The Games We Play

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryugii. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishment. Anyway on with the show...errr read.

Fortress Defense

Thankfully, Nora didn't question me, she just gave me a quick nod and hurried off to get my mother. That was good, because with the amount of Grimm now rushing towards the surface, I just didn't have time to waste. A response that large…

We had to get ready to welcome them.

"Ren, tell your grandfather to handle the civilians," I turned towards the other boy, expression focused. "Tell him to do whatever he can, but focus on keeping them calm. When the Grimm reach the surface, we're going to have to keep them focused on us, but if they start to scatter…there's enough of them that a lot of people are going to die. I'll do everything I can to keep things quiet over here, but he needs to keep the people busy and away from here. And if you find the rest of my father's team, send them this way."

"This isn't really something we can keep quiet," Ren answered, a sudden tension in his body.

"Oh, you'd be surprised," I answered, cracking my neck as Levant manifested invisibly behind me. "I can do all sorts of things. Now go."

He hesitated for a moment before nodding as well. I knelt the moment he was gone, reaching my senses deep into the ground.

"Dad," I whispered, Levant carrying my voice to his ear. "The way you're running, I take it you've noticed the Grimm are moving. I know why—I mean, I'm not sure about the reason behind it, but I know why. Mom's team just landed and they started moving the moment they did. Somehow, for some reason, they're reacting to us, to Hunters. I don't know if this was a trap meant to draw us out somehow or what, but I'm all but sure that it's us they're after. But with the village behind us…"

I let that sink in before continuing.

"I've set up a Safe Haven at the entrance to the tunnel, but I'm waiting for everyone else to arrive to do more. Mom and her team are almost here and I have Elder Hui handling the civilians. As is, I think I can silence the area with Levant and keep the villagers from hearing what's happening which should keep them from drawing even more Grimm, but if we fail…Get up here soon, Dad."

I finished as I sensed my mom approaching and turned before I even heard her call out to me.

"Jaune!" She shouted before muttering something to her team, telling them to give her a moment. Then she ran ahead of them to reach my side, eyes focused on the cleared away hole in the ground. "How bad is it?"

"Pretty bad," I answered quietly, my voice barely more than a whisper. "A lot of Grimm are coming up. At least five digits worth."

She nodded tightly.

"And your father?" She asked.

"On his way. He went into the tunnels a few hours ago to check things out, but something delayed him. I contacted him just now, told him what was happening, and he'll be here in just a minute. Right now, I'm just working on setting up barriers; Safe Haven's already up."

"I noticed," She said quietly. "How much room can you give us?"

"A fair bit," I shrugged. "I could cover a sports field, maybe. I can't shield the ground because the Grimm could just dig around and pop out somewhere else, though. If you think it's safe, I might be able to ditch the roof, too. If I'm just making four walls, I could make it a little larger. I should be able to clip the wings of any airborne Grimm that try to fly out, so…"

She squinted, looking around the area with a furrowed brow before nodding.

"Do it," She said. "We'll need room to fight if we're going to keep them contained. Do everything you can to give us that without risking the Grimm running free. Besides, there's a storm coming. Not having a ceiling can only help."

I nodded, knowing what she meant.

"I could make two halves of a barrier using Sanctum and Sanctum Sanctorum, if you think the size is worth the weaker prison," I suggested.

"How much of a difference will it make?"

I could only shrug in response.

"Depends on what's hitting it and how often," I said. "The whole thing would be about half as strong in theory, but…to be honest, I wouldn't want to let an army of Grimm start wailing on it either way. The way Grandmother described it in her story, they used it to fend off the small Grimm while Hunters dealt with the larger ones. I can probably withstand the attacks of any small fry, but if something big gets at it…I don't know. How well it can hold back an army isn't really the type of thing I've gotten a chance to test. Until now, I guess."

She took a slow breath and shook her head.

"Do what you think is best," She said at last. "You'd know better than I would. We'll try to keep the Grimm off the walls in any case, but…just in case, how long will it take you to put it back up if it falls?"

"Not too long," I said, calculating. "Depends on which barriers I put up."

I looked around, considering possible setups.

