Welcome to a brand new story of RWBY X Bloodborne! I do hope you enjoy this brand new series that I am working on as well this prologue.
I don't own RWBY or Bloodborne. Please enjoy this story to your heart's content.
Remnants of The Forgotten Hunt
Prologue: Something Old, Something New
A stiff breeze brushed through the many dark red leaves that covered the landscape of Forever Fall forest and caused several of them to scatter on the wind. They elegantly danced in the air for a short time before slowly fluttering down onto a figure slumped against the side of a dead log. The red leaves gently caressed the figure's body, but the person didn't seem to notice them. Instead the only thing the figure could feel was the warm trails of crimson liquid leaking down from atop his head. The person lifted a hand towards their face and trailed two fingers across a cheek. Pulling them back, the figure stared at the dark red blood that coated their fingers. Blinking at the crimson liquid, the figure wondered briefly as to why there was blood tricking down the side of their head. Suddenly a memory aroused in their mind as the figure slowly lifted his eyes from the blood smeared fingers and looked at scenery around him. Broken branches covered the forest's floor, scattered red leaves where torn apart and trampled upon, deep vicious claw and slash marks from a sharp object covered a few trees around him, and dark streaks of red were splattered across the area till they formed a trail that led to his slumped form.
The figure blinked at the sight before him and remembered that half of the damage that he now saw was partly because of him. Wait, was it because of him? If that were true, how did he managed to do so in the first place? He blinked again as the thoughts swam furiously in his cranium while his mind pounded and felt hazy as he tried to recollect if he did actually contributed to that damage that he saw. Yet all he could remember was that something ambushed him, though he couldn't remember what it was or why it had attacked him in the first place. As he tried to ponder the reason, his mind felt so hazy and struggled to form a single thought while his body ached with the need to rest. The idea to simply close his eyes and let the blissfulness of darkness take him was a pleasant one and something that he was sorely tempted to allow, but the figure knew he couldn't. At least not at this moment as he had no idea if whatever attacked him was still around in this strange red forest and was waiting for the chance to finish what it had started.
This thought prompted him to try to push himself off the log he was slumped on, but his body, half torn apart and bloody with multiple wounds, ached painfully and with every movement made the agony he felt was all the more unbearable. He was simply amazed that he could even move his hand to examine the blood on his head at all, but the figure guessed that was because he was in partly in shock. However, this didn't stop him as an intense need to run made him to try once more to force his body up, but like before it refused to cooperate and instead rewarded him with only more agony. As he gritted his teeth in painful agonizing determination, the figure never noticed the dark black smoke rising from some of the nearby bushes around him or the huge plume directly behind the log he was slumped against. Panting heavily, the young figure tried one more time pushing with all his might as the desperate need to run and search for something rang out inside his head until he suddenly stopped as his brow narrowed in confusion. What did he need to search for? Why was he so desperate to do so in the first place? Such questions plagued his mind as his body tiredly laid back down on the log as his vision started to become distorted and distant. He didn't notice this as he continued to ponder the questions that plagued his mind until another thought occurred to him just as the darkness of sleep was about to encroach on him. "Who…Who am I?" was his last thought as his mind finally succumbed to nothingness.
"Are we almost at the drop point yet?" Ruby Rose asked the pilot of the bullhead that carried both her and her teammates. This wasn't the first time she had asked the question, but she couldn't help it. The mission that headmaster Ozpin gave them so suddenly filled her with both anticipation and curiosity. After all, the mission was simple: go scout out an area in Forever Fall where a sudden and massive energy surge appeared out of nowhere and to investigate as well destroy an increase of Grimm activity in the same location. From what she could understand from the mission briefing, the energy signature was strange, foreign, and something that no had seen before other than it was massive. It didn't take a genius to put two and two together that the energy surge and the Grimm activities were somehow connected. However, the question was what caused it?
This question, and many others for that matter, buzzed in the little huntress-in-training's head as she couldn't help but imagine all the possibilities that could be the cause of such a strange event. Thoughts ranging from the White Fang being involved—which she doubted at this point after Roman Torchwick's capture—to aliens from outer space swooping down and abducting Grimm for all kinds of experiments. Though she hoped, and venerably tried to avoid to even think for that matter, that those Grimm weren't getting the infamous alien probe. While they may be monsters, even Grimm didn't deserve such a horrible fate like that.
These thoughts in turn caused her to feel a tad impatient as she flew on the bullhead which only increased the longer they sailed above the sea of red colored trees. "Not yet, Miss Rose." The pilot answered calmly though he would admit that his patience was starting to grow a little thin. "Just a little longer before we reach the designated landing area."
"Come on, Ruby." Yang Xiao Long said with teasing smile gracing her lips. "You been harassing the pilot for the last thirty minutes. Any longer and I'll start thinking you have a thing for him."
Ruby puffed her cheeks at her sister's teasing as she turned to glare at the blonde, but that only made the older sibling chuckle slyly at her little scythe-wielding sister's reaction.
"Oh please just sit down, Ruby." Weiss said from her seat as she examined Myrtenaster with delicate care and making sure that the dust inside of the rapier was perfectly calibrated. "There is no need to pester the pilot as it won't make the bullhead go any faster than it already is." She nodded her head over to the window on the side of the airship to emphasize her point as many of the red trees of Forever Fall disappeared out of eyesight before anyone could even admire their beauty.
"You need to relax a bit like Blake." Yang gestured over to her partner who had a book in the tight grip of her hands and focused intensely on the pages. "She knows how to keep calm and take a load off before starting a mission."
"That's because she is always like that." Ruby said childishly though she couldn't deny that her friends had a point. Still it didn't make the impatience she felt go away, but she would endure for her team and hopefully by the time they did reach their location the wait would be well worth it.
"Don't worry, Ruby." A familiar voice crackled through the little red hooded girl's earpiece. "I'm sure we'll find whatever made that weird signal around here."
"Yeah, kid." Another familiar yet more confident voice echoed in Ruby's ear. "You got to keep calm in these sort of missions otherwise you'll never find what you're looking for."
