Weiss, Blake, and Ben's group were surprised by how quick the dark moved in once they had established a camp, the gang quickly gathering logs and piling them in the camp's center, barely aware of the gunshots in the distance. Velvet merely flicked a finger at the pile, instantly setting it ablaze. "Alright, folks, we're gonna have to sleep in shifts tonight, who's gonna go first?" Ben asked, rubbing his hands by the fire.
No one raised a hand; no one had any more energy to stay awake. Ben sighed, "Figures…I'd go first but I need to prep you guys for survival, so Sky, you're up first."
Sky opened his mouth to protest Ben's order, but the snickering of his teammates drew his attention. He could only sneer as Ben ordered, "Alright, enough. We've had a hell of a day; the last thing we need is to on each other's throats. Here, let's build up morale, any good stories?"
Every body just stared at Ben, not one of them was amused by his question. "Alright, you're all dismissed, good night."
Soon the group was knocking out around the fire, having found their most comfortable positions in the dirt. Sky was desperate to stay awake; he was nodding off every couple of seconds, the slaps to his face no longer enough to keep him awake. Finally, he decided to go take a walk into the woods, the crisp air and wet foliage finally enough to spark him awake. He decided to make his stroll a little longer as he wandered further into the forest. His thoughts turned back to his comrades at the fire, but he put it in the back of his mind, just a few minutes wouldn't hurt him or anyone else.
Back at the camp, Velvet was beginning to stir herself awake, the feeling of eyes on her being to much too ignore, even in her sleep. "Sky…"
She looked up, her vision still blurry, and could only make the outline of a pale white humanoid, two golden orbs radiating at her. She tried to focus on it, but the beast sprinted back into the forest, leaving her weary but too tired to rise. She fell back to sleep once more.
Sky stood below a small clearing in the canopy, looking up at the shattered moon above with amazement. "Such a pretty night, I feel bad for them…"
The snap of a twig nearby drew his attention, his head only perking at the noise. He slowly turned to face the direction of the noise, finding a silhouette of a tall figure before him. "Hey, who is it?"
Sky was about to draw his weapon when Velvet stepped out of the shadows, her eyes an unusually bright shade of gold. "Oh, it's just you." Sky said, releasing his grip, "What are you doing out here, I thought you were asleep?"
Velvet did not respond, her small smile not being phased by his words. "Hello…"
Velvet slowly began to walk forward, a step at a time. Sky felt a sharp jab of fear in his spine, but he was far more wrapped up in how seductively she walked towards him. Velvet slowly caressed Sky's cheek, looking into his eyes as goose bumps broke out all over his body. She abruptly but gently grabbed his chin between her thumb and forefinger, slowly bringing his face closer to her own. He closed his eyes and puckered up, I knew no one could resist…
His eyes flew open at the jut of pain that shot through his neck, his shocked cry all that came out, Velvet's hair covering his face. The faunus girl was chewing through his throat. His blood flowed down his front, instantly covering his shirt and pants in crimson. The black crept into his eyes as Velvet wretched backwards, a glob of flesh in her teeth. Sky let out a scream, the sound gargled by blood but very much loud and terrified. Velvet swallowed the hunk of trachea in her mouth and delved once more into his neck, chewing out the back of his throat.
The screams of their missing sentry brought the whole group sprinting to find Sky. Ben was more than annoyed that he left Sky with one job; all he had to do was stay in camp, stay awake, and wake them if something was wrong. But he couldn't do that right. His thoughts were broken when he ran into Dove, the lieutenant general and the man he dwarfed tumbling over one another. Ben quickly rose to his feet, lifting Dove off the ground like a toy and saw the rest of the group staring in shock at what lay before them. Sky was lying flat on the ground, blood still bubbling out of his throat as his dying breaths were choked from him. A rabbit-eared faunus was still hunched over him, gnawing through his neck, finally stopping her chewing and grumbling to turn and face the group before her. Velvet's eyes widened upon looking at her doppelganger, its mouth covered in blood, droplets falling down to the earth. The Velvet beside Sky let out an infuriated hiss as it lunged up at Russel, a shot ringing out just before she could grab his throat. Velvet collapsed to the earth, a bloody hole probing through her skull and brain. The living Velvet turned away from the sight, trying to escape the shock that was quickly creeping over her. She was immediately spun right back around, a tight grip on her arm. She was staring into the angry blue eyes of Ben. "What did you do?!" he growled.
"ME! You think I had something to do with this!?"
"Well, let's see! You are a mage and, whatever the hell that is, it looks exactly like you."
