Whtie Gold: What She Knows

Smoky haze told her so much, the gunfire endemic in training, the pitched battle that pulled between life and death. And the the need to act swiftly and judiciously. All around haze lingered, a reminder of the death she dealt on far with a rifle far too large to be practical. Yet, she made it work, leveraged the tool to her own devices. With help of course. Distel, you never would let me down. Not as long as I fed that great maw. Narrowing her vision, she eyed the great black bird that threatened to swoop down from above. Lining the barrel with the sight at her eyes, she took a breath.

The Grimm slowed, to a slovenly crawl of aching muscles and fluttering feathers. Marly watched for any indication of intent, a pattern to place her precious payload. Just a dive? Easy enough. Exhaling, her prey returned to normal speed and began the predicted dive along with a cohort, charging through the atmosphere. Their target was a stout young lady wielding a mighty war hammer and sporting bright flashy colors. She was accompanied by a prim and proper woman in a highborn dress and an axe draped over one shoulder. They stood prepared for the duo to drop upon them.

Judging her attack, she lined up the travel and squeezed a stiff trigger. Springs released and a hammer fell. Another deafening roar assailed Marly's ears, tearing once more at delicate tissue. She'd grown used to it after so long, burying one ear into the high collar she used to shield her mouth and nose from Dust residue. The projectile soared outward, traveling in her predicted arc and striking true at the breast of the winged nightmare with a burst of black and blue. A split second later the dull thud of Kull's cannon announced another rounds flight. The bird was still reeling from the chunk of meat forcibly removed from it when the second shell struck.

A black cloud erupted from the spot and Marly pulled the bolt back on her rifle, letting the spent cartridge tumble down to the stones. They are not going to be happy with all this Dust I'm using. Well, it's for a good cause. She watched the second bird descend, and descend. It's not going to stop. She watched the Nevermore beat furiously at the ground, defying gravity to stay above its enemy. The axe wielding Silesta pulled the weapon apart and began firing from exposed barrels, while Nora sprinted up toward the beast's thrashing claws. No, it's going to send a-

Too late as her fear was realized, the mighty bird Grimm unleashed a torrent of razor feathers at the hapless girl. Too late she threw up her guard as she was knocked onto her rear. She's not gonna have time, gotta act. Marly pulled the rifle to her cheek again and lined up the shot. Pulling the trigger, she expected to be accosted by another shockwave of sound. It didn't come. No, I lost track. Stupid! Fumbling into her pouch, producing three more precious capsules of Dust, she pulled the bolt to its load position and hastily threaded the rounds in.

A scream let out from out on the wall, and Marly looked up to the horror of Nora caught in the beak of the dread demon. Silesta battered away with her axe split to two pistols, but the Nevermore ignored the feeble attempts and struck back with deadly talons. Still fumbling with the rounds, the sound of thunder began to rumble. She looked up once more. Black wings thrashed in time to their owner's head, and Marly witnessed the girl swinging wildly in its jaws. A brief flash, a crack a lightning, and she was falling to the wall below her. The Nevermore tumbled toward the street below, missing much of its body where the neck would be.

"Behind us, the white one's in trouble!" her surly friend shouted at her, raising the sword he'd shifted into a large cannon. Marly spun on heels, finishing the intricate loading of her rifle and slamming the bolt closed. Raising the long simple weapon, she took aim at a Nevermore out of a trio that were dropping down onto Pyrrha and Vallis. Again she inhaled, but it was no use. Out of the corner of an eye a Griffon was dropping at a meteoric rate toward her, too fast to do anything other than roll away. Exhaling she took to her shoulder and came up with Distel's thorn protruding out where the barrel had been.

Her foe crashed heavily in front of her, slashing at the woman frantically. A quick stab at the neck, twist, and retract and the annoyance was dealt with. Whipping the barrel back into place, Marly again sighted the Nevermore. Vallis was keeping the other two at bay the best he could, sliding under claws that would tear him down. She took aim, swiftly marking out the beasts brain. A long shot, a precise shot. No time to rethink this.