Ruby kept her pout for a moment before giving a sigh and turned to look out the right side window of the bullhead to see two other airships following close by her team's own. Both Team JNPR and Team CFVY were assigned to the mission as well due to the abnormal nature of the energy disturbance and amount of Grimm rushing towards said signal. Their headmaster thought it would be wise to send more than one team in case whatever caused the anomaly to be highly dangerous and also to swiftly eliminate all the Grimm in the air before things could get out hand. After all, no one wanted to have a large pack of Grimm starting to attack all the tourists and visitors to the Kingdom of Vale during the Vytal Festival.
"Oh, alright." Ruby conceded to both leaders of the JNPR and CFVY respectfully as she sat down beside her partner before taking out Crescent Rose and started to check it for dents or scratches like Weiss did with her own weapon.
"Cheer up, Ruby." Yang said as she walked over and rubbed her sister's hair affectionately. "Once we get there, you can kick as much Grimm butt you want."
"I'm just curious about what caused the energy reading." The younger sister said as she carefully loaded a few rounds into her baby.
"That is something that been bothering me as well." Blake said as she put a mark into her book before closing.
"At last she speaks." Yang said with a sly grin.
"I am being serious, Yang." The Cat Faunus carefully put her book into her pack before turning to address her team. "The energy reading wasn't dust created and it attracted all kinds of Grimm in the area. So what could have caused it?"
"I haven't the faintest of clues," The heiress admitted as she lifted her eyes from Myrtenaster to gaze at Blake. "However, we won't know anything until we get there so I suggest we just all prepare for whatever we may find."
"Oh! OH! What if it was done by aliens!?" Nora Valkyrie excitedly speculated over the com-device in their ears. "No wait, it's underground beings that have insect bodies and only come out of the ground once every ten-thousand years to try to take back the surface world."
"Nora…" Lie Ren, or more commonly referred to as Ren, sighed over her comrades insane amounts of imagination.
"Do you think that it could be the work of the White Fang?" Fox Alistair asked over the earpiece, but Blake shook her head.
"I doubt it after what happened in Mount Glenn and Torchwick's capture." The amber eyed girl said. "Their operation destroyed, but they also wouldn't risk trying to do that again after so much loss in resources and soldiers. Not to mention with the Atlas fleet hovering over the majority of Vale, the White Fang would simply try to stay out of their way for the time being unless they want a massive confrontation."
"Hmm…" Ruby hummed out as she agreed with her teammate's explanation. With Torchwick locked up and the White Fang operation in Vale diminished, there wasn't anything to worry about, was there? Except now this strange phenomenon happened a mere week and a half after the events at Mount Glen and no one had any real clue as to what was going on.
"We're coming up on the landing site!" Team RWBY's pilot said over the intercom of the Bullhead and thoroughly cutting off anything further thoughts or speculation on the matter. "Strap yourselves down, we're initiating landing procedures now." Ruby quickly put away Crescent Rose while Weiss sheathed Myrtenaster as Blake and Yang sat down in their seats and buckled up. The Bullhead started to shift and turn towards a clearing the Forever Fall while both team JNPR's and team CFVY's own airship mimicked the first before carefully landing on the soft red leaves that were scattered all over the ground. As soon as the engines stopped on each bullhead, all the huntsman and huntresses jumped out of the airships before quickly securing the area.
"The energy disturbance is about 2 kilometers north from our current location." One of the pilots told the students over the intercom of the Bullhead. "Sorry we couldn't get any closer, but this is the only clearly near enough to the anomaly that can actually fit all three Bullheads together."
"That's alright." Coco said as she adjusted her sunglasses. "We'll have some teammates stay behind before we leave so you guys don't feel so exposed."
"Much obliged, Ma'am."
Ruby peered through the scope of Crescent Rose towards the thick red forest, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. If anything, everything around seemed rather peaceful. That made her feel a bit disappointed; even though they were still just a little far away from where the energy disturbance is along with the Grimm, she expected at least something to be out of the ordinary in Forever Fall.
"Alright then. Yatsu, you are going to stay behind and keep the Bullheads safe." The beret wearing teen ordered her friend whom merely gave a nod as he pulled out his sword and looked for a comfortable positon to stand guard. Being the senior team-leader out of the three teams, Coco had the most authority in the operation and could have ordered which other teammates from the other squads should stay behind. However, she wasn't too uptight about it and decided to wait and see who her fellow leaders would choose.
"Blake, could you stay behind with Yatsuhashi?" Ruby asked the cat Faunus.
"Of course and good luck with your search." Blake answered simply before moving to help set up a perimeter with giant swordsman.
"You stay behind too, Ren." Jaune said as he secured his sword and shield.
"Ok." Was all the reserved and quiet teen said before moving to take a position near one of the Bullheads.
"Take care, Ren!" Nora said in excitement. "If we find anything I promise to bring back a souvenir! Particularly an Ursa fur coat."
"You can't skin Grimm, Nora." The green clothed teen calmly reminded his overly eccentric partner.
"Sure you can!" The hammer girl said happily. "You just got to try really, really, REALLY, hard!" She grinned as she could already see herself dressed in a dashing line of black fur accompanied by a crown made of gold sitting comfortably on her head. After all, she was the queen of the castle and it was only fair to wear the finest of clothing. Although her partner didn't share her enthusiasm and instead merely sat on a log and paid close attention to the forest around him.
"Alright, ladies, gentlemen, Jaune and Ice Queen." Yang said with an excited smile on her face while her snow haired teammate glared at her. "Let's go to find out what the heck is making such a fuss in Forever Fall!"
"You took the words right out of my mouth." Coco smile before heading towards the bounder of the clearing and giving a sharp gesture for everyone to follow her lead. The assembled huntsmen and huntresses all rushed through the forest at a quick pace, but at the same time keeping an eye out for any kind of ambush from anything that lurked in the woods. As the minutes dragged on as they were nearly a third of the way to their destination however, Ruby notice something strange. There hadn't been a single sign of wild life since they landed and entered Forever Fall. No squirrels darted the forest floor, no birds jumping out bushes in startlement as the students of Beacon continued towards their target, and most of all she notice that other than the quick footfalls and crunch leaves under their boots, there wasn't any other sound in the forest.
