Chapter 14: Scattered Fangs

"What do you mean, she's gone?" Summer exclaimed, her whole body frozen in horror.

They were in the atrium of Haven Academy now. The moment she and Tai had received the call from Qrow, who had refused to elaborate on what he meant before they'd gotten there, the two of them had dropped all their other plans for the day, packed up their belongings, and rushed straight for the academy.

Heather hadn't joined them, though; she needed to head back to Atlas to pick something up.

Summer couldn't imagine a worse possible reunion with her boyfriend, who was angrily pacing around the room as they'd barged in through the doors, muttering something incoherently under his breath. There were others in the atrium, too, including a woman she recognized as Carnelia Stein, but Summer paid none of them any mind. Instead, she rushed straight towards Qrow, before blurting those words from her mouth.

Gone. What the hell could that have possibly meant? How could someone like Raven Branwen be 'gone'?

Does 'gone' mean she's dead? She thought, wanting to banish the very possibility from her mind the moment it surfaced. No. That's not possible. The last time I saw her she looked every bit as strong as she'd always been. And it's not like anyone could've killed her - I mean, it's Raven, right?

"No, she's not dead," Qrow snarled, as if he could read her mind. "She's disappeared. Vanished right off the radar. When Sis found out about that they killed our dad, she completely lost it, and then she went and slaughtered some Huntsmen and-" He glanced up at their shocked, very confused faces.

"Ugh. Right, you're both behind," he sighed, firmly rubbing his temples as he shook his head. Though his expression didn't know it, Summer could tell Qrow was going through a lot of emotional agony at the moment. She could see it in the slight twitching of his eyes, the way he grit his teeth, and his unusual shortness of breath. She'd come to know a lot of things about the gruff Huntsman over the years they'd spent together… but she'd never known him to be in this state before.

"Okay, so anyway, Oz made me try and negotiate with our old tribe, which was actually a set-up," Qrow muttered quickly, his words slurred and almost too rapid to catch. "Not that you would know about the tribe - wait, what the hell of course you would know, Tai was there." Angrily, he smacked himself upside the head.

"Dumbass. Anyway, turns out the arrow was poisoned so that it would slowly kill him - fuck, that's right, I should mention that it was Crowley they got to it do it - no, you guys who don't know who that is-" Giving up, he clutched his head in his hands and let out a yell. "God damnit!"

There was a moment of heavy silence in the atrium, as several heads turned to look at the young man. Finally, Tai stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, Birdy," he said, his voice gentle and soothing. "Don't push yourself. Whatever the hell's happening, it's clearly hard for you, so it's okay if you wanna calm down first." He nodded. "We'll wait for you."

What about you? It's hard for you, too. Summer glanced anxiously at Tai, and unlike with Qrow, the distraught was clearly visible on his face. Yet still the blonde warrior was pulling through, making sure that his friend was doing fine.

Tai was more resilient than he probably knew, both physically and emotionally. His recent experiences had proved that quite well.

"I…" Amazingly, Qrow did calm down, and Summer saw his expression soften. He lowered his head, and after a moment his breathing slowed back to normal. With his hands clasped together as if in prayer, he almost looked serene with the way he sat there.

There was a small commotion behind her, and Summer turned to see several men and women at the academy's entrance, wielding their weapons and clad in what was clearly Huntsman gear. They were waving anxiously at the people inside and shouting something she couldn't quite make out. Some of the teachers nodded and ran outside with them, leaving the doors to close with an ominous thud.

They're preparing to fight something, aren't they? Summer supposed she should be used to it by now, having taken place in not one, not two, but three major incidents, two of which had nearly brought kingdoms to the brink of war. Yet every time the terror settled in with unbridled force, the realization that people were about to hurt, and many would die, and it was impossible for her to save all of them.

One thing was for sure, though. Whatever the hell was happening at Haven, it definitely had something to do with Raven's disappearance.

She took a deep breath. "Qrow," she heard herself say, gently touching the young man's cheeks and bringing his face up to meet hers. She stared directly into his crimson eyes, the eyes she had come to love. "Please. Can you tell us everything that happened?"

Slowly, Qrow nodded… and then he began to speak, far more articulately this time.

He started from the beginning, from the day he had left Summer in Patch to meet with Professor Ozpin at the Emerald Tower, all the way to when the group had taken shelter in one of Carnelia's hideouts in the Mistral underworld. He noted that around that time, the Branwen twins seem to have been kept in the dark.

