Despite the pain he was in, Roy dragged himself to one knee and pulled his scroll from his pocket. The scroll let out a quiet beep, signaling that the beacon was still active and Roy dropped it beside Ebony. Lurching to his feet, he staggered as his side burned horribly and the stream of blood from the wound surged slightly as his shift in position put more pressure on it. He started to limp away, intent on catching up with Dahlia and the Calamity. He felt Ebony grab his pant leg in a feeble attempt to keep him from leaving.
"Please, D-Don't go," she whimpered, tears still wet on her cheeks, "You'll die."
Roy painfully bent down and gently removed Ebony's hand from his pant leg, giving it a gentle squeeze.
"Maybe," he murmured, "But I can't just leave Dahlia alone."
Ebony looked helplessly at him, her mouth struggling to form words, "I… I… Lo...v,"
Roy turned away before she could finish and limped as quickly as he could after the grimm. One hand clutched Black Orchid and the other clamped over his side, trying to stem the flow of blood that still trickled freely between his fingers. He suddenly broke through the trees into another clearing and saw the grimm. Roy pushed his broken body to go faster as he saw that the Calamity had Dahlia suspended in the air by one arm as she swung tragodia, desperately trying to keep it at bay.
"Hey!" Roy roared, drawing the grimm's attention as it turned to face him. "Let her go!" Roy ordered, leveling his sword's point at the beast. Lightning flashed as the Calamity twisted its head to get a better view of the faunus.
"Now!" Roy growled.
The grimm gave a shriek, twisting its hand and breaking Dahlia's arm with a snap. It dropped her to the snow as she cried out and charged Roy, its four arms held in the air.
Roy twirled Black Orchid and met the grimm head on, dodging under its first barrage of blows. He pulled off a complicated series of feints and twirls, finally bringing his blade down on the Calamity's lower left arm. He felt a thrill as the sword bit into the flesh, cleaving through the limb and sending the hand tumbling to the turf with a thump.
The grimm shrieked in pain and backhanded Roy, sending him bouncing across the snow once more. He landed on his feet, ignoring the excruciating screams of protest from his wounds as he resumed his fighting stance. The Calamity kept its distance, nursing the stump of its arm and clawing the ground with its talons.
Roy quickly drew dust cartridges from his belt, sliding them into the chamber with trembling hands. Once his weapon was reloaded, he slid the cylinder back into its housing with a satisfying click. As if on cue the grimm charged him again, it's arms swinging wildly.
He parried the blows desperately, giving ground furiously to try and keep the Calamity at a distance. He stabbed forward and speared the grimm through its hand. Quick as lightning, it snapped its hand shut on the blade before Roy could withdraw it and pulled the huntsman forward. The beast lunged forward, biting deeply into Roy's shoulder with its wickedly sharp beak. Roy cried out and pulled Black Orchid's trigger, sending electricity arcing through the Calamity's hand.
It threw him away like a dirty rag, his blade sliding free of the beast's hand. He landed on his feet again, but this time his legs failed him and he tumbled backwards into the snow. Somehow, he dragged himself to one knee as his vision grew fuzzy and his adrenaline started to wane.
"You taste of fear," a croaking voice spoke, causing Roy's head to snap up; the Calamity had just spoken.
Maybe it was the pain interfering with his brain, or maybe it was the fact he'd seen such insane things these past few weeks, but when the grimm spoke, all Roy could do was answer back.
"I wouldn't know what that tastes like," he gritted out, clutching the gaping cuts on his shoulder.
The Calamity's beak opened and its tongue snaked out, lapping at where Roy's blood stained it.
"You must have some idea," it spoke again, clacking horribly on certain syllables; the grimm having trouble forming them with its beak.
Roy stood shakily, fighting the waves of nausea that washed over him. He could smell the grimm from where he stood, it was the smell of death, of rotting flesh and of decay. Roy slowly leveled Black Orchid at the grimm once more.
"Why don't you enlighten me?" he asked coolly.
