Now, I did say that this story was going to get darker. It will kind of reflect how the RWBY series also got darker in tone. That being said, the next chapter will be a lot lighter than this one. You should just use this chapter as a glimpse into how dark this story can turn out to be. Also, if you are bad with horror and gore, do not read the interlude. I REPEAT! DO NOT READ THE INTERLUDE IF YOU ARE BAD WITH GORE AND STUFF LIKE THAT. Hope you enjoy the chapter! Don't be afraid to drop a review!
It was one of those days where Jaune got dragged out to go shopping for improvements to his sword with the other boys. Due to his actions in standing up for bullied students, he has become quite popular among certain student bodies such as the Faunus communities. This also meant that he does get into a fair amount of fights, but he always chalks it up as practice, and Pyrrha didn't have the heart to tell him to stop since he never gets too injured… usually. Today, Jaune ended up dragging Ren with him leaving just the girls in the dorm room.
"Pyrrha?" Hearing her name, Pyrrha put down the textbook she was reading and looked up to find a conflicted expression on Nora's face.
"I know that out of all of the students you are closest to Mr. H, and I want to know… Is Mr. H alright?" Pyrrha closed her textbook and sat up straighter.
"Why do you ask?"
"Yesterday, Mr. H fought off an entire horde of advanced level Grimm… while laughing… His laugh. It was so broken. And it made me realize something. Mr. H is hurting really bad, isn't he? Like the way he suddenly has this depressive atmosphere come over him and even his crude humor. It sounds like he's trying too hard to be funny at times. Yang thinks that it is because he lost someone close to him. Pyrrha… Is Mr. H really alright? Is there anything we can do to help him? He's done so much for us, and…" Nora didn't finish her sentence as she looked down in sorrow.
Pyrrha paused for some time as she tried to think of the best way to explain to Nora of Lich's weird situation without revealing too much. However, she also didn't want to lie to her teammates. "Nora. Mr. H's story isn't mine to tell. However, I can assure you that he is…"
Pyrrha's face twisted up. Past conversations and her recent talk with team CRDL came rushing back as she connected the dots. "Nora… Just give him time. I'll be sure to have a talk with him tomorrow."
Pyrrha knocked on Lich's dormitory door and entered. She has been meaning to have this conversation with him after her 'talk' with Team CRDL, but the timing was awful. Everyone was busy studying for the finals, and Lich himself was busy helping the teachers create the final exams as well as being swamped with paperwork due to the field trip incident. However, Pyrrha managed to grab one of Mr. H's private tutoring times in order to finally meet him. After saying goodbye to her team who was acting quite suspiciously, she went over to Lich's office room.
"Hello, Pyrrha. What can I help you with today?" Pyrrha gave a brief nod and took a seat before she began talking. She knew that Lich hated small talk regarding important things so she decided to be as blunt as possible.
"Did you kill them?" Surprised by Pyrrha's words, he put down the pencil he was holding and rubbed his helmet.
"Kill who? Pyrrha I've killed a lot of people. You may want to be a bit more detailed."
"The weekend before the field trip. The group of huntsmen."
"Who told you that?"
"It wasn't hard to see how uncomfortable team CRDL was during that field trip. After a little bit of prodding, it wasn't hard to get the full story from them."
"I see. What do you think Pyrrha? Do you think I killed them?"
"I'm asking you that question. Don't ask me." Lich slowly nodded before he took off his helmet. His glass eyes stared dully at Pyrrha's eyes.
"I did. They killed someone somewhat important to me. I refuse to hold back against those who hurt people I have good relations with."
"This Faunus… was he that important to you?"
"Not THAT important, but he played a big part in working up my courage to face you again. He also didn't deserve to die like the way he did." Pyrrha closed her eyes as she took a deep breath. Her worries were only increasing. She could tell that he wasn't being completely truthful with her.
"For someone who takes lives without a second thought, you have an astonishing intolerance for someone who does something similar to you." A dry laugh escaped from Lich.
