Ruby and Mercury threw the giant Dust crystal as far they could. They got out of the water and Ruby grabbed Crescent Rose.
"Are you ready?" she asked raising her weapon.
"Ready whenever you are."
"3...2...1..."
BANG
The shot rang out and hit the Dust crystal. Mercury pulled Ruby to the ground as it started to shake violently like an earthquake. Ruby looked behind them to see snow starting to fall off the nearby mountains.
"We gotta go!" Ruby yelled.
She got up and pulled Mercury to his few feet. Just like Ruby had said, the ocean turned to ice. They jumped on it and slid around some. The snow that had fallen hit the trees and destroyed their hut.
"Are we gonna ice skate there?" Mercury asked with an annoyed look on his face as he slid around aimlessly.
"Pretty much."
"Ugh."
"Sit down and I'll push you!"
"You're kidding."
"No."
Mercury sighed then smiled, "We'll take turns. Once my ass is frozen enough we'll switch."
Ruby laughed.
"Of course."
Ruby started pushing him along like she skating and she started humming.
X
X
"I can't believe we're here."
Neo and Yang stood there at the water's edge. They were finally in the region where the Void was. The shorter woman dropped to her knees. It was an odd feeling knowing she had been there several times and then ran from it.
Now she was back.
"You OK?" Yang asked crouching down.
"I hope you make it worth it for me to fight by your side."
Yang could hear the threat in her tone.
"What if we don't win?" the blonde asked.
"We'll be dead. I don't want to die with regrets."
Yang sat down in the sand and took Neo's hand.
"Look at me."
Neo didn't look like she was fearful of the situation just slightly worried.
"I can make it worth it for you if you want. If I do you can't die," Yang whispered.
"Really? That's a hard task to complete."
Yang smiled and jerked Neo's arm. The smaller woman fell forward and Yang's lips met hers. Her eyes turned bright pink just like her face. Yang giggled at her reaction.
"I'll try as hard as I-I can."
"I know Weiss is supposed to be in this area somewhere so if she sees us she'll probably jump out."
"Thanks for the warning."
"Anytime."
They walked for a while before Neo got the courage to take Yang's hand. Even though it was her metal hand, Yang could feel the warm heat from Neo's skin. The two walked like that for a while until they decided to take a break.
X
X
"That's odd."
Adam felt it too.
Blake pulled her makeshift ore out and put her hand in the water. It had dropped way down in temperature. Adam squinted see small chunks of ice floating in the distance. Blake scratched her head as she stared down into the water.
"Blake... There's ice floating."
"Huh?"
Adam pointed and she could see it but it was barely noticeable. They looked at each other unsure if it was a Grimm or a person or Salem. In Blake's mind, there were no people left in the world. Her mind then flipped to Weiss.
They haven't seen each other in 2 years almost...
She could've gotten that strong. Maybe Ruby? She did freeze that horrific Grimm on Beacon. We are already to close to land to go find where that ice is coming from.
"Hopefully it's your friends. That gives me hope. What about you?"
Blake turned and smiled at Adam.
"I feel the same way. Should we paddle to shore or swim?"
"Paddle. It's too cold now."
Blake laughed. They were half a mile away from shore and it seemed like it was taking forever. It seemed like the waves were getting bigger by the minute. The couple was starting to get frustrated.
"I think we need to swim."
Adam groaned.
"I know. I'm sorry. We're gonna be out forever if we don't try something else."
"I guess that's true."
They gathered up their stuff and stretched a little bit before jumping in. Swimming the took less time but more effort since they were swimming against the waves. The waves were more chaotic and all over the place. In the back of Adam's mind he was worried about some sea dragon Grimm trying to eat them.
They walked up too the shore and dropped to their knees.
"Fuck man... My legs feel like a thousand pounds."
"You'd think with all the walking we've done that wouldn't have been so exhausting," Blake said.
"Let's take off all of clothes and dry them. The sand feels pretty warm."
They stripped everything off and hung it on the broken fences and trees around. It took little under an hour to dry everything and they were ready to go again. They watched as their raft floated over into the jagged rocks and got lodged in between. It didn't matter, it was the end of their journey pretty much.
"Adam."
"Hm?"
"I feel sick?"
Adam's head snapped to the side.
"What?!"
"I feel nervous and I almost want to vomit..."
Adam's expression calmed down from the panic it had and he placed a hand on her shoulder.
