs as she could, roughly into the area where she suspected Pyrrha would fall. If she were closer, or could aim properly with her eyes, she would use less glyphs and make them stronger, but as it stood, she had to spread more of her power over larger area, so resulting "cushions" would not hold Pyrrha´s fall completely.

After that, her powers spent, she simply curled into a ball and waited for the inevitable impact, hoping her aura would protect her.

Ten minutes later…

"We have to land, general, there´s too much air traffic in the way," spoke the pilot, almost unnecessarily. Everybody could see the number of Grimm flying around the Beacon Academy. There was no way their gunship could make it through.

"Alright, land us down there, and we walk the rest of the way," ordered General Ironwood, pointing over the shoulder of the pilot to a clear place amidst all the ruin around them.

Jaune almost couldn't believe his own eyes. He knew it was bad when he ran through those streets almost an hour before, but seeing it from this height, it was worse. Much worse. Most of the outlying buildings of Beacon Academy were in various state of devastation, the school itself was mostly wrecked, no one structure left untouched, and everywhere he looked, there were Grimm skulking around.

"We move in a small group and run, don't stop for every Grimm we see. Fast in, fast out," said Qrow Branwen, leaning out of the open door of the craft and surveying the landscape.

"No, we need to set up a safe perimeter and then clear a corridor," countered General Ironwood decisively. "If there is ever to be a hope of retaking this school, we must have a bridgehead for resupply and as a fall-back position."

"You ain´t retaking anything," Qrow Branwen´s rasping voice was full of cynicism as he pointed ahead, towards the tower, "with that thing right in the centre of Beacon."

Jaune looked in the direction the young shabby man was pointing and his knees almost gave out. A huge Grimm in the form of dragon, the one he saw only at a distance before, clung to the top of the tower, its head raised to attack and wings enveloping most of the upper third of the structure.

And that's where Pyrrha went to fight, he realised and gulped.

"Why isn't it moving?" wondered General Ironwood in a quiet voice and when Jaune looked at him, he seemed a bit more pale than usual.

"I don't know," replied Qrow in a suspicious tone, "but if it was any danger to us, it would have moved already. It hardly could have missed the noise this thing makes," he added, nodding towards the airship.

"You said miss Nikos went to the top of that tower?" the general turned to Jaune.

"That's where Cinder was," replied the young man in a wavering voice.

"Then let's go, I´m not getting any younger," Mr Qrow tapped his foot impatiently, his weapon ready.

"Alright then," the general gestured to his soldiers and everybody got out on the ground. "Your way it is, Qrow, fast in, fast out. Pilot, lift up and wait at a safe distance, we will signal you where to pick us up."

Jaune felt very small and insignificant in this group, the rescue party they hastily put together. General Ironwood was organizing the surviving soldiers and helping the evacuation from the docking platform, and as soon as Jaune told him what happened, where Pyrrha went, he picked eight of his men in best condition, commandeered the nearest airship and everybody got on-board. The sergeant in charge tried to keep Jaune from coming with them, and they were both arguing, when General Ironwood walked by and simply stated that Jaune was coming, and that was that.

Just before they lifted off, Qrow Branwen appeared out of nowhere and got on-board. He and Ironwood simply exchanged looks and both turned their eyes forward, to Beacon. And so it ended up that Jaune Arc was running in a group of hardened soldiers and two elite huntsmen.

General Ironwood was in front with his pistol raised and clearing any Grimm small enough to be taken down by its fire; Qrow Branwen was at his side, engaging the larger ones occasionally. The soldiers were watching the sides, using their rifles to keep anything from coming close. That probably left Jaune as a rear guard, but he had his hands, or rather legs, full just by keeping up with them, to worry about Grimm behind them. They were moving fast enough that so far nothing caught up with them, and Jaune noticed that closer to Beacon they got, fewer of the monsters they encountered.

"Over there, a civilian!" shouted the sergeant when they were only several hundred metres from the tower, and Jaune saw him pointing at a nearby ruined building. A small, white-clad figure was sprawled limply on a piece of roof that slid to the pavement. It was a bit raised, so they could see her easily, and streets were clear enough that no Grimm in vicinity could threaten them.

"It's Miss Schnee," said the general when they ran closer, confirming Jaune´s suspicion. When they got to her, Ironwood and Jaune knelt over her, while others kept watch, and the general checked her vitals.

"She seems to be unharmed," he observed, waving his hand over her gently, "but her aura is almost gone."

"Unhand me, you impudent little-" Weiss suddenly swatted his hand away and opened her eyes, then visibly stiffened as she realised where she was.

"Oh my! I am so sorry, general," she started. "I didn't-"

"I see your tongue wasn't harmed in this fight," General Ironwood smiled warmly, and Jaune had a distinct feeling that was not a usual sight, "are you in any pain, Miss Schnee?"

"No, I think," she said uncertainly and tried to sit up.

"Where is Pyrrha, Weiss?" demanded Jaune, who couldn't hold on any longer.