"I could split it," I mused aloud. "Like a sports field, again. Have the hole on that side, with Sanctum and Safe Haven to lock them in and wear them down faster. Have Sanctum Sanctorum and Temple on this side giving us a benefit, healing, and helping me regain MP. If I set up now…"

"Please," Isabelle said and I around to make sure everyone who was supposed to be here was. Ren had returned with Keppel and Carmine and Nora had come back with my mother's group. With my father and Onyx coming up from the hole soon…I focused and felt invisible barriers rise into place around us.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one.

"Isabelle, what's going on?" A red-haired man I vaguely remembered asked, squinting around us.

The Four Gates on the Crimson River

LV 71

Tyrian Sour

"Jaune's setting up a perimeter to keep any Grimm from escaping," My mother said. "It should hold so long as we don't let them test it too much. Familiarize yourself with the boundaries and Jaune will show you the important areas established within."

"Not much to say," I shrugged when eyes turned my way. "I have it set up so that the Grimm are weaker over here and we're stronger over there."

"You can do that?" Tyrian asked, eyebrows lifting slowly.

"My barrier, my rules," I said. "Also, one sec."

I put a hand on my mother's shoulder and layered my buffs on her quickly before going to the others one by one, laying hands on them for a second which got me a few odd looks, except from those who'd already seen it.

"Well," A brunette about my mother's age murmured, tilting her head at me. She was wearing armor almost the exact color as her hair and layered in heavy, heavy plates—as in, the whole thing probably weighed nearly as much as she did. "Aren't you full of surprises?"

The Four Walls and the Iron Ring

LV 68

Castanea Beech

"I try," I answered after a moment as I finished layering buffs on all of the Hunters.

"Castanea, Tyrian," My mother said to her teammates. "My son will be serving as support. Should the barriers fall, he can put them back up. Should one of us get hurt, he can get us back together. Pretty much anything we need to do our jobs, he can probably provide—so make sure he stays in one piece, will you?"

"Got it," Tyrian grunted.

"As for you…" My mother paused, squinting at the two locals.

"Ren and Nora," I said quietly and she nodded at once.

"Ren, Nora, you'll be doing the same," She said. "Your job is to protect Jaune. Should the situation change, I'll tell you where you're needed. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," Ren replied, nodding once while Nora merely tilted her head, both hands on her hammer.

"Tenne, you're with me in front," My mother continued. "We'll play offense. Keppel, Carmine, you too."

Tenne stepped up to my mother's side without a word, hands resting near the five thousand or so dust rounds at his belt. He didn't have a gun anywhere I could see—but even if I hadn't seen his title, I'd have remembered why. He was pretty famous for it and he was one of my mom's teammates I did remember well.

The Silent Shot

LV 72

Tenne Coup

The Cordelia's took up position just as quickly, armor of ice forming over Keppel's arms, leading down to claws nearly twenty centimeters on each finger and seemingly razor sharp.

"You know," He mused to his wife as the armor began to grow over his chest and down his legs. "The upside of this whole barrier thing is that they won't be able to run away like cowards. But the downside is that we won't be able to run away like cowards, either."

Carmine, for her part, merely smiled and tapped a finger on her sheathed blade, which brought a smirk to Keppel's face as well. I figured it was an inside joke of some kind, especially when he leaned over and kissed her quickly on the lips.

"No helping it, I guess," He said. "I suppose we'll just have to kill them all so we can go home, won't we, my love?"

The Blood-Stained Snow

LV 66

Keppel Cordelia

The Blade That Boils Flesh

LV 71

Carmine Cordelia

Moving with clockwork precision, the Hunter's got into their positions and I moved to take mine, back within the Temple and Sanctum Sanctorum. As I passed her, my mother stopped me with a touch.

"In an emergency, could you get the townsfolk out with Naraka?" She asked quietly.

I was quiet for a moment before answering.

"Some of them, maybe," I said. "But that many people and with such a long way to safety…even against just Beowolves…"

She nodded acceptingly.

"And the Grimm?"

I didn't need to ask what she meant, so I answered honestly.

