Hunters and creatures of the night. New faces adorn each side, but the struggle remains the same. The collective of huntsman and huntresses pushing back against the relentless tide of chaos and destruction that is the Grimm. An unyielding enemy pitied against staunch warriors driven by faith, duty, promise of payment or/and perhaps...something else entirely. The hunt spares no one in its wake as for one to truly fight monsters one must understand them, and in doing so a hunter risks giving in to the madness of the Grimm and becoming a monster themselves. Such is the fate of being a hunter, for you will always hunt monsters as that is a hunter's solemn duty and promise to the world. Embrace the hunt and just think of this passing nightmare as all but a bad dream. It will be all over soon enough and only then may you rest.
"It'll be a regular journey to the East! Yeah, I like the sound of that." Sun boisterously exclaims while sitting upon the ship's guard railing.
Blake slowly blinks and continued to peer out into the vast ocean that's reflecting the dull light of the shattered moon above. With the Grimm defeated and a destination set for Menagerie, there was little to do besides bide her time and tolerate Sun's shining personality.
Blake and Sun look out across the ocean in shared silence for a bit longer until Blake removed her arms from the railing proclaiming, "I'm going to go to bed. Don't get caught alright. I doubt the crew would like finding a stowaway."
Sun hops down from the railing to voice his concern, "Wait, you aren't going to share your cabin with me?"
"I don't think I will. I did pay for it myself," explains Blake with a hint of irritation. It had been a stressful journey to make it this far and to listen more to Sun for the evening made her ears twitch ever so slightly.
"Fine fine, I can read a room. But, if you get lonely don't be afraid to find me in the decks below," Sun says with a wink, which managed to elicit a groan from Blake as the monkey Faunus scampered away to a door the lower storage decks.
"Time for me to turn in as well," Blake murmurs to herself as she began walking to her small quarters. The cabin provided her with a simplistic shelter with a bed, mirror, and some other basic amenities, but most of all it was a place where she could consider her next course of action. What to do against the White Fang. Against Adam.
Blake reached her cabin door with not a soul in sight as everyone had also retreated for the evening wanting to forget about the Grimm attack earlier in the day. Blake stands at her door for a brief moment to let out a deep sigh. She feels mentally drained from the further complication of Sun deciding to volunteer himself with her travels. Opening the cabin door with a quick swipe of her keycard Blake strides into the room to see the well-made bed, small open floor, and untouched wash area laid out before her.
Wanting to retire immediately Blake begins to walk into the cabin as the door slides shut behind her with hardly a sound. Though exhausted Blake's huntress' trained senses alarm her to something being amiss as her ears twitch.
Blake quickly draws Gambol Shroud from its sheath and points the blade at a figure clad in a black cloak with a strangely designed protrusion placed over their face while they lean their back casually against the corner of the near sidewall in the room. Blake narrows her eyes at the unmoving masked figure that hadn't even uncrossed its arms.
"Who are you and why are you in my room?" Blake angrily demands in hopes to rouse a reaction out of the intruder.
The masked intruder chuckles darkly for a moment before they lament, "Not too quick on the uptake are we dearie? I'd peg you for a 3rd year at best, now put away that weapon."
"Answer the question," Blake once again asks now with a more dangerous edge to her voice while tightening the grip on her signature weapon.
"I'm Eileen. A huntress, much like yourself." Eileen calmly replies, causing a deep sense of unease within Blake's gut that begins to form.
Blake's caution now gestating into fear asked, "Why are you here?"
"I can see you shaking in your boots. Unfettered by a few grisly beasts? A huntress must hunt, no?"
"What are you talking about?"
Eileen now moves for the first time since Blake had entered the room. Standing straight up it's apparent Eileen isn't remarkably tall or an imposing individual yet she gives off an air of danger with her lack of care for Blake's drawn blade.
"Beacon," Eileen said. Blake's breath hitched for a brief moment at the cloaked woman's declaration, and Eileen continued, "Tis a terrible thing to abandon one's duty in the thick of things, wouldn't you think?"
Now beginning to panic with the mysteriously informed stranger than snuck their way into her quarters Blake asks, "What do you want from me?"
"An answer. Us huntsman and huntresses scurry about looking for Grimm, and yet here I find a talented girl in the most unusual of places." Notes Eileen as she shrugs off her cloak to reveal a combat garment made of black padded leather topped off with a cloak of feathers. Eileen takes a step forward and continues, "Do you know what I am, girl?"
