Chapter 41
Beowolves, Griffons, Creeps. The Grimm were endless and Robin slashed her way through another crowd with a heavy sigh. "Back up," Yahto said and Robin jumped back as he loaded his shotgun with explosive rounds, extended the barrel and aimed towards the vast group of Griffons that descended upon them. His hands crackled blue and there was a wave of blue electricity along the barrel of his shotgun before he fired off two explosive blue slugs. "Boom," he whispered, eyes flashing and he used his semblance to enhance the explosive power of his shots, cutting through a vast number of Griffon in one shot.
There was a roar behind her and she turned, staff turning in her hands, both sickles extended and she froze. A Beowolf stood in front of her and it wasn't that which made her stop and widen her eyes. It wasn't the group of Beowolves that surrounded it, all stalking across the ground with a low rumble of growls, roars and noises. What really made her stop and look up was the dark jagged rocks with large chunks of purple crystals protruding at all angles from all over the place. The sun was gone and when she tilted her head back it was to see a dark sky laced with red and purple clouds, giving the entire place an air of eeriness that made her skin crawl. "The hell?" she whispered as she straightened up and took a hesitant step back. Her foot kicked something and she glanced down to see a small rock slowly roll over the edge and listened to it tumble down the side of the cliff she was on. Robin's eyes widened as she stared out in front of her at the black pools that lay scattered along the floor. A moment later and she recoiled as one of the black pools started to move, a paw shooting out onto the edge. Another moment and a Beowolf pulled itself out, shook itself off and let out a roar as it padded on its way. "What?" she muttered, brows furrowed and she took it all in. What were those pools of black? Were they where Grimm came from? From another pool a Beringal dragged itself to the surface and free and Robin felt her stomach turn.
Behind her was the heavy thump of rushing footsteps and Robin turned to see a Beringal running straight at her, batting Beowolves to one side and out of its way. She took a step back, stopped when she felt her foot begin to slip and glanced back at the Beringal. It was a foot away and she frowned as it jumped off one of the crystals, let out a mighty roar and held an arm back as it started to fall directly towards her. It took her another second to believe that it could actually see her and she cursed before she clicked a button and made one of the sickles fold back in. "Shit," she whispered and she rolled underneath the raging Grimm, came up from her roll and sliced through the nearest Beowolf as it had turned and made a jump at her, cutting it in half mid-air. There was a brief stillness to the air and Robin flicked her gaze up to see every Beowolf within the vicinity turn its head to look at her, ears prickling and fur rising.
This wasn't right and she felt panic set in as all of the Grimm descended on her. Despite whatever was going on, all that she could think about was the need to survive and she swung, sickles slicing through Beowolves. There was a thump on the floor and she glanced over her shoulder before she cursed again and jumped over a pouncing Beowolf, stuck her sickle into the back of another and brought it up with her to let a third sink its teeth into its neck. It started to disappear in a black haze of ash and she twisted her sickle, stepped forward and sliced it back through the Beowolf before she had to jump back, twist away, turn, duck, swing, slice and dodge her way through the ever pressing crowd. The Beringal tossed one to one side and Robin gritted her teeth, jumped onto the head of another and pushed off of it and towards the Beringal. It slammed a Beowolf into the floor as it stomped over it and she turned, missing the swing of its arm and let her sickle slice down its arm. She landed on the back of another Beowolf, jumped back and brought her sickle down onto the shoulder of the Beringal, her body weight bringing her down and dragging its shoulder down with her. In the next moment it grabbed the middle of her staff, flicked its head up and met her rust gaze with its bright red glare. It let out a roar, picked the sickle out of its shoulder and tossed her over the cliff and towards the weird black pools.
