Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, but I do own whatever monstrosities lurk within here. :3
Most people would consider the library to be the last place they'd go to. Some might call this a ghost town, with that haunting void they call "silence". Others simply find it to be dull and boring, preferring the rustle and bustle of the outside world. In the case of one particular occupant, this was her haven.
Blake Belladonna sat at a lone table, head resting on her arms. She hasn't been able to sleep in the wake of recent events, not since the fight at the docks. And whenever she did manage to doze off, her mind would only rewind and replay the whole ordeal. It was as if the whole planet was flipped upside-down and spun around like a merry-go-round.
A sound stirred her from her nap. She looked up to see a certain redhead beside her.
"Are you alright, Blake?" Asked Pyrrha in a concerned tone.
The Faunus shook her head, pushing back the fatigue for a moment. "I'm fine," She replied.
Pyrrha tilted her head, crossing her arms. "Really? Because you've been rather off lately." She bluntly stated.
Blake turned away from the gladiator, about to dive back into the nothingness.
"Ruby told us about the docks," Pyrrha added.
That was more than enough to catch the catgirl's attention. "…what?" She replied in shock.
"She said that you had…. A bit of a troubled past," The redhead continued. "She didn't fill us in on the details, though."
The dark-haired one gave the other girl a bit of a cold shoulder. "And let me guess, you came here for the whole story?" She said.
The champion nodded slightly. "Indeed, although I see that you're not in the mood right now."
She placed a hand on the worn ninja's shoulder. "If you need someone to talk to, or a shoulder to lean on, you can always ask us. My Team and I are ready to lend a helping hand."
And with that, she left the table. The redhead cast one last glance at Blake, a soft smile on the former's face. The Faunus turned her back on the human, having exhausted her energy in the conversation. Her head collapsed onto the wooden surface, the eyelids following suit.
A crash knocked her from her rest. Or at least, she presumed so at first. Instead of the towering bookshelves and whitewalls of the library, though, she found herself back at the docks. The night sky loomed over the lass, the stars littered across its blank canvas. She could hear the waves crashing against the shore, a horn wailing in the distance. But something was amiss here.
First of all, she was alone. The last time she was here, her friends and the White Fang were also present. Second, she seemed to be in a makeshift maze, formed by countless cargo crates. And third, her bow was missing.
Blake panicked, glancing around for it frantically. She froze when her cat ears caught… something howling. What it was, she couldn't tell. It didn't sound like anything she ever heard before. And right now, she didn't exactly intend on finding the source. She broke off in a mad dash, heading the opposite direction of the beast. She didn't have an exact idea as to where she was going, but it was better than facing the thing.
After what felt like an eternity of twists and turns, she came across something of interest. The area was frozen solid for the most part, seized by a miniature-sized winter. Incased in blocks of ice were members of the White Fang. Some of her former brethren were shattered, though, their pieces scattered across the room.
She spotted something glittering on the ground. She knelt down, reaching for the object. Bringing it up to her face revealed it to be a shard of Dust.
"Put your hands up in the air!" Commanded a voice.
She turned her head to see two goons behind her. She considered reaching for her weapon, but she wasn't interested in fighting her kinsmen. So she complied for a moment, spinning around to face them. When they saw her cat ears, they lowered their weapons.
"Never thought I'd see another living Faunus here," muttered one grunt.
"She's not White fang, though. What's someone like her doing here?" Inquired the other.
"Same reason as the blonde dude, I bet," Replied the first.
Blonde dude? Thought Blake. A memory hit her. Golden hair, bare chest, yellow tail.
Sun. She remembered.
"Did you say that you saw a blonde-haired Faunus here? Did he have a monkey's tail?"
Both of them nodded. "Last time I saw him, the poor fool was dragged off by that freak."
The catgirl raised an eyebrow. "'that freak'?" She said.
The first goon opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out of it. Instead, a screech scrapped its way into everyone's ears, shaking them to their cores. They covered their ears in pin, but it was all in vain. A second scream came, this time much closer. A silhouette leaped onto the edge of the wall behind them, eyeing them like birds of prey.
Staring down at them was a shadowy entity, its body constantly shifting between numerous forms. One second it resembled a panther, another a bull. Across all of its many shapes, though, two features remained the same. One was the transparent, tendril-like appendages on its back. Each of them ended in a set of razor-sharp jaws, shaping and -she could've sworn- chatting some strange tongue. The other was its pale-white eyes, emitting an eerie and unworldly glow.