This confused the young leader as she couldn't understand what could have silenced all the wildlife in the area or at least driven them away. Even if there were Grimm about, the wildlife shouldn't have fled for the soulless creatures didn't even care for them. That only met one other possible explanation to this eerie silence of the forest and the disappearance of its creatures.
"Guys, I think that whatever created this strange energy disturbance might be—AGHH!" Ruby started to say to her friends and teammates, but didn't pay attention to what was in front of her and tripped over something and fell to the ground with a thud.
"Ruby! Are you ok?!" Yang instantly shot over to where he little sister fell and started to see if she was alright.
"That's what you get for not paying attention, you dolt." Weiss told her leader, but her words had no actual bite in them as she went over to give Ruby a hand up.
"You ok, kid?" Coco asked as she and team stopped alongside Jaune and his team.
"Yeah, I'm alright." The young teen said as she took Weiss's hand and was lifted off the ground before looking around to see what caused her to fall. "I just caught my foot on… something…" The others gave confused looks turning their eyes to see what caused Ruby to trail off like that. They got their answer in the form of a Grimm Beowolf laying deep in a bush.
Or rather its decapitated and disintegrating head as small tendrils of smoke leaked out of it.
Jaune gave a yelp of surprise at the sight while others couldn't help but stare the rotting head. However that quickly last only for only a moment as everyone whip their heads around them and really looked at the area they were in for the first time and saw something that amazed them. There were corpses of disintegrating Grimm everywhere. From a few Ursa with missing limps to multiple Beowolves with holes in their chests, the bodies were littered in bushes, crumbled on top one another, or simply wasting away as time went on.
That wasn't the only thing that the students noticed, for there were clear signs of battle all over the place as well. Claw and slash marks were dug into almost every tree in the area around the Beacon students while broken and smashed branches mingled together with the disintegrating bodies of the Grimm. Yet what really caught their eye was a dark red splatter that covered the already crimson floor. They would have missed it if weren't for the fact that the darken spot was quite big and started to trail off deeper into the forest. However there wasn't any sign of what caused the energy disturbance at all.
"Welp, looks like one half of our mission is already done." Yang observed at the carnage around her.
"Yes, but who could have killed so many Grimm?" Pyrrha asked as she walked over to one of the damaged trees before carefully checking out a deep slash mark that dark sticky sap started to leak out of the tree like puss from an infected wound. "These marks are made by something sharp, not like claw from a Grimm, yet also they also have a jagged feel about them. As if whatever weapon that was used tore right into it and yank out several splinters in the process."
"The Grimm also look like they were torn to bits." Velvet said as she walked up to one of the melting bodies and poked warily as it the beast would come back to life at any moment. "But I can't really say for certain. The Grimm are already half way through their dissolving phase and I can't examine their wounds properly."
"That's fine, Vel." Coco said as she casually lifted one the heads of the Grimm with her foot to and stared at the large cracked indented on its mask. "I wasn't expecting you to find anything accurate from them anyway seeing as they already decomposing. However, I would like to know who did this. You just don't slaughter a ton of Grimm and not leave a trail behind."
While the others were examining the dead Grimm and broken debris around them, Ruby walked over to the dark crimson splatter on the floor. She had a sick feeling that she already knew what it was, but the young huntress-in-training crouched down and dragged a finger over the dark covered red leaves. They were slightly stick and warm, but as she pulled back her fingers she saw the crimson liquid covering her own fingers. "Blood…" She muttered out before her eyes widened like large saucers. "It's BLOOD!" She immediately jumped back from the sinister splatter while simultaneously pulling out small white cloth from one of her small packs on her belt to wipe off the blood from her fingers.
Her classmates all turned towards her as soon as she screamed before looking at the offending dark splatter that got Ruby all riled up. Yang went over to the crimson covered puddle before dragging a finger over the crimson liquid and examined it. "It's blood alright and still fresh judging by how none of it is turning brown yet."
"Then that means whoever fought the Grimm must have their aura completely depleted." Weiss theorized as she stared at the crimson splatter. "The Grimm must have worn them down till finally they drew blood."
"I don't see a body though." Jaune observed a bit sickly now that he knew what the dark spot was. However, his eyes followed a trail from the splatter leading further into Forever Fall. "Whoever fought the Grimm must have fled deeper into the forest!"
"We have to go look for them!" Ruby said as she wiped the last of the blood off her fingers and tucked it back into her pack. "Someone is out there injured and possibly alone! If there are any Grimm left around here then we have to hurry and find them before it's too late!"
"I kinda doubt that there any Grimm around after seeing all this." Coco gestured to all the bodies around her. "But yeah, we need to find them. If they have depleted their aura then they might bleed out if we waste any more time. Nora, Yang! You two take the vanguard in case there are more Grimm around."
"Okie dokie!" The hammer maiden said enthusiastically as she quickly took point were her weapon in kept in gun form.
"Gotcha." The Brawler said as she joined the swordsman in front of the group.
"Alright then, let's move out." With that said, the students of Beacon carefully followed the bloody trail and went deeper into Forever Fall. The trail seem to disappear in the sea of red leaves at times, but thankfully, or rather fortunately, there was rather large blood blots on the ground to point them in the right direction. It was as if whoever was injured was trying to keep his wound sealed or stop the loss of blood, but couldn't seem manage that. As the young huntsman and huntresses continued onward, they could see the reason why as more dissolving Grimm bodies littered the ground and some of the trees were marked with blood. The sight only made some of the more sensitive members, mainly Ruby, feel a deep sense of dread as time slowly went by and no sign of whoever was attacked. However, this filled her with a deep determination to find whoever was hurt as quickly as possible and she quicken her pace as she followed the crimson path.
