Disclaimer: All character belong to Rooster Teeth Productions
Co-Authored with ToxicExotic
Escort
Vibrations ripped through Crescent Rose as Ruby pulled the trigger, the sensation jostling her fingers and sending tingles up her arm as the sharp blade tore backwards ripping through a Beowolves' neck. It was a feeling she had never stopped loving, and one she would have loved to feel it with every swing. Unfortunately, with only limited ammunition at her disposal, that wasn't really an option, so she settled for carrying its momentum and letting it slide over her back and through yet another Beowolf. Catching it with her left hand, she retracted it and fired off another shot at a Creep that had just emerged from the woods, turning it to smoke instantly.
The horde had been coming strong for almost ten minutes, and while it was definitely not big enough to give her much concern, she was definitely glad that Allie had given them a warning. It had given the Menagerie guards just enough time to get into position and perform a defensive perimeter around the civilians who had all rushed back to the cart for safety. Unfortunately, with all the scared non-combatants gathered there, it was naturally going to draw the largest number of Grimm; but Saber, Yang, and Princeton were all close by to help where needed.
Blake on the other hand had been separated from the main group. Since the girl and her parents had been too far away from the cart to make it back, they had been stranded a short ways up the road when the Grimm had emerged from the woods. As such, the girl had chosen to stay where she was and defend her mom with the help of her dad and the small faunus girl that Ruby had seen occasionally around camp. Which left Ruby and Weiss as the vanguard.
The two of them had positioned themselves on the forest's edge where the Grimm were pouring from, and were responsible for taking care of the bigger threats. It was manageable for smaller Grimm such as Beowolves to make it through as they wouldn't create that much chaos or disrupt the guards' formation too much, but the last thing they needed was a Pincreant, large hedgehog Grimm covered in barbed needles, to get through and scatter that formation.
"On your left." Ruby heard the heiress say.
Spinning around just in time to see an Ursai step onto one of the gravity glyphs Weiss had placed in the area, Ruby watched the beast's hind legs get tossed into the air. Taking advantage of the creature being off balance, she whirled her scythe around and sliced cleanly through its exposed belly.
"Thanks." She breathed and scanned for the next big Grimm among the trees. "I feel bad for using the group as bait."
It had been Saber's plan. While they were definitely capable of taking out more minor Grimm than they currently were, the man had instructed that they let more through in order to keep the people scared.
"Keeping the Grimm focused on the group means less focus on us." Weiss replied with a grunt. "Which means…"
"Not as many attacking us while we take out the big ones." Ruby finished her friend's sentence. "I know, but I still don't like it."
"It's a sound strategy." She heard Blake say over the coms. "If they weren't focused on them, we would be overrun too. Ilia, bridge!"
Pulling her eyes away from the treeline and looking towards her girlfriend, she watched as the small girl, that she now knew was called Ilia, lashed out with her whip, wrapping the tip around the neck of a Dryad. Jumping off the girl's shoulder, Blake ran up the thin line of metal toward the large tree-like Grimm and lashed out with both her blades. Before the creature even began to fold in on itself, the faunus grabbed the end of the whip and Ilia slammed her down on the top of an Ursa, that too turning to smoke as Blake drove Gambol Shroud into its skull.
Slightly surprised at the level of teamwork they had just displayed, Ruby wracked her brain for who the girl could be. It didn't take long however to remember her name. She had been the girl in Blake's diary, the one who had been Blake's best friend during the time they had spent together in the White Fang, and who the raven-haired faunus said was just as confused as her. She also remembered that the girl was a chameleon faunus, which explained why she kept disappearing.
Even cooler, she thought to herself at the fact the girl was able to do such a thing without need of a semblance.
"I suppose." Ruby hummed, Qrow's words about doing what needed to be done ringing in her head.
"You worry too much, Sis." She heard Yang chuckle. "Keep sending the babies our way, we can handle them."
"Alright." She sighed, hearing a loud skittering to her right. "Weiss', we've got a Milligreed."
Slithering through the trees at surprising speed on more spiked legs than Ruby could count was a thirty feet long millipede. White, segmented armor covered its entire back and large, blunt teeth hung out of its mouth. While Ruby had never fought one before, she knew they tended to burrow and live inside hills creating complex tunnels that unlucky hikers would occasionally fall into. Thankfully though, while they were rather large and very good at trampling things, they weren't very difficult in a head to head fight due to lack of options. In fact, instead of offensive options they were one of the few Grimm that had developed a defensive option in the form of a liquid secreted from its underbody. A liquid that caused a reaction so severe that the flesh around areas it touched would die within minutes and need to be removed.
