Egrer quickly and clearly outlined his plan, despite the Grimm's constant attempts to overrun their cover. His team also took up positions at the breaches, replacing the exhausted girls. Even though they had held up well, they stepped down with relief.
"Bold and well-thought-out," Oobleck nodded, acknowledging the plan's viability.
Team RWBY, although pushed to their absolute limits, expressed a desire to help. They had no strength left for a long fight, but they had enough for a quick dash. The only question was what to do with Weiss and Torchwick. Dragging two unconscious bodies through an armada of Grimm was absolute madness. And leaving them here to the mercy of fate, praying the Grimm wouldn't notice them, was an even worse idea. After a brief but tense discussion, Oobleck made the call:
"The fewer of us here, the fewer Grimm our emotions will attract. I will remain here with Miss Rose. We will protect them, and Rose will provide covering fire from this position as much as possible."
Ruby nodded in agreement, adjusting her grip on her high-caliber sniper scythe. Blake and Yang exchanged glances. They didn't say a word, just clenched their fists. They were ready to walk into hell.
Egrer peeked outside through a large tear in the hull. The breach point was relatively close, and the Grimm were bursting from it with insane fury, not hesitating to crush and trample each other. Seeing this, he felt a wave of uncertainty. Would Illmond's net hold such a massive surge of monsters? Would Magenta's fire petrify fast enough? Wouldn't the Grimm just tear through this makeshift plug?
"Madge," Egrer called out to his friend. "Can you cover the hole in the ground from here?"
She looked through the same breach in the locomotive as he did. Figuring something out in her head, she shook her head.
"Earth fire is heavy, it won't reach from here. It looks like," Magenta recklessly stuck her head outside and looked around, "there aren't any good vantage points or covers here. We'll have to push straight through."
A thick wind suddenly kicked up from behind the nearest buildings, hitting their faces with the smell of metal and oil. Bullheads with reinforcements had finally arrived. However, they were in no hurry to fly into the thick of it. Most fanned out to intercept the Grimm scattering through the streets. But the remaining Bullheads dropped students into the fight near the barricades, reinforcing the defensive perimeter. These were mostly foreign students, since the Beaconites had left for field practice outside the city.
This sight lifted everyone's spirits. They weren't alone anymore.
The Bullheads were followed by Atlesian gunships, from which humanoid robots and soldiers jumped out, completely cordoning off the breach. The Grimm could no longer simply run past the hastily erected barricades and sow chaos in the streets, but the defenders couldn't push them back either.
Almost immediately, Nevermores attacked the Bullheads, and some Grimm even climbed buildings to be able to jump up at them. Egrer sighed heavily for a second and grumbled:
"If only the Atlas flagship were here..." Everyone present, except Professor Oobleck, awkwardly looked away. The famous Executioner of Atlas himself sighed once more. "Or Miss Goodwitch, she'd easily plug the hole with her Semblance."
But there was no time for doubts, and no one had come up with a different plan anyway. If they acted quickly, they could stop the breach.
Before the sortie, he tried to use his Semblance on the entire squad. But no matter how hard Egrer pushed, two was his current limit; exceeding it made him so focused that he completely tuned out the real world. He'd be zero use in a fight in that state. Besides, his bond with Blake and Yang wasn't as strong as with his own team or Weiss.
They burst from cover with noise, clatter, and shouts. The Grimm were distracted by them, sensing a much more accessible target. This would give Ruby and Doctor Oobleck their much-needed breather.
Yort and Yang led the way like a battering ram. They tossed Grimm aside, clearing a path for the rest. Egrer and Blake took the sides, covering the flanks and rear from any surviving or particularly sneaky monsters. Magenta was in the center, helping out here and there.
At some point, their sprint slowed to a walk, and the walk turned into a furious battle for every meter. The squad bogged down in the stream of monsters, moving against a current that grew stronger the closer they got to the breach.
An air blast from Yort knocked a pack of Beowolves right under the feet of their brethren. The Grimm were minced, but twice as many immediately took their place. Ruby's sniper shots killed the particularly dangerous Grimm before they could get too close, but she couldn't keep up with everywhere at once. Illmond also provided ranged support, having assembled a bow from Dust threads that fired identical Dust arrows.
But even with such fire support, the situation was looking dire. This dealt a blow to everyone's morale, and the Grimm's push became even stronger. For the first time, they were forced to take a step back. The lives of the entire city depended on the success of this gamble, including Weiss and Roman, who remained behind.