She nearly bumped into Yang and Nora once, but after moment her determination seemed to affect them as well as everyone else as they all picked up pace just as the blood trail only seemed to get thicker. Suddenly, the red-hooded girl did slam right into her sister's back as both she and Nora stopped dead in the path, causing the brawler to stumble forward a bit. "Ow!" The little reaper exclaimed as she rubbed her forehead after ramming directly her sister's muscular back. "What the heck, Yang!? Why did you stop? There is someone out there who is hurt and needs our help!" Many of the students behind Ruby held similar sentiments, but Yang merely pointed to something on the ground and their eyes drew towards it.
It was a blunderbuss. Or rather it was a blunderbuss as the muzzle was bent at a near ninety degree angle with deep scratches carved deep into the metal. The wooden stock was completely smashed in half while the remaining metal bits were scattered all around the wrecked gun. That was a bad sign as any for the huntsman and huntresses, but Ruby seemed to take it the worst. Without another word, the young reaper dashed past her sister and the hammer maiden and followed the blood trail while ignoring her teammates' surprised calls.
With her semblance in for full force the young teenager had tremendous lead from the other students and they abandoned caution at that point in order to catch up with the younger leader of Team RWBY so that she wouldn't get in trouble. However, it took them only a mere minute to catch up to her as she stopped right in front of a fallen log. "Ruby!" Weiss angrily called out to her partner as she and the rest of her classmates walked up to the scythe wielder in order to give her a piece of their mind. "Just what were you thinking!? You could have got ambushed by…Oh…" She stopped her rant as she saw why Ruby had stopped in the first place. The young reaper had found what remained of the huntsman who killed the Grimm.
The fallen huntsman, whose body was slumped against the log in front of students, looked to be a young teen, perhaps a few years older than ruby, and was rather tall looking. His skin looked to be of a pale color, a tad paler than Weiss's own complexion, and he had dark sapphire hair of medium size and most of it was pulled down to the right of his head. What little that wasn't pulled over was tied into small interesting looking braids with strange looking stone trinkets tied in them. However, his hair was caked in dark crimson blood that leaked down the side of his youthful looking head. Around his neck was a black bandana covered with crimson splatters and also eleven badges together by a large necklace that were all covered in a small amount of blood. His upper clothing, a duster with a strange stitched emblem—that looked like an upside down rune of some kind— and several belts attached to it along with a white shirt hidden inside, was torn apart on the right side of his body with a long bloody line trailing across his chest. The rest of his clothes were mostly trenched in blood with only his hat, which had a peculiar tricorn shape and a few red bird feathers stuck in it, spared of the crimson liquid as it lay close beside his left leg. His weapon, a clever that had a saw like design, was broken in half and laid right beside of him as if to show that he fought till he drew his final breath. That seemed to be case as more Grimm bodies were dissolving all around the fallen huntsman and a large Ursa body was slumped on the other side of the log.
Ruby looked at the scene before her in complete horror. Never had she seen something so horrible like this before in her life. The sight wanted her to make her sick up or at least cry for not making it in time for saving the young teen who sat slumped in front of her with his eyes closed and giving an illusion that he was sleeping peacefully. Yet she couldn't. The mere shock of what she saw just made her hold her breath for the longest time till she felt comforting arms wrapped around her. "It's ok, Ruby." Yang whispered soothingly in her ear. "This isn't your fault. You don't need to blame yourself for this." Another set of arms wrapped around the reaper and Ruby could already tell who they belong to.
"She's right, Ruby." Weiss said comfortingly. "Just take deep breathes now. In and out. In and out." The young teen finally let out the breath she been holding and obeyed the Ice Queen's instructions as she started to feel calmer as the seconds dragged on. She still felt remorse for not being able to save the young huntsman, but at least she was calm and of sound mind once more.
"Damn." Coco said as she removed her sunglasses as she knelt down beside the fallen young huntsman.
"We got here too late." Jaune cursed himself for not arriving earlier, even though he knew it wasn't his or anyone's fault, as he looked away from the tragic seen.
"Yeah…" The leader of CFVY said she stared at the young huntsman's face for a moment before looking down at the badges that he wore around his neck. She never seen anything like them before and didn't know any academy in Vale with something similar. Was he perhaps from another kingdom? If so, was he responsible for the strange energy reading that drew all the Grimm to him? Reaching out with a hand, Coco grabbed the saw looking badge and turned it over in her hand. Perhaps there was a name tag or something—
Suddenly, a dark gloved hand with blood coated golden plates on it grabbed the young brown haired girl's wrist and pulled her till her shocked face was directly in front of the young huntsman's own whose eyes were now completely wide open. "H-Help…me…p-please" He said weakly though his grip seem almost like iron as he held to her as if he was clinging onto dear life. Everyone gasped in surprise at what just happened. The young male teen wasn't dead after all!
"He's alive!" Ruby cried tears of joy at the sight before her while the others were simply mystified by how the young huntsman was even alive despite his bloody appearance.
"How the hell is he even alive even after he lost so much blood!?" Jaune exclaimed.
"Well, we didn't check to see if he had a pulse…" Velvet pointed out.
"That's beside the point at the moment." Coco said as she regained her composure and carefully placed her free hand on the boy's shoulder in order to comfort him. "Everything is alright now. You're safe." She then turned her head towards the others and said. "Someone get some bandages already and help me treat him!"
"Got some right here." Pyrrha said as she quickly went over to crouch down in front of the wounded huntsman who had let go of Coco at that point. The champion put down her gear before pulling out her emergency bag that she always kept on her person and dipped a had to retrieve the bandages.
"Nora, you go keep a look out for any Grimm that might be still around." Jaune ordered the orange haired girl who gave a nod before transforming Magnhild into its hammer form before going out to set up a perimeter.
"You go help her too, Yang." Ruby told her sister who nodded only once before quickly catching up with the hammer maiden. The young reaper then turned around headed over to the slumped huntsman who gave out a low hiss as Pyrrha started immediately wrap some of the pure white cloth over the more serious looking wounds covering his sides. The champion had to cut apart his shirt and duster in order to get to his bloodied flesh, but it allowed her to quickly and effectively help stabilize his condition without being inhibited by the ruined clothes. Ruby had taken a spot next to the young huntsman unoccupied left side and watched with great concern as the young huntsman's breathe started to quicken a bit. She could tell that he was going to hyperventilate at this rate and started panic at the thought of him dying just after he revealed that he was alive. However, a sudden thought popped in her head before she carefully reached out to grab the boy's blood stained glove hand and it tightly within both of her own.
