Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or Bloodborne
Chapter 1
The night is darkest just before the dawn, and the new dawn was coming. The old hunter had been in this never-ending cycle far longer than he cared to remember. A long night would torture a poor hunter's soul before eventually ending then starting anew. Whether they were able to see the light of day again would depend solely on their survival. Not their physical survival of course, but their mental survival. One hunter that had passed through the dream even went on to say that there is nothing worse than a hunt, add on the call of the beast blood, and the night can simply be too much for most.
Gehrman, the first hunter of the workshop, tasked with guiding new hunters in the Hunter's Dream to fulfill whatever contract they had been given, knew that there were many different types of hunters that stalked the streets of Yharnam. Most of them shared certain traits or desires. The most common of them being a desire to end the hunt and get away from this dreaded city. Gehrman himself wished for nothing more than freedom from his eternal curse.
As he sat atop the hill of flowers he thought of the hunter of this specific night. A hunter whose contract seemed to be all but finished. A strange lass she was, even by hunter standards.
The old hunter's musings were cut short as he heard the doll approaching.
"The good hunter will soon return. It appears she has successfully fulfilled her contract." Said a completely emotionless, yet soft voice.
"Well then you know what to do when she gets back. Tell her that I will be waiting." He said without looking towards her.
"Of course." She said as she walked off leaving Gehrman alone once more in the field of flowers.
Eventually the hunter stood before Gehrman and bowed politely.
"Stand up straight. There's no reason to bow to me." He said before shaking his head slightly. "Good Hunter you have done well, the night is near its end with the coming dawn. Now I will show you mercy. You will die, forget the dream, and awake under the morning sun. You will be freed from this terrible Hunter's Dream." He said the same thing every time before he sent them off.
The hunter just shook her head slightly. "Gehrman… will the dream continue to exist after I am gone?" She asked softly.
"Yes, the dream will still exist along with the doll and myself." He answered. Truly the dream itself, the doll, and himself were the only constants for as long as he'd been there.
"And I take it another hunter will come along after me?" She asked again slightly wearing on the old hunter's patience.
"That is how it usually works. Each new night brings a new hunter to the dream." The first hunter said as he looked at her. "Now submit your life, so that you may awaken from this Hunter's Dream."
"I would like to make another contract." She said firmly surprising the old hunter. None of the other hunters who came through the dream ever wished to stay longer than they had to.
"I'm afraid that isn't possible. No hunter has ever stayed in the dream after their contract is finished." He said slowly standing up. "If you don't wish to submit then it looks like tonight Gehrman will join the hunt."
The hunter took a step back. She knew he might not like the idea, but to get up and say something like that… "Gehrman please listen I just wish to continue the hunt and slay another nightmare if necessary. I don't want to fight you if I don't have to." She had slain two over the course of the night, although one didn't have to do with her contract.
Gehrman just looked at her as he felt the power of the dream fill his body. "If you just submitted and let me free you then this would be so much simpler." He said drawing his Burial Blade and Blunderbuss.
The hunter sighed to herself, but she had been prepared for something like this. In her right hand was the Blade of Mercy and in her left was the Evelyn. Despite her… handicap she still survived the night and hunt through strong insight and her proficiency in the arcane arts, so she was more than ready when she felt the power of the dream flowing into the old hunter.
The hunters dashed at each other blades going back and forth, trying to land any substantial damage, but they seemed to be at a stalemate. Gehrman lifted the nose of his blunderbuss and fired it at the hunter knocking her back, and then in a single fluid motion extended the Burial Blade into its scythe form.
When the younger hunter had recovered, she saw Gehrman looking like he was about to lunge at her. When he did so she lifted Evelyn and fired it staggering the old man out of his lunge. Seeing the familiar position, the young hunter went in to capitalize, but soon saw the blunderbuss back in his other hand.
She narrowly rolled out of the way of the shot then felt his presence behind her, but she didn't move quick enough and was knocked away by the Burial Blade back in its sword form. When she stood again, she was mildly aware of the gash in her side and decided it would be best to stay as healthy as possible against the old hunter.
