81

Chapter 81: First Frost

Earlier, near the Infirmary

Blake bit back a yelp as her feet skid against the linoleum flooring, just barely keeping herself from slamming face-first into the hall wall, black rose petals swirling around her. Muttering a curse, she kicked her heartbeat back up and took off, ignoring the utter ache in her chest.

How does Ruby make this look so easy? She tried to force down the irritation she aimed towards herself. With all the Semblance training they'd been doing, she'd actually thought she was nearing Ruby's level with the girl's own Semblance. Now she knew the truth: she could keep up with Ruby just fine outside. In big open spaces with plenty of room to turn and very little to run into.

But in close quarters? Like, say, the narrow hallways and stairwells between the first-year dorms and the Infirmary? She was surprised she hadn't taken out a wall yet, or one of the curious students slowly filling the halls, awoken by the cry of Ruby's summon.

However Ruby could stay at superspeed with all the sheer turns without losing speed for even a second, Blake had no clue how to pull it off. Instead, she had to keep dropping in and out of super speed at every turn so as not to crash. She could practically hear Ruby's concerned yelling, warning how her heart was going to explode or something.

If my stomach doesn't turn inside out first, Blake thought miserably as she made the thankfully last turn. Seriously, if she didn't know any better, she'd think her body was trying to tear itself apart each time she got up to speed.

Unfortunately, finally stopping her mad dash through the campus brought her adrenaline rush to an abrupt end. She stumbled to the wall, her legs shaking as rose petals pooled around her ankles. She took deep ragged breaths, forcing herself forward while using the wall for support. She could feel her skin burning from the rushing blood, her chest actively hurting. She tried to ignore the pain as she stumbled towards the infirmary, trying to gather some measure of decorum.

As she neared the last corner, she was finally able to push away from the wall, her breathing finally calming. Blake felt a pang of remorse at what she was about to do. Weiss needed all the rest she could get, but right now she and their Mates needed all the help they could get.

Which was why Blake was both surprised and relieved to find someone else loitering just outside the infirmary.

Winter peered through the blinds just past the infirmary, one hand resting against the hilt of her blade as she looked around suspiciously at the increasingly lightening windows. She whirled around at the sound of Blake's footsteps, relaxing only slightly when she saw who it was.

"It's just me, Winter," Blake said, walking up to the woman. "Visiting Weiss?"

"Blake," Winter said in greeting. "I was just going to check on her when I heard…" There was confusion on her face as she spoke, before a spark of realization overtook her features. She glanced out the window again, then slowly narrowed her eyes at the Faunus. "Blake… please tell me that ungodly screech I just heard had nothing to do with you or your Mates."

Blake tried not to cringe, her cat ears pressing down against her hair. "Um…"

Winter pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing. "Of course." She then gave Blake a critical look up and down. "And dare I ask why you are in your sleep clothes?"

Blake flushed, unconsciously pulling her robe's sash tighter around her waist. "We kind of… panicked. Ruby and Yang ran off to try and fix it. I was hoping Weiss could tell us how, but honestly, you might be able to help more."

Winter let out a beleaguered sigh, though Blake hoped she wasn't imagining the fond look that sparkled briefly in her eyes. "Well, if I can help, I will. What do you need to know?"

Blake let out a relieved breath, smiling up at the older woman. "Oh, thank you. How exactly do you get rid of a summon?"

A moment passed in awkward silence, Winter's smile frozen on her face. She blinked once slowly. "...I- I'm sorry… what?"

Blake felt her shoulders tense at Winter's bemused tone. "Um… do you know how to get rid of an out of control summon?"

Winter blinked again, rapidly. She slowly looked back at the window. When she turned back, it was with the oddest expression, disbelief mixed with denial. "W-why do you need to know that?"

