The Wilted Rose. CHAPTER ONE
I'm sure your well aware of the situation by now Ms Blaze, but it can't be stressed how important it is that the Grimm horde is not allowed to migrate further to the north. Now, I know your doing what you can but we've already received multiple distress signals from a lot of rural villages asking for aid. Now, we understand that our contract payment is overdue but eliminate the horde and I promise you'll be rewarded handsomely and I'm not just talking about Lien.
-Your Client.
As she read the letter to its end the young mercenary let out a light sigh, she'd been tailing these Grimm for about a week through a snake infested swamp and was only just now catching up on their trail. Forgoing sleep for three nights to cover more ground and in that time, she'd been bombarded with letter after letter from her clients via a tiny dove, all nagging her on picking up the pace. Messages all carefully written with seemingly good intentions but she already knew that the crops produced by those towns under siege were an important source of revenue for their business. They could care less about the towns folk that perished.
"For once I'm grateful there's no CCT connection out in these swamps" Morrigan muttered under her breath as she sliced through the thick vegetation with her ice blade. A moment later a soft ghostly sounding chuckle could be heard with a distinct edge of femininity to it.
'You'd probably be getting a message every hour if that was the case' the voice said in mild amusement as Morrigan vaulted over a particularly large rock.
After three months of travelling together she'd finally grown accustomed to having a dead woman's spirit piggybacking on her soul, though a part of her still occasionally wondered if she had partially lost her mind. Which in all honesty wasn't too farfetched considering her extreme lifestyle.
"An assessment I can't disagree with unfortunately Ms, Rose" she replied.
'Well, you did insist on taking this job. And just Summer is fine' the voice said with barely concealed exasperation. She was naturally a very informal person so Morrigan did find it difficult to call the former Huntress by her first name. She also still wasn't completely trusting of her either, despite Summers constant efforts to reassure her.
"Perhaps lacking a material form has made it easy to forget but I still very much need to eat and sleep." she said trying to not roll her eyes. Sure, she had agreed to help the self-proclaimed ex Huntress but times were hard and she needed to take whatever work she could find to supplement her income.
'… Right sorry' Summer replied sounding rather abashed. In response, the swordswoman simply shrugged and refocused her attention on getting through the swamp, holding her kimonos hem up to avoid getting it any dirtier. Suddenly she heard the snap of a twig snap and wheeled round just in time to see a Beowolf glaring at her through the bushes roughly two meters away. Its huge jaws opening to reveal a full set of serrated teeth.
'A Beowolf, we must be close to the den in that case.'
"Probably" she replied raising her ice blade up and pointing it at the Beowolf. Then in one swift motion, she closed the gap between them and sliced its head clean off. These were the small fry as far as the Grimm food chain was concerned. Only in their numbers did they stand any chance.
Sheathing her blade she looked down at the tracks left behind by the Grimm and smiled when she found a traceable path that she could follow back to the horde. Crouching she examined the tracks carefully and followed the path, which leads her downhill and deeper into the forest. Her ears perked paying close attention to all the sounds around her in case there were any Avian type Grimm perched on the tall trees. But so far she could only hear the chirping of hummingbirds and parrots which echoed through the entire forest, possibly masking any sounds from the Grimm.
Eventually, she stepped into an open stretch of grassland devoid of any trees in a circle that was ten metres wide. Relieved to finally be exiting the claustrophobic environment she hurriedly stepped out and took a seat on the grass, soaking up the sunlight shining over the blue sky. Her hiking boots hurt and crimson kimono was covered in mud and grass, it was tempting to just lay down and sit there for hours but she was pulled out of her reverie by Summers alarmed voice.
'Morrigan behind you!' was all she heard before the growl of multiple Grimm muffled her voice. In a split second the brunette rolled to the side and narrowly avoided an Ursa's stomp attack. Drawing her Ice blade, she drove the blue sword through the beast, impaling it completely before twisting it out and slashing a Beowolf lunging at her side. She then leaped back a few feet to reorient herself.
Much to her shock, she was surrounded from all sides by at least twenty Grimm, most of which consisted of Alphas and regular Beowolf while the rest were several Ursas and a single king Taijitu that slithered out from the forest.
"Where the hell did they come from?" Morrigan exclaimed in surprised as she drew the second blade tied to her waist, the heavier blade with a gold hilt that stood somewhere between a heavy sword and straight sword in size and weight, contrasting her much lighter ice blades curved katana edge quite well.
'You must have walked right into their den… I knew they'd be many but I wasn't expecting so much enemy variation. Do you think you can handle this?' Summer asked uncertainly as the mercenary took her stance. None of these Grimm stood a chance against her in small groups but their sheer number could prove troublesome. Still, this was the job she signed up for and the sooner she got all of them the sooner peace could return to the settlements being terrorized by the Grimm.
"I'll be fine. Besides, they've flanked us at all sides so we can only fight through it" Morrigan said with a smirk as the Grimm drew closer to her. Summer sighed in response, no doubt cursing her own inability to be of any use to her souls host. The only advantage a spirit form granted her aside from a lack of food was a 360-degree peripheral vision.
