The alarm went off the next morning signalling that it was time to get back on the road. The festival carried on all night, and into the day. The atmosphere of the city was still in party-mode.
"I can't believe they partied throughout the night," Zero remarked.
"Don't be, the festival ends tonight at 12. They still have lots of partying left," Weiss told him.
"Are you serious? That's... astonishing."
"When Elliot Baskerville settled here, there was nothing. No buildings, no one living here, just him. He invested all he had into creating this city, and it prospered. The people are grateful to him for creating a place where their ancestors could settle. And in all of Remnant, this place is equivalent to Pangea's Las Vegas."
"W-wow. This whole city is his legacy."
"Pretty much. Now, let's hurry on to the north entrance."
The three travelled throughout the day, complaining about the exercise and trying not to argue with one another. When night fell, they decided to call it a day and made camp.
"This is actually the first time I'm technically camping," Zero said.
"Do you think I go camping? There's no way I'm setting this tent up. I'll go make a fire," Weiss replied, "Plus it's a pop-up tent. It's small but you don't need to assemble it."
"Oh yeah. That makes life easier."
Weiss used her dust to make a fire and boiled water from a nearby river to purify it first.
"I can't believe even here, I'll be eating instant noodles," Zero sighed as he poured the noodles into the purified water, followed by the powder.
"I have never eaten instant noodles. Plus, you got this water from the river. How barbaric!"
"No complaining, it'll disgrace the people that prepared this instant noodles to be consumed."
"Yeah, yeah."
"This is so good," Zero exclaimed, gorging through it.
"It's... adequate. But I will probably never eat it once this training exercise is over."
Zero also gave Weiss her first taste of a s'more.
"This...! This is the fabled s'mores that Ruby blabbered about! You laymen are a weird bunch, but you come up with interesting combinations!"
"Girls really like their sweets, huh?" Zero commented.
"I can't talk for other girls, but I can appreciate my sweets."
After they finished their meal, Senketsu went to wash the pot that was used in the river. Zero and Weiss were sitting around the fire, staring blankly at it.
"I guess this is where we talk about our life stories and become besties, right?" Zero jokingly said.
"To be fair, after being forced to spend time with you, I guess I can tolerate you now."
"I... I wasn't expecting that. Is the Ice Queen melting?" he teased.
"Okay, nevermind. I hate you from the bottom of my existence."
"Ouch."
"I'm going to sleep," she declared, crawling into the tent.
"I'll stay out here just for a bit longer."
"We have another early start tomorrow, don't stay up too late."
"Yes, mother."
Weiss shot him one last glare as she disappeared into the tent.
Senketsu came back with the pot, sitting beside Zero.
"Aren't they beautiful?" Zero asked, looking up at the stars shining down on him.
"You've always been interested in the cosmos."
"It's because they are so ancient, and so far out of my reach. I couldn't believe my ears when I heard that our Sun isn't even the hottest star, nor the biggest. Yet it exceeds the size of all the planets in our solar system. Plus, these stars are much more clear than the ones back in the city due to all the light pollution."
"Okay, I get it, Mr. Astronomer."
"Sorry, I just immerse myself when talking about it."
"It's good to have passions. But ultimately you want to become a hero, correct?"
"Yeah. Astronomy is just going to be a hobby of mine."
Zero stayed outside for another twenty minutes, making out the constellations that differ in Remnant than those in Pangea. When he entered, Weiss was already fast asleep.
"You can hardly tell that she's a demon," he whispered, smiling. Slipping into his sleeping bag, lying down on the hard ground. Eventually falling asleep to the noises of the night.
"Finally... After four days of walking, we're finally here!" Zero exclaimed, "Or so I thought... We still have another fifty kilometers, right?"
"Yup. We're almost there. Quite the anti-climatic training exercise, however..."
"Sure it may have been anti-climatic but hell, I never would do this shit ever again!"
"I guess that's one thing we can both agree on," Weiss smiled.
"You've been smiling more lately, and it's giving me the creeps."
"Well, I have been forcing them, just to try and make myself more approachable towards you. It would be terrible if we were to not communicate over the past four days!"
"Nevermind, I regret asking... You could've just lied to me..."
"Now, now. We can go back to staring and shooting daggers at each other once we finish this. Maybe then you'll feel more comfortable, you masochist," Weiss said as she walked into the forest.