It eventually settled for a canine figure, snarling at them. One of its boneless limbs tore open the crate it stood on, yanking out something light-cyan. It was a Dust crystal, swiftly gobbled up by the jaws that held it. The area around them began to grow cold, the "veins" within the transparent monster glowing the same color as the shard.
Before anyone could act, a flash of light-blue zipped towards them. It buried itself into the first White Fang grunt, impaling him in the chest. He stood there in disbelief for a moment, before collapsing to the ground. He was already dead before his corpse hit it. The remaining goon and Blake ran like hell at that moment.
The abomination gave chase, screeching like a banshee. Its body morphed into a bull-like creature, its body an infernal red and flames streaming from its nostrils. Each step it took left a trail of brimstone, scorching the earth. A blast of fire erupted from its bony jaws, straight towards the remaining Faunus. While the runaway was able to dodge it, the man beside her wasn't so lucky. She didn't have time to see what was left of him.
She came across a towering crane, a large shipment of Dust still magnetized to it. The ninja began her climb, leaping from beam to the next. Once she was about a third's way up, though, the machine shook. She glanced down to see the entity below, this time in an arachnid-esc form. It arched its stinger-tail up, firing a jolt of lightning from it. Blake leapt higher up, dodging the blast.
In a matter of seconds, she reached the top of the machine. From there, she could see the carnage in full. Many of the warehouses torn to ribbons, countless bodies (Many of them belonging to either the White Fang or Atlesian military) littered the earth. A sunken ship was within the harbor, a gaping hole on its side. She heard a muffled cry, and spun around to see yet another surprise.
There, caged within the control room of the tower, were Sun and the red-haired man (Roman, she believed it was?). Both of them were tied up in this strange energy, something vaguely resembling a web or cocoon. Both of them tried to utter something, but their mouths were gagged with the strange substance. Judging from their terrified expressions, it didn't take a genius to deduce the cause.
She glanced up at the top of the chamber, noticing the abomination. Some of its tendrils grasped the window, tearing the whole wall off. It made a grab for the captives, pulling them up into the air. Blake opened fire on the twisted thing, but the bullets seemed to phase through it. The appendages dragged the two panicking hostages into its essence, the colorless fluid melding around them. And once they sank into the unworldly pool, they never rose again.
The creature leapt at her, shapeshifting into a mantis-esc form in mid-jump. It clasped its claws on her shoulders, earning a pained grunt from her. They rose into the air, possibly hundreds of feet above the crane. She broke one arm free and switched her blade out, slicing off the wings on the thing's back.
Surprised, it screeched in that alien tongue as they entered free-fall. She landed on its chest, stabbing away madly at its chest. Each wound she created would only seal itself backup, though. A swarm of vine-like limbs twisted around her, pinning her to the monster. She found herself sinking into its being, ready to face whatever fate her ally and foe met.
For a moment, the world drowned in darkness. She found herself in a lone spotlight, gazing at a display case of some form. Several spotlights lit up, revealing the contents within. They were all skeletons, no doubt from its victims. But there was something off about how they were displayed. About how they were arranged.
There was about twelve of them, with each half being separated from the other by a wall of clay. The left were the usual human, sharing a rather similar (and somewhat monotone) anatomy. But the ones on the right stood out quite a bit. They seemed to be modified in some way. One of them possessed a tail, another a pair of horns. These were Faunus bones.
These two are hardly that different, aren't they? Echoed a hollow voice.
The catgirl spun around, startled by the sudden sound.
Surprised? Don't be. It taunted. I always get the same reaction from you primitive apes.
She snarled. "I thought you just said that Humans and Faunus were hardly different." She said.
The other spectator chuckled.
I did. It replied. Hence why I called both races "primitive apes".
The lights all turned on the Faunus, blinding her. When her eyesight returned, she found her shadow suddenly moving on its own account. It slithered and twisted towards the relics, sinking into their own shadows. A strange, glowing substance coated them, remolding them into a feminine shape. Into her shape. She even more startled as the glow solidified, revealing itself to be a substance she knew all too well.
Dust.
The clones shade their skins, revealing golum-like forms beneath. The four largest ones each possessed one of Remnant's four primary Elements: Fire, Lighting, Wind, and Ice. The rest took on some of the rarer ones: Water, Earth, Stone, Iron, Jungle, Light, Shadow, and Sand. The constructs surrounded themselves around her, each possessing a particular glow in their hands.
The one of wood and leafs struck first, sending a flurry of thorns at its prey. Blake leapt up into the air, followed by the larger, green flyer. Just as the winged wind-rider swooped down at it, she dive-bombed towards the one of rock. Her blade sliced through the gray entity, its pieces shattering as they hit the ground.
