RWBY: Purple Pheonix

Chapter Twenty-Two - It Won't be by Your Hand

Weiss panted hard, unleashing another barrage of attacks amd dispatching an onslaught of Beowolves. Behind her was Ruby, not as tired as she was, but even young miss Rose was slowing down. With no end in sight, it seemed more and more like this would be the end. Even the airship that Weiss thought would be the cavalry arriving had gone down. She heard Ruby cry out and whirled around. Fury burned in the young heiress when she saw the Beowulf had It's fangs sunk into the younger girl's left arm. Weiss in a fit of rage hacked it to pieces and grabbed the younger girl. The young huntress dashed away into a nearby alley.

Jet and his team hurried across the rooftops, much like old times. Only they had never been hunted by such a huge number of Grimm before. Fortunately it seemed the number of Nevermore had thinned, so they didn't have much to worry about from up here. Jet's eyes looked frantically around for any sign of team RWBY as he free ran across the rooftops. As more and more Grimm flooded the streets it seemed like they would never find them. Suddenly Jet heard it, Ruby's cry. He stopped and scanned to see the source of the noise being carried away by Weiss.

"Amy, Roman, keep looking for Blake and Yang, Neo, come with me. We'll meet at the rendezvous point" Jet ordered, before leaping off the rooftop and grinding his claw into the side of the building, sliding down it. Neo descended slower, with her umbrella. Roman and Amythest exchanged irritable glances and continued their search.

Weiss was able to use rubble and debris as cover as she cradled the younger girl. She felt like she was going to suffocate. Things looked bad, and Weiss was losing hope fast. She looked at the younger girl, who looked back desperately.

"I'm sure Yang and Blake will save us" she said, trying to be optimistic. Weiss bit her lip, wishing for nothing more than for that to be true.

"Ruby.....w-we may die here" Weiss replied. The redhead opened her mouth to argue but Weiss put a finger to her lips. "I'm not trying to argue....I just..." she explained, he voice dropping to a whisper as she drifted closer. "I don't want to die with any regrets." She pressed her lips to the younger girl's in a passionate and desperate kiss. Ruby gripped the heiress's coat tightly and she kissed back. They were interrupted by a Beowulf discovering them and giving away their position. Weiss broke the kiss and held Ruby tight, using her body to shield the redhead.

This is it. She thought.

Instead of the Beowulf's claws and fangs tearing into her, she heard the ringing of a sword cutting through air, and the thud of a body hitting the ground. She looked over her shoulder, and had never been happier to see Jet in her life. He stood with his back to them.

"You're our lead singer" Jet said. "How could you forget the lyrics so easily." He turned to face them. "I may fall, but not like this, it won't be by your hand." An Ursa attacked from behind, but Neo landed and kicked it into a building. He remained unphased, kneeling down and holding out his hand. "C'mon, let's find Blake and Yang and get out of here" he said. She excepted it, and stood, in turn, helping Ruby. Weiss suddenly blushed hard, realizing what had just happened a moment ago, and that she would live on to discuss that action with Ruby. The younger girl smirked at her as she grew bright red, and brushed past her to look at Neo.

"You tried to kill my sister, can we really trust you?" She asked. Neo smirked, her devilish smile full of mischief and future homicide. She intertwined her fingers with Jet's and leaned against him, nodding. "Alright" Ruby said, taking up Crescent Rose. Jet nodded, and they all looked at Weiss, who had recovered slightly. Their attention returned to the Grimm, who now appeared to be looking for and opening. At once, the four dashed forward, to battle.

Blake and Yang both panted heavily as they fought in unison. Gambol Shroud tore through a line of Grim while Ember Cecilia blasted through whatever got too close. However, no matter how hard they fought, it couldn't make up for the fact that they were surrounded.

"Yang, what do we do?" Blake huffed.

"Dunno, but if we make it through this I'm kicking Ruby and Weiss out tonight so I can make you scream" Yang joked between gasps. Boarbatusks, Ursas, and Beowolves just kept coming. At this point the couldn't even flee. A sudden explosion caught their attention, followed by was sounded like a sword all around them, hacking the Grim to pieces.

"Hey little kitty-cat" someone called from across the street. "Guess who's here to save your ass." Torchwick stood battling a few Beowolves, another girl carving a path for them.

"C'mon, let's get a move on!" She ordered. Yang and Blake, although befuddled, followed. The four ran through the streets, dodging and killing anything that got in their way.

"I don't understand, why did you save us?" Blake asked as they ran.
"My contract with my employer was terminated, it was never personal" Roman replied. "and I've got a friend who'd be really upset if you ladies died."

"Jet" Yang said with a smirk.

"We have to find Ruby and Weiss" Blake said.

"They're with Jet, they'll be fine, we just gotta rendezvous at a
safe location" Amythest replied. They took a shootcut through and alley, bottlenecking the horde, but only slowing it.

"Any ideas?" Yang asked, picking up a piece of rubble and throwing it in their way as the four continued to flee.

"The rooftops are safe, there's a building three blocks down that we can use to climb up there" Roman explained, blasting an Ursa out of the way. Blake and Yang followed close behind as they lead the way down the street. They had almost made it, when a Deathstalker appeared out of nowhere. It crashed through a building, causing them to collapse around it. The rubble cut off their escape, but also cut off the pursuing Grimm. "I don't know whether that's convenient or annoying" Roman smirked.

"Either way, we've gotta go through this thing" Amythest growled. Roman shot it in the face, but only blinded it. It lashed out with its tail, but Amythest hacked it off. It tried to lash out with one claw and guard with the other but Blake disarmed it, leaving Yang to finish it with a shotgun punch from Ember Cecilia. However, there was no time to celebrate this small victory. Beowolves began to scale the rubble behind them. The four took off again, scrambling to get over the collapsed building. Blake almost slid off, but was surprised to find Torchwick had grabbed her by the hand.

"C'mon, kid, you're better then that, you were the one who took me down last time" he mused.

"Get your hand off my girl before I throw you to the Grim" Yang warned.

"How about you all get your asses in gear!" Amythest snapped at them. Roman helped Blake regain her balance and the four got to the top easily. It only took a couple seconds to descend the other side. They ran across the street to the building Roman had pointed out. They ran through the lobby of what seemed to have once been an office building, and to the stairs. After what seemed like an eternal staircase, they made it to the roof. All four were fatigued from before and were now panting hard.

"What now?" Blake asked.

"Jet's gonna meet us here with red and your ice queen, we just gotta wait" Roman replied, lighting a cigar.

"No way! We can't just sit and do nothing while they're out there fighting for their lives!" Yang snarled, her eyes flashing red.

"Listen, blondie, if we go out there while they're searching for us, we could easily miss them, and all of us could get killed" Amythest said in a low voice. "Or, we could wait here, where we know they'll be headed. Roman, give them a signal." The orange haired man and blew out a a puff of smoke. He raised Melodic Cudgal above his head and fired a flare into the sky.