After the Fall

by E. C. Myers

  Then there were the friends they would never see again. They had all watched Penny die in the Vytal Tournament, but they had only heard about others who were gone, like Pyrrha and Roy and Professor Ozpin, with no idea what fate had befallen them.

  “It’s that thing,” Fox said, too drained to even use his Semblance to speak telepathically. He nodded out the window toward what was left of Beacon Tower, with the giant winged Grimm frozen at the top. “It’s attracting them. Until we figure out how to kill it or get rid of it, this will never stop.”

  No one knew what had frozen the beast there, or if they did, they weren’t talking about it. The only thing everyone knew was there had been a bright flash of light, and it had been stuck up there since. There were rumors that Ruby Rose had been at the Tower at the time, and it wouldn’t have surprised anyone if the precocious First-year had been involved somehow.

  “Goodwitch is working on that,” Velvet said. “Port, Oobleck, they all are. We just have to stick it out, do what we can until they figure it out, and everything can go back to normal.”

  Yatsuhashi shook his head. “Things will never be normal again. And we can’t wait for someone else to save us.”

  “There are too many Grimm,” Coco said. “They’re seemingly coming from nowhere. On a good day we kill as many as are coming in, but on a bad day …” They were having more bad days than good. “It’s only a matter of time before they overwhelm us. The school is already a ghost town.”

  “Don’t say that! We just need more Huntsmen to join the fight,” Velvet said.

  “But they’re leaving. Everyone is leaving tomorrow,” Yatsuhashi said. “We have to decide—do we stay or go?”

  “And if we leave, where do we go?” Fox sent.

  Vale had scraped together enough resources to send the last remaining refugees home, but only to their own kingdoms.

  “I want to finish what I came here for,” Coco said. “I want my Huntress license.”

  “The combat schools are taking in displaced Beacon students,” Velvet said. “We could still stay in Vale and help out here.”

  Coco laughed. “Been there, done that. We’ve learned everything they can teach us. That would be a huge step back.”

  “Atlas? Haven? Shade?” Yatsuhashi said.

  “Atlas was partly to blame for what happened here,” Fox said. “I don’t think they can be trusted.”

  “And they don’t tend to take in transfer students, even in the best of times,” Yatsuhashi said.

  “I bet General Ironwood would make an exception for us,” Coco said.

  “What about Mistral?” Yatsuhashi asked.

  “I’m not going to Mistral,” Velvet said sullenly.

  “Mistral wouldn’t be good for … us,” Fox said.

  “Looks like it’s Shade, then.” Coco adjusted her sunglasses. “Knew these would come in handy.”

  Velvet opened her mouth to protest, but Fox spoke up first.

  “Shade is rough,” he said. “But nothing we can’t handle.”

  Velvet looked at Yatsuhashi, but he was staring out the window. “It would be good to have something to look forward to, something we can work toward.”

  “I’m tired of being surrounded by …” Coco gestured at the rows of empty desks that might never be occupied again. “Failure and misery. I want to live in hope again.”

  Velvet waited for someone to ask her what she thought, what she wanted, but no one did.

  “When we’re trained, we can come back,” Coco said. “We can find our friends. We can save our home.”

  Velvet shook her head. She tried to form the words, but it was clear what Coco, Yatsuhashi, and Fox wanted was different from what she wanted. What if they left her just as easily as they had decided to abandon their school and their home?

  When they told Professor Goodwitch that they would be leaving, she seemed relieved. She had set up her office in the city library, and there were stacks of books piled up around her desk and littering the floor.

  “I understand, and I support your decision,” Professor Goodwitch said. “I have appreciated your help these past few weeks, and your commitment to Beacon and Vale, but this is no place for students right now.”

  She pulled a thick folder from a drawer, then wrote something on a sheet of Beacon Academy letterhead and signed it. She slid everything into an envelope and sealed it. Then she stood slowly, like the weight of the world was on her shoulders. Coco wondered if the professor had been sleeping at all since taking over as temporary headmistress—an empty title, for an empty school.

