Children of Madness: Chapter Envy
Alright! I'm really excited to start this story. This is my first RWBY work, and I've been thinking about this for a while now; to be honest I haven't seen this style of a fic done yet either so I thought I would grab the opportunity. Thank you to SLthethird for beta/pre-reading this fanfic. I hope you enjoy the story!
-Children of Madness: Envy-
"PROFESSOR OZPIN! YOU CALLED?!" Yang's voice screeched as she banged heavily on the door, webs of cracks forming upon it with each devastating knock. Yet, the door stood, resisting the force that beat upon it with rigor. Blake sighed at her partner's antics; Even after all that has happened the last year, she still managed to keep that shred of childish vigor within her.
Well, to be fair, her sister really wasn't that much better.
"Y-Yang! Come on, we just had a detention fixing that door! Don't break it after all our hard work!" Ruby cried out in protest, her little arms wrapped around her sister's waist in vain. Completely ignorant to the weight that was her sister, Yang kept pounding on the door, until a very stern looking secretariat opened it. Yang cheekily smiled as a foreboding look covered Ruby's face. She promptly let go of Yang.
"Professor Glynda! A fine howdy to you," greeted Yang, oblivious to the oncoming destruction that was Glynda Goodwitch.
"Ah, team Ruby. I'm glad you're finally here. Now we can get started," said Ozpin, waving to the girls as he drank from his coffee. With a stern sigh, Glynda allowed them to enter, eyeing Yang with a slight look of disdain. Blake knew Yang would not take offense to it though; this was just the routine.
"What can we do for you, Professor Ozpin?" Weiss asked politely. Ozpin's face turned serious. Blake noticed the shift in tension immediately, and Team RWBY quieted themselves as Ozpin put his hands together, leaning forward on his desk.
"First of all, I would like to congratulate you once more on your assigned shadowing with Doctor Oobleck. You did splendidly in dealing with the Grimm threat, but it seems that the White Fang have begun to move again."
Taking out his scroll, Professor Ozpin inputted several keys, before closing it shut. Not a moment later, the scrolls of the girls began beeping, and they immediately took them out, examining the contents.
"Professor… This is…?" Blake asked as she looked over her scroll. Various reports and documents filled the folder. Ozpin nodded.
"Two weeks after the Grimm invasion last month, it was discovered that the White Fang has been researching aura to great lengths within the caves of Mountain Glenn. We found notes and signs of research done on various theories, such as the origins of aura. We want you to find out why the White Fang is researching such a thing." Ozpin finished his briefing, taking a sip from his coffee to quench his parched throat.
"There have also been numerous reports of Faunus going missing. It pains me to say this, but… some of our own students have gone missing as well. Glynda, would you like to take over?" Ozpin waved over to Glynda, who gave the man a nod. Blake's eyes widened with surprise and shock.
"What could this possibly mean?" she thought to herself. Did the White Fang recruit them? Were they kidnapped for ransom? Surely not, the White Fang wouldn't stoop as low as to take their own kind. Their war was against the humans, after all. Taking out her scroll, a 3D hologram of a map of Vale appeared before the girls.
"Oh, I've got to get me one of these," said Yang, admiring the technology exclusive to the teachers. With a roll of her eyes, Glynda zoomed towards southern Vale, a red dot appearing just outside the edge of town and in the plains.
"Know first that you are not the first team we assigned this mission. We've sent team coffee to this location, an abandoned mansion, but unfortunately they have not returned."
"W-What? Velvet's team is missing?" Ruby cried out, worried. Blake eyed the others, their worry clear as day. She couldn't help but admit to herself that she was worried too; Team CFVY was strong, and for them to get captured… what did they find there?
"While we aren't sure if the disappearance of Faunus is related to their research, we want you to infiltrate this mansion, scavenge for information, and recover any captured Faunus you find as well as team coffee at all costs. We cannot allow the White Fang continue their plans. Is that clear?" Glynda eyed Yang, stressing her last few words. Yang gave the woman a cheeky smile.
"No problem! This'll be a cinch, right sis? We'll swoop in, kick some White Fang butt, and save the day," replied Yang, pulling her sister into another hug. Ruby let out a soft gag as she was pulled, smiling ear to ear and giving a thumbs up. Ozpin smiled.
"Very well then; you will be leaving later tonight. Please make sure that you are fully prepared for whatever may come. You may leave."