"I'm a little busy here." Weiss grunted, Ruby looking over to see her partner attempting to wrestle Myrtenaster from the mouth of a Robcat, a small feline Grimm that often stole and ate travellers' belongings.
"I can handle it." She smiled and turned back to the approaching Grimm.
Jumping to the side as it approached to avoid being trampled to death, Ruby stuck out Crescent Rose and slipped the hooks of the weapon into its mouth. Planting her feet into the ground, she gripped the handle of her scythe and pulled back as hard as she could in hopes of turning it away from the group of faunus she was protecting. A breath of relief left her as the Milligreed was forced to face her, but it was short lived as its upper half began to raise, lifting her from the ground and dangling her dangerously close its underbelly, which had already begun to leak a foul smelling liquid. Though she knew her aura would protect her from most of the damage, she was still determined not to touch it due to hearing horror stories of how, even through aura, the discharge could still cause a horrendous amount of irritation.
So, just before her knees could come into contact with the gross fluid she reached up and pulled back the bolt of the rifle, loading in a gravity Dust round and pulling the trigger. As the shot rang out through the area and a purple light lit up the trees, both of them were sent hurtling back towards the ground. Unlike the milligreed however, Ruby was used to such speed and let the momentum carry her around the Milligreed's body and landed on its head. With the hooks still in place, she pulled back and the creature let out a pain chirping as the armor was pulled away from its head with a disgusting squelch. The chirping didn't last long however, as she fired off another shot that blew the head to pieces and caused the rest of the body to fall lifelessly to the ground.
"Ugh." She grumbled and gave her legs a quick check, but found them to be clean. "That was super gross."
"Ruby!" She heard Weiss say in her ear with suppressed laughter. "Little help here?"
Spinning around, she saw that while Weiss had killed the Robcat, the girl had managed to get herself surrounded by a clan of Cackles. The vicious hyena Grimm were similar to Beowolves in many ways, except for the fact that they let out a loud laughing sound that caused their victim to be unable to fight back since they too would be laughing so hard that it was difficult to catch a breath. However, as much as Ruby loved listening to the rare sound of her partner's laughter, she rushed forward to help and sliced through two of them before landing beside the hunched over heiress. That only angered the horde of beasts though, and they gnashed their jaws and lept towards them.
They were only halfway through the air though when the ground around her feet turned yellow and every muscle in her body began to burn with energy. Sound distorted and the world slowed to a crawl. An unpleasant wave of nausea settled in her stomach and she knew Weiss had absolutely overcharged the time dilation glyph; but casting that worry aside, she activated her semblance and boosted herself off towards her prey. In what she knew would be a blink of the eye for everyone else, every Cackle in the area turned to smoke, their heads no longer attached to their bodies.
Once the field faded though Ruby dropped to her knees, her muscles on fire. It wasn't more than she could handle, but it was still enough to make her grunt in pain as she reached out for the scythe that had slipped from her grasp.
"Sorry." Weiss grunted, plunging her rapier through the chest of a Beowolf that tried to get past her. "Still working on that one."
"It's fine." Ruby breathed and used her weapon to stand up, only for her legs to buckle. "I just need a sec."
"Take your time." The ivory-haired girl replied, straightening her posture and holding her rapier out. "I can handle the Grimm for now."
Nodding quietly and taking a deep breath, Ruby stopped trying to get up and let herself remain seated on the ground. It was a little annoying that a minor overcharge that had lasted no more than two seconds had taken her down, but she knew she wasn't alone in that one. Pretty much anyone Weiss used that move on had been put onto their knees afterward, even Pyrrha and Nora. In fact, the only person in the group who had never actually had an issue with time dilation was Blake; who had never shown a single sign of fatigue after exiting the time fields.
However, while Weiss was an extremely capable fighter, Ruby knew her abilities and weapon definitely did not lean towards taking care of hordes. Instead she was more geared towards solo targets; so seeing a Pincreant roll towards them while backed up by a pack of Boarbatusks, Ruby tried her best to hurry to her feet. Unfortunately her legs were still a little shaky, and though she tried her best to swipe at the rolling beast, her weapon merely bounced off the spikes and sent her tumbling back to the ground; allowing the creature to continue on towards the group.