"I could tell, even then, that Sis was starting to have second thoughts," Qrow admitted. "Not only that, but she told me that she wa-" His eyes locked with Tai's for a moment, and then he looked away. "Tch. Never mind. It's nothing important."

What was that? Summer thought. No one ever said that unless it was something very important.

They'd finally been called back to Haven Academy for a meeting, which had been a trap in disguise meant for them to subdue Raven, whom they'd begun to perceive as a threat. Unfortunately, that had backfired hard on them, as Raven had learned the harrowing truth - that back at the camp, Crowley had shot her father with an arrow laced in Nuckelavee venom, the most poisonous substance in the world, and Thoron was a dead man walking. Despite everyone's best efforts, she'd fled through her portal.

"That was my fault," Qrow spat, punching the staircase railing so hard his fist made a dent in the hardwood. "I… let her go when I could have stopped her. Damnit! If I hadn't been so fucking stupid… none of this would have happened!"

"Y-You can't blame yourself," Summer protested. There he goes again. Always blaming himself for things that aren't his fault. Though she'd managed to get her boyfriend to change quite a few of his problematic ways, that was one trait that she feared would never truly go away. "I mean, Raven's your sister, and she's our precious teammate. How could you possibly have turned against her when you didn't know what was going on at that point?"

Qrow shook his head. "You don't get it. She killed two Huntsmen, Summer. They've already found what's left of 'em - Flare and Winona, Crowley's pals. There's no question it was her." He started to look agitated again. "There's no coming back from that. And it wouldn't have happened if I'd just stopped her there."

"You don't know that," Tai said, though he looked completely shaken as well. "You don't know that you could have… stopped Rae from doing what she did. There's no way anyone could know that."

Summer thought about Raven Branwen. About the day when they'd first met. Raven had seemed like such a paragon of strength, rescuing her from a bully and impressing everyone in attendance just from her appearance alone. And in the years since, she'd made good on that first impression, being one of the deadliest fighters Summer had ever known, while always fighting for what was right.

Was that person… really the same as the one who'd killed two Huntsmen in cold blood? No. Summer chose to believe it wasn't. Raven must have made some momentary, terrible lapse in judgement, one that she no doubt regretted later. But that one lapse had had terrible consequences indeed.

"Looks like she's become the new leader of our family's tribe," Qrow muttered, all the light going out of his eyes. "Ironic, y'know. It was gonna happen to her anyway, if the two of us had stayed with the tribe and none of that shit with our uncle had ever happened. I guess you could call this destiny, in all of its fucked-up glory."

"Qrow…" Summer murmured, wanting to comfort, but not finding any words to say.

"It seems like your teammate has filled you in on the situation." Carnelia Stein walked over to the three of them, her face stern. "Raven Branwen really has turned on us, just like Ozpin feared she would. Only time will tell if she's chosen to lead her new army directly against us - and it looks like it will tell us very, very soon."

"Raven would never!" Tai spat, his eyes flaring with rage as he stared down the headmistress of Haven. "I don't care what she's done, she's our teammate! She'd never try and attack us, and she'd sure as hell never work together with Salem!"

Carnelia sighed. "You can saying inspiring phrases like that all you want, but the truth is undeniable. Tell me, a few hours ago would you say your friend would have ever killed two Huntsmen?" Her eyes flared, and Summer saw not only anger, but also a flash of grief within them. "Huntsmen that I personally trained for four years?"

The blonde flinched, and it was clear he had no appropriate response to that.

"Still, I don't blame you for how you feel." In a rare moment of genuine compassion, the headmistress stepped forward and gave Tai a comforting pat on the shoulder, and gave him a solemn nod. In that moment, Summer saw her expression as that of a much older woman, one who had lived through decades of pain and conflict. She's one of the top Huntresses. She's probably seen enough hardships for a lifetime.

"You want to believe in your friend," Carnelia said. "I understand that feeling. Believe it or not, me, Ozpin and all the others feel the same way. But unfortunately, we're often too busy dealing with whoever's betraying us that week to make anything good come out of it."

She let out a bitter laugh, one that rang through the hallowed halls of the academy. "If the Branwen tribe does come to attack Haven after all, then everything we've done may have been for naught - and we'd have lost two very fine Huntsmen in the process."