"Can you tell me you name?" The young huntress asked him as she figured that if she got the boy to talk then perhaps his mind wouldn't focus on the pain. However the huntsman just continued to breathe heavily as his eyes continued stare almost dully at the dark crimson life fluid that covered both body and the hands of the one who took care of him. "Come on now, you have to a name don't you? Please. Tell me… please." The little girl begged as she started to feel desperate as the huntsman continued to be unresponsive to her attempts to help him. Yet just as she was about to repeat the question over, the boy's hand tighten around her own.
"I…I…don't re-remember…" He wheezed out as Ruby blinked at answer. He didn't remember his name? Did that mean he had amnesia? He managed to kill all these Grimm and didn't even know who he was? Ruby stared at the huntsman's face with increased worry clearly written all over her own expression before her eyes followed the trailing down his cheeks to up to his scalp. The reaper's eyes widen as she realized that perhaps one of the Grimm managed to hit him on the head and caused him to lose his memory. Yet before she could speculate further, the huntsman gave a groan as his grip seemed to loosen a bit which only made the young scythe wielder panic.
"H-Hey! Stay with us!" She told him as her grip around his hand became like iron. "U-Um! Ah! You may not know about this, mainly due to your more than likely amnesia, but there is this really cool band called the Achieve Men and apparently they are going to be appearing during the Vytal Festival this year. They are really awesome and probably play some cool songs in between matches at tournament, but I am sure you would like to watch the actual fighting as well listen to the music." She continued to talk about the various events during the Vytal Festival like the various food stands that sold the most delicious treats or the various carnival games that had some of best prizes throughout the year.
While she knew that young huntsman probably couldn't understand what she was talking about in his current state, but the young reaper continued to talk and talk till her mouth started to feel dry and sore. She continued to hold the one sided conversation with the wounded huntsman in order to keep him awake least he slip back into unconsciousness which only death awaited him. As she continued to talk, Coco left the boy's side before walking a little way from him and pulled out her scroll.
With a simple press of a button, little device came to life before she pressed an ear to it. "This is Coco Adel of team CFVY." She said. "We found a heavily wounded huntsman and is in need of medical help now! Get us an immediate Evac stat!"
"Roger that, Ma'am." One of the pilots of the Bullhead responded to the brown haired girl's demand. "We'll be there in a few minutes."
"Good." Was all the leader of team CFVY said before closing her scroll and turned back to the slumped huntsman. Pyrrha managed to bind together most of the more distressing wounds, albeit a bit painfully due to how the huntsman was positioned, but also some of the minor wounds along his legs and arms as well. Ruby continued to her conversation with the boy and even promised to take him to the Vytal Festival once he got better. The young huntsman himself continued to have a dull look in his eye, but Coco could see the spark of life glint in his eye and she knew that he was still continuing to hang on despite all odds against him.
At least for the moment anyway.
Jaune looked at the wounded huntsman in wonder as the youth clung to life with only the thinnest of threads. The knight couldn't deny that he was amazed by the sheer will power the young huntsman had to keep himself awake, but he could tell that it wouldn't last forever and if the Bullheads didn't arrive soon then there was little hope that their new charge would live much longer. Yet despite his concerns and worried thoughts, the young huntsman-in-training was troubled that while they managed to complete half their mission with the Grimm all disposed of, they have yet to find the actual source of the strange energy disturbance.
Unless of course, the wounded huntsman his partner tended to was somehow related to the disturbance. Who was this huntsman anyway and why was here? It was too much of a coincidence to say that he boy simply wondered into the forest for some of the unique red sap from the trees and only got caught up between the strange energy resonance and the pack of Grimm. And yet what if that were the case? Forever Fall wasn't a private area and anyone who was well equipped and prepared can enter it if they were careful. The knight sighed at the thoughts that swirled in his head as he couldn't make sense of what the heck was going on.
However as he continued to stare at the wounded huntsman who groan occasionally as Pyrrha tightened a knot on one the bandages, Jaune was simply glad that they managed to find him. No one deserved to die out in the wilderness alone, bleeding in agony, and waiting for the Grimm to come to finish him off.
Suddenly a loud thrumming sound was heard above the young huntsmen and huntresses as they all, except Pyrrha and Ruby who continued to focus on the slumped youth, looked up to see all three Bullheads hovering a few meters above the tree line. Just then, the lowest Bullhead made its descent down to the ground, careful not scrape any of the trees along the way despite how cramped the space the students were in. Thankfully it barely managed to fit in and just as it touched down, the copilot and Blake sprang out of the airship with a stretcher in their hands before rushing towards the wounded huntsman whose eyes now started to lid half way.
Without a word, the champion and young reaper carefully slung the young huntsman's arms around their necks before slowly pulling him off the ground. The youth hissed and grunted in pure agony as both huntresses half led and half carried him to the stretcher which thankfully was only a few steps away. They laid him on it just as the bloody huntsman finally lost consciousness once more before both the copilot and Blake carried him back to the Bullhead.
"Alright, I think we are done for the day." Coco said as she bent over to pick up the huntsman's feathered tricorn hat. "There isn't much left to investigate and with the Grimm eliminated then I say this is mostly a successful mission."
"What about the energy disturbance?" Velvet asked her leader.
"Unless there is something else that we haven't already found or noticed then we have nothing to go on or what exactly to look for." The black beret wearing huntress then looked at the hat in her hands and turned it over several times, making not of all the worn and torn details that went with its design. "If that huntsman we found had anything to do with the weird energy signature, I'm sure the headmaster will find out the truth. Until then, there isn't much left we can do unless all us want to stumble around Forever Fall till dark and get ambushed by several Ursa along the way." When no one said anything about the last part, Coco headed over to Ruby and handed her the hat. "Here. He is riding your ship so it's only fair that you hold on to do for him, kid."