An idea popped into Egrer's head. Crazy, suicidal, but viable.
"Keep pushing, I'll distract them!"
No one answered. Not because they didn't hear, but because they were too busy fighting.
Egrer darted to the side. He leaped onto a Boarbatusk, launched off its spiked back, and bounded right across the Grimm. A Beowolf snapped its jaws as Egrer stepped on its upturned snout; an Ursa roared when he bounced off the top of its head. His mind spun with only one thought: 'Just don't fall, just don't fall.' There were so many Grimm that the ground was practically invisible. If Egrer slipped, he'd be trampled and torn to pieces before he could even realize his mistake.
This way, Egrer reached a large Death Stalker. It turned its attention to him and tried to skewer him with its stinger, but only managed to kill a Beowolf under its target's feet. Egrer grabbed onto the massive Grimm's tail and barely held on when it tried to shake him off.
Now for the main step. Egrer deliberately threw his soul wide open, letting out everything he'd been holding back, ceasing to suppress his fear, anger, and uncertainty. He began winding himself up, reviving his most unpleasant memories. Thanks to the training with his Semblance, Egrer had learned to skillfully manipulate his own emotions.
The Grimm reacted instantly. They began swarming toward him; the black tide intensified in his direction and weakened slightly in others. Egrer saw Yort and Yang manage to push further; they broke the stalemate. But they needed a little more time, and Egrer would give it to them.
He clung to the Grimm's rough tail as it frantically tried to shake him off. The Death Stalker shrieked and began spinning wildly. Its pincers tried to catch the insolent pest, but he always proved to be more agile. The monster's numerous legs crushed and pierced the smaller Grimm that were trying to reach such a tasty morsel of negative emotions.
At some point, his hands became too slick with sweat from fear. Egrer let go of the tail and landed with a roll onto the Death Stalker's carapace. It tried to shake him off, initiating a frenzied rodeo, but only managed to toss away and trample other Grimm. Egrer hopped from one shell segment to another, dodging strikes with the agility of an acrobat. His fear was a weapon, for nothing prompts fleeing more strongly. The sluggish monsters didn't stand a chance of catching the Mistrali favela's fleeing champion.
But Egrer struggled to maintain focus on everything at once. He tracked Magenta's position, vigilantly monitored the Grimm surrounding him, and simultaneously looked for the moment to signal Illmond. When Magenta reached the breach and pulled her gas mask over her face, he raised his Needle-Shooter and made a distinct sweeping gesture. Illmond understood the signal perfectly, threw his lasso onto a lamppost, and launched himself into the air along with the net...
In that exact split second, Egrer got distracted, watching the most crucial phase of his plan. Too late, he noticed a massive pincer hurtling straight toward him. The very fear that had helped him avoid strikes now treacherously paralyzed his legs.
The pincer snapped shut. Egrer cried out from a stabbing pain in his chest, as if something inside had cracked. The Death Stalker's grip was tight; his Aura flared. Egrer tried to pull himself together, but the genuine fear for his life refused to leave him.
Before Egrer could collect his thoughts, the Grimm slammed him into the ground. The world flipped and spun, losing its clarity. His hand raised the Needle-Shooter on its own, his fingers finding the trigger. In the blurred picture before Egrer, a scarlet eye flared. The needle bit right into its target, and the Death Stalker howled, sharply jerking its pincer to the side. Egrer flew out of its grip and spun awkwardly in the air, falling right into the black tide of Grimm.
The monsters trampled everything beneath them; hundreds of heavy paws threatened to crush every bone in his body. Egrer rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding a Boarbatusk's hooves. The claws of a passing Beowolf tore his jacket on his left shoulder, making his Aura spark there. Egrer kept rolling, throwing himself from side to side, slipping under the legs of the Grimm. He didn't even have time to get on all fours; he could only flounder in the mud and dust.
Suddenly, someone's jaws clamped around his leg. A huge Ursa had spotted and caught him. His depleted Aura flared up, but it could no longer protect him completely. Egrer screamed from the pain that pierced him through. The terrifying realization flashed in his head that if the Ursa clamped its jaws down harder, he'd lose his leg.
The Grimm's head suddenly exploded from something high-caliber, dousing Egrer in black sludge. He immediately pressed his back against the melting body of the Ursa, using it as cover from the endless stream of monsters. A piece of his pants fell away, revealing a row of bleeding puncture wounds on his leg. His leg itself refused to obey, shooting with sharp pain at the slightest movement. Egrer felt sick. He had become easy prey, left alone surrounded by Grimm without his main trump card - his agility.
