Part II of initiation and we have some things in store, more questions raised and...

"Ruby, that is not a puppy!"

Enjoy.

Chapter by Soul of Horus and Will_of_Anubis.

...

Both Ray and Grace continued to travel through a dense section of the Emerald Forest, being cautious all the while. The fog that surrounded them slowly lifted as the day progressed. If Grace had to guess what time it was, she would say around half-past six, maybe seven? Visibility could be better, but it also could be worse. Ray was oddly quiet.

Scratch that, he was always quiet, but more so than usual. "Ray?" He inclined his head towards her but did not fully turn around to face her. "What did you see back there? I just notice that you still have blood on your hands and vest."

Ray paused and looked down at his hands, feeling the very recent memory coming back. The lifeless eyes of that student… He violently shook his head before fully turning to address Grace, 'We both received five flares, correct?'

The slate-haired girl paused, confused at the sudden off-topic question, before responding, "Five flares… why?" The skepticism coating her tone.

'I have nine flares now, what does that say to you?' Ray signed, waiting for the look of horror that will appear on Grace's face. The shorter girl took a moment… then two… before the answer became clear. The look of horror appeared one hand over her mouth, eyes wide. 'Yeah, I witnessed… that and had to fire a flare. I hope I do not have to fire another,' Ray's eyes became serious.

"Well… I won't make you, now which way should we go?" Grace inquired. Not the greatest change of subject, but Ray lets it go. To be honest, talking about the tree next to them would be far more interesting than the topic of death.

'These branches have seen activity,' Ray noted, a hint of skepticism laced in his tone. His posture also spoke more than he did. Grace had to agree, knowing that there was something amiss.

Something was stirring within Ray, as he felt a small headache coming on. He passed it off as exhaustion, probably the aftereffects of Mirage. Ray continued to lead them through the forest before the pair found... seemingly nothing? Ray didn't know what it was, but the headache was subsiding now, but not disappearing. Whatever was around, it was close.

Just to check something, Grace activated Truesight and saw nothing in her vision that signified that any aura was used recently. Her eyes looked to Ray to see the pureness emitting from him. There was a part of Grace that wanted to keep him pure, as something in the world should be. Grace felt that if she told him that, he would immediately save it for Ruby, and that thought of him protecting his little sister made her smile.

So far, Beowulf felt like his day was decent compared to some of these first-timers he passed by. That is not to say that sending up the half dozen or so flares in the past hour was a good thing. The more he thinks about it the more he realizes that the deaths of these kids does not faze him in the slightest, in the real world it's kill or be killed. You hesitate and a Grimm is liable to rip your throat out in a heartbeat. As he moves through the dense foliage fleeing a Deathstalker after grabbing one of the "artifacts", his sensitive hearing picks up on a group of two, with his large form concealed by shadows and shrubbery he decides to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"I am telling you, we should just find this artifact and just go. We do not need to put our asses on the line for revenge." This first male sounds a little bit squeaky to Beowulf, probably because his balls dropped a little late. There is a solid thunk as a blade of some sort is buried into a tree trunk, the second individual clearly angered as he speaks, "NO, I did not come all this way just to get an artifact and run away! We are going to find some Grimm and kill them! I will kill every last one I see." That one sounds like he is all bark and no bite, easy to deal with if they find him.

'They are getting quite close, should we shift?' Wulf's question was a valid one to ask, He has kept his hybrid nature a secret as best as he can. Quick hit and run attacks to assist other teams, only showing his nature to people whose death took shortly after. It seems that fate has other ideas for him, however.

"I know you're here! Come on out monster!" Well, there is the same insult again, 'crazy bitch on her damn throne can they get some new derogatory names?'

Deciding to shift, he moves out of the bush, not as a Grimm but as a faunus. The two young males have different reactions to his appearance. One is clearly disappointed, with a frown on his face; while the other looks a bit spooked, his eyes darting to and from behind his glasses. The broad-shouldered hunter-in-training who had the displeased frown on his face steps into Beowulf's personal space with an arrogance that the hybrid had never seen before. Almost as if, the muscled kid thought he was better than the faunus in front of him.

Beo has to bite back a snarl as Wulf pipes up, 'If this kid does not step back, he is going to learn how easy it is to turn a wall into a piece of bait.' 'Agreed.' Reaching for the tanto at the small of his back underneath the coat, Beo prepares to incapacitate the incompetent brute in front of him.

