Ozpin paced around the hand held radio with his face screwed up in frustration, his teeth parted slightly to nibble on his bottom lip every few seconds, a small and barley functional clock making an assortments of pathetic rings beside him. His gloved hand came up to its seemingly permanent position on his chin, stroking away at the growing whips of hair that desperately grew to form a small stubble.
Oobleck and Glynda sighed as they watched the man wonder in an aimless annoyance, like a light cloud had overcome him. "Pacing the room won't make the radio won't respond faster" Glynda pointed out, breaking through the clouded mind and stopping Ozpin in his tracks, his head soon turning to look towards her.
"I know that, but the pacing helps me, keeps my mind active. Keeps me… Calm" Oobleck raised an eyebrow towards Ozpin, 'calm' wasn't exactly the term he would use to describe his friend's foot movements.
"This is the first break we've had in a while, don't waste it tiring yourself out, Old boy" Ozpin rolled his eyes at Oobleck's words, approaching the makeshift table they had put together and collapsing down to sit on the floor. "Now sit down, breath in and drink your coffee"
"You mean the hot water?" Glynda interjected, adjusting her loose strands of hair and giving the fast talking ex-teacher a bemused look.
"Coffee" He responded with an indignant expression.
"It's just water…" Ozpin repeated Glynda's words with a small growing smirk
"It is Coffee!"
"The closest thing we've had to coffee was when Jaune and Yang thought putting mud inside their water cups would make it taste better" Ozpin crossed his arms and leaned back slightly to give the other man a good view of his smirking face.
''It looks like coffee, taste like coffee and as long as I squint my eyes, it is coffee" Oobleck reached over to Ozpin's cup and snatched it up in his hand, pushing himself towards Ozpin and grip the man by his tattered shirt. Pulling the man towards him, Oobleck held up the cup and began to force the liquid down Ozpin's throat. "TASTE THE CAFFINE!"
Glynda found herself rubbing her temples at the scene, Ozpin struggling against the surprisingly strong grip of the rather thin man, Oobleck carrying a small obsessed glint in his eye. The trio's sudden moment of complete absurdity was cut short by the mixed groan and buzz of the Radio, a series of coughs heard from the responder as the three adults simply stared at the small device.
Opzin was quick to jump into action as the coughing ceased, the silver haired man pushed Oobleck and the boiling water away from him and bolted towards the radio with an almost rabbed facial expression. As soon as he reached the small device he snatched it from the table and brought it to his lips, his thumb pressing against the responder button. "This is Ozpin, contacting from the Beacon Outpost. Over."
"Reading you loud and clear, Sir. What's your status? Over." The question pulled at Ozpin's lips for a moment, before he replied. His voice defiantly not as 'respectful' as he would of liked.
"As I said last time, the outpost is secure overall. But supplies are running low and the weather is starting to get worse, some are fearful that it might reach dangerous conditions…Well, more dangerous than they already are" Ozpin paused for a moment, taking a deep breath of calm of his surprisingly tense and strained voice. "Fortunately there seems to be very low Grimm activity around this area now a days, though I can't say if the weather conditions are the cause. Over"
There was some muttering heard from the other end as the responder seemed to exchange words with someone else before returning to the radio. "Are your people good enough to travel? Over"
Ozpin blinked at the question, turning his head to the other two adults in the room and gave them a confused look, who in turn returned a shrug as Ozpin turned back to the radio. "Of course, we've always been ready in case we have to move away from the outpost fast. Why do you ask? Over."
"The order's going out to all the outposts we can contact, a return order. Some of our forces are being sent a cross the sea to make contact with Atlas, with that we requesting that all outposts prepare to make their way back to Vale. Over"
"V-Vale!? But that's…at least a few weeks' worth of travel!" Ozpin had not heard much of Vale since the outbreak, what little he had heard of it was desperate rumours of hope to him. Some said it was supposed to be some sort of sanctuary, some said it was… Safe. It didn't make it any easier to believe when all military contact refused to talk about the status of Vale, leading Ozpin to believe that they were having issues of their own.
"We'll be sending squads to your location with supplies in order to guide you and your people back here. Over''
"That's a very risky plan, a whole outpost and military personnel marching through the hills? It'll be easy pickings for the Grimm. Over."
