Hello everyone! How are you doing? I hope you are all fine.
Chapter 103 is here. As always, I hope you enjoy it. It is quite large, but I hope it's not boring.
Thanks as always for keeping up by following/ favoring/ reading the story; you are all amazing!
See you next week in chapter 104. Until then, be well and have fun!
Murmurs and whispers, mostly of curiosity and awe, reached her ears. She ignored them and sent a glance at Yang who smiled to reassure her that everything was going to be all right. She returned the smile.
Led by Sun, team RWBY walked through the muddy, hasty-made camp full of huntsmen and soldiers. "We stand out way too much" Blake said.
"We would anyway" Weiss replied, sending a well-practiced smile at a nearby team, making them happily return the gesture "we are quite renowned to begin with, not to mention Jaune's case and everything."
They kept moving for a while, all while failing to avoid attracting more gazes on them, before they reached a small, slightly isolated tent in the back side of the camp. Outside of it, Lumia stood sipping some coffee.
"Hey guys" she greeted them, a tad reluctantly. "Hey Lu. Sorry about asking, but-" "get in Ruby, someone's waiting for you" she laughed and pointed at the tent "I am finishing my coffee break and joining you."
Everyone nodded and stepped inside- except for one. Green narrowed as it met lilac, Yang standing just in front of the equally tall huntress. "I learned what you guys went through in Riverside" she blurted.
"At least we came back alive- although it turned out we were the only ones who did" Lumia replied. "Lu, I-" "I am sorry Yang" the apology was fast and threw the blonde off-guard "wait! Why are you apologizing?"
"Friends- we are still friends, aren't we?" Lumia sipped some coffee. "I said some pretty mean things back then. And that was really bad- you guys were going on a suicide mission with-"
"I am stopping you here" Yang's expression had turned serious and she took off her hat. "Asking if we are still friends just because we had a small fight is what is mean. How can you even think I would say no?"
"Oh- sorry" Lumia lowered her gaze. "Besides, I was the one who was at wrong back then. Taking people's feeling into consideration is not my strong point, unless we talk about Blakey, Rubes or Weiss-cream."
An awkward moment passed, with both huntresses stare at each other, trying to find a line or anything- "come here you" Yang decided it was too much for her and hugged her friend in a quite reserved manner.
"Are we ok, then?" Lumia asked after they broke the hug. "I was a tad scared for a while, but I don't think we ever weren't, Lu." She replied, earning a sigh of relief from the black-haired girl "no offence, but that hug was really uncomfortable" the ex-maiden added.
"None taken; I had no idea what else to do and you are not exactly an easy person to deal with in such." "Intimacy is a matter that I am still working on, ok?" she countered, gulping down some more coffee.
"The fact that you call a hug as 'intimacy' is so weird. Besides, you hug Erik, Alex and Albus naturally, don't you?" "My team is a different matter, thank you very much!" the firm protest came from the girl.
Yang chuckled and rubbed the top of her palm "this thing has started to hurt, again darn it" she groaned. "You should have it checked soon if it hurts- you may have fried a nerve or something" Lumia instructed.
A loud sniff- no, crying- came from inside the tent, making Yang forget her itchiness. Lumia downed the remains of her drink and walked to the tent, Yang behind her with a worried look etched on her face.
The inside was small, clean and smelling of disinfectant. Neptune, Ren and Erik sat on a small coffee table, having just stopped playing cards from the looks of them standing up next to a half-finished game board.
Blake and Weiss were standing next to a casually- dressed Velvet while Nora and Sun flanked the sides of a hospital bed. From what one could deduce, the ginger was midway in the process of changing an IV pack.
As for why they had all stopped doing their previous business and were currently staring at the bed, well the answer was nothing less than the scene that played before their very eyes.
Ruby was drowned in tears; of sorrow or of joy, nobody could tell. She was kneeling next to a much relieved Jaune Arc who was lying on the bed. He was thinner with messy hair and beard yet smiling nonetheless.