"Speaking of Flare and Winona," Qrow muttered, looking up with a vaguely curious expression. "What about their leader? I haven't seen Crowley since… well…"

"He said he needed to take care of something. I don't really know what he meant, but…" The headmistress shook her head. "I suppose just this once, I'll go easy on him. To think he'd lose two more of his friends in a way like this. It's irrational of me, but I can't help but feel somewhat responsible…"

Summer nodded slowly. She, too, knew what it was like to lose someone she cared about. And worse, she'd been the one to take a person away from someone they loved, too. She cast a glance at her partner. In a way, he's lost Raven, too, she thought glumly. We all have.

A question popped into her head. "What do you mean by 'two more' of his friends?" She blurted out. "Has there been someone else? Someone this Crowley guy was close with who…?"

Qrow frowned, and turned to Carnelia as if he'd come to a realization. "Yeah, Crowley's team was called Team CHRN, right? I've only ever met three of them. What happened to the fourth person? You mentioned someone named-" He struggled to remember. "Mi - Millium?"

"Miriam Risotto," The headmistress corrected him. "She was Crowley's partner back at Haven Academy. Along with the rest of his team, she helped to temper some of his… worse instincts. He was actually part of a Faunus hunting group before he met Winona, for example." She smiled bitterly as she reminisced. "Hmph. Now of all times, I begin to miss those days."

Faunus… hunting groups? Summer shuddered at the very thought of it.

"You're talking about this Miriam chick in the past tense," Tai noted. "I'm guessing she's, uh, not around anymore?"

"Perceptive, aren't you?" Carnelia snorted. "No, she's long gone, I'm afraid. Out of all the Huntsmen and Huntresses I've lost over the years, her loss might just cut the deepest of them all. She was killed on a mission to investigate the Forest of the Devil's Whisper - Phoebe's old domain. Specifically, killed in battle."

"Phoebe?" Qrow looked shocked. "You're saying she killed her?"

"Well, she considered us Huntsmen her enemies, so yes. Crowley was with her when it all went down, and she died protecting him. At the very least, she gave him the chance he needed to subdue the Faunus."

Carnelia scowled. "He wanted to kill her, and to be honest, I would have done exactly that in his situation, Ozpin's orders be damned. But ultimately she was brought in alive, and eventually became a loyal member to our cause. Though I don't think Crowley's ever gotten used to working with someone who killed the woman he loved."

"That… must be difficult," Summer agreed, finding herself feeling sorry for someone she'd never even met.

"I won't lie, the whole incident somewhat soured my opinion on the Faunus in general," the Carnelia Stein muttered, twirling a staff around her fingertips. "Not the sort of thing you'd want to hear from a headmistress, eh? Certainly not one who has trained Faunus in the past. But I will admit…" Allowing herself a smile, she pointed her weapon towards the doors of her academy. "That aggression will serve me quite well in the battle to come, I think."

As if on cue, the doors burst in, and a trio of Huntsmen came barging in. "Headmistress!" one of them yelled. "We've spotted the White Fang extremists arriving on the city's border! We're doing our best to evacuate the civilians, but at this rate they'll reach the academy within the hour!"

"A-And there's Grimm approaching from the other end of the city!" another one added. "Somehow, the two forces seem to be coordinating their attack. We're gonna be surrounded!"

"Is there any sign of bandits?" Qrow asked, before anyone else could pose the all-important question. "Are there any people wearing black and red, wearing bone masks approaching Haven?"

The Huntsmen shook their heads. "No. We haven't seen any trace of the Branwen tribe. I… don't think they're coming."

Summer, Tai and Qrow all turned to look at one another, hoping with all their heart that what they were thinking was true. "I… I knew it," Tai said, though the relief in his voice seemed to contest that notion. "Raven hasn't turned against us. She'd never do that. We were right to believe in her."

Despite herself, Summer found herself smiling. Thank you, Raven. Whatever else their friend had done, it was good to know they hadn't lost her completely. She saw that Qrow was smiling, too.

"Well, I don't know about that," Carnelia said in response to Tai, "but regardless, it would appear our time has come." She nodded towards the three of them, and the headmistress's eyes shone with pride, as if they were her own students.

"You won't hear me give some grand, heroic speech laced with militaristic bravado. I'll leave that particular talent up to the good men in Atlas. Let's just go out there, and show these monsters that the people of Mistral will never submit to terrorists!"

"Yeah!" everyone shouted, in perfect unison.

Summer readied Phoenix Heart, and glanced at her two remaining teammates as they did the same. She still had so much she wanted to talk about, and so much to catch up on, but that would have to wait. Once the battle had ended, and they all made it out alive, then they would have time to mourn Raven's defection.

Until then, there's only one thing I can do, she thought, her resolve tightening. Be a Huntress.

