Unfortunately with my busy schedule, I only got to look this chapter over once, so I apologize if you see mistakes. Please tell me if you do!
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.
Chapter 2.
That night, they all went back to their respective places to sleep.
Weiss retreated to her father's mansion and informed him about the upcoming mission.
Blake went back to the hideouts her fellows often gathered in to do the same.
Yang briefed her workers on the situation once the restaurant had closed for the night.
Ruby had stayed with her after saying goodbye to Weiss and Blake, and once all was said and done, the two sisters retreated back to Yang's apartment.
It was a spacious place, a bit too much for just Yang, so she was always happy to have Ruby stay with her. Ruby was the only one of the four who didn't have any surefire place to sleep at on any given night.
And although she sometimes found herself in Blake's safe-house, and in even rarer times in Weiss' guest room, more often than not Yang was her rebound.
The apartment's bedroom consisted of bunk beds, after all, and she felt someone needed to help Yang out with filling them.
But tonight, they didn't stay up together and chat or watch movies. The gravity of tomorrow's mission was weighing over them now, and after removing their day clothes for simpler sleepwear, they headed for bed.
Normally, Ruby took the top bunk and Yang the bottom, but tonight was one of those more uncommon occasions when the two of them dared to squeeze into one bunk together.
Ruby cuddled up on the bottom beside her sister, a feat that had proven much easier when they'd both been a bit smaller. But even now, they managed to make themselves comfortable, wrapping the other in a warm embrace.
Yang hummed Summer's lullaby for her that night, and Ruby slept better than she had in weeks.
In the morning, Yang woke first and kissed Ruby's forehead before slipping out of bed, bound for the kitchen to prepare breakfast.
It was still before sunrise, but she knew they'd need to get moving sooner rather than later, so that they may make it to Mountain Glenn and hopefully finish this mission before nightfall.
Ruby woke to the homely scent of bacon and eggs, and she pushed herself up before stumbling to the kitchen to find her sister.
They ate together in comfortable silence, save from the few little comments from Ruby about the cooking, be they compliments or complaints.
Once they were finished, they put their plates in the sink before setting out to finish their next task. They packed a small backpack full of food and water bottles, a bit of lunch for everyone before they'd be officially dispatched for this mission.
They then got dressed, and Yang fitted Ember Celica onto her forearms – she only ever really felt truly complete with them in place.
The same was true for all of them; Weiss needed Myrtenaster's length at her hip, Blake needed Gambol Shroud's weight on her back, and Ruby needed Crescent Rose's presence at her side.
Ruby dug out her scroll and called her boss, one of many men who organized hunts, as well as the man she received her paychecks from. She had called him last night as well in order to inform him that her team would take the Bone Weavers job. In return, he had sent out orders for an Air Ship to pick the four of them up this morning to take them to their destination.
In the meantime, Yang called Blake and then Weiss to ensure they were awake.
"Of course I'm awake!" Weiss snapped at her. "I'm not an amateur, you know. I know how to prepare myself for-"
"Okay great cool see ya soon bye!" Yang babbled before promptly hanging up on her.
Ruby laughed at the time, but winced when they met up with Weiss in person near the Air Ship docks as she watched her partner yank her sister's ear for having been so rude.
Blake arrived last, convening with the three of them at the docks just as the sun started to peek above the horizon, sending out golden rays into the sky.
"It'll be a sunny day," she observed.
"That's good," Ruby said. "Bone Weavers are pretty strictly nocturnal. They would've been more likely to be active on a cloudier day. Hopefully, we can get in an ambush to start off."
The others nodded.
It was then Weiss cleared her throat, seeking everyone's attention.
"I'll give this to everyone now," she announced. She had a small bag draped over one shoulder, and presently dug into it. First, she pulled out several chambers of Dust and handed them to Blake. "Just like old times," she reminisced. "But these will help you with your clones."
Blake smiled as she accepted the gift – a familiar one, at that.
"Thanks, Weiss."
The heiress nodded before turning to the sisters.
"And this time, I've got something for each of you as well."
She slipped her hand back into her bag before extracting several rounds of bullets. They were multi-colored, ranging from blue to brown to red to yellow, about ten of each.
"Sorry there aren't very many, but these are the newest product I've been working on behind my father's back." Weiss handed half of the bullets to Ruby and the other half to Yang. "These will work with your rifle and these will work with your gauntlets. There's ice, earth, fire, and lightning. I've customized them personally to fit to your weapons."