"It's like you said, the Grimm aren't…" A noticeable pause, coupled with the slightly nervous tone of the speaker made Ozpin suspicious. "They're not frequent around your area any more. Over"
"It's just…" Ozpin trailed off, his mind still latching onto that nervous tone. I'm getting way to jumpy now a days…
"If you're so worried about our plans, we can just leave you there to your own devices. Over"
Ozpin paused on the reply, even if it wasn't meant to the words seemed to come off as a threat Follow the plan or we leave you to die He found himself looking towards the other two for a moment, who were both nodding their heads furiously, not in the least bit amused by Ozpin's concerns. "No, we'll be ready by the time your forces appear. Over"
"We'll be in contact again soon, over and out" The static filled the room as Glynda let small relived sigh, Oobleck slumping into his seat with a smile.
"We're saved!" It didn't take a genius to figure out that the two was one of the large believers in Vale's rumours, Ozpin shaking his head at the two's happiness, to which Glynda frowned at and asked. "What's wrong?"
"You're acting like the world just got renewed" Ozpin sighed as he made his way over to the table.
"They're going to take us to Vale, it's supposed to be some sort of sanctuary, isn't it?" Glynda looked up to Ozpin with curious gazes.
"I don't believe in random rumors made up by those desperate for hope" He crossed his arms as he stated it bluntly "Besides, I've learned over the years that when hopes around the corner. The worst is yet to come"
Ruby felt her throat throb under the pressure of the trapped breath, wishing for a release it was unable to get due to the gloved hand that covered the edge of her lips in its tight grip on the girl's face. Her eyes darted in rush motions from side to side, looking for the source of the sound of her friends fellow struggling against Stonewall's vice grip.
"Don't move, don't blink. Don't make a sound" Stonewall's harsh whisper made its way into Ruby's ear and caused a chill to past down her spine, her knees squeezing together and her teeth grinding against one another to keep her voice contained.
All three pairs of eyes were drawn towards the door of 'Dust till Dawn' where black claws, sharpened like shears, scratched across the metal surface of the double doors. A snarl let through from behind the creatures rows of sharp teeth, small amounts of bloodied flakes of flesh falling from the depths of its mouth, though whoever it belonged to the flesh of its victims or the result of it mistakenly sinking it's teeth into the pale pink flesh of its gums, Ruby couldn't tell. The strangest thing was that the creature seemed to have no visible way of actually seeing. Does it not have eyes? Maybe I just can't see them from here...
The creature prodded the doors, seemingly curious about the obstacle before attempting to ram it with its own head, resulting in a distorted scream of pain. The twisted head of the beast could only seem to look upwards, its neck bones too stiff to move as it stumbled around in a daze. Another gunshot sounded in the distance, close to the previous one, the Grimm seemed to be able to hear the shot as well, another snarl leaving the rows of teeth as it turned it's body to follow the sound.
As soon as the Grimm disappeared from view Stonewall retracted her hands, allowing Ruby to fall to her knees and release all the air that was trapped in her lungs, providing the small girl with quite the crimson face. Weiss had her hand to her stomach when she leaned against the wall, her back bent slightly as if she was preparing to throw up after the experience. "That…was…nerve wrecking… What the hell was that thing?"
Stonewall approached the end of the alley with her eyes peeled, her walk was cautious and slow as her head peered out from the edges of the walls to make sure there wasn't anyone or anything to hear them. "Grimm seem to be getting worse and worse everyday…'' Every week, every mission, reports of strange new Grim seemed to pile up.
There wasn't anything around the corner, at least nothing in her view that held the possibility of jumping out and/or attack the group. Things seemed safe for the moment. Stonewall turned back to the two girls that still held their stomach and seemed similar to one that was close to vomiting, roller her eyes Stonewall approached the two with a quiet grunt before gasping the collars of their shirts, pulling them over to her. "Snap out of it, you two. I don't want the Grim catching us by surprise this time!"
"We're going back?" Weiss asked, her head turned to look towards where the Grim has slinked off towards, clenching her hand slightly. Stonewall simply nodded as she pushed forward through the alley way, dragging the other small girl behind her. "But the gunshots…"
"What about them?" Stonewall stopped as Ruby started to struggle out of her grasp, the small girl breaking the grip and joining Weiss at the other end. For a second Ruby seemed confused, but as she looked towards the direction the shot originated from she began to get the same thoughts as Weiss.
