Yang stood under a tree waiting for the growls to go away. Her Ember Cecelias were fully loaded with a mix of slugs and buckshot all sprinkled with various kinds of dust, and the super human strength of her semblance ready to activate at the drop of single golden hair. She dared anyone or anything to step in front of her while she was on edge.
It had been days if not over a week since she had gotten any real rest. She would fall asleep and snap awake moments later after sensing something off. The creatures of grimm had never known fear until they had encountered her.
That fear was etched in their crimson eyes, as she blew them away, slugs and buckshot mixed with fire and lightning dust shooting forth with every punch, obliterating Grimm left and right... but she was exhausted now, and found herself just wishing for a good hotel, with vibrating beds.
She sighed, gods I could really go for magic fingers right about now... and in so many other ways than just one.
She was torn out of her musings abruptly when she heard a low growl, and she knew that her luck had yet again run out.
She sighed, then punched the air in front of her, flowing with the recoil of her shot so that she spun on her heel far faster than she normally would have been able to, and drove her fist into A large ursi's stomach. The creature doubled over, clutching at its gut, as a lightning infused slug tore its way through the creature's body, and her other fist was ready and waiting as its face lurched downwards.
The sound of her gauntlet firing into the creature's skull and filling it full of dust and buckshot echoed throughout the forest. It fell to the ground, dark blood oozing from the hole she had punched through its skull. She admired her handiwork for a moment before collapsing onto the ground in exhaustion, not giving any thought to the putrid grimm essence she was now knee deep in.
"That'll... that'll teach you t- to mess with the Yang."she grunted breathily, trying desperately to get more oxygen into her lungs, "Guess I was a bit more Yang than your buck was willing to bargain for am I right? heh..."
The trees themselves seemed to groan in response, as the driving wind howled through them.
"ahh yeesh... every- everyone's a bloody critic, these days"she muttered, "dead friggin serious."And with that she collapsed onto her back with a loud groan. Every muscle and nerve-ending in her body seemed to be ringing up her brain to complain about all the work she had put them through.
Absently she flipped through the day's events in her head, even as the dark tendrils of unconsciousness creeped along the sides of her vision.
The Grimm had found a way into all of Beacon, courtesy of Roman Torchwick and the White Fang. The military had done their utmost to render aid, but the flying fiends were persistent and limited the effectiveness of their much needed air support significantly. In the end it was up to the hunters and huntresses to keep the bulk of the Grimm horde at bay long enough for the civilians to escape into the shuttles and dropships the Atlesian troops had provided.
RWBY and JNPR being highly familiar with one another's styles and tactics had, more often than not been thrown in together, and at times mixing and splitting the teams to better handle the various situations that arose.
From Blake, Ren & Nora dealing with nest of King Taijitu, to Weiss, Pyrrha, and Yang taking on a swarm of Deathstalkers.
However, somewhere along the line, they'd all gotten separated in the chaos.
Yang had long since lost track of where her sister and the others had gotten off to, being forced to retreat directly into the source of the Grimm Horde, when a bigass tiger grimm creature had shown up and cut her off from everyone else.
The thing had been fast and agile as hell, and in the end her only choice had been to retreat into the forest.
Yang fought her body's urge to drift off. She needed to find her friends, needed to find Ruby before- before... Yang rubbed tiredly at her aching head, trying to get the thoughts through, but it was of little use. She'd burned through too much aura energy, and had little in the way of calories to consume to replenish that lost power her, the only other solution was sleep.
She crawled her way into the hollow of tree trunk, that termites had gutted. If i could just... close my eyes, just for a second momma... I swear. Yang had just enough awareness left to pull up thorny bramble to cover up her passage at least a little before succumbing to unconsciousness.
Ruby Rose... was not altogether herself any longer. And on some level she knew this, she knew that something wasn't right inside her... but strangely enough she was having a hard time caring.
She was having a hard time caring about... anything at all really, as evidenced by how she dragged Crescent Rose by the butt of its grip along the forest floor, not minding the dirt and detritus the blade bumped over, or the grit getting into its gears.
Indeed, there was little going on in her mind whatsoever…little besides the blank look that had been plastered upon Penny's face, her mother's poem repeating itself, a Beowolf with strange blue bits mixed in its dark fur, bits that weren't exactly stripes but…not spots either.
So not all that different from before really, with the exception that, there hadn't been a Beowolf before, only that blasted Gryphon, and to add to that once Penny had been down all the grimm had pretty much flowed around her as if she were just so much discarded garbage…whereas this Grimm who hadn't actually been there, decided that her mechanical heart, and what was left of her head would make good meals.