Tai had been itching to fight a real battle with his new weapon. He hadn't expected it would happen so soon, and certainly not like this.

He and Qrow had split off from Summer as they'd gone to defend Haven Academy from two different angles. Tai's team would hold off the Grimm approaching from the north, while Summer would go with Carnelia and the others to face the White Fang head-on. He noted that Summer had personally volunteered to join that side of the defense.

Because of Harriet, Tai thought, and he knew it was true. If there was ever a place and time for the rabbit Faunus to show up, it was here and now, and he knew Summer wanted a chance to settle the score with their traitorous friend once and for all.

Now here he was, walking through the evacuated city, which was as eerily quiet as a ghost town with the bustling sounds of civilians and merchants. He kept finding himself anxiously scraping at his weapon, trying to clean away grime that wasn't there, and looking in the distance as he waited for the battle to begin.

I can't concentrate, he thought glumly. I just can't. Not right now.

The news about Raven was still ringing in his head, threatening to cloud his judgement at the worst possible moment. The last time he'd seen her was back at the bandit camp, where she'd clearly been having doubts, but he never expected her to actually go back to them.

They're her family, after all, he told himself, but the thought was hardly comforting. After all, wasn't Team STRQ her family, too?

Perhaps. Then again, Raven had been with the Branwens' tribe, her birth family for longer than she'd been with the Huntsmen, so in that respect it made sense why she'd have fonder memories of the former.

But even that explanation wouldn't satisfy him. After all, Tai had known the townsfolk in his village for many more years than any of his friends from Beacon, yet he would choose Team STRQ in an instant. He'd learned that it wasn't the length of a friendship that determined its worth.

All the memories we shared together, he thought, remembering their team's first mission to Pandora Village, the Vytal Festival Tournaments, the school dance… and with me. Did none of that mean anything to you, Rae?

He was snapped out of his misery by the shouts of nearby Huntsmen, who were racing through the now-empty streets of Mistral towards the sounds of explosions in the distance.

Can't let that distract me, Tai thought grimly, clutching Sunsteel Scale. Right now he had to focus, focus on completing the mission. On defending the city.

"You sure you're up for this, man?" Qrow asked, coming up to him with Reaper's Gambit. "I know you got hurt really badly, and that was still pretty recently, so…"

"I'm fine!" Tai insisted, showing him the shield. "I got this sweet new weapon to make up for it, and I'm as good as new. You'll see - I bet I can still get more kills than you!"

The dark-haired Huntsman groaned and rolled his eyes. "All this time and you're still obsessing over dumb shit like that," he muttered with a smile. "Well, at least this whole situation isn't affecting you quite as badly as I thought it would."

"Well, you never know. Once we get back I'll probably cry like a river or something. To be honest, I'm still processing all of it." Tai sighed and shook his head. "You and her came from the same tribe. Do you… know why she might have done what she did?"

"Even if we came from the same home," his friend admitted, "at the end of the day we're two totally different people. And we don't exactly share the same thoughts about home. Maybe Sis just had more of an emotional connection to the place than I ever did. I don't really know for sure… but there's one thing I do know."

With a faint grin, he shifted his weapon into its scythe form, and the satisfying clangs of metal could be heard as the pieces of the greatsword clicked into place. "One day, we're gonna track her down, wherever she is now. And we'll find out the truth from her own lips. You're okay with that, right Blondie?"

"... Sure am," Tai replied. "Actually… back at the academy, you were gonna tell me something about Rae, weren't you? You stopped yourself, but…"

Qrow cut him off. "If we get through this, I'll tell you," he muttered, way too quickly. "You'll probably want a beer or ten before I do that, though." And that was all he would say.

Tai opened his mouth to protest, but before he could say anything a large explosion caught his attention, and he turned to see a massive wave of Grimm charging into the city - Beowolves, Ursai, Creeps, and countless other varieties. Their howls and screeches melded together into some sort of unholy cacophony, ringing in his ears as they got closer and closer by the second.

"Whatever you wanna say, it'll have to wait!" Qrow shouted at him, preparing to charge into the fray. "Stay alive, alright?"

"Will do!" Tai replied, managing to strike the question out of his mind for the moment. "I'll see you on the other side, Birdy!"

He ran at the horde, clutching his shield as tightly as he could as leaped into the air. He could feel the weapon glowing with energy as he came down with the force of a meteor, obliterating a wave of Grimm around him in a fiery explosion that completely encircled him.