Blake shifted uncomfortably under Winter's suddenly sharp eyes. She cleared her throat as she tried to explain. "Well, um… we didn't know she was doing this until tonight, but Ruby's apparently been blaming herself for… what Adam did to Weiss." She paused at the way her heart clenched but forced the feeling away. "So… I guess to try and make it up to her, Ruby's been trying to figure out how the summoning glyph works so she could help Weiss with it. But the Nevermore she made just roared at us, took off, and…" Blake trailed off, having just looked up and noticed the wide-eyed stare Winter was giving her. Ducking her head under the intense look, she finished, "So... how do we stop it?"

Winter just kept staring for a moment. "...stop ...Ruby's summon?" she asked haltingly, voiced detached.

Blake cringed further at her tone. "Y-yes?"

"...a... complete summon?"

Blake winced. "Well, it's not complete. It went wild as soon as she-"

Winter cut her off. "But… corporeal? Fully-formed?" At Blake's confused look, she rushed to clarify. "All its limbs, full-sized… it looks complete?"

"I...I guess?"

"...on her first attempt?"

"Well, no. She said she'd been trying all week."

"... a week," Winter repeated faintly. Blake was pretty sure the woman wasn't so much looking at her than through her at this point. "She made a fully formed Nevermore summon after one week."

"Well, Yang and I helped her work it out tonight."

"...it took me eight months."

Suddenly, Blake understood Winter's change in mood. "...o-oh." She glanced awkwardly to the side. She tried to muster a sheepish grin. "S...sorry…?"

"You're sure it was fully formed?" Winter took a step forward, making Blake lean back as the woman loomed over her. "It wasn't too small, or… or the beak didn't look right, maybe? Perhaps-"

"Winter!" Blake didn't mean to shout, but her nervousness was quickly being outweighed by annoyance and offense on Ruby's behalf. Winter stumbled back a half-step, allowing her to rush forward. "I will gladly go over what exactly Ruby did just as soon as we don't have to worry about it anymore. Because right now, a glowing red Nevermore is flying out over the Emerald Forest at superspeed, and we have no idea what to do with it. So… help, please?" Blake finished with a pleading look.

Winter looked down at Blake with a startled expression, as if stunned at being talked back to. Then she blinked and her shoulders straightened. Clearing her throat, Winter nodded. "Right. You're right, Blake. I apologize. I should focus on-" She blinked again, her brow furrowing. "Wait… did you say super-speed?"

Blake pulled a face. "Yeah… I don't know if it's normal for a glyph summon, but when the Nevermore took off it kind of blasted off in a burst of sparks and rose petals, just like Ruby's Semblance." At Winter's incredulous look, Blake's face pinched. "That's not normal, is it?"

Winter put a hand to her forehead, rubbing at her temples. "Not even remotely." With a great heave of a sigh, Winter shifted back to a more professional posture. "Unfortunately, when a summon goes out of control, there's not much you can do outside of outright destroying it, just like a normal Grimm. Otherwise, you just have to wait for it to run out of energy, but depending on the size and power of the summon, that can take a while."

Blake grimaced. "I was afraid of that."

Winter shot her a sympathetic look. "You said it headed towards the Emerald Forest?" At Blake's nod, Winter pulled out her scroll and started typing. "General Ironwood and Professor Ozpin should already be there overseeing a training exercise. If I let them know the situation, I'm sure they can lend Ruby and Yang assistance.

"...oh." Blake's ears tipped further back, looking apprehensive at Winter's scroll. "I was hoping…"

"Not to involve the faculty?" At Blake's chagrined look, Winter had to roll her eyes. It was easy to forget sometimes that despite everything she and her team had done and been through, they were still so young. "Blake, Ruby summoned a giant, angry, apparently superpowered Nevermore in the heart of Beacon Academy. If anything, coming clean now could only help you."

Blake didn't look convinced but chose to resign herself to the near-certainty of more punishment. Instead, she chose to shift gears. "Do you have any idea what Ruby did wrong?"