"Oh, ok." Ruby said a bit worriedly as she took the hat.
"Cheer up, Ruby. He is going to be just fine now." At least the confident leader hoped that was the case. "He will probably be up and ready to go after a week of recovery. I mean, he did managed to cheat death up till now so I doubt he isn't going kick the bucket any time soon."
"Yeah, you're right." The younger huntress said as she started to head over to the Bullhead with the rest of her team following close behind. They all entered the airship without a word and took seats around the young unconscious huntsman who was tied down carefully in the middle of the ship. The young reaper continued to have a worried look on her face as she stared at the boy's seemingly peaceful face before feeling a hand rest on her shoulders.
"He'll be fine, Ruby." Weiss told her friend and partner. "Beacon has some of the best facilities in all of Remnant and he will be in excellent hands." The young scythe wielder nodded her head at her partner's words, but her eyes never left the youth's face as the doors the Bullhead closed before taking off into the sky.
Meanwhile, team JNPR already climbed into their Bullhead, which had landed just as RWBY's own had left, before starting to take off as well. Just as team CFVY's own airship was landing, Fox picked up the broken pieces of the young huntsman broken weapon while Velvet took a few pictures of the entire area for their report. After making sure they had everything they needed, team CFVY entered their Bullhead before taking off and heading back to their home at Beacon.
Ozpin looked over the report that the leaders of teams RWBY, JNPR, and CFVY all submitted to him for the fifth time after his students returned to Beacon three days ago. The reports themselves were short and to the point with the leaders of each team putting their own opinions on the outcome of the mission. Mister Arc focused on the destruction and death of the Grimm pack in Forever Fall, emphasizing how he was simply amazed it was all supposedly done by one huntsman. Miss Rose report mainly talked about how badly injured the survivor was when they had found him, how he supposedly had amnesia, and was concerned for his wellbeing. She even requested, though it was more like begging to the headmaster, that she visit him as soon as he was confirmed to be no longer on the thin thread of life and death just to make sure he was indeed alright. The last report by Miss Adel spoke briefly about both the carnage that had took place and the injuries of the survivor, but mainly focused on how all three teams couldn't find anything that actually points to what made the energy disturbance in Forever Fall. She pointed out that perhaps the young huntsman they saved could be related to it, but she wasn't too sure about that despite how much of coincidence it was. After all, she also mentioned how the forest wasn't exactly off limits to civilians so basically anyone could enter it if they were prepared to face any Grimm along the way.
Ozpin took a sip of coffee as he closed the reports on his desk Scrolls before pulling up the medical file on his new guest that currently resided in his school's medical ward. Bloody and graphic images of the survivor's body appeared immediately on screen and the headmaster couldn't help but stare at the carnage that happened to such a youth. Without his clothes on, the boy's body was of a slender frame, but he was also packed with decently sized durable muscle that made up for his frailty. A black colored tattoo of a strange looking flower was inked right over his heart, yet despite how the unique design, which Ozpin made a mental note to inquire about its origins later, the headmaster didn't pay too much mind to such things at the moment.
The recent wounds on his side that once exposed flesh and muscle were now stitched together with precision and with the greatest of care. However that wasn't the only thing the enigmatic leader of Beacon Academy focused on. No, his eyes were drawn to the other scars that decorated the teen's body.
Dozens of scar of various sizes covered nearly every inch of his body. Some look like the flesh was bitten into by a savage animal, others simply look like he had mauled by something with thick claws, huge burns of various degrees covered portions of his thighs, small electrical burns sheared and littered all over his back, sharp thick lines that obviously come from a bladed weapon darted all over his chest, and dust only knows what else could make such dreadful looking marks on his body. Yet the most incredible wound was the huge drawn out horizontal line across his chest, which also slightly cut into the flower tattoo, that look like it was about two inches thick. With all these old wounds, Ozpin was frankly impressed that the boy managed to survive so long.
The headmaster's eyes then turned to the notes that accompanied the horrible looking pictures. Even though he read them already like he did with the student reports, Ozpin was simply fascinated by what the doctors found in their treatment for the youth. After being received by the medical team of Beacon, the teen was immediately treated with only the most advance aura healing techniques. Upon doing so however, the doctors made a rather shocking discovery.
The boy's aura was still locked.
To stay that everyone, including Ozpin himself, was stunned by what they found out would be an understatement as they couldn't even fathom how the youth was still even alive. He should be dead with the wounds he received and having lost so much blood long before the Beacon found him. Not to mention the mere fact that the teen managed to kill off an entire pack of Grimm with no aura defenses was truly unbelievable. But here was a person that defied the impossible and Ozpin could only imagine how and what kept him alive before he was recovered.
After recovering from their shock, the doctors treating the boy were forced to traditional methods. Oh they could have tried to unlock his aura by force and helped heal him at a quicker pace, but they didn't dare do so. In his current critical condition the boy might die in the process due to how weak he was, so they opted to surgery and blood transfusions. Taking a sample of the boy's blood to see what type he was for the operation, the doctors made another discovery. His blood was filled with unknown mutations and pathogens that it puzzled the medical experts as to what they were looking at. It was unlike anything they seen before and couldn't even begin to describe what exactly was in the boy's blood. Despite the strange and unusual variables they were looking at, the doctors found out the teen's blood type and were quick to hook him up some fresh blood packs for the transfusion. And that was when they learn one last incredible and frightening discovery.
As soon as the blood from pack entered his system, the boy's wounds started to heal.
The old scars remained, but the wounds at his sides slowly mended themselves together as it was the most natural thing in the world. Small cuts faded away, the torn bits in his right side grew back slowly, and even the large wound that the doctors stitched up mended together till the flesh pressed tightly against the small strings the doctors used to seal his wound. Apparently from what the doctors could theorize, after recovering from their shock for the third time now, was that somehow the donated blood was triggered some kind of power or mutated response that allowed the crimson liquid to slowly heal the boy. Since then the boy had gone into a comatose-like state for the past three days now while his wounds healed at a rate that any normal human being would envy. In all his years as a hunter, Ozpin was at a loss of words; a thing that hadn't happen to him in a long time. However, his shock quickly slipped away into intrigued as the doctor's concluded their report by stating that the youth's wounds were almost completely healed and were going to be running tests on his blood to figure out just what was making him defy everything they knew about medicine and biology.