"I don't know," I shook my head. "They're acting strange again. If I try…I can be sure nothing will intervene or that they might not have measures. Take a lot of power, too, and add more Grimm."

I exhaled slowly, glancing down.

"Not that it'd matter if we couldn't handle them in the first place. They'll just reappear after they kill us."

She was silent for a moment, long enough to make me wonder what she was thinking, before patting me on the shoulder and sending me to my position.

Then we waited. The earth began to rumble slightly after a minute or so passed, my senses reminding me constantly of what was drawing near her, but as my father's signal came closer, I reached out to my mother, giving her a silent signal. She raised a hand as motion appeared in the tunnel and a hand grasped the edge.

"Everybody relax," My dad said, pulling himself out of the hole. Dirt clung to his arms, pants, face—but his smile was as bright and confident as he reached down to pull Onyx up as well. "The cool kids have arrived."

"He's not wrong," Onyx nodded, lifting his hand with a shrug.

"We really should shoot everything that crawls out of that hole," Tenne murmured quietly to my mother. "Just to be safe."

"Tempting, but he's grown on me," She answered back.

"Tumors do that sometimes," Her teammate answered, which made her chuckle slightly before lifting her voice.

"Jack, get out of the way," She called. "That's where things stand when they want to die."

He snorted but went to my mother's side while Onyx glanced over the crowd and moved back near me. I reached over and healed him as he came close, erasing whatever exhaustion he felt and then reapplying his buffs. He nodded in thanks as he knelt and sunk the fingers of his massive, armored arms into the dirt like it was cotton, eyes focused ahead.

"Jaune said you took your time," My mother whispered.

"They were hiding something," My father answered. "I was trying to get to it without setting them off, but Jaune said you blew that plan right to hell."

"Whine, bitch, moan, repeat," Mom shook her head, eyes trained forward. "How bad do you think it is?"

"Can't rightly say," He took a slow breath and then exhaled. "But I guess we'll find out."

The rumbling intensified and then the earth broke open, releasing a tide of darkness—who found two teams of hunters waiting for them when they arrived.

That first wave of Grimm practically evaporated.

My mother opened affairs by stomping hard on the ground, turning everything between her and the hole into lava. The Grimm sank into the molten earth, burning and even melting, and yet struggling forward even as they screamed. More viscous then water, they managed to crawl across it somewhat before they gave in at last and collapsed. More lava began to flow down the tunnel, angled to flow right into the rising tide, and I heard other screams come from the muffling depths of the earth.

But death and pain weren't enough to stop the Grimm. More climbed from the depths, striding over the bodies of their follows when necessary and pushing on even as mere proximity to the lava made them burn. The heat was so intense that even from the back row I could feel its harsh touch upon my face, but even as the Grimm collapsed and crawled and died, those behind them did not stop. Larger species rose as the first waves fell, the fields of boney spikes upon their backs a sign of their age and experience, and it was they who ran across the melting, smoking remains of the first wave of Grimm.

Tenne shot them down without a sound. A bullet floated from his side to hover above his open hand and then flashing across the open ground. He was a telekinetic specializing in small objects like my father, but the difference lied in the specifics as it tended to with Semblances. In Tenne's case, he couldn't control anywhere near as many objects as my father, nor could he manipulate them as finely.

But what he did control, he could move very, very quickly.

Little more than a blur even to my Clairvoyance, the bullet flashed across the open space, tracing in and out of the bodies of Grimm—through limbs, through heads, through everything in its path. Its course seemed erratic, shifting darting zigzags to graceful loops, but it slaughtered everything it came near regardless. I saw my mother taking slow, deep breaths as stood at the very edge of the lava, drops of sweat making trails down her face; whether it was because of the heat or if it was simply tiring to keep the lava from cooling, I wasn't sure. Still, for nearly two minutes she and Tenne slaughtered every Grimm brave enough to show their face, creating a pile of bodies high enough to hide the hole from sight. Looking at it, seeing the power of just two Hunters working together…it was amazing to watch.