"I'm a hypocrite. I know. On the bright side, what I did was within the laws. The evidence I procured…" Pyrrha interrupted him by holding up her hand.
"I know. That's why I'm not angry with you. You didn't break any laws, and you brought criminals to justice. I'm just disappointed. I know how strong you are Lich. Instead of simply apprehending them, you jumped straight to killing them. It just… It makes me sad at how little you think of life in general, and I realized something… Lich… You mentioned something about these dark thoughts of yours… They're not completely bottled up, are they?"
Lich stayed silent. This only prompted Pyrrha to continue. "You didn't kill those huntsmen because of some vengeance… You killed them because you wanted to. They gave you the perfect excuse to kill. Am I wrong?"
Lich opened and closed his mouth before he dropped his head in shame. "You're not wrong."
Pyrrha's next actions surprised him. She hugged him. "I'm so sorry Lich. I should have realized how much you were hurting."
Pyrrha bent down and looked him straight in his fake eyes. "I guess you weren't expecting me to hug you. I bet you were expecting me to start yelling at you and lecturing you right? I won't do that on someone who's clearly hurt and confused. I don't know what you're going through right now, but Lich… you can always talk about with me. I'm your friend who went through that cavern with you, aren't I? No matter how bad the situation is, I'll always be by your side."
Pyrrha noticed how close Lich was to giving in. He just needed a bit more of a push. "You're not a bad person. I know how hard you are trying to fight off those urges. Your kindness to everybody… It's all genuine. Everyone at Beacon cares for you, you know? They wouldn't care for you if you were a bad guy. I know that you're just misguided at times. Don't be afraid that I'll abandon you for knowing your situation. Let me help you.."
Lich let out a shuddering breath. "You're right Pyrrha. It hurts. It hurts really bad… In the caves, it didn't matter too much, but out here… There is so much life! It's so beautiful and colorful. Sure it has its dangers, but that only adds to its charms. And… and it SUCKS that I can't be a part of it. I hate it. I HATE IT! No matter how much I wish it, I can't be a part of it!"
Lich was now beginning to ramble as he poured out everything. "Everyone is so alive, and look at me. I'm just a walking skeleton. I just scream 'abomination of life' every time I look at my real body. Pyrrha. I don't belong here. I don't just mean belonging in this world, but also life in general. I don't belong in life! Let's be honest here. I should be dead!"
Lich took off his gloves and stared at his fake cold hands. "Not only that. As if questioning whether I even belong isn't enough… Every day. EVERY DAY. I question my humanity. Am I even a human anymore? I don't age, I don't sleep, I can't produce tears. Only MONSTERS don't produce tears. It's one of the reasons why I am clinging so hard to my promises. When I was a proper human, when I still had flesh and bones, I was known as someone who always kept my word. I was the guy who everybody could depend on. I thought that by replicating that in this form, it would be proof to myself that even though my body may no longer be human that I was still human in heart and soul, but…."
He grabbed his head. "I can't do anything a human enjoys! I can't eat all those delicious foods and drinks I see. Do you know how torturous it is to see people around me eating and drinking while I'm just sitting there unable to enjoy it with them? Did you know that I loved to sleep? I fucking love how I'm the only one who stays up while everyone partakes in something that I loved to do when I still had flesh. Do you think that I enjoy walking around in armor every single fucking moment? I also want to try out new clothes you know? There were some really cool shirts and pants I would love to wear, but nope! It just wouldn't work out before someone finds out that I look unnatural as fuck. To make it worse, because I don't have any flesh, I can't feel jack squat. I can't even feel the wind on my face or the warmth of the sun so it really doesn't fucking matter if I do end up walking around in a suit of armor anyways. You know… You know what's even worse?"