Unto the breach
Unto the light
Unto the gates of hell I come.
Unto the breach
Unto the light
Unto the gates of hell I come…unto the breach, unto the breach…the breach.
It just kept repeating in her head until she was murmuring it aloud herself, and the vision of that creature that…that fiend, yes…yes that was…the devil waiting to greet her wasn't it?
Yes…unto the breach I come…and there he is waiting for me…with Penny. Fury bubbled up within her, and she began to shake. But she doesn't deserve this…no no, Penny was good, she was good damn it so why-
Hot and heavy like the summer dawn
Unto the gates of hell I come
The rage reached its boiling point, and with a howling cry, she spun on her heel, taking up her scythe in both hands and swinging it with all her might down and across at a nearby tree.
The tree was big, and gnarly, but the force she exerted was merciless, and the trunk shattered beneath her strike.
The tree fell, and the earth quaked just a bit under its great weight.
Red sap gushed forth from both ends of the tree like blood, and Ruby Rose grinned at the sight.
"That's…better,"she panted, "much better."She drew the blade of Crescent Rose close, and eyed the dirt, sap, splinters and more that decorated her beloved blade for only a moment, before she began licking it clean: sap, offal and all.
This blade will be happy, drenched in thine enemy's blood.
There was the cracking of a twig under foot. Ruby spun around, scythe at the ready.
She wasn't prepared for what she saw…not nearly.
It was the Beowolf from before, a jagged silver scar at its neck, from where her cross had dug into its flesh. That in itself was not surprising, Grimm often had memories for those that wounded them.
No, what was surprising was just how much the creature had changed since then. Its eyes were shot through with blue veins, its face looked like someone had smashed in it with a warhammer, and its fur was…blue, or at least parts of it were blue. There were stripes across the hump in its back, not unlike those of a tiger, and its teeth they were…wrong somehow…changed…dull it seemed, though still plenty sharp enough to rend flesh apart.
It looked like the grimm in her dream…the dream that she had…had while awake?... had she been awake, was she awake now even? Ruby couldn't honestly say.
A low guttural growl issues forth from the beast's throat, and Ruby twirled her scythe casually, putting all thoughts of the impossible fiend, and her dream behind her while entering into a ready position, prepared for whatever move the creature might make.
What she was not prepared for, were the words that issued forth from those dark lips.
"Unntooo the breaaachhh,"It growled. The beast took a step forward, but Ruby was too stunned to really take notice, "Unnnntoo the Liiightttchh."
The Beowolf crept closer still, until it was within arm's length of her, yet still she did not react, too petrified to act. "Unto…the Gaates, of Hell I come."Those last words came through almost effortlessly for the great beast, almost human in its enunciation.
Yang jolted upright, torn from her slumber by the sound of thunder clapping. She tried to focus but all her eyes could see was blurred. The blonde swayed side to side in exhaustion, even though she had rest Yang still felt too tired to move. Her eyes closed for a long second and opened once again, sight was still blurry but at least it was a little better.
The sound continued and she frowned. No... not thunder... they were gun shots.
Hope rose in her chest, and she scrambled out of her makeshift shelter, batting away the brambles she'd used to cover the entrance, and made her way towards the sounds.
Gunshots meant people after all, and right now she'd take Roman Torchwick, if only it meant having someone to watch her back, hell she could even kiss the handsome devil, given how capable he was in combat.
She primed her gauntlets as she ran, wishing she had her sister's speed, or even Weiss'glyphy things.
Or hell, I wouldn't mind being a faunus like kitten-mittens. She thought, her current nickname to tease Blake with. Bet I'd be a badass bear, he i wouldn't even need anyone else if I was! She grinned at the idea. I'd be my own personal wrecking ball, yeah! Bear faunus Yang for the win! But then she frowned, But then I'd probably have an even harder time finding a dude badass enough to keep up with me, i mean hell even now the closest I've found is that Daichi dude, who just barely makes the cut, and he's taken!
Yang cursed as her foot sank down into a small sinkhole in the path, and hurriedly yanked her boot free with a small snarl.
The sound of the gunshots was getting closer, and she felt like she could almost recognize the weapon firing from just the sound it was making.
Heavy caliber weapon. Her mind carefully registered, probably armor piercing rounds given that special tinging noise i keep hearing from the reinforced bullets leaving their cartridges…hmm I wonder if Blake could introduce me to any bear dudes?
Yang could see light from a clearing, through a dense cover of trees and bushes. She just smiled and kept running. Time to put those explosives rounds Dad got me to good use!