As if sensing his fear, an Alpha Beowolf turned toward Egrer. He fired a couple of desperate shots with the Needle-Shooter, but the beast was smart and covered its vulnerable spots with its arms. The Grimm charged toward him, and Egrer decided on one last desperate gambit. He gritted his teeth and tucked his injured limb, preparing to jump. Even if he broke his own bone, he had a chance to dive under the monster and impale it with the Needle-Shooter. But along with the Alpha, its pack charged at Egrer too.
But he didn't falter; he pressed himself closer to the ground and gripped the Needle-Shooter tighter. Egrer bared his teeth and snarled like a wolf. The Alpha Beowolf snarled back, lunged with its paw raised for a strike, and... fell to pieces, as if someone had sliced it into ribbons. Dust threads flashed in the air, thin as a hair and strong as steel.
From the black smoke of the dead Grimm stepped Illmond. He waved his hand, and the Alpha's pack was julienned just as finely as their leader. Then the Dust threads took the shape of an old-fashioned cannon, which immediately fired into the sky at a massive Nevermore. A cannonball of Fire Dust flew straight into the Grimm, pulling the rest of the Dust construct along with it.
Illmond turned to Egrer exactly at the moment when the shredded Nevermore crashed behind his back, dramatically scattering tons of dirt and a couple of Grimm. Sometimes Egrer forgot that their pessimistic shut-in was top-three in power among the first-years.
"What a show-off," Egrer rolled his eyes.
"Everything must be perfect or not exist at all," he uttered his favorite maxim.
Egrer grabbed the offered hand. He stood up, swayed from the pain, and looked around.
Illmond's net had covered the hole in the ground from which entire hordes had recently been pouring. The trapped monsters desperately tried to break through the barrier, but only got in each other's way. Atlas soldiers and Huntsmen had formed a perimeter, showering them with lead and Dust, not giving them even a chance to break out of the trap. All the other Grimm had already been picked off. However, victory was not yet in sight; new monsters rose to replace the dead time and time again. It was obvious that if the net couldn't withstand the pressure, a new Grimm breach would sooner or later sweep away the defenders of Vale.
Magenta stood on a ruined statue, towering slightly above the rest. Everyone who had even crumbs of Earth Dust left brought it to her so she could turn them into a fiery hurricane. Her flamethrower was glowing red-hot, the black paint peeling off it, and the plastic handles had begun to melt and seep through her fingers. Magenta's Aura glowed on her palms, and her skin had noticeably reddened, yet she stubbornly gripped her weapon. Bullheads assisted her, dropping chunks of buildings, cars, and anything that could remotely plug the hole into the breach.
Egrer hobbled toward her, holding onto Illmond. Near Magenta, it was so hot that sweat evaporated faster than it could form. He didn't risk distracting Magenta, simply leaning against a leaning lamppost in the distance and watching. The rush of combat was gradually fading away.
The Grimm burned and became encased in yellowish stone. A massive boulder was growing right before their eyes, but it was still too light to withstand such a fierce push from the monsters. Nevertheless, it was only a matter of time before the breach was stopped.
Yort suddenly clapped Egrer on the shoulder, causing him to collapse to the ground with a groan. The Vacuan giant looked surprised and even somewhat guilty, which was highly uncharacteristic of him. However, he quickly pulled himself together.
"Scrub, where'd you manage to get chewed up like that?"
"Oh, go to Grimm."
Yort frowned, as if he wanted to say something else but didn't know where to start. He stayed silent, shifting from foot to foot, while Egrer breathed heavily, lying on his back.
"Why... why'd you push the Grimm alone?" Yort finally got out. There was more confusion than reproach in his voice. "Piss go to your head? You've always been a pussy."
"I still am," Egrer replied, looking at the clouds. "It's just that I was more scared for the others than for myself."
"I thought you were gonna croak when that whole mob jumped you. And when the Death Stalker tossed you, I was already thinking about what to say at your funeral." Yort crouched down and patted his shoulder again, as if paying his respects. "But it was badass."
"Well, if it wasn't for Ill, I probably would've died." At these words, Illmond, standing nearby, smiled slightly. Egrer smiled too. "Very sweet of you, Yort. I didn't think you could worry about anyone."
"Shut up before I break your other leg."
"Did you see that?" Egrer theatrically turned to Illmond. "And you called me a tsundere."