As the girls left the office, Blake couldn't help but feel troubled. She went over the notes Ozpin had given them over and over as they headed back to their room, only grasping bits and pieces of conversation between the red and yellow sisters. All the information in her scroll were things she already knew; what aura reflected, what a semblance was, and what one could do with aura. She went over the mission in her mind over and over, but couldn't make any connections. They were missing too much information.
"Adam… what in the world are you doing?"
"Blake? What do you think about it?"
Blake's thoughts were cut short as Weiss asked her a question, and she jerked to a stop, looking up from her scroll. She found her partners looking up at her expectantly, and shook her head.
"Sorry, what did you say?" Weiss gave her a small frown.
"I understand you're worried about the White Fang, but we need to keep our heads in the game. Please, try to focus. Anyway, what do you think about this mission?" Weiss continued. Yang stepped in.
"Yeah, something seems fishy about all this… If the White Fang is involved, why would they bother kidnapping their own kind? What could they accomplish from that?"
"We don't really know if they're the ones kidnapping the Faunus. I mean, they want to protect them right? Isn't capturing them contradictory?" Ruby added. Blake nodded, going over the contents in her scroll again.
"I really hope this is just a coincidence…"
-Children of Madness: Envy-
It was 7 PM, the rays of the sunlight peaking over the horizon as the sun slowly fell in the distance. The mansion loomed over the girls ominously, the surrounding forestry not helping the dark feeling that crept up Blake's mind. Something definitely wasn't right, and it wasn't just the murky, old mansion. An itch that she couldn't scratch sat in the back of her mind, and it drove her mad. She wanted to hightail out of this place.
"Alright guys! Let's get in there and kick some White Fang butt!" Yang cheered, locking and loading Ember Celica without a care. Ruby and Weiss gave assuring nods, and Blake couldn't help but marvel at their ignorance; did they not sense anything?
"Guys… something is wrong with this place," said Blake, not moving as she examined the mansion once more. The others had already walked ahead of her, stopping as they looked back with questioning gazes.
"What do you mean, Blake?" Ruby asked, her expression of determination changing to concern. Blake shook her head.
"I don't know, and that's what scares me. Ever since we came here, something has been bothering me, as if someone were watching us. I feel like if we enter that mansion, we might not be able to get out." Blake shook her head.
Yang approached her, looking deep into Blake's eyes. Blake reactively stepped back as Yang began poking at her chest.
"Come on, Blake. We've fought worse things than what you're feeling. Heck, we can even take on the Grimm now! Remember how much we used to suck? We're better and stronger, so don't worry about whatever it is you're thinking. It's probably just your worry for team coffee; By the way, we'll get them back. So let's go in there and rescue them. We can do it, as long as we're doing this together."
Blake felt her worry alleviate. Yang was right, and Blake didn't have time to be worrying about it. She gave her team a nod.
"Thanks, Yang," said Blake. Yang gave her a pat on the back, and urged her to go forward.
"Alright team ruby!" Ruby's confident and commanding tone further calmed Blake's nerves. "Here's the plan! We'll split up and search the mansion. Weiss and I will take the upstairs wing, east and west respectively. Yang and Blake, you take the ground wing, east and west as well. If you find anything, send a message on your scrolls, and we'll meet up back in the main hall. Let's do this!" With a push, Ruby opened the doors of the mansion.
It was pitch black inside.
"W-What the…?"
The girls reacted the same way; baffled. They peered through the doors together, seeing absolutely nothing within the mansion but pitch black darkness. There was no form of structure at all. Even the sunlight that shone behind them didn't fill the emptiness, but instead was absorbed by it.
"What the hell…? Is this why team coffee never returned?" Yang asked, the nervousness in her voice apparent. Blake nodded, the itching feeling in her mind returning.
Then suddenly, something that seemed almost like a tidal wave of darkness reached out and wrapped its alien being around Blake's arm. Blake let out a cry of surprise as she tried to pull back, but it was useless. Her arm was trapped in place. With a strong pull, Blake was lifted off her feet and into the darkness.
"Blake!" The others cried out, grabbing Blake's hand at the last minute. Weiss, Yang and Ruby pulled with all their might, but the strength of the darkness was great; they were just barely holding on.
"H-Hold on Blake!" Ruby grunted, Yang and Weiss pulling back with her. Blake let out a small cry of pain, the two opposing forces nearly tearing her in two. The blackness tugged harder and harder, until her team could hold no more. With a pained cry, Blake watched as they were all pulled into the darkness, thrown into a black pit of nothingness. They fell, their voices screeching out as they tried to reach out for something, anything, to hold on to. A hypnotizing voice emerged from the blackness, and Blake felt her mind drifting towards unconsciousness. What is this…?