Robin hissed and glanced up desperately as her staff slipped from her grip. The Beringal jumped in front of her and she stared up at it, glanced back at her weapon and cursed as she scrambled to her feet, narrowly avoiding its swing. A group of Beowolves jumped down into her path and she dug one sickle into the ground, twisted her weapon and kept a firm grip on it as she swung herself round with the sickle as a pivot, kicking the Beowolves in the face. On the return to her starting position she folded the sickle in and let momentum carry her directly towards the Beringal. She clicked her weapon again, let it dismantle into two halves, extended both sickles and spun, blades slicing across its face and over its back as she flew over it. She landed, turned and leaned back as it brought its fists down onto the floor directly in front of her, shattering the floor and making her lose her footing enough for it to charge at her and slam a hand into her face. It threw her back into a waiting pack of more Beowolves and she gritted her teeth as she fought them.
Days of fighting Grimm and protecting the villages followed by the chaotic mess that was more Grimm in a strange place and Robin could feel the weariness beginning to seep into her muscles. The Beowolves seemed endless and the Beringal was still there, storming through the packs and swinging at her every now and then, disrupting her flow and making her retreat closer towards the strange black pools. More swings, more slain Beowolves, another thud from the Beringal, another retreat and Robin felt her aura crackle. She grunted as she sliced upwards, cutting two Beowolves in half in the same space and she took deep shaky breaths. How many was that? And how were they so endless?
She grunted as she spun to defend her back, hissed as she felt an arm collide with her back and send her sprawling into the waiting arms of a Beowolf. It swung, caught her across her shoulder and her cheeks and she stepped back as her aura finally crackled and disappeared. There was a roar from the Beringal and Robin gritted her teeth, ducked, swung one sickle up, met with flesh, twisted her sickle to one side and pulled herself up, sticking her other sickle into the neck of the Beringal and twisting. It stumbled into the crowd of Beowolves, hands scrabbling at her back and she dug her sickles in again, using her footing on its chest as leverage to wriggle them into it. A hand snagged the back of her neck, grabbed roughly and yanked her free from it before she was thrown up into the air.
Robin span in the air and tried to work out which was up and down. In brief flashes she could see a black pool beneath her, Beowolves surrounding it, claws scratching at the edges as they clamoured and waited to drag her out of the air. Then she was falling again and she panicked, fingers tightening on her weapons. She needed to right herself, needed to-
Thud. Crack.
The world disappeared in a thick black fog and there was a ringing in Robin's ears. That ringing grew in pitch and she cracked her eyes open to see green, brown and grey. There was the smell of salt in the air and the wind was cool against her warm skin. It took several frozen seconds for her to realise that she was laying flat on her stomach, one arm twisted painfully underneath her with a numbness settling in. It took a few more seconds for her to take a deep breath that hurt every muscle in her body and more seconds to blink and let out a groan. The very idea of moving hurt her but she had to, she couldn't stay here forever, wherever here was.
There was several stomps, the sounds of branches snapping and the roars were too close for comfort. She could hear gunshots in the distance and there was even an explosion. She was in Vale, near the coast. The roars sounded again and she painfully lifted her free arm to get her hand underneath her and push herself up enough to look at the tree line and at the group of Ursa that stood there and observed her. "Shit," she whispered and she scrabbled to get her feet flat on the floor and herself up. Her body screamed and her other arm hung limply by her side but it was trumped by the quelling need to survive. Robin managed to stand up, take a shaky step back before she fell back with another hiss.
There was a whistle through the air and she watched as an arrow lodged itself into the chest of each Ursa. There was a blinking from the ends of each one before they blew up, blasting the Ursa into clouds of smoke and Robin hung her head with a sigh, hissing as her sides burned. "Robin!"
"Here," she coughed out.
Malcolm came bursting through the bushes and she could hear the sounds of more Grimm. He froze, narrowed his eyes, readied three more arrows and fired them off in one shot, left eyes flashing grey as he used his Semblance, Direct Hit, to guide each arrow to a target and explode. He fired off five more arrows in quick succession, each one exploding somewhere within the forest and Robin could feel her body sagging from the effort of keeping herself up. Malcolm eyes the forest, let out a breath and turned his attention to Robin, eyes wide, and dropped down to her side, "What happened?"
"I don't know," she groaned and she held her good arm out to him.
He hooked it over his shoulders and she fell against him with a sigh as he pulled her up with him. "Robin, I just saw you fall out of the sky."