"I swear I didn't have anything to do with it! I can clone myself far better than that! Look, the eyes are…gold…" she paused, slowly pointing at the corpse.
The thing that was once Velvet's clone slowly began to warp and shrink into something else, the skin paling intensely and the clothes and figure of the beast evaporating, only a bony, alien body was left, the bloody hole in its skull the only reminder of what it once was. "What the hell…" Ben started, just as the gagging from Sky began once more, more intense than ever.
Dove immediately rushed to his now rising pal, the blood now pouring down his chest again, his sclera a yellow glaze and pupils a sickly green. Dove reached out to help his wounded ally, but Sky grabbed his arm and dragged him forward, sinking his teeth into and severing his pinky and ring finger. Dove was instantly backtracking and screaming, blood spurting from his severed phalanges. Sky contently chewed on the bits of flesh and bone in his mouth before he rose to his feet. A single shot rang out again, the round entering his chest but it abruptly exploded, the familiar sphere visible for an instant before it compacted back into bullet form. Sky's body disintegrated, his limbs and head flying off in separate directions in a blanket of gore. The group reacted with disgust, Blake covering her mouth as Weiss began to dry heave, finally vomiting at the sight of the head before her. Suddenly, it growled at her again, thrashing as it did so. Weiss jumped back in horror, recoiling as Ben stepped in again, skewering Sky's living head his sword, finally ending his tirade. The group didn't have a moment to collect their thoughts, Dove went running off back towards camp, a trail of blood, Russel, and Velvet following him back. Blake sighed, "I'll make sure he's okay."
"Wait…" Ben ordered, "You and Weiss stay here, you two must know this now. The reason I left the military was not because the Faunus War had ended, it was because of this next assignment, another war."
"What do you mean?" Blake said, her voice filled with anxiety.
"My superior Erwin Frundsberg was supposed to lead men here to kill every last creature like that, the inferi. They come in regular forms, slow shambling things that are dumb as a bucket of nails. But there are several special species, they called this one the nightmare. They morph into anything they please, they're almost indistinguishable in appearance. The only thing is to look for someone having golden eyes or a reluctance to enter sunlight or heat. There are many more special types, I'll tell you all more as we come across them." Ben explained, his voice monotone and worn down.
"How do you know all of this?" Blake asked once more.
"I'm high-ranking enough to have access to every military document whenever I'm bored. You all deserve to know this because I now know where we are. Those damn faunus kept us from wiping them out." Ben answered, his voice hissing at his last remark.
"Wait, one more thing, what did the faunus do?" Blake asked again, clearly trying to hide something
"Miss Blake, I appreciate the curiosity, but we don't have time to sit around and catch up on our lives…"
"I used to live here, this is where I grew up. I only left when someone went haywire and killed everyone I knew!"
Ben instantly stood erect, the hair on the back of his neck rising. "What did you say?"
"A man in a red cloak and chainmail came into my village, killed the guards and warriors, and burned down a church on everybody else!"
Ben only stood there, his eyes fixated on the ground, his jaw unable to close. "He's alive." he whispered.
"Who?"
"A very, very bad man." Ben answered, running back to camp.
Velvet entered the camp once more, Dove rocking back and forth as he clutched his crimson-covered wrist. Russel sat at the opposite side of the fire, his gaze, distant and detached, on the flickering flames. Velvet sat down next to Dove, her eyes instantly bagging with the exhaustion of all these events. Here peace would not last, the dread crept back into her belly and froze her spine. She was being watched again. She merely had to open her eyes to find what had caused her discomfort, a man peering through the periphery of the light at her. The man was tall and thin, his limbs, neck, and fingers grotesquely elongated. Where his throat should have been sat a pulsating, potato sack-sized tumor, glistening with grease and criss-crossed with black blood vessels, so large it distorted his jaw and gave him a pained grimace. She rose to approach him, startling Russel to turn around and face the tall man. His eyes widened with surprise and the man disappeared, only his outline would have been visible if it had been daytime. "What the…where'd he go?!" Russel demanded, turning to Dove and Velvet.
Instantly, a black tendril burst through the dark, shooting through the air and splitting through the back of Russel's neck. The tendril appeared outside his mouth, blood spattering onto Dove and Velvet. His body rose above the ground, his corpse limp as it slowly retracted back into the woods, the pale man appearing once more, revealing his immensely long, round tongue to be the tool used to kill Russel. Velvet covered her mouth to force the shriek of terror back down her throat as the man's tongue wrapped around Russel's neck, the man turning and walking back into the forest, the sound of the body being dragged behind him fading as Ben, Weiss, and Blake appeared. "What happened?!" Ben shouted.