Said brute opens his mouth and speaks in a very dismissive tone, "You seen any Grimm around here, mutt?" The other hunter immediately yells out, "What the hell man?! We might need his help!" Seeing the arrogant huntsman turn his back, the opportunistic survivor that is Beo decides to take him down a leg or two.

Drawing his New tanto, Beo shreds both of the huntsman's hamstring tendons dropping him to his knees, and quickly covers his mouth to muffle the screams as he puts him to the ground. Beo feels his neck change, courtesy of Wulf giving him the ability to speak for a handful of minutes, "If you want to live to see another day outside of this forest, you both are going to not speak another word and listen carefully." There is a panicked nod from both huntsmen before Beo continues, "There is a creature you humans call a deathstalker pursuing me" Beo decides to tell a half-truth here, they didn't need to know that this was a little bit of vindictive justice on his part, "I sliced your friend's hamstrings because I needed to give it something else to chase, so to speak. You do know they're drawn to agony right?"

The teen with the glasses nods his head rapidly, "Most certainly. What is your plan after it gets here?" Beo grins, knowing that he has only a little time left to speak, "Kill it. What else?"

Minutes past before the Deathstalker appears, Crashing through the tree-line, breaking down trees like dominos. Crawling around aggravated, the creature looks around before moving to a shattered tree stump where the wounded huntsman was hiding, Beowulf only heard a scream and then a crunch, 'Well, he's dead.' 'That was the plan,' Beo shoves the artifact into the scrawny Huntsman's hands and pushes him away, 'Go! Get the hell outta here!'

Surprising Beowulf the teen asks, "What about you?!"

He hears the clicking as the deathstalker turns towards them, 'Worry about yourself. This is my hunt.' Seeing the nervous huntsman sprint away Beo turns to the deathstalker and grins, 'Well now it is just you and me Stinger, Your move.' Move it does, striking with lethal speed, Beowulf dodges by moving his shoulder back causing the stinger to whiff. Pulling out Rage he lets two rounds fly as the scorpion strikes with one of its claws. The overpowered rounds slam into the carapace cracking the claw's shell as it clamps around Beowulf's mid-section. Beo can feel the claws increasing pressure, 'Well, any bright ideas?' 'Yeah, one.' Reaching down to his belt he holsters Rage and grabs the loaded flare gun, aims at its eyes, and fires; simultaneously blinding it and freeing himself of its grip. Rolling away from the Grimm, Beo is not fast enough to avoid the stinger a second time. He can feel the poison bleeding into him, he didn't survive this long to die to a female's method of murder, 'My turn!' There is no refusal to change as calm thought and caution gave way to instinct and rage as Wulf pushes forward and the Grimm tears forward, the poison quickly expelled with the transformation. The Deathstalker strikes out with its other claw having regained its sight seemingly trying to take down this new threat.

Wulf had enough of this crushing business, he wasn't some remnant damn nut to crack open, time to crack this scorpion's shell and tear its organs apart. As the claw comes close Wulf pushes both fingers apart keeping them from finding a spot in his ribs. As both Grimm struggle to gain the upper hand Beo and Wulf both feel an unhinged presence worm its way into his head. It was almost like they were in a very crowded club and everyone could not shut the hell up, 'She will free you.' Chanted over and over again, neither Beo nor Wulf could hear their own thoughts, it was concerning at first then it just pissed them both off, "Get. The. Fuck. Out of My Head!" Roars Wulfwith a snarl as he breaks the Deathsalker's claw by tearing the movable finger free of the chela, removing one of the creature's natural weapons, and breaking free of their grapple. The creature clicks rapidly in response to the pain but Wulf does not care what this Stinger felt, it wants to kill him and vice versa, Wulf sees it curl back its stinger preparing to strike again, this time Wulf wouldn't give it the chance. Pulling Nightfall from his back the monstrous Grimm bolts forward, the pointed stinger striking out to intercept. Without losing momentum or speed Wulf jumps over the strike and rotates his body to swing the claymore through the metasoma removing the threat of being poisoned.

Landing behind the Deathstalker Wulf morphs Nightfall to its scythe form only to be slammed through some trees by the said scorpion. Pulling himself free of the remnants of the tree that had stopped his violent change in speed, Wulf eyes the one clawed scorpion as it moves almost nervously as if it was considering running, 'You think it is gonna run?' Asks Beo almost morbidly, Wulf lets out a growl, 'You ask as if I will give it the chance to run.' The Deathstalker starts backing up trying to put some more space between it and the clearly stronger Grimm. Wulf closes the gap in 4 bounds cutting into its chelicerae as he gets in striking range; using the body of the scythe he knocks the defanged creature into the air, he bisects it horizontally ending the creature's life.