"Yang!" She said into her earpiece. "Pincreant hea-"
Before she could even finish her warning, the Grimm came to a stop and uncurled itself, revealing a boar-like face with large, curved tusks. As it uncurled itself, the creature flicked its head and sent the large pins that covered its back towards the group of civilians. However, with surprising agility, Princeton leapt in the way and raised one side of his cloak, each pin bouncing off of it with a loud clanging sound. Spinning on the spot, he raised the left side of the cloak causing the sword shaped tassels to slide through the beast's body with zero resistance. That struck Ruby as a little odd, since she had definitely seen the cloak swishing around like fabric earlier that morning.
"Not bad, Prince." Yang chuckled, delivering a powerful punch to one of the boarbatusks that blew its armor to pieces and sent it careening into a tree, scaring a lone raven that had been sitting on a branch. "You doing okay over there, Rubes?"
"Yeah," She nodded, taking another deep breath and feeling the last of the pain ebb away. "Looks like the horde is thinning out too. Can't see any bigger ones left."
"Good." Blake replied. "I'm going to start bringing my mom back to the cart."
"Alright." Ruby nodded. "Then I want you and Yang here with us to handle the rest."
"You got it, sis."
With her orders given and her muscles finally free of the burning sensation, Ruby propped her scythe on her shoulders and looked out into the trees. Seeing nothing but minor Grimm that she knew wouldn't present much of a challenge, she smiled and gave her partner a nod. With the silent understanding, Weis stretched her hand out and summoned a new batch of glyphs, each one with a different effect to slow the creatures' progression while they took care of them.
After spending the entire day walking and fighting off Grimm, Blake was happy to finally have a moment to sit down. While there had only been one dangerous attack, the fear and uneasiness it had caused many that smaller packs of Grimm had been constantly emerging from the trees and trying their best to take whoever they could. At one point, a pack of Creeps had almost managed to take off with one of the guards, but thankfully Saber and Yang had managed to free him before he was dragged underground.
As night began to fall they had come across a small clearing by the side of the road, and despite it not being easily defendable, her parents had made the call to make camp for the night. Not that anyone minded since they were tired from walking and travelling at night was far more dangerous than the day. So when they had walked off to oversee the setting up of the tents, Blake had finally snuck away and settled herself on an empty stump on the edge of the road.
It wasn't all bad though. For the first time in a few days, Blake was finally starting to feel a little bit better. Not much better, but as she was sure Ruby would say, anything was better than nothing. Maybe it was the fact that she was finally speaking about it instead of keeping everything buried, or maybe it was her mom and dad's comforting presence, she didn't know; all she did know was that she no longer felt the urge to cry. And surely that was a good thing.
So, leaning back on the stump and letting Ruby's words about how she deserved to be happy fill her head, Blake stretched her shoulders and went to stand up. However, before she could even push herself off of the dead tree, something pulled her attention to the other side of the road they were camping next to.. Hovering in the dark a few feet off the ground were two red lights as small as ping pong balls. They circled each other, gliding over one another as if dancing, but the dance was far from pleasant. Surrounded by the pitch black darkness of the forest, it felt ominous and creepy enough to send a shiver down her back.
"Sup, broody." Starting slightly at her partner's cheerful voice, she looked up with a scowl and saw Yang approaching with two drinks in hand. "What're you looking at?"
Looking back to where the lights had been hovering, Blake was met with nothing but darkness.
"Just… A Grimm." She theorised. "Or maybe fireflies and I'm just going crazy."
"Going crazy? You always have been." Blake sent the girl another scowl, though all it did was make her chuckle. "Relax. You make it look good."
"Is that your idea of comforting?"
"Pfft, no." Yang scoffed and sat down. "Comforting you is Ruby's job."
"So what's yours?"
"Taking your mind off it." She passed one of the bottles of water up to her. "Which would be a lot easier to do with alcohol, but apparently that's the one thing nobody here brought with them."
"Maybe because being drunk on a mission is a bad thing?" She replied and took a sip of the water.
"Eh."
The girl waved away the comment and laid down on the grass, her lilac eyes gazing boredly up at the stars. Shaking her head and standing up, Blake walked over to the blonde and laid down at her side. Instead of the back of her neck touching soft grass though, it landed on the firm muscle of an arm that quickly pulled her into a hug. With a soft sigh, she didn't bother to fight it and let herself cuddle up to her partner. At least she was warm.
