Blinded
"AHHHHHHH" Erin shrieks at the momentary glimpse of Grimm blowing the torch out. The instant the torch goes out only the glow of the embers remain allowing the squad to quickly surround the Princess and the young girl.
Ruby takes a quick step forward, "Yang we need to get the torch lite again." holding the torch out towards where she believes her sister is.
"Be careful where you put that!" Weiss annoyingly shouts as she pushes the smoldering torch away from her arm.
"Sorry" Ruby apologizes carefully moving the torch away from the group, everyone stops talking as Crunch… tsk tsk tsk… The sound of quick movements can be heard circling around them. Splash… the sound of the puddle just beside Erin causes her to jump, clinging to the Princess.
Pyrrha takes her spear and strikes it against the wall beside her, the sparks deter the nearby Grimm. "Ruby, hold the torch near where the sparks are… maybe those can re-ignite it."
"I'm scared….what are those things?!" Erin cries, "We're going to die?!" the young girl begins sobbing uncontrollably. The young girl's cries seem to cause Grimm to frenzy, the protective ring around the Princess begins to tighten as Grimm begins to reach for Erin.
Yang, Nora and Ren blindly attack the darkness occasionally landing a few blows causing shrieks of pain to echo through the empty darkness.
Yang grabs a hold of one the Grimm squeezing whatever body part she has clinched in her fist. The screams of the beast causes the others to back away for just long enough for Ruby to use the sparks generated by Pyrrha's spear to cause the dying embers in the torch to come back to life. Ruby slashes the resurrected torch through the air, feeding the embers ample amount of air to grow into flames once more.
The comforting glow of the flames is a welcomed sight to all but the captive clenched in Yang's death grip, who contorts in pain as smoke emits from the creature's skin where the light hits it.
"Yang, here hold this." Ruby passes the torch over to her sister.
"KKKKRAASSSSHHHHHHH" The humaniod monster wreathes in pain, nearly dislodging it's limb from the rest of its body to return to the safety of the darkness. Yang's grip only constricts with each twist and tug from the beast. "KKKKKCCAAAACKKKK" The screams seem to rally other monsters as their yellowed masks rush up to the dim glow of the torch light before instantly backing away. Ruby and Pyrrha take positions at the front and rear of the group swinging their weapons into the darkness though the monsters continue to rush towards the group.
Erin's fortitude finally breaks as she feels the icy limbs of the humanoid Grimm brush against her arm before Nora scoops the young girl into her arms. "Shhhh…. Shhh we won't let anything happen to you."
The breeze ebbs and flows from the mineshaft beside the group, "We need to get out of here" Weiss shouts as everyone shuffles while carefully trying to stay within the flickering torch light.
Pyrrha and Ren carefully strike into the darkness whenever they catch a glimpse of the Grimm fading into the darkness. "Yang that….thing is drawing the Grimm to us…"Ruby grunts between swings as she yanks her scythe gashes and cuts through various limbs of the grotesque beings. Yang smirks, throwing the only source of light to Weiss, who luckily catches it.
"Why am I?" Wiess begins to ask but watches as Yang lands a few crippling blows to every joint of the beast. "KKKKKKKEEEEEEEKKKKKK" the bones shattering blows leave the beast unable to escape as Yang lands her last blow to the yellowed, splintering mask crumbles and the dark figure evaporates.
Yang looks over to see Ruby and Pyrrha rolling their eyes at the sight. "What? One less Grimm to have to fight later…"
"She's not wrong." Ren deadpans walking through the vapors. Nora rushes through the quick dissipating fumes, holding the young girls head close to her body. Erin quietly sobs, as Nora quietly hums to the girl trying to calm her down.
"We Need to get out of here!" The Princess angrily states as she feels the breeze grow stronger with each passing step. An elongated arm follows the waves of the breeze as it reaches the Princess gently brushing her cheek before Yang grabs the wrist. The brawler clenches the wrist crushing the bones causing a pained scream to be heard just out of sight. Ruby quickly slices the grotesque limb, "AHHHHHH" Weiss screams as the limb slowly drops to the ground, the limb turns to vapor just as it reaches the ground. She nearly drops the only source of light onto the damp floor, as she tries to keep her composure.
The Princess' shrill outburst causes Erin to completely lose what little composure she had been able to maintain during this ordeal. "I WANT MY MOMMY…." the young girl bawls and thrashes in Nora's arms.