Whew! This thing really packs a punch! Before heading out, he'd had Sunsteel Scale absorb as much fire Dust as he could pack into it, and its destructive capabilities had been greatly enhanced. I could take on an army with this thing, he thought as he gazed at it in admiration. The thing probably had enough charges for two, possibly three more blasts, so he would have to use it sparingly.

A Beowolf charged at him, and Tai's weapon struck its head with such force that the beast's face split open and exploded in a mess of black and red sludge. "I won't even need the Dust," he muttered triumphantly as he beat down another Grimm, and another, and then another still.

He saw Qrow some distance away, spinning around in a circle with Reaper's Gambit, bisecting at least five Creeps in a single mighty swing. Other Huntsmen were flocking around him, clearly wanting to be close to this skilled fighter. Well, look who's popular now.

Thinking of an idea, Tai ran over to join his friend. As he did so, he activated his Semblance, feeling that warm, familiar energy flowing through his body as he drew strength from the people around him. "Hrahhhh!" Glowing with golden light, Tai charged through the Grimm horde, slamming multiple of them against his shield as he ran unimpeded.

With all his strength, he drove his victims against the wall of a nearby building, feeling a loud, satisfying squish as the Grimm were all pulverized between the two hard surfaces. Tai's joy was short-lived as he looked up to see the building crack apart from the impact, barely avoiding an avalanche of rubble. "Whoops," he muttered.

"Glad to see you haven't lost any of your signature style," Qrow said from beside him. He was unusually calm for someone who was currently wrapped in the arms of an Arachnea, a gigantic spider Grimm. The thing clacked its hideous mandibles together as it lurched towards him, about to take a bite out of his head.

Snarling, Qrow gripped his sword tighter and plunged it through one of the creature's legs, sending a spray of black bile everyone. Screeching in pain, the Arachnea loosened its grip on him, exposing the chink in the armor on its chest.

"Leave that to me!" Tai charged forward, plunging his fist right into the chink and feeling the Grimm's insides get squished underneath him. A sharp, gross explosion could be heard as the creature retched a fountain of black liquid before going still, its body fading away with surprising speed for its size.

"Couldn't resist going back to the classics, huh?" Qrow asked. "Hey, does it still hurt when you use your arms?"

Tai shrugged. "Only a little, but I can live with it." He grimaced as he stared at the black, oozing guts covering his palm, even as it slowly faded away. "Still, though. That's really, really gross."

"Yeah, and there's still a shitton more where that came from. What do you say we-"

He was cut off by some projectile flying by his head - not quite a dagger, but on an arrow either. Qrow and Tai looked to see that whatever it was, it was clearly laced with bright blue Dust. They were just able to leap out of the way before it exploded into a cavalcade of ice shards, scattering in all directions.

"It seems the Huntsmen were better prepared than we thought," came a young woman's voice, one that Tai didn't recognize. "And us, worse."

"Indeed. Clearly, the rabbit failed to fulfill her end of the bargain." Another voice, this one a man's rang out from nearby. Two figures emerged from the rooftops - one a towering, bald behemoth of a man with eerily pale skin, and the other a dark-skinned girl with large feline ears and striped tattoos.

"Faunus?" Tai yelled. "I thought the White Fang extremists were attacking from the other end!"

"They must have sent a couple to sneak in from behind in all the chaos," Qrow realized. "Damn. Now I feel stupid for not thinking of that."

The bald man surveyed the duo with a wide, sadistic grin on his face. "Heheh. I like this one," he chuckled, pointing a massive finger at Qrow. "You can have the pretty boy, Sienna. He doesn't seem like he'll put up much of a fight."

Sienna cast him a withering glare. "We're not here to enjoy ourselves. Focus on the mission, Archibald." Nevertheless, she was clearly smiling as she leaped down towards Tai, wielding a long chain whip linked with several Dust blades.

Tai charged forward, only to feel his foe's chains wrap around his arm, threatening to pull Sunsteel Scale right out of his hand. Yelling in shock, Tai held on with his other hand, struggling to steady himself, but the tiger Faunus was deceptively strong.

I can't lose the shield. I can't fight without it. It was a strange thought for someone who, until recently, had known nothing but fighting without a weapon, but he gritted his teeth and, summoning all his strength, reached far enough to press the switch and activate the Dust explosion.

The blast, deafening his own ears, was strong enough to tear off part of Sienna's whip as she extracted what remained of it, somehow managing to keep her footing. "Is that the best you can do, Huntsman?" she spat at him.