"Whoa..." Ruby marveled at the bullets before extracting Crescent Rose and putting them into place. "Thanks, Weiss!"
"These are so rad!" Yang agreed, pressing the bullets into her gauntlets.
Weiss shrugged.
"I'm sorry it took me this long to get bullets for the two of you. Blake's were somewhat easier to make, but it wasn't as simple to be storing leftover Dust behind my father's back, and then utilize the blacksmithing at my disposal to-"
"Aw, geez, don't sweat it, princess!" Yang reassured her with a slap on the back, one that left Weiss reeling and sputtering into Ruby's waiting and hyperactive embrace.
"Yeah! These are soooo awesome, Weiss! You're the best!"
The heiress had half a mind to demand being released immediately, but she saved her breath – not that she had much left anyway after that slap to the back. So she merely sighed, her eyes flicking up to find Blake's, and the two of them rolled their eyes as affectionately as the action could be done.
By the time Ruby had let go of the heiress and Weiss had regained her breath, their Air Ship had arrived. A much more serious atmosphere followed them from there-on out.
The Ship took them to Mountain Glenn, to the same abandoned city where Dr. Oobleck had brought them several years ago for their Beacon mission.
Ruby was certain to hand out the little sandwiches and water bottles she and Yang had packed, insisting all of them eat now.
"We can't bring food with us," she explained. "It'll only attract the Grimm to us more than we already would."
By the time they had all finished, the Ship had brought them to the familiar abandoned city, cracked and coated in black dust and moss. They left their bags and unessential items behind before making the jump one by one, free-falling for a moment until their boots landed on the rooftop of a dilapidated building.
Ruby opened her scroll and shared a few final words with her boss.
The four of them had until nightfall to deal with the Bone Weavers. All of them. Disrupting them in the daytime would only serve to enrage them, and make them ravenous by dark.
Ruby wasn't allowed to let a single beast live, or else the Grimm would start creeping toward Vale in the night by means of retaliation.
It was a bit of a daunting task, but not one Ruby feared she would fail. Not with her team at her sides.
She closed her scroll before nodding to the waiting three girls, their same old silent signal to move out.
Together they leapt off the rooftops until they met solid ground.
Judging by the maps Ruby had seen back at her headquarters, they would need to enter a nearby forest to truly begin their hunt.
They only ran for a few minutes, until they were out of the abandoned city that was teeming with other Grimm.
Studies and research in recent years had discovered exactly why the other types of Grimm dwelled within the old city walls. It was because they were intimidated by the Bone Weavers that lived out in the forests.
The giant spiders were feared even amongst their own diabolical species.
Once the four girls had left the city behind, Ruby raised a hand, signaling them all to halt as soon as the trees of the nearby forest were upon them. Her silver eyes looked to Blake, making a silent request.
The Faunus girl nodded and closed her eyes, putting her superior ears to use.
In recent years, she had trained herself enough to enhance her hearing, to truly focus and pinpoint exactly what she needed to find. Her ability was so keen now, she could hear the air passing through each of her teammates' lungs, even when they were all a few yards away from her.
She cast off those sounds and stretched her senses further.
Every rustle of every leaf reached her. Her hearing was so precise she would probably be able to determine how many leaves there were within a ten-mile radius of this forest if she was asked to. She listened to the wind slipping through the branches, making the leaves shake.
This part of the forest sounded just as it should, but she could detect that something was off in another section. It was stifled somehow, as though it was muted when she knew there was supposed to be sound.
It was so unnatural it was even irritating to her, and Blake's ears swiveled in that direction before going flat. She grimaced as she reopened her eyes to find curious faces looking back at her.
"North from here," she directed them. "The wind's not blowing in that part of the forest like it should be. It's definitely unnatural."
That was all she needed to say; the others understood.
They set out as per Blake's directions and Ruby's orders, hands hovering and at the ready to draw their weapons if necessary. They walked through the trees, keeping close together with Ruby at the head of the group and Blake just behind her. Weiss and Yang kept lookout to each respective side as well as behind them all.
The forest was lit with sunrise, and it was lush due to its rarely being touched by human or Faunus. Squirrels and birds darted over tree trunks and branches, chirping to one another as they flitted about.
It was almost strange; the threat of the Bone Weavers had chased off other Grimm, which left this part of the forest untainted by their presence.
None of the girls could really remember the last time they'd been able to walk through a forest and not have to worry about being ambushed.
Such was the case – at least for now.