  Professor Goodwitch rounded the desk and handed Coco the envelope. “Give this to Headmaster Theodore. If the CCT were working I would just call him, but sometimes a personal touch is nice. And please, give him my best.”

  “What is it?” Coco examined the envelope.

  “Your transcripts, and a letter of recommendation.” She tipped her head and smiled. “And a warning. He’s never seen a team like yours before.”

  Coco tucked the envelope away. “Thank you.”

  “As much as we’ve been worried about your safety while you’ve been here, you’ve shown that those concerns are unnecessary. I’m proud that you will be going out into the world to complete your training, and I have no doubt you will be exemplary Huntsmen and Huntresses—because you already are.” Professor Goodwitch spread her hands and looked at each of them. “You won’t have the privilege of hearing Professor Ozpin deliver his graduation speech, but there’s one thing he tells every class that I want to share with you.”

  She clasped her hands behind her back and thought for a moment. “ ‘Beacon Academy is not a place. It is an idea, which has taken root in each and every one of you. You are Beacon, and you must now go forth and serve as a hopeful light for others. It is your privilege and your burden as Huntsmen and Huntresses to protect not only those who cannot defend themselves, but to watch out for each other, always.’ ”

  Professor Goodwitch closed her eyes and lowered her head. “ ‘Now get out of here.’ ”

  Velvet’s throat was choked up, and Fox was pretending that he had something in his eyes. Yatsuhashi had listened with his eyes closed the whole time, imagining that Professor Ozpin had been there delivering those words himself. Coco was feeling excited about living those words and honoring the headmaster’s legacy. He had brought Team CFVY together, and she wouldn’t have been the person she was without him, or her friends.

  Professor Goodwitch looked up. “That last bit was part of his speech, too. He always kicked the students out after that. He hated long good-byes, and so do I.”

  They left the next morning, while Professor Port and Dr. Oobleck were on patrol. Fox could have gotten a ride to Vacuo, but he chose to travel with his team instead.

  “Anyway, you’d never find your way to Shade in the desert without me,” he said. But really he just didn’t want to be separated from them.

  It would take them about three months to make the journey, but Coco hoped they could cross over into Vacuo before winter and then reach Shade in time for the second semester. She had no doubts that they would accept the team as transfers and that they would be able to face whatever came at them—as long as they were together.

  They were a team, and they would watch one another’s backs. Always.

  “Let’s go.” Coco pushed her glasses up and looked ahead—to their bright future.

  It was pitch-black inside the Blind Worm.

  Coco took her glasses off, but that didn’t help at all. Maybe that’s why they called it a Blind Worm, because if it swallowed you, you couldn’t see inside its stomach, or whatever this was.

  Or maybe it was called a Blind Worm because you never saw it coming. Only she had seen it coming, and she’d ended up inside the damn thing, anyway. She had pulled Velvet out of the way, only to take her friend’s place. Coco figured sacrificing your life for your teammate was one way to be remembered as a good leader, but maybe that was just cheating.

  The a
ir was warm and wet and foul smelling. And the darkness was even more disorienting because the worm was moving—fast. She was inside a living, runaway train with no idea how to get out.

  “The only way out is through,” Coco muttered, her voice muffled and lost, like she wasn’t even there. She held back a scream.

  She turned her Scroll on, but the light almost made it worse. Now she could see just how tight the space was, how it glistened and pulsated.

  Coco screwed her eyes shut. She was back in that cave in Lower Cairn, scared of the dark. Scared of failure. Scared of dying.

  Her hands trembled. She was losing it. She opened her eyes. “Get yourself together, Coco,” she said aloud. The heavy darkness swallowed the sound.

  She wasn’t going to let the nomads end up like the Gray family back at Lower Cairn. Coco clenched her hands into fists and held to the strap of her purse. She wanted to move, she wanted to fight, but still she was rooted to the spot.

  “Fight, Coco,” she said. She unfolded her Gatling gun and tried to identify a weak point, but it all looked the same, a seemingly endless expanse of mottled gray flesh. She planted her feet, aimed at the wall opposite her, and fired.