"Try and take the other one down!"

Kull unleashed baritone music as the cannon sung its morbid song. She squeezed the trigger and added her own tenor to the mix, watching as both shells sailed out to touch Grimm flesh. Two of em, what about the third? Her shot missed the mark, skidding off the back of its neck in a spray of black and green. A cloud of black erupted from the other, as Kull's shell hit home. She racked the bolt and scanned for the third. What she sought had lodged itself in the gaps in the stone wall. And along its flank someone was climbing.

Shining in the light, Pyrrha Nikos ascended the beast with a flurry of sword and gunfire. She was twirling along, defying the laws of the world through sheer martial prowess. On she climbed, and finally she mounted the bird's back. I talked her up, but I really hadn't seen anything of it til now. She really is something, reminds me of... The warrior stood with a spear point planted and shield low, before moving forward with a purposeful step. Griffons were flying nearby, one diving in a shallow arc toward her. Marly let fly a shell, preferring to protect her colleague than preserve her ammo. The shot connected and her target disappeared. Always said it was too powerful, too wasteful. Still don't care.

Pyrrha had stopped at the head, raising her deadly weapon high. Marly watched as the air distorted, and rings formed in the light bent atmosphere. What in the world? Downward the bladed tip flew, and the crack of thunder resounded outward. Downward the spear soared, connecting flesh. Down it drove, until the woman behind the weapon sunk to her knees to keep hold. Pressure blasted out and downward, the Grimm exploding. Into white.

"By my mother's backside!" Kull cursed beside her, letting the cannon sag, "what kind of people did you get involved with?"

"There's more that you don't know, and things I don't even want to know anymore. That girl is something else." Marly watched as the giant corpse fell back to stony ground, and Pyrrha casually jumped off back to the wall. If only you weren't here, yes, get rid of you and I could get back to my misery. She shook her head, trying to clear the fog that wrapped around her thoughts. Wait, why would I think that? She's a fellow Huntress, a damn fine one. I'd never want her dead. The fog drifted away, and she wondered why it had even been there in the first place. The stress of battle, the tiresome march. It must be weighing on her.

"So you don't think they're part of why this whole CTS business is happening? Sure they didn't have a hand in it?" He looked onward while she turned her gaze to his arms. They held the tales of many lifetimes, and she wanted to find out as many as possible.

"No, like I said, they just showed up yesterday. Came waltzing through the snowfield and yelled up at the guards." She omitted the part where they lied about their team and just what they were. Unnecessary. I said I'd trust you, and I will. "And the little red one, the one I told you took off to look for what was happening here? She's got an innocence that would make even soiled bedsheets blush."

Kull let out a long sigh as he rested the blade on scarred stones, looking back now at the two leaders resting from another Griffon strike. Marly watched the Nevermore she grazed lift off into the sky, flapping madly to escape death. A cloud of white flecks rose beneath it to saturate the area, and the two that were responsible for those stood facing each other.

"They kind of remind me of my team, how we used to act years ago. I'm still amazed we're even together now, so few make it past two years."

She glanced over at him, letting the short man's easy manner relax her aching mind. "Well, if I told you they almost weren't, would you believe me?"

Rumbling picked up, swiftly overtaking the ground and uprooting stones driven downward for support. Marly felt her footing loosen, and she swung around to make sure everyone was okay to get away from the wall in time. A flash caught her eye. She turned to see a figure on a roof before feeling the full force of several blades striking home. They flew off of her, blunted by Aura, but she still sailed backward from the force. The edge came close, and Marly absently hoped Kull could stop her. The edge came up to her, and was behind her in an instant. Nothing below but the open air and field of Grimm remained.

"I'm holding it over you til the day you die, saying this was gonna be easy."