Velvet was now bawling into the hand clasped over her mouth, tears cascading down her face as Dove answered, "Some guy just came up, disappeared, and sent uh…his tongue through Russel's neck and out his mouth."
Ben growled in anger, hissing, "That was a chameleon, they have near perfect camouflage and very powerful tongues. Next time, Velvet, kill it on sight, don't let it disappear."
She nodded at this as Dove protested, "Wait, why are you telling her to do this, I'm still here?"
Ben rubbed the back of his head, going over the ways of how to answer this. Finally, he looked Dove in the eye, answering, "Dove, we need to talk. The thing that killed Sky…"
"He wasn't dead until you blew him up, he was fine, just scared!"
"That's the thing, he was dead, but that thing bit him. That thing had a virus that spreads through bites and blood, it kills you and brings you back to life. The virus makes you hungry to destroy all life around you, it makes you want to consume life. Sky was infected with that virus, and he bit you…"
"What are you saying?!"
"I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do but…"
"No, I'm not going down like this, not with you calling the shots!"
"Dove, please, calm down, maybe there's something we can do." Blake said, stepping in with a gentle hand outstretched.
Dove instantly grabbed at her Gambol Shroud, still in its gun form, and aimed it right at Ben. Ben raised his hands to his chest level, palms facing Dove, calmly stating, "Dove, put the gun down. I may not have to put you down…"
"Don't talk to me like I'm some sick dog or a useless faunus!"
Blake gnashed her teeth at this, but she was in no position to attack, the aim of her own weapon on her head. "Alright, we won't have to kill you. We have protocol for this."
"What's that?" Dove hissed, his aim turning to Ben again.
"For every hour after infection, we cut up an inch."
"What's that mean?"
"It's a tourniquet policy, if you will. After one hour, the infection spreads an inch, it's very slow. So, we only have to cut off your hand."
"Not gonna happen, chief. Either you get me a cure for whatever the hell I have or I kill every last one of you."
"Well we know who actually had guts in Cardin's group." Weiss whispered to Blake.
"What was that you rich brat?" Dove said, moving towards Weiss and putting the barrel right into her forehead.
Weiss remained unnerved, her arms still crossed and her face the same look of displeasure as always. Dove's face, however, was pasted in sweat, his grimace and entire face twitching. "The more worked up you get, the quicker it spreads." Ben said.
Dove turned his aim back to Ben, ready to finally pull the trigger, when Blake grabbed his wrist, twisting his arm and freeing her gun. He tried to free himself from Blake's grip but the blow from Ben's massive fist nearly shattered his jaw, leaving him dazed. Ben throttled Dove and raised him off the ground. "I gave you an easy choice, I'm through with your team's disobedience and anyone else's. None of you could follow a simple order, and look at us now. Two of your teammates are dead, the inferi are coming, and we don't have the man power to fight back. I'm making an example of you."
Ben slammed Dove onto the ground, knocking the wind out of him and ringing his bell once more. Dove sluggishly turned on his stomach, trying to crawl away as quickly as his clouded mind would allow. Ben's hands clasped around Dove's temples, the force of his grip making Dove yell out. Ben yanked upwards abruptly, Dove's neck cracking in response. His pull upwards did not cease, even in spite of Dove's muffled cries to stop. Soon, tendons began to snap, flesh and ligaments torn apart, a suction noise sickening the air, followed by a loud pop. Dove's severed head was now in Ben's hands, the expression of pleading and excruciating pain still glued to his face. Ben looked at the distant eyes of Dove's head, dropping it where he stood before clapping his gloved hands of dust as he turned to his horrified comrades. "What?" he asked, slapping his forehead with a laugh before rebutting, "Oh, don't worry, the infection didn't spread to his brain, he won't come back. Future lesson, don't do anything to the inferi that doesn't involve destroying the brain. Decapitating them doesn't kill them, the brain is still intact."
Their jaws only dropped further, their fear of their leader turning to shock at his ignorance. "What, I'm that heartless prick who cut faunus in half at Eannac, remember? Now, get some sleep, I'll get rid of this."
Ben put the head under his arm and dragged the corpse off, the group watching him disappear into the forest as he said, "That's an order!"
The trio immediately scrambled for the fireside, curling up beside it and shutting their eyes. Sleep would not come for any of them that night, Ben's presence among the many things that unnerved them.