The one of Fire shifted into a bovine form, charging at her. She leapt into the air, emptying a round of bullets into it. They all simply melted into slag, though. It changed back into its humanoid form, running towards its kinsman of the deserts. Both of them sent streams of their power towards her, crossing the beams into a shower of glass arrows.
Many of them managed to nick her, eating away at her Aura. Some of them were even able to bypass it and cut the flesh beneath. A burst of light blinded her, allowing a metallic fist to grab her. The thing slammed her around like rag-doll, tossing her aside once it got bored. Rising to her feet with a ground, she spotted the living tornado a good distance away, sending out thin blades of air. She dodged them all, dancing around them as she left a Shadow behind.
Or at least, so she believed at first. Her Aura flickered in a curious manner.
A blast of cold winds collided with her, encasing her arm (and weapon) in ice. She turned to see a tidal wave rushing towards her. She attempted to use her Semblance, but she only got the same response as before. This time, there was no dodging it. The current swallowed her whole, dragging her into the body of its caster. She could feel a weight being shoved into her lungs, the air being pushed out of them. The world turned into a blur, and she could hardly breath.
Just as everything was about to go dark, she found herself on the floor coughing out water. Once her mind regained its footing, a hole opened up beneath her. She grabbed the ledge as she fell, attempting to climb back up. The earth closed up around her before she could escape, with everything above her shoulders exposed. She tried to break free, but she lacked the strength to so.
She spotted the entity of Earth close by, its hands glowing. A dust devil darted past her, carrying pebbles and rocks. It collapsed on itself, into the form of the monster she struck down earlier. Much like its partner, its hands were burning with an ethereal glow. Apparently it would take a lot more than simple blades to kill it.
A sharp jolt ripped through her body, sending an agonized scream across the empty void. A twisted chuckle came from behind her, changing pitches and tones. She was spun around by her captor to see an ebony mirage, constantly shifting through different forms. It finally settled for a form akin to her own Shadows, clapping in a bored manner. She instantly recognized it as the monster she fought.
"Ah, miss Belladonna," Laughed the being. "So bold, so headstrong… so naïve."
It knelt down before her, brushing its hand against her face. It had an… unworldly feel to it. No signs of temperature, not cold, warm, or between. The constant change in tis texture didn't help either. One second it felt like leather, the next something liquid.
"Hate to break to you worm, but you're just a dust particle in a sea of infinity. Still, you put up a better fight than the candle and monkey, I'll give you that."
She glared at the shapeshifter. "Who… what are you? Where're Sun and Roman?" She demanded.
The entity tapped its chin in thought, almost in a playful or insulting manner. "The first question's… a rather complicated one. I'd tell you, but I doubt you have the intelligent to comprehend the answer. As for the thieves, well… Let's just say that they're in timeout for a good while." It replied after a moment, shifting its arm into a bone-like blade.
"Oh don't worry," It continued. "You'll be joining them soon enough."
The being poised its makeshift weapon above her neck, ready to cleave her head off. Just as it was about to strike, something burst through the Sand golum's chest. It glanced down to notice a golden fist, coated in flames. Before it could react, the fire consumed its body. When the embers died out, the monster was reduced to a glass sculpture.
The one of Water also took a hit around that time. A burst of cyan-blue struck it, freezing its body. A sudden burst of wind slashed its way through the incapacitated creatures, shattering them into a thousand shards. The three culprits appeared, revealing themselves to be colorful silhouettes, each a different color. A sunny-yellow, a snow-white, and a blood-red. She instantly recognized their shapes.
"You…" The shadow hissed.
The snow angle darted towards the gray golum, strafing around its fists. She leapt on top of the entity, stabbing her blade into a small creak. Ice slithered its way through it, widening the hole as it did so. Eventually, it tore the monster apart from the inside. Its body disintegrated into dust, this time as a pile.
The thing of green-and-brown unleashed a wave of vines and thorns, sending it towards the three ladies. They scattered, the one in crimson speeding towards it. A maelstrom of blades and fury sliced it into a thousand pieces, its remains being flung around by the tornado. For a brief moment, everyone could've sworn that they saw rose petals in the mix.
Blake took the opportunity to dig herself out of the ground, with her captors occupied and all. Just as she got back onto her feet, she felt a hand soil and sediment wrap its way around her throat. Her jailer brought her before its blank head, devoid of any facial expression. Moss and lotus flowers popped from its skin, though, the roots of the latter roping around the monster. As the beast dropped her, she turned to see a green-and-pink shadow beside her.