Yang exploded through the trees and out into the clearing, relieved to find lots of bright sunlight illuminating the area, and even more relieved to see her sister standing there, rifle in her arms, looking somewhat the worse for wear.
Ruby held still, panting in exhaustion. Her eyes not budging from the rifle she had fixated on. She never noticed her big sister running to her.
Yang shouted "Sis!" But Ruby didn't respond, so she tried again "SIS!"
The girl remained silent as she turned to see the blonde running towards her. Her eyes turning painfully away from Crescent Rose. The look on her face was…not right, not right at all, though shouldn't rightly say why, it just made her feel very uneasy.
Yang stopped a few feet from her little sister. Staring at her, Ruby kept mumbling and turning behind. The silver eyes watching for something, but what?
"Ruby are you okay?"Yang asked carefully stepping forward.
"...breach"Ruby mumbled. Turning back to face her sister. "Unto the breach."
Yang could hear it clearly and her eyes shot wide open. "Breach?"Her head cocked slightly as she drew closer "What are you talking about?"
"Did you see it?"Ruby asked as her hands shook. "The Beowolf that looks nothing like one?" Crescent Rose began to shake. It's metal mechanisms and gears rattled. "The monster that spoke to me."
Yang had stopped advancing. "Sis are you okay?" She didn't need an answer, fully knowing that something had happened to her little sister. The question now was, what? "What's wrong Ruby? Talk to me."
Ruby turned away leveled her scythe and fired. The round crashing into a tree in the distance. It's trunk exploding upon impact causing it to fall. She chambered another round and fired again. This time it hit the ground just below the falling tree.
"Where are you?!" She yelled at seemingly nothing. Her aura beginning to visibly shimmer and flow around her body. "WHERE ARE YOU?!" Her anger was taking over
"Ruby calm down."Yang placed a hand on her shoulder "There's nothing there."
Enraged Ruby turned to her older sister and her eyes started to glow. "You don't see it?" She snarled "I'm trying to kill it and why are you not helping?"The silver eyes were now near white as the sides seemed to jot out the side of their sockets.
Yang stepped back slightly. Feeling rage, worry and love coursing through her all at once. "I...I…don't see.."
She couldn't find the right words. In fact there were no words that could describe anything right now. Ruby had never snapped at her and this was beginning to worry her. If she had snapped at her older sister then something must be wrong.
"Where is Ruby?" Yang asked as she turned her attention to the ground and began to clench her fists. She was now closer to activating her semblance than before. "Where is my sister?" Her lavender eyes slowly turning red.
Ruby began to spin her scythe, while still staring at Yang. "You are weak." Her voice was cold and vicious. "I have no sister."
"Ruby would never say that to me."Yang growled slowly looking up to what should be her little sister but was acting nothing like it. "Who are you!" The blonde demanded her hair beginning to glow as angry flames slowly began enveloping the gold tendrils.
The younger sister felt something snap in her head. Hearing the poem echo, seeing whatever creature was speak to her, and Penny's lifeless body being devoured by a Gryphon. All of it rushing through her head at once. She slumped to the ground releasing Crescent Rose and began to scream in agonizing pain her hands clawing at the red short hair.
"HELP ME!" She cried to Yang. "Yang please help." Her voice returned to normal "Sis help me." Pleading with her older sister before she closed her eyes. Before going unconscious. The girl's body going limp next to her Crescent Rose.
"Ruby!" Yang rushed to her sister's side, rage forgotten, as she cradled her sister's petite frame in her arms. She didn't see the flash of the cross, but she certainly felt it even if only for a brief second, as the cold metal slammed into the side of her skull, and her world was consumed by darkness.
"Into the fray I carry on," Ruby murmured, setting her sister's unconscious body to the side. She stared down at the fresh glistening blood adorning the cross that had once belonged to her mother.
"this blade will be happy, drenched in thine enemy's blood." She recited quietly, before wrapping her lips around metal and taking her sister's essence into herself.
New strength flooded her limbs, and she glowered about her at the forest, seeing none of the light her sibling had, only the wickedly grinning shadows, and perhaps just the faintest flash of blue fur.
Hot and heavy like the summer dawn. The dark voice called mockingly and she gritted her teeth, grasping Crescent Rose firmly in both hands as she strode forth.
"Unto the gates of hell I come." She snarled, and leapt into the embrace of the patiently awaiting shadows.
One way or another, she would have what was left of her friend back, she swore it, even as the darkness closed over her, leaving her sister alone in the clearing with only the chirping of the crickets to keep her company.