He looked up and pointed angrily between his legs. "I'm a man, and my fucking dick is missing! And I'm surrounded by hot girls! I would love to date, experience love, maybe I'll even find someone to settle down with… Then, I realize that I have no flesh! I can't even feel the girl I'm gonna hug, kiss, and all that stuff. It just really kills my motivation."
"Sometimes… I just want to end it all. This isn't a life I want to keep living. I just want to have some peace… But…" Lich reaches into his armor and pulls out his box.
"But… at the same time… I'm a coward. I could easily find three other people to open this box for me. Just get a knife and stab my heart. Just end it that way…" Lich went silent as he stared at the box. As if he was contemplating it seriously once more. Pyrrha reached over and swiped the box from Lich's hands.
"I'm confiscating this. Lich. I'm not letting you commit suicide. Promise me." Lich only shrugged.
"I don't have the courage to do so anyway."
"Promise me."
"I promise."
"Just in case of a loophole, I'm holding on to it." Pyrrha stared at Lich daring him to argue back, but Lich simply did not care.
All the energy escaped Lich as he slumped down on his chair and began chuckling darkly. "I'm just so… jealous... tired... angry... and depressed. I'm too cowardly to kill myself, and… I just want to end everything. Just kill everything. Stop dangling things I will never enjoy in front of me! And that's what I did… It's one of the reasons why I was so quick in dealing with assassinations and murder… It helped that this wasn't my world. I ended up thinking that this was all a dream or even a game. Yeah! I was just in a game! I can do whatever the hell I want! Nothing matters! Maybe killing everything will reset everything! That's how all fantasy games go right! The end of times is always the birth of something new! I'll be the greatest villain ever! Every story needs a villain! But then… the girl. She. I. I killed her father! I tore him in half! I remembered… I stopped since…. AAAAARGH!"
Lich abruptly stood up and grasped his skull. "I can't destroy the world of someone who's helped me so much! I'm still a human who is dependable and can repay debts right? I even made a promise with you Pyrrha. But even then… I still want to end everything. To just let go."
Pyrrha watched Lich's rant with sympathetic eyes and a clenched heart. She was a fool. One of her closest friends was suffering like this, and it took her this long to find out. Some friend she was. She reached over and grasped Lich's hands.
"Lich… I'm so sorry for not noticing this sooner. You should have come to me sooner with this."
Lich began laughing dryly. "And what? How could you possibly help me with this? You're already busy with school and living. I would just worry you for nothing. What type of friend will I be if I dump something you can an impossible burden on you? I don't want you to lose sleep over someone like me."
Pyrrha grasped his hands and stared hard at him. "And what type of friend will I be if I ignored a friend's struggles? Lich… I'm not the same helpless girl I was in the cave. You don't need to burden yourself with all the responsibilities like last time. Let me repay the favor this time."
"And how? How will you help me with this?"
"I don't know. But! I promise this to you. I WILL find a way. Although unintentional, I did get you out of that cave. I need you to have faith that I will find some way to help you. Please trust me." There was no further need for words as Lich merely began sniffling. It was unnerving to hear crying sounds from a face that did not change expressions, but Pyrrha once more hugged Lich as sobbing noises came from him.
"If I could just properly cry…" Pyrrha didn't say anything as she pats Lich in the back. Even though he won't feel it, it just felt like the right thing to do.
"Alright Pyrrha. I'll trust you… However, what should we do about my urges until then? Like you found out, it's really hard to bottle it up sometimes."
Pyrrha put her hands to her chin and thought for some time. "First, is there any trigger to these urges?"
"Whenever I feel negative emotions, they tend to pop up."
"What do these urges entail? Are they just killing or…"
"Mainly killing. Sometimes torture." Pyrrha raised her eyebrows at the second part, but she decided not to comment.
"How do you usually endure these urges?"
"I just repeat the promise I made to you in my head. Over. And over. And over. But sometimes it gets too much so I try to find loopholes." Pyrrha sat down as she digested the new information.