Getting a closer look at the Faunus woman, Tai noted that she wasn't much older than him. She could have easily been some upperclassman during their Beacon days. "So the White Fang and Harriet are working together again?" he asked her, holding his shield tightly in case she tried to pull that trick again. "Don't you know how well that turned out last time?"

"Last time, it was Buck operating by himself," Sienna replied. "This time you're contending with an entire faction of the Fang - the true Fang, that knows force must be exerted in order to free the Faunus from human scum."

"You're outnumbered," Tai said. "Since that army you were promised failed to show up."

"There's more of you than there are of us," she admitted. "But one Faunus is worth ten humans. Allow me to show you!"

Sienna swung her whip, and the Dust blades detached themselves from the chains and flew towards them, with a sharp buzz that rang in his ears. Grimacing, Tai blocked the first one, a dagger lined with electricity Dust, feeling his shield absorb the energy. The second, however, flew in an arc around him, striking Tai in the back.

"Ugh!" he yelled as he went down. Somehow, he regained his balance fast enough to block the third blade, but the force nearly knocked Sunsteel Scale out of his hand. Seeing her chance, Sienna ran at him with her whip.

Qrow came at her with almost blinding speed, striking her in the side and knocking the Faunus woman into a nearby building. "Hey, hey, don't push yourself, alright?" he snarled at Tai.

"It was just a little mistake," Tai protested, turning to see the other Faunus - Archibald, Sienna had called him - prepare to fire his harpoon gun. He raised his shield to protect himself, but the projectile was incredibly powerful. Before he knew what was going on, he was sprawled on the ground, dazed, seeing Sunsteel Strike lying a few feet away.

No, no, no! Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Qrow taking on a now-recovered Sienna, who was using her greater mobility to dance around the Huntsman. Growling in frustration, he turned into a bird and flew up to get a vantage point.

Sienna loaded more Dust blades onto her whip, firing one up into the sky. Her aim was impeccable; the dagger struck Qrow dead-on, forcefully changing him back to human form as he fell, landing painfully on the ground.

Desperate, Tai reached out to grab his shield, only for Archibald to kick it away with a laugh. "Atlesian make," he cackled. "Those fancy tools won't save you now, boy." He placed his harpoon gun right between Tai's eyes, clearly wanting him to see just how screwed he was.

This can't be it, he thought desperately. Not here. I have to find Rae… But his body wouldn't respond to his heart's demands. He was frozen, unable to defy his fate.

Suddenly, the sounds of explosions and gunshots filled his ears, along with Archibald's alarmed shouts. "Come on, come on, let's go!" He heard someone yell those words; someone he recognized. In an instant, his energy was back, and Tai pulled himself to his feet.

"You-" the Faunus yelled, but Tai cut him off, retrieving his shield and dealing him a sharp blow to the cheek. Archibald's skin was inhumanly sturdy, but he was still sent flying from not just the sheer force, but also the release of Dust energy - the last one Tai had been saving up.

Tai and Qrow, who was staggering to his feet, looked up to see several new arrivals landing on the rooftop. One of them was holding a very familiar flamethrower-rocket launcher, which was smoking heavily.

"Latte!" he exclaimed.

"How's it going, you guys?" Latte Adel saluted them with a grin. "I wasn't expecting to be needed back in Mistral so soon, but I couldn't refuse when she said there was a situation going down at the academy." He nodded toward Heather, who stood beside him, guns in hand.

The other two Huntsmen leaped down from the roof, and Tai recognized Torrence Greene and Regal Swanwing, Heather's former teammates. Torrence cleaved through a large Ursa's chest with his axe, while Regal made short work of a pack of Creeps by spinning as he released waves of daggers, each one hitting its mark with grace.

"Long time no see, huh?" Regal said, bowing to Tai as he came to a stop.

"You're telling me!" Tai replied, sizing up his old friend. "I thought you went back to managing your family's business?"

"Well, I figured I should switch things up a little." He nodded at the shield in Tai's hand. "Seems like you had a similar idea, eh?"

Sienna and Archibald were regrouping now, staring down the six Huntsmen as they stood together against them. More Grimm were surrounding the area, attracted by the tension and bloodlust in the air.

"Perfect," Archibald rasped, readying his harpoon gun. "All these Huntsmen in one place? I can't think of an easier target."

Sienna scowled as she grabbed her comrade's shoulder. "You're as much of a fool as Ghira if you think that. Look around you - if the Huntsmen don't kill us, the Grimm will. The best thing we can do right now is retreat."

