Chapter-12

The storm lasted for two days. It wasn't until the morning of the third that the skies cleared, the snow ceased and sunlight touched upon the land outside their shelter. Just like his times with Cerise and Neon, Jaune felt energized by their carnal act and so he had felt like a caged lion, counting down the hours until they could do more than stare at screens and work out to bleed off any excess energy.

They hadn't fucked again. Yang's passion filled confession had taken a while to register but when it had, the busty blonde had become shy – skittish almost. Not that he could blame her. Jaune had not been expecting it, and from the way she was acting, neither had she. The shock of it had rendered them both unsure.

None of his previous partners had told him they loved him. Neon had even made sure to tell him afterwards that they were just fooling around, that was it. She didn't want him getting the wrong idea. Fun was fun; it wasn't anything more than that. Though Jaune suspected there was more to it that the cat faunus was keeping to herself, he took her words at face value. As much as he enjoyed having sex with her, he had never once believed it was love.

Jaune wasn't that naive.

Yang was different, though. She was a close friend; a best friend, even. They were all his best friends, the girls on Team RWBY, his teammates from JNPR. The things they had gone through together had bonded them closely, sealing their friendship in good times and bad. Hearing her come apart and passionately declare her love was not something he could simply ignore, even if he wanted to. And he didn't want to. It touched him deeply.

In his mind, he knew it was probably a slip of the tongue. That her mind and tongue got away with itself. While she wasn't technically a virgin, it was her first time with a guy. The sex had been intense. Mistaken feelings could arise from such a coupling, right? When something felt so damn good, it was easy to get lost in the moment. There were plenty of stories of guys and girls getting the wrong idea after their first time. Hell, this was the exact situation Neon had been talking about. After his first time with Cerise, he had felt a well of affection overcome him. It wasn't hard to get lost in such a thing.

That wasn't the only thing holding them back.

With his lust sated and no longer guiding his actions, Jaune now remembered more of what happened to him in that mineshaft. The Grimm in his dream had been unlike any he had ever seen or heard about, save Salem herself. Almost human but not quite; dangerous in a way that regular Grimm weren't. If she could think and talk, did that mean she could plan and scheme? Just how intelligent was she? And while he now knew more about what happened down there, and why he hadn't been immediately torn to shreds, he was still unclear on what that Grimm had done to him.

She could have killed him but she didn't.

As happy as he was to still be alive, it made him nervous. It didn't help that whenever he thought of the Grimm, he could see her clearly in his mind and what he saw was both terrible and magnificent. She had the type of body that meant one thing and one thing only, as if someone had taken clay from the earth and sculpted her to perfection for that single task. Large, perky breasts above a slim, toned waistline. Wide hips curving into a shapely behind. Slender legs that went on and on, toned and sleek. Her face had been horrifying yet beautiful, sharp; her eyes smoldered not with malice, but something else.

Desire.

This knowledge weighed on his thoughts. He needed to alert the General, let him know about this new information. Having a Grimm like that near Atlas, near Mantle, was not good, not good at all. But they were currently in the middle of a mission. While he could relay it through Penny, the current situation should take precedence. Not only that, he wanted to speak with Ironwood in person anyway. The man was a veteran huntsman and soldier – he might know what that Grimm was and could answer any questions Jaune might have.

So that would have to wait – at least for the time being.

After a simple breakfast, they spent the morning digging out the pathway outside the door and garage. Without the howling winds and snowfall, it wasn't quite so bitterly cold anymore. When they got their first glimpse out across the mountains and valley they were tasked to keep watch of, it stole their breath.

The view was magnificent; an ocean of gleaming white snow, glittering under the newly risen sun. Jaune had never seen the sky so clear and blue before, not since stepping foot on Solitas. The air was crisp and clean, fresh in a way that reminded him of his backyard back home after rain but different at the same time. A frozen river split the mountains and kept them apart, winding down through the valley and out into a massive ice sheet; a frozen lake, several miles across. It was there that they spotted the reason they were deployed here in the first place.

