Mood musicThe tournament was going fine. That is to say, team Codex wasn’t out yet and they were in the singles round. Sure, that blonde bimbo got a little bit overboard, but they got her disqualified before she could maim Oswald and ruin their chances, so what did Diamond care. Herself, she opted out of seeing any action past the first round as she prefered to enjoy the festivities to being beaten up by choice.
And then it all went straight to the Underworld.
In the scope of a single day. First Nikos torn what appeared to be an Atlesian mimic to bits, something Diamond would again not find too worthy of her attention. That machine, if truly capable of generating aura may have had a soul, but was an abomination in the face of the Gods. But then somebody Diamond had to have a grudging respect towards managed to hack the CCTS. She even had some words Diamond could get behind, even though she fully realized their motivation was hardly anything but personal gain.
Any sympathy she might have had for the mysterious female voice was shattered when the massive negativity caused the Grimm to launch an invasion and a scale not seen in decades, to the point of bringing the wrath of a Ragnarok on them - No one has recorded a Grausam class in ages!. And then all of the goddamn robotic army was hacked as well on top of the White Fang showing up. Combined, the three nearly wiped Vale off of the map once and for all, and they succeeded doing so to the Beacon academy at least.
More so, they erased all that Diamond was hoping to do in her life. The street she had picked to eventually build that bar at? Nothing but rubble. The school she hoped would be her means to escape a life of crime? Destroyed. So as the walls came crashing down around her, she lost her will to fight on. A bit of ceiling collapsed and left her stranded on the other side from her team. She told them to go ahead. She didn’t want to sell her life easily though and fought her way around, hoping to reach the evacuation transports through another way.
She made it just in time, Cobalt nearly holding the pilot at gunpoint to wait for her. Out of breath she collapsed on the floor as the ship lifted itself off of the ground and headed to the safe zone - only to crash back with a Nevermore tearing off one of its engines, as she could identify from the pilot’s swearing.
That was it. Somebody wasn’t getting out of here. The question was how many. And if she had a word in it, it would be just her. The rest of them might be able to salvage a good life from this, but she was at her wit’s ends. Diamond rolled off the ramp and stood behind the ship, raising her arm as she summoned all of the aura she had left and helped the ship lift off with a spell. Watching it leave her behind with an arm bleeding from half a dozen gashes, she recited a silent prayer.
Team FORTress has been one of the luckier ones. The team of Atlesian third years has gotten away from the slaughter with all hands. Not all were so lucky though, and a memorial wall was erected in the safe zone. It was filling with pictures of missing people disturbingly fast. And, as their leader noticed, some people were in the state of denial.
Freya’s gaze was drawn to a female cat faunus arguing with two guys and snagging a picture from the wall. “She’s not dead! She wouldn’t let this stop her! She grown up in something like this!”
Walking over, Freya wanted to have a look at the picture of the person in question. She silently peeked over the faunus’ shoulder - and felt like she has seen a ghost. A gasp escaped her mouth, drawing attention to her.
“Uh… Can I help you?” the faunus asked. Looking at where the stranger was looking, her ears perked up: “Have you seen her?!”
“N-no...” Freya stammered, her voice shaking. “But… I have been looking for her… F-For years.” she explained as best as her shocked mind could.
It- can’t be. I’ve been searching everywhere in Atlas, and… She was here?The faunus obviously required more detail. “You… you aren’t a cop are you? Why would you look for Diamond?”
“What? No! No.” Freya said, her arms reaching for her helmet.
Diamond… So that is your name now, Skadi? The helmet hissed as the seal broke and revealed a mane of turquoise hair and a face behind the visor that made Emerald gasp and do a double take. In an instant, Freya could see the faunus understood everything. “May I?” she asked hesitantly, pointing to the picture.
The cat handed it to her with a short nod, her eyes glued to her face. Freya looked at the person in the photo.
Glowing eyes? And red hair. That should be easy to spot. Freya’s heart skipped a beat just there and then. “Wait… She’s missing?!”
The cat gave her a sad nod and looked to the ground.
Freya immediately put her helmet back on, tapping the radio button: “Onyx, Roy, Thanh! Gather what supplies you can, we’re going out ASAP!” she yelled to the radio, returning the picture: “I’ll find her. I already buried her once, I refuse to do it again.”
It has been two days. Diamond was surprised she lasted this long. Getting out of the school with an injured arm and no aura to speak of was an impressive feat on it’s own, albeit the blinding light that froze the ragnarok in place was of much help. She would have wondered what it was had she not been busy running as fast as her legs would carry her.
She had to laugh bitterly as she looked around herself, taking in her surroundings. She was hidden in the ruins of a building, cowering from any Grimm that might have followed her from Beacon to the unsecured part of Vale. Her teeth were clattering as she had nothing but the torn up remains of her coat to keep her warm - she did not dare to set up a fire, it would lure the grimm - and her stomach was growling in hunger.
History had a nasty habit of repeating itself. She was on the street again, alone and abandoned.
Pulling her legs close to her, she dropped her head onto her knees, fighting down a sob. She sworn a long time ago not to ever shed a tear again.
Because they would never stop falling after the first. But this time, she didn’t see any way out. If the Grimm didn’t get her, the cold, hunger, or blood loss would.
As if answering her thought, she could hear rustling outside as something moved outside. Diamond chuckled. “Grimm it is. Come on you bastards. Let’s see how many of you it will take to beat me without three suicidal idiots for me to defend!” she growled silently as she got to her feet, blue haze gathering around her functioning arm.