They enjoyed such a privilege for awhile until the golden rays of the sunrise has faded into less bright shades, the yellow glow slowly dissipating from the surrounding forest. It had been about an hour since they'd started walking, keeping quiet aside from necessary comments or warnings.
It was then when Ruby paused them for a moment.
"Hey guys. I think we're getting close now, so be ready."
Blake nodded right away and Ruby looked back to her.
"Blake, do you hear anything?"
"No. But it's what I'm not hearing that's worrying me." Her ears twitched and swiveled, straining for any noise at all. "Before there were sounds, but now... No birds. No small prey animals chattering. And… even the leaves in the trees are silent now."
The rest of them took the moment to realize she was right. Everything was eerily silent here. It made the soft crunching of leaves beneath their boots sound almost too loud.
Ruby swallowed and nodded with understanding, trying to maintain her composure. Weiss' left hand braced over Myrtenaster's hilt, and Yang squeezed her fists, clearly ready for the action that was bound to come.
They walked for a while longer, all of them painfully aware of the sudden, disconcerting silence that rubbed them all the wrong way.
Of the four of them, it was Weiss who suddenly paused as something caught her eye. She grabbed the nearest person who happened to be Yang, just to get them all to halt. Weiss never tore her eyes from the foreign object as she muttered to the rest of them.
"Look..."
Cautiously, the heiress took a few steps forward, and the others followed suit. They stopped when they reached it, but didn't know how to react.
It appeared to be a white boulder at first glance, but when she looked harder, Weiss could tell it wasn't so solid. In fact, it looked like clumps of white hair tangled together and woven into a closely-packed bundle.
She glanced at Ruby.
"It's not moving. I'm going to test it. Everyone stand back."
Raising Myrtenaster, Weiss carefully slipped the tip of her rapier into the white object.
As she expected, it gave a bit, making an unsettling squelching sound as she cut through it, pulling the threads apart slowly as she dragged her blade in a straight line. She could tell by the resistance she felt that the substance was sticky and clumped, like seaweed, and an unpleasant smell emitted from inside as she slice through it.
When she finally pulled out her blade, she wished she hadn't.
The white threads of the bundle opened up and sunk to the ground, revealing a gruesome and deformed shape.
Judging by the size of it, it was – or used to be - an Ursa. But now it was shriveled, deflated, as though sucked dry from the inside, crumpled and withering with only the bone mask and some fur remaining, its huge jaws still agape in a terrified roar.
Weiss stepped back and swayed nauseously, only supported by Blake's quick hand on her back. Unable to swallow the bile that rose in her throat, the heiress promptly turned away as she tried to choke it back down.
The others recoiled as well, holding their noses as they retreated several steps.
"God..." Yang mumbled. "These things... they eat Ursai?"
"I..." Ruby shook her head. "I mean, from what we've learned, we knew they ate animals if they wanted to. But until now we... never knew they went after other Grimm, too..."
"This is sick," Blake growled. "It's unnatural. Even for Grimm." She continued to pat Weiss' back until the heiress had recovered from the pungent scent of the carcass filling her lungs. Weiss wiped her eyes and inhaled the fresher air.
"How vile... The sooner we get rid of these things, the better."
Ruby nodded, her eyes wandering upward. She drew in a sharp breath as she looked at the tree leaves once more, and realized that countless spider webs were binding them together in a quiet canopy overhead. The others followed her gaze and noticed as well.
"The whole forest is becoming their nest…" Yang realized suddenly.
Ruby nodded in agreement. She knew that idling too long could allow the spiders to start tracking them.
A grunt from Weiss had them all glancing back down to see silk threads trailing off into the woods. It was a given that if they wanted to find the nest, they'd need to follow them.
"If we walk on the threads or too close to them, it'll give us away," Ruby cautioned. "Let's be extra careful."
Leaving the dead Ursa behind, they followed the trails through the forest, twisting and winding through the trees and undergrowth.
They encountered a few more of the creatures' foul-smelling kills, indicating they were on the right track.
The silence was almost deafening despite the roaring in their ears as they continued to walk, until Blake came to a sudden stop. That caused the rest of them to freeze as well, tension palpable in the air. The Faunus girl let out a slow breath.
"I don't know for sure, but… I think it's nearby."
The others tensed, ready to fight.
A minute later, Ruby came to a sudden halt, so sharply that Blake bumped into her back and caused a chain reaction for the rest of them. Weiss hissed as she rubbed her nose where she'd hit it on Yang's shoulder.
"Ruby, what-"
But she cut off once she followed her leader's gaze.