It pointed towards another of its kind, bearing red and gold. The gladiator danced around the iron demon, calling upon an unseen force to subtly shift its fists past her. Eventually, she decided to be direct and used that same power to stop it dead in its tracks. With a wave of her hand, she crushed its body and balled it up. She threw it at the being of Fire, who simply melted the makeshift cannonball into slag.
A white-and-gold ghost tangoed with the things of Light and Shadow. While he was handling the former just fine, the latter was giving him hell. A hand grasped Blake's frozen arm, melting the ice around it. The shining brawler gave its comrade a thumbs-up, pointing towards the creature of the dark. She nodded, speeding off after it.
Just as it fired a blast of shadow-energy at the knight, it found itself tackled to the ground by the ninja. As she pinned it to the ground, the world faded into darkness. She could feel the entity sinking into the earth and slithering away. She smirked as her night-vision kicked in. She spun around, slashing at the wraith as it took on solid form behind her. As each piece of it hit the ground, they were swiftly absorbed by her own shadow.
The void came creeping back to the Faunus, allowing her to see the outcome of the battle. A white-and-pink barbarian was siphoning power from a thunder cloud, the holy knight deflecting lasers back at a sapient hologram. The heiress, brawler, and reaper were absorbing the snowstorm, mistress of flames, and whirlwind respectively. That left their puppet-master wide open.
Her doppelganger attempted to feel, only to be bound by beams of Aural energy. The silhouettes were the ones behind the chains, allowing the catgirl to stride towards the shadow. The thing tried to shapeshift out of its restraints, but nothing worked. Blake stared down at the entity, stomping her foot on its chest. She brought her face down to it, grabbing where its face should be. She held her blade the creature's throat, earning a laugh from it.
"What are you going to do, kill me?" It taunted. "Without me, you're weak."
She raised an eyebrow at the words. "And why would I need you?" She retorted.
A chuckled echoed across the chamber. "You mean to tell me that you never figured it out? You didn't think about how your Shadows failed you when you needed them most? You didn't notice how all my spawn resembled you?"
The being pointed at her chest – nay, her heart.
"I am the bit that calls upon the shadows to hide you. I am the thing that follows you wherever you go. I am that which you try to bury."
It managed to struggle a bit against the chains, bringing its head close to her ears.
"I am the power behind your Semblance." It whispered.
For a moment, she could feel a grin forming where the mouth should be. She considered slicing that scheming head of it off. But as the words sunk in, an idea formed in her head. And she found herself grinning to it.
"What's so damn funny?" The shadow hissed.
Her grin widened, revealing her cat-like teeth. "You said that you were a part of me, right?"
If the thing had eyebrows, they probably would've furrowed. But as it processed the information, it shuttered. That ebony skin of it shifted into an ash-grey. It had realized its error.
Blake closed her eyes, channeling her Aura into it. The purple mist surrounded the being, smothering it. It squirmed and screeched under her, spouting threats she didn't bother to listen to. She could feel her strength returning to her, flowing back into her body. After a while, the creature dissolved into nothingness under her feet.
One by one, the spirits flickered and faded, saluting the rogue as they left. The brawler and champion each placed a hand on her shoulders, a faint light emitting from the shade's faces. For a moment, she could've sworn that they were smiling at her. She smiled back as they faded, the cage following suit.
She awoke with a jump, nearly toppling backwards in her chair. Someone caught it, setting back onto its feet. That person soon sat on the other side of the table, revealing herself to be Pyrrha.
"Sleep well, mysterious stranger?" She teased.
Blake glanced at the clock above her. Judging from the position of the hands, she must've been asleep for at least an hour.
"A little bit," She admitted. "Where're the rest of my Team?"
"They're back at the dorms," The warrior replied. "Think they're waiting for you, now that I think about it."
The catgirl rose from her seat, checking her bow as she did so.
"Then I wouldn't want to disappoint them," She said.
Just as she was about to take her leave, she exchanged once last glance at the Mistrialic.
We'll talk more tomorrow. She mouthed.
Pyrrha smiled.
I'll be at the dorms should you need me. She mouthed back.
Blake nodded, heading back to her teammates. Just as she left, Jaune came walking in.
"Private Arc, reporting for duty!" He said, mocking a salute. Pyrrha giggled at the act.
"Ready for another round, my pupil?" She joked back.
The boy clasped his hands together, cracking his knuckles. "You bet."
The champion chuckled, leading the Team leader out of the library.
"By the way," She added. "There's someone that'd like to speak with us."
Jaune raised an eyebrow. "Who?"
"Oh, just a friend of ours. Nothing too major," She teased with a wink.