A/N
Hey, guys! Thanks so much for all of your support! I know this story isn't popular compared to, say, Fans and Girlfriends or Queens and Mages, but hey! If I'm writing solely because of the popularity, then I'd have been done a long time ago. I hope you keep sticking to the story, because really, it hasn't even started yet. Not really.
CHAPTER 3
"Shadow," she calls out, spinning around in all directions, straining her ears from the faintest sound. "Stop being a coward and fight me!"
No response. Typical.
Yang raises one hand and summons her powers. Small flames flicker to life from each tip of her fingers. As she brings her fingers together, the flames merge into one huge fire. It lights up her surroundings, revealing a pair of intelligent eyes peeking from behind a tree. Yang draws her arm back, then lurches it forward, sending the fire in that direction.
But Shadow is gone, and the world plunges into darkness.
The luck of her people as they battle against the Menangerians, from what she can see from this distance, is beautiful.
Whilst the Menagerian does fight better, the Valeers have better numbers. More importantly, they have Weiss, who hangs in the back, two hands outstretching in different directions. Wherever her hands point to, time glyphs show up. They either slow the enemies down, giving the others time to go for the kill, or they fasten the Valeers, sending them away from an attack or sending them forward to attack.
Yang may be a powerhouse, but Weiss? Weiss is an ace.
Yang frowns, peering closer. Although she's doing well, she has no one guarding her. Ironwood would order someone to do so, and that someone would normally be Yang.
Distracted, Yang fails to notice Shadow's approach until it's too late. With no time to duck out of the way, Yang raises two hands up in the air, pouring aura through her skin. Metal clanks against metal.
"Well, well, well," Yang says through gritted teeth, "look what I dragged in."
Shadow's eyes narrow. Yang can't see his mouth due to the black scarf covering half of his face, but she knows it's twisted down.
They lock into battle, summoning enough aura to boost themselves. Yang lets Shadow push her back, then winks as flame bursts around her. Shadow jumps back. Yang unhilts her sword, then swings, but what she thinks is Shadow dissolves into mist. The real Shadow slithers to her right, knocking Yang's skull with the pommel of his sword, breaking through her aura.
Her head spins as Shadow attacks her from all sides, confusing her with one misty clone after the other, slicing her thigh, then her back, then her face.
One hard slice to her forearm drops her sword to the ground. Another to her calf drops her to one knee.
But Shadow never goes in for the kill. No, no. Yang is the princess of Vale. She possesses too much valuable information for that. As much as she wants to, Yang can't kill him too. Shadow is the general of Menangerie's army.
Not that it means she's gonna stand here and let Shadow attack her.
Through the thumping in her head and the ache throughout her body, Yang releases a flame with a roar, big enough to cause forest fire. With the place this bright, there's no place for Shadow to hide. Yang thrusts her arm in Shadow's direction, and fire whizzes past her to the ground, exploding near him.
Shadow summons another clone, but it's so obvious that it is a clone due to the lack of movement, so Yang doesn't bother hesitating. She sends one flame after the other. On and on and on. Never halting. Much less stopping.
To her credit, Shadow lasts for a minute. Yang distracts him with fire coming from the front whilst outlining a spark of fire in a circle on the ground. A circle that surrounds Shadow. It takes too much concentration and drains too much aura, so she's only got one shot at this.
Yang stops her attacks, then brings both hands up. The spark turns into a full-on raging flame, so hot Yang can't see through the whiteness.
She holds the fire for seven seconds before exhaustion hits her, making her release her hold on the flame. Flicking off her sweat, Yang trudges towards Shadow, who's on his knees, hands limply dangling at her sides, her swords on the ground. The flame tears through Shadow's clothing, leaving him with his underclothing.
Shadow looks up through lidded eyes, revealing that he is no he.
Yang pauses, unsure of how to make of that. Yay for feminism?
Girl supporting girls will have to wait, because she needs information, and out of all these losers, Shadow might be the only one able to give her that. Yang grabs his—no, her—hair and tugs it up, forcing their eyes to meet. Clever sass builds in the back of her throat only to die. "Hi," she says, dumbly.
Since when has Shadow been this pretty? Sure, she didn't know Shadow's a girl until literally seconds ago, but still. Smooth jaw, round chin, and those lashes! Hot dayum!
No, Yang. Focus. She's the enemy. You do not get crushes on the enemy.
Yang clears her throat and puts on a smirk. "I think this is the part where I boast about beating you."
Shadow doesn't break eye-contact. "Did you?"
Yang blinks, then laughs. It doesn't sound as confident as she'd like. "Unless my eyes are decei—"
A cry of pain tears through the chaos, coming from a familiar voice.
Weiss?!
Yang's grip on Shadow's hair tightens. "What the fuck did you do?!"
Shadow's eyes widen, her jaw dropping, unused to the Earth swearing. "Did you—"
Yang slams Shadow to the ground, then runs into the battlefield, pausing to grab her broadsword. Most are engaged in their own battles, but some idiots try to engage with her. She sends her sword flaming, then swings it in their direction. It's enough to scare them off.
Weiss lies against a tree, holding the side of her stomach, heaving deep breaths. Yang drops to her side, hands hovering over her, but Weiss mumbles a shaky, "No."
From the other side of the tree, a figure shifts, attacking Yang with a sword. The figure is blackened by what must be paint, camouflaging themselves well against the dark. They raise their sword again, but this time Yang is ready, grabbing it with her bare hand. Yang sends flame through it, twisting around the blade, then hitting the figure's hand. The figure's yelps, then runs.
Yang lets them, crouching back down to Weiss' aid.