Some of the blood gems she'd found in the labyrinth… only fools would use them.
Pushing that thought to the back of her mind she pulled out a blood vial and injected it into herself feeling the uncomfortably familiar pain before it sealed her wound.
After another moment of the two circling each other the hunter decided to holster Evelyn and split the Blades of Mercy apart holding one in each hand. 'A more aggressive plan might be helpful here.' She thought as she activated the old hunter's bone.
Gehrman had also activated his quickening ability. The two hunters blurred towards and around each other. Gehrman materialized first and brought his blade up in a slightly overexaggerated arc before slashing to where he thought she would be. Unfortunately for the first hunter, his prey was faster than he had given her credit for. She appeared behind him and started unleashing a flurry of quick attacks on his back making him grunt in pain.
The next thing the young hunter knew was that she had been knocked back by something. Focusing back on her opponent she felt even more power being drawn into his body and his form started to glow brighter.
'This might make things more difficult.' She thought with a frown.
When she saw him move again it was easy to tell he was faster than before and had already switched the Burial Blade back to its scythe form. The next thing she knew he had jumped into the air and was about to come back down at her, but she had seen attacks like this before. Specifically, from an old executioner.
Putting the blades of mercy back together she palmed something from inside her bag and waited for the right moment. Right before he was about to reach her, she held out and focused onto the item in her hand. When she did tentacles shot out of her hand and completely stopped the approaching hunter's attack leaving him in a kneeling positioning.
Not wanting to miss another opportunity she quick-stepped towards the still downed hunter and reared her hand back before shoving it into his chest, and then ripping it back out sending blood and some guts everywhere.
Though the power of the dream was still supporting him it didn't look like he was hanging on by much if the ragged and pained breathing was anything to go by.
He slowly got back to his feet to see the other hunter holding her hands together in the air. The air around her shimmering white.
His eyes widened in realization when he saw the light burst outward in all directions. He did his best to avoid the arcane attack, but with the injuries he had already sustained, he wasn't able to avoid all the homing-like attacks.
As much as she didn't want to do it, she had learned many times the fate that awaited her if she were to hesitate. With that in mind she dashed towards the man again as he slowly stood up from the attack. In a fluid movement, she attacked while splitting the blades again then stabbed them straight to where his heart was.
"The night, and the dream, were long…" He muttered as his body fell to the ground one last time.
"I never wanted to fight you like we did, but you didn't want to listen to my request, or maybe you couldn't." She said as she looked to something that didn't disappear along with the rest of his body. She found the Old Hunter Badge in the hands of one of the messengers who was trying to hand it to her. She took the badge and added it to the others, and then she looked down to the Burial Blade still laying on the ground. With a sad smile she bent down and picked it up before disassembling it back into the folded staff and sword.
"I hope that like Lady Maria your spirit may finally find peace." She said softly.
She then turned towards the moon. If she remembered right, the doll had called the moon Flora. "Flora! I wish to make a deal!" She shouted out at the moon.
Hearing the call and having watched the fight in the first place the being known as Flora revealed itself to the young hunter.
The moon is usually described as beautiful or awe inspiring, but the being that appeared in front of her was anything but. It wasn't as horrifying as the One Reborn or the Brain of Mensis, but the creature was quite the opposite of the moon she was said to represent.
Similar to the other Great Ones Flora was not a perfect being. If Great Ones were actually perfect creatures, then they wouldn't fall to the likes of mortals like the Good Hunter.
Despite her desire to replace the old guardian of the dream with his slayer she was intrigued by the young huntress, and without any more nightmares in Yharnam there wasn't truly a need for another guardian just yet.
Flora didn't like speaking in the human tongue at all, but curiosity got the best of her. "Hunter… what deal could a mortal like you offer me…?" The cold raspy voice sounded like it was coming from everywhere in the dreamscape.