They were a blight upon the landscape; a mass of black, winding much like the river, marching relentlessly through the deep snow.

Grimm.

A lot of Grimm .

"Shit," Yang breathed out. "I guess the storm slowed them down."

Jaune had expected them to be further along but Yang was right; even if the Grimm cared little for the weather, and would march right through a hurricane if they had to, it looked like it had been enough to slow their migration down. It made sense; that blizzard had dumped an ungodly amount of snow on them. But that wasn't all.

"They're off course," Jaune said after a moment, pulling out his scroll. Bringing up the map, he quickly found their location. Consulting the compass, he frowned. "I think we're in a bit of trouble."

"What? Why?"

He gave Yang a grim look. "They're heading right for Amity."

It was what the General had feared; the worst case scenario. Their predictions had said they would likely pass them by, take the easier path south-east and keep a mountain between them. They weren't heading south-east, at least not anymore. They were heading directly south. On the other side of the frozen lake, there was no other way they could go other than follow the lay of the land. It would funnel them directly into the path of Amity; worse than that, it wasn't much more of a march along that same route until they would reach Mantle.

The kingdom with a very big hole in the wall, ripe for the picking.

"We need to do something," Jaune snapped his scroll shut. "Now."

While Yang got their snow bikes ready, Jaune alerted Penny to the situation. Penny's exuberant smile dimmed, then vanished completely as he explained what was happening. The happy-go-lucky girl was replaced by the efficient machine created to protect Atlas and the world.

"The General has been alerted to the situation," she said calmly, face resembling stone. While her voice still retained that same spark of life Penny exuded always, there was also a rigid quality to it that felt alien. "ACE-OP's will be deployed to sector 12b. Huntsman Arc, you and Huntress Xiao Long are to assist in delaying the Grimm horde. Coordinates will be sent through now. Contacting Huntress Rose, Huntress Schnee, Huntress Valkyrie – this is a Code Red Alert. I repeat; this is a Code Red," the screen split into sections and after a moment, Ruby, Weiss and Nora appeared.

"Penny?" Ruby asked, before spotting the rest of them. "Jaune? Weiss? What is going on?"

"Grimm," Jaune said.

"Your teams are to converge on this location," Penny intoned, bringing up a map and the relevant information. Their scrolls pinged. "Your mission is to occupy the Grimm until the Ace-OP's arrive. Additional airships will be deployed to help cull the encroaching horde."

Jaune watched as steely resolve settled over the faces of his friends.

"Got it," Ruby said. "Heading out now – see you all soon."

"You bet'cha," Nora replied before vanishing.

"Stay safe," Weiss said before her screen went black. Jaune shared a nod with Ruby.

Before he canceled the call, Penny said in her usual, emotive voice, "Ruby, Jaune – good luck."

Jaune and Ruby smiled, "Thanks Penny."

"Everything is ready!" Yang hollered from the garage as the screen blanked.

When he entered, she tossed him a winter coat and a pair of goggles. Slipping into the long coat, he pulled the goggles up over his head and let them rest around his neck. Making sure Crocea Mors was strapped securely to his hip, he swung his leg over one of the bikes and shuffled forward to get comfortable.

"Know how to ride one of these things?" Yang asked with a cocky smirk. The seriousness of the situation had blown away any lingering awkwardness that had settled between them since they'd fucked. He was glad. While they hadn't been avoiding each other, there had been a subtle wariness to how they'd been interacting.

"I think so," he turned the key and pulled on the throttle, the engine roaring to life. "Yeah, I got it."

"Last one there has to buy the other a drink," Yang bet, slamming her hand against the large red button beside the garage door. With a loud thunk and hiss, the door opened. Yang swung onto her own bike and gave it a solid rev.

This was the Yang he knew and loved.

"You're on," Jaune said, kicking off the break. With a jolt, the bike surged out of the bay and onto the snow. Yang was instantly beside him – and then they were off, kicking up ice and snow as they roared across the perimeter of the outpost and down the nearest slope.