Blake, instinctively taking a step back and placing another hand upon the grip of Gambol Shourd replied in an unsure tone, "A huntress? You still haven't given me an answer as to what you want…"
"I am indeed a huntress, though I don't hunt Grimm like most," Eileen takes a deep breath with her pause and continues, "I hunt those who abandon their duty."
In a sudden flash of steel, Eileen's dual curved blades seem to slide out from each of her sleeves. In a desperate maneuver, Blake brings her blade to try and cleave the mysterious hunter. Swinging her blade down, Blake finds her blade blocked by one of Eileen's long daggers and is forced to jump back to avoid the old hunter's follow-through attack.
"You cannot win this fight, child. Forfeit your life, and you may yet find mercy," Eileen suggests, though Blake doesn't seem enthralled by the premise as she grits her teeth.
Without a response, the two huntresses crossed blades once more with Eileen parrying all of Blake's strikes while managing to disarm Blake of her sheath in the process. Blake looked around the confined room and decided to open the cabin door leading into the hallway. As she manages to quickly swipe her keycard to open the door Eileen delivers a crushing front kick to Blake's torse, sending the cat Faunus crashing into the cabin door across the narrow hallway.
Blake lets out a cough to help get her oxygen back and to try and assess her aura level as it had flared briefly when she made an impact with the cabin door. Blake turns to face her aggressor and immediately shifts her weight to slide into a back handspring as one of Eileen's wicked shaped daggers burrows itself a few inches into the door where Blake's head had been just a moment before.
"Not bad," mused Eileen as she walks out of Blake's cabin casually and removes her dagger from the wall, "But you're going to have to do better than that, kitten."
Blake's eyes narrow as her temper begins to boil over at the scathing Faunus comment from Eileen and growls in a rising volume, "Don't call me that!"
Eileen chuckles to herself as she reengages with the cat Faunus in melee combat, with Blake losing ground and trying to create more space for her acrobatics to avoid the enemy huntress's precise strikes and parries. Blake creates a shadow clone to distract Eileen to buy her some time to switch Gambol Shroud to its gun mode, though the clone is quickly dispelled by the sounds of a gunshot.
Looking past the dissipated clone Blake witnesses that Eileen had closed her blades together to transform them, and in her off-hand is now wielding a sleek looking revolver. Blake, in a panic, begins to spray from her weapon down the narrow hallway to riddle her opponent. Just as Blake believes she is getting the upper hand and distance away from her would-be assassin, she sees Eileen vanish into a vortex of mist and pass by her at a ridiculous speed.
With no time to spare Blake transforms Gambol Shroud back to its melee form to clash with Eileen's elongated blade that seems to appear from the mist along with its wielder. Eileen and Blake exchange a few more slashes as Blake continues to give ground to the more seasoned fighter.
"I need to be careful, her semblance of turning into mist is extremely dangerous," Blake thinks to herself as she scanned the hallway for another exit.
Not wanting to completely turn tail and run towards the exit which would expose her back to Eileen's revolver, Blake continues to work quickly backward as she is finding it difficult to parry the quick strikes from the beak-masked huntress. Just as Blake is sensing the staircase approaching she decided to take a risk and bolt up the stairs and to use a clone as cover.
Blake releases her clone to distract Eileen for the crucial moment to turn around into a sprint, though it is met with immediate pain and is sent flying down the stairs as the sound of another revolver shot echoes through the ship. With Blake still airborne, she tries to twist her body to soften her landing, but she quickly sees the quick movement of mist below her and Eileen materializes at the bottom of the staircase awaiting her prey.
Eileen parries Blake's desperate slash with Gambol Shroud, and in one smooth motion holsters her pistol and separates her blades into the two daggers that Blake had seen at the start of the fight. Blake's eyes go wide with fear as Eileen delivers a nasty two-pronged thrust to the cat Faunus sending her violently back into the stairs completed by the sound of shattering glass and a brief glimmer over her body signifying that her aura had reached its limit.
Panicked and in pain from the flurry that had just taken place, Blake looks up to her assailant and asked, "Are you going to kill me now?"
Eileen remains motionless for what seems like a lifetime to Blake until she finally mutters, "No, I don't think I will. You show promise."