Illmond chuckled and clearly wanted to reply with his own quip, but the smile slid from his face. Team JNPR was walking toward them. Jaune looked exhausted and dirty, Nora looked satisfied with the brawl, and Ren and Pyrrha looked calm and collected.
"How many?" Pyrrha asked. Illmond understood her instantly, which couldn't be said for the rest.
"Fifteen," he admitted reluctantly.
"Hmm... I thought you'd have a hundred or two."
"In this battle, I was more of a support than DPS. I definitely have more assist points than you." He nodded at the net, trying hard to pretend he wasn't making excuses. Suddenly, he smirked nastily. "And what are you guys doing in Vale? Don't tell me you failed field practice?"
Jaune spoke up as the team leader:
"We took a mission, but the client had some transport issues, and the practice was delayed for a couple of days. What about you guys?"
Egrer grumbled, remembering how Magenta flew into their Bullhead on a Nevermore.
"We had transport issues too." And to avoid dwelling on the subject, he turned to Ren. "Did Nora go too crazy today? Magenta behaved surprisingly adequately for once."
Suddenly, the ground trembled; lying down, Egrer felt it especially clearly. Slightly noticeable at first, then stronger and stronger. At one point, small stones started hopping, and the air filled with a low, drawn-out hum, as if someone was blowing a colossal horn from underground.
Command shouts rang out from the defense line. The monsters under the net surged, rising as if something from inside was pushing them up. The boulder that had almost sealed the hole began to crack and crumble. The net started rising along with the Grimm. It wasn't designed for such scales; tears appeared one after another, and monsters immediately began bursting through them.
With the crunch of tearing flesh, two white bone tusks thrust up through the Grimm. And then it appeared - a Goliath. The beast burst through the hole in the ground, which was far too small for it, and through the flesh of its own kin. Its skin was covered in bone and spikes, its massive legs crushed the Grimm beneath it, and it didn't even notice the net, which simply hung on its back.
Egrer tried to stand, but collapsed back to the ground with a groan. The others immediately stepped between him and the Grimm, and he growled in his own helplessness. All he could do now was aim the Needle-Pierce and shoot the Grimm that slipped past his comrades' attention. He was ashamed of his vulnerability, but he felt he was in safe hands.
Magenta, meanwhile, gritted her teeth. She hooked the bag of donated Earth Dust to her flamethrower, without ceasing to bathe the enemies in fire for a single second. Then she slammed the trigger so hard it jammed, and with her bare hands tore off the red-hot limiter at the tip of the barrel. Cranking a couple of regulators to the maximum, flames erupted from her weapon in an untamable torrent, like a volcanic eruption.
What it was like for Magenta right now in the epicenter of this hell was terrifying to imagine. Egrer was nearly knocked over by the roaring, scorching wind; his eyes watered, but all moisture evaporated instantly.
With a roar, Magenta hurled her flamethrower right into the hole, into the untold crowd of Grimm. It spun in the air like a rocket out of control, darting from side to side, turning everything beneath it to stone. Magenta turned to Ruby and yelled something, but over the furious roar of the fire and the Goliath's howling, it was impossible to hear her. However, she understood everything without words, cocked her sniper scythe, and fired right at the flamethrower thrashing above the battlefield.
Just above the Goliath, a blindingly bright amber flash exploded. A sphere of fire began to expand somewhat leisurely, consuming the Grimm one after another. Right at the breach, a massive, translucent, round stone blazing with fire grew. Inside, the figures of Grimm could be seen, trapped there like flies in amber. The largest was the Goliath, which, despite its overwhelming power, could not break free from this prison.
The breach was finally stopped; the stone securely plugged the passage.
Magenta turned to them. From the front, her clothes resembled charred rags that barely covered her reddened skin. Her fire-resistant gas mask was covered in blisters, the glass lenses had fogged up and cracked, and viscous condensation had pooled inside. Her arms were crimson-red, as if they had been in the flames—because they had. Steam literally rose off her, and the air next to her warped from the high temperature.
She tried to rip the gas mask off her face, but it felt like it had melted into her skin. She hissed in pain and jerked her hand back, but tried again a few seconds later. Illmond darted over to her and gently but firmly peeled the melted edges of the mask and the plastic residue from her face. Magenta inhaled sharply and greedily, as if she couldn't breathe until this moment. The entire time, she hadn't stopped whimpering pitifully.
