Chapter 125: Family
*What the?*
I turned and saw a gigantic tear in the air. We'd been walking around London today, and honestly, I hadn't expected anything like this. I hadn't expected it, but I reacted quickly. Two flicks of the wand that appeared in my hand, and my voice was already amplified.
"All civilians, take shelter in buildings! Close the windows! Close the doors! Breach over London! Penny, send a message to the Quarter, have them send help here."
I said the last phrase after canceling the voice amplification, after which my vision changed and the first spell tore from my wand.
The Blasting Curse struck a black wolf, which flew apart in black shreds.
"Cover each other..."
I gave the order when I saw Penny's Patronus bound off toward the Quarter.
"Penny, shields are on you."
"All right."
She didn't argue and immediately prepared to cast shields.
"Sir..."
A police officer ran up to us, and I threw him a quick glance.
"...it's dangerous here."
"Dangerous."
I nodded.
"Do you have your service weapon in its holster?"
The man flinched when several beam spells flew past him at once.
"You're wizards, right?"
"Yes. And you, get into the nearest building and shoot from there if anyone breaks through to..."
I didn't manage to finish because I saw a girl fall out of the rift, dressed in black and red, with an enormous scythe in her hands. I was about to cast a spell to soften her fall when she twisted in the air and her scythe transformed.
BOOM!
A loud shot stopped her fall just before she hit the ground, and she immediately spun sharply, slicing through a Grimm with her weapon, which had become a scythe again, as it tried to sneak up on her from behind.
"In short, get moving!"
"Understood!"
The man was terrified, while I sent several spells toward the girl to draw her attention. The spells, however, were aimed not at her, but at the Grimm that had begun circling around her.
With a gesture, I beckoned her to come to us, and immediately unleashed a massive stream of spells on the Grimm.
The girl spun her scythe, clearly picking up speed, and then a loud shot rang out, sending her flying in our direction and slightly upward.
"I've got her!"
I shouted, casting a spell under the girl's feet to slow her fall, and she descended to the ground rather slowly, which surprised her.
"Who are you?! Human?! We thought there were only Grimm here! We thought they were opening breaches into another dimension and crawling out of them... although that didn't add up with the fact that they were falling into them, but..."
"Quiet..."
Understanding her was difficult, and without mind magic, I wouldn't have managed it.
"...slower... I know your language, but I speak it poorly."
"You know it? From where?!"
"Not important now..."
I shook my head.
"...let's fight them off first, and afterward we'll tell you everything."
"Afterward? But I need to get back..."
"And are you sure you can get back? To be honest, the girl who came to us before you had no idea what these tears in space were until we told her what they were..."
The conversation didn't stop us from destroying the Grimm. The girl, who was clearly about my age, moved very skillfully, firing at the monsters.
"By the way, conserve your ammunition."
"Huh?"
"We still haven't found Dust here..."
"You don't have Dust?! Then how..."
"A different kind of energy... not just Aura, which Summer helps us unlock, but magic as well."
"Su..."
The girl flinched and even froze, so I had to protect her from another Grimm, and Penny had to create several additional shields.
...Summer? You said Summer?"
"Well, yes. Why?"
"And the surname? Rose?"
"Yes..."
"Mom..."
The girl said that word quietly, but I heard it and understood that, surprisingly, the mother-daughter meeting would happen much sooner than any of us had expected.
"Snap out of it!"
Fleur slapped the girl across the face, making her flinch, and her gaze sharpened.
"I... sorry..."
"We understand, but first we need to fight them off. Believe me, your mom isn't going to run away from you now. Your name is Ruby, isn't it?"
"Yes..."
Tears flowed from the girl's eyes, and she grinned wildly before throwing herself at the Grimm.
"Where are you going!"
One spell, and the girl was returned to us by her red hood.
"Stay nearby! We handle ranged combat and shields, you handle close combat if they get to us. Understood?"
"Uh-huh!"
She nodded quickly, and our small detachment became even more deadly. The Grimm near us simply did not survive.
"Listen, will you teach me too? You know, so I can do zing-bang-poof with a wooden wand?"
I threw Ruby a quick glance and shrugged, sending another spell.
"We'll see. Unfortunately, this isn't like Aura. Not everyone has the ability, but if you have it, we'll teach you."
"Cool!"
"More there!"
Penny warned us that another human figure had flown out of the tear, and this figure was flying downward at a much higher speed.
"Help her!"
Ruby shouted it, and I cast a spell that slowed their fall, but that wasn't the end. Almost immediately after, another figure flew out of the breach, dressed in white, and then another in yellow.
"Girls!"
Ruby was happy, but we had more work since we had to protect the girls.
"Penny, pull them to us."
"Understood!"
While Fleur and I fired at the flying Grimm that were targeting the girls, and Ruby fought off the creatures that had marked us as easy prey with her scythe, Penny began pulling the girls toward us with spells. First, she pulled the one dressed in black and white, and once she was beside us, we could make out black cat ears and golden eyes.
"Ruby, what the hell?!"
"Blake, not now, shoot the Grimm! They're fighting them here too!"