"Wasn't that where the others went?" Ruby questioned with a tone laced with fear and hesitation at the thought, both her and Weiss could hear movement behind them as Stonewall seemed to pace backwards and forwards.
"…Shit"
"Welcome ladies, gentlemen and bloodthirsty creatures alike to the Global News Radio. I'm your host, the unfortunately named Little J, here to bring you soothing tones and insane news in this fucked up world we live in. Feeling down because the Grimm took all your supplies? Those bastards banging down your door? Well, tough time for us all. But at least you get to go out with a classics racing through your mind! Now for the good stuff, even to this day I he-"
The radio lost its ability to communicate as it was crushed under a black boot, it's surface cracking from old age and small bits of the wires spilling out onto the cold ground. "What the hell, Boss? I was listening to that!" The whine came from the right of the boots owner, who didn't even bother to turn and face the complainer, only letting out a amused chuckle as he spat.
"Shut it, Mercury. If you want a heard of Grimm ripping you apart and labelling you their next meal, I'll throw you to them myself, but I am not getting ambushed by fanged abominations because you wanted to listen to bad radio stations" He heard a few steps from around him and soon Mercury's shadow was in his view.
"I just wanted to listen to some tunes, is that so bad, Boss?" Mercury's tone held a small amount of arrogant smugness, the fact that he was smirking was obvious even to the man that wasn't looking. "You deaf, bo-"To say that Mercury was surprised when the crimson haired man turned and pressed the barrel of a gun against his stomach would be an understatement.
"Look, Kiddo. When I say 'jump', you ask 'How high?' Where I walk, you follow like a lonely pup. And when I tell you to stop fucking around, you look to the floor and consider the merit of not being a complete idiot" The man gestured around himself towards to various corpses that surrounded them, fresh corpses with recent bullet wounds through their clothes, a small amount of fresh blood leaking from the holes. "These little rats decided to be stupid and now look at them, don't make the same mistake or you'll join them in feeding the flies"
Mercury didn't realise the gun had been returned to the folds of the other man's white jacket until he felt a tanned hand tap his shoulder, gulping slightly he craned his neck to meet the expectant gaze of is emerald haired companion. "That was… Intense"
"Torchwick is always intense when you piss him off, next time think about that before running your mouth" She places her hands on her hip and fixes him with a small glare, she had to make sure that Mercury understood it as he wasn't the most bright of people. "Okay?"
"Oh come on, Emerald. I'm not that dumb, I understand when not to aggravate someone" He shrugged at her, only to receive a slight hit to the head from the Woman. "Hey, what the hell was that for!?"
"If you could ever understand that you wouldn't constantly get a gun pointed at you" She gave him a glare when he attempted to retort to her words, causing him to clamp his mouth shut as they turned towards Torchwick; who seemed to look rather suspiciously behind them.
Ruby's breathing had returned to it's normal pace as she proceeded to follow Stonewall through the empty rooms of the various abandoned buildings, her throat recovering from its recent entrapment; Weiss had though it logical and safe to duck in and out of the buildings in case there was any danger nearby. But each house held the slight possibility of more danger, tension hung in the air for Ruby as each turn of the corner was a held breath as the thoughts of what could be hiding inside race through her mind.
The three could tell that they were getting closer to the source of the gunshot, a foul odour arose and wafted its way through their noses, their backs pressed against the wall as they neared a shattered window and near inaudible voices could be heard. When they neared the window a single voice could be heard an understood, though a bit of static came along with it.
"Welcome ladies, gentlemen and bloodthirsty creatures alike to the Global News Radio. I'm your host, the unfortunately named Little J-" Ruby blinked at the voice as it spoke, looking up to Stonewall and whispering her inquiry to who 'Little J' was.
"Just some bullshit radio station. 'Making the apocalypse a little more bearable' If you ask me, it's a wasted effort on his part" Feeling down because the Grimm took all your supplies? Those bastards banging down your door? Stonewall now sat with her back against and just below the window, the two girls in a similar position around the doors of the building. Now for the good stuff, even to this day I he-
Someone crushed the radio and proceeded to berate another person, causing Stonewall to rise her finger to her mouth and signal the other two to remain quiet and hidden. The woman then proceeded to slowly turn herself around, placing her hands flat on either sides of the window before she dragged her body upwards so that her head just peaked over the edge.