"Hmmm…. If it's my promise to you that's keeping you back… Do you think you would be able to hold back better if you were near someone you cared about? From what I've seen, you seem to go great lengths to hide your urges from friends… Not only that negative emotions are your triggers so… maybe being next to friends will allow you to hold back better?" Lich just stared at Pyrrha like she was insane.
"What is this? Fucking Fairy Tail and Naruto? That's the best you can think of? Fucking friendship power?"
Pyrrha raised her hands. "Well, anything to prevent negative emotions. But let's be honest here Lich, you seem to be happiest when you are near friends since well… there's not much else that makes you happy right?"
Lich sighed… It was true in a way. He used to be and still is a bookworm so he wasn't very sports minded. The novelty of hobbies in general faded after his isolation in the caves. Staring at sunrise and sunsets didn't last forever. Eating good food didn't work. If anything, foods that looked appetizing now had an opposite effect on Lich. Pyrrha was right. Being starved of human contact for so long… It was no wonder that being with people that he liked made him happier the fastest.
"Besides." Pyrrha made a goofy grin. "You should never underestimate the power of friendship."
Lich snorted and was about to retort something when he suddenly froze up and stared at his door. Pyrrha was about to ask what was wrong, but he quickly put a finger to her lips. He slowly stalked his way to the door and yanked it open. An empty hallway greeted him. Unsatisfied, he dropped a couple of insect corpses to the ground and let them scurry away. Just then, a small yelp of surprise could be heard from around the corner. Faster than Pyrrha could even blink, Lich sprinted out from the doorway and tackled the person before he could escape.
"Lich? What's going… Ren?" Pyrrha stepped outside to see Lich grabbing Ren in some sort of chokehold.
"Uncle. Uncle" Ren gasped out those words as he tapped on Lich's arm. Now that Lich confirmed the identity of who he was grabbing, he let go of Ren who collapsed on the floor gulping in as much air as possible.
"Ren. Were you eavesdropping on us?" Ren looked up at Pyrrha, and after he caught his breath, he began speaking.
"I didn't mean to. I wanted to give a proper thank you to Mr. H, but with my time in the hospital and how busy everyone was… I decided to try and match up my time with your tutoring session…" Mr. H crouched down and stared at Ren.
"How much did you hear?" Ren grimaced at Mr. H's question before answering, "Something about you having no flesh, and you having murderous urges?"
Mr. H placed a firm grip on Ren's shoulders. "We… all three of us… are going to have a nice long talk."
Surprisingly, after having Pyrrha tell Ren the entire story with Lich intersecting here and there, Ren's expression was quite static throughout the entire story time. So much that Lich ended up asking if he was alright.
"Oh no. I'm alright. It's just so unbelievable. I'm shocked."
"You don't look shocked…"
"Mr. H, you should know by now that I am very good at controlling facial expression. Do you not remember our poker sessions? How you always call me the king of poker faces?" Mr. H laughed at Ren's reminder. He had a point. However, now it was time to ask the most important question of all.
"So… Ren. What now? What are you going to do with this information? Are you going to tell Ozpin that he has a walking corpse with sociopathic tendencies in his school?" Ren leaned back and closed his eyes as he thought over everything he was told in addition to what he overheard through the door. As soon as he made up his mind, Ren stood up and stretched out a hand.
"I'm going to agree with Pyrrha here. When all is said and done, even though you have a shady past, when I think about our time together at Beacon… you're a good man. You help others, you always keep your promises. When students are stressed out, you throw insane parties. You helped our team leader Jaune through a difficult period. You risked your secret to save my life. If I'm going to be honest here, I am in no position to judge you Mr. H… or Lich… Whatever you want me to call you. You are also a great friend to one of my teammates. What type of teammate would I be if I turned my back on Pyrrha's friend? You will have my support through your struggles. You're not alone." Lich sat stunned at Ren's declaration, but he quickly recovered. He gladly took Ren's hands and shook it.