"It wasn't my intent when I came to speak with Gehrman, but he has fallen, and I would like to continue the Hunt connected to the Dream. Meanwhile you need a new guardian for this dreamscape to guide future hunters. If you allow me to continue the Hunt without severing my ties to the Hunter's Dream, then I will take over where Gehrman left off." She said with confidence. She knew she was almost literally making a deal with the devil in this situation, but she didn't think she could go back to how she was living prior to her arrival in Yharnam, and deep down she knew she didn't want to.
"Why do you want to continue this Hunt? No sane individual would commune with one of us for something like this." The voice said again.
"A hunter must hunt. If I am to keep up the hunt, I wish to do it while still connected to the Dream." She answered.
"Why do you hunt? Is it for Yharnam? Its people? Simply to fulfill your own bloodlust?"
The hunter thought for a moment before sighing. "Lying would be counter-productive in this situation, so I won't. I hold no love for Yharnam or its people. As an outsider I was already shunned, and eventually despised when I became a hunter. It isn't for the sake of fulfilling the thirst of the beast blood inside of me either. The bloodlust can be dangerous if left unchecked, but I have grown accustomed to it throughout the night. No, the reason I came to Yharnam was to cure my sickness with the so-called miracle blood, but deep down I had hoped it might be able to help with my condition as well, and while the blood itself didn't help the condition, the Hunt allowed me to adapt to my situation. If I were to leave and forget the Dream, then I would probably regress to how I was before." The Hunter answered. "So, the answer to your question is I wish to stay because of my own selfishness."
'What an interesting creature this one is.' Flora mused. "And what if I were to chain your spirit here like I did with the old man? Forever preventing you from returning to the waking world."
"The pieces of a Great One's Umbilical Cord have granted me a stronger insight, and by consuming all the pieces I believe I have the ability to match your will should you try that. It is only a theory that entered my mind after I consumed the last one, but we could test it if that is what you truly desire." She said straightening her stance.
'… Gehrman's last thoughts were right; this hunter is definitely different than the others that have passed through the dream.' "No there's no need… I can sense it inside of you… Yharnam and her people no longer need a hunter like you, but there is another place you could hunt… The moon there was destroyed millennia ago and has been in its own nightmare since. The beasts you will find won't be like the ones in Yharnam, but you'll figure that out on your own." Flora said.
"A place with a destroyed moon? Are you telling me this is another world you're sending me to?" The hunter asked not having thought of a possibility like this.
"Another world that is similar to this one in a different plane of existence." The Great One answered.
'That's right… The Hunter's Dream is just one example of another plane. It is connected to Yharnam, but…' The hunter thought looking out to the far-off pillars that inhabit the dreamscape. 'Is it possible that those pillars are like this one, but lead to different places? Different 'planes of existence'?'
"This is the opportunity I am giving you mortal. With that world's shattered moon my presence isn't as strong, but if there is a moon then my presence is there. Do you accept this contract to slay the seemingly eternal nightmare while keeping watch over that dream?" The Moon Presence asked.
It was what she asked for, yes, but in a way she never imagined. "I would like for the doll to accompany me to this new dream. I can't help the new hunters in the way that she can, and you said that a hunter like me isn't needed in this dream, so is it right to assume you no longer need the doll here?" She asked.
"Very well. The Plain Doll will await you in that dream, but if you wish to visit the dream you will need to make your own lanterns. Gehrman made the ones in Yharnam, so it is your responsibility to make the ones over there." Flora said before drawing in a large amount of energy. "Do not expect this kindness again, and do not disappoint me." Was the last thing the young hunter heard before everything went white.
Line Break
"So, what were the details of this 'special' mission the headmaster wanted us to go on exactly?" A girl with long flowing blonde hair asked her teammates.
"I was actually wondering the same thing. You didn't exactly tell us what we were looking for just that this was a special mission the headmaster assigned us." A black-haired girl added on.
"Oh right oops." A girl with black hair that ended in red said rubbing the back of her head. "Professor Ozpin wanted us to check into a strange disturbance that came from the Emerald Forest." She said.
"Rubes that didn't really tell us what we were looking for here?" The blonde said. She was the girl's older sister named Yang.
