Enter: Blake Belladonna
Five times had been five times too many. The Grimm were getting smarter and the three of found ourselves in tight corners more often.
"I am not going to let either of you idiots lead the way again," Weiss said as she sewed her now torn up dress. "These dresses aren't exactly cheap, you know?"
Yang snorted at Yang's complaints. "You wear the same wardrobe every other day," she laughed. "Besides, do you really think people out here in the forest are going to care if your dress is a little tattered?"
"I do," said Weiss, "Because I have standards for what a person should look like."
"About eighty percent of Remnant's population probably couldn't meet your ridiculous standards," Yang muttered.
"Guys," I sighed. "Can you two stop arguing?"
They both looked at me with tension in their faces.
"We need to think of a way out of our current situation."
Yang's eyebrows furrowed at my words. "Stop talking like that, Ruby," she said sharply. "There's nothing the three of us can't do."
"More like nothing the two of you can do without my guidance," Weiss added abruptly.
Yang turned her head with a fist raised.
"But I really think we need more help," I said quickly before Weiss found herself missing a tooth.
Both of them grew silent again at my words. There was a very long and awkward pause that made me fidget uncomfortably.
"I've just noticed that other Huntsmen teams usually have at least four people," I said to break the silence. "Maybe one more with a helpful semblance is what we need to stop getting nearly beaten by Grimm."
"I wouldn't call say we were almost beaten?" Yang said, sounding almost offended by what I had said.
Weiss couldn't help herself. "Only because I—"
"Shut up, princess."
I groaned loudly and planted my back against my bed. This team had only been recently formed and it was already facing difficulties. Weiss and Yang argued endlessly, Weiss and I were the only ones coming up with strategies, and we had trouble fighting as a team. Something more needed to be added. It wasn't going to happen while Yang and Weiss went at each other's throats. It was up to me for something to happen.
During my evening scout for Grimm, I overheard something on the radio transmitter Weiss had given me.
"A mysterious shadow girl has been cleansing the city of Grimm," said a reporter. "Locals describe a young girl wiping out entire hordes by herself but have yet to actually meet this mysterious girl."
My ears immediately perked at those words.
"Rumors have been spreading that this girl is a young Huntress," the reporter went on. "Although rogues have a reputation for being reckless and violent, locals themselves say they are more than happy for her appearance."
I felt myself smile as I turned off the transmitter. A young girl who fought off Grimm for the good of others. She sounded like the perfect addition to our team. I immediately turned around and headed back to our camp. There are moments when I get so giddy that all logic gets thrown out the window and this was one of them. If only I had known that getting Weiss and Yang to go with my idea would be like pulling teeth.
"You can't be serious," Weiss said, so taken back by my proposal that she'd stopped brushing her hair.
"Granny hairs is right," Yang said, sparking a deadly stare from Weiss. "How do you know this girl will even want to work with us?"
"I…" I said weakly, trailing off because I was nervous about saying what I really felt. "I…just have this feeling. You know?"
Yang's gaze hardened and she crossed her arm. "I don't like this idea," she said, "but you've proven to me enough times that your intuition is usually pretty good."
"You two are hopeless," Weiss sighed. "But I suppose that's what I'm here for."
I smiled weakly at her. She was a massive pain at times, but I really believed that she cared about us. At least I wanted to.
The three of us were quick to get on our gear and head outside towards the city. My imagination pictured us as intimidating Huntresses tracking down our prey like vultures. In reality, we were just a group of overconfident teenage girls running into trouble. This city in particular was plagued by Grimm attacks nearly every week. The population suffered crippling migration rates all the time because of this and it was mostly a ghost town at this point. I could already notice this by the lack of people roaming the streets.
"This doesn't look good," I said.
"Brilliant observation," Weiss snapped.
I heard Yang chuckle a little at Weiss's comment and stopped talking after that. We could only observe a small handful of people lurking in the windows, peeking at the three girls walking down the alleys with not a sign of fear.
We walked down several dark alleys, finding nothing but emptiness and the smell of rotten meat.
"You sure this girl is here?" Yang asked. I could tell she was nervous because she always rubs her elbows whenever something makes her uncomfortable enough.
"I don't know," I said while trying to hide my disappointment.
"Well she'd better be," said Weiss. "Because I am not going to stay in this place any longer if we don't find anything soon."