Once again, the four of them looked upward, to the tangles of thick, white webs that congested the treetops in messy, sticky bundles.
But they weren't empty this time.
Dozens of corpses of various other Grimm and animals dangled within these webs. Some were visible past the silk bindings and still had chunks of flesh on them, while others had deteriorated and left behind nothing but silently screaming skeletons. Bones clinked and rattled together like ominous wind chimes. It was a hollow sound - utterly terrifying - truly the stuff of nightmares.
But fear would do them no good, and they all knew that far too well. They had no choice but to continue onward.
Their steps were quieter now, and they had to move much more cautiously to avoid the threads on the ground – one misstep, and they'd alert the spiders.
None of them spoke anymore, nor did they breathe any louder than was necessary. Though each girl shared similar uncertainties about the loudness of their heartbeats, wondering if they were audible.
The webs blocked out the sunlight now, darkening the forest to gray, the shadows of hovering victims shrouding the girls' vision even more.
Again, they were forced to rely on Blake to lead the way, following precisely in her footsteps as to not disrupt the threads.
And then, they saw them.
Dozens of them.
Giant, circular black bodies curled up within the treetops, marked with red lines all along their backs, their heads covered by white bone masks. Eight piercing, slender legs wrapped around each body, stilled in temporary slumber.
Ruby could surmise there were about as many as they'd been told to expect – about one hundred. The spiders had crawled up from within the earth and now were starting to claim the surface world as their own.
The huntsmen had only gotten reports of the spiders revealing themselves about three days ago, and already they had claimed half this forest and its inhabitants.
And it wouldn't be much longer now before they started heading toward Vale.
It was up the Ruby and her team to stop this before it got any worse.
With a raised hand, the brunette encouraged the rest of them forward. They kept behind the nearest tree, hidden from view of the Grimm for now. The leader kept her voice low and hushed as she met all of their gazes.
"Alright. The element of surprise is on our side," she mumbled. "So we've got to use that to our advantage as much as possible. We need to take out as many as we can on the first attack..."
She began giving orders or taking suggestions of ideas from each of them. When they'd finally devised a plan, they straightened up.
"Let's do this," Ruby said.
They all nodded.
But before they could break apart, Yang pulled them all into a tight group hug, just like old times. She kissed all of their foreheads, and they all were still for a brief instance, savoring one another's warmth.
At last, they split up and took off to complete their respective tasks.
They were depending mainly on Weiss for their initial attack.
The heiress treaded carefully along the forest floor as she sprinkled down bottle after bottle of Dust. She surrounded every tree root with it, keeping it all stable and under control for the moment.
The others kept watch to ensure none of the beasts woke, and once Weiss was finished with her task, she gave a signal.
Once she was certain her companions were all a good distance away from any of the Dust, she called upon her semblance and formed several dozen small shards of ice out of the moisture in the air. With a wave of her hand and expert precision, she sent the tiny crystals flying in all directions, all silently landing on the circles of Dust.
There was a heartbeat of absolute silence.
And then, all was chaos.
The ice shards ignited the Dust particles and caused explosive reactions.
Some of the trees were instantly searing with flames, others shot through by bolts of lightning, and other still frozen over in ice. The bark burned and sizzled all the way to the tops, rousing the Weavers within seconds. Their stark-white bone masks lit up with eight red eyes each as they started to drop down from their webs.
Many of them fell victim to Weiss' Dust instantly, either legs catching flame or entire bodies being frozen over before the sheer weight of their bulk brought them plummeting to the ground to shatter.
The beasts let out a collective screech of sorts, induced by rage as they dropped down from their threads and scuttled at insane speeds toward the group of waiting huntresses.
Weiss' tactics had taken out about twenty of the creatures from the initial attack alone.
But that still left about eighty giant spiders rushing toward them now.
The girls drew their weapons and leapt into the fray.
Fighting so many Bone Weavers like this wasn't as simple as fighting the more common Beowolves and Ursai. They were used to those kind of monsters.
But this was the first time any of them had even engaged the spiders, especially in such mass numbers.
They all quickly discovered that the webs - if not the Grimm themselves - were flame-retardant. The only element that could void them was ice that would coat the sticky threads over and render them useless and too heavy for the spiders to shoot or recoil.
Which was why Weiss put all of her energy into making the webs unusable, casting ice left and right to intercept the spiders' threads in midair before they could make contact with her teammates.
The rest of them set to work on attacking the Grimm directly, knowing they could leave Weiss to cover their backs.