"Erin we are almost out of here...please calm down." Nora desperately tries to calm the inconsolable girl.
"I don't want to die...I want my mommy….where is my mommy…" Erin wiggles out of Nora's arms. The young girl runs to the blonde brawler, "Yang...I want my mommy where's my mommy…. I don't want to be here anymore…"
Yang looks down and her lilac eyes soften, " We need to remain calm." Ren calls from the back of the group. The towering brawler leans down and wraps her arms around Erin's small frame giving her a tight hug. Yang does not utter a word as she keeps the girl in a close embrace, Erin's ragged and shallow breathing slows a bit though her tears continue to flow freely.
Weiss jerks her head back at the commotion just behind her, " we are almost there Erin…" she whispers seeing herself in her sister's arms before the image changes back to Erin in Yang's arms. The Princess places her hand over her rapier, for a brief moment the warmth of a hand is felt on her should. Weiss sighs moving her hand back to her sides.
Ruby and Pyrrha do their best to keep the onslaught of Grimm attempting to claw their way to Erin. Their weapons' long reach causes them to occasionally hit the walls as the mineshaft begins to close in on the group. The momentary strikes against the stone walls cause flashes of light enraging the Grimm further.
With each labored swing forward Ruby's wound splits open ever so slightly, the breeze from the end of the mineshaft cools the warm blood as it slowly drips down. As the wound opens more and more the once mild throbbing in the warriors leg grows more intense. "Ugghhh Ssssskk…." Ruby grunts momentarily reaching down to her bloodied scar.
"Get back!" Pyrrha throws her spear out in front of Ruby as her scythe stops spinning. Nora and Ren take Ruby and her weapon into their arms. "We are going to run now." The redhead says calmly, turning her head to see everyone but Ruby nods her head.
"What if we are running into a trap?!" Ruby yells as everyone begins their sprint into the unknown.
"Even if it is a trap it is better than us not having a light to guide us," Weiss shouts as the torch in her hand grows erratic as the breeze makes the flames dance. Once the group begins to run, the Grimm seem to slowly follow them, they do not take chase after them like the Grimm the warriors have previously encountered.
Nora looks behind her and notices some of the Grimm are attempting to move faster but with their elongated limbs some of them trip on themselves. "They aren't chasing us?" Nora mentions between her heavy breaths.
"They are, just much slower than other Grimm…" Ren adds as he uses Ruby's scythe to land a kick on one of the Grimm that had caught up to them before yanking it out of the soft ground.
Pyrrha and Weiss continue to move forward with Yang close behind. "We don't need to worry about them." Yang snaps noticing that her injured sister is not right beside her. "Nora, stay close."
"Right!" Nora calls back looking down at Ruby, who shrugs her shoulders. "She is just worried about me…" Ruby sighs, "she didn't mean to…."
Pyrrha and Weiss slow their steps as does Yang. Nora and Ren exchange soft looks before catching up to the rest of the group.
After what felt like hours wandering about in the abandoned mineshaft, everyone released a sigh of relief. The mineshaft opened up into a small clearing completely surrounded by the forest.
"I have never been so happy to see these Grimm infested woods." Yang chuckles, "we need to destroy this entrance or else we will have to deal with those things…"
Ruby grits her teeth, tapping Nora on the shoulder. "Yang I am sure you could use Nora's help with that." Nora nods, putting the leader down, Ruby's face twists in pain for a moment as the weight of her body causes more blood oozes out of her reopened wound. The leader motions for Ren to hand her Crimson Rose back to her.
"Erin...I" Yang began before she was able to finish, Erin jumped out of her arms. Pyrrha and Weiss rush over to Ruby as Ren keeps Erin close.
Nora looks over at Yang who smirks cracking her knuckles "okay Nora. Let's close this up so we can focus on…" Yang sighs over her shoulder seeing her sister struggling to stand with the full weight of her body on her injured leg. "Getting all of us out of here safely."
Nora tightens her grip on the handle of her massive hammer, "we better hurry…" Nora quickly motions to the brawler that a horde of humanoid figures seem to be encroaching on the exit. Yang and Nora take positions on either side of the mineshaft where the support beams holding the entrance up.
Both women share a momentary glance before they began their flurry of attacks on the sturdy support beams. Each blow causes dust and debris to fall from the ceiling, the Grimm begin to shuffle faster and faster towards the squad as Nora and Yang increase the speed of their attacks.