"She tried to use the most complicated of the Schnee glyphs without learning any of the lessons required," Winter shot back sharply. Seeing Blake flinch at her tone, Winter relented, if only slightly. "It's impressive that Ruby was able to create a summon at all, but without knowing how to control it, you're all lucky that it flying away is the worst it's done."

Blake frowned, amber eyes narrowed in thought. "So how does it work normally?"

Seeing only honest curiosity (and hoping to circumvent a repeat of this fiasco in the near future) Winter decided to explain. "A properly controlled summon is linked to the will of its summoner. If I summoned a Beowulf, for example, and wanted it to claw at an opponent from behind while I attack from the front, it would follow my thoughts, along with any new orders I willed it to do."

Blake nodded in understanding. "Okay… then why did Ruby's go wild?"

Winter thought. "She must not have had a clear objective when she first summoned it. If the summoner is inexperienced or distracted-" Winter's brow furrowed in frustration, recalling what she knew of Ruby. "...or impulsive when summoning, the summon will latch onto whatever the summoner's last thoughts were and try to use those as orders. At that point, it will try to follow those 'orders' with all the single-mindedness of an actual Grimm."

At that, Blake frowned. Something didn't sound right. "Wait… it's following Ruby's last thoughts?"

"More than likely. It could be anything. She was probably thinking about how to use the summon in combat, which is why it flew towards the forest. It's looking for a Grimm to fight."

But Blake just shook her head, frown deepening. "I... don't think that's what Ruby was thinking, though." She thought back, recalling their last conversation. "Right before the Nevermore took off, the last thing Ruby said was-"

Blake stopped, eyes widening. Something cold started to form around her heart.

Winter looked up at Blake's sudden silence. She blinked in surprise at the look of dread on the Faunus's face. "What? What did Ruby say?"

Blake swallowed thickly, eyes locked onto Winter's. "She said she couldn't wait for Weiss to see it."

Winter's brow pinched in confusion, not understanding. "But… then it should have come…" Her breath caught, the pieces clicking into place.

Blake and Winter stared at each other, dread and denial mirroring on their faces. Then Blake exploded into a flurry of black petals, rushing through the infirmary doors fast enough to blow them off their hinges. Winter ran after her, her mind screaming at her to move faster as ice filled her veins.

She heard Blake's horrified gasp long before she burst into Weiss's room, finding the Faunus clasping both hands over her mouth as she stood over Weiss's empty bed, the window next to it hanging open.

Now

"Well, what the hell are we standing here for!?"

Ruby stared at the scroll in Yang's hand, only half-hearing Yang and Blake's panicky shouting match across the speaker. Penny and her team watched the conversation in varying levels of shock, but might as well have been part of the background for all Ruby noticed them. She just couldn't process that Weiss… Weiss was…

She barely registered a hand falling on her shoulder. She met Neo's awkward concerned look, then stared back at the scroll, feeling Neo's fingers gently squeeze her shoulder.

"We're not!" Blake shouted back, anger she didn't Feel bleeding into her voice. "Winter and I just took off in Winter's airship-" As if summoned, the whine of jet engines sounded overhead. Ruby dimly tipped her head up, watching as the tiny dot of a small, oddly shaped white Bullhead screamed overhead, two standard ones following in formation. "-we're going to try to catch up, but…"

"But?" Yang shouted incredulously, gripping her scroll so tightly it was in danger of cracking. "But what?"

"...we're not going to catch it." Blake's faint tone fell like a stone. She sounded empty, like she was forced to believe an impossible fact.

Yang's face went slack. "What…?"

"We're… the Bullhead's going as fast as it can go, but… she's still moving further away. I can Feel it."

Ruby watched the Bullheads scream into the distance. She blinked slowly, her vision shifting to the dark expanse of the Void. She watched the violet spot grow smaller and smaller, moving towards the tiny pinprick of white so far off, like a single star in the darkness slowly going out.

"How could they be going faster than you? I thought the Bullheads were the fastest thing in the sky!"