She held his hand, gulping down tears to try and fight her maelstrom of emotions. Jaune tenderly caressed her cheek and hair. "I am glad to see you again" he said after a while "I missed you so much, Crater Face."
"I am sorry!" she narrowed her eyes to try holding back her tears. "I am the worst! I let you all alone, kissed and cuddled with a Grimm in your place!" she sniffed as everyone lowered their gazes, especially RWBY.
"I led a monster in Vale, allowed it to torture you and kill all these poor people! I left Lumia and the others deal with it and ran on my own one more time! I let this happen, Jaune! I am so sorry!"
"Nobody is blaming you, Ruby. Or everyone else for that matter" he still caressed her hair, his smile having vanished now. Weiss sensed what was about to happen and tried to interrupt, but she wasn't fast enough.
"They should!" A furious outburst filled the tent, startling everyone but the alabaster girl.
"I am the worst! I am a bad lover, a bad friend, a bad huntress! They should blame me because it's my fault! I let all these happen! I failed to stop them! After all this time" she gasped in pain "and I still suck when it matters the most- saving people!"
She then planted her face into the sheets, as Yang ran and hugged her from behind. How much time has she been burying these thoughts inside her? She thought as her sister's muffled cries broke her heart.
"A hero? What a joke! 73 people died because I couldn't realize I was sleeping next to a monster! I led my team astray by believing the words of a Grimm! I left my friends behind to clear my mess! I SUCK!"
"So much for trying to cheer her up" Weiss, still standing next to Blake, whispered and made the faunus' ears twitch. "Can you blame her? I am sure I would be far worse in I were in Ruby's shoes" the reply came.
"I know" mismatched cyan stared at the whimpering girl while Yang and Nora tried to give her some water. Ren and Velvet helped Jaune wipe off his tears and the others simply stood by to not burden them.
"But it still hurts so much" Weiss clutched her chest; droplets appeared in her own eyes as well. "To see so much sorrow and know you could have actually prevented it- I had forgotten how harrowing it is."
"I- I know, right?" the ex-heiress stared at her trusted friend who was also clutching her chest and trying to hold her tears back "at least Ruby is letting it all out now- maybe we should follow her example" she said.
Weiss gently squeezed Blake's shoulder, earning a smile from the black-haired girl. "I agree- there are so many things we have to discuss with everyone" she stared at the door "hope nobody will interrupt us here."
-o—
Encouraging words and a pep talk from Weiss were enough for Ruby to pull herself together- at least for now. A quick exchange of info was enough to put everyone in the same page before the meeting started, putting their sorrow away for the moment.
Weiss got seated next to Jaune and Yang, while everyone else pulled over a chair or sat on the floor, as Ruby and Blake walked in the middle to hold the meeting, Velvet providing Blake with a notebook and pen.
"Before we start" the red girl said "are we sure it's fine to-" "Glynda made sure nobody will bother us; otherwise we wouldn't even be able to gather here" Neptune replied, earning a nod of acknowledgement.
"Speaking of that" Ruby cleared her throat and raised her voice just a little "thank you, everyone. You have supported us so much once more. We truly" she blushed in embarrassment and stared at Jaune, smiling.
"We wouldn't be able to go forward like this if you didn't have our back is what she wants to say" Blake broke the reaper out of her stumble.
Yang, Weiss and the two standing girls exchanged a quick nod before the brunette continued "for that reason I want to ask this; you guys are active SHU members. Are you sure you still want to participate in this?"
"It goes without saying" Ren placed his hand at Nora. "It is personal for us, now" the ginger grabbed Jaune's hand. "I would like to help, but even with my recovery speed I am not sure I will be able to" he added.
"The one thing you have to do now is focus on your recovery; we will need you back in fighting shape soon." Ruby replied in a professional yet caring tone. He smiled and she fought back a rising blush.
"I am afraid it's gonna be tougher for us" Sun scratched his nape. Blake nodded. "Glynda wants us to lead the citizens' check-up with Erik to fish out all remaining Grimm spawns" Neptune explained for his friend.
"We still want to be informed; maybe we can help you by gathering any piece of info that might come on our way as we run the check-ups" Erik firmly stated.