"These things are sturdy!?" Yang grunts angrily, the brawler shakes her hands for a brief moment even slapping the splintering wooden beam with her open palm. "WHY won't you just break?!" Yang spins around doing a full roundhouse kick putting a large crack in the beam. The brawler lets out a heavy sigh, "that's more like it." Nora 's beam sustaining much more damage, the energetic woman smirks as her beam is just a few hits out from completely collapsing.
"Did you hear that?" Pyrrha turns her head, raising her arm pushing the Princess and Ruby behind her. Ruby digs the head of her scythe into the ground and places her hand over her sword.
"Princess stay close." Ruby whispers motioning to Ren to come closer to the trio. "Pyrrha we need to get into the treeline… we are too exposed."
"ALMOST there!" Yang shouts as the pair land the finishing blows, the entrance collapses just as the first beast's emaciated hand reaches out from the safety of the mineshafts shadows. The skeletal fingers twitch as the creature's digits wisp away in the slight breeze. Yang drops her hands to her knees in a momentary rest.
"WEEE did it…" Nora drops her hammer beside her raising her wary arms well over her head before falling completely on her back. The tired warrior releases a sigh of triumph. "Yang we did it!" Nora throws a fist into the starry sky before her. Both women foreheads and necks completely coated in sweat as they take a moment to celebrate.
"We sure did but now we have to keep moving." Yang walks over and grabs the fallen warriors fist yanking her up. "Oh sorry…" Yang apologizes as Nora rolls her shoulder after being thrown to her feet.
The clouds part allowing the moonlight to hit Ruby's freshly open wound making the trail of blood appear to be gushing. The red glisten catches the Princess' eye, where...what... "Ruby….your wound when did it get like this..." Before Weiss could finish her sentence Ruby placed her finger up to her lips, causing the Princess to bite her tongue.
SHHHiiinnng Ruby removes her sword from her holster and slowly walks beside Pyrrha, "Nora and Yang are…"
"We are what?!" Yang loudly interrupts, shattering the silence. "I hope you were about to say, amazing, ready for the next fight or we are..." Yang exhales while mumbling more as she seems to count the various items on her finger. Nora pops her head out from behind the brawler and nods in agreement with everything that Yang says.
"On the contrary you both appear to be exhausted, bruised and look ready to sleep for at least a fortnight." Weiss interjects.
Pyrrha keeps her eyes ahead at the various shifting shadows within the treeline, unsure if they are just the trees and foliage moving with the breeze, Grimm or bandits. "We don't have time to squabble, we need to get out of the open." Ruby yanks her scythe out of the ground with one hand and spins the massive weapon to her back holster, keeping her sword at the ready.
Yang catches a glimpse of a worn path into the woods though not used in ages. "We can follow that path, at least we could try to make it back to the village." Pyrrha kneels beside the beaten ground.
Ruby walks past both the towering warriors, "we have to keep moving until we can find a safe place to rest." The leader slicing through some overgrown shrubbery that now blocks small sections of the path before them.
"Ruby your leg!" Pyrrha uses her spear to help her up.
"She isn't, rather she won't let us wrap it until we are safe, or at least somewhere where we can defend those two better." Yang tilts her head towards the exhausted girl in Ren's arms and the tired Princess just within earshot of the pair.
"I can hear you and I can fend for myself just fine." Weiss takes hurried steps to catch up with the injured leader, and walks into a spider web. "WAHHHHHHH…" her hands flailing her hands across her face. The sound of her voice seems to summon the young captain instantly back to the disheveled Princess.
As Weiss struggles to remove the nearly invisible threads from her hair, face and fingers Ruby stands behind her carefully mirroring her steps just in case. "Ohhhh ohhhh nuuu." Weiss trips on a tree root," Woah there, fear not Princess I got you." Ruby mentions as she catches the Princess before any harm can befall her.
Weiss cheeks become a deep shade of red as Ruby helps pick the last bits of webbing out of the Princess hair before helping her back to her feet.
"Oh Ruby…." Yang mocking taunts the pair as she passes them. "Muah muah oh Princess…" Nora giggles at the sisterly banter, Pyrrha nudges the brawler. "Sorry…"
Grudgingly Weiss leaves the comfort of the leader's arms, "thank you Ruby…" she sighs.
