As with the cycle of seasons, the cycle of night and day must also change. A full moon fills the sky tonight. The light keeps hurting people, the darkness fights back.
"Would you hurry up?"
Emerald had been irritated by Mercury for several hours by now. It wasn't her fault that she didn't have prosthetic legs. Her growl would have been audible from the nearby rooftop had there not been for the local sirens going off in the distance.
"Hey, Em'," Emerald looked towards her partner with a raised eyebrow, "You have the map, are we almost there?"
Emerald was confused for a moment, until realization struck her, "Huh? Oh! Right!" She grabbed her scroll "We're almost there, just two more blocks, and a right turn. Second building on the right."
"Good. My legs could use one of Ruby's famous tune-ups."
"Yeah," Emerald was lost in nostalgia as they crossed the street, recalling all the little gadgets little Ruby made. Cinder said it was her way of taking her mind off of some… Traumatic experiences. "Remember those crazy ass machete-pistols she made?"
"The ones that are now the standard weapon for all our guys? Yeah, I think she also said they could turn into a grav-lift if you got like… Seven or eight of them together." He recalled, scratching his head.
"Man, that made robbing dust so much easier." Emerald replied, as they made their turn.
Mercury nodded, "Yeah. It was real quiet without having the little squirt around for two months. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually missed her." He chuckled a bit as they passed the first building.
"I'll tell her you said that." Emerald said with a smirk on her face.
The silvery-gray haired boy grimaced, "No! You can't tell her I said that!" He reached for the green-haired girl's shoulder, only to find that she had used her semblance to trick him into thinking she got ahead of him, when she was actually still behind the boy. He growled, "Grr, that is really freaking annoying. Y'know that, right?"
Emerald sped up her pace and placed her hand on the young man's shoulder, "Yeah, I know." She had a smug smirk on her face as she went into the building.
"All hail to Salem! All hail Salem!"
The crowd of people and faunus were all bowing to a shrouded statue, all of them wearing a similar black hood to that of the figure.
The Umbra religion of the grimm.
The meeting was going well, people were socializing with one another after the ceremony, many were speaking in hushed tones.
"Crap! It's the cops! Everyone, get out of here- agh!" All of the worshipers turned to the cause of the disruption, seeing the dead body of the man who had given the warning. The eight officers stepped through the doorway.
"Alright, you bunch of troublemakers, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way." The cop leader grinned, "Oh, please chose the hard way. It's been a long time, and the faunus aren't showing their ugly mugs anymore." The seven officers had no intention of letting the cultists go... Unscratched.
"Like hell we will!" The woman in front yelled in defiance. She had scarlet eyes and raven-black hair. The only other thing that made her stand out amongst the others was that she had a weapon. A sword that seemed to have a revolving dust chamber in the sheath.
"Ah, you must be the leader of this nutjob cult." The woman nodded as the six officers grabbed their guns, and started loading the dust rounds into it.
"I am the leader of this religious practice, yes." She glared at the officers, wondering why the five of them were here. They had been careful, there shouldn't have been any way for them to find this place.
As if he read her mind, the chief spoke, "In case you're wondering, bitch, you got a mole in your ranks." Her eyes widened, as she started to look around, she saw four officers in front of her, several other practitioners to her right shaking in shock, and to her left…
"I'm sorry! They… They threatened my family… I didn't have a choice…" A man, with brown-blonde hair, and blue eyes wailed. His sunglasses fell from his shirt pocket and he flinched as one of the three officers stepped on them. The man sighed, "Well, that was a waste of five hundred lien…"
"It isn't your fault, pal. Family and friends come first here. We understand." Another person, a man with black hair in a red headband said, consoling his friend. "We just have to deal with the three officers that are here right-"
He was cut off. "What? We brought eight!" The chief bellowed, he and his officers turned around to find that their comrades had disappeared. "Wh- Where did they go?" He was panicking, until he heard a demonic laugh that sent chills down his spine and back.
"You may wish to look upwards, chief." The voice was distinctly feminine, and the chief knew it would haunt his nightmares for months to come, should he survive. He turned his gaze upwards, using his flashlight to illuminate the darkened ceiling of the building.
There, hanging by their own entrails, were the five other policemen he brought with him. Blood dripping to the floor, with the looks on their faces being one of complete shock and horror. "What the…"
"I've gone by many names in my travels, my personal favorite being 'The Grimm Herald.'" The voice taunted.