Ruby had updated Crescent Rose many times over the years, extending the scythe's reach by a few feet as well as having made it lighter. She hooked the nearest spider in the curve of her weapon, but the exoskeleton was surprisingly tough. Two long legs reached out toward her, and with a shriek, she poured her strength into cleaving the beast in half.
Still, it had taken a bit more effort than she'd thought it should have.
Jumping back, she shot one of Weiss' fire bullets into the next spider's face, whipping around to slice at another's body.
Blake attacked the same one from the back, sawing off its back legs with her katana as Ruby sliced the front ones. The body crumpled limply to the ground and began to deteriorate.
"That's it!" Ruby called out. "Go for the legs!"
It was a bit easier said than done, as the beasts were fast-moving and difficult to aim at. Their fangs dripped with venom, and if they weren't spewing that, they were shooting webs or stabbing at the girls with their legs.
Yang didn't have the blades that Ruby or Blake did, so she stuck close to Weiss and shared her job, aiming ice bullets at the webs the monsters shot out. But when a spider got too close for comfort, Yang let out a loud curse.
"Ew, get the fuck away from me!"
With a lunge, the blonde darted between the slashing legs and grabbed two in each hand. With her brute strength, she snapped its legs and dropped the spider to the ground before pummeling it into a fiery oblivion.
The others couldn't really blame her. Being caught in the webs meant being immobilized long enough for one of the monsters to sink their fangs in and pump in a gallon of lethal poison.
They all covered one another's backs and blindsides, ensuring none of their friends were at risk or in that kind of peril at any given time.
Yang fired her ice bullets at the webs that were shot at them in order to freeze the silk and weigh it down. The fire bullets were aimed directly into the creatures' mouths to ignite and explode them from the inside.
Blake utilized the Dust Weiss had given her and left behind dozens of clones. The ones made of ice froze the Weavers' legs in them, allowing Blake to kill the immobilized spiders. The clones of fire ripped flames over the beasts' bodies until they were nothing but charred flesh. And the clones of rock were tough enough to break off the deadly fangs when they attempted to bite in.
Weiss utilized her glyphs to leap up into the treetops and prevent aerial attacks, either cutting the monsters down as they tried to drop in ambush, or shielding her teammates with a barrier of repulsion glyphs.
Ruby followed through on her own orders and stuck to aiming for the beasts' legs, slicing off the appendages before they could have the time to stab at the huntresses.
The spiders screeched in rage and in agony as their lives were cut short.
The beginning of the fight had been in the huntresses' favor due to their ambush.
But as things progressed, it was getting more difficult for the girls to move.
Dissolving corpses of the spiders littered the ground, making the execution of smooth, clean motions next to impossible. Jumping wasn't easy either, as more threads had been shot down from the remaining trees.
Blake stumbled on the ground at the same time Weiss got her arm snagged in midair.
The sisters rushed to their respective partners as quickly as possible.
Yang ducked down to scoop Blake into her arms, just beyond the fangs of a Weaver, tumbling with her to a safe patch of grass where they could take a second to regain their breath and balance.
Ruby leapt high into the air to aid Weiss, but was intercepted by another spider and was consequently forced to deal with it.
Weiss could only wait for assistance. It was agonizing being suspended and useless in midair like that, waiting for certain death. She knew it was best not to struggle, less she become even more ensnared.
Instead, she called off the glyph she'd been hovering on and let herself drop to the forest floor below. Her fall stretched the web attached to her, making it thinner and weaker. When at last Ruby had finished the spider, she swung Crescent Rose and freed the heiress with minimal effort.
"Thanks," Weiss gasped.
Ruby nodded swiftly and gave her a charismatic smile before diving back into the battle.
It was an exhausting fight to say the very least.
But after what seemed to be eons of vicious slaughter, the four huntresses emerged victorious.
They stood amongst the mass of corpses, twisted bodies and snapped legs, shredded webs and sprinkled Dust all around them.
Weiss took the liberty upon herself to freeze over whatever fires remained as the group reconvened. Yang meandered over to Ruby and Weiss with Blake at her side, kicking the Weavers' bodies out of her path as she walked.
"God..." she growled. "These things are fucking nasty!"
"Is everyone alright?" Blake wondered, casting a curious gaze around to all of them. Her own arm was bleeding a bit, as was Weiss' hip, and Ruby had a few minor scratches here and there.
"Nothin' too bad!" the brunette reported. "Nobody got bitten, so that's a relief. Our auras can fix these injuries up in a jiffy!"