"How pretty…"
The last thing Blake saw was a blonde girl in a blue and white dress.
-Children of Madness: Envy-
Blake's eyes snapped open as she woke up with a gasp, her body jerking up violently as she scrambled to her feet. What just happened?!
She took a look at her surroundings, and a sense of confusion washed over her. The room was a large square, stretching at least ten stories high, the walls patterned with tiles of white and pink. Toys, drawings and boxes full of playing blocks were scattered around the floor, walls and ceiling of various sizes, some of them as small as mice, others as large as an Ursa. Twin sized mattresses sat off on the far wall, some parallel to the ground and others on the ceiling, the blankets disheveled and the pillow crumpled from use. The door beside the bed was closed shut.
Where in the world were they?
"Ugh… What happened?" Blake's team's voices broke her out of her stupor, Blake realizing that her team was with her. She quickly rushed over to her teammates, who were spread out across the bizarre room.
"Are you guys alright?" Blake asked, concerned for her team. Each of them gave her a nod, before taking in their new surroundings.
"Whoa… Where the heck are we?" Weiss asked.
Yang nodded her head, picking up some of the toys on the floor and examining them.
"It's almost like we're on an acid trip or something," she added.
"What should we do, Ruby?" Blake asked Ruby. Ruby let out a small hum, collecting her thoughts.
"Let's look around first and see if we can find some clues."
With that decided, team RWBY took her time examining the room, each of the girls trying to see if they could find anything. Blake went over the drawings on the floor, finding crude drawings of a family of three, most definitely done by the child. The parents were dressed in dark business clothing, a stark contrast to the child, who wore a white and blue dress. Blake's eyes narrowed.
"Hey, guys, look at this," Blake called out. The others jogged to Blake's side, taking a look at the drawing. Ruby awed.
"Oh, that's cute! Who was it drawn by?" Ruby asked, leaning in. Yang took a closer look at the name written on the top of the paper.
"Alice…Sgathan?" Yang said aloud the confusing last name, doubting her pronunciation.
The sound of a child laughing began echoing quietly in the background, the girls taking a circular formation as they searched the room for any threats. Blake's ears twitched, straining to hear the smallest of noises, her hand placed on Gambol Shroud's handle.
"Wow, you're really pretty!"
A voice of a child came from behind them. The girls whirled around, ready to pull out their weapons, only to stop short as they laid their eyes on, who Blake guessed to be, Alice. She looked no older than ten, her royal blue dress accented with white lines and frills. Her skin was a pale white, her blonde hair reaching down to her shoulders. Her dark brown eyes were sunken, her face malnourished. She stared up innocently at Blake, her eyes wide with wonder. She gave her a smile.
"Are you here to play dress up with me?"
Not waiting for an answer, Alice took Blake by the hand, leading her to the closed door with surprising strength. "Come on, let's go," she encouraged, laughing as Blake lost her footing, as if being tugged along by a Beowolf.
"W-Wait a second, Alice, you're-" Blake pulled with all her might, but it was no use. Alice laughed again, and as they opened the door, a ghastly, Grimm-like wail lanced through the room. Alice let out another ominous laugh and team RWBY brandished their weapons, ready for whatever threat was to come. On the other side of the door was a dark, dank hallway, the lights above flickering on and off. Shadows leaked forward from the doorframe to the floor and walls of the room, the objects shifting into humanoid shapes.
Soon, standing before them were monsters they had never seen before. Their skin was blackened like charcoal, but their limbs were grossly enhanced, some of them with larger legs of various animals, and misshapen upper bodies, while others had only one arm in the form of a giant claw, their lower bodies seemingly too thin to support such weight. But what surprised them the most was their faces; masks covered them, designed as twisted parodies of various emotions; rage, joy, grief, surprise, terror, and annoyance were the once Blake recognized. The monsters groaned like zombies, approaching them with a slow walk. The girls backed up.
"W-What the heck are these things?!" Ruby cried out, unsure of what to do. Blake tried to count them, but found herself too panicked to keep track. They converged on Blake and Alice, who still had a firm grip on Blake's wrist. Turning her gaze towards the little girl, Blake immediately recognized the feeling she had outside.