  The world turned upside down as the worm lurched and rolled. Coco tumbled around it, cushioned by the spongy lining on the walls. She watched her gun slide deeper into the beast and saw a bright light bouncing around—her Scroll, which soon went dark. There went her only communication with the outside and the only source of light in this oppressive blackness.

  “Great,” she said.

  The inside of the Grimm trembled, and it continued to whip her back and forth, more a roller coaster than a train ride now. She started crawling, hoping she could recover her weapon, but she wasn’t even sure which way she was going. She stopped and curled up in the center of the creature, arms wrapped around her knees.

  Guys? I need some help, she thought.

  But what could they do for her out there? Fox was spent. Yatsuhashi was busy fighting Carmine and Bertilak, and if they were very unlucky, they would be joining her soon inside the Blind Worm. The way it had picked up speed suggested it was moving toward a new target rather than engaging the turtle and going after the refugees.

  She hoped when the time came that Yatsuhashi, Fox, and Velvet wouldn’t hesitate to kill the Grimm without worrying about her.

  Light appeared. She blinked at it and realized she was looking out of the Blind Worm’s wide mouth. Its teeth raced around the circular opening. It was bearing down on Fox, and he didn’t notice it coming.

  “Fox, look out!” Coco yelled.

  She scrambled and tried to run for the opening, but it reared up, knocking her back again. She fell head over heels and slipped farther back.

  The worm shuddered—something was attacking its armored hide from outside, and it was getting angry.

  The light disappeared and a flood of sand sprayed over Coco, pushing her farther down.

  She flew up and slammed into what she thought of as the ceiling. The worm was diving, trying to get away, or launch a fresh surprise attack. Then it abruptly stopped, sending Coco pitching forward.

  Enough already, she thought.

  “Coco, are you okay?” Fox sent.

  “Define ‘okay,’ ” Coco said.

  “Alive?”

  “Barely. What’s going on out there?”

  “Velvet is rescuing you,” Fox said.

  “What? How?”

  “You have to get out before the worm burrows back into the ground. The skin is tough, but it’s thinnest in the back. Can you get to the last segment?”

  “I’ll try,” she said.

  “Go,” Fox said. “Hurry.”

  It was an uphill climb, as the worm was wriggling and trying to escape. Grimm didn’t usually turn away from a fight, but big ones like this and the Goliaths—very old ones—had a stronger survival instinct. And they demonstrated a better understanding of people, choosing their battles and acting strategically.

  Coco stretched her arms out. She could just touch the curving sides of the worm with the tips of her fingers. She hurried and soon she was pressing against them with her hands.

  “Almost there, I think,” Coco said.

  She kept going and tripped over something. She reached down, groped around in the darkness, and then found something very familiar in a shallow pool of viscous, burning liquid—Gianduja!

  “Come to Momma.” She picked her gun up and reduced it back into her handbag, then slung it over her shoulder. The top of her head brushed the ceiling. She reached up and felt the ick in her hair; she had lost her beret somewhere along the way. She sighed.

  “I’m as far back as I can get,” she sent, hoping they were still listening.

  All was quiet.

  “Fox?” Coco said. “Hello?”

  “Stand back, Coco!” Velvet sent.

  “Velvet?”

  Then the worm flooded with a bluish light as a glowing line sliced through the worm, only two inches away from Coco’s face. As it passed, she realized it was a replica of Brawnz Ni’s claw weapons.

  She stumbled backward as the weapon faded. A beam of sunlight appeared on the ceiling and spread quickly down the curved walls and along the floor, widening as the tough skin and flesh and sinew separated—as Velvet pulled them apart. She had hacked and slashed all around the creature and then let it pull itself apart as it tried to dive under the ground. The front portion of the worm disappeared into the sand in front of Coco, spewing ichor that turned the sand black.

  Coco leaped out of the remains of the worm, falling right into Velvet’s arms.

  “Coco!” Velvet called. “Are you all right?”

  “Do I look all right?” Coco asked.

  Velvet wrinkled her nose, holding her friend at a distance. “Um.”

