"This is stupid, let's just go" whined Sky as he held the invitation from 'Yang.'It had been his idea to actually come out to the woods like the letter asked, though Dove had agreed after joking it was the only way either of the two would get with a girl.
"Yeah, come on Cardin, dumb slut was probably never gonna turn up anyway." said Dove as he turned to leave. As the rest of his Team left, Cardin paused, his attention caught by something on the ground
"What the hell?" He went down one knee, fabric that cost more than most airships covered in wet grass.
"Come on Cardin, we're gonna miss Dinner at this rate." Russel reminded him.
The leader thought he had seen someone run by the clearing, but his stomach grumbled with the force of a sleeping Beowolf so he Dismissed it as a trick of the light, or lack of it.
Cardin turned and left with his friends, laughing and vowing revenge on whoever set up such a dumb and pointless prank. They got maybe four yards. A huge burst of wind passed them by, Cardin only fell back half a step while Dove and Sky fell on the ground in a heap.
Russel just screamed and screamed and screamed.
They turned around to mock him for his cowardice, Sky had a joke half formed on his tongue already; but the laughter was dead the minute they saw Russel with only a stump wear his arm used to be.
A pool of blood lay on the ground, but no arm. It had been taken by whatever hunted them. Russel's screams reverberated around their heads as it echoed off the trunk of the trees. The colossal widen sentinels offered no clues as to their assailant.
They stood, shocked still by the gore in front of them. Sky began to move forward, slowly, then faster, towards Russel. "Russel, Russel, wait, I'm coming to help you!"
Reaching the injured boy, he attempted to raise him up on to his shoulder. Russel screamed with pain, and Sky dropped him again, further injuring the boy.
"Hey, guys, I need your help over here!"Cardin and Dove finally shook themselves of the paralyzing fear and moved cautiously forward, keeping an eye nailed on their surroundings at all times, lest the wind return again.
Cardin, bred for generations to lead was the first to react. Unarmed and isolated they were helpless. They had to stick together and be very careful.
"Dove, help him. Be ready to back me up in case of a fight. Rus - I'm going to need you to focus on my voice, okay? We will not lose to a thing" He boasted.
His smugness, put on to hide the fear he felt deep in his heart was convincing. The others seemed to take heart and once his teammates had Russel secure. They began to slowly, surely, painstakingly retreat.
Applause, slow and sarcastic echoed through the night. A sinister giggle; high pitched and feminine regarded them the same way one might regard a homemade sandwich.
"Let the games begin." She declared imperiously. CRDL felt the color drain from their face.
"She's hunting us…" Cardin muttered, letting the façade slip for a moment. The uncertainty on his face washed away almost immediately. Almost.
"You okay Cardin?" Sky asked, reaching out to the leader who slapped his hand away.
"That doesn't help Sky" He warned.
"Sorry"
The going was rough and slow, the branches catching them and roots ensnaring their feet, it was tough not to just fall over.
As they moved through the thick foliage, the laughter followed them through the trees, seemingly moving around them. This gave Cardin some confidence. At least he knew which direction it would attack from. The laughter stopped.
A voice. Higher in pitch than any Russel had heard called to him. Cardin called a halt, everyone was tense - they even put Russel down in a desire to fight until the last. But the wind whistling through the leaves was the only noise in the forest at that moment. They stood ready, circled around Russel in a desire to protect him; but nobody knew how to react to the absence of the laughter.
"Maybe she's left?" Dove offered hopefully.
The other two shook their head and grit their teeth. Russel started to sing in her voice, "Red like Roses fills my dreams"
They backed away from him as Russel continued to sing. His face became happy, smiling, the pain of his arm and fear of the voice gone, replaced with only joy. His head jerked up, and he looked at Cardin."She has chosen us."
"She took my arm man! My arm! Do you know what that means?" Russel grabbed Sky by the elbow - he moved faster than he normally did and his strength increased tenfold.
Everyone turned, trying to quieten and restrain Russel who rambled about being her "Chosen One"
Cardin felt that familiar burst of wind - he opened his mouth to yell a warning. Dove heard some gurgling. Turning round, he saw Cardin's body slump to the ground. A red geyser erupting from his neck - Dove and Sky were speechless and felt their knees tremble.
"Praise her! Praise her!" Russel cried, straining against his friends to try and lap up Cardin's blood. The Huntress giggled, chilling the survivors to the bone.
