Prey is found ran out of luck .To slow, stabbed and struck. Three to two, one sent rescue. She stays past curfew.
So this is the longest chapter I've posted so far, coming in at 4,978 words not counting these author notes at the top and bottom. Now I know I said I'd try to keep them between 2500-4000 words, but I just couldn't for this chapter. I know a few of you will find one or two sections that seem pointless, but I enjoy the banter those scenes have and hope you do to. Sorry for going over my usual amount and hope you enjoy this Chapter.
Disclaimer I do not own RWBY or Bloodborne both pieces are owned by their respective publisher.
Blake was sat in the tree waiting for her team to arrive when she nearly fell out due to it violently shaking. Looking down she saw Yang punching the tree causing it the shake with each blow and forcing Blake to grip the branch she was resting on even more tightly.
"Blake. Get. Down. Here." With each word she struck the tree and by the forth blow an imprint of her fist could be seen forming on its trunk.
"Do you promise to calm down and not do anything drastic once I'm within arm's reach?" Blake asked unsure of how Yang would respond to her 'prank'.
"I promise to only get pay back once we've returned to Beacon." The answer was honest and Blake expected as much from her partner.
"I wouldn't ask for anything less Yang." Jumping down from the branch she landed softly barley making a sound against the forest floor. Before she could react Yang brought her into a bear hug lifting her into the air.
"I'm so proud of you Blake." Yang said letting her partner collapse on the ground gasping for breath.
"Are you sure that wasn't payback?" Blake gasped out trying to catch her breath after being suffocated by Yang's hug.
"That's just how we Xiao Longs show affection you're going to have to get used to it." Reaching out her hand Yang grabbed Blake's pulling her up onto her feet.
"Thanks Yang, I wonder how close Weiss and Ruby are to arriving?" Blake asked when she the earpiece turned on.
"You have to see what I'm seeing what now." Ruby said through the earpiece causing her team to all pull out their scrolls to see her camera feed. Ruby was clearly using her scope and was looking through the window of a building seeing a few coffins lining the walls and a multitude of saw blades hanging from the ceiling.
"Ruby! What are you doing, I've been running around this forest for an hour looking for you." Weiss' sudden yell through the earpiece caused the camera to violently shake.
"Sorry, I just wanted to get a look at the vampire's hideout for myself." Ruby apologized.
"I don't care why you did it. You're endangering the mission just to satisfy your own curiosity." Weiss reprimanded.
"Aww Don't be like that Ice Queen, we're here to observe and Ruby's done a good job at it." Yang said trying to soften the harsh blow.
"Yang get off the line I'm talking to your sister not you." Her voice had an annoyed tone to it.
"She can't these earpieces openly broadcast to everyone when being used." Blake interrupted.
"Ruby just get away from there we don't want anything to happen." As soon as Weiss finished talking Ruby's video feed drastically shifted to the sky as it fell through the tree before coming to a jarring halt with a close up of the forest floor.
"Ruby!" All three shouted in concern.
"Weiss how close are you from Ruby?" Yang frantically asked.
"I'm about 20 minutes out from the graveyard." She replied.
"Ok, your closer to her then me and Blake. Make your way there we'll arrive a few minutes after you." Yang was quick to take control of the team if it got help to her sister as quickly as possible. Her mind was a blaze with thoughts of Beowolves attacking her sister while she couldn't do anything to save her. Before any of them had a chance to move the camera turned around to show Ruby sighing in relief and brushing the camera off with her sleeve.
"Sorry about that, I scratched my ear and knocked the earpiece off." The next few seconds was spent with the camera shaking as Ruby got it back into place.
Ruby don't scare me like that!" Yang yelled causing everyone to flinch, not from how loud it was but because of the pain present behind the words. It wasn't a rare site to see Yang get mad or angry they've even had to help calm her down on occasion, but this wasn't anger. There was fear in her voice not for herself though, for her sister's safety and wellbeing. Something a big sister should be capable of providing her sibling.
"Yang, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you." Ruby was clearly shaken by her sister's response.
Hearing Ruby's voice Yang could tell that her words hurt her and changed from angry to worried, "Just try to be more careful ok?"
"Yang's right Ruby we can't have you getting hurt, after all I would have to take over as leader and I doubt Yang would listen to me."
"Your right I wouldn't listen to you and who says you get to become leader if Ruby is sick or something. I took charge during that false emergency it should be me."
"As if, in the name RWBY I'm second listed so obviously I'm second in command. You would only get to be leader if everyone else was out of commission and even then you'd only be leader of yourself."
"That makes no sense have you seen team JNPR? If you're right then when Jaune is taken out Nora would become leader instead of Pyrrha or Ren. I'm not saying Nora would be bad, just that she doesn't have much in the way of tactics or plans that don't involve smashing things."
"Fine then Jaune clearly has Pyrrha as his co-leader should anything stop him from performing his duties as team leader. She won the Mistral regional tournament four times in a row her skill speaks for itself." Weiss said while explain why Pyrrha would be the clear choice for leader.
"Jaune would clearly pick Ren as his co-leader, he's cool and calm all the time and he'd make a great team leader. Besides no matter how good Pyrrha's combat skills are they don't translate automatically to leadership skills." Yang said defending her choice for co-leader of team JNPR.
"Ruby whose your co-leader" They both said in unison trying to settle the debate. Yang hopping that Ruby's decision would favor her own sister and Weiss hopping that Ruby would favor her own partner.