"It hurts, it hurts! Ow, ow, ow!" she squeaked like a child, touching her hot, red face with her fingertips. However, the pain she felt was more emotional than physical. "Goodbye, Rainbow Flash! I'll remember you always. You'll take an honored place in my heart, right next to Ozpinopus."
Egrer tossed his suit jacket to Illmond so he could cover her. Then he reached his hands out to Yort, who rolled his eyes and forced himself to help him up and walk. It was obvious that helping the "weakling" was extremely difficult for him. Egrer respected his sacrifice.
"We did great, Team MJEI!" Magenta said with difficulty. "Just like real Huntsmen. Heroes!"
"Fuck that kind of heroism," Yort grumbled. "If I croaked here, I would've risen as an evil spirit."
"Let's go home," Illmond begged. "I'm gonna drop from exhaustion right now."
Magenta loudly clicked her tongue.
"You could have at least put on a heroic look, but no, you just have to show yourselves as lazy, cowardly egoists. What were you listening to in Ethics class? Eg, tell them style is important! Eg?"
Egrer didn't answer. With a lost gaze, he watched as soldiers led a swaying Torchwick away, who resisted sluggishly, as if just going through the motions. He didn't stop cheerfully snapping back for a second, despite his battered appearance and the loss of his hat. Barbs slipped from his tongue one after another; he was trying with all his might to pretend the situation amused him. Playing to the crowd even now.
With difficulty, Egrer turned away. There were other matters now. He'd ask Team RWBY about Roman later.
Making sure Magenta only got away with burns, they headed to the doctors, who had set up a field hospital nearby. They provided first aid to the victims there, after which they were taken to the hospital in ambulances, and in particularly severe cases - via Bullheads.
Magenta was slathered from head to toe in a greenish burn ointment, while Egrer was fitted with a splint and handed a crutch. They were already about to send him to the hospital, but he refused and started wandering in search of Weiss. Through his Semblance, he felt she was awake and currently experiencing irritation.
Egrer met Team RWBY; the girls looked shattered and depressed.
"Hey." He didn't know why he said hello, since the last time they saw each other wasn't that long ago. But it felt like days had passed, no less.
Team RWBY answered sluggishly. During the second push, Yang's Aura had been broken, and she was now sitting, leaning against the burnt-out husk of a car. A medic was beside her, carefully bandaging a bleeding wound on her side. Ruby stood nervously nearby. The combat rush still hadn't let her go; her shoulders twitched, and her hands kept reaching for the scythe on her back. She stood guard over her wounded sister, ready to repel any peril that dared show its face. And Blake was arguing with an elderly doctor in glasses, who clearly wasn't thrilled with the idea of letting them into the tent with Weiss. Perhaps her cat ears bothered him; she had lost her bow in the fight.
Blake had never possessed any particular charisma or gift of persuasion. Yang decided to help her; without even getting up, she grabbed the man by the collar of his coat. Her voice sounded malice-free, almost polite:
"Thanks for your help, really. But if you don't let us in, you have only yourself to blame. We're her team. We have to see her."
"Alright, alright!" he surrendered under such pressure. "But only her team!"
Egrer froze for a second, but Blake, glaring strictly right into the doctor's eyes, brazenly dragged him inside after her. He could barely manage to move his crutch between sneezes.
Inside the tent, it smelled of medicine; IV drips, monitors, ventilators, and a couple of other incomprehensible machines with blinking lights stuck out everywhere. Weiss looked fairly alert, but given the amount of equipment around, one would get the impression she was on her deathbed. It was instantly clear - platinum insurance. It was surprising she hadn't already been evacuated via a private Bullhead accompanied by PMCs and a mobile operating room.
Two nurses were checking something, one by the monitor, the other by the IV. Then the doctor came in, waved his hand irritably, and the medical staff left.
Seeing Weiss's face, Egrer froze. Written on her cheek in pink marker was:
Looks: 7/10
Personality: 11/10
Combat Skills: 4/10
APPROVED
Egrer was floored. Back then, he hadn't made out the writing, mistaking it for blood. But now her face was clean, so it was impossible not to see the familiar handwriting. He only had more questions, the main one being, "If she ran into Neo, why is she still breathing?". He chuckled nervously.
"Seems like my mom liked you."
"Who?" Weiss asked uncomprehendingly. Egrer raised his eyebrows slightly.
Ruby, ignoring everything else, threw herself into Weiss's arms. Weiss, however, was in no hurry to reciprocate; she merely spread her arms wide in surprise and tried to recoil. Then she said words that made everyone's blood run cold:
"Do I know you?"