"That is reasonable" Weiss commented. "Yeah. And to be honest, I will feel much safer knowing you guys are the ones running them. If things go sour you will be able to pummel those things down" Yang winked.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, but we are not Velvet" Sun grinned. The bunny-girl rolled her eyes, clearly displeased with the attention her fellow faunus drew towards her "can we just stay on point, please?"
"Fair; what are you going to do then, Velvet?" Blake asked her. "I am in. I explained the situation to my chief and he let me take a few days off to assist you, on the premise that I will return to them safe and sound."
"That's good to hear" the cat faunus scribed down her name too as all turned their gaze to the one remaining person inside the tent. "What about you, Lu?" Yang smiled softly at her friend "Glynda will need you."
"Indeed" Lumia admitted "but she told me I am free to do as I please until Saturday" she added. Confusion spread among everyone "she let you off for three days?" Ruby voiced her thoughts "why would she?"
"Because she is getting prepared" Blake commented, making everyone turn their gaze back at her. "Three days is more or less the amount of time needed for the nearest SHU outposts to mobilize, right Lumia?"
"Heh" she laughed "you are spot-on, Blake. I talked to Albus earlier and he confirmed that Cypress outpost is already on the move, along with the newly-acquired mobile heavy cannons" the tall girl announced.
"She is planning to launch a massive pincher attack at the dome" Weiss concluded "this is why she is letting us do as we please- she anticipated that we will try something and is using us as the scouting force."
"That's more or less the gist of it, yes" the leader of LEAD affirmed. "Of course, she has full faith on our abilities to pull it through, but she gave me one major warning; she will not hesitate to let us die if it means that she will take Nyctos down. It is up to us to take the chance or leave it."
"I see… dunno if I feel offended or impressed" Jaune chuckled. "Wait a minute!" Ruby took one loud step forward "how is Glynda sure that Nyctos is in there? We just theorized it only a couple hours ago!"
Lumia turned to Sun and Neptune. The blue-haired boy took out a small envelope "this is extremely classified, but at this point I am sure Glynda expects me to show you. It's a report from March 19th 86 city patrol."
-o—
"Then, all of a sudden, I was unable to think straight. I really don't know what happened- I swear I am not mad! I had worked with Clyde for years and there was never trouble before! Please believe me!"
"I had never seen Felis so mad before. Her eyes were bloodshot red; like a Grimm glared at me! I- I lost it, okay? I didn't know what to do but I was so scared! I never wanted to shoot her; I love my friend so much!"
"Please believe Ken. I truly pounced on him. I scratched his neck, bit his wrists and even tried to cut off his arm. And all that time do you know what I was feeling? Hatred! For what reason? Because he dared talk to Sylvia kindly four days before! I had never felt this way; something was wrong back there, I am telling you. But please, he did nothing wrong!"
"I loved all my teammates. I truly loved them; I spent six years fighting side-by-side to them! I killed them and bathed in their blood because we couldn't decide where to eat after our shift! Do you understand? Either I am going crazy or something made me do it! I am losing it, aren't I?"
"Out of the sixteen city patrol members acting in the northwest area only those four survived" Neptune finished the reading of the reports.
"They were recovered by the police in a state of shock, over the dead bodies of their comrades. They all were arrested a couple hours before the dome covered the area and are now being held in SHU custody."
"As you can See" Sun added "they were all in a very good mental state, except for the fact that they had just killed their teammates without even knowing how or why they did it- kinda creepy in my opinion."
Everyone held silent, contemplating the new pieces of information. A heavy silence spread inside the tent, until Ruby broke it "I think it's safe to say that Nyctos is involved, Glynda is right" she rubbed her neck.
"In that case, we have two Eldergrimm-related threats in the city" she announced. "I kept a few important patterns that seem to accompany all our cases, can I go with them?" Blake asked her leader, who nodded.
"Ok" the faunus cleared her throat, glad to see she had everyone's full attention. Despite that, she felt a little nervous and took a deep breath. How does Glynda do that on ten times that number of people?