There is rustle in the treeline as two people emerge. One of them was in a thin jacket and form-fitting sweatpants, hair in a braid, but some of the strands were loose, making it look more like a messy ponytail. On her back resided a quiver, full of arrows, save for one or two. The other figure was in black pants, a black sleeveless vest, almost a faded yellow T-shirt, and combat boots. What adds to the mix is that their weapons were raised at the disturbance, to which they lowered their weapon and looked on in disbelief.

The girl turned to the boy, "Hey, Ray, are you al...right?" the girl seemed to be fixed on the same thing. The area they just entered looked like a minor war was fought. A lot of the trees were slanted, broken, and all-around missing from their spots. More disgustingly there were Deathstalker body parts and organs scattered about.

Ray seemingly found a lone Grimm but made no moves to attack. However, he did not lower his weapon either. The girl was quicker and raised her weapon, but Ray was faster and pushed her weapon down. A shot still went off, and with Ray's intervention, it missed its intended target: the lone Grimm who looked like it could tear the world in half given the chance.

'This is not a normal Grimm, Grace,' Ray signed to the girl, now named Grace.

"What, like an Alpha or an Ancient?" Grace asked, just a tad ignorant on this.

Ray looked back to the Grimm and then back to Grace, 'I do not know, but what color eyes do Grimm usually have?'

"Blood red," Grace answered. "Why are you asking me this?"

'Because the eyes of this Grimm are blue, which if you had shot it, then I would have pulled us out of here,' Ray signed. Unbeknownst to them, Beowulf was able to understand this conversation. 'I have a hunch that this specific Grimm means us no harm.'

Grace looked offended by that statement, "What? Ray, come on, you can't be serious!" But Grace took a moment to step back and think about the last minute or so. Ray had a point, she realized. The Grimm made no moves to attack, even after Grace almost shot it. What was even more concerning that it seemed to be having an internal debate. The Grimm's gaze was solely on Ray. Then, Grace remembered the Legend. She quickly stepped in front of him, pushing him back, "Ray it's your eyes! Maybe that's why it hasn't attacked! The Legend had said that a single look could take down Grimm, and what are you?"

Wulf could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand straight up, 'The Legend? The hell is that?' Wulf remembers this teen, the silver-eyed male, 'Maybe, the Legend has to do with his eyes? I do not know.' Wulf feels Beo shrug, 'Well as long as he does not try to attack us I am fine with leaving them alone.' The ashy gray-haired girl next to silver was easy on the eyes but a little too trigger happy for his liking.

Ray paused and held his ground against his partner's pushing and slowly had his own revelation, 'Okay, but I do not mean this Grimm harm if it does not mean harm to us. It seems to be fighting for its own survival. I mean, just look at the carnage that was caused.' Ray really took a second looked and noticed a few odd slash marks in the trees. The silver-eyed boy knew what kinds of weapons can produce such marks. Those marks are comparable to Ruby's Crescent Rose. Does this Grimm have capabilities not known to modern-day ones? Ray shook off the suggestion, but like come on, that's as cool as it is terrifying!

Still, it doesn't mean that it wouldn't try and if it did, well, there were two options. Grace had to say one thing, "How much Lien do you want to bet that Professor Ozpin knows about this and that he allowed it into the school?"

'What makes you think I am going to oppose you? From the time I met him, he has always been cryptic and mysterious. It would not surprise me if he had a few secrets,' Ray replied, still not taking his eyes off the Grimm, watching for subtle movements.

'I believe it would be best if we left the area,' Ray signed, not giving his partner a chance to retort as he dragged her away, all while keeping eye contact on it. Don't want a surprise attack now do they?

"So that's what happened? You saw a friendly Grimm?" Yang asked, skeptical of what Grace and Ray just described.

"I wouldn't say friendly, but it did not seem to have an interest in attacking us, even after I shot at it, but that fact that it tore up a Deathstalker with relative ease, in a violent manner and then let us go? Yeah, I'm just as skeptical and concerned," Grace said with some hints of sarcasm.

"What are the chances Professor Ozpin knows about this?" Nick asked, having noticed the situation.