Her vision presented her with what seemed to be the town square, a large oak tree in the centre sill managing to stand tall, though obviously withering. Other shops were set up around the square, some boarded up and closed while others had shattered windows and breaking walls. Around the tree stood a crimson haired man and a blue haired man, the crimson one was dressed…strangely. His white suit, red tie and long rimmed hat almost gave him the appearance of some sort of gangster.
"And when I tell you to stop fucking around, you look to the floor and consider the merit of not being a complete idiot" Not the most motivational leader… Stonewall's expression became confused when she looked to see that both Weiss and Ruby looked at her suspiciously, though when they saw that she could see their stares they instantly tried to loo the other way. What's up with them? "These little rats decided to be stupid and now look at them, don't make the same mistake or you'll join them in feeding the flies"
Little ra- For the first time Stonewall took in the rest of the area she looked towards, her face stretching into shock as she saw the corpses littering the square, corpses she could clearly recognise and picture in her mind. Those…Those people… She rose a little more to face the two girls as she composed her new found anger, gritting her teeth as she whispered "Ruby, Weiss…Don't…We have to leave. Now"
"What is it, mam?" Weiss inquired hesitantly, the anger on Stonewall's face was surprising and made Weiss regret asking what caused it. "What about the others?" Ruby nodded as if to ask the same question as well, she did not feel okay that Stonewall was suggesting to leave them alone.
"The others are… We can't reach them anymore, the plan has changed. We need to make o-"She was cut off when the familiar voice of the crimson haired man reached her ears, seemingly much louder than before, threat and amusement obvious in his tone.
"Who's there?" Stonewall hadn't really thought of the fact that when nearly standing up in the window, she left herself wide open to being spotted, especially when her clothing did not blend in with the building's 'Bright' display. The man had easily been able to make out that she was there.
Stonewall stood up fully with her arms held up high as a sign of 'peace', she might be a bit stubborn at times, but even she could recognised when she was outmatched. She would no take on three armed individuals, with grimm lurking about and with children she's supposed to protect in threat distance. She let out a whispered command towards Weiss and Ruby, fixing them with a serious expression "Head back to the meeting point, if no one returns in an hour run back to the outpost as fast as you can"
"Move!" The man commanded, to which Stonewall complied as she nodded as the shocked faces of both Weiss and Ruby. Go! Stonewall pushed herself through the shattered window, keeping her arms up as she face the visibly armed man, his hand holding out his weapon to aim directly at her. He gestured with the gun for her to come forward towards the other two abnormal haired people. "Now, please kneel down while we rob you of all your possessions"
Stonewall did as the man commanded as her eyes were drawn to the corpses, her rage starting to bubble in the pit of her stomach as she glared at her now dead comrades. "Friends of yours?" The inquired with the same amused tone, his foot pressed firmly on her back to push her to the floor. "It's easy to tell when you military rats always wear the same insignia on your armour. Though I doubt you're pleased with this and to answer the question running through your mind, no, it wasn't an accident" Stonewall grunted as she hit the floor with a small growl, the man's annoying voice was already getting on her nerves.
"You really love to hear yourself talk…" She spat at the ground where she imagined his feet being, surprisingly she could hear Mercury letting out a disgusted 'Ewwww'.
"Well, of course. My voice is a plague to not hear, a sin. But, how rude of me..." He gave her back a slight kick again with a smirk. "I have yet to introduce myself! Roman Torchwick, dashing rouge with a voice like honey" Even if she couldn't clearly see it, she knew that Torchwick was grinning broadly with a 'punch-me' smile. Looking upwards she could see the others rolling their eyes at his statement. "But enough about me, let's talk about you"
"You sure your fragile ego could handle talking about someone else?" She smirked as she could just hear a small grunt of anger, wishing she could see his expression at the moment, maybe take a picture. Torchiwick however was not as amused, which he showed when delivered a hard kick to her head.