That stopped the newcomer from asking her friend unnecessary questions.
"Ruby!"
"Klutz!"
The blonde, dressed in yellow, and the platinum blonde in white and blue ended up beside us.
"Girls, not now! We need to deal with the Grimm!"
"And who are these people?!"
"Everything later! Team RWBY, into battle!"
And the girls really did go into battle. They worked in perfect sync, complementing and helping each other. They almost didn't even need our help... almost...
"I'm empty!"
The girl with the ears was the first to say she had no ammunition left, after which she retreated behind her friends.
"Don't get in the way there! Come to us!"
I shouted to her, and to my surprise, she obeyed, and under our cover, though she was far from defenseless, rushed in our direction.
"I'm running out of Dust!"
The platinum blonde soon became less effective, if not a burden, and was forced to retreat to us as well. After that, Ruby and the blonde retreated too. Now the girls served as the first line of defense, finishing off any Grimm that broke through to us, and even Penny shifted to attacking, scattering deadly spells here and there.
"I want to try something..."
I created a Patronus, which rushed toward the Grimm, but unfortunately, it wasn't nearly as effective as against Dementors.
What was that? You can summon glyphs too?
The platinum blonde noticed what I was doing, but I just shook my head, feeling fatigue gradually set in.
"I'm done..."
With her last spell, Fleur created a spear for herself and joined the girls on the front line. Soon, Penny also took her place on the front line with a spear, and now only I could deal death to the Grimm from a distance.
"We're retreating..."
"But..."
The newcomer girls protested, but I wasn't going to argue.
"Reinforcements should break through to us soon, but if we die, we won't help anyone now or next time."
"You don't understand, we need to go there!"
The blonde pointed at the tear.
"I agree, we need to go there..."
The platinum blonde sided with her friend.
"No..."
Ruby said it quietly, but her friends heard her and looked at her in surprise.
"...we retreat."
"Ruby, what are you talking about? If we don't dive in there, we'll stay here!"
"Uh-huh... here..."
Ruby nodded, her voice heavy with guilt.
"Girls, forgive me, but I'm staying."
"Dummy, what are you doing?!"
"I... you... he said my mom is here."
"You..."
Gauntlets were aimed at me. Of course, they couldn't fire anymore, but it was clear she was ready to kill me.
"I didn't say she was your mom. I said that before you, a girl ended up here, not very tall, red hair, silver eyes, wears a white cloak, fights with a battle-axe that transforms into a rifle. Her name is Summer."
"No... she... that can't be..."
The blonde shook her head.
"I don't know if she's actually your mother or if she just came from your world and introduced herself that way because she didn't trust us at first, but..."
I shrugged.
"I'm staying..."
Ruby repeated this, this time with much more confidence.
"Rubes..."
"Fine... I'm with you, dummy... you're my partner, after all."
"To hell with you! But if you lied to us?"
The blonde pointed a finger at me. This conversation didn't stop us from slowly retreating toward the nearest building, but the retreat was temporary. Soon, we heard the roar of combat spells and saw Grimm flying apart into pieces.
"Draco, we're coming!"
That was Bella's voice, rushing to help alongside the combat wing of the Quarter.
"Well, I'm almost empty... so I might as well have a little fun too..."
I removed a keychain from around my neck, and it instantly transformed into a real battle-axe. I gripped it in my hands, and when a wave of Grimm crashed into us, we all surged forward in a unified attack, literally cutting them apart. A dozen seconds later, the tide turned as the wizards mowed down the Grimm, and ahead of them, two girls were charging into battle. Bella...
"Mom..."
Ruby whispered the word, because beside Bella was Summer, in her usual outfit and with her favorite weapon, slaying the Grimm. Even then, she didn't glance our way, continuing to destroy the creatures.
I don't know how much time passed from when space over London tore open and the Grimm began crawling out, but eventually, the tear sealed shut, and the Grimm grew fewer.
Eventually, even those near us succumbed to an overdose of spells and steel.
"Mom..."
Ruby took several steps toward where Bella was talking with Summer, each step filled with extreme uncertainty.
"Mommy..."
Tears ran down the girl's cheeks.
"...Mommy..."
She didn't dare take another step. I turned and saw that the blonde had also frozen in place, looking at Summer with tears in her eyes. So I had to take matters into my own hands.
"Summer, we have newcomers here from your world!"
I tried to get her attention.
"I'll come over now!"
But for now, she was ignoring me.
"Well, one of them answers to Ruby!"
My shout made Summer turn sharply in my direction...
"If this is... MY DAUGHTERS!!!"
With incredible speed, Summer swept Ruby into her arms first, then the blonde standing behind her. It seemed the family had finally been reunited.
Ruby and her team.
------------------------------------------
Chapters on Patreon progress: Currently at;
1. Harry Potter: Satan? Nah, Just My Family Crest = CHAPTER 398
2.Harry Potter: Beyond Good and Evil in the Wizarding World = CHAPTER 413
3.Harry Potter: Reborn as Draco Black = CHAPTER 211
support me on Patreon for instant access to the 120+ advance chapters: patreon.com/redofic