"First of all, I wanted to discuss about something that both Cherry and Avyssos mentioned; the importance of time, place and components for their rituals of awakening" she announced at her friends.
"Yeah" Yang was the one to reply first "Cherry said something along the lines of not being Grand Mother's time yet if I recall." "And Avyssos was even more direct. It said that we all qualify as sacrifice" Velvet added.
"The spawns in Riverside also didn't even create one more replica of theirs save for the ones they formed the night they took over the hospital" Jaune commented "despite having all the time they needed."
"In other words" Weiss summarized "their spells and rituals have to be performed on certain days and in certain places, using only qualified people as sacrifices- quite possibly individuals with potent auras."
She tapped her thin fingers on her chin "I am willing to take it one step ahead and say that the Riverside Massacre was nothing more than a field test for them- I don't believe all 73 victims were suitable subjects."
Nora's hair stood on edge "I really wish you wouldn't put it that bluntly, Ice Queen" she rubbed her arms. "She is right though" Ren said "they abandoned the clinic too quickly for it being important to their plans."
"It is safe to assume then that Riverside didn't qualify as a place, people not included" Lumia acknowledged. "But for Avyssos to stay around, it could mean there is at least one suitable place somewhere in Vale."
"My thoughts exactly" Weiss rubbed her eyes and nose "and I think the stellar map plays a role in that as well- Blake mentioned that people of old used the position of the stars not only for navigation, but also as calendars" she pointed at the cat girl, who nodded affirmatively.
"Weiss" the yellow-eyed huntress addressed her friend "you are the most knowledgeable of us in sciences and history of Remnant. Is there any chance you could find anything in Azure's notes about that topic?"
"I can only say for sure there is one issue. If they use the stars as points of reference, they must have a special code in choosing and using them. Without that code decrypting their stellar map is an impossible task."
"You guys said you brought a lot of stuff from his lab, though" Neptune commented "what if the code is somewhere among them as well?"
"Codes are not as easy to decrypt as you guys see in movies" it was the former maiden who replied "even if Weiss had both the map and the code in front of her now it could take her days, even weeks, to read it."
"Exactly. We don't have that much time" Blake underlined Neptune's idea on her notebook, however. Should they survive, this was an option worth exploring. "Speaking of Azure, there is also the blue fog matter."
Yang rolled her eyes as Ruby brought the topic on point "as well as the 'specimen' we brought back- that Grimm-like thing inside the vat. And let's not forget the circlets that came out of a horror show" she said.
"Where do you have them?" Lumia asked. "I personally stored them in the TRI's vaults, save for two of the 'blue fog' capsules I kept for us" Weiss explained. "I gave specific instructions to everyone in the Institute; if you even suspect something funny, blow this thing to kingdom come."
"That makes me feel better" Velvet commented. "But why did you keep two tubes? Are you going to experiment in your home?" she asked her, making Yang's eyes open in fear. She even stopped rubbing her palm.
"No, but I intend to distribute them to vials for us to use. They helped against the Hag, so they may come in handy when we engage the Eldergrimm" she explained "as a last resort, of course; nothing more."
"Since we are on that matter" Nora said "we are splitting in two teams, right; RWBY inside the dome and SLVR in the sewers after Avyssos?"
"Well, that is what we-" "No, we are not."
Everyone- Blake included- turned their attention to Ruby. The crimson girl's expression was firm as she cut off the faunus' reply, slowly gazing at her friends and teammates. Yang was smirking and she followed suit.
"The teams are going to be two, indeed, but the composition is going to be slightly different. Team RRSN- that is me, Ren, Lumia and Nora, will go in Vale's underground to take down Avyssos Jaune one and for all."
"Wait, Ruby that is-" "And team BLWS- Blake leading Yang, Weiss and Velvet- will enter the dome to defeat Nyctos, destroy the green pillar of light and make the dome collapse from within." "Wait a moment!"
The shouting came from Blake. She was furiously gripping the pad and her pen, staring at her leader with her eyes narrowed. The brunette took a deep breath "is there any problem, Blake?" and asked her friend.