  Coco reached into her belt and retrieved her sunglasses. She slid them on.

  “That’s better.” Velvet smiled.

  “Thank you,” Coco said. “I always thought Brawnz’s weapons sucked.”

  “The right tools for the right job, I always say.” Velvet winked. “I’m glad you made it out of there. And thank you for saving me first.”

  “Who’s keeping count?” Coco asked.

  Fox came over and slapped her on the back. I am, he sent.

  Coco looked at Velvet. “That was a really good plan. Better than anything I could have come up with.”

  Velvet blushed happily.

  Yatsuhashi joined them. “Looks like I missed all the action.” He turned as the tail end of the Grimm twitched and then wriggled into the sand and vanished. He stepped back, horrified.

  “Ew,” Velvet said.

  “There goes my Scroll and hat,” Coco said.

  “Will that piece grow into another Blind Worm?” Yatsuhashi asked.

  Fox nodded.

  “I take it back. That was a terrible plan,” Coco said.

  Velvet pouted.

  “Speaking of terrible plans …” Yatsuhashi pointed behind Coco. A short distance away, Carmine was fending off attacks from both Bertilak, firing bullets from the shaft of his mace, and Edward, who fought her at closer quarters with a bladed disc in his hand.

  “Bertilak! What are you doing, you idiot?” Carmine screamed.

  “You always think you’re smarter than me! Well, who’s laughing now?” Bertilak said.

  “That doesn’t even make sense, moron.” Carmine punched toward Bertilak and sand hit him in the face.

  “What … is happening?” Coco said.

  “Bertilak thinks that Carmine tried to double-cross him and take Gus on her own,” Fox said.

  “How’d you convince him of that?” Coco asked.

  “He doesn’t remember trying to get away with Edward, and Fox fighting him.” Yatsuhashi rubbed the back of his neck.

  “And Gus seems to be revving their emotions up. He must be getting more of a handle on his Semblance,” Fox said.

  “Nice,” Coco said.

  As Team C
FVY raced toward the fight, they watched Carmine blast Bertilak and Edward with a wave of sand. Bertilak protected himself with a wall of heat that fused the wave into glass, but Edward was knocked back and buried.

  “Grandpa!” shouted Gus.

  Coco glanced up, where three Ravager Grimm were winging overhead. The Blind Worm might be gone, but now other Grimm were closing in. This battle was going to get out of hand pretty quickly.

  “Flank her,” Coco said. She opened up her Gatling gun and laid down covering fire, shooting at Carmine. The first round of bullets hovered in front of the Huntress, but she strained as they built up. Some of them broke through, clipping her in the arm.

  Carmine sent the wall of bullets flying toward Velvet, who batted them away with a hard-light version of Dr. Oobleck’s telescoping thermos and then fired several blasts at her. Carmine somersaulted away from the attack, and ended up right in front of Fox, who unleashed a flurry of blows.

  Carmine broke her sai into two halves and struck out with both blades, flipping them over and driving them into each of Fox’s thighs. He cried out as his Aura flashed, flickered—and shattered. There was a crack and a sizzle and he jolted from a burst of electricity from the pronged weapons. He collapsed in the sand, wisps of smoke rising.

  “Fox!” Coco said. Her gun clicked. Out of ammo. She transformed her weapon back into a handbag and ran toward Carmine. The Huntress was breathing heavily, covered in sand and sweat and blood.

  “That’s all you’ve got?” Carmine asked.

  Coco smashed the purse into Carmine’s face. The woman went down.

  “I can’t believe I thought you were cute.” Coco spat.

  Carmine got back up. She prodded the left side of her face gingerly.

  “I thought you were supposed to be some kind of hotshot students, but none of you can take me down.”

  Coco swung her bag around in a circle.

  “None of us is right,” Coco said. “But together …”

  On her left, Yatsuhashi slashed the wall of glass that Bertilak’s heat had created while Velvet launched herself at it, sending it toppling over onto Carmine. She looked up and screamed as it fell on her. Sand flowed around her and upward, but the fountain of sand couldn’t support the heavy glass.