Closing the file, Ozpin turned his attention another file on the right desk scroll screen that showed the youth's blood coated clothing. Yet he paid little attention to how torn apart it was, or how Miss Nikos cut it apart in order to help keep the teen alive, but instead focused on the strange looking symbol stitched on the left front side of the duster. It was a strange marking, looking like an upside down trident with a dot at the bottom middle point. There wasn't anything like it in Beacon's library or in Vale's own data banks, but the headmaster felt something nagging at his mind as he continued to examine it. Almost like he had seen it somewhere before, but for the life of him, he couldn't remember where exactly.
His then drifted downward to the badges that sat on his desk. Like the strange mark on the youth's duster, all eleven badges were unique and unlike anything he had ever encountered before. Each one of them was incredibly well crafted, but some had look of age about them and slowly wearing away at the edges. They didn't represent any of the four kingdoms or any academy symbol that he knew of on Remnant, but they had the look of importance about them. Like they were made for a purpose or as a sign of status, but for the life of him, Ozpin didn't have the slightest clue. Yet that only made him more intrigued about them. Were they perhaps somehow related to that strange upside down trident symbol?
"In all my years, I never seen anything like this, Oz." General James Ironwood said as he stood before his friend's desk while examining the same reports the headmaster of Beacon just looked at. After being informed of the strange energy disturbance in Forever Fall, the good general wanted to send a team of his most elite soldiers to investigate, but Ozpin managed to talk him out of it by reminding him that he was only tasked with the security of the upcoming Vytal Festival and would cause a commotion if he overstepped his bounds. The general begrudgingly agreed to his friend's reasoning before waiting for the report of the three teams sent to investigate. What he got instead was a heavily injured survivor who was making a miraculous recovery in a matter of days and only brought more questions than answers.
"Never have I, James." Ozpin said as he took another sip of his coffee.
"Regenerating wounds with blood and having his aura still locked? Even with all of Atlas's technological advancements and fields of studies we haven't begun to achieve something like this."
"What about the badges? Did you find anything on them?" Ozpin asked as he took another sip of his coffee while his mind wandered back to the upside down trident symbol. Just where had he seen it?
"No. I checked all of Atlas's records and nothing even came close to these things." He casually took the saw looking badge in his left hand and stared at the strange branded engravings.
"Hmm… we may have to send an inquiry to both the headmasters of Haven and Shade academies about them." Ozpin then took one of the badges in hand, a curved blade like emblem with the same type of writing on it like the one in the good general's hand, and examined with a critical eye. "You don't make badges like these unless they have a certain purpose."
"Which is why I would like to request that you transfer your guest over to me, Oz." James put the badge back on the table as blue eyes met brown. "An unknown energy surge happens nearly right after Roman Torchwick's imprisonment and now a strange appears with unknown powers of regeneration and supposedly managed to take down an entire pack of by himself and with his aura locked. This seems all too much to be coincidence and I am sure I can figure out his true intentions given enough time."
"Perhaps, James. But from what Miss Rose's report told me, he wouldn't be able to tell anything even when he woke up."
"You mean his supposed amnesia?" James asked skeptically.
"Yes. Don't dismiss it as a hidden scheme so easily, James. After all, when my students found him he was in critical condition and couldn't even speak properly without laboring to breathe. Not to mention that I highly doubt that he allowed all those Grimm to maul him half to death just to be found by some random passerby or huntsmen."
"And all the slain Grimm? How do you explain that?" The general asked critically, but the headmaster took it all in stride.
"I honestly don't the faintest of ideas how managed to slay them all and survive, James, but until then I will have my staff take care of him till he awakens from his coma. Once he does then we can see if his amnesia is genuine or if he if is a threat to my students."
"And if he is a threat?"
"Then I'll shall leave him in your custody to find out the truth of the matter." Ironwood stared at his old friend for a moment before nodding once and seemed to be content with the decision. Suddenly the door to elevator opened and both headmasters turned to see Glynda Goodwitch entering the room.
"Headmaster… Ironwood." Glynda greeted both hunters while she gave the general an annoyed scowl although it was very brief as she turned her attention back to the gray haired headmaster of Beacon and walked over to place an assortment of folders on his desk. "I brought you the additional files about the badges, but… there wasn't anything new I could find on them."
"That's alright and thank you, Glynda." Ozpin said as he randomly grabbed one of the folders and started to skim through its contents though he doubted that he would find anything useful. After all, if Miss Goodwitch already looked through them thoroughly then there was little chance he would find anything she might have missed. After all, she was very observant when it came to things like these and especially now that her academy held an unknown guest. His eyes left the folder in his hand to once again to stare at the strange symbol on the youth's duster. The feeling that he saw that mysterious marking was stronger now as he narrowed his eyes in concentration. Where did he seen it before? It looked rather old and with it simple design it must have been from an era long forgotten. Suddenly a memory arouse in his head that made his eyes widened in recognition. A memory that included a dusty old crow who had sent him a field report little over a few years ago regarding about some ancient ruins he stumbled across at one point on his numerous missions. And with that memory came the upside down trident symbol that now appeared on this mysterious boy's clothes.
"Glynda," he said, "I want you to bring all the mission reports and files from Qrow in the last few years."
"Ozpin?" Goodwitch asked as she and Ironwood looked confused by their friend's sudden interest in old documents.
"Also get ahold of Qrow. First tell him that I apologize for not contacting him in so long, but then send him a picture of this symbol and ask him where he had seen it before. Tell him that he might have found something that might give us some insight about our new guest."
"And you're sure you haven't found anything at all?" Cinder Fall had a stern expression as she addressed the White Fang officer on her Scroll.