'One hundred percent he knows, Grace and I are betting he knows. There is no other way that this would be allowed. I would be surprised if he knows a lot more than he lets on.' Ray had his suspicions, and not to mention the killer headache he still had. Ray wanted to change the subject, 'So which relic did you pick?'

Nick and Tera shared a look, "We haven't actually picked one yet. We've been waiting for you." The pair turned around to see… chess pieces? "Certainly an interesting choice for relics," Tera remarked.

Nick reached out and grabbed a random chess piece, or the black rook, upon further inspection. The Cobra tossed it to the Mistralian who pocketed it. Grace noticed this and quickly grabbed the other one, placing it in a spare pocket. Now, she just had to hold onto it.

At that moment, a red blur leaped onto Ray and he stumbled back as a result, "I was so worried about you!" the words were muffled into his chest, but he looked down to see Ruby clutching to him.

'{I am fine, but I need air,}' Ray tapped against her head and she eased up. 'I survived, just like you said.'

Ruby started sputtering, "D-Don't scare me like that though. W-With all the flares, I-"

'I am here now, Ruby. Relax,' Ray assured his sister. 'So, what's the plan?' The sun was finally coming over the horizon as the sound of a Giant Nevermore screeched. The group looked up to see the Nevermore circling the group. Then a Deathstalker broke from the far treeline with a certain champion ahead of it. Not to mention that a certain reptile was lurking in the thick brush. This caught Nick's attention but he never let go of its presence. He would bring it up when he could.

"Well, you think you four can deal with the Nevermore?" Grace asked looking towards Ruby and Yang, which then included their partners. The siblings nodded and dashed off to scoop up their partners. Then, she turned to Ren and Nora, "Think you two could distract that Deathstalker off of Nikos?" In her defense, she could recognize the champion anywhere. She is not one of those fangirls though, but she couldn't pass up the chance of meeting a renowned fighter.

"Yuppers! Come on, Ren!" Nora pulled the boy away, leaving a smoked outline of him in place. Definitely something you would see out of a cartoon.

"Those two are so…"

'In love and oblivious?' Ray chimed in as the slate-haired girl's charcoal eyes landed on him.

"I was going to go with different, but that works too," Grace agreed. She noticed Nick's slightly skittish look, "What is it?"

"We're being stalked," Nick's tongue flickered out, and his lime eyes sharpened. "I think there might be a-" he didn't finish that sentence as something impacted his chest, sending him flying, bringing the three of them on alert.

"Nick!" the girls exclaimed, while Ray searched for the culprit. Turns out, it wasn't very hard to find, considering the way it was slithering towards them.

Out of the trees came a King Taijitu and with it, the white and black snakeheads. They were bigger than any other Grimm of its class. Focusing on taking them down was their main concern, the second one was staying alive to do so. Ray looked to Grace to ask for direction. It makes sense for him to do so, as he would want someone to rally behind. "Ray, distract the white half. Tera, you and I will deal with the other half." The silver-eyed boy nodded before teleporting out of sight and reappearing with Ambush in hand.

Grace checked over the receiver on Deliverance before nodding to herself. She grabbed an arrow out of her quiver and placed it in the crossbow's primer. Tera, momentarily stunned by the sheer determination—and the firmness—in Grace's voice, nodded without second-guessing, "Let's do this."

Nick, meanwhile, flew through the air and skidded across the grass, nothing major, but the grass was not at all soft. Thankfully, there were not a lot of trees in this very wide-open field. At this point, he's lost sight of mostly everybody, except for Ray, Grace, and Tera. He needed to get back into the action. Standing up, brushing himself off, "That hurt, but I'm alive, aren't I?" he asked himself rhetorically. Feeling for his aura, he was relieved to know that it wasn't broken and it didn't take much from him.

Readying Cyclone, he slithered his way back to the battle to help out Ray who was dealing with half a Taijitu all by himself. It seemed like the most logical play.

Ray already knew snakes were slippery, but not to this extent. Tai had shown them what a Taijitu was, and how it could slip under one's radar, but never to this extent. King Taijitus were not as common as one would think. There are only a few in each den, but this one had it out for the students. "Did you need an assist?" Nick asked as he leaped over Ray and slashed a claw into the skin of the white head.

The Grimm hissed in pain before attempting to knock off this nuisance. Nick slipped under the attack before heading back to Ray, 'Combo three?'