"And accept defeat?" Archibald spat. "Never! Not on my pride as a Faunus."

"The defeat won't be ours," Sienna said. "It'll be the rabbit's. Come on. If we let ourselves get captured, not even Ghira will give us another chance. We'll take back the Fang some other day." She scowled as she glanced over Tai, Qrow and the newly arrived Huntsmen.

"Let me make this very clear," she said, loading a Dust blade onto her weapon, full of steam Dust. "This is not over." She swung the weapon, and a large cloud of mist erupted in front of the two, obscuring them from view.

Latte, Heather and Qrow all opened fire, with Regal throwing several of his daggers into the fog, but when the clouds cleared, Sienna and Archibald were gone. Amazingly, some of the Grimm were also beginning to disperse, as if disappointed by the sudden decrease in negativity.

"D-did…" Tai paused to catch his breath. "Did we win?"

The answer to that came in the form of a loud screech from above. A large Nevermore was circling the area, a small pack of Griffons following it. All at once, the black avians turned downward and began flying towards the Huntsmen. And all around them, the Beowolves and Ursai snarled menacingly, slowly encircling them.

"No, not yet," Qrow growled. But his voice had the unmistakable twinge of hope in it. And it was that hope that Tai latched onto, as he tightened his grip on his shield, bracing himself for the next wave.

As Summer bade Qrow and Tai farewell, and ran toward the front gates of the academy with Carnelia, she couldn't shake off the looming fear that she might never see them again.

She knew how stupid that thought was. They were part of Team STRQ - they'd faced things far worse than this and lived to tell the tale. But though they were Huntsmen, they were far from invincible. And they wouldn't be the first friends she'd lose today.

No, Summer told herself. I won't lose anyone else. Not here. Not today. With that thought in her mind, she forced herself to run faster, to where the White Fang were lying in wait.

The gates had already been breached, and several White Fang troopers were storming onto the academy grounds. But the symbol they wore on their uniforms were not the wolf-shaped logo that members usually wore - these were crimson red, with a sharper, more cruel expression. These are the extremists, she realized. A splinter faction.

If the extremists succeeded in destroying Haven, it would not only be a terrible blow to the Huntsmen, but the White Fang's reputation would also be irreparably tarnished. And in turn, the Faunus would be subject to even worse treatment than before.

I can't let that happen! It was the White Fang she thought of, just as much as the men, women and children of Mistral, as Summer charged into the fray with Phoenix Heart. She quickly incapacitated two Fang grunts with shots to the thighs and shoulders, and shifted the weapon as she dodged a third grunt's attack, knocking him out with the butt of her blade.

Carnelia Stein drew her own weapon - what appeared to be a simple red odachi blade. As the fire Dust on its edge ignited, she swiftly plunged the sword into the heart of one of the extremists. Clearly, she wasn't concerned with taking any prisoners.

As several more grunts surrounded her, Carnelia pressed a switch on the sword's handle, and it promptly split down the middle, revealing itself to be two thinner blades, one red and one blue. Wielding them separately, she easily cut down two of her foes, before bringing them back together to form a makeshift scissors.

The sadistic grin on the headmistress's face was unmistakable as she locked the third grunt's head between the two blades, slicing it off with a loud crunch. Summer winced and looked away.

More White Fang members were emerging from the wrecked gate, and Summer took them down one by one - due to personal preference, she continued to do so non-lethally. She heard a loud rumbling from nearby, and saw something massive burst through the wall, barreling towards them.

"Look out!" she screamed, but of course Carnelia was a step ahead of her. In fact, it was Summer who barely dodged in time to avoid the stream of missiles fired by the large mech, which had been desecrated with White Fang graffiti.

Carnelia clucked her tongue. "An Atlesian Bishop mech," she scowled. "One of General Ironwood's little 'children'. And I told him it was foolish to believe machines would never turn against us." Pressing the switch on her weapons, they were revealed to split into two more blades of different colour. Wielding two swords in each hand, glowing with fire, ice, lightning and wind, she stared down the Bishop.

"You there, Huntress," she called out to Summer. "I can handle this hunk of metal. You have another duty to fulfill. No matter how many of these grunts we beat, they'll keep coming unless we drive them all out of the city." She nodded towards the gate. "Go now!"

Summer was in no mood to argue, and ran through the makeshift entrance, clearing out several more Fang members along the way. More Huntsmen were also making their way through the gate, slowly but surely driving the White Fang back. She saw a thin man with a pistol-cane fighting them alongside a bare-fisted wolf Faunus, who clearly had no qualms with fighting her own brethren.