"Unfortunately not, Ma'am." The Grimm masked Faunus replied politely as the human remained silent and stared at him with her piercing amber eyes. Despite the fact that he was miles away from her and deep within Forever Fall, the lieutenant of the White Fang could feel a cold sweat starting to form on his brow. He knew that Cinder Fall wasn't someone you wanted to cross, even if she was a disgusting human. No, when you dealt with her you only prayed that her silence meant that she was only thinking over your answer in a good way and not in the bad. If it was the latter case, he only hoped that he had enough time to make a run for it or at the least receive a swift painless death.
"I see…. You can move your team out the area for now, but I want you to have surveillance cameras discretely hidden and sensors set up in case another anomaly like that happens in the future. Also, tell Mister Taurus that I would to talk to him later about the situation and of our…pet project. Until then, you're dismissed."
Without another word, Cinder cut the video feed before starting to pull up files in her Scroll. It had been three days since the unknown energy surge in Forever Fall and the young amber eyed girl simply couldn't help but feel amazed and wary of things that happened. As soon as she was informed by the White Fang of disturbance, she knew that both the headmaster of Beacon and good General Ironwood wouldn't dare leave it alone. Though she had sent a team from the White Fang to do their own secret investigation since she knew she couldn't trust her foes to actually find anything useful. After all, they didn't even know she existed right under their noses. So she simply waited till they did all the field work and before using her special virus to hack into their data base to find out whatever they knew about the disturbance. Though that process had to done with slow and careful procedures. Even though her virus allowed her to find all matter of secrets that Atlas had as well of Beacon Academy, but if she acted too quickly and got into the fresh documents recklessly someone was bound to notice that their entire system was compromised.
Cinder had spent most of the first carefully maneuvering around hidden fire walls—courteous from the enigmatic and arrogant Ozpin she was sure of—and left not a trace of her invasion till she finally found what she was looking for. And oh did what she find truly made her intrigued. A mysterious teen with his aura locked and yet managed to regenerate flesh with just a simple blood transfusion? Now that wasn't something she expected Beacon to bring back from their little mission into Forever Fall. What's more the boy apparently slain an entire pack of Grimm before being overwhelmed by the soulless beasts and in turn apparently received amnesia.
However, what truly fascinated her and made her wary was when she pulled up picture of the boy's torn apart duster and zeroed in on the stitched symbol on its left side. Above all things she didn't expect to see was that on a mysterious stranger that just suddenly appeared into Forever Fall especially after she started her little "pet project" there. Or rather what lay hidden and underneath the mountain base next to crimson colored forest anyway. She couldn't tell if fate was simply deciding to give deliver everything to her on a silver platter or if she was simply really lucky to receive someone who can possibly help her receive even more power than she could ever hope for. Both from what she stole from the Fall Maiden and that of this mysterious cosmic powers that she learned a little over a year ago.
Speaking of which, she carefully put aside her Scroll before pulling her personal suitcase out from under her bed. The thing was locked up tight with three different dust activated locks that only recognize her own personal Aura. You could never be too careful when you were in enemy territory after all. With a flash of fire appearing in her hands, the locks made three sharp clicking sounds before the suitcase opened. She quickly rummaged inside for a moment before pulling out a thick wrinkly midnight black leather bound with near broken back. There were many old scratches and some of the corners of the hard cover were bent slightly in an angle and the writing for the title was so worn away that she couldn't even begin to imagine what it said. Thankfully the writing inside was preserved and still very legible, well mostly anyway, but that wasn't what she focused on. Instead her eyes stared at the upside down trident like symbol engraved in the middle of the cover. An identical match to the one of the mysterious boy's duster.
A small smile grew on her face as she could imagine the possibilities and knowledge the youth had to offer her, but Cinder knew that she couldn't get too ahead of herself. Assuming things would turn out the way you wanted them to all time usually lead to an early grave. First she had to confirm if this boy indeed had the knowledge she sought, but that was going to be a problem if what she read about him having amnesia turned out to be true. Recovering his memory would be a chore, but one that she knew would yield some interesting results. Not to mention even if he didn't have what she ultimately desired, which she highly doubted after seeing his unique regeneration abilities, it was something to help pass the time before the Vytal Festival that happened in a few months. After all, like any game of chess you had to plan your moves carefully and with adapt to any situation in order gain whatever you wanted and this was no different. Only this was much more entertaining.
"I do hope you wake up soon…" Cinder said as her attention to her Scroll and the open file that displayed the comatose youth sleeping on one the beds in the medical ward. "There is so much I want to you talk about."
Author's Note: Well, I hope you enjoyed the start of this brand new story. I been thinking of doing another story for while now and while I debated between a crossover of either Fate X Undertale or Fate X World of Warcraft or Fairy Tail X Magi-which I will get to later!-I been inspired to do a combination of Bloodborne and RWBY lately due to the DLC from the game and the epic season that has been RWBY as of late. And after reviewing the entirety of both series, like replaying Bloodborne on NG+ on DLC levels and marathoning RWBY, I have come to the conclusion that both series can mix perfectly together to make a fantastic story! I already have the concept and format down for this story and I will try to get another chapter in like a week or so from now.
As for my other stories, don't worry! For Faires in Azeroth Fans, I apologize for not making my deadline last month, but I been busy with college and researching for my new story. However I will definitely be getting a chapter done this month for you all to enjoy. Angel's New Beginnings fans, I am terribly sorry for no update in like months, but have no fear! I will be getting a update done either this month or the next as I been inspired by some really good vampire stories as of late and the new chapters of Seraph of the End have been very promising for me. That been said look forward to that. Lastly, Dangan Ronpa is still whenever I feel inspired or have the time to do so. Other than that, I do hope you all enjoy this new addition to my ever growing library of stories! I guarentte you will love it as you all be granted eyes and insight to learn the mysteries between Remnant and Bloodborne.
Until then, please enjoy the start of this new story and feel free to send me some constructive criticism or comments about the story if you guys feel like it. I hope you all have a good day today and I will be seeing you all later!
Sincerely, Count Chaos.