"Wh- What?" One of the cops yelled in fright, "You're… You're supposed to be a myth. A decade-old story people pass around a campfire to scare their friends!" He was clearly panicking, holding his gun shakingly, and pointing it everywhere he could hear the voice echoing.
"Well, would you like to see the myth?" She demanded more than asked, as a claw came in from above him, yanking him by his foot to the ceiling, as he screamed.
"No... NOOO!" The man screamed, until his body was tossed down, followed by his head that still had it's spine attached to it.
The figure then launched something at the mouth of the other cop, who had just lost his lunch on the floor. He recoiled in pain as his aura took visible damage as he stumbled back into something he found to be rather furry.
It was a beowolf that was wielding some strange claw extensions that glowed orange in color. He dropped his gun in horror as he fell down when the claws revealed themselves to be able to light themselves on fire.
The chief looked on in fear as his last subordinate was burned to nothing but a skeleton. He shifted his gaze to that of Salem's Herald, taking two steps back for every step she made, until the religious leader tripped the man onto his back. She looked to the group's savior and bowed her head.
"No need for that, I was planning on stopping by anyways." The herald motioned for the woman to lift her head up, and took note of her red eyes. "Perhaps you and I can get to know each other. I'm sure your friends would like to administer justice to this scumbag." The practitioners nodded as did their leader.
"My name is Raven. Raven Branwen. It's good to see you…"
The herald smiled as they made their way to a more private place to speak, "Good to meet you, in a past life, my name was Yang Xiao Long…"
Ah, this was the life. With the Vytal tournament coming up, homework was practically non-existent, and there was an extended break for the students to visit friends and relatives, rest and relax, or just go out to Vale and enjoy life.
Blake was living it up in her penthouse, her apprentice out, entering the tournament, representing Atlas with some associate of hers named Flynt Coal. Shame his father's dust buisness got knocked out of the market by Weiss' father. On the plus side, her connection with the heiress gave her a sneak peak at any new products her think tank thought up. Coming up next was a special type of container that would allow for pressurised air blasts to imbed themselves with elemental dust.
"Alright Neon, our associates should be meeting up in a little while. How has your undercover work been?"
"It's been going well, Hardy." She said with a smile, 'Hardy' was Blake's alias when she went out, it also helped that nobody saw her except for those she wanted to have see her "Ironwood suspects nothing, but as a heads up, there's a rumor that he has some android or something." Neon read off the report in front of her.
"And how is this one different from his precious 'knights'?" Blake asked.
"Simple, boss: This one has an aura." Blake's eyes widened.
"How?"
"Dunno, boss. Rumor has it that they did some kind of aura transfer." Neon shrugged.
Blake thought for a bit, "That would require a donor, any idea as to whose aura they took?"
"I'll have to look into it. But we might be in the middle of a skirmish by the time we can get that info."
"Understood, Neon. We'll be needing all the data we can get." Blake and her apprentice nodded to each other as they prepared to sign off.
"Statera obtineri iterum"
Alright. Time to check up on Adam and his associates.
"Winter, are you sure this graveyard has what we're looking for?"
"The spirits here prefer the term, 'Cemetery'. And, yes. This is the site we want. Just give me a moment to talk to the souls here." Weiss nodded at her sister's words, being sure to ready her weapons to shoot down any grave robbers. She had snapped the neck of one when she walked in, shooting another shouldn't be a problem.
Winter reappeared after ten minutes, "Alright, sister. The spirits have agreed to helps us in our quest. We just need to meet up with that herald of the Grimm Queen or whatever, and we can get the golems ready."
Weiss nodded, "Alright, Winter. I trust you." Her gaze shifted around, getting a feeling of unnerving. "I think there's someone watching us… Someone in the physical plane…"
"Duck!"
Weiss did as she was advised, narrowly dodging a sniper round that was aimed at her head.
"Think you handle the man?" Winter asked.
Weiss nodded, Staubblatt at the ready, one with wind rounds, the other axe with ice rounds. "Now, where is the bastard?"
"Language." Winter reprimanded, "He's one-eighty meters to the east. I have no idea how he can see through the fog, but it may have something to do with his semblance."
"You try to get nearby him, analyze his weapon, and report back. I'll try to find a way to flank him." Weiss replied.
"Oh, so now you're in charge?" Winter shot her sister a glare that Weiss ignored.
"When it comes down to combat? -Yes." Weiss replied in the same tone of voice as her ghostly companion.