"What's wrong? Don't you want to play?" Alice said, her syllables dragging as her eyes widened, pupils dilating. The whites of her eyes turned black, and her pupils turned a bloody red, her toothy smile making Blake's knees shake. With another startled cry, Blake retreated as Alice let her go, the team regrouping at the far back of the room. The masked creatures began making noise, a strange combination of laughing and sobbing.
"Play with us," they groaned, and with a terrible screech, they ran forward, Alice watching closely.
"Looks like we have to fight!" shouted Blake. She charged forward, her team following quickly behind her. The monsters let out another inhuman roar, nearly shaking them to the bone.
"Come with us," the monsters growled, their gravelling voices dragging out their syllables as well. Blake slashed one of the monsters with Gambol shroud, only to be surprised at the density of its skin. Gambol shroud barely managed to cut into the monster's torso. It let out another roar as Blake backed off, allowing her teammates to take over. More shadows appeared in the room, the monsters taking their places on the walls and ceiling. It was then Blake had noticed her surroundings. The room had shrunken in size, the flooring as large as the training arena at Beacon. One of the monsters pounced at Blake, and she dodged the poorly coordinated attack, swinging two quick strikes with Gambol Shroud. However, the same thing happened again, Blake's beloved sword not cutting deeply enough.
"What are these things made of?!" Blake muttered under her breath. But before she could continue her assault, a force from behind knocked her down onto her back. Alice screamed in delight, and Blake realized she was sinking, looking to see her body halfway into the floor. A dark shadow consumed her much like how team RWBY was when they were brought into this damned place.
"Blake!" her teammates cried out, trying to reach out for the Faunus, but they was too slow. Alice's laughter became all that she could hear, and soon, her eyes became enveloped in darkness.
"So pretty…"
-Children of Madness: Envy-
When Blake came to, the first thing she realized was that she was alone.
"Must have been separated," she muttered to herself, examining her surroundings. Taking a look at her surroundings, she found herself in an abandoned hospital lounge, Alice nowhere in sight. The tables and chairs were overturned, glass shards covered the floor, and hundreds of sheets of paper covered the reception desk. The lights above her flickered a dim green glow, switching on and off at random.
"…Help me…"
Blake immediately reached for her weapons, whirling around to search for the source of Alice's voice. It seemingly came from everywhere, making Blake shiver as she thought about what horrors lay hidden within the shadows. She began to slowly walk forward, entering the dark hallway with baited breath. The hallway stretched several paces ahead, the doors to various rooms closed, their windows blackened. The air was rent with an oppressive humidity, a foul odor that Blake couldn't discern invading her Faunus senses. Her eyesight was the only thing keeping her on her toes.
"It hurts… Why was I born this way…? It hurts!"
Blake couldn't help but flinch as the lights flashed on and off like lightning. With each flash, shadows of a little girl fighting against adults attempting to pin her down loomed over the wall at the very end of the hall, as if the event was occurring directly behind Blake. Of course, when she turned to check, there was nothing there. As if to add to Blake's dismay, electronic buzzing noises began, various tools and instruments giving off ominous, high pitch wails.
"It hurts! It hurts, It hurts, It hurtsithurtsithurtsithurts! MAKE IT STOP!"
Blake didn't waste any time. She didn't know what to do, where to go or what she could even accomplish, but standing around would get her nowhere. She began running through the linear hallway, attempting to open each and every door she came across. She was unable to open any of them, but as she continued on her path, Blake sighed with relief as she saw a door at the end of the maze like hall, cracked open, a white light shining through. Blake burst through the door.
-Children of Madness: Envy-
"Blake!" Ruby cried out, but it was too late. Her teammate and the girl had been swallowed by the darkness. Gritting her teeth in anger, she followed up with a swing of Crescent Rose, knocking down a large section of the horde of monsters that approached her from behind. "If anything happens to her, you're all going to get it!" Ruby cried out, her fear for Blake's safety driving her. Yang quickly followed up Ruby's attack and rushed forward, using her shotgun blasts to propel herself to the monsters, attempting to send the beasts away in chunks. However, much like with Blake, her attacks only did minor damage, piercing skin deep.
Weiss followed up by using a glyph to launch herself to the floor, freezing it, hindering the movement of the monsters. Ruby finished the attack off with blasts of hot lead from Crescent Rose's sniper barrel. The monsters roared once more in annoyance as they struggled to regain their footing, team RWBY minus Blake regrouping at the back of the room, as far as possible from the monsters.