#
The world returns to Blake as something cold waves through her, circling around her, filling the burns surrounding her body. This aura—it's familiar. "Illia?"
"Oh, what beautiful luck." Pieces of Illia's aura that leaks from her body touches her own, then fuses against it, giving her the strength to heal her body. Blake pinpoints the worst of the damages; the burns on her feet and the bruises on her neck. Dragonheart's strength is not to be underestimated. The wave slowly dies out, and Illia takes a sharp inhale. "Forgive me, Blake, but that's all I could—"
"Don't apologise," she says, pushing herself with her elbows into a half-upright sitting position. "My luck is beautiful, thanks to you."
Illia looks away, smiling. "You flatter me."
Blake holds her own smile, before letting it drop as she surveys the battle. Both sides are heavily injured. She counts three Menagerians lying on the ground, dead. The rest are holding on, but barely, with injuries of all sorts. Not to mention that krazzing fire of Dragonheart's, which is steadily growing, heading their way. Dragonheart herself is nowhere in sight, but according to Illia, she's tending to the Schnee soldier.
Good. They'd been losing a lot more battles lately, and the Schnee was to blame. Besides Dragonheart, she was the only one with refined powers. And what annoying powers she has!
Blake's plan was to drive the Schnee away from the rest of her soldiers, then take care of her. That plan almost failed when Dragonheart strolled with her. They tried fishing them out of hiding, but Dragonheart and Schnee wouldn't budge.
Luckily, Blake has her own secret thorn. Illia's powers may only work for seconds, but seconds was all they needed to eliminate their second biggest threat.
But things are far from over.
"We can't keep going on like this," Blake says, stumbling as she stands. Illia's aura-sharing may have healed the worst of her injuries, but not all of them. "We have to do something."
"What?"
As if to answer Illia's question, the fire roars, clustering around Dragonheart's tall figure, a sword resting against the ground. Her free hand rises up, then clenches into a fist. The fire pulls around her, flickering behind her, casting her in shadow.
The display silences the battle.
"Pull back," Dragonheart says.
A man with a strange-looking moustache scoffs. "You cannot—"
"Pull. Back." Without waiting for his confirmation, Dragonheart throws her arms to her side, then drops to her knee, slamming her palms to the ground.
The fire swallows the battlefield, splitting off enemies. Dragonheart may be great, but she's not invincible. Though she tries to control her flame, it's of no use. A fire this big would require a deep level of concentration to maintain. A concentration Dragonheart can't hold for long.
Blake's own people retreat away from the fire, some limping, others requiring help. Blake offers her own shoulder for a man with a red-streaked face, wishing she has enough aura to help him. "Lead them away," she tells Illia.
As Blake moves to the emptying battlefield, Illia catches her arm. "What will you do?"
Something stupid. "Something that needs to be done."
Illia's face turns somber, and for a heartbeat, Blake thinks she'll kiss her. Instead, Illia squeezes her, then lets her go with a nod. "May your luck be beautiful."
"May yours be as well," Blake responds, before taking off, white-knuckling her swords. She stops to wait as Dragonheart creates a barrier wall ten feet high. Then, the wall lowers before dissolving, revealing a panting Dragonheart.
Their eyes meet.
This is it. After years of skirmishes against one another, fights with no real winners, here they are, alone together.
Blake will defeat her, this time. Once she does, she'll be known as the true warrior of Menagerie, the slayer of slayers. She'll earn the right to be King Adam's right hand, and not a mere leader of fifteen-or-so soldiers.
Dragonheart lowers her fists, and the flame around her lowers. She unclenches them, and the flame dissipates. But the damage has already been done. What used to be trees are now swaying and rotten black corpses, with no leaves. The ground steams with the aftermath of the fire, and all of the grass is no more. It's like Dragonheart sucked all of the green, replacing it with a hideous murky orange.
"All you do is destroy," Blake says, stepping forth.
Dragonheart flashes her teeth. "That's hilarious, coming from a Menagerian."
Blake's jaw twitches. She says nothing, drawing one foot below, brandishing her swords. They glint a pale yellow.
A part of her tells herself she shouldn't be doing this. It must be morning on Earth, and she can't be late for school. Not when it's her first day. Both lives are equally important, even if it doesn't seem that way, at times.
One look at Dragonheart destroys those worries. How can she be worried about classes when she's about to face her greatest enemy?
Fire rises from Dragonheart's mouth, and the temperature rises. Blake shifts into a fighting stance, ready to use whatever's left of her aura to end this, once and for all.
Then, a rumbling emerges. Blake lowers to a crouch, thinking it's Dragonheart's flame about to burst around her, but no. Dragonheart frowns back at her with confusion. Not her, then. It stops, then starts again, so strong Blake holds on to a nearby dead tree for support.
Is this an earthquake? No. Can't be. There's something about the shaking that's different, less like the ground's shaking, and more like something inside the ground is shaking.
Blake's mind clicks, realisation dawning.
She jumps up as the ground between them crackles, then breaks, dust and pebble flying everywhere. From within emerges something big, something black, something whose roar pains Blake's ears; a Grimm worm.
A/N
There might be an official term for a Grimm worm in the RWBY-verse, but I'm choosing to go with Grimm worm instead. 'Cuz it's simpler.
Oh, and what did you think about Yang and Blake's fight? I tried not to drag it out for too long. Keep it fast-paced, you know?
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. And I also hope you're having a great day today. If not, then GO EAT SOME ICE CREAM! THAT'S AN ORDER FROM YOURS TRULY! YOU BETTER DO IT OR ELSE!
AND MAKE SURE IT'S CHOCOLATE-FLAVORED! BECAUSE CHOCOLATE-FLAVORED ICE CREAM IS THE BEST!