Blake

"Rise and shine, huntress."

Blakes eyes open in a panic as the sound of an older female's voice permeates the cabin room. The sun hadn't risen yet from the darkness that envelopes the room. She instinctively reaches around her bed for Gambol Shroud but feels nothing except the hard mattress and thing sheets.

I knew I left it near me, Blake thinks to herself.

"We haven't all morning, dearie. Our stop is nearly here."

That voice again, Blake muses to herself as her groggy brain begins to put the pieces of last nights clash back together. She fought and lost to a huntress. Eileen was her name.

Blake shifts her body to an upright position to get a view of the room and with her adaptive Faunus eyes, she spots Eileen dressed in her black huntress garb with her beak-like mask obscuring her entire face and head. In Eileen's hands, she sees her holding Gambol Shroud as if appraising it's worth by tilting it to observe it's features better.

"That's my weapon," Blake states as she throws off the cover, though a dull pain wracks her left forearm as she maneuvers herself.

Eileen makes no comment or movements as Blake glances at her aching forearm and can't help but widen her eyes and gasp. Gingerly, with her other hand, she traces the new brand that has appeared on her inner forearm. The brand follows a line with three prongs with a dot in the middle of the inward-facing prongs.

How did I not feel this? She wondered as Eileen reiterates, "Get a move on, girl. We haven't much time to waste. I'll explain more on the way."

Blake looks up to her new captor asking, "What did you do?"

Eileen chuckles in a tone that causes the hair on Blake's neck to stiffen. "It's a brand. The marking of a Huntress of Hunters. We all bear them, and I should point out you sleep rather soundly for a huntress. That's good, considering the work we will be doing together."

Blake plants her bare feet on the cold steel floor and starts to put on her jacket and shoes. She could have sworn that she was more perceptive than this; to allow a stranger to mark her in such a demeaning way. The way Eileen's mask stares at her fills is unnerving at best, and downright sinister at worst.

"So," Blake continues to dress herself while keeping a close eye on the elder huntress. "What is your plan. Kuo Kuana is a few days away still."

"I have a mark. He was last seen in a small village on the peninsula of Menagerie, tending to a priory. He is a devout huntsman to the gods," Eileen pauses for a moment. "But something has gone wrong. All communications have ceased in the past couple of months."

Blake nods and asks, "What about Sun?"

While she may not have amorous feelings for the monkey Faunus, she wouldn't want any harm from Eileen to befall him. Having him along would also ease Blake's nerves a bit with a strange huntress controlling her actions.

Eileen tosses Blake her weapon which she sheathes quickly. Eileen lets out a sigh, "He will be fine, but you mustn't worry about him. You have a different path than him. Now come, I have a lifeboat prepared. We've dallied enough."

Eileen opens the door to the hallway and beckon Blake to follow her with a wave of her hand. Blake takes in a deep breath before following the avian huntress into the dim corridor. The lights are barely functional as they make their way up to the top deck where the brisk ocean wind pelts both of them upon ascension. Blake's hands instinctively want to move and cover her chilly ears, but she clenches her fists in defiance.

I can't show weakness. Not here and not to her, Blake ruminates as the pair tread carefully on the dark deck. Blake can barely make out the slightest sliver of sun poking above the horizon as Eileen leads her to the lifeboat rack on the side of the boat. Luckily, the Grimm from before managed to not damage the pully system entirely as Eileen activates it for a boat to ready for the descent.

Eileen turns to Blake informing, "Get in. It won't be until midday until we hit land."

Blake crosses her arms. She looks out across the sea, and then back to the empty deck. "Why not just wait until we formally arrive in Kua Kuana?"

"Because that would waste time," Eileen informs as she motions for Blake to get into the rowboat. "Now stop dawdling, and get in. I'll unhinge us once you do so we can get moving. You will have plenty of time at sea to ask those questions of yours."

Feeling the gap for arguing disappearing Blake sighs and enters the rickety boat. Blake hears an appreciative hum emanate from Eileen as she follows her into the boat and activate the drop system. The boat drops quickly and splashes into the ocean water violently as the larger boat continues to churn onward. Eileen hands Blake the paddles and instructs, "Row."

Blake huffs but complies as she begins to row. "Where are we going? We can't see land from this far out."

"There," Eileen points out in the distance, but even as Blake squints to see what Eileen is alluding to, she sees nothing but a dark ocean until the horizon.