"What the hell are these things?!" Weiss cried out, Myrtenaster's chamber rotating as it changed dust. Yang reloaded Ember Celica, and Ruby took a moment to scan the room for any exits.
"It looks like the only way out is that door behind them," said Ruby. Nodding to her teammates, the group of girls rushed forward, ready to force their way through the horde. As Ruby moved to block, she let out a cry of surprise as Crescent Rose came in contact with an oncoming blow from one of the disfigured humans. The force of the strike exceeded her expectations, but her instincts kicked in, and she was able to recover mid-air. Landing on her feet with a small trip, Ruby brandished Crescent Rose, ready for another assault. She began to fear what would happen if a horde of these monsters were unleashed upon town. These creatures would bring doom to them all. Yang and Weiss regrouped with Ruby, the group now stationed in the middle of the square room. The monsters held a half-circle formation around the door, effectively preventing them from progressing with their dense bodies alone. What in the world are these monsters? Are they Grimm? Were they once human? Was Alice controlling them?
"Is the White Fang responsible for creating these things?!" Ruby couldn't help but wonder out loud.
The group unconsciously stepped back as the monsters moved forward. They were trapped.
Without warning, there was a single streak of purple lightning, followed by the sound of thunder, and one of the monsters fell.
The monster let out an unearthly wail as the streak of lightning returned to slash across another monster's face, destroying the mask. It then returned, severing the body into three, clean pieces. Turning to dust, team RWBY blinked for a few moments, their eyes following the trail that did what they couldn't achieve. The creatures turned towards the new enemy.
A human stood in the middle of the enemy ranks. He was incredibly short, shorter than Ruby in fact. The young looking man's purplish black hair was slicked back messily. He wore an expensive looking dark indigo jacket on top of a black, collared shirt, black slacks and brown combat boots. His angry look made Ruby and Weiss nearly flinch, his stance radiating with killer intent. Two short swords were in his hands, a visible, electrical current running up and down the blades.
"Go for the masks," the young teenager shouted, his voice a low baritone. The monsters answered with a shrill noise, shifting their attention to him. The teenager's lips curled into a bestial grin, and he took a predatory crouch, his weapon at the ready. Dashing forward, the teenager lashed out with his swords as the monsters charged. Striking the monsters with deadly precision, the pommels of his swords first broke the masks before coming back blades first to slash. True to his weapons, he moved like lightning, flashing brightly with each dodge and attack.
"W-Whoa," awed Ruby, watching the teen's handiwork. Nodding to the others, Ruby, Weiss and Yang joined in the fray, doing as told.
"Holy Monty, now that we know to breaks the masks, this is cake," shouted Yang as she pummeled one of the beasts to oblivion. Weiss and Ruby nodded in agreement, using their weapons to maximum efficiency. Weiss provided support, using her dust to stall the beasts' movement, while Ruby used her Scythe to sweep through them like wheat, severing the heads of several monsters at once.
As the group eliminated the last threat, the mysterious lightning user stood over his last target, its mask half destroyed.
"I know you're watching. Get ready, because I'm coming for you next." With that, the teen broke the mask with another slash. Silence fell, and the young man turned his head, examining them with a predatory, calculative glance.
"You guys are lucky I arrived, or you all would have turned into those things by now," said the teen, walking towards them. As he placed his swords into the sheaths on his back, Ruby stepped forward, eager to get some answers.
"W-Who are you? How did you know about those things? What do you mean we would have turned into them by now? Did you see a black haired girl with yellow eyes on your way here?" Ruby asked. He was silent for a moment.
"Call me Violet. I know about those things because this isn't the first time I fought them. I mean they would have kidnapped you had I not told you their weakness, and no I did not see anyone on my way here." Taking out a scroll from his pocket, Violet pressed on the screen a few times before showing it to the three girls, who immediately recognized the girl in the photo. "Have any of you seen a young blonde girl, named Alice?"
-Children of Madness: Envy-
Blake burst into the room, looking for any signs of threats but found none as she slid to a stop. Instead, she found something else. No longer was she in the dank, dirty hospital hall she roamed through. Now she was in a small ballroom, the walls painted a deep, ocean blue with soft teals and greens intermixed. A grand chandelier hung from the ceiling, illuminating the entire room and reflecting off the marble floor that Blake stood on. Men and women dressed in clothing of the highest quality chatted with each other, exchanging laughter as the clinking of wineglasses filled the air.