"You scared me."
Blake laughed once she got why he said that.
"No, no! It's just... I think my nerves are getting to me."
The two Faunus walked in silence for a long time. The area surrounding them was oddly thriving with plant and animal life which made it more suspicious. It made them wonder if Grimm were guarding the area from human intruders. They stayed quiet just in case anything tried creeping up on them.
X
X
"This is so much fun!" Ruby cried out excitedly as she slid a feet down the icy pathway.
Mercury had been pushing her for the last thirty minutes.
"I'm so tired..."
"Can you sit down? You said your ass was frozen."
He grinned and plopped down close to her as he could. He slid around a few inches before he managed to stop himself.
"I'm enjoying myself more than I thought I would."
Ruby smiled.
"That's saying a lot out here."
Mercury laid back and Ruby laid down beside of him. It was the nicest part of her journey since she had been out in the wastelands. Some ocean water lapped against the icy walkway making it away some. It was so relaxing.
"You're welcome to go wherever you want now."
Mercury turned his head to the side to look at her.
"What you mean?"
"You already showed me the way. You're more than welcome to go wherever you want from here. You fulfilled your promise already."
"You want me to just leave like that?"
Ruby shrugged, "I don't know. I feel like you did what you needed to do and I wouldn't want to force you into a battle that may not go our way."
Mercury stayed quiet instead of answering her.
"I take it you aren't sure how you feel about all of it."
"Well... I would like to help but it's Emerald. I don't really want to fight her."
"I can understand that. Is she your best friend?"
"No not really. She's annoying as hell."
Ruby snickered and Mercury chuckled a little.
"We can try and persuade her as much as we can. Whenever we see everyone else we can tell them not to kill her. What makes you think she won't fight us?" Ruby asked.
"She loves Cinder but not her ideas... She follows her because she was the first friend she had in her life."
"That's really sad. It makes a lot of sense now."
"Yea."
Ruby sat up and noticed the sun was disappearing.
"I think we need to go..."
"Hm?"
Mercury looked around.
"It looks like the ice is starting to break off in chunks."
"I never even noticed that. You feel like walking through the night?" Ruby asked.
"Not much choice right?"
X
X
"It looks like there used to be a city here," Neo said, "I was hoping it would've been up still considering it was so close to her."
"You didn't know it was here?"
"No I came a different way. I had no idea there was one."
Yang scanned the area, "It doesn't look like it was sitting torn down for a while. It looked like it was recent."
Neo shivered.
"Are you cold?"
"No. I'm scared. I want to know what happened to this city. I wonder if they tried revolting and she had them destroyed."
"Oh."
Yang took her hand like she was trying to reassure her.
"Things are going to be fine. Let's keep moving forward. Weiss should be around here at some point. I know she was headed straight here."
Neo looked skeptical but nodded anyways. They searched through a few destroyed building finding somewhat clean clothes. They tossed aside their old rags and packed an extra set just in case. They found a few unopened bottle of water and a few dented cans of food.
"Corn and spaghetti in a can... That's a meal," Neo said with an excited grin.
They ate the stuff cold but it was the best thing they had eaten in forever. They laid in the nearby grass after their meal and eat he's the clouds go by until the sun dropped in the sky. There was some stars out now and the air was a lot cooler.
"Neo?"
"Hm?"
"If you want, take a nap."
"Let's go into that building over there then. We can hide in there and sleep!"
Yang shrugged, "We can give it a try."
They settled in without too many problems. They decided to hide in a closet. They threw a few ragged blankets they found on the floor and cuddled up together. They were out within minutes into a deep sleep.
"Yang!"
"Shhhh, Neo."
"Yang!"
Yang growled lowly.
"Don't you dare growl at me you dolt!"
Yang's eyes flew open and she turned around. She looked up and her violet eyes were wide as saucers.
X
X
"Ruby?"
"I feel it."
The pathway wasn't flowing with the ocean's waves. It felt like something was hitting it downward. It was hard to see since it was night and anything could be out there. Suddenly, the pathway started to crack and it jumped upward flinging Ruby into the water.
"Ahhhh!"
"Ruby!"
She was gone under the water.
"RUBY!"
The water looked black making it impossible to see anything.
Grrrrrrrrr
Mercury turned around to see a giant sea serpent Grimm staring him down and baring it's teeth.
Fuck me...