Marly Gideon, or just Gideon as they insisted on calling her, stood on the wall of a little three pot town called Passage. It was pretty important to say, having a direct link from Beggars Moor to the city of Vale proper. She'd been told it was for immigration and border control, possibly also to confirm trade and other delicate matters that couldn't wait. But it wasn't why she was here, no, she was here to escort a Director of Affairs in some talks being held with the Headmaster of Beacon. It was all just another day to her and her team.

The young man to her left straightened, letting a sword dangle at his belt freely. "Well Gideon, if I had known a giant Grimm was going to be stomping our way, I'd have told them on the five hour flight over."

Her leader, a strapping young man by the name of Dunav Grosham, was staring pointedly out over the field, watching their guest slowly trundle toward them. He was a capable man, handy with the slim blade he'd crafted. It was one of the handful of fourth generation combination weapons, a real marvel of ingenuity from the work of a professor at Atlas. Marly just carried Sonnenblume, a ruddy long rifle from the previous generation that was little more than pipe and trigger. But she was good with it, and that was all that counted for her class at Atlas.

They stood there in bleached uniforms, a mass of soldiery and discipline. And she hated it. Looking back, Marly watched the group down below shuffling about. The Director stood before a wizened man, a shock of white hair messily strewn about on his head. He glanced her way, and she looked into deep eyes that seemed to pierce through her tough facade, reading her soul like a book. She looked back, feeling the intrusion linger and fade. He was such a kind fellow when I finally met him.

The dull hum of engines began in the distance, signaling the approach of their relief. "Our betters our gonna be here soon. Ready to see what the real Huntsman can do Gideon?" The shrill voice of Tenebra Baskivale rang in her ears, and she lamented the poor girl's voice once more in her life.

"I'm sure they've got nothing on the best team of class B!" Gottfreige Dowsher, the last to make it in from initiation, the last to study, and the last to speak. She wasn't sure what to make of his praise.

"Relax, they aren't here to compete," her leader chastised," they are here because a bunch of second year students can't handle a death machine. I tend to agree with them."

She couldn't help but agree, they had succeeded quite a bit in the past, taking a high place in the last tournament they were allowed to attend. But this was far outside of their skill, and it could only end in sorrow if they were forced to take up their arms. Vibrations began rolling through the air, twin Dust jets sending a piercing note to them on the wind. The Bullhead rose up above the tree line, and Marly watched the small transport hurtle toward the village square. It soared by the tower that made this whole place even have a spot on the maps. But I loved it there from the first moment I met the old man.

Touching down, Dunav motioned for them to go. Marly hitched her rifle up on its strap and walked down world worn stairs. They walked together toward the small transport, silent and steely eyed in the way they'd been taught. She walked uncomfortably next to Dunav, taking in the young man's determination to rise above where he'd been slotted in life. She shared the desire, but knew she couldn't betray who she was to get there. So they went toward the group that was stepping off the Bullhead in front of them.

Beacon Huntsman, the people who'd beaten them so many times in the yearly tournaments, they were the best of the best. And they didn't look it in the slightest. Two men, two women, each dressed in wildly different manners. The foremost was a man with slicked black hair, the look of a dullard, and the calm stance of a murderer. He watched the group approach with a small sneer, and Marly began disliking his roguish face immediately. They reached the team, and the taller of the two women stepped in front of the man. I'm sure I remember him now, he hasn't changed much.

"So you're the team escorting him? Ship shape, but inexperienced." She spoke with a crisp, condescending tone. Her hair was long and unkempt, her eyes steel incarnate, and she held herself rigidly like a soldier on parade. "I'm guessing they only sent the runts because it's just an escort mission inside a kingdom. Looks like you get to be taught another lesson instead." She walked away, holding the long sheath of her blade close and stiff.

"Sorry 'bout that, she's usually... slightly nicer." The black haired man scratched the back of his head in anxious mirth. "I'm Qrow, and the ray of sunshine is Raven. The woman speaking with your Director is Summer, and behind her Tai Yang. Those two are a bit better at this social thing then the two of us."

A slight cough brought their attention to where Summer and the Headmaster were conversing. "Well, students, I spoke with Miss Rose here, she says they are ready to help us with our problem," the Headmaster said softly. He looked relaxed, but the tension was there behind his calm demeanor.