"Maso- Where did that assumption come from?!" Zero yelled as he chased after her.
"We've been walking for an hour, can we take a break? I'm pretty sure Senketsu would love to take a break. Right, Senketsu?" he declared, winking at Senketsu.
"I can keep going."
"Damned blade... Why did we have to stray from the main road? The forest is so dense."
"If we all walked down the main road then we'll most likely see the other teams," Weiss replied to his complaining, annoyed.
"I know, sorry. I don't know why I've been feeling really sleepy all of a... sudden..." Zero flopped to the ground, unconscious.
"Zero!" the two exclaimed.
"Shit, his energy supply is cut off from me, I won't be able to sustain this form much longer."
"Senektsu?! But you've been walking with us for 12 hours every day!"
"That's because his energy allows me to use my own energy to sustain this form. I don't extract any energy from him at all. Forcefully being put to sleep stopped his energy from flowing. And with that, I am unable to use my own energy. See you later, Miss Weiss. Zero was knocked out by somebody else, be on guard," Senketsu warned her as he disappeared.
"I can't believe it!" she yelled.
"What can't you believe?" a voice said.
"Who's there?!" Weiss drew Myrtenaster, taking her stance.
"Ooh, a feisty one aren't ya?" the voice revealed their self, a middle-aged man with a skinny build. He had a gun strapped to his back and a machete in its holster on his right thigh.
"Are you the one that did this to Zero?"
"I just hit him with my sleep dart. I wanted a little alone time to get to know you," he smiled.
"Pfft. You don't have the right."
"Heh, I have big plans planned. Just for when you and I are alone!" he drew his gun and aimed at Zero.
Weiss conjured a white glyph, blocking the bullet. She rushed towards the man as he shot at her, blocking every bullet. Discarding his gun, he drew his machete, parrying Weiss' first swing, and going in with her guard shaken. This time, his right side of his body was engulfed in ice, unable to move the right side of his body.
"Damn you!" the man struggled.
"It's no use," she told him.
"Haha... You got me miss. Are you a huntress? You're too young, however," he said nervously.
"I'm a student. But I'm more than enough to take someone like you down."
"You're right, haha," the man reached for something in his back pocket slowly and discretely, not catching the attention of Weiss. He pulled out a small handgun and aimed it too fast for Weiss to react, piercing her right thigh.
"Agh! You... You degenerate!" she yelled as she engulfed his whole body in ice as she fell towards the ground.
Weiss applied pressure to the wound, "At least... The bullet went straight through..." She winced, trying to steady her breathing and heart rate. She crawled towards the bag, looking for any bandages or gauzes to cover the wound.
"What a time to be sleeping," Weiss muttered looking at Zero just laying on his back. She was losing a lot of blood and needed to cover the wound quickly.
Just then, multiple red eyes started to appear from the distance, unable to apply any sort of treatment to her wound.
"Great, now it's Grimm this time, must have heard the gunshots," Weiss said shakingly as she tried to stand up, "I can't lose consciousness here... Both of our lives are at stake!"
"Urgh... What's happening...?"
Weiss looked over to Zero as he rubbed the back of his head, "Thank god...!"
"Weiss? Weiss! You're bleeding a lot!" he noticed the man encased in ice, "It was him? This guy did it to you?"
"Now's not the time... We've got company," she breathed heavily, once again trying to stand up.
Zero finally noticed that they were surrounded by many Ursa, "Weiss, stay down. I'll handle this," he said sternly.
"Are you sure? There's too many and I haven't gauged your combat ability yet..."
"Be quiet for now." Zero was angry. Angry at the man that injured Weiss but most of all, at himself. He felt his face go red with anger, blood rushing up to his head.
"I'm still too weak," he whispered to himself, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth.
The Ursa slowly walked towards the two.
"Come, both of you," he commanded, materializing his two swords.
"So I finally get a chance!" Eterna exclaimed.
"Sharpness at 99 percent."
"W-wait! Zero isn't that overkill?" Eterna asked.
"Just do it."
The Ursa charged towards them, crying their battle cries. Once within range, some lunged towards him with their claws and jaws. Zero swung his blades one after the other, swiftly and cleanly cutting the Ursa's heads and limbs off.