"Yang, Blake, be patient and give her a chance to tell us. Now Ruby go on." A white-haired girl said masking her own dwindling patience.
(I'm not sure why I'm talking about their hair rather than just saying who they are since most people reading this probably already know who they are.)
"Thanks Weiss!" Ruby said happily. "Now as I was about to say, the headmaster said that a large energy signature was detected over there and then disappeared within like, seconds, so he is sending us out to see if we can find any traces of whatever caused it."
"So, in other words we have no idea what we're looking for." Yang summed up.
Ruby held up a finger to protest, but then paused. "Yes." She admitted looking down.
"Alright then… when was the energy signature detected?" Weiss asked.
"He said it was early this morning around sunrise. He wanted to send a search party quickly but had to put everything together and make it into a mission for… legal purposes I guess." Ruby said with a shrug.
It hadn't actually taken that long seeing as it was around noon, but it still took longer than the headmaster probably would've liked.
The intercom of the bullhead they were riding in came to life. "We have reached the drop point. We will stay in the area, so just radio in for pick-up or emergency evac." The voice of the pilot rang out.
Nodding to the rest of her team Ruby stood up and opened the side of the bullhead. They were hovering a few feet off the ground, but the distance wasn't too great. Jumping first Ruby hit the ground and looked around. Based on the thuds behind her she knew her teammates were behind her.
"Alright guys according to the location marked on the map we need to go a few hundred feet north of here." Ruby said before putting away her scroll.
RWBY quietly made their way through the clearing where they had landed and into the thicket of trees that were common for the Emerald Forest.
After walking for another minute or so, they reached the area marked on their scrolls. What they saw made them freeze. Out in a clearing surrounded by disintegrating bodies of Grimm was a lone figure with its back to them.
The Hunter
The young hunter had just recently woken up with a massive headache and was then assaulted by strange wolf-like beasts. They were like the scourge beasts but had what appeared to be bone plates on the outside of their bodies that were used for protection.
The beasts were rather disappointing. There might have been ten or so of them, but they ran about and attacked without any coordination, so defeating them was simple for the hunter.
'Damn it Flora…' She thought as she held her still aching head. After a minute or so she felt the presence of four individuals coming her way. Young by the feel of it, much too young to be hunters, but then she remembered what Flora had said about the whole different world thing, so anything was possible.
'An eternal nightmare huh? If that's the case, then these might be hostiles.' She thought as she brought out the Burial Blade and her Evelyn. 'It appears that I still have the things I had on me from the dream.' She thought looking herself over, and then checking her supplies in the pouch that seemed to hold just about anything. She had long stopped questioning the weird impossibilities that came from the dream.
With RWBY
Team RWBY wasn't quite sure what they were looking at. The figure in the clearing had their back to them, but they could see a gray coat with a small half-cape around the shoulders. The top of the figure's head was wrapped in bandages hiding away any hair they might have. The figure also seemed to be wearing clawed gauntlets. Speaking of the hands, one held a crescent shaped sword while the other held a pistol of some kind. Ending off the look the figure had on boots that were of similar coloring to its coat.
The members of Team RWBY were curious about what a person would be doing alone this deep in the forest.
"You four can come out now." The figure said. It sounded soft and distinctly feminine.
Slowly RWBY walked out from the tree line they had been standing in.
"U-um hi there! Are you lost out here alone?" Ruby asked nervously.
The hunter turned her head towards the approaching teens making them freeze in their tracks. The bandages completely covered her eyes, but it still felt like they were prey being sized up. Which wasn't completely inaccurate.
"What do you kids want?" She asked completely turning towards the group, holstering the Evelyn, and attaching the Burial Blade to her right hip. She already saw they were nervous and having her weapons out didn't help.
"We're just huntresses-in-training on a mission. We saw you standing out here and wanted to see if you were alright." Ruby said quickly. The voice may've sounded soft, but there was an underlying edge to it that had the group nervous.