"You must really miss Coco and Velvet." She quipped, earning a soft chuckle from her partner.
"You have no idea. You'll make do for now though."
"Your compliments are getting worse."
Unable to stop the smile that pulled at her lip from the bark of laughter that Yang let out, Blake shuffled in a little closer to the warmth and rested her head against the woman's shoulder. The infectious happiness that the girl possessed was definitely something Blake had always been grateful for.
"It's been a long day. Too tired for charm."
"Good. You had none anyway."
"Bitch."
Giggling a little, Blake poked the girl in the side, causing her to squirm a little before both of them fell silent and watched the stars gleam overhead. It was nice, feeling the pain and regret wash away as her body and mind relaxed.
Glancing over toward the edge of the boundary to see her sister and her girlfriend cuddled up on the ground, Ruby felt a shot of happiness run through her veins. The smile on the girl's face was one that she knew only Yang could put there, and that was why she had chosen her sister to go over instead of doing it herself. Yang always had a way of getting Blake out of her own head, of getting anyone out of their own heads, and Ruby knew that was what Blake needed more than anything right now.
"Would you kindly pass me the ice Dust?"
"What happened to the casings you made this morning?" Ruby asked her partner, waving to Petilly as the girl disappeared into the cart to grab what the heiress had requested.
"That revolting Robcat ate them." She huffed and pulled a few spare cartridges from her back pouch.
"Ew. Imagine how that must've tasted?"
"Better than fire Dust."
"And ya know that how?" Petilly asked, emerging from under the tarp with a small box Dust.
"The ingestion of tablets containing small quantities of fire Dust was commonplace in Atlas at one point in time." Weiss shrugged and pulled free two white gems. "It was an efficient way to stay warm in the tundra."
"EW!" Both Ruby and Petilly replied, causing the heiress to roll her eyes before walking off and muttering something about growing up.
"I'm glad I ain't Atlesian." The younger girl said, faking a gag.
"Me too." Ruby shivered, unable to imagine eating Dust; even though she knew there were definitely people out there who put it into their body to fight.
"So ya need anythin' else?"
"Uhhhh…" Ruby thought for a second, only for her stomach to give her the answer with a loud growl. It had only been a few days, but she could already feel her energy levels dropping due to the constant use of her semblance and lack of sugar. "Don't suppose you've got some cookies back there? Or strawberries?"
"I didn't see any. Lemme take anotha look."
As the redhead disappeared back under the tarp, Ruby turned around and leaned against the cart while looking around the camp. She wasn't exactly keen on the location they had chosen since they were exposed at every angle, but with the light fading they hadn't really had much of a choice. The people seemed to be grateful for a break though, and she couldn't blame them. After a day of being used primarily as bait, a plan she was still not happy about, and non-stop walking, they could all definitely use the break. Especially since the longer path meant there was still at least two more days left on the journey of Securay. Nevertheless, they all seemed to be in high spirits.
"So where are you and your brother from." She asked after a couple of seconds of silence.
"Ingdun." The girl answered from somewhere near the back of the cart. "You prob'ly ain't 'eard of it."
She had actually.
"That's the port town on the edge of Anima, right?" She replied. "The one run by Huntsmen?"
"Yup."
"That actually sounds super awesome." Ruby mused. "Is that where your brother learned to fight?"
"Sorta." Hummed the girl. "I mean our parents taught him, and they were Hunters so I guess so."
"They were?" It was hard to notice that the girl had used the past tense.
"They died when I was two."
To Ruby's surprise, there was no sadness in the girl's voice. Even as Petilly emerged from under the tarp there was no indication that what she had just said had any impact on the kid. There was only a smile as she held up a tiny packet of strawberries. She didn't suppose that was too uncommon though. After all, they were still practically strangers and not everyone was open with their true feelings.
"Sorry." Ruby muttered respectfully. "I lost my mom when I was a kid too, so I know how much that sucks."
Ruby was surprised yet again as the redhead merely gave a dismissive shrug.
"I dunno." She said and began to peel an orange. "Kinda hard to miss someone you never met. They sound nice, but s'always jus' been me'n Prince. And at least he didn't go runnin' off to somethin' he knew he might not come back from."