'Alright, but don't try anything reckless'.
"You're asking a lot considering the situation but I'll do what I can." she said just before lunging forward and cutting down two beowolfs with her blade, slicing their torsos in half before leaping up and impaling another with both blades. The creature growled in pain as she stabbed all the way to the base of her hilts before drawing it out just as aggressively, her mind and body were becoming more mechanical as she struck down another Beowolf from her side. Her ice blade delivering swift yet deep piercing jabs that had a freezing effect on the injuries while her broadsword or 'razor edge' as the creator had named it delivered a series of crushing blows that knocked Grimm that got too close away.
She dodged another attack from an Alpha with a side flip before landing on one hand while the other cut off one of its leg before summersaulting away. Several Beowolfs and four Alphas were fallen now. Next was an Ursa that tried to maul her with its giant claws, in response Morrigan ducked and Sliced its legs into confetti before sidestepping around its back and delivering flying kick that launched it face first into the dirt. Morrigan then leaped onto its back and drove her ice blade into the back of its skull.
As she drew her blade out a black gooey substance dripped from it. Just another reflection that the beast's soul was just black inside as it was outside, but there was no time to linger on it. Her ears perked at the sound of shifting dirt and she leaped a few metres into the air Seeing another two Ursas pounce on where she stood just a second ago. Contorting her body mid-air she dropped down on top of them in a brutal ground attack with both blades that formed a small ditch, dust flying everywhere and her two victims fading out of existence as she stood back up.
There were about dozen of them left including the King Taijitu which had refrained from attacking just yet which only lead her to assume that it was an older more experienced type of Grimm. Taking a deep breath she wiped the dust off her Kimono and charged forward again, this time moving so fast an untrained human eye would think she disappeared. Grinding her blades along the ground and flinging dirt into the last Ursas face, temporarily disorienting it as she dispatched the remaining beowolfs in an impressive series of nine fluid blade strikes before looping back around to slice the last Ursas head off. Time seemed to slow to crawls as she attacked but in truth, it all happened in the span of six seconds.
At this point Morrigan could feel the strain of fighting so many Grimm at once though to her credit she hadn't taken a single glancing strike so her aura wasn't at any risk for. Now there was only one left for her to fight.
'It's hide can take a lot of punishment so aim for its eyes or underside' Summer cautioned the girl as she turned to face the King Taijitu as it slithered its tongue and bared its fangs for her to see.
"Speaking from experience?"
'You could say I had to learn that the hard way'
Posturing up Morrigan raised both blades forward and adjusted her footing, keeping her centre of gravity and raising her blades up. But after moments consideration she decided to take a different approach. Switching her blades to a backhand grip she placed the of the hilts against each other and twisted the ice blade into the shaft at the bottom of Razor edge until she heard an audible 'click' indicating they were secure.
"Then I'll just switch things up." Morrigan said as she twirled her double-sided staff blade on one hand while the other reached for the last sword on her back and drew out a katana from the sheath. She tapped a button attached to the hilt and a yellow electricity could be seen flowing through the blade. With a final sigh, she charged the King Taijitu which lunged at her.
She slid just out of the way for the first strike but the snake Grimm reeled back with a surprising amount of speed only to lunge again which she countered side step which lead to it biting a tree instead. Seeing an opportunity, she made a vertical slash with her staff blade but much to her dismay only managed to lightly nick its side. Usually her blades tended to completely sever limbs off regardless of the amount of protection so this was rather disconcerting.
"You weren't kidding" Morrigan whispered as she jumped back to a safe distance as the Taijitu pulled the tree straight from its route and attempted to crush her with it. She mounted another offensive jumping over the attack and leaping at its face, but the beast seemed to know what she was doing and always reeled back or protected itself by lunging forward, forcing her to break off her attack. Its speed was faster than any average King Taijitu or really any Grimm she'd faced up until now. She was just barely dodging its attacks and was starting to tire out.
'Morrigan, perhaps we should consider retreating.' Summer suggested in concern for her. Much as she hated to admit it this was one Grimm she couldn't beat in a straight fight.
"Agreed, it's big so I'd say a change in terrain may be just what I need" Morrigan replied. Rolling away from another attack she turned on her heel and sprinted back into the thick bushes, jumping onto a branch and leaping from tree to tree until she landed on a branch that was roughly several stories above the ground. The trees in this swamp were huge now that she was scaling one. She then took a minute to catch her breath, leaning back on the tree and gripping her blades tightly.
With the narrow paths and muddy floor, a Grimm of that size wouldn't go anywhere without causing a big ruckus. And right on cue the sound of trees being pushed down accompanied by a distinct slithering invaded her ears indicating the snake Grimm had pursued her. She calmed her mind and stealthily slid down to the lower branches to see it Slither past her, seemingly oblivious to her presence. Good.