"They are… in Vale." The change in voice took them by surprise.

"Winter?" Yang asked.

"I'm sorry. Blake, um… needs a moment." It was a drastic understatement, Ruby could tell, given that the utter Despair and Fear Blake was exuding nearly brought her to her knees. "But you are correct, Yang. The Bullhead is the fastest vessel on the public market. However," There was a slight shake in the woman's voice that she was clearly trying to hold back. "There is a faster vessel in the prototype stage: the Manta. One of Beacon's road cameras caught what looked like the smaller version of the ship flying south away from the school."

"That is unlikely, Specialist Winter," Penny cut it, confusion mixing with her worry. Her eyes glowed green, text flying across her irises. "There are no Mantas on record as being flight ready."

"Not on any official records." The scathing tone Winter's voice took on took them by surprise. "The first functional prototype was given to a private collection, as a gift for funding the project."

"Well… well, that's good, right?" Yang perked up, latching onto the barest spark of hope. "If there's only the one, we know where they're going, right?"

"...Yang, it was given to my father."

The world stopped.

"What…?" Ruby asked, her soft voice loud as a scream in the stunned silence. Neo's grip tightened on her shoulder.

Memories drifted back. Weiss talking about her father controlling her. Having to act like him to be near him. Afraid of turning into him. Afraid of him finding out about their unusual relationship. Worry that he'd disown her before she could take over the SDC and make it mean something.

"...I don't know what he's thinking." Winter blurted out. "He's given no indication that he wanted Weiss back. The last time I spoke with him he was completely flippant about her schooling. I can't believe… no, no, I can completely believe the bastard would resort to kidnapping his own child. I just don't know why-"

Ruby's breath hitched, Winter's words drawing forth a memory. A conversation between Blake and Weiss that the Faunus relayed to her in private, not wanting to break Weiss's trust but also not wanting to deal with this new worry alone:

"You said before that you thought he'd disown you. Do you really think that will happen?"

Weiss let out a bitter scoff. "There's no question. I'm not going to let him control me anymore, and anything he can't control, he... removes."

"I could go after them." Penny's voice cut through Winter's building rant, pulling Ruby from back to reality. Her teammates looked at her in surprise. Well, except for Ciel. She was staring at Yang's scroll with faint horror. "My top flying speed outclasses the Manta by a factor of 13.6%. I could catch up to them if I push myself."

Ilia put a hand on the android's shoulder, concern on her face. "Penny, do you have enough power for that? You used a lot just now."

Penny's brow furrowed. "I am currently at 73% power. I could sustain max speed for approximately three hours, twenty-seven minutes before dropping to critical levels." She gave Ilia a tight smile. "I will be okay, Friend Ilia."

"Okay, that's great, Penny, really, thank you," Yang rushed out, drawing their attention. "Small problem, though: you can't tell where Weiss is like we can. Without the Link, you'd be flying blind." She turned her attention back to the scroll. "Winter, would this Manta thing show up on radar or something?"

"...no." Winter spat bitterly, reluctantly. "I already called Vale air traffic control. They must be flying under the radar, and none of the airships are picking up its signal. Knowing him, Father likely removed any way to track it."

Ruby ignored the constricting in her heart, ignored Yang's Panic and Helplessness, Blake's Desperation and Loss. She slowly turned back towards Beacon, eyes panning down at the trail of destruction her Nevermore had created when it crashed. She looked from the path towards the pinprick of light that was Weiss.

A straight line...

"Dammit!" Yang yelled, her hair and eyes glowing. In her frustration, she whirled around and punched the tree behind her. She didn't bother watching it fall as she turned back to the stunned group. "Penny, what if you carried me or Ruby? Would that work?"

Penny's face pinched, turning apologetic. "Unlikely. The human body's not made for the speeds I can reach. If I flew slow enough to carry you, I wouldn't be fast enough to catch the Manta."