"You cannot resist her, you shouldn't resist her, she is sweet and kind to those she chooses, you must embrace her, you must allow her to become you, and enter you, and take you and..."
"SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!"Dove knocked Russel to the ground, and began to start stomping on his chest.
"PraIse HeR, PrAIse HEr, PRAISE HER!" Russel screamed, his voice rising and falling. The discord in his voice could have been the huntress' doing or due to the beating Dove was dishing out.
He raised his boot again, and brought it down on the laughing boys head. Sky pulled him back, throwing him to the ground."Dove! Stop! We fight together not against each other!" He screamed.
Dove pushed him off and scanned the tree line. The singing came from everywhere at once, but this time was accompanied by a harsh scraping sound.
"Black the beast descends from shadows..."
Dove ran into the trees in blind panic.
Russel pulled himself to his feet, still grinning like it was his birthday."Can we go see the lady Sky?" He asked.
Sky nodded, his brain told him to follow Dove as he was headed back towards the school; but his gut told him that he didn't want to be anywhere near Dove.
He took Russel's hand and led him into the forest, the feminine voice responded to the new development with an interested."Oh."
She giggled; while a burst of wind blew all the leaves off the trees in the clearing he had occupied a moment earlier.
"Can I sing?" Russel barely heard him as he sang that girl's song...
The song. Dove couldn't stop hearing it.
It was everywhere he went, every direction he ran in, the song was there, always getting louder and louder and louder and louder AND LOUDER AND LOUDER.
Not even covering his ears helped, the song was there too. He couldn't escape it, he couldn't get away. Dove slowed, and his thoughts began to dull.
"You know?, maybe this song isn't so bad after all" he told the trees.
He found an arm. A lone arm. The idea was so horrifying, yet so very entrancing.
He felt a vague sense of déjà vu. The arm seemed familiar, but he didn't know why.
She must have given it to him. A present just for him. A woman had finally noticed him.
All those years in Cardin's shadow - and now a woman finally noticed him. He fell to his knees, crawling to the arm and cradling it like it was his firstborn.
She had given it to him. It was his and his alone.
He felt an urge, one he had never felt before. Blood dripped on his chest and he grinned; grinned like it was the best day in his was so hungry and she had given him a perfect present!
"Praise her." He mumbled, as he put a finger in his mouth.
A metallic scraping and her song, so close now... She was here. Draped in red, she dragged along a scythe; the harsh scraping of the bloodstained tool made her singing all the sweeter.
She stopped singing and stood behind him. Her scythe embraced him, wrapping around his neck gently.
She tutted, "You should have stayed."
Dove's head cleared; Russel's blood on his face and a scythe at his throat. Terror filled his being as he vomited.
The girl sighed wistfully: "I love you." She said as she pulled the trigger and Crescent Rose replied with gusto.
Sky jumped and raised his fists as a shot rang out.
"She has found one, She has claimed one, Why not me? What did i do wrong?" burbled Russel.
"Maybe she didn't like you that much after all" Sky shot back.
He was tackled to the ground by Russel, who started beating on this head. Desperately trying to protect himself Sky was powerless and Russel started yelling incoherently.
"SHE LOVES ME, SHE ALWAYS LOVED ME, ALWAYS, LIAR, HERETIC AND SHE WILL PURGE YOU HERETIC!"
Sky was never one to fight clean. As such, a knee between the legs was hardly beneath him. Russel was on his feet almost instantly and charged him with a fist already destined for his jaw.
A giggle stopped them both in their tracks. They looked around, both in terror. Russel having lost his rapturous fervor nearly filled his underwear.
Applause, from the biggest tree either had set eyes on. Two heads decorated the throne of the huntress; Cardin's face forever shocked - while Dove would forever scream silently at the world.
Sat on that branch, draped in crimson and scarlet were Ruby Rose and Crescent Rose. The two boys stared into her silver eyes, which burned brighter than the shattered moon. Her face was filled with tender love as she cradled her Scythe.
She ran her tongue along its blade - her eyes never leaving them. She opened a cut on her small tongue and didn't even blink as her own blood mixed with Cardin's and Dove's – not even when the mixture was mingling on her ivory chin.
There was no song, no wind, no noise except the drumming of hearts.
Ruby's full of joy.
Sky's full of fear.
Russel's full of guilt.