"Hey, I actually didn't get hurt too bad this time!" Yang said proudly, puffing out her chest. "Heh, guess I'm- whoa!"
Clearly she'd spoken too soon.
Her next step was onto a spider's thread, and she slipped, falling backward and hitting her head against a chunk of frozen webs. She howled colorful curses of pain as Ruby held back a chuckle. Weiss slapped a palm to her face with a sigh. Blake chuckled too, then knelt down quickly to start untangling her partner.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah..." the blonde huffed. "Goddamn fuckin' spiders. Give me the heebie jeebies. Let's just get out of here..."
Easier said than done.
Before Yang could even find the strength to stand, the dead threads Blake had torn off her partner's ankle were suddenly replaced by fresh ones. They clung to Yang's leg like glue, and in just seconds, they'd stretched out to snare Blake as well. Yang sat up quickly and tried to tug herself free.
"What the-"
Yang screamed as she was suddenly and rapidly dragged off through the forest by the live threads, being tugged by some unseen force.
In a shocked panic, Blake tossed Gambol Shroud into the area beyond where Yang had been taken, and tried to pull when she got it stuck in something. But her feet dragged as her weight followed after Yang, and she gave a startled cry as she too was dragged out of sight, vanished with no trace other than a short cry.
It had only been a few seconds.
Before Ruby or Weiss could even hope to draw their weapons again, they'd suddenly found themselves alone in the clearing.
Weiss swayed a step back, bumping into Ruby as her wide eyes stared hollowly into the shadowed space where their companions had just disappeared.
"Wh-What-" she stammered. "Ruby, what was that?"
The brunette swallowed thickly.
"Dead threads are from dead Weavers, s-so live threads..."
She didn't need to finish her sentence. Weiss seemed to understand.
They'd succeeded in killing the hoard, but now they needed to face the angry queen.
Weiss swallowed and gave a shudder, but Ruby stepped up beside her, putting a steadying hand to her back. The older girl cast her a weary look.
"We shouldn't waste time. Let's follow after them."
"Right. But I think going on foot might take more time than Yang and Blake can afford so..."
Ruby stepped up to the live web and held Weiss' gaze compellingly. The white-haired girl heaved a sigh but stepped forward with her. Ruby wrapped an arm around her shoulders tightly, and Weiss clung to her partner's hip.
Together, they pressed their boots down onto the web.
Instantly, the thick, sticky substance coiled around their ankles and pulled with more than enough force to take down a Goliath Grimm. The two girls fell roughly onto their backs, crashing down in unison and losing their breath as the web dragged them through the forest, swerving around trees and through brambles, battering them. Ruby closed her eyes and shielded Weiss as best she could with her cloak.
The torturous ride lasted an entire minute before they finally came to a stop.
For a moment, Ruby didn't dare to move.
She could sense now that wherever they were had no sunlight surrounding them, and it was deathly quiet. She squeezed Weiss tightly, silently telling her not to move either. There was a pulse hammering in her chest and she couldn't discern if it was Weiss' or her own – probably both.
After a moment of clipped breathing from the two of them, Ruby slowly relinquished her hold on Weiss and opened her eyes, removing her cloak from over the two of them and pushing herself off of her partner.
Weiss didn't make a sound as she sat up, eyes flicking around in the darkness, hand groping for the hilt of her rapier.
They appeared to be in a giant cave of sorts, and there was only limited lighting, only enough to see a few inches in front of oneself.
Sounds of sudden movement had them both freezing, hands bracing over weapons. But it wasn't the sound of a beast that reached their ears.
"Ruby? Weiss?"
"Blake?" Ruby gasped softly, crawling forward to meet the Faunus girl. "Oh, thank god. Where's Yang?"
"Here!" her sister's voice called from just a few feet away.
"You guys alright?"
"Bit of a headache," Yang grunted. "But for the most part, yeah."
Blake's ears flicked in the shadows.
"I can't hear anything. Nothing's moving but... something's definitely here."
"This is its cave," Ruby muttered. "It's probably covered in webs. Weavers are nocturnal, so its better for it that it's dark in here. We need to make some light."
"On it." With a swift nod, her sister bumped her knuckles together. But before she could actually start a fire, Weiss slid next to her and grabbed her hands.
"No, you oaf!" she snapped. "Do you want to burn us all alive? We need to use Dust to contain the flames."
"Oh, right."
The two worked together for a moment in sprinkling Dust in a wide circle before Yang brushed the sparks onto it. Immediately, the cold, damp cave was lit up with an orange glow, allowing them to look several yards ahead rather than just a few inches.