"Ruby's made for those speeds, though!" Yang disagreed, quickly looking towards her sister, who didn't react, still looking off into the distance. "She's hit the sound barrier with her Semblance before. If she keeps it turned on while you hold her, she could handle it!"

Penny frowned. "Um, I don't think I can hold Ruby if she keeps her Semblance on, Yang."

"Why not!?" Yang shouted in frustration. "It's just super speed!"

At that, Penny tilted her head, clearly confused. "Are you certain? From watching her, I was under the impression Ruby's Semblance was-"

"Winter."

Ruby's voice cut through Yang and Penny's conversation. They looked towards her and were briefly taken aback by the serious look in her eyes. "Sis?" Yang questioned.

Ruby ignored her, focusing on the scroll. "Winter, why did my summon lose control?"

There was a beat of silence, then Winter's voice returned, incensed. "Ruby, I hardly think now is the time-"

"Answer the question!"

Everyone flinched away from Ruby, Yang cringing as Ruby's eyes flashed red as they bored in the scroll in her hand. She'd never heard Ruby sound so commanding and…. angry.

"... you didn't give it a clear command when you created it," Winter said hesitantly. "Without any orders to follow, it latched onto your most recent thought."

Ruby swallowed thickly. "I was thinking about Weiss."

"Blake… suggested as much. Ruby-"

"Was the Nevermore flying towards Weiss?" Ruby cut her off.

There was a pause. "I… I don't know how-"

Ruby wasn't having it. "Winter, it was using my Semblance. And it crashed right between Beacon and the direction Weiss is heading. Do you think it was heading towards Weiss?"

"I...I…"

"Yes."

Ruby struggled not to sob. Blake sounded so broken.

"Blake…" Yang said achingly, looking just as lost.

"I think so, Ruby." Blake took a shuddering breath. "From what Winter told me… I think you're right."

"...it was heading towards Weiss," Ruby's shoulders shook as she clenched her hands tight. "It was heading towards Weiss," She looked up at Yang, seeing her horror mirrored on her sister's face. "And we stopped it."

"Ruby-" Winter's voice came back, now in apprehension. Ruby figured the woman had realized what Ruby was thinking. Good. That would save her time from explaining.

"How do I do it right?"

Winter let out a harsh breath. "Ruby, summoning takes time a-and training! You can't just-"

"Winter, I'm not asking permission!" Ruby ignored the raw feeling in her throat. "If my summon can fly as fast as I can run, me and Penny can both catch up to Weiss. Now, you can either help me or I can fumble through it myself!"

There was silence on the other end of the line. Ruby huffed for breath from her outburst. Her nerves ratcheted up with every passing second, knowing that Weiss was moving further and further away.

"...fine," Winter finally said, now sounding just as broken as Blake. "Summon like you did before, but this time have a clear command in mind. Whatever you want it to do, keep it up throughout the whole process. From making the glyph to completing the summon, don't stop focusing. Repeat the orders, visualize its actions, every moment of the process. It'll run wild again otherwise."

Ruby nodded. "Okay," she muttered softly, then repeated stronger. "Okay. I can do that." She turned away from the group, pulling away from Neo's grasp and ignoring the worry on her cousin's face. She walked a few paces into the clearing, where the Nevermore had once been.

"Ruby…" Yang started in concern, reaching a hand out. Whatever she was going to say died in her throat, and instead her face hardened into a determined mask. "Do it, Little Sis."

Ruby nodded, letting the Confidence Yang was putting out swirl around her. She lifted her arms, fingers curling. She called back to that first fight, recalling the feeling she had when her and her team, her Mates, defeated the Nevermore. The awe, the joy, the thrill... She took those feelings and held them tight. After a moment of thought, her hands glowed red.

Help me save Weiss.

As the glyph spread out before her, Ruby pictured in her mind what she wanted to happen. She looked down at the glyph, seeing the Nevermore staring back at her.

Help me save Weiss.