"You know, I was thinking of just leaving with your valuables and at least some sort of weapon to fend with yourself, but… Now I find myself conflicted on what to do with you…" The woman's eyesight was rather blurry after that kick to the head, an aching pain in the back of her head made her vision look as if someone had put a distorted mirror over her eyes. "Maybe leave you here stark naked, covered in the blood of your friends. A perfect treat for Grimm. Or…" She could just see him raise his pistol and drop closer to her, his knee crushing her legs as he held the barrel of the gun only inches from her head "I could just put you down here and now…Decisions, decisions…"
It was not looking too hopeful for the woman, biting down on her lip to stop all sorts of obscenities at Torchwick and whoever could hear, though it was becoming harder and harder to restrain herself when death was creeping closer. A gun held at her head, an egotistical bastard probably laughing his ass off, ready to pull the trigger and leave her lying here with the rest of her survivors. The situation was dire, so she made a desperate move.
Throwing all her weight to the side she launched her body into a flip, the movement of her leg just managed to unbalance Torchwick and send him down as well, though not for long. His response was immediate as he quickly pulled himself to his feet, Stonewall just managing to get onto her knees to crawl, her damaged eyesight making it hard to move correctly.
"Looks like you made my decision that much easier" Stonewall tried to crawl faster, but upon hearing a rushing pair of footsteps she felt the hands of Torchwick's accomplices grab hold of her and pull her to her feet rather forcefully, the Emerald haired one placed a small machete like object just below Stonewall's throat. Even if her vision was blurry she could make out the smiling bastard in front of her, raising the gun again. It was worth a shot, at least Weiss and Ruby ar-
Torchwick let out a scream of pain as he dropped the gun, his firearm clattering to the floor with drips of blood following it. Stonewall realised that Torchwick was now clasping his should, his now rather red shoulder that seemed to have something pale atop it, though after a second to focus on the pale object she just managed to make out that it was a tiny hand.
"R-ruby!?"
Torchwick screamed again as the hand rose up with what looked like a shard of glass and then proceeded to slam right back down into the man's shoulder, Ruby was hanging off of Torchwick's back, one hand keeping her up as her other hand continued to stab the man repeatedly.
But this didn't continue for long as Torchwick managed to catch the stabbing hand in a tight grip and forcefully pull it away from him, before then dragging the small girl off of his shoulders with his face almost scarlet with anger, ripping her already ripped shirt as he threw her to the ground, breathing wildly. "You…little…shit…" He managed to breathe out as he still gripped his bleeding shoulder, barly able to move that arm without nearly howling at the pain.
"My name is Ruby Rose, and I won't let you kill her…" Ruby was on her feet, a bit bruised, but still determined as she stared the rather intimidating man down. "Go away." She held the shard high and charged at the man again in an attempt to stab him again, but his anger suddenly turned to a dark smile as he chuckled. In the corner of her eye, Stonewall could just see Weiss a bit away from the scene, a small pistol in her shaking hands.
Raising his good arm Torchwick did not hesitate to drive is fist straight into the little girls face, knocking her right off her feet and too the ground. The small body of the girl hit the floor like a ton of bricks and was met with no resistance, going completely rigid at the impact of the punch. She's not moving…Dear god, please Ruby. Just be unconscious… For both you and Yang's sake
"Kids these days, never properly taught discipline" He looked around for his weapon, his shoulder still acting as a handicap. "And that lack of proper education leads to them dropping like flies" In his search Torchwick was surprised (Yet again) to see the tall white haired child standing way away at the other side of the square, a firearm raised. "Seriously? How many of you are there!?"
Weiss's only reply was to pull the trigger of her weapon, though the bullet as nowhere near hitting anyone, she didn't seem to have much sill in aiming. Glancing to the side Torchwick smirked to see the flickers of fear Stonewall held on her face as Weiss fired. "Alright, kid. It's obvious you can't aim and have completely no chance of killing us. So please stand still as my friends peacefully disarm you. Mercury."
The man in question nodded towards Torchwick and started to walk towards Weiss, a little scared when she continued to raise the weapon towards him with a warning gaze, still he continued towards her… Only for her to fire a bullet right into his leg. Mercury clutched his not bleeding leg as he collapsed to the ground, Weiss kept a stone cold gaze on him. "I wasn't aiming to wound or kill any of you..."