Sky stared at the grotesque scene in front on him, The heads of his team staring back at him. Ruby spoke to Cardin's head, seemingly in consolidation.
She smiled and picked up the head. Russel watched in fascination as his red queen skillfully scooped out Cardin's brains with her Crescent Rose, and placed the empty skull on her head; "It's like a Cardin helmet thought Russel."
Russel broke the silence; "Why? Why not us?" He fell to his knees."I loved you! I surrendered to you! I sang your damn song!" He screamed, tearing at his hair and eyes with his one remaining arm.
Ruby put a finger to her chin, the pose so curiously childlike on the huntress. She tapped her chin, before licking the blood off of her finger.
It dawned on Sky that Dove had only been taken when he had left. Cardin only taken when he delegated assisting Russel.
"This is some sick way of rewarding us?" Dove asked in shock. "Because Russel tried to sacrifice himself, you let him be. Because I stuck by him - I lived. Is that the sick system you're working under?"
Ruby fell from the tree and unfolded Crescent Rose as she fell, digging the blade into the trunk to slow her descent."Ruby, doesn't decide." She whispered, looking around as if fearing discovery.
"It's date night! Ruby had to find a date for her... but The Rose only likes bad boys so..." Ruby shrugged as if to say 'What can you do?'
Russel was sobbing. "This is no way to live... I licked Cardin's blood off the ground man! I did that!"
Sky slapped him. "We're almost home. Almost home. Just hold on." He whispered into his ear.
Ruby knelt in front of Russel as if Sky wasn't there. She cradled his face in blood soaked hand, leaving crimson streaks on his cheeks."You are so kind to us. You loved us. You sang with us. Ruby liked you very much, but The Rose found your heart too warm." Ruby whispered.
Several things happened at once.
Cardin's head tumbled to the ground.
Sky vomited at the sight.
Ruby kissed Russel with a passion and force that could sink ships.
Russel gasped in shock, then pain as Ruby bit down on his lower lip, and pulled on it, tearing it off with a sick, ripping sound. He fell back onto the floor in pain, as Ruby glided over to where Sky lay. "You helped him, you didn't run from him, you tried to protect him. A noble heart. Ruby likes a noble heart"
Sky knew that wasn't quite what had happened but he wasn't inclined to disagree.
"The Rose, is, less keen"
Sky started to scramble away from her, but a massive, blood-soaked scythe blocking his way made him reconsider. Ruby drew Crescent Rose back slowly, drawing a long, thin, deep mark across Sky's body. He shivered from the pain, desperate not to call out in pain.
"But Rose loves Ruby. She feeds Rose and cleans Rose and kisses Rose..." She cradled Crescent Rose.
Russel crawling away towards the school hardened Sky's resolve. He was doomed - but Russel deserved to survive was panting, struggling to make each sound a word instead of a scream.
"Rose. Let me talk to Ruby; if she decides to give me to you then so be it." He begged with his eyes.
"S-Sky... what?" The girl was paralyzed, but the confusion in her eyes told Sky this was the Ruby who could be stalled.
"Ruby... do you remember anything? Why you're here? What you've done?" He asked, staring into the mess of red white and silver her face had become.
She shook her head and let a tear fall onto him.
"Well, you've been hurt. Pretty bad - you're a little bit nuts right now and that's not your fault." He had always been a good liar, but now his life depended on it.
"My team was sent to rescue you... But you ambushed us. You really are something else Ruby." He faked a smile, feeling bile rise in his throat even as a scream built in it.
The world was going cold now, the scythe in his gut had killed him when it entered, he knew then that it had taken too much blood from him...
One last gambit, one last trick.
"Ruby... I don't think I'm going to make it." He managed to lift his arm onto the blade of Crescent Rose. Ruby found her arms were working again; she helped ease the blade out with tears running down her cheeks.
It washed some blood off her face, ivory lines on scarlet skin. Purity returning to the sinner. The Huntress had caught her prey.
"Ruby?"
"Yeah, Sky?" She choked.
"Sing to me?" He begged.
She sang as he closed his eyes, smiling.
The Rose never got you Rus - but Ruby got me. Sorry I couldn't do more buddy. The cold spread throughout his body.
By the time Ruby started to sob into his chest he could only hear. He swore that he heard another voice, that strange whisper Ruby spoke in as The Rose.
"Too warm for me." It said.