'Huntress? Is that what they call hunters here?' She thought to herself. "If you wouldn't mind would you tell me where I currently am?" She asked.
"It might be easier to see where you are if your eyes weren't covered." Yang muttered before being elbowed by her partner.
Unfortunately, the hunter heard the comment and focused on the blonde brawler.
Yang already didn't like this situation. When the woman in front of them turned her 'gaze' directly on her she couldn't help the shivers that raced through her naturally warm body.
"I don't judge you based on your rather inappropriate attire, so you'd do well to not judge the attire of another." The hunter said coldly.
"Sorry about her." Ruby apologized regaining the hunter's attention. "And we are in the Emerald Forest. Do you need help getting somewhere?" She offered.
The hunter thought about the offer. She could stay here and wander aimlessly trying to find more beasts or perhaps the materials needed to create a lantern, or she could accept the offer and learn more about where she was. They had said they were in training, so that could mean a junior workshop or perhaps a school. Why they would train children to take up the unsavory title of hunter she couldn't fathom, but that was a thought for later. For now, she needed to figure out where she was.
"You called yourselves Huntresses-in-training did you not?" She asked receiving a nod from Ruby. "Are you training in a workshop or perhaps a school?" She asked receiving another nod.
"Yep we're students at Beacon Academy." Ruby said proudly.
"An academy then." She muttered as she looked the group over once more.
Blake heard what the woman had muttered but tensed up when she felt the 'eyes' of the woman on her, or specifically her bow.
'Interesting… maybe there is a plague here like that of Yharnam's, but the others don't seem to mind or perhaps they aren't aware of the extra set of ears on the black-haired girl's head. It might be best to observe for now since she shows no other symptoms.' The hunter thought before looking back to the apparent leader of the group. "What are your names?"
"I'm Ruby leader of Team RWBY. Yes, it does get confusing." She clarified before continuing with the introductions. "These are my teammates Weiss, Blake, and my sister Yang. What's your name?"
The hunter thought for a moment. She hadn't used her name at all on the hunt mostly being referred to as 'you' or 'Good Hunter', but when she thought of her old name, she didn't see herself, but the sickly shell of a person she used to be.
She didn't want to see herself as that any longer, so she decided to keep thinking before remembering what she had been called when they didn't know she was around or listening. "You may call me Kishin. And if possible, could you direct me towards the nearest city?"
"We were actually just heading back to Beacon. You could join us if you want." Ruby said getting a look from the heiress next to her.
"Ruby we need to finish the mission not deliver some stranger to Beacon." She hissed.
"Weiss we are right where that energy source came from, and who did we find sitting her surrounded by dead Grimm?" She asked gesturing to the person in front of them.
'Those beasts were called Grimm then.' The hunter mused as she listened in on the conversation they were having about her… right in front of her.
After bickering for another minute or so the blue and white themed girl sighed with the cloaked girl facing the hunter again.
"So, what do you say do you want to come with us?" Ruby asked hopefully. She had a good feeling this was the person they were looking for, and if she declined then they'd have to go back empty-handed.
"Very well I will accompany you." She said with a small smile. She had hoped they would offer her a way to the school. If it was anything like Byrgenwerth then there should be a library or something like that where she could get some more info about this place. It was concerning however that they had been able to find her right when she had woken up. Did Flora play a hand in that?
Without voicing any of these thoughts she stepped towards the group only to be stopped by the blonde-haired girl. "Before we take you anywhere with us, we need to know who you really are." Yang said stepping in between the rest of the group and the hunter.
"Like I told your sister I am Kishin a hunter." She said passively.
Ruby started smiling at the thought of meeting a potentially cool huntress. Glynda never gave her that autograph. The other three were wondering why she called herself a hunter and not a huntress.
"Do you mean huntress?" The heiress asked.
Mentally sighing Kishin could tell this would be a long and annoying series of questions. "That depends on what a huntress is." She answered.
"Huntsmen and huntresses are people trained to fight the Grimm, protect the people, and keep peace in the world." Weiss answered.