"U-Um… Excuse me," called out Blake, reaching out to one of the passerby's. However, her hand passed through them like water, their forms bending with ripples before returning to normal. Where was she?
"The Lady Alice Sgathan has arrived!"
Blake turned, following the gazes of the people around her. Her eyes stopped at the top of the grand staircase, and there she saw the young girl in blue, now a young woman. She was a striking beauty, very much unlike her younger self. Her skin was fair, almost glowing in the fluorescent light, and her features were evenly angled and sharp, her eyes a brilliant, sky blue. However, a sullen, neutral expression remained on the young woman's face as she proceeded down the stairs, ignoring the voices and offers of the men that wished to dance with her.
"Ah, the daughter of the Sgathan family! Not only is she a beauty, but I also hear she is a master strategist and a talented warrior!"
"Indeed! I expect a new age with come about with her leadership!"
Praise and gossip echoed throughout the room as Alice continued walking, before taking a seat on a lone chair. The entire background and its people faded away, leaving only Alice and the chair, a single lampstand at her side. Her features were darkened and shaded, but even then it still held a strange beauty to it.
Blake's eyes widened as the girl then tore her face off, the striking beauty a leather mask. Underneath, the girl was horribly disfigured, her skin red with disease and her eyes misshapen. The girl began to cry. More voices came.
"Look, she is speaking with a man! Is she finally courting?"
"Why is she only ever with women? Maybe… that is her preference?"
"Perhaps she cannot fulfill? She continues to deny offers even to this day!"
Even wilder gossip abounded, the sound so loud in Blake's ears that she couldn't even hear her own thoughts. Soon, Alice had reached her wit's end, and stood up from her chair, shouting into the darkness.
"Let me love whom I wish! When and whom I decide to marry is no business of yours!"
"I never asked for all this attention!"
"You have no right to decide my future!"
"I just want to live in peace!"
The scene faded again, and Blake found herself staring into darkness. It didn't last long though, and she found herself back in the ballroom, though this time the ballroom was old and abandoned, the people nowhere to be found. Silver moonlight illuminated the room, revealing overturned tables, the beautiful tapestry rotten and torn. There was growing vegetation in the corners of the room. Blake looked up, seeing a starlit sky, the broken moon shining brightly.
And on the walls and floors, were green, see-through pods. Some were cracked open and empty, a foul stench coming from them as they dripped with a colorless liquid, but those that were not held the bodies of humans and Faunus alike within. Blake covered her mouth in shock.
"Ah, you're finally here!"
Blake twirled her body at the sound of the Alice's voice, though her shoulders remained tense. She eyed the young, disfigured woman standing before her.
"Were those your memories?"
Alice gave Blake a sad smile, nodding.
"I always hated the attention. Great things were expected of me, but the pressure was just so much… I couldn't handle living the lie. I felt that my every move was watched and dissected. Simply talking to a man would set rumors abuzz. It caused problems not only for me, but also my male friends. I wanted to put an end to the rumor and speculation, so I cut myself off from general company. But still they wouldn't leave me be. Talk of marriage reached me almost everyday. And I became sickened by the transparent politicking and scheming of the matches offered. I ended up hating my position, wishing I was born in a normal family."
Alice shook her head. "I wanted to be normal. I wanted to live my life as a person, dictated by what I decided. So when they came for me, I couldn't say no. They helped me, gave me guidance, so that I could finally fulfill my dream."
Raising her arms, Alice wiped her hands over her face, and her visage changed to that of Blake's. It took everything in Blake's power to not step back in surprise.
"In this place, I can be whoever I want!"
Before Blake could answer, the sound of doors opening behind Blake made her turn. She watched as the rest of her team came through, followed by a human she didn't recognize. Alice let out a cry of joy.
"Violet! You're here!"
Coming to a stop, Violet looked over the scenery, wearing an expression of grief and sadness. He eyed the little girl as team RWBY gasped in shock, seeing the pods and capsules around them.
"Look! It's team coffee!" Yang shouted, pointing towards the far corner of the room. Blake's eyes darted towards them, and indeed, all of team CFVY was there, each member sealed within their own pods. Blake joined her team as they went to see if they could free them, eyeing the young man and the little girl who stayed behind and ignored them, wondering if things would be alright.