"Then you're just playing around with firearms? Tut, tut, tut. Such an irresponsible little tyke" Torchwick chuckled again, though confused when Weiss continued
"...I was aiming to get some attention"
There was no time to ask the obvious question when loud footsteps echoed across the square, the screeches that accompanied it were akin to a cat dragging it's nails across a chalk board. The foul odor seemed to intensify as the scratching came closer, a deep and loud growl chilling everyone there to their very bone. Stonewall was dropped as Emerald backed away at a snails pace, the creature now in full view. It stood tall on all fours, almost wolf-like with an expressionless black husk of a face that looked to all the available prey as it's teeth scraped it's tongue. "You purposely brought a Grimm!? What is wrong with you!?" Emerald attempted to scream quietly at Weiss.
There was no mistaking it, the creature was the same one that had almost pounced upon them back at 'Dust Till Dawn', but somehow it had grown much more larger in the brief time since then. Stonewall didn't have any time to ponder on this upon realizing that no one was holding her any more, prompting her to slowly pull her self away from the Grimm as it's head darted between both Torchwick and Mercury with the closest it could managed for a hungry look.
At this moment Ruby decided to awaken from her forced slumber with a groggy groan, though the groan got caught in her throat half way through as she noticed the Grimm, causing her to freeze to the spot, her breath hitched and had her feeling a very simmilar feeling as to when the Grimm had almost found them before.
"Why is it eyeing us? The girl brought it here!" Mercury moaned with a slight increase in his breathing, his leg basically useless at this point with the bullet hole through it. Though on the fortunate side for him, his fear of the creature in front of him seemed to have sent a wave of numbness through his entire body that seemed to ebb away the pain of his leg.
Ruby found herself casting a glance to Torchwick's bleeding shoulder before looking back towards the Grimm, noticing that it's make-shift nose and mouth were the only visible facial feature, before letting out a slight 'Ah', a revelation coming to mind. Could it be... It's because they're bleeding bleeding, the thing is attracted to the blood. Maybe... Maybe I can't see eyes because... It doesn't have any. It's only following sound and smell! She looked back to Torchwick who seemed to start getting the same idea as her as he began to rip off the sleeve of his suit to wrap around his shoulder wound. Is he trying to cover up the smell?
The Grimm raised it's head while screwing up it's nose as if attempting to sniff something else, it seemed to turn it's head in search of something, impersonating the look that resembled confusion. But soon it turned to set it's 'sights' solely on Mercury, who let out a small whimper at the sudden attention. Maybe it's interpreting Torchwick's fading stench as Torchwick getting further away, leaving only one easy target...
Torchwick suddenly took off in a sprint without even casting a glance back at the creature, launching away from the beast towards where Stonewall had originally been hiding. The Grimm roared at this and charged forward using it's extremely powerful-looking hind legs to push it into a deadly speed, it's mouth fully open to reveal an array of sharp and malformed teeth situated on it's jaws. At the sight Mercury let out a mix of a scream and a cry as he looked towards the fleeing Torchwick, his hand outstretched as he yelled "Torchwick, you bastard. Don't leave me here to die!"
Emerald looked to Torchwick to see the response to her friend's pleas, but all she saw was one glance from the Crimson haired man before he simply rolled his eyes and continued running. "Sorry, Kids. But I'm not one to stick around the hopeless!" Emerald gritted her teeth as he disappeared around the corner without even looking back, a few curse words let loose from her lips as she turned back to face the screaming Mercury, rushing towards him.
Unfortunately for Mercury the Grimm reached the fallen man before any one else and happily clamped it's jaws around his leg wound, it's teeth stabbing into the bullet hole while the man let out anguished screams. Emerald took her machete from it's holster and didn't even hesitate before running through the beats head, causing it to let go of the leg as it howled, it's ink like blood staining the tip of the blade.
During the chaos of the Grimm's attack Weiss had rushed around the Grimm and proceeded to the fallen woman, kneeling before Stonewall and pulled her arm to wrap around her shoulder, resting the woman's weight on her shoulder. "I can't believe that worked!" She brought Stonewall to her feet and started to look for a quick exit as the woman on her shoulder started to talk.
"You PLANNED to bring a Grimm here? Are you insane? That could of backfired in so many ways!"
Weiss bit her lip at the berating from Stonewall, feeling pretty foolish for preforming such a risky move "It had a better chance of working then letting those guys shoot you..." She looked down at her feet in shame, like when her father used to yell at her over reckless actions. Back then...Before this...Urg, how did I suddenly start thinking about that?