The search was taking too long. Freya and her team were scouting all sensible routes one might take from Beacon to the safe zone as far as they dared, but their supplies were thinning, not to mention the chance of anyone still left out there surviving. She would have to face the reality soon, but for now she refused to let go if even the slightest hope remained.
“We’re almost out of fuel, the radios are dead and we are on our last ration packs. I know what this means for you, Freya, but we have to turn ba-”
“NO!” Freya screamed at her team’s sniper trying to put some sense to her for the umpteenth time. “YOU CAN’T KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS TO ME, ROY!” Tears were pouring down her eyes. “I can’t-! I have to find her. I don’t care about anything else, I don’t have anyone else left!” she cried out.
Looking at their trusty 4x4, she made a decision. “Give me the meal packs and get out of here. I’ll last two days on them, come grab me if I am not back by then. I’ll launch a red flare if I need pickup early.”
“Freya, you won’t survive here on your own. At least-”
“GO.” She yelled, pointing to the car.
As soon as they left, Freya gone the other way to continue her search, her medi-scanner looking for signs of life in the area around her. At one point a beowulf leapt onto her from behind, almost tearing up her suit before Freya’s aura vaporized it.
It made her stop and pause to think. Most of the Grimm were drawn to Beacon’s ruins, why would this one be here? Did they make a nest here? Maybe she should check it out and get rid of it if that was so, she couldn’t afford to have that behind her if she needed to make a hasty exit. Making her way to what seemed to be the ruins of a school, Freya started to dig.
They were almost through. Diamond raised her arm, ready to freeze the Grimm that sought to feast on her - as ready as one could be in the state she was in. the light that was coming from the newly dug opening blinded her for a second. When she looked back up…
That’s not a grimm. That’s a head. She realized. A rescue. She couldn’t believe her luck. “Stand back!” called out the person on the other side and Diamond barely had enough time to turn away before what she could only describe as an explosion of aura torn away what remained of the rubble separating them.
The angel that came for her looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. Diamond could see a rather tight black catsuit laid with blue circuitry that seemed to be glowing bright blue, almost like her own eyes but several times stronger. Her savior’s face was covered by a black helmet. She didn’t get much more as she fell to all fours, in relief and exhaustion.
It was no nest. Or rather, not one occupied by a Grimm. When her scanner picked up a human signature consistent with what Freya have been looking for, she started blasting the rubble way until she could see through.
There she stood - battered, but alive!
She rushed to Diamond’s side as she fell on the ground, setting her scanner from search to diagnostic mode.
“Overuse of dust implant. Heavy neural scarring, multiple lacerations.” the voice of the software reported. She could fix that. “Don’t worry, I’m a medic. I’ll have you patched in no time!” she reassured in warm tone.
Laying hand on Diamond’s chest and the other on her injured arm, Freya let her healing aura flow. The wounds disappeared within a minute. Diamond twitched on the ground and started coughing, as as a side effect Freya’s aura also purged the other girl’s lungs of the years of smoking, making her cough up all the dust that settled in.
Diamond looked up. She wasn’t dreaming, somebody really came to find her. Not only that - she felt
great. Better than when all of this mess started.
“Can you stand?” the medic asked, handing her a bottle of water.
Diamond moved her legs slightly to check and nodded, getting to her feet. “Whoever you are, whatever you want, it’s yours. You have no idea how glad I am to see you right now.” she whispered.
“I-” the medic said, stuttering, “All I want is
you.”
Diamond nearly choked on the water she was drinking, giving the medic a look.
“I’ve been searching for you for so long.”
The thief took a step back. Did some cop finally nail her?
“No, I’m not police.” the medic said, raising her arms in defense, shortly after reaching for the helmet she was wearing. “My name is Freya Türkis. I’m-”
The helmet came off. And Diamond’s heart froze between beats when she saw the face of her rescuer, the bottle dropping out of her hand.
“-your twin.”
Seconds passed. Then a minute. The entire time neither of them moved, both with their expressions frozen on their faces - Freya’s in an anxious expectation, and Diamond’s in complete and utter shock.
Finally, Diamond took one hesitant step forward before approaching, slowly putting her hands on Freya’s cheeks. “Are you real?”
A nod.
“How? Why did you know about me and I didn’t about you?”
Freya put her hands on Diamond’s and took a deep breath. This would be a long explanation. “Our father… Is a mobster. Our mother didn’t know what he did until we were well on our way. When she found out, she broke. Her family were nothing but cops, most likely more than a few were killed by some of us. And she just decided she wasn’t going to have his children. So after we were born, she just left us on the street. Our father found me in time, but…”
Suddenly, Freya had tears in her eyes. “We thought you died. Dad searched for you as long as he could, and I picked up when he told me about you, but - I never expected to find you here.”
“So… I don’t only have a sister but dad too? Wait… Why did he stopped searching for me?” Diamond asked, feeling a little betrayed. Had he just given up?
“He’s… he’s in prison, and will be for six more years. He… found mom first.” Freya explained.
Diamond understood. If her - their father was like Freya explained it, their mother wouldn’t have had long to live. But that hardly mattered.
Never liked her anyway for ditching me - us. But I actually have a family! She looked up to Freya’s eyes. The same icy blue as hers used to be. “Sis?”
Freya gave her a nod.
And at that moment, all promises to oneself could go to hell as Diamond threw her arms around Freya’s shoulders, crying her eyes out.
After all, those are tears of joy. Those don’t count, right? 
Member
Carlyle
Cyrania
Apollosarcher
Starlance
Fish of Oblivion
Danyel
RBYDark
PrinceAlexus
Noctis
Sep
Besides you can't account for a setup. The briefing said an easy mission, but unexpected developments are always a possibility.