"Not so fast~"
As team RWBY secured team CFVY from their pods, choking on their own vomit as they took in their slime covered states, Blake turned just in time to see Alice transform horrifically. Wings burst forth from her back as her neck elongated, stretching twenty times its length. Her body swelled as it grew in size, her arms and legs becoming claws and talons. Her skin became a dark gray, scales emerging as she shed her human skin like a lizard. A tail slithered out from underneath her now torn dress, completing the visage of one of the rarest, and deadliest, Grimm known to walk Remnant.
The Jabberwocky.
"Uh, guys, we have another problem," called out Yang.
The pods on the ceiling split open, bodies covered in slime falling out of them. Yang, Weiss, Ruby, and if she could turn, Blake, recognized them right away. The girls took their stances, but not before they turned to where team CFVY was. The slime covering them was gone, and team RWBY became horrified as they took a good look at the state of their friends.
"B-Blake… run… Not… safe…" Blake immediately recognized the voice as Velvet, her and her team's bodies twisted and deformed like the monsters they fought before. Though they still retained much of their qualities, Velvet was not as deformed as her partners beside her, Coco, Fox and Yatsuhashi, their weapons fused to their misshapen bodies. The others, however, were not as lucky. Their transformations were nearly complete, the only thing missing being the masks, their faces twisted in pain and anguish.
"Help us," one cried out as his body disobeyed him, getting ready to lunge for an attack.
"Kill me, please!"
"It hurts so much!"
"Get away before it's too late!"
More cries for help followed, the girls unsure of what to do. On one hand, it was clear as day. They had to fight. But at the same time, they had to be careful; their allies were still alive, and they didn't know how to save them. As Blake was carefully watching their numbers, trying not to panic, a sudden realization hit Blake hard in the heart.
"The monsters we fought before… They were people!"
Yang, Weiss and Ruby whipped their gazes to Blake as they realized she was right. However, Ruby kept her mind in the game, if only barely, shaking her head.
"It's too late for regrets now. The only thing we can do is try to save everyone here! Try to see if we can knock them out instead! Weiss!"
"Way ahead of you," she replied, shifting Myrtenaster's dust chamber to white dust. With a quick stab into the ground, a thin layer of ice covered the floor. The creatures lost their footing, but the Jabberwocky wasn't deterred. It lunged forward, surprisingly, at Blake, its jaws open wide. With a startled grunt, Blake dodged the attack, changing places with a clone. With a series of whips from Gambol Shrouds' sheathe, Blake slashed the Jabberwocky repeatedly, the girl groaning in pain, her voice distorted with a demonic echo. Violet followed up, attacking with electrical blades.
"Alice is after Blake! I'll distract her; you focus on keeping away! They'll be restored when we kill Alice!" Violet shouted, dodging another bite from the Jabberwocky. It moved incredibly fast, diving in rapid patterns of spirals and zigzags. Violet reacted just as quickly, exploiting the Jabberwocky's linear patterns, constantly on the move.
Blake did not want to get close to that thing. At all. So she followed Violet's advice, and turned back to help her team.
"B-But how can we help them?!" Blake asked her partner. Yang gave her a cheeky grin.
"Easy; break their faces in! They're vulnerable to everything after that! Lightning blades over there told us about it!"
Increasingly annoyed, a blaze of fire shot forth from the Jabberwocky's mouth, and Violet felt a blast of heat wash over him as he internally screamed out for his body to move. He successfully dodged once more, putting some distance between the monster and himself, taking the time to eye the girls that fought back the other creatures. They were successfully handling them with only little trouble, going for knock out strikes instead of lethal force. Violet turned his eyes back to the Jabberwocky.
"Blake, above you!
Trusting her team leader's voice, Blake turned to lash out with her weapons, but felt her entire body collapse under a sudden weight, hissing in pain as she felt it land on her left leg. Standing above her was one of the deformed Faunus, his transformation nearly done. The Faunus let out muffled screams of terror as the mask covered one fourth of his face, his right eye the only thing exposed. However, Blake noticed the mask shifting like a liquid, ever so slowly spreading across his face. As she motioned to push him off, bullets hammered into the Faunus, tearing its mask to pieces. Blake nearly hurled as she felt the black liquid of the monster's remains splatter on her face, leaving the rancid smell of rotting flesh. She pushed it off with a disgusted leer, eyeing Yang darkly as the blonde covered her mouth in suppressed laughter.
With a bone chilling roar, the Jabberwocky jumped into the air and attempted to body slam Violet. Quickly empowering his legs, he dodged the attack, the earth shaking under him. He stumbled, tripping over his own feet as the ground shook. Alice gave him no time to retaliate, and opened her jaws wide, charging a dangerous amount of aura into a focused blast of energy.