"Oh yeah no problem." Ruby blushes pulling up her cloak around her neck. Ren walks past the leader, with the young girl barely able to keep her eyes open. The sight causes Ruby to rush up to Pyrrha, "...Pyr- Pyrrha what- do we have any supplies?"
"All we have is whatever we happened to grab before descending into the mineshaft." The mention of supplies caughts everyone's attention.
"We should rest there for now, and figure out what our plan is until we can figure out where we are." Ren tilts his head towards a long abandoned campsite the logs surrounding a ring of stones covered in moss off the beaten path. Without waiting for a response the man goes towards the seemingly safe spot. Nora quickly follows behind her partner and offers to hold the young girl. "Thanks." Ren gently hands the exhausted child to Nora.
Ruby attempts to go to scout the area but Yang and Pyrrha stop here. "Ruby, you can't honestly think we will let you go and survey the area with your wound like that." Pyrrha places her hand over Ruby's outdrawn sword.
"I am the-" Ruby starts, Weiss walks up and motions to Pyrrha to give the two a moment. Pyrrha takes Yang and they go to Ren and Nora.
"Ruby if you were about to say the Captain, and that it is your responsibility to protect me." Weiss' eyes stare unwavering, "You have a duty to me to not be reckless." The Princess turns away, "You will remain here by my side until your injury is completely healed." Ruby inhales loudly "and that is an order."
"Of course Princess. " Ruby bows slightly before following behind to rejoin the rest of the squad. "Yang should we start a fire tonight is much colder than our first night out." Nora tries to shield Erin from the chill of the wind.
"I don't know about making camp here, we are too close to the road and with those bandits still out we should try to make our way back to town." Pyrrha's words are met with tired eyes and long sighs.
Yang stretches, getting on her the balls of her feet bouncing from side to side. "You are right Pyrrha,"
"We are not in any condition to travel," Ren cuts Yang off causing everyone to turn to stare at the usually quiet man. "We are all exhausted from the constant fighting and now we can finally get some rest and you want us to continue into this forest on what a whim that we will somehow make it back TO TOWN." His voice crescendos into an ear splitting shout, caw caw a few resting crows are startled out from their slumber and fly away from the campsite.
"Ren…" Nora grabs a hold of the sash wrapped tight around Ren's torso, "let me use this to wrap Erin she is shivering." Ren exhales, his angered expression softens at the requests as he quickly unwraps the cloth and gently places onto the slumbering child in Nora's arms. Ren gently wipes the trail of tears from Erin's cheeks.
Pyrrha throws the spiked end of her spear into the ground, "we will make camp here and try to get our bearings." Exalted cheers erupt from the group. Yang and Pyrrha scour the immediate area for kindling, firewood while also checking to make sure there are no Grimm or bandits nearby. "There isn't too much in the way of firewood near here." Pyrrha mumbles to herself gathering the few pieces of fallen wood.
"Well if we aren't too worried about noise I could-" Yang started smirking as she eyes a few older trees.
"No Yang, this should be plenty to keep us warm through the night." Pyrrha raises up her arms full of small logs and twigs.
"Yeah- but-" Yang protests with her arm curled around the trunk of a fallen tree she had made more manageable to carry. Pyrrha walks in Yang's line of sight and shakes her head, "okay fine, but just so you know you're no fun Pyrrha!"
The redhead light scoffs with a smirk on her face, "there will be plenty of time to be fun once we get our supplies and finish this mission." She rolls her shoulder for the brawler to follow her. As the pair turn to return to the campsite a reflection catches their eye through the dense forest.
Yang drops her wood as does Pyrrha, both warriors drop low enough that the nearby shrubbery helps to camouflage the bright colors of Yang's armor and tunic. "Bandits…" Yang whispers, as Pyrrha moves part of the bush in front of the two out of her direct line of sight.
"No, not bandits." Pyrrha stands up walking towards where the flash of light came from, moving some branches from the path to reveal….
"Let's keep this to ourselves for now." Yang smirks, turning away from the sight, picking up the firewood, "we can surprise everyone tomorrow!"
Pyrrha smiles, releasing the branches to once again cover the path from prying eyes, "I am sure everyone will love to see that." The redhead lightly punches the blonde brawler in the shoulder.