Pyrrha saw the entire thing with a big smile. "You always were the rational one Ren. You couldn't have said it any better."
After saying her piece, Pyrrha leaned over and pulled in the both of them into a small group hug. However, she forgot how light Lich was so she ended up using too much force resulting in all three of them falling down. While the three of them were on the ground trying to untangle themselves, Lich began laughing soon followed by Ren and Pyrrha.
"But seriously. What do you want me to call you?"
"Mr. H is fine. It makes me feel more professional."
"Do you want me to keep this all a secret as well?"
"Can you keep this a secret from Nora?"
"I've managed to keep where I stash all my special pancake batter a secret all these years." Lich pulled back in shock.
"Damn… You can keep a secret then. Then yes, please. I'm not comfortable with revealing the truth of my condition to a lot of people just yet. At the moment, it's just you and Pyrrha who knows… Right Pyrrha?"
Pyrrha raised and eyebrow and crossed her arms as she scowled. "I am shocked that you have so little faith in me. I haven't told anyone."
"Good. Just making sure. Sorry about that."
"I'm just messing with you." She gave a playful punch on Lich's arm.
Ren suddenly remembered something as he took out two separate forms. "Before I forget, here are Team JNPR and Team RWBY's application for your summer class."
"Really? RWBY I understand, but why you guys? Pyrrha should be enough to carry you guys through the festival."
Pyrrha spoke up to answer Lich's question. "We talked this over, and Jaune didn't want to depend on me too much for the festival. He realized that it would spark all sorts of nasty rumors and jealousy so he wants to avoid all that. Also, even though he made vast improvement as an individual through both of our help, he realized that he hasn't worked out much on our teamwork as a whole so he wants to use your class to improve on that as well."
"Hmm…. Pyrrha. You did read over the brochure, right? You would save yourself a lot of pain if you simply privately trained with your team you know?" At those words, Pyrrha paled a bit.
"Jaune wouldn't listen to my warnings." Pyrrha showed a bitter smile knowing full well of the hell that she was going to go through over the summer.
"Warnings? What warnings? I've read the brochure. It's not that bad." Pyrrha and Mr. H looked at Ren with a knowing look.
"Ren. As your teammate, I can honestly say that Mr. H's training methods can be… over the top for the lack of a better term."
"Oh stop exaggerating. It can't be that bad." Pyrrha winced because those were the same things she thought when she asked Lich to train her.
"Well, it's super late, and I'm going to go to bed. C'mon Ren. We've got those extra study sessions in the morning, remember? Bye Lich. See you tomorrow." Pyrrha softly closed the door to Lich's office as she began walking to her dorm room with Ren close behind her.
"Pyrrha… How are we going to help Mr. H? His… err… condition isn't something that can be solved by our technology." Pyrrha sighed as she pondered Ren's question.
"His case is definitely special. That's for sure. However, I do have a plan. In my time as the champion of those tournaments, I've gotten to meet a lot of people. One of those people was a certain crazy archeologist. She claimed that magic was real, but everyone thought she was some senile old lady. I'm going to do some research on some old ruins and some old lore. I think that's a good starting point on finding some sort of solution to Lich's problem. I also have some connections I could call for some stuff that's not common knowledge. Like the theory of aura transfer."
"I see… It's a relief to hear that you do have some sort of plan." Pyrrha only shot an evil eye at Ren in response.
"That being said. Thank you for helping us. It really means a lot."
"He saved my life. That alone should be enough reason. When I think about what Nora would go through… It's too much." Pyrrha put a comforting hand on Ren's shoulder.
"Well, that's enough depressing things for a day. Let's think about something else. Any plans over the weekends?" With those words, the two teammates entered their dorm room to see a sugar-rushed Nora and a panicking Jaune.
While Ren and Pyrrha were busy trying to bring order into their dorm, Lich was sitting down looking out the window at the shattered moon. Trying to smother the voice in his head that continuously whispered 'kill'.