And yet, though they'd killed perhaps three hundred Grimm in less than two minutes, it wasn't enough. I doubted Ren and Nora noticed, wondered if even the other Hunters could truly saw it, but after a while, Tenne's bullet stopped passing through the Grimm and started leaving pockmarks and cracks. Whereas before, it would pass through one skull on the way to the next, it soon began to bounce off, needed a second hit to the same location to truly penetrate, then three, four, or more. Soon, the tide they'd stemmed continued forth as more armored monstrosities rose from the earth, creatures durable enough to shrug off bullets and wade through lava.

"Carmine," My father said quietly and the married Huntress stepped forward, drawing her sword with a crack of her neck and a small smile. With the flick of a wrist, the broadsword sagged, breaking into a dozen sections connected by metal cords as it curled into a pile as her feet. Her aura crawled over the blade more slowly than I would have expected, the very faint red rising from the blade like a heat shimmer. Once it had fully encompassed the blade, she tilted her head and looked at my father.

He merely stared forward for a minute, watching the tide of Grimm advance further with each reiteration until they'd reached half way and kept going.

"Kill them," He said at last and Carmine swung her whip-sword in a single, wide sweep that cut through the approaching Grimm as easily as it did the air. Their flesh turned to smoke at the touch of the blade and they fell in pieces as the vaporizing blade tore through their ranks. The blade retracted and the process repeated, Carmine waiting for the Grimm to close in each time, for my father's command to strike, and then slaughtering wave after wave.

My mother let loose a breath and took a step away from the field of lava, drawing her sword instead.

"No point," She said at my father's glance and he nodded once before turning his attention back to the battle. Despite the Grimm's roars, the sound of tearing earth, and everything else, our side was quiet and focus, ready for anything they could throw at us.

Or at least, that's what I thought before a field of spikes erupted from the ground, forcing us all to dodge swiftly.

"Holy shit," Onyx swore. "Where the fuck did you come from!?"

It took me a moment to understand what he meant—for me to understand what I was sensing. When I did, I stared down at the spear I'd reflexively dodged in mild disbelief and looked over the hundreds just like it that covered perhaps two-thirds of the battlefield. They rose from the lava as easily as the dirt, each as long as the fin of a shark—fitting as they quickly began to move and we were all forced to dodge as they tore circular tracks in the earth, leaping between the spikes to try and reach safety.

But there wasn't any safety to be found because they weren't spikes. They were…

"They're teeth," I shouted, raising my voice with Levant to make sure I was heard. "There's something beneath us!"

"Say what!?" Tyrian shouted even as he clapped his hands and a circular plane of energy appeared, floating in the air above the center of the field. We all leapt for it as tilled dirt and lava flowed towards the center of the spikes and down a massive gullet.

And then we saw what it belonged to.

Tyrian's barrier shattered as it rose into the air with an earth-splitting shriek, teeth punching through it like paper and sending us flying. It rose high in the air, far above the top of my barrier, and shrieked again as if to remind all of mankind who owned this world—and destroying any chance we had of keeping the civilians from panicking in the process, I imagined. It was white, mostly, it's massive hide layered in scales of Grimm bone marked in red. As its neck curved, I got to see its teeth once more, lining the inside of its mouth in countless, wicked rows.

And as it looked at us—if something with neither eyes nor a true head could look at us—it made a strange sound. Scales and teeth rubbed together with a rasp that should have had no meaning, and yet…I couldn't help but think it was laughing. It bent its neck once more, tore through my Sanctums like they'd been made of spider webs, and dove back into the earth.

"Shit," I heard someone shout and it wasn't hard to see why. It wasn't even aiming at us, not really, but if something that large hit us on its way down…

I grit my teeth and reached out a hand to grab Ren and Nora, the pair closest to me, calling upon Levant to help me throw them far away. They flew into a nearby building, Ren landing graceful as Nora smashed down a wall, and both hit the ground running. Tyrian and Castanea leapt from platform to platform, using their powers to make footholds and escape, but I saw Onyx falling towards the ground, helpless in the air.

With a grunt, I thrust out a palm, a blast of air sending both of us flying. He smashed a massive arm into the side of a building and threw himself up onto the roof while I landed opposite him, eyes on the creature. I thought I heard him shout something at me, but if so I lost it as the colossal beast came down and ate half the street before vanishing into the bowels of the earth.