Expecting blade at her throat, Blake instead finds a hand from Eileen awaiting her. Blake looks up in confusion at the opposing huntress she asks, "Why?"
"Without fear in our hearts, the aura in our veins, and friends at our backs we are little different from the Grimm."
Blake remains silent and motionless as a few of the ship's crew members begin to make their way down the staircase and one of them shouts, "What's going on down there?"
"Huntsman business, leave us," Eileen instructs as she sheathes her weapons and pulls out her scroll to show her official status, which shows she is indeed an active huntress hailing from Vale.
"R-right, of course! We shall let the captain know and ease the passengers," One of the crew members prattles out as they leave the lower deck to Blake and Eileen.
Eileen watches the crew members leave before returning her attention to Blake and tells her, "Listen closely. Your life is forfeit. As a Huntress of hunters, I claim you."
Eileen pulls Blake to her feet a bit gruffly and Blake asks, "What happens now? What am I to you? Just another Faunus to pawn off to someone?"
Eileen chuckles which draws out a look of fury on Blake's face. Eileen waves her hand in front of Blake to dismiss her accusations and snaps, "No, silly child. You are a huntress in training and lacking a team, allies, a home, and a purpose. I eavesdropped on you and your blonde friend earlier. You are mine now, and I will show you what it means to be a huntress. Know that my work bears no glory that many other huntsmen seek, but it is important all the same."
Blake slumps down a bit as Eileen makes her point and asks, "Okay. What are your plans?"
"To Menagerie of course. That is where my mark lies in wait. The hunt is always on, but for now, this evening calls for some rest," Eileen decides as she begins to lead Blake back to her cabin quarters.
Blake remains silent as she tries to wrap her head around the quick turnaround of circumstances that had just taken place. Where just an hour ago her biggest worry was about going home and dealing with the White Fang, she now finds herself in perhaps a worse predicament with a strange huntress that seems to hunt down rogue huntsman.
"Here we are, get some rest. I'll explain more tomorrow," Eileen instructs as Blake flashes her keycard to open up the door. As Blake is one step into her cabin she hears Eileen remark, "And dearie, please don't think you can run away from me. I make a living tracking down huntsman. Just a small reminder. Sweet dreams, Blake."
Blake turns around curiously whispering, "I never told you my name before," to which Eileen leans in and whispers back, "I know."
The door shuts as the two separate and Blake moves to sit on her bed to try and shake the feeling of shock. Blake knows the woman's skill was undeniable with how she breezed through her defenses and how she couldn't manage to even land a hit on the evasive Eileen.
"Perhaps this is how I can become stronger," Blake muses to herself as she settles into bed with Gambol Shroud nearby.
Down the hallway, Eileen is walking back to her room with a smile hidden underneath her mask. It had been a few weeks since she had sprung into action like she had tonight, but without a doubt, she knew she was slowing down.
"I'm getting too old for this, the damn kid almost had me a few times," Eileen thinks to herself as she finds her cabin. Eileen always knew her age would eventually catch up to her, especially in the dangerous line of work she has committed herself to.
"This will be the last one," Eileen comments to herself as the door slides open and she walks in. The older lady begins to set aside her gear on the floor and take off her gear. Figuring she had instilled enough fear into the young Blake, she doesn't believe a follow-up fight will be necessary, unlike with some of her former apprentices.
Taking off her mask and armored leather top to reveal black feathers growing out of her arms paired with a weary aged face matched with mostly grey hair with only a few streaks of black left as reminders of distant youth. Eileen settles into bed and begins to plan her next move and how to lure out her prey that lies on Menagerie.
A/N: Hello readers! Just here to announce a little project I'm wanting to kickstart while writing my main fic, so here I am seeing what the audience here is for the fandom and if people would be into this kind of story as I had an itch to practice writing a combat scene and practice my third-person POV. Anyways, just testing the waters since I'm a huge fan of Bloodborne (and all FromSoft games if I'm being honest) and I really like the world of RWBY, so I figured a smattering of the two would fit nicely. Also, I didn't want to include 'The Hunter' as they are just a blank player avatar, and I'm looking to expand on pre-existing characters.
For those that are curious to when this happens, it's right at the end of Season 4 Episode 3 when Blake and Sun take down that water-dragon-serpent Grimm...thing.
Anyways, I hope this was fun to read and if people are craving more I'll definitely flesh this out more.
Have a good day!