Ruby pulled back slightly, her face frozen in an anxious smile. In disbelief, she shifted her gaze to the bandage on Weiss's head.
"What's wrong? It's me, Ruby!" However, the recognition in Weiss's eyes did not increase.
Everyone exchanged stunned looks, a dead silence descended. Blake was the first to snap out of it:
"We're RWBY. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang. Team RWBY. We study at Beacon. Remember?"
"If the acronym RWBY translates to Ruby, where's my letter in it? What, are you trying to scam me for money or something? I won't fall for you being old acquaintances! How did they even let you in here?"
"Amnesia," Yang stated in shock. "Grimm, we won't survive her old version! Not again!"
Ruby suddenly grabbed a bewildered Egrer like a shield and shoved him forward. He almost fell to the floor.
"Well, you remember him, right?"
Weiss merely raised an eyebrow, skeptically looking him up and down.
"Looks like a criminal."
"It seems," Blake said with relief, "something was left in that head after all."
"Listen," Weiss said placatingly, "did I have any hobbies? I hope I'm not a weapons fanatic. Or... maybe I'm a biker? Or I'm madly in love with purple?"
Blake slowly turned to her.
"What?"
"Purple. I think it's my favorite color." Weiss tugged a strand of her white hair and added thoughtfully, "I should dye my hair."
Egrer reached out to her with his Semblance to provide psychological first aid, because Weiss was clearly out of her mind. But to his relief, he only saw snark mixed with a slight, malicious glee. She had simply decided to pull a prank on them.
"No way!" Yang shouted, arriving at the same conclusions. "She's just messing with us!"
"Pfft-hee-hee, sorry." Weiss, however, didn't look remorseful at all, only giggled. "It's just that you all had these faces... covered in blood and mud, as if someone just tried to eat you. I considered it my moral duty to somehow improve your mood."
"So you don't got amnesia!" Ruby exclaimed joyfully.
"No."
"No-don't got it, or no-do got it?" she decided to clarify.
"No, meaning there is no such phrase as 'don't got'. I was merely correcting you."
Egrer wiped the sweat from his forehead. The prospect of starting Weiss's re-education from the very beginning had scared him greatly.
"Your humor is certainly..." he grumbled. "You still never learned how to joke."
But despite the performance, everyone was genuinely glad she was alright. Weiss had simply overexerted herself and hit her head hard. Now she looked alert and easily slid off the examination couch, as if she had just finished a spa session. Maybe it was the effect of one of the medications.
The doctor entered the tent. He slightly bowed his head and said respectfully:
"Miss Schnee." At his voice, Weiss's friendly smile evaporated. She slipped on her usual mask of slight arrogance. "Your father called, he wants–"
"I don't wish to hear anything." Weiss waved him off like a bug. The doctor was about to protest, but Weiss firmly and clearly enunciated every word. "I do not. Wish. To hear. Anything!"
The doctor, weighing the danger levels of the two Schnees, preferred to leave in silent agreement.
"Maybe you shouldn't ignore him like that?" Ruby said cautiously.
"It's none of your business who I ignore," Weiss snapped, but immediately caught herself and softened her voice. "Sorry. I just don't want to talk to him. And there's nothing to talk about."
"Even in a situation like this?" Ruby asked quietly. "He's probably worried. News spreads fast, Atlas definitely already knows about the breach."
"He's not worried about me, but about the assets invested in me," Weiss sighed. "Let's not talk about this, I don't want to ruin my mood. You'd better tell me what happened after the train. But first, let's get out of here, the smell of medicine makes me sick."
They left the tent and wandered off under the doctor's disapproving gaze. They had already begun clearing the debris in the square.
"There's nothing really to tell," Yang shrugged. "We gave you quick first aid, and then Grimm started pouring out of every crack. At some point, Eg showed up with his team."
She shifted her gaze to Egrer, as if giving him the floor.
"Well, me and my team were doing our field practice in Vale–"
"In Vale?" Blake asked with an inconvenient remark. "They only assigned city practice to the foreign students."
"Don't interrupt," Egrer shushed her. He had no desire to confess that his team failed their field practice on the very first day. That was a disgrace!
He explained everything briefly. About how he felt Weiss's emotions, how the siren went off, told about his plan and its execution. Pointed to his leg and said it was a battle wound - the price for the operation's success. Weiss looked impressed, and he was happy to show off in front of her. He even got a little carried away, but no one seemed to pay attention to his goofy wide smile. Or maybe they just decided not to ruin his fun.