"And you didn't stop me?" she tried for sarcasm and could feel the words come out in a rough grunt. Did she break a couple of ribs with that fall too?
"You were with Yahto."
"I was."
"Robin," he stopped walking to turn his head to her with a frown, "what happened? You were there, he turned around and you were gone."
She stared at him, blinked, took a slow breath and sighed before she hung her head, "I don't know. I was here with him, then I was… somewhere else."
"Somewhere else?"
"I don't know where," she mumbled with a shake of her head and she hissed. "Can we-" she nodded down to her most likely broken arm. Malcolm sighed and continued walking with her in tow. "I don't know where I was. It was… weird and creepy. I don't think anybody lives there."
"How did you go from here to there?"
"Beats me," she mumbled. "But there were Beowolves everywhere and they could see and attack me."
"I thought you saw things. As in see, not touch or fight with."
"I don't know." They ducked underneath a low branch and she let out another breath. "I thought I was just seeing something in great detail then I turned and they saw me then just attacked. Wish I'd kept count of how many I took down," she added with a small smirk.
"You really think now's the time to be making jokes?"
"It's what I do best, inappropriate jokes at inappropriate times." She managed a smirk as they stepped into the clearing that led to village they'd been protecting.
"When we get back, you're-"
"Talking to Ozpin, I got it. Trust me, I actually want to talk to him."
They made their way to the small camp they'd set up and Malcolm eased Robin onto a seat. He let out a breath as he crouched in front of her and gently grabbed her bad arm and lifted it slowly. Robin gritted her teeth with a hiss and Malcolm flicked his eyes up to her. "Can you go a month without breaking something?"
She twisted a grin onto her lips, "Nah, that's too boring."
He peered up at her with a frown before he pinched her thigh. "You've been gone for nearly forty minutes."
Robin met his gaze and let her smile fall from her lips. "I didn't realise it was that long."
"You got her? Is she okay? Do we need to murder her again?"
Malcolm smiled warmly at Tawney's comments before he let out a short chuckle and grabbed his shouting scroll. "We can murder her when we get back to Beacon."
It had taken two more days to clear out the Grimm and the next week was spent helping with repairs to the villages. Robin's arm was still tenderly wrapped in several layers of bandages and she helped where she could, the best that she could with one hand. By the time they were done to the best that they could they were all exhausted and nearly passed out on the airship. Robin let her head land on Tawney's shoulder and nuzzled into it with a hum.
"Robin?" Tawney whispered in a mumble.
"Yeah?"
Tawney shuffled and wrapped an arm around Robin's shoulders to press her lips to her head, "Stop scaring us."
Robin cracked her eyes open with a sigh. "I'll try."
"Try harder."
She closed her eyes again and nodded her head, "I will."
"Good." Tawney's arm didn't move and she fell asleep shortly after. Robin tipped her head back to get a look at Tawney's furrowed brows before she sighed and snuggled back against her side with a frown.
A/N: Hey guys it's another chapter and as I've mentioned, Robin's semblance is developing... Also can I point out that I write this purely for fun in my spare time around my daily life. I don't get paid to do this, I'm not going to earn any more from it, and if you don't like it then please don't read. Negativity doesn't need to exist here.
Diego Silver: Robin and Qrow and like life goals. Tawney is great.
DannyPhantom619: My god I laughed at that.
Sabert00thsa: Qrow is as useful as... okay maybe not useful in this instance but he tries. Shenanigans! Theory craft Robin's semblance with this chapter ;) Robin cannot do anything else with her 'magic'. It's very limited. I hope you're doing well with your life and wishing you all good news and things!
xenocanaan: I love Qrow and Robin's family moments.
Bcf369: Thank you! I'm glad you think that. It makes me really happy to read that.
Big Bad Beowulf: Things are certainly getting interesting for Robin... very interesting.
KillamriX88: I want to say thank you for all of your comments. They did make me smile.
Guest: You meet Ruby, Yang, Tai and Raven... or did you mean more on her Mother's side?
