James stared at his scroll in disbelief. Getting the staff and raising Atlas was the only way he could protect the people. But now, he could do nothing but wait for Salem to arrive. He had failed once again. His hands begun to shake as Salem’s words pounded in his head. Suddenly, his scroll began to ring. Winter was calling.
“Sir! We are getting reports of hordes of Grimm taking down our airships. A huge Grimm is approaching Atlas. What do we do, sir?”
“I…I don’t…”
Winter’s voice suddenly changed from controlled to frantic. He could hear radio chatter in the background and panicked yelling.
“What! Someone is riding the Grimm? This is no time for jokes…Wait. Is that Sal…”
Winter’s voice cut out and was replaced by static.
Notes: Since this is going to be from Qrow’s POV this chap, I just wanted to warn people that Clover’s death will be talked about. So if that may be triggering for you, I’ll put a summary of what happens in this chap right here: Qrow is on the grounds of Mantle, helping Ozcar/Ruby lead a resistance against Salem’s invasion. Atlas has basically turned into Salem’s fortress, with Grimm pools running off into Mantle.(kinda like a waterfall) Qrow reminisces on Clover’s death and the state of things currently in the aftermath of Salem’s takeover There is also a sequence of flashbacks to Qrow’s 3rd year at Beacon
An important note is that James’ semblance, Heart’s Whisper, is that if he has a strong bond with a person, an emotional link can form between them. So at the end of this chap, Qrow gets a brief flash of what is happening to Ironwood which starts up his search into where he is.
Sidenote: Clover was dating Marrow in this AU.
Qrow stared up into the dark skies of Atlas, his eyes focusing on the floating city. So much had changed in such little time and certainly not for the better. How were they supposed to combat something like this? Everyday, a new threat came from above to kill what’s left of the Atlesian people. It didn’t help that the Grimm were literally raining down from Atlas. About a week after Salem came and took control of Atlas, dark liquid began to run down from Atlas and create pools in Mantle.
Sidenotes: Sorry for the long gap between chapters y’all, online summer school is taxing. But also I wanted to wait until I could listen to the full version of Hero(which is too good) and I was waiting for the Galaxycon live so I could ask which Grimm Ironwood would be! If you haven’t seen it, I’ll keep it a surprise. All in all though, here’s the Oscar vs Neo fight I’ve been talking about for like 2 chaps and this will kinda be an Ironwood chapter but more from Watts perspective.
Oscar paced back and forth in the main warehouse they had set up. Ruby and the others were clearing out Grimm on the streets of Mantle. He wanted to help, but Qrow said it was too dangerous. Ozpin had agreed, stating that Salem was most likely watching and waiting for him to make an appearance. Oscar sat down with a huff. There was a time where he would have been fine letting the others take care of the danger. Let him cling on to the illusion that he was still just a farm boy who didn’t have a clue about the dangers of the world. But now, he couldn’t just sit back and let everyone else fight. Although judging by his last fight, he wasn’t so sure he could be any help to the group.