For a moment, there was nothing but the sound of falling rubble and debris as loose earth and broken buildings came crumbling down. I reached out with my senses to locate all the others and leapt toward my parents, landing beside them on a floating platform of ice shards—a collaboration between Keppel and my father, I imagined. After a few seconds, Tyrian, Castanea, and Onyx found us as well, followed shortly by Ren and Nora, each panting slightly with dust on their faces.

"What the fuck was that?" Onyx snarled, peering over the edge to look down at the former street.

"Crom Cruach," I heard my mother whisper. "It's Crom Cruach."

"No," Onyx said, looking at her in disbelief. "What? No. God damn it, no. Fucking fuck, no."

Nobody replied for a moment, probably just understanding the feeling, but then my father placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Jaune?" He asked and I closed my eyes.

"I don't sense it," I replied after a moment. "But I didn't sense it before, until it was right below us. It moved fast. I wasn't looking, but…"

"I was looking," Onyx said. "Hand my hands in the dirt to make sure nothing popped up and gave us a nasty surprise, but…fuck, I'm with the kid; it was just suddenly there. I moves through the ground as fast as anything I've ever seen on land."

"Jack," Keppel said quietly.

"I know," He answered. "Isabelle, call Ozpin and tell him to upgrade our status from 'Fucked' to 'Really, Really Fucked.' If that thing is involved…"

She already had her scroll out and was typing away at it. Far beneath us, I heard the Grimm follow in Crom Cruach's wake, a huge mass of the crawling from the enormous pit that it had left behind. In the distance, villagers began to scream, making my father curse.

"You two," He said to Ren and Nora. "Go help Hui keep the villagers safe. We'll do what we can here, but we need to hold out until reinforcements arrive. Just try to…"

He trailed off and shook his head, probably realizing how ridiculous the mere idea of keeping everyone from panicking was now, but Ren swallowed and nodded firmly. Even Nora's bubbly demeanor seemed to fade as she looked out over her village and the Grimm now swarming it.

"Nora," Ren whispered. "It won't happen again."

She nodded once, weighing her hammer in a hand before leaping into the village, Ren following a moment after.

"Everyone else, we've got a job to do," My father said to his fellow Hunters, who had all positioned themselves at the edge of the floating platform except for my mother. "So go do it."

As one, they leapt down into the river of dark bodies and began tearing the Grimm apart. I saw spears of earth and ice stab up at the sky as Onyx and Keppel landed, impaling dozens of Grimm above their teeming ranks. Tyrian and Castanea began raising shields and walls of energy and light as Tenne and Carmina carved a swath through the monsters, but…

"Jaune," My father stopped me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"I should stay here," I answered, looking at him. "I can do the most good supporting you."

"That's not what was going to say," He shook his head. "Or not quite. I just you to know, if things get bad here…"

"I'll get us all out," I said. "If I have to, I can do that, at least. Naraka should…"

My father was silent for a moment before nodding.

"Yes," He said. "Just…remember. I…"

He stopped himself as a drop of water hit his face, looking up at the storm that had finally arrived with a bleak smile.

"Fitting," He said before looking down at me with a smug, confident look. "Well, might as well make the most of it, eh? Want to help me with this son?"

I smiled back at him as we both lifted out hands—and greeted the Grimm below with a clap of thunder. With our control of the water and air above, with the shifting of charges, we called to the lightning again and again. I assisted my father's aim, directed it a bit more accurately at the most heavily armored targets below as we pulled all the energy we could from the storm. The clouds turned darker and the storm worsened as we intensified it and feed it with our power and the Dust we had on hand, until the rumble of thunder seemed a constant thing. A dimly felt my mother finish sending her message and join the fray below, but the majority of my focus was on the skies above and my enemies below. We rained a display of nature's power down on the creatures of Grimm, dashed any monsters that drew our attention from the face of the world, and yet…and yet even still…

We couldn't kill them fast enough to stem the tide.

We tried anyway. When thunder and lightning weren't enough, we leapt to the ground and drew steel, my father tearing at the broken earth with his power as I drew my own around my body, raising it to enormous heights.