The Nevermore rose through the glyph, its silver eyes never leaving her own. Ruby couldn't help but feel she was being judged somehow. She ignored those fledgling thoughts, repeating, visualizing.

Help me save Weiss.

The glyph faded away, and Ruby was left staring up at the Nevermore as it glared down at her. Now she was certain; there was a defiant pull at the front of her mind, wild and untamed. It was a jumble of clashing feelings, but she could make out one that wrapped around them all.

Anger.

Ruby gulped. She could feel the eyes of the others behind her, could hear the faint sound of steel on cloth as someone discreetly pulled out a blade. Ruby ignored them, trying to grasp that strange Link-like feeling.

"I'm sorry," she found herself saying. She didn't even know if the Nevermore had a mind of its own. Weiss had said summons were an extension of the summoner. Did that mean it was part of her?

...well, that explained the anger. If someone had stopped her from saving Weiss….

Ruby raised a hand towards the Nevermore but paused when it made a low rumble in the back of its throat. Ruby just stared it down, ignoring Yang inhale sharply behind her. "Please," she breathed.

"Help me save Weiss."

Far past the Emerald Forest, Winter had to fight back tears. Everything had been pulled out from under her, and there was nothing left to do but try to force her ship to move faster. It didn't help that she had an emotionally broken Faunus sitting in the seat beside her, who had run out of tears and could only watch the horizon with red eyes, letting Winter know they were still on course.

Winter tried to hold it together. She had faced impossible odds before. She'd never let her father beat her before. She wouldn't start now, especially with her sister on the line.

She was startled from her thoughts when Blake suddenly let out a gasp. Winter glanced over, finding the Faunus sitting up straight, her ears shooting high.

"Blake? What-?"

"What the- bogey incoming! Six o'clock!"

Winter's eyes went wide at the sudden yell from her earpiece. She jerked on her joystick as her radar suddenly blared to life. The ship rolled to the side, the bullheads beside her doing the same.

Blake turned sharply to the left, her eyes wide. Winter barely had time to do the same as a large streak of red shot right through their formation, a smaller streak of green right on its heels.

Winter struggled against the joystick as a shock wave suddenly rocked the airship. As the ship settled, she stared incredulously at the green and red dots disappearing off into the distance.

"She did it," she heard Blake breathe, hope in the Faunus's voice for the first time since leaving the academy.

Winter glanced at her incredulously, before tapping at the display screen beside her joystick. She pulled up the footage from the ship's rear-facing camera, rolling it back to catch a look at what had just shot by them.

Her mouth fell open.

Penny's lips were pulled back in a firm line as she stared determinedly ahead, her arms pinned at her sides as her jetpack spewed trails of jade fire. Just below her on her right, the crimson Nevermore sparked with energy, red rose petals billowing from its wings as silver light wisped from its eyes. And standing at the base of its neck, holding tight to Crescent Rose as the scythe's blade hooked around the horn of the Nevermore's mask, Ruby Rose stood resolute, teeth grit and eyes blazing as her hood trailed behind her.

Winter looked up from the display in awe of the impossibility before her, watching the green and red lights become pinpricks in the distance. Deep in her soul, she felt something like hope flicker back to life.

Betaed by Covert Weapon

A/n: Okay, I don't usually ask for fanart, but the temptation is just too much on this one. Anyone out there willing to draw up Penny and Ruby flying off but in the same style as Piccolo and Goku flying off to fight Raditz? I'll even pay for commission if anyone's interested. The image is stuck in my head and I'd love to see it in the physical.

B/n: (that's Beta's note, lol) So, likewise, I never do this sort of thing. These are the author's stories that I just help polish a little, and I would never be so presumptuous as to add in anything, including just a note. But after getting permission from OI, I would just like to say I would also like a copy of that art piece, and will also pay full commission if asked. It's something I fully need in my life, dangit. Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled author!

Hope you all liked this one. Expect the next one soon!