Blake turns to Eileen with a skeptical look on her face. "There is nothing in that direction. The peninsula must be further East."

Eileen chuckles as Blake's rowing grants them more distance from the larger watercraft. "I may be old, but my vision hasn't dulled. Keeping rowing that way."

Blake follows the elder huntress's orders and begins to propel the boat with Eileen's instruction. Blake and Eileen sit in silence with only the sounds of Blake's rowing serving as background noise for the two on the still ocean. Blake tries to maintain a cold impassive stare at Eileen, but looking more at her avian headwear adds to her nervousness.

The sun has crested over the horizon and Blake finally relents, "Okay, so what is this all about? Why me?"

"You have the skills. I saw you and that friend of yours take down that large seaborne Grimm. But also, I can sense you are aimless. Running away scared, like some lost child. And I am in the need of an apprentice. The Good Work doesn't do itself," Eileen explains as she puts up a boot on the edge of the boat.

Blake looks down with shame. "Am I that transparent?"

Eileen sighs and replies, "Only to the trained eye."

Blake pauses. "Where are you from. How do you know me?"

Eileen gestures towards Blake. "From Beacon. I was once a student there myself, and I was looking through the directory for an apprentice. Beacon fell on my way back, so I decided to track you down." Eileen pauses as Blake's expression lights up in confusion and curiosity, "You went to Beacon? And you have been looking for me for months?"

"I found you a day before you departed for Menagerie. I've kept an eye on you ever since," Eileen admits as she places her arms behind her head and leans back. Blake huffs in annoyance as she can feel her arms beginning to become sore from all the rowing.

Blake gives a few last strong rows before resting her arms and focusing back on the relaxed Eileen. "You followed me for that long? We've been on the boat for weeks…" Dejected Blake looks off to the side of the boat as Eileen repositions herself and replies, "Don't be so dreary, girl. It's my job to hunt the hunter. I'd be rather poor at my job if an academy student could spot me, no?"

Blake returns her gaze to Eileen and nods. "I suppose so. What's the village we are going to?"

"A small place called Oedon. Have you heard of it?" Eileen asks with mirth.

Blake shakes her head. "It sounds vaguely familiar, but I can't say I've been there."

"Most people haven't heard of it. It has no port nor anything amazing about the place, but it is where our mark lies in wait, or at least answers do." Eileen notes.

Silence washes over the two once more as Blake begins to row for what feels like hours. Eileen's posture appears relaxed to Blake, but as she continues to look at the huntress she can see the facade. The lax pose is given away by her hand placed neatly on top of her wickedly curved blade.

Still always at the ready, Blake thinks to herself. The anxiety of being kept on a short leash like a caged animal sparks a new question for her mysterious new mentor.

Blake sets the oars down after pushing in a few more strokes. She looks inquisitively at Eileen asking, "What do you think of the White Fang?"

"Indifferent." Eileen snap responds to which Blake's mouth opens yet no words come out immediately. Blake closes her eyes for a second to recompose herself. "How can you be indifferent to them?"

"They don't concern my work. I care little for politics, only for my duty," Eileen coldly responds as she gestures to the oars, "Keep rowing. We are making good progress."

Blake frowns. "Why don't you care? It affects everyone. It affects-"

"You? Me? Tell me, girl, does my opinion on a group of angry Faunus really matter? I'll answer that for you. It doesn't." Eileen pauses as she rubs her legs. "It's just the way the world is. Take solace in your new duty. Now row."

Frustrated, Blake narrows her eyes and looks away. She picks up the oars once again to move the boat once again. Hours pass as Blake feels resentment towards Eileen for her detached answers. Not feeling any strong feelings on the White Fang? Blake shakes her head at the strange sentiment, but also she lingers on the words of the Avian masked huntress. Huntresses and Huntsman are supposed to fight the Grimm and not be militarized, but also they are supposed to fight for society as a whole too? Blake casts the errant thoughts aside and focuses on the next task ahead. Getting to Menagerie and investigating Oedon. It may not be her plan, but if what Eileen says is true then she knows turning a blind eye to the problems of Faunus on her homeland isn't something she can do.

The sun is a bit past the apex of its path when Eileen speaks up. "We've arrived. Turn the boat slightly left so we can place it between the rocks on the shore."

Blake begrudgingly complies as she follows Eileen's orders and looks over her shoulder. The shore itself is rocky and almost immediately turns into a thick forest. Blake looks back to see Eileen has stood up and jumps from the rowboat to the shore. Blake feels irritation budding up again as the masked woman patiently and quietly watches her bring in the rowboat.