"And how did you guys end up on that train with Torchwick?" Egrer asked at the end. After which he poked his crutch-free hand at Weiss's cheek. "And how did you survive a meeting with my mom? And even earned such high marks..."
Weiss irritably rubbed her cheek.
"We were doing our field practice in Mountain Glenn. That's where that White Fang hideout to the southeast was. We should have guessed earlier." Weiss looked into Egrer's eyes and bit her lip, as if carefully considering her next words. She swept her hand through the air, as if gesturing to the devastation. "This isn't just an accident. This is a terrorist attack. And Torchwick led it."
"What?!"
This came as a complete shock to Egrer. Yes, he suspected Roman of something bad, but... letting the Grimm into the city? Was this really the terrorist attack he had talked about? But wasn't it too early? After all, Torchwick had wanted his only friend - Mr. Adel - to leave the city before this...
As if seeing his confusion, Weiss continued.
"Torchwick and the White Fang planned to blow up this square, using the old tracks to Mountain Glenn. Perhaps the attack was being prepared for the eve of the festival, but we showed up. When the train started, they began detaching cars with explosives and blowing up the underground tracks with them." It was clearly difficult for Weiss to talk about this. Whether from unpleasant memories, the realization of her own failure, or out of pity for Egrer. "They made several holes to the surface this way, and the Grimm got inside through them."
"No, no, no." Egrer began pacing back and forth, for a second even forgetting his leg was injured. "He wouldn't do that. He's not that... not that lost."
"They had dozens of Paladins on the same train," Blake continued. "It's unlikely the White Fang wanted to cause a breach and then immediately save everyone to clear their name. They intended to sow destruction right alongside the Grimm."
"No, you must have just misunderstood..."
"Misunderstood?" Weiss chuckled bitterly. "What is there to even misunderstand?! Open your eyes and look around!"
"Roman probably tried to stop it, but your appearance ruined his plans. He definitely had a plan on how to–"
Yang took two steps forward and slapped him in the face. Due to the shock he was experiencing, Egrer didn't even feel it at first, let alone react. Only a couple of seconds later did he touch his burning face.
"So, you think it's our fault?" She pointed to the devastation and the wounded. "Because of us... all of this happened, huh?"
"N-no, I meant something else..."
"I heard exactly what you said."
Egrer stopped feeling the ground beneath his feet. The world around him swayed, and he took a step back, his back hitting the wall of a slanted building. Egrer slowly slid to the ground. He barely felt his aching cheek and leg.
He couldn't wrap his head around the idea that Roman could do something like this. Even if he was forced, he simply couldn't agree to this horror. It's impossible. Impossible, full stop.
Roman and Neo hadn't been saints before, but back then their victims were criminals just like them. Some wore suits and lab coats, others rags and wraps. But Roman had never simply taken a gun and shot a random passerby. They had almost no innocent victims on their record, and if there were any, it certainly wasn't by their will.
But now everything was different. Bringing the Grimm into the city was tantamount to betraying the entire world. Even now, the worm of doubt gnawed at Egrer's soul from the inside. If they simply had no choice, could they still be considered guilty of this nightmare? His thoughts begged to drift into the vast ocean of pseudo-philosophy, just to avoid thinking about the main issue.
"You guys go ahead," Weiss said to her friends, and they left them alone.
She sat down beside him in silence. Egrer felt her intrusion into his emotions, but she wasn't very good at using their connection. Realizing her attempts were only making things worse, she decided to speak.
"Don't be mad at them."
"I'm not mad, they're right. Torchwick should get what he deserves, he's a killer. I just blurted it out without thinking."
"But you still don't believe it."
"I don't believe it..." Egrer nodded. "Maybe–"
"No, Eg." It was as if she had read his mind. "There was no room for ambiguity in that situation, believe me. Everything looks exactly the way it looks."
Egrer buried his face in his hands. But almost immediately he opened his eyes again and looked around intently. He shouldn't hide from this realization.
Mountains of Grimm corpses were still slowly melting. Black smoke blanketed the ground like a carpet, clawed paws, huge pincers, or toothy maws jutting out of it here and there. Many were hurt in this battle, and many died in the city. Either by the claws of the Grimm or because of the panic.
"You know..." Weiss began after a minute of heavy silence. "I've always been bad at understanding other people's feelings. Some confuse this with indifference, but actually, I just don't know what to do when someone is hurting. Could you give me a hint? You understand this better than I do."