Ruby could tell that the cave wasn't as big as she'd initially thought, probably only about the size of one of the lecture halls back at Beacon. She could see the rock walls, coated in webs and several carcasses, bones littering the ground. There was a tunnel of sorts which she presumed to be the way out - and also how they'd all been dragged in here.
But no spider.
"Where is it...?" she growled.
The rest of them looked around as well, but couldn't locate the beast.
"It has to be here," Weiss breathed. "I mean, it dragged us back from this spot so..."
A sharp gasp from Blake had them all stiffening and turning to her. The Faunus girl's ears perked tall, and seconds later she was pouncing on Yang and Weiss to bowl them over.
"Above!" she cried, pushing the others out of the way.
A deafening screech filled the air at that exact second as a flurry of motion ripped through the cave. Ruby's speed was all that saved her from being crushed to death by the massive body that dropped down from the ceiling.
The drone Weavers had only been about the sizes of horses, but this one...
This one must have been as large as two Goliath mammoths combined.
And that was just the body.
The long, thin legs stretched out at least ten feet each, elevating the grotesque monster high above the huntresses.
Its body was pitch black, save from the bone mask and the burning red markings. Eight beady eyes lined the sides of its head, and two fangs the sizes of small swords revealed themselves.
The giant spider screeched again and lifted a leg, intent to pierce through the nearest target – Blake.
With a burst of speed, Ruby managed to tackle her out of harm's way – at least for the moment. The spot where she'd been just seconds before was impaled by a spear-like leg that cracked the earth below.
"Holy shit!" Yang screeched, scrambling to her feet and hauling Weiss up beside her. "That thing's fuckin' huge!"
"Brilliant deduction!" Weiss snapped, drawing her rapier.
Yang readied her gauntlets and took aim at the beast, firing a round of flames directly into its face.
But unlike the other Weavers, this one wasn't fazed by it.
With another screech, it charged the four of them with breakneck speed.
Ruby kept an arm around Blake as she darted out of the way, and Weiss used a glyph to save Yang and herself.
As the spider ran past them, they all took swings at its legs. Blake leapt onto its back and stabbed with her katana, and Ruby sliced at its hindquarters with her scythe. But she could instantly tell something was off.
With a grunt of frustration, Blake leapt off its back as it scuttled up along the walls.
"I can't cut it!" she reported.
"Me neither!" Ruby shared a puzzled look with the Faunus girl.
"And it won't burn," Yang growled.
"Then let me try freezing it," Weiss offered. "But I need it to be on solid ground for that."
"Shouldn't be long for that," Ruby warned.
She looked up, using the light of the fire they'd made to see by. She could make out the massive spider running along the canopy of webs overhead before it went still, likely preparing a strike. She nodded to its location so the others could be ready.
There was a moment of silence, the only sounds being the crackling of the flames and their own labored breathing.
And then the Weaver screeched again dropping down to the ground before charging at them full speed.
Weiss immediately cast her ice in front of it, but the sheer brute force of the creature's moving body weight shattered it. Weiss cursed and used glyphs to send each of her teammates out in different directions so they may attack the spider from all angles.
But another wave of thread shot out from the fanged mouth, and Yang was caught in the tangle.
Before the spider could rush over to sink its fangs in, Ruby shot a flame bullet at one of its eyes to gain its attention. Weiss steered it away from the helpless blonde as Blake set to work on cutting her free.
"You okay?"
"UGH!" Yang spat spitefully. "I'm gonna destroy that fuckin' thing! My hair's ruined!" Her semblance flared and a yellow glow appeared around her. Blake wanted to tell her that the webs in her hair had already been melted, but she kept her mouth shut to better fuel Yang's fury.
Helping her partner up, she then dashed back into the battle to assist the others.
Ruby was swinging Crescent Rose at the spider's legs as Weiss used her Air Step to soar above it, stabbing at its eyes.
But before Ruby could even make contact with its legs, the spider turned on her and swatted her away, sending her across the cave with a hit that left her breathless. Weiss abandoned what she was doing to race after her, putting herself behind her partner to catch her.
The impact sent them both crashing against the wall, though Weiss sustained the brunt of the rocks against her back. Ruby slumped to the ground and shook her head, but now Weiss was the one who was short on breath. Ruby cut her free of the webs and supported her as she gasped for air.
But the incident just now had proven the theory she'd had.