"We can try, but have Two on standby," the boys nodded in confirmation as the Taijitu in front of them wound back and was ready to spit venom. Ray brought Ambush down to his pistol form for easier maneuverability. Mid-stride, he teleported to the side of the white snake's head and fired four shots, each one piercing the Grimm's head, but it only served to agitate the Grimm, whose tail whipped out from the side and tapped Ray, sending him back towards the girls.

As for the girls, they were having quite a hard time making the black snakehead stay still. Ray had flown right into the body, stunning the Grimm long enough for Grace to put an arrow through its eye, half-blinding it, "Thanks, Ray!"

He stumbled, half dizzy, waving off the thanks before looking over to see the very pissed off Grimm hissing at him. Its mouth wide open and descending upon him. Tera reacted, using her Dust in Nature's Harmony to send a wave of air Dust towards the silver-eyed boy. The shockwave of the Dust sent him towards the thicker brush and he only hit one trunk. His aura pulsing, meaning it was getting to the point of shattering, an unpleasant feeling from what he's heard.

Tera somehow made it over to him, checking him over before putting her hands on multiple trees. Ray's eyes shot to the trees as they uprooted themselves and the Mistrali sent them to fight the Grimm. Tera's own aura shimmered as well, not to mention she stumbled at getting up. Ray caught her as he hastily stood up, catching himself in the process. '{Easy.}'

"Not now, we have to kill those Grimm and make it out, but I didn't expect Taijitus to come out of nowhere," Tera breathed out, one hand on her heart, feeling the blood pumping through her body. In an action that shocked herself, her hand ended up on Ray's chest, where the heartbeat was calmer, far calmer than the situation should allow. "How the…?"

'I never question it, but it is why I have more of a level-head in fights,' Ray explained.

The sounds of branches creaking and breaking snapped both of them out of it, before they both emerged from the treeline to see the Taijitus curling around Tera's trees before squeezing and snapping them into pieces. "You two, take out the black snakehead. Nick and I will go for the white snakehead!" Grace shouted over the splintering of the trees.

The shrapnel of the trees whizzed by all of them as they sprung into action. Ray and Tera went around the left to see the Deathstalker and Nevermore occupied with the rest of the group. Ray saw a sharpened stick that was broken off from the Taijitu's constriction and had an idea. A crazy idea, but it should work if everything goes accordingly. Stowing his weapons back into the bracelets, he grabbed the shard of the tree and brought himself into the line of sight of the Taijitu, well the remaining sight of the snake. It hissed and spat more venom at him, to which Ray mostly dodged, save for a stray puddle of it landing on his arm, making his grip tighten on the stick and grit his teeth. Tera, all the while, was hitting the snakehead with piercing Dust attacks, each melody a quick allegro of notes.

The snakehead lunged at the silver-eyed boy, its instincts telling it to take him down now. Its remaining eye turned ever-so-slightly towards the girl who was proving to be an annoyance to the Grimm before it moved so fast that it was all around Ray in an instant.

Before Ray could react, it was coiling around him, thankfully, his arms were free. The snakehead started closing the gap, slowly, to watch the light of his eyes fade out. However, Ray got one good look at the eye of the snake before teleporting up to the snake's face and driving the splintered piece of wood into the socket. As a result, the snake was now blind. Before another tree came out of nowhere and slammed into the snake before it drove its branches through the snake's neck.

Both Ray and Tera shared a look of relief that it was dead, and they shared a high-five before turning towards the other snakehead, which just launched Grace towards them. Ray teleported back to catch her, which all the while, she was screaming and flailing about. The slate-haired girl continued to fly through the air and Ray watched the Relic fall out of her pocket, but he was more focused on his partner falling.

Teleporting back another few dozen feet, his partner fell into his arms, and he fell backward, holding her close to protect her from the impact. A rogue tree root dragged across his arm and scrapped his aura. Ray felt most of the protection leave him, but it was not gone, it was merely on its last legs. "What are you, my Savior?" Grace exhaled quietly, voice hoarse from the screaming.

'{Glad think me that way,}' he tapped onto her back quickly, not caring about perfect sentences, the sentiment was enough. He quickly got up to reach for the Relic, but as he did, only white consumed his vision. His left arm was pinned to his side while his right was extended out, holding onto the Relic. Ray felt the air leave his lungs and out as a response, his grip slacked and he flicked out the available half of Ambush.