"We're just happy to help," the diminutive Summer Rose spoke beside him, "I know it isn't your fault, so please bear with us a little." Summer Rose, so that was her name. I'll have to tell Ruby when I see her.

"I'm ready to take out some of the stress from that ride," Raven growled beside her.

She looked over with a sorrowful look in her eyes, the discs of silver reflecting the haughty figure of her teammate. "We'll have more than enough to do when we-"

"I'm going to kill it, and that's it. I don't need any more help doing this simple thing." And the steely woman walked away, toward the wall where Marly had just been. A blond haired man ran after her, matching her pace at an intimate distance and gesturing slightly as he spoke with her.

"I'm... sorry for my friend's manner. She's just eager to get started." Summer slowly walked away from Marly's team, keeping her body tightly bundled inside a white cloak. Marly watched her approach the two still talking, but not join with them. She seemed alone among a team, despite her apparent leadership position.

"Well, I'm sure you've got our backs in case sis over there causes any more problems. I'll go join up with our illustrious leader and the sheep dog. Maybe we'll talk when we get back, pick up some tricks from you four, maybe talk about the new weapons I've heard about." Qrow sauntered away toward his team, a picture of calm assurance in the face of danger.

"How in the world are those four a team still?" Dunav blurted out in exasperation, looking at the rest of his team for answers. Marly felt much the same way.

I wasn't certain in them then, didn't have the experience to tell them this was going to be a fight for their lives. To put aside whatever was bothering them.

"Get up! You need to get back in the fight you fool!"

A man's voice, smooth yet graveled from years and years of abuse. Marly's eyes snapped open, staring at the clear blue sky and focusing on a passing fleck of black. A sharp crack of gunfire shocked her upright, and she gazed out over where she was now. It's not eighteen years ago, it's the now. No more lessons to learn, just work to do and people to protect. The Grimm were surrounding the town, an ocean of blackened maws and claws that held no remorse. And before her was a man from the past, come once more into her life.

"You idiot, I can't stay here all day, I've got to keep moving!" Qrow yelled at her, sending several more rounds out from his sword shifted to a magnum. A Beowolf fell a short ways off, and the horde molded around the gap. They held back slightly with the nervous shuffling of fear evident on their bodies. Marly wrenched he rifle up from its resting place by her side and stood with its aid. Never drop your life, first rule they taught. Maybe that academy was good for something.

"Are you loaded?"

She answered by sighting down a Deathstalker clamoring through the ranks of lesser Grimm. The bolt was still closed and she slowly squeezed the trigger, forgoing her usual methods in favor of shutting the smug rogue up. The familiar sharp burst of sound slammed into her ears as a large shell flew outward toward her prey. An explosion of grey surrounded the squat monster's mask, and as the cloud cleared a gap in the chitin was plain as day. Qrow took aim and finished the beast off with a volley of magnum rounds into the hole she created.

"Good answer, now let's get back to business. What's going on with Ruby and her friends? All I saw was a couple of you on the wall before the Goliath took it down."

Marly reloaded her rifle and placed the butt of the weapon on the ground, letting it take some of the ache she felt from her fall. "Ruby should be safe in the town, she went looking for why all these Grimm came out here. The rest are following a plan to fall back and get the civilians out, Jaune came up with that one. He's not too bad at the whole leader thing."

"And you would know? Anyways, I need you to go back to Passage, they are going to need you if this keeps getting out of hand." He began to turn away from her, letting the tension he held leak out into the world.

"She's so much like Summer, you know that right?"

The man whipped his head around, fire erupting in the glare he gave to her. "What would you know about her? She was the best of us, and... she couldn't have gone at a worse time. I couldn't do anything to stop it either." He marched back into her face, letting the anger radiate into it.

"And I'm guessing that's her daughter then? She's the spitting image, down to the timidness. And the way she fights, not so much full of life as raw determination." She stared back into fiery eyes, calmly dispelling the fog of the past.