"Are you ready for this, son?" My dad was smiling fiercely as he lifted his hammer high.

"Of course," I answered, tracing Crocea Mors' blade as I crouched. A massive Ursa leapt at us and my father reduced it to paste. Before his hammer even hit the ground, though, I was off. Surrounded by dark shapes, I swung my sword with all my might, cleaving off heads and limbs without hesitation. I didn't stop except to restore my strength, didn't hesitate except to make sure I wasn't aiming at an ally—I kept moving forward.

At times, I saw the others; Onyx with a crushed Ursa in either hand, Carmine in a circle of corpses, Keppel in the shape of a monster of ice, Tenne switching to Dust rounds that exploded with each hit to take on the tougher specimens. I didn't see my mother at first, but as the bombs began to go off and massive structures formed in the air. Atop his throne, I saw my father laugh as blankets of fire, explosions of ice, areas of altered time, and distortions in gravity ripped through the ranks of our enemies. For just a moment, as the Grimm were pulled away and the field was momentarily cleared, I was able to look around and see that we were all alive—and who knows how many of our enemies weren't.

In that moment, that one moment, I believed we'd be okay. I believed that we'd be able to do it.

And then the moment passed.

Looking up as I was, I saw the smile drain from my father's face as he looked at the hole and turned to see the cause. Something was crawling from the pit, a Deathstalker more massive than any I'd ever seen, even in pictures, but…

That wasn't what had drawn my father's eye and it certainly wasn't what drew mine. Clinging to its back like baby scorpions were shells of pure white bone, jagged and layered but free of any sign of red or black, clean of any dirt. Compared to the creature that was carrying them, barring its tail threateningly, they were unassuming.

I looked back at my dad, something like terror filling me for an instant and I saw its mirror on his face. He drew a breath and almost unconsciously, I amplified the sound with Levant, making it carry through the battlefield and beyond.

"It's carrying a Pandora Shell!" He shouted, voice thunderous.

As one, every Hunter turned, eyes wide and terrified as they saw the Deathstalker and its bounty. I knew what they were all thinking; I was thinking it myself. Why? How? There shouldn't be any point, they shouldn't be able to break the shell—but what if they did?

We had to stop it. I don't think any of us knew what we were doing and we certainly didn't plan for it, but we ran for the monster. Carmine sheathed her sword instantly and my father pulled his bombs far away, both of them probably as afraid of the possibilities as I was, but we still attacked. A new flood of Grimm rose at the Deathstalker's heels, rushing around and over its body—large forms with countless spike-like growths, the older Grimm. With our biggest guns put away in fear, it was enough to stall our advance for a moment, forcing us back with the sheer weight of bodies.

And then I saw light, as if the clouds had cleared away to show the sun but coming from the ground instead of the sky. I looked down, not wanting to believe it, but—

Crom Cruach, I thought. You motherfucker.

I moved to…to run? In that moment, I honestly had no idea what I was going to do. Naraka, I thought. It was our only hope, but the mere thought that we had hope was enough to make my heart rise—and to crush it even more so when I realized I didn't have the power left. I had to—

The Deathstalker clicked its pincers, rustling as if pleased as the light behind it began to grow. With desperate speed, I reached into my Inventory to draw out a crystal and held it tight, draining it for power. A saw a column of light tear through the earth, sheering through a mountainside in the distance—and I saw it fade away as my barrier rose.

I did it, I thought, smile rising to my face. I—

My mother tackled me to the ground, grabbed me, and pulled me tight against her. For a moment, I thought it was a hug, that she was relieved—and then I was abruptly colder than I'd ever been in my entire life as air began to solidify around us. No, it was more than that even; I felt heat as well, the earth liquefying enough for us to sink into, sending a wave of agonizing heat through me even as I froze in place. It hurt, hurt unbelievably, and I didn't understand why she was…

Oh, I thought. She was trying to protect me. But I'd already saved us. I'd already—

And then I felt Naraka shatter, breaking from the outside. As it did, I knew the Pandora Shell had opened.

And I knew I'd failed.