He couldn't aim it properly with his vision swimming and blurring. For a moment, he thought he was going to die, and the worst part of it was how ready he was to accept it. He attempted to cast a look at his partner, to give a reassuring smile, but his aura cracked, making the pain he was feeling multiply. His mouth opened in a silent scream as he was on the verge of passing out. Breathing became difficult, and before the black could consume him, he heard his ribs protest the movement or lack thereof.

Nick sprang out of the trees, having watched the white snakehead dash to the trees and scoop up Ray. The shouts of the girls shouting his name meant they had to work fast, or else they would have to fire a flare. Even worse, they would have to face Yang and Ruby. Two sides of the same coin, those two. None of them wanted to be the one to say it.

Grace pulled another arrow out of her quiver and pulled back the charging handle on Deliverance, prepping the round and arrow for departure. "Hey ugly!" her throat protested the noise, but she'll lose her voice if it means taking this thing down.

The Grimm's eyes turned towards the sound and it was just what Grace needed before the arrow and bullets peppered the left eye, destroying half of its sight. Ray was once again dropped from its clutches and Nick slid underneath and caught him. The silver-eyed boy's vision was swimming with a flurry of colors but they stuck to one thing, and that was Nick. "Stay with me, Ray, do not close your eyes," the Faunus' tone took a hard edge, one Ray rarely hears, so he took that advice to heart. Ray struggled to comply, but he had something else on his mind that kept him grounded.

"Tera, lean on a tree, and summon whatever Aura you have left and send the tree onto that snake," Grace said, grimacing at the rawness of her throat. Once again, Tera was surprised at the edge of her voice, it sounded firm, the complete opposite of how she normally speaks. She turned to shout, "Nick, distract it long enough for us to get into position!"

"You got it!" Nick shouted back, having caught Ray, and moved off to the side.

Tera sucked in a big breath of air and leaned on a tree, one of the bigger ones in the area. She let out a Vivace flurry of notes that forced the snake off balance. Nick gently set Ray down before combining Cyclone into its SMG format. The Cobra was aiming for the eyes and while it did not score a direct hit, it weakened the Taijitu enough for Grace to score another arrow into the snake's side, alongside a few bullets.

Grace repeated this and Tera let her summoned tree to hold down the snake, throwing all of its weight on its head and most of its body. "Nick, on me, you and I are about to splatter this Grimm!"

However, neither of them got the chance to do it as another figure landed on top of the head and the sound of a shotgun split the air. Seven lever pulls, seven shells ejected, and one squeal of the King Taijitu giving its last breath before its form started to disappear. Tera's aura faded as the tree returned to its normal spot, but not before it gently set her down so she didn't fall over, which admittedly, Tera was very close to doing.

The three of them all looked to see Ray atop the fading Grimm with an uncharacteristic look on his face, pure rage. In this light, his eyes were a shining silver, but as soon as the Grimm faded, Ray clutched his head and put Ambush on his back holster. The three of them all reached Ray at the same time before his aura fully dropped from his body and he slacked. They thought it cracked, but he might have just used some of his reserves to give him the edge he needed, which isn't very good if repeated multiple times. Nick caught him first before Ray took a stabilizing step forward. "Are you good?"

Ray nodded, the best answer they were going to get, even if they did not believe him because he literally had his aura squeezed out of him. Not to mention his vision was slightly blurry. Nick noticed that his irises were quivering as if they were struggling to focus on him. Nick sent Ray a look that meant I know more than what you're saying, but Nick didn't push it.

Hopefully, no one caught his eyes glowing on camera. If anything, Ozpin already knows about Ray, Ruby, and the eyes. Moreover, Grace didn't fail to notice that he was cradling his left side more. Something cracked or something is out of place.

The four of them observed their battlefield and it certainly looked like one. Tree bark was everywhere and the indents of the tree's footprints scattered about the open field. The venom from the Taijitus burned patches of grass, giving it an old wartime look. However, they watched a group of four kill the Deathstalker, and then something else happened.

"Is that Nevermore…" Grace started.

"...being pulled up the side of the cliff?" Nick continued.

"Holy…" Tera said, astounded. The four of them watched the Nevermore be decapitated, and something in Ray said that it was Ruby's plan. Even with his vision blurred, he just knew it was her.

With a grin, he turned around and looked for the Relic he dropped and scooped it up, almost losing his balance in the process, and slotted it into one of his pockets before appearing right next to his friends. 'We should probably meet up and get back to the landing zone.'

The four of them caught up to Nora, Ren, Jaune, and Pyrrha, to which the latter of the four noticed Ray's condition. "Are you going to be alright?" her voice was caring and it carried genuine kindness.