Qrow leaned back, frowning at the callous woman. "You know something. So let's hear it."

"You really don't remember that day so long ago? I guess it makes sense, I didn't remember it until traveling with those youngsters." She shifted on her rifle, trying to make some comfort. The Grimm were still held back by a dread from the death they'd dealt up above. "I'm sorry to hear you also lost someone, it wasn't easy for me either."

Color began draining out of the old Huntsman's face, and the dawning of realization gave way to humility. "Oh... that day. Yeah, I remember it a little. That's why you seemed so familiar, you and Passage. I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it's in the past now. And it looks like you ended up in the same boat. Amazing how few teams stay together."

"True, those kids almost wound up the same as me... or you."

Marly began walking toward the Grimm line, preparing to fight her way back toward the tree line. "So you're going to go with them? You seem to believe in what they plan on doing, why else would you let them go, Headmaster?"

"I'm no leader, just the patsy who got stuck with a job." She looked back to take in Qrow's figure. Still unkempt, roguish, and wily as the fox. But an iron stuck to his body, his hair tainted by time's passing. He was still the same Huntsman she saw in Passage, cool and collected. And burdened now with new stories and lives. "I'm not even sure what's going to happen, only that the people responsible mentioned Haven. It's all we've got to go on."

"Then you need to get going. The white one, Pyrrha, she's going to fight til the end. And Jaune is most likely going to be there by her side. That means Ruby's gonna need someone to watch over her."

"The other two?"

Marly gave him a quick smile. "They'll follow their team, I'm betting they don't want to lose the girl again."

"So you know about that too? Guess Oz was right, so many people are going to turn their attention to her if she turns out to fit that old story."

She turned away, glad that Mertin and her weren't crazy in believing she could be out of legend like that. Your grandfather heard it from his, and he'd heard it from yet another one. Down the line into history, before Dust, before we could even think of how to fight back against the Grimm. With shaky steps she walked onward, facing forward toward the wall of darkness. She rummaged around in her pouch, counting the shells she had at her disposal. Oh, you guys are gonna hate me after this. Taking rifle in hand, she pulled it up to her cheek and sighted down the line.

"When you see Ruby again, tell her she'd make an old Atlas Huntress happy if she never changed."

And Marly fired, letting the full force of her rifle's cartridges slice through the enemy. Racking the bolt far too fast, she fired again. The smell of Dust invaded her nostrils as she fished out three new rounds, deftly loading them in her calm haze. Again. And again. And again. She let their force slice the path before her. So much waste, yet it was all for the best. I'll be back soon. The din of fire ceased as she loaded the third batch of cartridges, savoring the wide gulf that lay before her in a sea of black flecks.

"I'll do that, Gideon," Qrow intoned behind her, preparing to enter the city, "Just make sure you're ready for when the call comes. I don't think they're through with Vale yet."

Marly marched forward into the clear field before her, shifting her rifle to a pick and daring anything to approach her. The walls of her path were strewn with wounded Grimm, and their fellows slashed and snarled as the Huntress who had slaughtered so many walked by. If they only knew I have nothing but a handful of rounds left. They didn't and so they held back from the incensed woman who walked by them. Out at the tree line a group began milling around looking across the field at her. No matter, she wasn't going to let them be.

A clearing, an area to let all the worlds problems move on by her. That was what Marly Gideon, or just Gideon as she'd long grown used to, had come across. It was familiar and foreign, the life that had been there the last time taken along with her short lived comrades. Marly slowed to a stop near a fallen tree, searching around for any unwanted guests before letting herself fall into a sitting position. Maybe they'll be able to get a few answers in Mistral. She stretched outward, shaking the fighting out of her muscles.

"Well, looks like I found a purpose again, huh Dunav? You wanted to rise above it all, but in the end I was the one who escaped." She spoke to no one, well, no one who would hear her anyway. It'd been so long since she thought about her class B days, and how she'd come so far from her fate. "Those five are an amazing sight, they really are something else here in Vale. But I think it's the white one who surprised me the most. So much talent, so much pain. And still she kept her eyes forward, searching for tomorrow."