Cold air whipped against their faces and it wasn't long before Jaune was forced to pull his goggles up over his eyes, shielding them from the harsh winds. They didn't have a direct path to the Grimm, forced to zigzag their way down the mountainside, around large outcrops of rock and ice, and even through massive snow drifts that towered above. Yang whooped with joy every time she caught air, her long mane of blonde hair billowing behind her like a streak of sunlight.

It took longer than Jaune liked for them to reach flat terrain, pushing his bike to the limit as they approached the frozen ice sheet they had watched the Grimm cross. Suddenly, a red flare shot into the sky on the far side of the river.

Yang pointed, Jaune giving her a nod.

Ruby and Ren were close.

Another flare joined the red one in the sky, this one purple. Weiss and Blake. They were further along, closer to the Grimm. Jaune reached into his satchel and pulled out the flare gun he had packed. Yellow filled the sky, letting the rest know their location.

The final flare was pink. It hovered directly over the Grimm, all the way on the other side – right where they were all heading. Nora's outpost had been the closest, situated in the mouth of the valley that fed into plains around Mantle.

Jaune tightened his grip on the throttle and gave it everything he had.

A large explosion signaled the beginning as the Grimm finally came into sight. The stragglers were ignored, smaller Grimm that weren't much of a threat, the pair accelerating by them as they left the frozen lake behind. They were soon noticed by some of the larger Grimm, a few of them breaking off in an attempt to give chase. Most of them, however, were focused on what was happening further on, whipping up into a frenzy as another explosion went off.

Jaune could just barely make out the familiar pink smoke of his teammates favored grenades.

Suddenly, a massive Sabyr was blocking their way, covered in bone spikes and roaring to the heavens. Patches of ice clung to its body, its eyes burning with hatred. Yang sped up, darting in front of Jaune and headed straight at the Grimm.

Jaune watched in awe as she leapt up onto the seat, her hands still on the handlebars. Crouched upon the bike, she waited until the last possible moment before kicking off, slamming her feet into the backend before back flipping away. The force of her kick tilted the bike up and flipped it, straight into the face of the Grimm with great force. The Sabyr screamed as three hundred plus pounds of steel slammed it aside, bone mask shattering beneath the impact.

Jaune reached out and caught Yang's hand as she soared above him, yanking her down behind him. The bike shifted between his thighs as her weight thumped down, her warm body pressed against his back.

"You like that?" she yelled in his ear as they screamed past the dying Grimm. Several of the horde roared their disapproval.

He certainly did.

Grimm leapt at them, screeching wildly. Jaune swerved and banked, avoiding their swiping claws and fangs by inches. Yang brought her prosthetic up, firing fire dust rounds into the fray. They had definitely caught their attention.

"There they are!" Yang called out, pointing ahead.

Nora was perched up high atop a spire of rock, firing indiscriminately. Her grenades cut a swathe of destruction through the swarm, igniting their ire further. When a few took to the air – Sphinxes, their wings billowing wide as they spewed great gouts of fire – a series of white glyphs formed a barrier around his teammate, the flames halted.

Weiss Schnee had arrived on the battlefield. 

Lightning arced off her blade and through the Sphinxes, frying them in an instant. As they fell, Weiss darted across her glyphs, twirling and parrying any attempts the Grimm made with practiced ease. Blake was close behind, blade flashing as she hacked and slashed at their limbs, twisting through the air. When she was struck, she popped into a puff of smoke, having already moved on.

"I'm going in," Yang said, leaping from the moving bike with a battle cry. Ember Celia cracked as she pumped rounds into the closest beast, the Grimm flailing in pain as she pummeled them with powerful strikes.

Jaune continued onward, passing by Nora's perch and pulling around until he faced the entirety of what they were standing against. Hundreds – no, thousands of Grimm, baying for blood; a sea of black and white and red.