"Get away!" Violet shouted to the others, moving to secure the knocked out humans and Faunus. Each of them managed to grab two, before jumping out of the way.
"No!" Blake heard Ruby cry out as the team watched those they couldn't save dissolve into the light. A broken indent was all that was left of the grounds as they landed, making Ruby still in shock. She dropped the bodies of Fox and Coco, who were unconscious across her shoulders. Blake walked up to Ruby, Velvet and Yatsuhashi hauled over her shoulders.
"Come on, Ruby. We have to leave the rest of them in a safe place."
Approaching again, Violet attacked Alice with rapid sword strikes, cutting away at her as she sat to recover. Alice began roaring as she weakly tried to retaliate, but to no avail. Violet dodged forward, rolling between her legs as it tried to swipe him, attacking the back of her legs. Alice stumbled.
He had planned to attack it with an electrical current next, only to be surprised as a hail of icicles and a blasts of fire bombarded the beast. He turned to the source, seeing the white and yellow dressed girls attacking with their weapons, the girl in black gesturing for him to come to their side. There was no time to question. He did so, stabbing his swords into the ground to send a constant current to Alice. She took the onslaught, and in her pain began to dig into the floor, hiding below.
The five of them ran to the hole, and Violet thought to follow it but the black haired girl stopped him.
"Wait! You're not thinking of going after her, are you?!"
They were cut off as ground shook, no doubt from the monster tunnelling through the ground.
"Move, now!" Violet shouted. As he and the girls retreated, the Jabberwocky re-emerged from the ground they were on moments before, roaring as it did so, still bleeding from our previous assault. The huntresses brought away its attention from Violet, who rapidly dashed across the ground, slashing at the beast's legs as the girl's attacked from long range. Unable to withstand the assault, Alice lost her footing, and fell on her face. With a loud cry, Violet jumped into the air and stabbed his swords into the beast's lower back, sprinting across its body towards its head, shocking its spinal cord all the while.
As Alice let out another roar, she began melting into a black goo, making the girls feel sick. The black jelly swirled into a human shape, Alice returning back to normal.
Violet stood before Alice, watching her as she stared at him with a depthless exhaustion. He couldn't help but give a sad smile. Alice returned it.
"So? What are you waiting for? Aren't you going to kill me like you did Gluttony?"
Violet was silent as Alice shook her head.
"I envy you, I envy you so much, so much that I could hate you. But wrath isn't my sin," she sobbed, looking up at Violet.
"Even after everything that's happened, to me, you will always be the one who took care of me, the one who protected me when no one else would."
He wanted to reply, wanted to tell her it would be alright, but her words were like daggers, driving themselves through his heart with each sob and cry that fell from Alice's pale lips. He wanted to cry, but instead he felt nothing as he watched a substance fill Alice's eyes, but they were not tears, no. Monsters like them didn't get to cry. In the illuminating light that filled the ballroom for so many years, the young man and the little girl trained their eyes on the depths of darkness that resided within each other's souls, bearing witness to the harsh cruelty of fate.
Alice blinked, giving Violet another smile.
"Thank you Violet, for everything. I will never forget you."
Kneeling down, Violet placed his right hand on Alice's face, and activated his semblance. Purple lightning surged from his hand and surrounded his body, team RWBY watching sadly as Alice's body glowed from within, her aura shining brightly as she turning into a current of electricity. Flowing into Violet, the young man brought his fist close to his chest, closing his eyes in remembrance. Then the world around them began cracking like glass, the webs ever spreading, before shattering, revealing the remains of a dark, abandoned mansion.
"Rest in peace my friend… you've earned it."
-Children of Madness: Envy-
AN: And that's it. I hope you liked it! What did you think of Violet and Alice? Was Alice's backstory too much of a bother? I kind of feel like I really shoved it into your faces. What about the illusionary world that Alice created? I wanted it to be like a dark Wonderland; a crazy and horrifying acid trip, inspired by the PS3 game Alice: Madness Returns.
And ARGH RWBY SEASON 3. Personally, I have been holding back on watching it so I can see it all in one go, but I really want to know what happens! But I hate waiting! But I love RWBY and want to watch it! GAHHHHH.
I'll just go hang myself with the rope of my indecision… See you next chapter, and REVIEW!
~CxP