She felt the grain of her rifle and appreciated the weapon once more, how it carried her through life on firm shoulders. Distel really has been the only thing around for the last three years, since I left. And now the times were shifting, change blowing on the wind. She'd learned about how peace would be a fleeting thing back in Atlas, how they needed to be ready for an inevitable and sad conflict. How they needed soldiers to fight and protect their country.

"How they wanted you and me and everyone else in our class to be sacrifices to their greed!" Marly knew why she shouldn't yell, but she stopped caring. They could all come at her at once and she would just tear them down, with her rifle, with the only thing left to her.

"And then I'd never see those smiling faces again, the warm sweetbread smell never wafting up the road. I guess you were right too, we have so many who rely on us." Marly sunk back down, letting the calm return as best it could. "I wonder why the other two joined up, willingly spitting on our name as Huntsman?" The thoughts she'd ignored for so long were seeping in to her mind, suffusing the gaps she'd long held. Those five really do remind me of our old days, how we thought we'd change the world. But I think Ruby and Pyrrha are the ones who were really fated to from the start. Her mind drifted, and she found herself back at a familiar place, facing a familiar face.

Dunav stood before her, and she studied the boy's frame, trying to determine what had made him so hardened to the world. It was a question she'd long had and one she never thought she'd answer successfully. So it became a bit of a game, one to play in the off hours. Marly focused on the shoulders today, noting the rounded nature, maybe from a heavy pack in his youth? Or just the way he was born, softer and less pronounced than even Gottfreige's miniscule offering. I thought about it afterward, it was because of your duty to us that they were so rounded with time.

"Still thinking about what makes me tick Gideon? Or should I say Marls?" His words were soft, a rare instance that she savored when it happened. "I've told you before, this was all I could do after my parents were killed. I can't let anymore kids suffer that pain."

"I still think there's more to it." There isn't, he was just so noble.

Dunav laughed a little. "Nope, just what I am Marls." He looked back at her, taking in the coat she'd been issued and her light hair held back by a rope. "What about you? I've asked before and you always shirk away, so how 'bout it?"

She looked back into his eyes, shifting uneasily. It was a good time to tell him, they were alone on the wall as the other two were talking with the Vale Headmaster below. "Well, first, please stop calling me Marls or Marly. You know they singled me out on my name, only answered when I used my other one." The instructors for class B had taken an initial dislike to her rebellious attitude and made it a point that they could strip what they wanted from her. "And... I don't want to say. I'm just here to be a Huntress, to do a job no one else can do." I wasn't lying, but then, it wasn't the entire reason.

"I still think- oh, they're almost to the Goliath. Let's table this for another time, okay Gideon?" Dunav yelled down at the two still meandering, ordering them to his and her's side. Marly watched the team walking in the field, toward an enemy that she wouldn't be able to take down by her own hand. And they walked disparate. Raven was striding ahead of the group, taking great pains in keeping distance from the rest. Qrow was just sauntering around with Tai Yang, the blond haired man looking concerned over their teammate's attitude. And behind them Summer was just walking, still bundled up in her cloak and looking unprepared for the fight ahead.

"Do you think they normally look so uncoordinated?" Marly wondered, leaning on Sonnenblume to relieve her aching feet. "I remember that team from Beacon being pretty in tune with each other at the tournament a few months ago."

"I don't know, that Raven woman seems to be a hard one to get along with."

Steps behind them signaled the last two members of their team. "Who's hard to get along with? I try really hard to not yell at you all that much." Tenebra, always with a subtle dig at her teammates abilities, even if she did do well during training.

"No, one of that team, she's a real cold number." Dunav kicked a rock away, letting the simple motion break some of the tension.