Winter uttered a cross between a sigh and a growl as Weiss dodged another shot. "Fine. But I'll be haunting you during your first time." She smirked.
Weiss muttered something that sounded familiar to 'pervert', as she kept making her way towards the target by dodging, weaving, and ducking behind gravestones.
As she slowly made her way towards the sniper, Winter got the info for her. "He's some bastard named Felix Apfelsine, uses assault rifles. Crazy asshole betrayed his only partner, and stole his hook sword-sniper." She analyzed.
"Alright, any idea as to why he's attacking?" Weiss asked as she tumbled towards another gravestone.
"Give me a moment. Just try to stay alive." the ghost responded.
"What a concept…" Weiss muttered. 'Just one-fifty more meters to go…'
"Okay, apparently he was hired by a rival dust company. All he has to do is bring back your head, and he gets paid." Winter reported. "We have two options: One; we try to buy him off, and go after his employer…" She trailed off.
"'Option two' Winter?" Weiss pressed. 'a hundred meters.'
"We kill him and send his eyeball to the bastard who hired him." Winter replied darkly.
'fifty meters.' "I'm down for that. I just gotta get closer." Weiss responded.
"Thankfully, his stolen sniper isn't good at close range. Get within ten meters, and he'll have to resort to either the sword function, or his sidearm." Winter observed.
"Well, I have about fifteen meters to get to that range, so I'll have to get back to you on that."
"You do remember that you can use your dust rounds for defense, right?" Winter asked in a sarcastic tone.
"Tch, I gotta conserve a bit." Weiss replied, 'ten meters until his sniper is useless…' "Besides, he probably doesn't know about them, so it gives me the element of surprise."
"Hey, you broad! Who're you talking to? The dead bodies?" Felix laughed, clearly enjoying himself. "I'd think someone living would be more interesting to talk to. Or at least be more attractive!"
Winter growled, "I'll be right back…" She disappeared under the ground. Thankfully, Weiss was in the range where Felix had to switch to his sidearm for combat.
Felix had fired off several shots, with Weiss dodging each one in rapid success, "So, you're fast enough to dodge point blank gunfire." He noted. The mercenary discarded his gun, transforming his sniper into its dual hook swords.
'Tch, leave it to Winter to not know that this thing is two swords instead of one.' She brought out Staubblatt, and readied herself for a fight.
The two engaged in combat, trading blow for blow, clashing blades, and constantly pressing for the advantage. It was a stalemate until Felix used a knife to stab Weiss in the stomach.
"Gah!" She screamed. She brought her voice down to a murmur, "Winter, whatever you're doing, hurry up." She clenched the wound tightly.
"Sister, switch your axes to the electricity, then lodge them into the ground!" Winter called frantically.
"Wha?"
"Just do it! Trust me!" She pleaded.
Weiss did as she was told, sending volts of electricity into the ground. "What? You were hoping that there would be some water there so you could shock me or something? Don't make me laugh!" Felix laughed despite what he said.
Weiss didn't say anything. Her focus was on the ground beneath the mercenary. It was cracking, almost being dislodged. As if something was clawing its way out of it. "What the? How in the world!?"
Felix was panicking. He was being dragged down by several corpses grabbing at his lower body. His efforts to free himself were rendered all for naught as one of the bodies grabbed his weapons and threw them away. He screamed in agony. He screamed in pain. His screams were muffled as the dead bodies had dragged him down far enough to grab his neck and cover his mouth. His shield being rendered useless as the corpses reached over and started gnawing on his face in a rather gruesome display.
"Well," Winter continued.
"That was a thing." Weiss finished.
"They agreed to help in a similar way in the future. You just have to tell me if you need it, and I'll relay the message to them." Winter explained.
"'They' drag the victim underground?" Weiss asked.
"No. They get dragged to hell." Winter replied. She motioned to the exit. "Come on, we should get some food before we meet up with the other resistance fighters."
To be continued…
AN: So… If you want to know, this one is a two-parter. Keep in mind that I write these in advance though, so as to have a chapter to fall back on if I have writer's block and need a critique to give me some advice.
Fun facts… Uh, Emerald and Mercury aren't meeting up with Ruby. They're dealing with someone. As for who, I cannot say. If you can guess who it is (And I guarantee that it ISN'T an OC), bonus points to you.
Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY, but I own a shirt with one of the show's logos on it.