~,.Back at the Campsite.,~
Nora and Ren gather a few recently fallen branches and create a few makeshift beds around the fire pit, three smaller beds and one larger bed for the pair to share with the young girl. Ruby keeps watch of everyone while Weiss keeps Erin company beside the empty fire pit.
Ruby sighs as she kneels down to examine her wound, she is careful to check it while not in the watchful presence of the Princess. I should see if Ren or Nora have a rag or something to replace this… Ruby removes the blood soaked cloth that had fallen into her boot during their escape. The young leader rises from her lowered position, slowly walking towards Nora and Ren. Her wound has opened up in the middle where the most trama occurred, it throbs as it did when she first felt the Beowolf's nail pierced through her flesh.
"She is completely drained…" Weiss mentions turning as she hears the sound of light footsteps approach her from behind. "And you should be resting…" the point tone of her voice hits Ruby harder than the wolves that gave her gash on her leg.
"I….you see...it's…." Ruby mumbles motioning to her leg, then to Nora and Ren, before pulling on the collar of her heavy cloak. "Is it hot over here…." Ruby feels the steam wafting off of her burning red cheeks.
"Nooo…" Weiss stretches her neck away from the passed out girl leaning on her, "it most certainly is not…" the piercing cerulean eyes of the Princess on Ruby lead her to begin to mumble on and on about what the Princess had not the slightest clue.
Ren nudges Nora to watch the young leader struggle to form coherent sentences as the blood continues to seep from her recently opened wound. "We are almost done over here if you need a new wrapping for your wound Ruby." Ren calls to the nervous leader, an instant breath of relief escapes from Ruby.
"Yes thank you." Ruby smiles quickly looking down at the Princess, "uhhh if you are cold here." Ruby removes her cloak and nearly throws it on Weiss' shoulders. "Sorry if it smells, and is heavier than last time….I haven't had a chance to clean or wash it since…" Ruby goes quiet looking up at the sky remembering her latest plunder.
Weiss grabs her hand for a brief moment before instantly releasing it, the contact causes Ruby to snap her gaze back to the Princess. "it is fine…" Weiss whispers as she struggles to adjust the cloak with the young girl resting on her shoulder.
"Oh...just hold sti-" Ruby bends down and lovingly adjusts the cloak, after circling around the Princess making sure that the cloak is wrapped perfectly around Weiss. The brunette stops in front of the Princess to clasp the broch in the front as the final touch, Ruby feels the warmth near her cheeks.
The leader looks up, "uhhh…." she gulps her breath as Weiss seems to be an eyelash distance away their lips tremble. The Princess freezes as Ruby clasps the broch around her neck though neither of them make a move to distance their faces.
"Nnnngggghhh" Erin groans, the sound causes Ruby to fall backwards, "oaf…." Weiss holds her hand out in a futile attempt to stop the brunette from hitting the ground.
"Everything ok over there?" Nora calls noticing that Ruby is now on the ground.
Ruby shoots up, "Ow…"she bites her lower lip, "yeah everything is fine be right there!" the leader waves and chuckles.
Weiss and Ruby both share an awkward laugh before Ruby without another word nearly sprints to Nora and Ren.
OH DEAR GODDESS…..PLEASE TELL ME THAT NEITHER OF THEM SAW THAT! Ruby shakes her head as she moves closer to the pair, though the Princess thinks the same thing placing her free hand on her burning cheeks
"What was I thinking…." Weiss whispers to herself as she brushes her lips with her thumb. Was I leaning into her or was she leaning towards...me? We nearly… "kissed" The Princess says out loud by mistake.
"WE'RE BACK!" Yang shouts, causing Weiss to jump allowing Erin to fall onto the log. Instantly the young girl begins to cry.
Yang and Pyrrha look about as Ruby is getting a new wrap placed on her wound with Ren's help and Nora rushes to Erin and Weiss to help soothe Erin.
"Looks like we got back just in time." Pyrrha pats the brawler on the shoulder. Yang smiles at Pyrrha and nods
"Yea sure looks like we did." Yang stares at her sister whose face is completely red. Hmmm….
A/N Hello there travelers, I hope everyone is having/ had a great Valentine's Day! I am happily celebrating my 7th one with a special woman. She is the inspiration for this story and I hope that I am doing her justice in my story telling. Also I hope you all are enjoying this story and I appreciate all your support and can't wait to see you all in the next chapter!
^,.,^/