It wouldn't kill her to help at all, Blake angrily muses to herself as she secures the boat by wedging a few rocks underneath it on the slanted rocky shore.

Blake finishes her work before walking over to the masked huntress proclaiming, "It's done."

"I see that. Let's traverse carefully. By my estimations, we can reach Oedon by nightfall." Eileen turns to lead the way into the dense foliage as Blake trails her asking, "Why wait so long? We could travel faster than just walking."

Eileen taps her head without turning around as she weaves her body past some branches. "Because we don't want to alert anybody. Grimm or huntsman. We will proceed slowly and methodically for any hints to what may have happened. Besides, the night will serve us better for investigating when people aren't outside."

Blake nods and concedes, 'That's...fair. Very well. You have also yet to tell me about who we are looking for."

Eileen skirts around another large bush replying, "His name is Gascoigne. Father Gascoigne. He moved his family out here a few years ago and is the lone huntsman in these parts. His old academy partner, Henrik, reported something strange awhile back and both have gone dark."

An unsettling and curt end to Eileen's sentence lingers at the forefront of Blake's mind. It sounded like the old huntress cared for the other hunters, or at least has sympathy for those she has to go and deal with.

"What do you expect to find?" Blake inquires to the old huntress who cryptically answers, "I don't know. But we will find out soon enough."

Blake follows Eileen through the woods carefully for hours. No signs of Grimm and scarce amount of wildlife are observable to Blake as they pass seamlessly through the underbrush. With only a brief break for lunch to eat some local berries and some bread that Eileen filched from the ferry, they eat silently as Eileen prompts no questions to Blake and she doesn't want to ask anything to her forced mentor. The tension is still taut in the air between the two, though it is difficult for Blake to discern how Eileen is feeling with that mask ever-present upon her face.

Lunch is followed by more walking through the difficult forest terrain until the sun begins setting. Blake is mostly unaffected thanks to her Faunus lineage, but she wonders about her mentor. While Eileen does wear the visage of an animal, she has yet to confirm or deny that she is a Faunus.

With curiosity bubbling up as dusk sets in Blake pipes up, "Eileen. Are you a Faunus by chance?"

Eileen continues her path through the forest without hesitation. "Yes. Why do you ask?"

Blake holds her breath for a moment to consider her next question carefully. "Why don't you care about the White Fang then?"

Eileen sighs. "This again? Thought we settled this little matter."

"Little matter?" Blake questions with a raised tone. " It matters because it's our people. It's what the humans have done to us. Why we live here on Menagerie in fear of humans. It's-"

"Enough. We're here," Eileen states as she pulls away from the last tree branch in the way to reveal the two have stepped into a small backyard garden. No lights are detectable to Blake as she follows Eileen through the quaint vegetable garden.

Eileen moves as if gliding across the ground as she moves up to the wooden cabin rear window. Blake peers over Eileen's shoulder and notices no lights are on, but a strange smell in the air lingers as she gets closer to the cabin.

"You smell that?" Eileen asks to her apprentice.

Blake nods. "Yes. What is that? It smells terrible."

"Sulfur and dust," Eileen explains as she points for Blake to circle the South end of the cabin while Eileen jumps up to the roof.

Blake slinks close to the walls of the house and peers around the corner towards the center of the small village. Only 12-14 small wooden buildings stand here, but what is interesting to Blake is no sound or light is coming from any of the buildings. No animals are running around either only adding to the ominous atmosphere.

What happened here, Blake thinks to herself as she gets to the front of the cabin and looks into the bedroom window. The beds are empty and made as if awaiting an owner that suddenly vanished. Blake moves quickly to the next window to look into the main living room area and spots a dining room table set up with plates and mugs.

Blake goes to investigate the front door but notices that it's cracked open already. Carefully and slowly the door screeches a bit as she opens it up to the empty and dark abode. Blake places a hand on Gambol Shroud for assurance and to ready herself for any threats.

In a slightly crouched position, Blake makes her way to the dining room table to observe the setting. 3 plates set with a vegetable salad and chicken cutlet of some sort. Blake places her hand over the food and notices no heat coming off the meat. She places a finger on one of the chicken cuts and it's ice-cold to her touch.

This has been here a while, Blake muses as she looks around the small house a bit more, but nothing seems moved or out of place. No signs of struggle, no blood, and nothing besides a faint smell of sulfur and dust outside the building.