"The legs!" Ruby shouted. "That's the only way we can beat it!"
The others heard her clearly and focused their attacks on the eight massive spears.
Yang slid beneath the creature's belly and punched it from underneath, sending flames up to where its legs connected to its body. The spider roared and stabbed at her, but Blake's sword sliced the air to keep it at bay. She managed to cut through one of the legs, leaving only half of it left.
That only enraged the beast more, however, and it pounced on the two girls, driving its legs into the earth repeatedly in an effort to impale them. Blake screamed as her arm was slashed.
In a rage, Yang braced her back against the ground and kicked upward with both feet. The force of her motion met the tip of the spider's nearest raised leg, and instead of piercing through her feet, the empowered kick sent a ripple through the spider, effectively crumpling that leg, leaving it to stand on only six.
Yang scooped Blake up as the spider screeched again, dragging her a few feet away to inspect her wound and pour some of her own aura onto it.
By then, Weiss had regained her breath enough to move, and together with Ruby they shot forward.
The Weaver swung at them again, spewing more webs as it did so. Ruby got caught in the threads and was pinned to the ground, but Weiss cast a repulsion glyph above her partner to keep Ruby safe from any more danger for the moment.
The heiress leapt up above the beast and formed a large chunk of ice in midair, shaping it like a spear before bringing it down. It missed piercing the spider's back, but managed to cleave off two of its legs, leaving it with only three on its left side and two on its right that could be used.
From there, the fight was in their favor.
Yang pulled Ruby free and the sisters charged forward together to finish the beast off.
Yang grabbed one of its legs and gave a mighty tug, snapping it in half before tearing it off completely. Ruby cut off its good legs right where they connected to its body, cleaving her scythe in a curved motion to lop them off.
Weiss retreated back to Blake and helped finish healing her wound just as the Bone Weaver collapsed to the ground, unable to move.
The sisters jumped back, as the body was still twitching and writhing, but it would die soon enough on its own.
Ruby skidded to a halt beside the others, her eyes flashing over all of them.
"Everyone okay?"
"We'll manage," Weiss reported. Her back was sore and throbbing, and Blake's arm was still stinging a bit, but the bleeding had stopped.
By some miracle, they'd all managed to avoid being bitten, and that was the greatest accomplishment. Yang only sported a headache after she'd hit her head on the ice previously.
Once Weiss had finished healing Blake, she went to the brawler and rubbed her head gently.
"Shit..." Yang hissed.
"Oh, hush, you big baby." Weiss emitted a cool flow of aura onto her, and Yang sighed as the pain was temporarily stifled.
As Weiss healed her sister, Ruby put a hand to her partner's back, between Weiss' shoulder blades where she'd been thrust against the wall earlier, and shared her aura as well.
They spent the moment to heal one another and themselves before letting out a collective sigh.
"Well," Ruby grinned. "We did it. And we all made it out in one piece!"
"Good," Weiss huffed. "Now let's get back home. I feel disgusting."
Blake flashed a glance back to the spider's body.
"Shouldn't we make sure it's dead first?"
"I'm sure it is," Yang reassured. "If it's not, it can't exactly move to catch food anymore, so it'll die soon enough."
"Still..." Ruby mumbled. "It'd be mean to make it suffer, even if it's a Grimm. I'll finish it off."
The others were almost surprised by what they were hearing, but reminded themselves this was Ruby Rose, after all. She could never intentionally be mean to anything even if she tried to be.
Still, the three of them kept watch cautiously as the younger girl approached the dying monster. Its remaining eyes rolled over to look at Ruby as she raised her scythe.
Without a word, she brought her weapon down and slashed the Weaver across the face, right down the middle.
The body stopped writhing and began to disintegrate, and the cave grew silent.
With a sigh, Ruby turned her back and headed to her teammates once more.
But a new sound caused her to freeze in her tracks.
It was a voice, but certainly not a human one, deep and gurgling and echoing.
"Red Huntress..." it uttered. "You have slain me and my clan."
Ruby whipped around to face the spider's skeleton. Weiss, Blake, and Yang rushed up to shield her, fearing something would try and harm Ruby by means of revenge.
But nothing of the sort happened.
The voice continued:
"For accomplishing such an outlandish feat... I am willing to grant you one wish."
Blue, golden, and lavender eyes went wide as they all slowly turned back to find silver.
Ruby swallowed, her lips parting as a thin voice escaped her lips.
"One... wish...?"
A/N: Mhmm, well there you have it. Do with that what you will. Next chapter is the last!
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