Ray nodded before looking up the cliff to see rose petals floating away and he smiled big, proud of his little sister. He looked to the base of the cliff to see Yang, Blake, and Weiss celebrating their victory in their own ways. Again, with his vision blurred, that doesn't mean he cannot see other details if he really focuses.

Yang turned around to see all of them and without warning, leaped across the gap with assistance from Ember Celica. Her boots slid across the ground before they stopped in front of Ray, the concern written on her face. Ray smiled wide and reached out to her. She took the last step and hugged him, gently.

"So, what now?" Jaune asked, now that the major threats passed.

Well, that was the last threat until they heard a growl and the oppressive feeling of a Grimm, this one much more primal than the rest. Ray's headache came back in full force and it was close to knocking him out. The blur came from the group's left side and all they saw was a streak that had crossed the gap with ease.

When the streak stops on the other side of the gap it isn't another student. Nick was the first to make a statement, "Who and what the fuck is that?!"

Ray elected to sign, 'That would probably be the friendly thing we mentioned.'

What now stood on the other side is none other than Beowulf the hybrid, standing at a frightening 9'0'' fur blowing in the wind, claws, and fangs gleaming in the early morning sun with his nose is to the air smelling something.

"That's the friendly Grimm? Have you lost it?! It's bigger than most known—scratch that, all known—alpha Beowolves!" Yang turned to both Ray and Grace. Ray shrugged, looking to his partner.

"To be fair, it had ample opportunity to attack us, and that one was different," Grace supplied.

"Different how, exactly?" Tera asked.

"Its eyes," Grace responded.

Said eyes were glowing a vibrant Cobalt blue as they surveyed the recently decapitated Nevermore. 'I would have preferred it to still be breathing.' There is a chuckle from Beo, 'I doubt our audience would want it still breathing, it couldn't have been killed more than 2 minutes ago. Take what you can get.' Wulf snorts in acknowledgment as he makes his way towards the still bleeding carcass.

From their view, the Grimm was advancing towards the recently deceased Nevermore. Jaune looked like he was going to live up to his nickname, Ren looked impassive as ever, save for the slight twitch of his throat. Pyrrha looked away completely, not wanting to watch this. Nora was… well Nora, and decided to watch in earnest. "Don't tell me that it's…" Nick trailed off.

"Probably," Grace said. "However, one of us should be recording this for research purposes. I'm pretty sure one of the professors prides themselves on Grimm Studies." When no one took out their scroll, Grace sighed before opening her scroll and started taping the spectacle in front of her.

As Wulf draws closer to the corpse he takes a deep breath through his nose smelling the kill before him. Wulf lets out a sigh, "Ahh, a fresh kill. Good. its blood will tell us all we need to know." He begins to climb on top of the Nevermore's chest sniffing here and there as if he were looking for something.

'Did it just talk?' Ray was surprised, as this was not a part of their first meeting. Grace almost dropped her scroll out of sheer shock. Nick's jaw found a home on the forest floor and Tera had a hand cupped over her mouth, amber-orange eyes wide. Yang had her mouth to the floor and her lilac eyes didn't focus on a specific place, more like looking over the Grimm all at once. Jaune actually lived up to his nickname, looking over to the far left, away from everyone, and vomited. Pyrrha finally looked at the sight before her and was ensnared. None of the group was prepared for a Grimm to speak in their life.

Reaching where his nose told him the heart was, Wulf lowers his haunches and looks down at the expired Grimm, for a moment almost looking contemplative. Then without warning a peal of bone-chilling laughter rips out of the Grimm his teeth bared in a hellish grin, "This reminds me of a book I got my paws on once, the first line still stands out to me, 'quote the Raven 'Nevermore.' I guess it was true because nevermore shall you breathe. But your secrets?" At this a clawed arm is raised, "Your secrets are now mine!" With a howl Beowulf tears into the dead creature's chest with tooth and claw. As he violently tears the skin apart with his claws he bites into the breast meat with his teeth and pulls it away sending tissue and black blood everywhere.

At this present point, everyone looked like they were about to join Jaune in the Vomit club. "Oh, I am hoping Ruby is not looking at this, nor can she hear this. This would be scarring for life," Yang said, increasingly worried about her sister. Ray, honestly, did not have that concern, but now that it was mentioned, it definitely was on his mind now. He attempted to shift out of Nick's arms, but the Cobra, quite ironically, had a constricting grip on him. It wasn't painful, but enough to keep him in place.