Blake shakes her head as she exits the house and notices Eileen leaning against the building to her right with her arms crossed. Eileen is looking in the direction of the town square as she asks, "What did you find?"

"It's empty. Food left on the table untouched." Blake elaborates as she gets closer to Eileen and asks in a worried tone, "What exactly happened here? There isn't even signs of Grimm attacking here. It's like everyone vanished."

Eileen groans and lifts herself from her leaning position. "It reeks of Gasgoine's semblance, which is worrying. He wouldn't have done something like this for no reason. Somethings gone wrong."

Eileen scatches at her chin with her hand as she hums lightly. Blake walks further out into the deserted town square and tries her best to look at the other houses. No signs of life or activity. Like this city had become a ghost town in a manner of seconds.

Blake turns around to face Eileen. "What is Gascoigne's semblance?"

"He can assert influence people. A helpful skill for a pious man to soothe worried civilians." Eileen states as she walks up beside Blake and points toward a building in the hills to the South, "We should head to the priory. We may get more answers up there. Let's tread carefully."

Blake nods in agreement and the duo begins to walk towards the priory. On their way, Blake asks, "What could have caused Gascoigne to do this? Is his semblance like mind control or something?"

Eileen chuckles. "Nothing so invasive. Gascoigne's ability lies in his power to make people calmer. Soothed. If he focuses hard enough he can sublimate an individual into a trance-like state from what I've heard, but those in Mistral would know more. He's an old Mistrali huntsman that was valued for his ability to calm civilians to help deter Grimm attacks, though his semblance loses power the farther you are away from him." Eileen pauses and continues, "And don't worry about yourself being under his influence. It's ineffective in combat if you have your aura still active or you have your wits about you."

That's a relief, Blake comments to herself as Eileen and her crest the top of the hill to the religious building. The outside courtyard is gated, though the steel gates are wide open to the quiet building.

Eileen turns back to Blake with her index finger raised near her mouth and Blake nods in acknowledgment. Blake follows Eileen's lead as they slink up to the building and peer inside. Blake sees nothing through the dirty windows as she feels a tap on her shoulder, and sees Eileen motioning for Blake to follow her.

Following Eileen, Blake pauses as Eileen's hand motions for her to hold as they get to the corner and Eileen whispers, "Stay here."

Eileen walks off to which Blake peaks around the corner to see a large gated graveyard with a stone Mausoleum at the center with a lit torch outside of the building. The first signs of life in a ghost town are coming from the old graveyard. Blake shudders a bit as she watches Eileen cautiously enter the grassy cemetery looking around for clues.

Blake holds her position and watches Eileen stop suddenly as the door to the mausoleum opens to reveal a large man in black clothes, top hat, and white scarf exit the building holding a very large hand ax.

"Gascoigne!" Eileen shouts out to the figure who stops and looks at the old huntress of hunters.

This can't be good, what has happened to all the people? Blake thinks to herself as she grips Gambol Shroud and bolts from her position to catch up to Eileen.

Eileen glances over her shoulder before returning her attention to the large huntsman in front of her. Blake feels a look of disapproval wash over her from Eileen's masked look but considering the lumbering man she could probably use back up. The man upon closer inspection is easily over 6 feet tall, well built, and...has his eyes covered in cloth.

Now that's strange, Blake thinks to herself as she finally comes up beside Eileen and here's the older huntress hiss, "Don't you ever listen to your elders?"

Before Blake can formulate a response the older man groans out, "Beasts. Beasts everywhere. You'll be one of them too...eventually."

He quickly brandishes his ax as he draws a large pistol from inside his coat pocket. A malicious grin adorns his face giving sight to an assortment of rotten teeth. Blake notes his heavy breathing made visible in the cold air and his slightly bent knees. He's winding up for an attack, and a powerful one by the looks of it.

Blake looks to Eileen once more for any guidance or advice and the old crow huntress chuckles darkly. "Welcome to The Hunt."

A/N: Another small chapter for my little side project. Again, won't be consistent updates until I wrap up my other story. Still, messing around with the writing style of this fic. Here are some quick replies to reviews. Also, if I miss something in RWBy lore feel free to let me know as I'm not up to snuff on that as much as I am with Bloodborne.

Review Response:

Krionik: Thanks!

Guest: I have plans for that, rest assured.

Dracus66: Way too ambitious for me. Sorry.

Evinco: Who doesn't, right?

That's all, thanks for reading!