"You did good, Schnee. You saved our asses today" Stonewall gave Weiss a nod, which Weiss interpreted as the closest Stonewall could get to an actual smile and nodded back. "Now, we have to get out of here. Come on, Ruby! If we're quick enough we can leave before the Grimm's done with it's new toy!" Stonewall's call to Ruby seemed to go unheard as Ruby was... Distracted.
The small girl sat on her knees watching the scene playing out by the tree, the Grimm had Mercury in it's jaws and what Ruby assumed was his friend stabbed the beast. The Grimm simply rose from it's food as dug it's claws into the side of the Emerald haired girl's head, launching he backwards and leaving a nice deep scar across her face with a few bits of skin completely gone.
"Ruby! Come on!" She didn't flinch at the calling of her name as she stared at the helpless man on the ground, her hand twitching when her gaze moved towards the machete that now lay closer to her on the ground. I can run now. The monster is distracted... I can get out of this alive. But why arn't I moving? Is it fear? No, something else...A desire... That man is so helpless, defenseless. Like us, he was just trying to survive... I can't leave him there!
Without a second though Ruby took off into a sprint towards the Grimm, briefly bending downwards mid-sprint to scoop up Emerald's dropped weapon in her hands, despite the cries of her companions she didn't slow down or even contemplate turning away. Even if my life is on the line...Even if it might be stupid... I can't just let this guy die, even if I don't know why. It was crazy, rash and stupid, but driven by her need to help she just couldn't let him die. The Grimm had now compactly taken half of the man's hand into it's mouth, the man seemingly having ran out of the energy to scream as the pain overtook him.
Upon reaching the feasting creature she felt something deep inside her overcome her usually nervous self, like a sudden rush of energy, anger and determination. She plunged the machete into the beast's stomach while her other hand reached up to grab a hold of one of it's horns, the creature emitted a cry that threatened to break Ruby's ears as it swung around to face it's attacker, but the momentum of the turning pulled Ruby up due to her grip on it's horn, sending her over the Grimm's back with the machete dislodged from the now leaking stomach.
With no hesitation she raised the machete and brought it down on the creature's snout (Which still held onto Mercury's hand), digging down to what was left of it's bones causing the Grimm to raise it's feral claws to slash at her. The small girl quickly ducked below the swing of the claws and threw her weight forward and under the Grimm's drooling mouth before rising to her feet, raising the machete again and wasting no time in bring it down on the rotting snout, cutting right through the bones and to the other side, completely taking the Grimm's snout off along with a few of Mercury's fingers.
The Grimm was pushed into a sudden surge of panic and confusion with the loss of two of it's four remaining senses, stumbling back it let out a pained howl as it swayed uneasily, as if it suddenly became cut off from it's own vision (Aside from the vision it already lost) and it definitely could not take it. Ruby backed away as the Grimm began to blindly swipe at the air with yet another anguished cry The sounds it's making, they're terrible..It's crying...I-I... She shook her head and glanced at Mercury who was currently being dragged away from an almost relived looking Emerald, who was still shaking from the Grimm's slash. Before looking away Ruby was able to see the one look that Mercury sent to her, it was as if he wanted to spew gratitude, but was unable to.
Ruby turned and ran with that sudden rush that came over completely gone now as she still tightly gripped the bloody machete, she seemed to reach Weiss and Stonewall in no time, who were both off in the corner unsure of what they were going to do when Ruby ran off. "What the hell was that!? Rushing a Grimm with just a machete, you could of been killed!" Ruby was surprised to be enveloped in a hug by Weiss, who seemed not to mind the black blood and grime that stained Ruby's shirt.
"I...I don't know what came over me, but... I had to" It was easy to tell that Stonewall was about to interject with a steel toed remark, but Ruby quickly pleaded "Let's just go, please. There could be more" The girl was now on the verge of tears as she hugged Weiss tightly. Stonewall simply nodded as both Weiss and Ruby assisted in helping the woman walk, Weiss stealing quick stunned glances at Ruby.
I don't get it, one moment you're wading through blood to de-snout a Grimm, then you're barley holding it together on the verge of tears. Ruby Rose... You're worrying me...