"Nuh-uh, you aren't teleporting anywhere, and if you do, I'm coming with you," Nick threatened. "You and I both know you don't have enough juice to make that jump."

Grace, meanwhile, was quite literally shaking. Her scroll was still tight in her hand, but it didn't help that the rest of her body was trembling. Tera ended up wrapping an arm around her just to calm her down. "Breath, Gracie," Tera whispered into her ear.

Grace's body shivered again, but for an entirely different reason, "O-Okay."

Nora finally looked away, declaring that she couldn't watch it anymore. Then proceeded to turn around and watch it again. How very... hypocritical? Not bothering with that line of thought, Ren and Pyrrha turned away fully, even taking a few steps back.

"So, what should we do?" Nick asked the group.

"Truthfully," Tera said, "I don't think there's anything we can do."

There is a loud crunch as the Grimm's teeth finally meet the Nevermore's rib cage. Pulling his head away Beowulf tosses the floating rib bone into a pile of blood and gore before returning to the ribcage and violently crunching down on the upper ribs. Breaking the ribs reveals the true prize, its heart, with a quick bite to sever the attached arteries and veins Wulf pulls his head free of the corpse, with its heart in his mouth. With black blood coating his body like a coat of armor he consumes the heart, The memories of this Nevermore flashed through Beowulf's mind like rapidly changing slide projections, the only thing that was clear was a woman. Pale in complexion and with eyes as red as blood, Beo and Wulf had no idea who she was but they both had seen her before.

"Oh, that's just nasty," Nick cringed in disgust.

"I think I may want to not eat anything when we get back," Grace said, having turned off her recording because her stomach felt queasy.

'I never want to witness this again, and suddenly I am grateful that they did not try to attack us,' Ray signed, to which everyone nodded in agreement.

"Should we leave?" Tera asked once her attention was shifted away from the hunter getting their prey.

'It would most likely be in our best interest,' Ray commented.

The commentary brings Beowulf out of his blood induced trip down memory lane, snapping over to the large group across the gap, he feels the fur on the back of his neck stand up, there is the same Silver eyed teenager who he ran into not 20 minutes before. Every fiber of his body told him that he was in danger, but for some reason, he didn't move.

Ray didn't know why, but he was staring right at the Grimm, looking—or attempting to—into the irises of the Grimm. Something told him that this Grimm would not harm him. However, that skepticism dwindled in his mind with assurance. That was something that shocked him. To be fair, the Grimm didn't attack Grace and himself; not to mention how it, er they, reacted to looking at him. Ray felt a buzz in his mind, which quickly turned into a headache soon after. He clutched his head before Nick continued to shoulder him away.

However, there was one person that everyone seemed to forget about. Her voice was the only indicator, "Is that a puppy?!" There was a collective 'oh no' from the group.

"Somebody better go get her, before something else happens," Grace said. Yang was quick to form a plan and asked Pyrrha to launch her, and she complied.

"Ruby, stay away from the Grimm!" She shouted as she crossed the chasm, using Ember Celica to redirect her momentum towards her falling sister.

While Yang was flying towards Ruby, the blonde aimed to where their paths intersect. Suddenly, a white glyph helped Yang launch herself even farther, "Thanks, Ice Queen!"

"That's not my name!" Weiss shouted back, giving her another glyph to leap on.

Ruby was about to make contact with the puppy when her momentum was redirected and then suddenly, she was looking at a cliff face with her sister's arms around her. They ended up close to where the Nevermore's body was. "Never do that again! What if the Grimm countered you or killed you?! Not every Beowolf is going to be like this one."

Seeing the opportunity, Wulf drops to all four and lunges to the treeline getting the hell out of there.

"This one is different, Yang. I can feel it," Ruby said with determination.

Ray heard that because of the echo, 'She is not wrong. That Grimm is different.' His headache was subsiding, but every few heartbeats felt like someone clubbed him over the head.

"Doesn't make it any easier to deal with," Tera said.

"Not to break up the touching moment!" Nick shouted. "Shouldn't we head back? I for one actually want to eat something today!"

That was true, as everyone's stomachs decided to demonstrate a whale's mating call.

...

Just like that, we're done. We wrote so much that the next chapter has written itself, but we still need to go over the finer details to make sure we don't have any plot holes that need patching. For all we know, there's already one or two minor ones that will come back to bite us.

Until then,

-Horus