Interlude
Four meat bags were loudly talking over a campfire eating a boar they had caught some time ago. The sun was slowly disappearing over the horizon, and the shattered moon began struggling to reflect what little light it could.
"Ah man. I can't believe that those stupid townsfolks actually fell for that. I was like extremely vague. How did they reach that conclusion."
"I know! You were just like, 'he was big and hairy. Very big.' And then they just automatically assume that Faunus. He wasn't even close to where we had that 'good time'."
"Yeah. That girl had a really nice body."
"Hey, hand me more of that meat."
"Sure… Hold up. Did you see that?"
"See what?"
"There was someone standing there a couple seconds ago." The four meat bags grabbed their weapons. One of the meat bags slowly made his way to the bush that his partner pointed at. There was nothing there.
"There's nothing. You jackass. You're making me jump at shadows." Suddenly, a loud crack echoed from behind them. The four meat bags looked at the direction of the sound.
"What was that?"
"Something's not right."
A sudden crash behind the four meat bags alerted them to a sight that made them jump with fear for a skeleton was hanging on a rope. Swaying with the wind, the skeleton made soft creaking noises.
"Shit. I think someone is messing with us."
"Wait. There's a note on the rib."
A meat bag angrily stomped over to the hanging body and ripped the note off. "You'll hang too. What the fuck?"
Without warning, the skeleton moved to grab the closest meat bag by the throat. With a strangled scream, the meat bag began pummeling the skeleton with the sword, but the meat bag was unable to get a proper good swing before the sword arm was grabbed as well.
"H-Help me!"
Three meat bags were about to help their teammate when the skeleton head turned with a spine-chilling creak. A laugh erupted from the skeleton, and with a giggly voice, the skeleton began speaking. "My. What eager fellows we have here! Do wait your turn like good little boys. I will make sure that..."
The skeleton stopped laughing, and the air cooled. The shadows of the trees morphed into desperate hands clawing at the three meat bags slowly stepping backward. A piece of ominous music began whispering from the skeleton's body.
"… you'll hang too."
With a shriek of pure fear, the three meat bags ran with all their might, abandoning their teammate who was still in the grasps of the skeleton. The meat bag was thrown against the tree with such force that the tree trunk splintered under the sudden collision. The rope snapped, and with long purposeful steps, the skeleton drew closer to the meat bag who was trying to regain his breath and crawl away.
A sickening crunch later, the meat bag cried in pain to see the skeleton brutally step on one of his legs. The skeleton raised his leg once more.
"No. No. Please!" The foot fell three more times. Despite the loss of four limbs, the meat bag tried to crawl away before a rope went around the meat bag's neck. With a tug, the meat bag's escape attempt failed as the meat bag was dragged closer and closer to a withered tree. On the way to the tree, the skeleton kicked the crying meat bag with tears and snot all over the meat bag's face.
"Stop crying. Stop doing something that I will never be able to do." Without another word, the skeleton arrived at the tree. With widening eyes, the meat bag pleaded with the skeleton as it threw a rope over a thick branch.
"P-please! Don't do this. L-let me go! I'll give you whatever you want."
"Whatever I want?" With desperate eyes, the meat bag nodded, daring to hope that the skeleton would spare him. The skeleton knelt and looked at the meat bag's eyes.
"Die for me. I want to see the life go out of your eyes." The meat bag's eyes widened as the skeleton pulled the rope with all its strength. Starved of air, the meat bag desperately tried to use his destroyed limbs to free himself to no avail. A meat bag hung from a tree.
Three meat bags were running with all their might through the forest. All thoughts were focused on survival.
"Call someone! Get a bull head ride out of here!"
"I can't! Something is jamming our signals!"
"Fuck!"
"I see you." The three meat bags ran even harder when a sudden voice called out from the depths of the forest. Suddenly, an entire swarm of dead insects began marching towards the three meat bags. With a gasp of disbelief and horror, they continued running, shooting at the swarm behind them.