"Of course there is!" she protested. "I understand why the teams are formed this way- you have worked with Ren and Nora much more than everyone else save Jaune- but why am I the leader of BLWS?"
"It wouldn't be a BLWS without the B being-" Weiss stopped Yang's joke and shook her head in a 'now is not the time' gesture. "Lumia is a team leader on her own and Velvet is more experienced than me!"
"Lumia can barely deal with everyone else than LEAD without butting heads with them; sorry Lu." "Don't apologize- it's the truth" she replied.
"As for Velvet her being more experienced than you is a fat lie and you know it- try persuading me again" she firmly stood her ground "but for what's worth, Blake, I think you will do great" she gave a soft smile.
"You devious little Goodwitch N.2…" the faunus hissed "I would never arrange our teams like this if I didn't believe in your skills, Blake. But if you can't trust my judgment, I guess I can swap you with Lumia."
Why not with you? The faunus wondered for a brief moment- and then stopped. "Your wounds; they hurt, don't they?" she asked, making Yang stare at her sister in shock. Ruby gave a weak laugh and answered.
"They are throbbing like hell since we landed. I don't know what they are- and I have neither the time nor the luxury to deal with them right now. This is why I wanted you to lead the second team, you see."
"Because you were afraid you will be a liability" Blake's cat ears folded and she dropped her face "I am sorry, Ruby." "Don't be- I should have asked you first; I just got carried away with my thoughts and didn't-"
"I will do it." "Huh?" Yellow eyes raised and stared at the others in an expression of determination and shame "I will lead BLWS, if you all are fine with me; sorry for the trouble I made out of nowhere, everyone."
"I have no issues with the arrangements" the bunny girl nodded. "Blake is fine. And we will support you as always" Yang winked at her. "I would be honored to have you as my leader, Blake" Weiss firmly smiled.
"Good" Ruby grinned. "Sorry to interrupt you, but now that you are all done, there is something that both Neptune and I are confused with" Sun's voice came from the table. Blake sighed and rolled her eyes.
"What is it, Sun?" "What is this pillar of green light you guys are talking about?" he asked, confusing the cat-girl. "Am, the huge pillar inside the dome? The one that pulses in its center like an eldritch beacon?"
"Doesn't ring a bell, sorry?" Neptune answered "there is nothing inside the dome. Come to think of it, how can you guys see inside anyway?"
"Ok, if you two are joking, this isn't funny" Yang stood up. "Who else can see this thing? Surely, it can't be only us! Everyone who sees that huge-ass pillar, please raise your hands before I go crazy!"
To her relief, everyone but Sun and Neptune raised their hands. "How can you actually miss something like a towering, pulsing light in the mid of a dark dome?" she asked angrily at the two guys, who blinked at her.
"Are you even serious? We have been staring and patrolling around this thing a whole day! There is no way we would have missed something like that!" Sun argued.
Yang was taken aback. Those two were always chill and carefree, but they were far from idiots. "Come with me, please" she ran out of the tent, everyone else after her.
"See?" Yang pointed at the massive miasmatic green pillar than still pulsed behind the swirling shadows that engulfed the dome. "It's right there, you guys!" Nora added, groaning in displeasure.
"Ok, you are scaring me, guys. You all see that thing Yang says? Because I don't!" Sun protested. "Me neither" Neptune added. As they all broke into confused arguments, Weiss strode away from the group, towards a small team that was currently resting outside another tent.
"Miss Schnee!" one of the huntsmen, a young brown-haired boy with a strong-looking build, stood up to greet her. The others waved at her in enthusiasm, making her crack a few smiles as she returned the gesture.
"Sorry to interrupt your rest, but I have to ask you a strange question; do you see that pillar of light inside the dome; one that pulses at its top like a towering beacon of green energy?"
The team exchanged confused stares, turned around to stare at the location she pointed and then gave her a reply that made Weiss' blood freeze in her veins from its horrifying implications.
"There is nothing like that, Miss Schnee."