She moved discreetly through the branches until she landed soundlessly on the ground drawing closer to its body and slashing at its side. As expected there was barely any registered damage but her goal wasn't to lure it. She quickly ducked behind a tree as the snake Grimm's head rose and turned a full one eighty, more annoyed than hurt. Drawing nearer and nearer to her but still oblivious to where she was. She detached and sheathed two blades and held the Ice sword with both hands as the Taijitu's massive head peered above her, leaving its underside exposed. And its eyes averted towards the tree tops where it probably suspected she was.
She took the opportunity and leaped up to drive her blade into the bottom half of its head. Piercing its soft flesh like butter and drawing pained growl out of her target as it thrashed about, forcing her to let go before she was knocked into a tree, but the blade remained jammed into its lower jaw. She ran back into the cover of the tall bush but it had spotted her and lunged forward as well, ignoring the pain in a fit of rage. She dodged the attack by leaping onto a branch and drawing her High-tech katana.
It lunged again and she instinctively leaped up to the next branch on the other side, repeating this process until she lured it high enough into the tree and reached into reached into her back sack to pull out a crudely designed but portable hand bomb which she dropped onto the Grimms lower half which had coiled around the tree to support itself. It growled in annoyance as it exploded on its body but held on nonetheless.
'Doesn't look like it did much' Summer remarked with a sigh. She couldn't blame her considering both their lives were at risk but it seemed she hadn't yet caught on to her real strategy.
"I'd say it's done plenty actually" she said pointing at the tree which had caught fire from the blast which blew away enough wood and bark that the tree began tip slightly to the left. She pulled out another bomb and ran forward, jumping off the edge and plummeting to the ground, throwing the bomb against the tree one more time and smirking as it sent the upper half of the tree to the ground potentially crushing the King Taijitu. She just barely heard Summer questioning if jumping from that height was smart before leaping.
Just before landing she twisted into an upright position and landed on the ground hard. Her aura took the worst of it but even so her knees still hurt badly. A second later the tree collapsed sending bits of wooden shrapnel flying in all directions. Instinctively she raised her arms up to protect her face from bits of wood until she was sure there would be nothing flying into her eyes.
She could hear an enraged snarl and could see the snake writhing pain but it was trapped under the huge tree. It's soft underside opened up for her to finish it off and that was precisely what she did. Drawing Razor's edge she thrusted the blade into its belly and dragged the gash all the way up its jaw where her Ice blade remained planted. She drew it out and heard a satisfying growl of pain from the helpless Taijitu before driving both blades through its eyes and into its skull. Pulling out the High-tech katana she let out a battle cry and lopped its head off with a single heavy blow. A second later the now dead King Taijitu's body faded into dust, letting her blades drop to the ground with a 'clang'.
She took a full minute to catch her breath before grabbing her swords and sheathing them individually. She managed to scrape out a victory with relative ease and without having to pull out her semblance, that was an achievement any day in her book. But on a more serious note these Grimm wouldn't be a problem to anyone again and her employers could carry on with their shady business practices unmolested, something she wasn't entirely sure she wanted but if there was one thing she'd learned from her line of work it was sometimes necessary to make compromises to earn a living.
Straightening out her hair she allowed a triumphant smirk to appear on her face for a moment. Up until she felt a light drizzle of rain on her head and the roar of thunder. To make matters worse it was roughly a full day's trek to the nearest town with a working train system. Nice of Monty to remind her that her luck was just as shitty as it's always been.
"Seems I'm up for a miserable trek back." she said with a resigned look, to her surprise Summer remained quiet which made her wonder if her incorporeal friend was ignoring her for her reckless strategy. It took several minutes before Summer responded by which point Morrigan was already back on the road, walking through the heavy rain. Rather odd considering how chatty she tended to be on the road. But as long as she could have the occasional peace and quiet that was fine
'You know you're almost as reckless as Qrow on his best days' Summer commented with a soft chuckle that peaked her interest.
"Who?" /
'… Just an old teammate of mine. But that was impressive, you showed some great improvisation. Ozpin would probably try to recruit you if he saw that' Summer remarked, impressed by her apparently. It was nice to be praised every now and then but she wasn't too thrilled about the prospect of meeting the Headmaster of Beacon. She was just a humble Samurai/occasional Jack of all trades.
"You're giving me way too much credit here Ms. Ros-Summer" she said as she raised her arm over her head to shield her from the rain which was quickly evolving into a full-on thunderstorm.
'You ought to give yourself a bit more pride Morrigan… It's getting quite hard. I'll leave you for a bit' she said noticing the subtle shivers from Morrigan as she got drenched.
"Thank you for noticing" she replied with a light shiver, conveying enough annoyance for Summer to get the hint and let her focus. She didn't think she'd ever get used to this and now that there weren't any other jobs to distract her she'd finally have to deliver on her promise and head to Vale. Though she was still rather nervous about it, but if she could somehow find a way to separate their minds she'd do it.
And that concludes the first chapter. Since the actual prologue ended up being too long I'll split it up into 2 parts