They shot and shot and shot. But more and more and more insects filled up the holes. Eventually, the meat bags abandoned their weapons in an attempt to gain more speed. The dead insects continued to follow, nipping at their feet at times. The meat bag's breaths were running ragged. They have lost count of how long they had been running. Yet, the insects continued to follow them at every twist and turn. Despair began to creep up on the meat bags until they came upon a road with a small cabin to the side. The three meat bags ran with all their might to a cabin and began pounding on the door.
The door opened to reveal an armored man. The three meat bags burst into the cabin as they quickly grabbed everything to barricade the door. One of the meat bags turned towards the armored man. "Quick! Call someone! Anyone to bring a bull head over here! Call the army! The air force!"
The armored man did nothing and merely stood there. One of the meat bags marched over and grabbed the man's shoulders and shook it. "What's wrong with you? Are you deaf?"
A small glint came from the man's hands. It was the glint of a knife. "You'll hang too."
With widening eyes, the meat bag tried to step back, but it was too late. With sudden speed, the armored man grabbed the meat bag's shirt and pinned the meat bag to the wall and shoved a knife through the meat bag's throat. Blood splattered all over the armor as the meat bag, choking on the waters of his own body, weakly grasped at the knife as the life slowly began draining from the meat bag's eyes.
"One less person who enjoyed something I will never get." The armored man said this as he stared at the dying meat bag unable to fall due to the knife. One meat bag hung on the wall.
Seeing such a sight, the remaining two meat bags looked around and groaned with despair as they realized that they trapped themselves. The armored man lifted his helmet to reveal a skeletal head. With a cry of terror, both meat bags turned towards the barricaded door and tried to unblock it as fast as possible. Taunting the two meat bags even further, the skeleton slowly removed the armor piece by piece as slowly as possible.
The last piece of armor fell with a thud. The last barrier to the door collapsed. Both meat bags bolted for the door, but only one made it out. "H-help me! Don't leave me!"
Realizing that his teammate was long gone, the meat bag whimpered and stared at the incarnation of death. The smell of piss and shit filled the meat bag's nostrils. But soon, another scent filled the air. It was oil? The meat bag did not have another moment to think before the meat bag found himself hanging upside down inside the cabin. Without saying another word, the skeleton walked out and locked the door.
The meat bag breathed a sigh of relief as he hung in the cabin. The meat bag's nose twitched. Why did the meat bag smell smoke? Soon, screams echoed from the burning cabin. Screams that were harrowing enough to inspire ghost stories. One struggling meat bag hung inside a burning cabin.
The final meat bag continued running. Screams of his fellow meat bag fresh in his mind, the meat bag tripped over a root of a tree and sprained his ankle. Despite the pain, the meat bag endured and continued. He refused to die like his fellow meat bags.
An owl's hooting caused the meat bag's heart to skip a beat. The meat bag risked a look back resulting in him running into something bony. With a quick intake of fear, the meat bag looked up to see the figure of something that will forever haunt his nightmares should he survive. The skeleton slowly reached down to reach for the meat bag's neck.
"Please! Don't kill me! I'll repent! I'm sorry for whatever I did! I'll never do anything bad ever again! I swear!" The skeleton stopped and looked around.
"Okay. I won't hang you." The skeleton slowly walked away disappearing into the darkness of the forest. The Huntsman laid his head back onto the ground, shocked that he was still alive. The Huntsman continued to stare at the place in which the skeleton disappeared off to.
A sigh of relief escaped from the huntsman's mouth when the skeleton made no signs of returning. With shaky legs, the Huntsman winced at the sharp pain coming from his injured ankle. He sat down on a broken log and looked down to inspect the ankle. However, a sharp snap caused him to look up. A thousand red eyes peered back at the Huntsman from the depths of the forest. One final long scream echoed throughout the forest as the Grimm took the life of one more Huntsman.