"Oh my!" Weiss´s eyes widened as she turned to him and instead of sitting up, she almost jumped to her feet, "she… the height! I hope I managed to slow her down enough!"

The Schnee heiress was turning in the direction of a nearby courtyard at the foot of the tower and tried to run, but stumbled after a few steps.

"What?" asked the general, as he and the others followed the white-haired girl, helping her along. "What happened here?" But Jaune had a sinking feeling he already could guess, and by the look on his face, so could Mr Branwen.

"Ruby went to help Pyrrha, and I distracted the dragon…wait, where is it? We need to hide!" Weiss looked up and answered her own question in a terrified little squeak.

"It's no danger to anyone right now," Mr Branwen assured her, "someone put it down, probably for good. But you said Ruby went after Cinder?"

"Well, it looked like Pyrrha was still fighting her at top of the tower, but the dragon…" Weiss uncertainly looked at the frozen monster once more, like she expected it to fall down any second now, "the dragon was circling around, so I got it to come after me and lured it away, but then… then it suddenly decided to return to the tower."

"We have a theory that Cinder could have had some sort of influence over it," General Ironwood nodded thoughtfully. "Go on, Miss."

"Then there were bright flashes, and Pyrrha was thrown from the tower," as soon as she said it, Jaune felt the ground under his feet giving away, and felt like he was falling. Only Weiss´s next words kept him from sinking to his knees. "So I conjured as many gravity glyphs as I could in her path, to slow her down. I just hope it was enough…"

"What happened then?" asked Qrow, when Weiss trailed off.

"Well, this blinding, silver light-"

"Pyrrha!" Jaune exclaimed as they all rounded one corner, he and Weiss with Qrow supporting her in the lead, and he saw sprawled, motionless form of red and gold, lying on her stomach, perhaps thirty paces in front of them.

He immediately sprinted forward, his mind already playing the worst scenario in his head. Was she dead? She couldn't be dead, after all this effort everyone put into helping her. Someone even took out that dragon-Grimm so that it wouldn't harm her. She had to be alive!

As he skidded to her side, he saw a quite large pool of blood around her, but at a first glance there were not any visible injuries. He reached over and turned her around – she was dirty, and partly covered in blood, yet it was immediately clear that she didn't impact the ground at a fatal speed, as he could see only light scratches on her. At least that was good news. But his eyes instantly fixated on her bloodied shoulder and several swollen and singed red bruises on her arms; in spite of his panic, or maybe because of it, he recognized the injuries of someone who was in a fistfight, having himself been at the receiving end of several.

"Do you have a medkit?" he frantically asked the sergeant, when the rest of the group caught up to him, and General Ironwood knelt beside him.

"Yes, si-" the soldier caught himself, but then handed over a small bag with medical symbol on it. "Yes, lad, I have."

Jaune immediately opened the package and laid it beside him. He hadn´t noticed Ironwood´s surprised glance at him, or the general´s hands, as they withdrawn from the kit where they expected to start the work.

In his mind, Jaune was simply back in one of his First Aid classes, and his hands worked steadily and effectively, if a bit frantically. The wound was not bleeding heavily, so first thing is to sterilise it. There was a cloth and tincture exactly for that purpose in the medical bag. Then make sure there aren't any foreign objects in the wound – alright, as much as he hated doing it, he examined the gaping hole in Pyrrha´s shoulder, even prodding it a bit with his fingers. It didn't elicit any response from her, which was a bit worrying, but he also didn't find anything.

He thought he heard General Ironwood shouting something, maybe Mr Branwen´s name among other things, but it didn't matter now. After that, you need to use the curative patch, if you have any on hand; luckily, the soldier´s medkit was well equipped. And then wrap the injury tightly with bandages, to prevent it from bleeding. Don't use too much force, so you won´t choke the limb. Jaune was aware of some other hands that helped him lift Pyrrha into sitting position so that he could bandage her shoulder properly.

All of that took only about a minute, and the entire time Jaune was working simply as an automaton, doing what needed to be done, remembering all the details from the lectures, but his mind was simply disconnected, refusing to process any emotion right now, ignoring the limpness of her body as he lifted her to sit for a few seconds. First, he needed to save her, and Ruby, come to think of it, since she was also missing now... That thought, together with having finished bandaging his fiery-headed teammate, woke him up from his trance.

He looked around, and found out to his surprise it was Weiss who was helping him bandage Pyrrha. General Ironwood was intently watching the tower, and rest of the soldiers were in a loose circle around them all, watching with their weapons raised.

"She will be alright, Jaune," Weiss told him, in a rather calming tone, leaning over Pyrrha and laying a hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks," mumbled Jaune, "And thank you for coming back for her."

"Well, we couldn't leave any of our friends behind, now could we?" Weiss withdrew her hand and eyed him a bit sternly.