"Sounds good to me," Yang said loudly, causing Weiss to curl her nose.
"Wait!" I whispered after stopping in place. "Do you hear that?"
Weiss and Yang both cupped their hands behind their ears and listened intently.
"Yes…" Weiss said softly.
"Really?" Yang asked, leaning her head forward as if it helped her hear better. "I can't hear anything."
"I'm surprised you have trouble hearing," Weiss said sarcastically, "because one would think that the empty space in your head would leave ample room for you to hear."
"Has anybody ever told you that you have a really punchable face?" asked Yang.
"Guys, stop!" I said as loud as I could get without actually shouting. "Listen."
They both stopped and listened once more. The sound was louder now. It sounded like footsteps rapidly moving from one place to the other.
"I think it's her," I said excitedly.
"But which direction do we go in?" asked Yang. "We can hear footsteps but that doesn't mean we know which direction it's going in."
I slowly turned myself in a circle while thoughtfully scratching my nose. "There!" I finally said, pointing to an alley that I picked at random.
"Did you actually put any thought into that?" asked Weiss.
"Uhh…"
"Let's just go," said Yang. "I'm starting to get impatient."
We walked toward an alley that didn't look much different from the others. It was still dark, empty, and smelly. I held Crescent Rose tightly by my side just in case a Grimm snuck behind us. You could never know when they would show up.
The alley I picked up lead us into a dead end. I didn't even need to look at the other two to know that they were annoyed with me.
"Ruby," Yang said as nicely as she could, "I think we should just give up on this. She's not going to appear."
"I can't," I said defiantly. "We came all this way and—"
I gasped as I felt an arm wrap around my neck and forcefully push my chin up. I then heard the sound of blades being removed from their sheath.
"Don't move," said a dark voice.
I swallowed at the sound of the voice and saw the blades move very close to my throat.
"Get off of her!" Yang shouted, shooting at my captor with Ember Celica. I felt the arms around me disappear, only to be replaced by a black mist.
"Ugh!" I heard Weiss grunt loudly.
"You're an awful violent lot, aren't you?" asked the voice. I turned and saw Weiss being held by a girl taller than her and myself. She had long black hair and held what looked like a katana in one hand and a tonfa in the other. She wore a black bodysuit that it made it difficult to see her entirely. The most jarring thing about her were the piercing yellow eyes.
"She's so fast!" I exclaimed, fearing that this person had the same semblance as me.
"Don't attack me again unless you really want to lose a teammate, Huntress," said the girl.
Yang stared at her angrily, and then slowly put her arm down.
"Good," the girl said. She had a very monotone expression but spoke in a somewhat sinister tone.
"Wait!" I said, taking a careful step towards her. "We aren't here to fight you."
"Then what are you here for?" the girl asked, keeping her hand firmly placed on the katana.
"Are you the girl who's been hunting down Grimm here?" I asked.
The girls expression didn't change. "What do you want?"
"I…uh…wanted to ask you if—"
"Ruby!" Yang barked, "She's not going to join us! She's already tried to kill you and now she's threatening Weiss."
I looked and saw Weiss struggling to free herself from the girls grip.
"You should listen to your friend," said the girl.
"Sister," Yang added.
"Whatever. Listen to her. I don't want anything to do with you. Leave this city now before I decide to slice your teammates head off."
"Why are you doing this?" I asked, hearing my voice crack slightly.
"I have no reason to trust you," said the girl.
I did the only thing I could think of and gently put Crescent Rose down.
"Ruby" Yang said with shock. "What are you doing?"
"I'm showing her that we aren't here to fight," I said.
Yang grit her teeth at me, looked back at Weiss, and then gently took off her gauntlets.
I could have sword that I saw the girls eyes soften for a split second before forcefully releasing Weiss. I caught Weiss in my arms before she fell face first onto the road.
"I've released your friend," said the girl. "Now go away." And without another word, she jumped towards a nearby window ledge and crawled inside.
Weiss breathed heavily and then slammed a fist into the road. "I'm too weak," I heard her mutter. "I need to get stronger."
I frowned at her and then looked at the window ledge. There was more to this girl and I wanted to find out. I just wasn't sure if Weiss and Yang would be willing.
"You should try lifting a weight," said Yang. "It'd help you grow some meat on your little t-rex arms."