So Jaune did what he did best.

Why had Penny chosen this location? Their mission wasn't to destroy them all. Rightly so, they could never kill so many Grimm alone. They were a distraction until the Ace-OP's arrived. But what was the plan then? Even with the Ace-OP's, killing this many Grimm wasn't a feasible option. The sheer numbers were against them.

A quick glance around allowed him to see the lay of the land. The path to Amity was wide but the Grimm needed to first pass through a narrow corridor between two cliffs. That was the funnel point – and Jaune quickly realized that was the plan. If that path was sealed, the Grimm would have nowhere else to go but back. They would never attempt to go over, not without a good reason. If there was a city on the other side, it would do little to stop their mindless desire to destroy humanity. But Amity wasn't for another several dozen miles and Mantle was even further. The General was going to forcibly correct their path and send them where they had initially predicted.

It was their job to keep them here until that happened.

A streak of red appeared amongst the Grimm, the curved blade of a familiar scythe flashing as it bisected Grimm like tissue paper. Ruby came into view in brief bursts before exploding into a cascade of rose petals, cutting a brutal path of death through the swarm. The crackle of Storm Flower unloading rounds into their flanks could be heard, following in Ruby's destructive wake.

There was a beauty in the savagery of her skill, and Jaune couldn't help but admire it.

But he had sat around enough.

Revving the engine, Jaune let loose, kicking up snow as he accelerated straight at the wall of Grimm. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he identified the biggest, meanest Grimm he could – a Grimm with large, red, leathery wings and a pointed head – and went right for it.

"Weiss!" he yelled with everything he had. "Hit it!"

His leap from the bike was much less graceful than Yang's had been, kicking off the seat at the last possible moment. Jaune tumbled through the snow as the bike crashed into the side of the Grimm – a Teryx, he thought wildly – the creature screeching in pain and rage. Not a second later, an arc of lightning struck the bike, compromising the dust engine within. Jaune flinched as it exploded with a massive boom, the shockwave rattling his teeth as the area was bathed in a sea of flame. Dozens of Grimm shrieked in pain as they stumbled and fell, consumed by the inferno.

Weiss landed next to him gently.

"I'm not paying for that," she said haughtily, tossing her massive braid over her shoulder. Jaune couldn't help it; he laughed.

"I'm sure the General will understand," she offered him a hand which he accepted. "Good work."

"Naturally," she rolled her eyes playfully. "What's the plan?"

"I think the General means to block the passage to Amity," Jaune relayed at once, pointing towards the cliffs. Weiss took one look and nodded.

"I see – that makes sense. Hold our ground?"

Jaune nodded. "Get up high if you can – like Nora. Weiss, I want you to control the air. Don't let any of those flying Grimm get on top or behind us. Use your summons – here, this should help."

They were still holding hands so all Jaune had to do was focus his aura and semblance. Weiss gasped in surprise as light and warmth suffused her being, her eyelids fluttering as pure energy surged through her small body. Her pale cheeks flushed a healthy rose, her eyes gleaming with barely restrained vitality.

"Jaune," she scolded, though she didn't pull away. If anything, her hand tightened around his own. "A better warning would be appreciated in the future."

Jaune grinned, though he sobered quickly. "I'll keep that in mind. Supply Nora with any lightning dust you can spare."

Weiss nodded, "Got it."

When he finished charging her aura, he unsheathed his sword and deployed his shield. Facing the enemy, he had only taken a step before he was halted by a hand on his forearm.

"Weiss?"

She stepped in close, her warm breath ghosting across the shell of his ear as she whispered, "Don't be reckless. Stay where we can see each other, okay?"

Jaune felt his eyes widen as her lips lightly pressed against his cheek, cold and burning hot all at once. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.

"Don't do anything stupid," she commanded, louder. Then she was gone, bounding through the air atop her semblance. Jaune stared after her in shock before shaking his head, forcing it to the back of his mind.

He couldn't think about it right now. He had Grimm to kill.