Egrer appreciated her effort, having used this very tactic many times himself. Still, he remained silent. Weiss didn't give up.
"In a way, I even understand you. My father is basically the officially recognized embodiment of evil, to the Faunus for sure. And my whole childhood I grew up thinking that they just misunderstood him. One book changed everything. It wrote about the scientific method in the search for truth. I only clearly remember one phrase: 'Why do you believe what you believe? What do you know, and why do you think you know it?'"
"Sounds like pseudo-philosophical gibberish," Egrer replied reluctantly. He didn't want to ignore the only person trying to help him right now. "Con artists usually use phrases like that."
"If you think about the meaning of the expression, it immediately becomes clear that it's no gibberish," Weiss answered offendedly. "The point is that believing in something doesn't feel like a belief to us; we just think the world is actually like that. I took off my rose-colored glasses when I truly thought about the accusations against my father."
"You say that as if he's done much more terrible things than Roman," Egrer replied skeptically. "I don't recall Jacques Schnee ever letting Grimm into cities."
"You know, you sounded very funny just now. Since when does a Faunus not consider my father the embodiment of evil, and is even ready to justify him?"
"No offense, but today my dad outdid yours."
"I'm leaning more and more towards the position that the rescue of drowning people is the drowning people's own job," Weiss grumbled.
"It's not that I don't want to accept your help." Egrer looked into her eyes. "I just want to burrow under the covers and pretend I imagined all this."
"Scream into a pillow, it helps."
"Ha-ha," he said, rolling his eyes.
"I'm serious. Just let your emotions out. Or yell at me. Do you want me to make you angry on purpose?"
Egrer looked at her in surprise, but she seemed to be completely serious. He scratched the back of his head and said, lost:
"I think I'll prefer the company of a pillow."
The Atlesian Bullheads flew toward Beacon, taking Torchwick there as well. Egrer followed them with his gaze until they disappeared behind the high-rises. He sighed.
"What do you think the Puppeteer planned this breach for?"
"Most likely as a distraction. All of Beacon and the Atlas soldiers rushed to Vale to help. During that time, she could have done what she wanted. I hope She didn't manage to take advantage of the commotion."
"Letting Grimm into the city just for a distraction..."
"Eg," Weiss said carefully, squeezing his hand, "I don't want to pressure you right now, but we need to resolve this issue as soon as possible."
"Yeah, you're right." He nodded, perfectly understanding what she meant. "This has clearly gotten out of hand. We... we'll tell the Headmaster everything."
Things couldn't go on like this. Egrer had no right to simply... forget everything and leave it as is. He didn't know what Roman and Neo were planning to do, but after everything, he wasn't going to just sit on his hands.
"I'll talk to the others," Weiss nodded, proud of his decision. She understood this wasn't easy for him. "It's unlikely even Blake will be against it."
"If I had known earlier how it would all turn out–"
"Let's not make drama out of nowhere! You have plenty of reasons to get depressed as it is; there's no need to add self-inflicted guilt for lacking information from the future to the list. The past cannot be changed, so regrets will only torment you more."
"But all of this really could have been avoided if I hadn't convinced you not to tell the Headmaster anything!"
Weiss interrupted his thoughts with a single sentence:
"Actually no, that could have only made things worse." Egrer froze, waiting for the continuation where she would crush him with facts. "What? I only have bare assumptions at my disposal, just like you. It's easy to say how it could have been when it never will be. That's empty sophistry; the train has left the station. Leave your 'could haves' behind, right now we only have what we have. Focus on that."
"You know this isn't helping, right?"
"Hmm... I think I know what will definitely help. Plus, there is a worthy occasion." She smiled slyly and pulled out a handkerchief, which she used to wipe the sweat and dirt from Egrer's face. "So, my tired, exhausted team, burdened with protecting two unconscious people, was on its last breath defending against a horde of Grimm. And then you, like a prince on a white horse, came to the rescue with reinforcements and, most importantly, a plan. And you weren't afraid to risk your life for its success! A fairy-tale situation, wouldn't you agree? Can you be considered the knight who saved the princess from the tower?"
"I guess?" Egrer said uncertainly, not entirely grasping where she was going with this. He was thrown off by the abrupt change of subject.
"Besides, I felt how you helped me at Mountain Glenn with your Semblance. I would have had a hard time there without you. And knights, as a rule, receive a reward from their princesses."
Weiss hadn't stopped smiling this whole time, taking Egrer's face in both her hands.
"Oh..." was all he managed to say before her lips covered his.