'Usually yes, no, and not really.' She did hunt beasts, but beasts can take many forms including that of Man. She also didn't specifically try to help people anymore. She momentarily thought of a bloody bow and two sisters. Finally protecting the peace wasn't what she was after either. If this world was in a nightmare then there was no real peace, so she would help to that end by trying to stop the nightmare. Speaking of… just like the other two she had almost nothing to go on for what the nightmare was and how to stop it. "I suppose that I do most of those things, so by your terms I am a huntress." She answered.
"If you really are a huntress then you wouldn't mind showing us the rest of your face. The bandage wrap makes you look rather shady." Blake said.
Kishin paused. She forgot that she was wearing the harrowed hood. She just remembered switching the regular hunter's tricorn hat out for the harrowed hood so that the people she did talk to would stop asking why her eyes were closed.
"You four do seem to make a lot of demands to a stranger." She said lowly before slowly unwrapping the bandages. When she was done stark white hair fell rather messily to her shoulders.
RWBY noticed the hair and looked at Weiss for a moment before looking back to the woman with her eyes still closed.
Her skin was fair and light, but slightly pale. Not on Ruby's level, but still paler than normal. Some might say she looked beautiful.
The fact that she shared the same hair color with Maria and the Doll wasn't lost on her, but it wasn't anything that really mattered.
After she put the bandages away, she fixed her hair into a pony tail before putting on the signature tricorn hunter's cap that was torn at the back.
"U-um…" Ruby said breaking out of her stupor. "Why're your eyes still closed?" She asked hoping not to anger the woman across from her.
"I can see you regardless, so don't worry about it." She said coldly making the reaper take a step back.
"Hey! She was just asking you a question don't get all snippy at her for no reason!" Yang yelled with her eyes turning red.
'Right I forgot these are children I'm dealing with, and they don't seem to have matured very much, but then again my remark wasn't very mature either. Maybe going to this school isn't the best idea.' She thought.
"Hey, are you listening to me? What is wrong with you?" Yang said only a step away from Kishin now.
'I must've been more distracted with my inner monologue than I thought.' She noted when Yang got right up in her face.
Yang grabbed Kishin's collar. Before she could say anything Kishin acquiesced and opened her eyes making the blonde abruptly let go and fall back to the ground. With Yang out of the way the rest of RWB could see what had startled her. Ruby and Weiss paled more than usual, and Blake brought her hand to her mouth to stifle her gasp.
Staring right into Yang's now lavender colored eyes were two empty sockets. "Satisfied?" She asked coldly before closing her eyes once more. Yang had never felt so small compared to the overwhelming feeling coming from the hunter in front of her.
"If we're done with this then let's get out of here before more of those creatures show up." Kishin said to the group.
Ruby shakily nodded and called the bullhead.
When the bullhead landed in the clearing, that was slightly smaller than the pilots would've preferred, Kishin looked at the contraption in slight amazement. 'A flying carriage?' She thought curiously.
The group got in and then rode in complete silence back to Beacon.
A/N: Now for anyone thinking this was an update to one of my other stories I apologize for getting your hopes up, but this idea has been in my head for a while. Aside from that I will go ahead and say that I'm not sure if this will be part of my usual already random update schedule or if I'll do it every once in a while.
That stuff aside what do you guys think? I've read a lot of Bloodborne x RWBY crossovers, so I know that what's happened so far is anything but conventional. That said I'll ask again. What'd you think?
For anyone wanting to maybe correct something I wrote whether it be lines from the game or the big 'Great Ones don't talk' I've probably already realized it, and changed the details to do what I always set out to do. Make something that I haven't really found a lot of and do it my own way. That said I'm not changing a lot from either universe right now because I don't need to.
Addressing it right now so people hopefully don't question it too much. Yes Kishin is blind in that she doesn't have eyes. Her insight mixed with her use of the arcane is how she 'sees' what's going on around her. If you have a problem with that then sorry, but it probably won't change.
That's probably it for this one, so like usual Follow, Favorite, Review, and whatever else you all do.
~Laz out.