"Enough, let's finish them all. Dual Zero Style: Double the Shockwave," he swung both blades towards all sides emitting wind slashes that cut both the remaining Ursa and tree alike, making sure to keep the shockwaves away from Weiss, who was getting weaker and paler by the minute.
She was laying down, still conscious but sweating and breathing heavily.
"Weiss! Hang on, I'll get ourselves out of the area so that I can treat you," Zero told her materializing both Senketsu and Eterna in their human forms.
He picked her up bridal style, to her dismay, "H-hey... N-nevermind..." she started to protest before stopping.
"Don't talk. Just rest," Zero told her as he ran for a few minutes before deeming that they were safe. He stopped and laid Weiss down on the ground.
"Shit, she lost a lot of blood. Eterna, let's do it."
"Are you sure Zero? You remember the consequences, right?"
"Of course I do! But right now, we need to close the wound quickly."
"Okay," Eterna replied before turning into her sword form.
Zero grabbed her and said, "Weiss, this won't hurt. You'll just feel the blade going in." He pierced Weiss' thigh and Eterna emitted a green glow. Weiss moaned in discomfort while Zero immediately started wincing in pain. The wound closed rapidly, with the same green light emitting from it. After it was completely closed, Weiss started breathing normally and opened her eyes.
"I feel like I've never gotten shot. What did you do?" Weiss looked at him before he fell to the ground. Zero yelled as he fell to the ground, clutching his right thigh.
"Zero?!" Weiss exclaimed as she got
up, noticing that there was no more pain.
"I-I'm okay..." he told her before wincing once more.
"He's going through the after-effects of using my healing properties," Eterna told her.
"Who are you?" Weiss asked.
"I'm Zero's second blade, and sister of Senketsu, Eterna."
"I see... Is there a reason for him not using you or...?"
"Who knows? Probably wanted me to be that one OP kid that hides his true powers until he is forced to reveal it to a large number of people. You know, typical shonen shit."
"Uh..."
"Sorry, carry on."
"What are the after-effects of your healing?"
"He'll feel the same pain the person he healed felt, but double that."
"That's insane! What if the injury is life-threatening?!"
"Then he'll feel like he's dying. If you think about it, it's a fair exchange. But it does have a great toll on his body."
"I'm just going to not walk for a while," he said as his face looked more relaxed.
"Are you okay?" Weiss asked.
"I'm fine. I'm just glad that you're okay."
Weiss blushed slightly and smiled, "Thank you."
Senketsu gave Zero a piggyback ride as the four continued on their way to Mt. Ardania. They made camo once it turned evening.
"Zero," Weiss called out to him, sitting on a log in front of the fire.
"Hm?"
"How are you feeling?" she asked as she sat down with him.
"Better. It's been a few hours but I still feel it. However, it is way better than the initial pain."
"It's just sensory pain right?"
"Yeah. There's no physical wound, but hell, it feels like there would've been one."
"I see."
The two stared at the fire for a few minutes before breaking the silence.
"I'm sorry."
"Huh?" Zero questioned, caught off guard.
"I'm sorry for saying you won't become a hero. And for insulting you and whatever else I said."
"Don't be. You didn't mean it. I am sorry as well... You had your own share of problems keeping up appearances and whatnot. Yet I said that you got everything served to you on a silver platter."
"That may have happened," Weiss smirked.
"Great! You ruined the moment!" Zero shouted as Weiss giggled.
"By the way, where did Senketsu and Eterna go?"
"They're chilling inside me right now. Eterna's excited that I finally used her but it was only for an emergency. She's currently ignoring me," Zero sighed.
"Why don't you just use both?"
"Because I'm still developing a dual wield style. And maybe because I'm waiting for that one moment to reveal my other sword to a large number of people, preferably in a tournament setting. Shocking the whole crowd, I overpower the opponent with my-"
"Nevermind, it's up to you," Weiss grunted as she got up, "I'm going to lay down. We will reach Mt. Ardania tomorrow, then we are finally done with this dumb exercise."
"Goodnight."
"Night."
A/N: Finally done this chapter... Pardon the late chapters everybody, I'll try to update quicker! Hope you enjoyed it, breaking the 4th wall is kinda fun, and I enjoyed writing this chapter! See you in the next one!