Weiss and Yang continued to go back and forth while I stared at the window the girl went in. She wasn't a bad person and I knew it. Weiss would have been killed if that were the case. I was determined to have her join us.
"We're going to be staying here for the night," I said, cutting off the argument Weiss and Yang were in.
They both stared at me.
"Did you not just see what she almost did to me?" Weiss said. "That girl is a menace and you're an idiot for thinking she'll want to work with us."
"She can't be that bad," I said with a smile. "After all, you were pretty unfriendly to us when we first met."
"I didn't try to kill you either."
"That's a pretty good point," Yang said with a nod of agreement.
"I just think we should find out more about her," I said.
Weiss's disapproving gaze turned into a nasty scowl. "You and her can go," she said angrily. "I'm staying back. Have fun getting your throats sliced."
The rest of the night was pretty tense with Weiss refusing to speak to me. We ended up finding a hotel in the city. It was a beat up old place with probably about twelve other people inside of it. The furniture was moldy and old, elevators would stop working at random, and the beds had mattresses that were hard as bricks. Still, it was the best we could deal with and we settled in as comfortably as we could get. Only Weiss really had the biggest issue with it.
"I'd be better sleeping in the street," Weiss complained as she lay on the mattress.
"Want me to throw you out the window?" asked Yang.
Weiss didn't answer and went began to change into her pajamas.
"Are you ready, Ruby?" Yang asked, attentively watching me.
"Yes," I said with a grin. This plan wasn't the best I had come up with, but the eagerness I felt toward getting this girl to join was enough for me to follow through with it.
"You all have fun committing suicide," Weiss said as she brushed off her pajamas. "I'll be here to claim your bodies."
I didn't say anything as I left but I think Yang gave her the finger before walking out.
The hotel had a main lobby where most of the visitors seemed to spend their time. None of them looked particularly happy to be there. They all had weary faces that looked down at the floor in defeat. I really wanted to try and comfort them, but something else had top priority.
"Excuse me," I said quietly as I approached a group at a table.
They all looked at me with shifty eyes.
"I…uh…"
"My little sister here wants to know if you know anything about the girl hunting down Grimm," Yang said loudly.
This time more heads turned and a man sitting closest to us turned around and faced us.
"Why?" he asked carefully
"Well…I've heard all about her and wanted to know if anyone had more information on her," I said.
His eyes squinted just a tad. "You two Guardians are something?" he asked.
"Do we look like Guardians to you?" Yang asked.
The man looked us up and down. I was a little embarrassed because our clothes hadn't been washed and were torn in several places. Then again, our clothes didn't look all that different from what they were wearing.
"It's okay if you don't want to tell us," I said
"No," he said as he slowly got out of his seat. "I think I'll tell you."
Yang and I raised our heads hopefully. Any bit of information was crucial at this point.
"The girl hasn't been fully seen, but various people have caught sight of her. Those people tend to describe a young girl around your ages in a black body suit and a bow on her head."
"A bow?" Yang asked. "Sounds bowdacious"
The man just stared at her.
"Just ignore her," I said. "Please continue."
"She supposedly lives in an abandoned apartment complex. There are some homeless people who've made it into a shelter to keep them away from the Grimm. Some of them say the girl brings them food and then vanishes into the darkness."
"Is she known to be aggressive?" I asked.
"Sometimes," he said. "The few people she's actually attacked say that she wants to be helpful while keeping an arm's length away from them."
Yang cocked her head. "So what you're saying is that she doesn't like being involved with other people," she said.
The man nodded.
I felt the sinking feeling of defeat sink even further.
Yang probably noticed because she was quick to comment. "I think we should go back," she said.
Most people would have probably taken the sensible route and act on Yang's word. However, I was especially stubborn back then and through practical logic out the window all the time.
"We're still looking," I said.
"You can't be serious—"
"He said she wants to help," I said.
"Yes…but…"
"So there's more to her than we know. Let me meet her one more time. If she says no then we'll turn back and find someone else."
Yang was definitely on the verge of siding with Weiss on this entire search. She was already crossing her arms in disapproval and frowning at me.
"Please Yang," I begged.
She sighed. "Fine. But we should stop trying to make her join if she attacks us again."
I beamed a smile at Yang that must have looked really goofy because she almost laughed when she saw it.