"Fear tastes of blood," The Calamity began, "of frantic heart beats, of tears, of regrets and hopes dashed."
A horrible noise bubbled up from the creature's throat and Roy realized it was laughing. The beast lowered its head and raised its two uninjured arms, almost in a shrug.
"Shall we end this?" it croaked.
Roy nodded and the two opponents charged each other one final time. The beast feinted with its arms, going for an overhead swing with one arm before quickly swinging its other arm in from the side. Roy dropped to the ground, allowing the talons to whoosh over his head. His adrenaline was back up, dampening his pain as he rolled to the side and avoided one of the beast's feet as it slammed down beside his head. He leapt up and deflected another blow, gripping his sword with both hands.
They went at it hammer and tongs for what seemed like hours. For every blow Roy blocked, two made it through. One finally put him on his back in the snow, his vision swimming as he struggled to get up. The Calamity's foot came down and pinned his sword arm to the ground. Roy desperately tried to free his arm, beating at the taloned foot with his fist. The grimm observed him passively, leaning down until its beak was inches from his ear so he could hear it over the rumbling thunder.
"Another hero falls…" it whispered, "tell me...will they mourn you, faunus?"
It raised its hand to cave the faunus's skull in and Roy glared back at his foe, his blue eye meeting its glaring yellow eye. There came the sound of metal cleaving flesh and the Calamity stumbled backwards, freeing Roy's arm. It turned to find Dahlia, who had just sunk Tragodia up to its hilt into the thing's thigh.
"We would mourn him," she gasped, "But no one will miss you!"
The Calamity belted her across the chest, sending her flying back into the woods. Roy leapt up, his sword glowing orange as he held down the trigger on Black Orchid and sent fire dust pouring into the blade. His hand blistered as the heat finally ate away the insulation in the cartridge chamber, causing the metal to heat up. Roy lunged forward with a fierce cry and plunged his glowing sword into the grimm's chest.
The Calamity shrieked and tried to pull away but Roy pressed after it, shoving the blade deeper and deeper. The grimm brought one of its massive fists slamming into Roy's head, once twice, three times in a desperate bid to free itself from the still glowing blade. The faunus doggedly hung on as long as he could, right up until the fourth blow slammed into his cheek and he felt it fracture. Finally, he allowed Black Orchid's hilt to slip from his grasp as he slid down onto the snow.
The energy drained from his limbs, only to be replaced by a horrible burning pain. All he could do was watch as the Calamity gripped his weapon and wrench it from its chest, black ooze trailing from the wound. It advanced on Roy, pinning him to the ground with its taloned foot. Roy clutched feebly at the Calamity's foot, but he didn't have the strength to resist anymore. The grimm raised the sword higher, preparing to snuff out Roy's life with one final strike.
Suddenly the grimm jerked and a spear like object emerged from its mouth, having punched through the beast's head from behind. It choked and made a horrible gagging sound as it slid to its knees, dropping Roy's sword. Roy vaguely saw figures hurrying toward the two of them from across the clearing and dragged himself onto all fours, blood dripping from his nose and mouth.
The smell of the black liquid that oozed from the creature's wound turned Roy's stomach and he vomited into the snow. He crawled away from the creature, trying to put some distance between himself and the creature. Some lingering strength pushed him back to his feet as he staggered toward where Dahlia had been thrown. He only managed four steps before his strength gave out, finally succumbing to the blood loss and pain as he dropped heavily to his knees. Slowly, his body tipped backwards until he was flat on his back in the churned up snow.
From where he lay, Roy could look up and see the sky. The dark clouds had lightened slightly as they'd fought and now, a gentle rain began to fall. Roy felt the cool rain on his skin, the only comforting sensation besides the cold of the snow at his back and sighed. His eyes drifted closed, plunging the world into darkness as the cold comforting hands of unconsciousness claimed him as their own.
The fight is finally over, now the fight for survival begins.
But who saved them? all will be revealed, next chapter.
Until next we meet,-Ar3mRising.