Marly watched as they approached the beast, and she watched the tense opening moves play out before her. Raven drew her blade, standing in a stiff legged stance and letting her foe come to her. The other three waited for her strike. And it came, like thunder she dropped the blade when the Goliath dipped its head to sweep her away. And it merely blunted the strike, a great tusk slamming into the woman and sending her flying backward into Tai Yang's arms. Qrow raised his blade and the faint sounds of yelling came back to Marly and her team.

The blade shifted into an enormous scythe as the rogue charged forward, dodging the first tusk and leaping into the air to sink the mighty weapon into flesh. His impact sunk deep. And the Goliath's head swung around, throwing the would be slayer off into the distance. Summer threw her arms up and revealed the small body under her heavy garment. The two ran after Qrow, an unconscious Raven in tow. And their guest continued onward, keeping a moderate pace that would have it at the gates in a matter of minutes. I didn't think it would be so painful.

"They can't be gone. What are they doing?"

"It's no use, we can't let that thing get closer."

"They aren't back yet, it'll be here any minute."

"Then we'll do it, after all, that's what being a Huntsman is all about. The job no else can do, right Marls?"

And she found herself falling, the ground rising toward her at a rapid pace. The feeling of lightness washed over her, Gottfreige's semblance, and she alighted on the ground taking off into a light jog. The other three sprinted ahead, drawing blades and firearms aplenty. Marly sighted down her rifle, feeling the reliable weight of Sonnenblume lay on her hand. "I don't fear you, you fear me." And she fired, a great cacophony of noise as the Dust shell flew toward her target. No time to check if it flew true, she racked the bolt and slammed it closed to fire once more.

Under her hailstorm they ran, and she watched as Tenebra and Gottfreige flew into the air to strike with sword and shot. Their Grimm prey stood, unfazed by the massive rounds from Marly, and watched the two come soaring at venomous eyes. Rearing slightly, the beast roared out in fury. And her friends were sent sailing back towards her. Their bodies rolled along for a time, ending under a hundred yards away from her. Dunav stood alone, blade in hand as the Goliath bore down upon him. He stood at the edge of darkness, and Marly watched him turn back to her.

"No, don't."

And he left, letting the blade fall into segmented links around him as he ran toward his doom. Marly raised her weapon, frantically reloading the two shot reservoir and taking aim at the Goliath, letting fly as fast she could. Dunav danced between legs, letting his weapon slash and whip around in a dance of death. "We can do this." She focused harder, fingers flying as Dust capsules fell all around her. The hearing she'd prized for so long was gone, and still she fired. Her leader was in front once more, Marly paused to fill the rifle's hungry gut once more. He sprang forward, spinning with the full force of his martial might.

Tusks twisted, the beast's head jolted. And Dunav Grosham, the skilled leader who had held them together with grit and vinegar, was thrown to the ground. A great foot slammed downward, Marly watched it drop. She inhaled. Each agonizing second, each precarious thought. The lifetime, the ten lifetimes she waited for him to show any motion, any chance of escape. And it finally fell. Dunav, so strong and resolute, had been crushed underfoot. In an unceremonious moment her life was changed, altered forever. I couldn't do anything to stop it.

Marly finally exhaled, letting her perceptions return to normal. She stood there, looking over the unconscious bodies of her comrades and their assailant slowly making its way toward where she stood. Leaden arms dropped Sonnenblume, the life drained out of her with it. She waited for her death, unable to bear the burden anymore. And it didn't come. Out in the distance a white cloak ran, it ran on wings of light and molten metal. Summer Rose ran with all her might, screaming an unheard cry of anguish. Along came the rest of her team, sprinting toward their foe.

Summer flew upward, the trail of molten silver reaching far behind her as hands flew inward to retrieve a strange looking shepherd's crook. Hurtling toward the Goliath, she detached the head from haft and latched onto chitinous hide, letting momentum carry her along on a slim cable over the flank toward the head. Waves of energy flew toward the beast's hind legs, and Marly watched as Raven flung slash after slash in an effort to slow it down. Qrow and Tai Yang sprinted toward the leg, one wrenching upon it with scythe while the other was flung upward by the.