Despite her words, there was no resentment in the girl's words. Instead they were said matter-of-factly, and Ruby found that she couldn't exactly fault the girl for thinking in such a way. While Ruby was sure their parents had loved them, it was true that they had chosen to go away on a mission despite having two children to care for; but they had been trying to save people. Which was wrong and which was right, Ruby had no idea, but she was willing to bet that she and Petilly would have different answers. After all, Summer had done the same and she had never once blamed her for leaving.
Though maybe that was because she did have some memories of her mom, and Yang was always willing to tell her more; but if she hadn't, would she have felt the same way as Petilly? If she had kids one day, or anybody to look after, would they understand her choice? Or would they hate her for it? Would she even be able to make that choice to leave them? She certainly couldn't see herself ever not helping people when given the choice, but maybe that would change one day.
She didn't know.
"Well your brother seems nice at least." Ruby offered with an awkward smile.
"He's an idiot."
"So is my sister." Ruby chuckled and bit into a strawberry, the delicious flavour filling her mouth and causing her to salivate a little. "Dunno what I'd do without her though."
As she said it, Ruby looked back over at where Yang and Blake were laying to see they were chuckling about something on Yang's Scroll. For the first time in days, the faunus' ears were no longer laid flat against her head and the sight caused Ruby to be even more grateful towards the woman who had raised her.
"Speak for yourself." Petilly said, though Ruby definitely heard the lie that time. "Ahoy, Ilia."
Spinning around, Ruby was surprised to see Blake's former best friend, and ex teammate, walking up to the cart.
"Hey, Beans." The faunus said kindly to the kid. "You okay?
"Mhm. Want a kiwi?"
"Sure."
With a nod, the girl disappeared back under the tarp and Ruby suddenly felt a sense of awkwardness overcome her. From what she understood, Blake had left without saying goodbye to her; and given that Ilia had clearly been in love with her from what she read in Blake's diaries, she could only imagine how much that had hurt her. Making her feel even more awkward was the fact that she and Blake had not exactly been subtle in their affection in the past few days. However, not wanting to potentially insult someone who could still be one of Blake's friends, Ruby swallowed her nerves and flashed the girl a friendly smile.
"H-Hello again."
The girl's smile dropped instantly, and her grey eyes roamed up and down her body, finally coming to a stop around her midsection. Hearing a snort of derision from her, Ruby looked down and saw that Ilia was looking at her rose-shaped belt buckle.
"What?" She asked as Petilly emerged from the cart and handed the girl a kiwi.
"Nothing." Ilia said in a bitter tone. "Guess she never did get over him."
Without another word, the girl stalked off leaving Ruby quite confused. She had no idea what she and Adam had in common, or what her rose buckle had to do with him. Knowing better than to follow the faunus and ask though, Ruby let out a frustrated breath and leaned back against the cart.
"I don't think she likes you." Petilly chuckled, though shook her head when Ruby let out a groan. "She's been weird since you lot arrived."
"I guess she's still upset at Blake." Ruby sighed and bit into another strawberry.
"Lotta people are." The younger girl said offhandedly. "But I'm goin' to sleep. Tell Prince I'm guardin' the cart."
Looking up at her to see the freckled girl wiggle a combat knife, Ruby gave a small nod and remembered when she had done the same when they were younger. Though of course the cart had been in her room and not in the middle of nowhere surrounded by Grimm, but the guards were on patrol and if there was an attack then the cart would probably be the safest place. So, as she considered maybe talking to Blake about what Ilia had said, she pulled the tarp back over Petilly's head as the girl laid down on a blanket she had already prepared and pushed herself off the cart to begin looking for Prince; making sure to inform one of the guards too so that they knew to look out for her as well.
Raalm's Note
Hello everyone :)
So mostly a combat chapter this time with some fun new Grimm to play around with. I hope you liked them all. As you can tell, I like to try and build their abilities around the animal itself, such as how millipedes can create an irritating fluid, or Hyenas cackle, and its always fun thinking of ways that they can interact with the group using those things.
I also wanted to touch of the nature of being a Hunter too. It's an interesting part of the show that I have had many discussion with friends about, on how do Huntsmen balance out lives with their job. How do they willingly put their lives at risk when there are people waiting for them at home? And is it right of them to do so despite helping people. It's something I wish the show explored a little more, and it was fun to touch on here. I would love to hear your opinion on the matter.
Anyway, that's it from me. I hope you all enjoyed, and we will see you again in two weeks.
Chapter 59 - Risk will be up on the 22nd :)