Jaune felt his lips twitch in a lopsided smile. He had a funny relationship with Miss Schnee. At first, he judged her only based on her looks, and knew well where that got him. Then, once he had his eyesight set straight by his friends (and mostly by finally noticing a certain fiery-headed girl now lying right in front of him; he could still kick himself for being so dense), he finally was able to see how uptight, judgemental and stiff Weiss Schnee was… But that was also only an imperfect view. He started to suspect, and events of this evening only confirmed it, that she could be also caring, helpful and loyal.

"Well, of course you couldn't," he grinned, and saw something similar playing on Weiss´s lips.

After that, Jaune drew a deep breath, gathered his courage and looked at Pyrrha´s face. So far, he avoided studying her expression deliberately, for fear of what he would see there. Would it be sadness? Emptiness? Excruciating pain?

But as he shifted his eyes, he saw that she simply appeared to be sleeping, almost peacefully. Her eyes were closed, mouth slightly parted, hair stretching over her nose and cheeks haphazardly, and her chest was rising and falling in a steady rhythm what didn't sound at all forced or painful. It reminded him of when she was sleeping in their dormitory, except then she didn't wore her headband.

Not that he was ever looking at her when she slept. Especially not since the ball, definitely not. At all. Because… that would be creepy.

Her expression calmed him quite a bit. She would really be alright now… That brought up next thing on his list of priorities.

"Where´s Ruby?" he asked Weiss, who was now simply sitting on the other side of Pyrrha, looking towards the sky.

"Probably still up there," she answered, pointing and her nose crinkled in disgust. "That dingy hunter went up there to look."

"You know he´s her uncle, right?"

"He might be, but he is still an amoral, foul, loathsome drunkard, that should- RUBY!" Weiss´s tirade was interrupted by very un-ladylike shriek, when Mr Branwen suddenly descended from the sky and landed few paces from them, unconscious Ruby Rose in his arms.

"Is she alright? What happened to her? Why is she unconscious? Do you have her Crescent Rose? Is she injured?" the Schnee heiress was immediately at the older man´s side, worried questions flying out of her like a steady stream.

"Relax, kid," Mr Branwen´s steady, unconcerned voice stopped her, "she´s gonna be alright. Just needs some sleep and she´ll be up and running in no time."

"What happened up there?" asked General Ironwood intently, after he gestured to several of his men who began assembling something out of their backpacks.

"We don't have to worry ´bout that thing bothering anyone anymore," Mr Branwen nodded his head towards the frozen dragon-Grimm. Jaune looked from Ruby towards him just in time to notice a significant look that the shabby hunter was giving the general, conveying some hidden meaning.

General Ironwood opened his mouth to speak, but then stopped himself and looked around, his eyes scanning the soldiers, Weiss and Jaune himself.

"Do we know about anyone else left stranded in this school?" he asked after a beat, directing the question towards his sergeant.

"From what we gathered, all of the students were accounted for last time we did headcount at the evac area," answered the soldier, "except these four, of course."

"What about professor Ozpin?" asked Jaune, remembering the last time he saw the white-haired man, facing Cinder in the dungeons of the school, his face serious and deadly as Jaune had never seen.

There was a moment of silence following the question, with Jaune and Weiss looking from Ironwood to Branwen expecting answers, but not getting any.

"I think we´ll have to do without Oz for a while," stated Mr Branwen after a long moment.

"What do you mean?" demanded Weiss indignantly. "What happened to him? If he is missing, we need to go find him."

"Men, get these two on stretchers, we are leaving," ordered General Ironwood. "Miss Schnee, we have a stretcher to spare, if you prefer."

"I can move on my own, thank you," puffed the heiress and crossed her arms.

The general simply nodded, and then everyone got busy laying Pyrrha and Ruby on the stretchers the soldiers put together. Jaune helped fasten the belts around Pyrrha, so she wouldn't fall out, and then picked up one set of handles, the other end being held up by a burly soldier.

They started at a hard pace again, and for the first minute or so, Weiss kept pestering General Ironwood for answers, but after a while she couldn´t catch her breath, and in another minute she was half sitting, half laying on top of Ruby´s stretcher. And it was kind of difficult to demand answers when you were carried like a casualty.

The Grimm kept getting more and more thick as they progressed, but before they even had to slow down, their skies cleared enough. They stopped in the first flat place they could find, the general used a signal rocket to call their gunship, which arrived in no time, and soon they were all sitting or lying in its cargo space.

Jaune sat in one corner of the open compartment, his legs dangling in the air, Weiss across from him, her hair and skirt flying in the wind, Pyrrha and Ruby still in their stretchers between them, unconscious but very much alive. General Ironwood and Mr Branwen were on the other side, but none of them was saying anything. In fact, the entire gunship was quiet, everyone tired, spent, and simply watching the devastation passing under them. Some buildings were still burning, Grimm were running through the streets, and once proud school for hunters, the Beacon Academy, kept getting smaller and smaller and also darker and darker, whether it was just night setting in, or some dark aura of the frozen monster on top of the tower. It was all gone.

The silence broke only when Weiss spoke in a small voice.

"What happens now?"