But it was Summer who had Marly's full attention, the sheer thrill her fighting had evoked caught her breath. She returned the crook head to her hands and swung downward, letting the silver haze around her follow with an incredible rush of strength. For the first time the beast faltered, and she reattached the crook to its hide to swing once more. On she flew, letting the dance of death that Dunav had started flow into her, but subtly changed into its own machination. Soft breezes filled with torrential gusts. A landslide all of her own. The very mountains groaning from effort.

And she looked at peace, alive and free in the movements. As if by music she fought, the dancer and orchestra in perfect synchronicity. Groans echoed across the field, the Grimm slowing. Down, on one knee. Now two. And Summer swung high into the air, soaring on wind that seemed to welcome her presence with open arms before letting her go back to an earthen home. Meteoric in descent, she raised the bladed crook, and pulled an unseen trigger. The silver ignited, truly molten now in nature. And she fell onto the monster's neck.

Marly stood there, still numb as the black torrent flowed up into the sky on peaceful breezes. Warm hands slowly embraced her, and she made out the small silver eyes of Summer.

"Don't let him go, don't let him become just another memory."

Slowly she reached around and placed an arm on the small woman's back, feebly embracing the only person who would show any compassion.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't come back any sooner. I couldn't... I'm sorry. That boy shouldn't have... we shouldn't have..."

The strength slowly returned to her, and she placed more force into the embrace. Trying to let the sorrow drain into this woman. The only one who had come to her.

"I... I can't say anything. Nothing to fix this. I'm... sorry."

I'm sorry as well, that we couldn't see what was in front of us, how they were pulling apart on that day. I'm sorry I never told you, how I was trying to break free of my station in life, selfishly trying to become infamous and leave the dirty life I came from behind.

Marly Gideon opened her eyes, not caring how her name had gone or who thought about it anymore. She gazed upward at the sky, the sun beginning to droop into the evening time. I've still got a ways to go. She reached over to rub the grain once more on Distel, letting the familiar texture calm her mind. They had gone back to Atlas after the mission, Vale giving even more in concessions because of the attack. Ozpin had personally spoken to her, expressed his condolences in the most diplomatic manner. She stood before the General back in the academy, squared up to his shoulders the best she could. And she refused the replacement he appointed her. I may be leader now, but our fourth is still with us, til the day we fall he'll be with us.

She lifted the rifle upward and set the butt down to lever herself upward. The trail was still fresh, a line where six Huntsman had traveled through to save a town. And now one would walk back to stand vigilant. My purpose huh? To fight back, selflessly give? A far shot from my selfish old self. Marly Gideon began marching, toward her home, toward her duty. She gave her thoughts on far to the fallen, knowing that they could rest with her standing over their charges. Somewhere a man and a woman rested, life given in a common goal. And Marly thought on the woman's successor, the little ball of innocence and righteousness who would change the world. You'll do fine kid, you've got too many people watching out for you.

Nightfall, and the walls were silent. Marly walked haggardly toward the gate, shouting as she went. The domed helmet of a watchman peeked over and the muffled cries to open the gate sang into the night sky. The old Huntress stepped into Passage changed, a person who had been found among the winding winds of time. She walked into her home, the same place she'd left the morning before with five young upstarts. Marly saw that they had left her mark when she saw the people looking onward at her approach, staring starry eyed out of doorways and windows. That girl has ignited something more here.

"Captain Gideon, we... well, we've been getting all kinds of chatter on the radio ma'am."

She turned to look at the fresh faced boy who spoke. New to the trade, he hadn't grown into the old armor of wartime Remnant and didn't have the baton in his back yet. But his eyes shown with a light that shocked Marly. The story, it really is true. That means they'll be going too? She nodded her head, letting him lead her to the tower control room. Inside dust from the last month made itself known, and Marly sat down at the microphone. Turning the dial to hone in the signal, a familiar voice began sounding off from the speakers. Well now, if I still had any doubts, they're gone now.