She was making her way through the city when a bullet flew inches away from her head. Looking into the distance, she saw a sniper's smoke trail, and somehow knew exactly who it was. Gritting her teeth, Summer ran to find shelter.

Bang. Another shot, and tracking the trail, she retaliated with an arrow. Hearing an unmistakable cry of pain, Summer took her chance and ran towards the building where the bullet had come from.

"Moss!" she yelled, calling out to the Team PLSM sniper. "Stop this! We don't have to fight!"

"Yes, we do!" Moss spat, firing another shot as Summer ducked beneath a piece of rubble. "If the plan fails, and we don't take Haven, then… then they'll hurt Psycha!"

Psycha? What does her leader have to do with all this? "I don't really understand, but… if you're all-in on the White Fang's plans now, why are you so concerned with a human's life, Moss?"

That question seemed to get to her. "I…" Moss murmured, and the hesitation in her voice was clear. It was all Summer needed.

She fired another arrow into the window, and this one was explosive. She heard the girl's surprised cry as loudly as she did the blast itself. Shaking debris out of her hair, Summer ran into the building, and up the stairs.

Moss Creedo lay crumpled on the floor, the arrow from before protruding through her left leg. Her Aura was clearly depleted, and blood was trickling from the side of her mouth. Summer felt a sharp pang of sorrow as she approached the girl. "I-I'm…" she began to say.

Moss's eye opened, but it wasn't her human eye, which had been blown out by the explosion. Instead, it was her Faunus eye, which seemed to dart around in a hundred different directions. Snarling, the girl leapt at Summer, grabbing her rifle and shifting it into a dagger.

Summer was faster, though. Her instincts taking over, she loaded an arrow and fired it into Moss's heart, all in a split second. She glanced down at her fresh wound, her eye widening in shock.

"...Oh," she breathed. "Storm, I'm… I'm…" And then she fell.

Summer stared solemnly at the girl's lifeless form, taking no joy in her defeat. Not again. I… I should have been able to save her. She recalled the last time, mere days ago, where she'd seen Moss's still form, in a burning White Fang building. She'd been wrong about that decision, the choice to leave her behind. If Summer had helped her instead, maybe this wouldn't have happened.

"... I'm sorry," she finished.

Summer climbed to the top of the building, planning to get a better view of the battleground. To her surprise, things were beginning to calm down, as the Huntsmen slowly but surely drove the White Fang away from the city's perimeter. Looking behind her, she could see the hordes of Grimm were dwindling, too.

Qrow and Tai, she thought, allowing herself to smile. And it looks like Heather came through, too. It seemed like things were finally looking up.

She heard the dark energy before she saw it, and it nearly knocked her clean off the roof. Yelling, Summer steadied herself as she looked in front of her, where just a moment ago there had been nothing. Yet now someone stood there, having seemingly appeared out of thin air. Someone she knew all too well.

"Harriet," she said.

Harriet Maroon glowered at her, her outfit torn from the battle, and her claw gauntlets covered in blood - hopefully not those of anyone Summer knew. "As I thought," she muttered. "Once again, you're here to meddle in my affairs, Summer Rose."

"I guess it's to be expected at this point," Summer said.

"But I won't let it stand this time," Harriet replied. "For the sake of my master, and for the sake of Faunus everywhere… I will prevail here! The Faunus Revolution will begin once more, and this time there will be no compromises. Our people will never have peace until I've destroyed all our enemies... and I'm afraid that includes you, old friend."

Summer shook her head. "Just look around you, Harriet. The Grimm are being driven back. Your people are being felled by the dozens. You've lost. The White Fang have nothing to fight for now."

"They have me," the rabbit Faunus snarled, brandishing her claws. "And that's enough."

Summer narrowed her eyes, and drew Phoenix Heart. Nothing more needed to be said.

Two friends, two enemies, stood facing one another, surrounded by smoke, blood and the scent of death, waiting to see who would strike first.

A/N:

Hi! I know I seem to break my own uploading rules every few weeks, but now I really think I've got something figured out.

From now on, a new chapter of Stark will go up every Saturday at around 9 am EST, while a chapter of Ashes To Dust will come out every Sunday at 9 am EST. In addition, I have a couple other fics planned (called 'side fics'), that I'll just upload whenever I think they're ready. If they get a good following, or I feel like I can maintain consistent uploads with them, they'll be promoted to 'main fics' like Stark. My profile page should also reflect this new information.

Cheers,

donutkirby