"I choose Blake, so when I'm not around she's in charge, now stop fighting over this." The answer satisfied neither party, but it also didn't play favorites to either of them.
"I can't believe you didn't choose me, your own sister."
"I can't believe you didn't choose me, your own partner."
"Can I opt out of being co-leader?"
"No, Blake you're in charge should anything happen to me and I need you two to respect my decision, I chose Blake over you two for a reason. Just have a little faith in me after all I am your sister and I'm your partner. Now then everyone pull up your map." Pulling out their scrolls each member found a map of the forest broken up into four quadrants with the graveyard at the center. "We each take a section and try to find anything of interest and report it in. Then meet up in the pickup zone 30 minutes before arrival, everyone good?"
"Got it." They said before the transmission ended.
"Well I'll see in a few hours Blake." Yang said walking away towards her sector.
"Remember Yang this is a recon mission so try to stay quiet and don't go depopulating the forest of Grimm."
"Hey I can be stealthy when I want to." Turning around to face Blake Yang saw some leaves floating down where Blake once was. "Fine then miss ninja we'll see who's truly the stealthiest one." Taking another step forward Yang snapped a branch lying on the ground with a deafening crack. Hearing a murmured laugh coming from the trees above she gave up all pretense of stealth as she stormed off through the forest.
After walking through the forest for an hour Weiss was beginning to find the mission rather dull. The trees were beginning to look the same along with the sounds of a few stray birds chirping overhead. Before she became too distracted her thoughts were drawn back to the assignment with the sound of rushing water. Following the sound through a few bushes Weiss found a coursing river that had carved a path through the forest. Following the river upstream a thunderous sound started to drown out all the ambient noise nearby. Looking further upstream she immediately found the source of the noise a raging waterfall falling into the river.
Beautiful was the one word that came to her mind when looking at cascade. Sure she had seen pictures of waterfalls in books before and seen a few recreated inside the safety of the city, but nothing could compare to seeing one form in nature. Like a gem formed over decades of mineral build up raw and unrefined yet glowing none the less. Taking a step forward to get a better look Weiss noticed wooden buckets hanging off a few low branches. Tapping on the earpiece she opened up communication with the others.
"You might want to see what I'm seeing right now." Weiss' ear was instantly filled with a squeal of delight from Ruby upon seeing the waterfall. "Would you please be quite Ruby."
"So why did you call, I doubt it was just to show us the sights." Yang said as Ruby calmed down.
"There are signs that our target uses this location as either a water source or bathing area, so I'm going to stay here and see if I can ID them when they come down here."
"That and she want to sneak a peek of them while bathing." Yang joked
"You insufferable brute, we're not all perverts like you."
"There's nothing wrong with being able to appreciate another person's body Ice Queen. I mean have you seen Pyrrha, she's practically the ideal image of a huntress. Those arms of hers could carry me and then you have her abs." Before Yang could go on she was interrupted by Ruby.
"Ew, Yang I don't want to hear my own sister talking about our friend like that."
"It's not like I'd actually go for her she's a bit to straight laced for me and besides she already has eyes for someone else."
"Wait Pyrrha has someone she likes, who is it? Do I know them?" Ruby's voice was full of excitement at the prospect of their friend looking for love.
"Sorry Rubes that's classified information that she wouldn't like me spreading it around."
"Would you two get off the line and focus on the mission." Weiss said, regretting the call she sent out that started the two sisters off.
"Alright fine, talk to you latter Ruby."
"See you later Yang."
Weiss found a vantage point of the waterfall and sat down getting comfortable. After all she would have to view the area for possibly the next six hours until their bullhead came back. She didn't seem to mind though as she sat listening to the thrum of the falling water. After all it wasn't everyday someone could enjoy natures beauty away from civilization.
Boring was the one thing running through Yang's mind as she continued to dredge the forest in hopes of finding anything of interest. Within an hour of setting off Weiss managed to find a waterfall and would be enjoying the view for the rest of the mission while she had to continue walking. It would take nearly the entire six hours for her to finish her section of the forest lacking Ruby's speed and Blake's skills. Seeing something out of the corner of her eye Yang took a few steps back and looked at the tree she just passed. Looking at it closer she found an arrow carved into the bark pointing further into the forest, following it for a few minutes led to another arrow and another and another, until she found herself on the outskirts of a small field with a tree canopy providing shade.
Looking out into the Field she couldn't contain her excitement and nearly smashed the ear piece with how quickly she hammered the button. "Blake do you know how to dress a chicken?" Upon hearing the conversation Weiss pulled her earpiece out and decided some silence would be fine for the next hour or so.
"Yang are asking me how to clothe a chicken or prepare one for a meal?"
"The second one I figured out of every one you would know." Yang began slinking from the tree line and towards her prey.
"Because of the training I received prior to Beacon?"
"No, because I know Ruby doesn't and I doubt Weiss even knows how to make boiled water." She began to whisper in reply as she saw how many were present.
"To answer your question yes I do. Why do you want to know?"
"I'm thinking of having chicken tonight and fresh is usually better." As soon as she finished talking she felt a gaze piercing her. Turning around she saw a rooster looking her in the eye a few feet way. "Now let's calm down little buddy I'm not going to do anything to you." She had her hands held up as she walked towards the rooster getting ready to grab it when it called out to the others.
Every member of team RWBY who still had their earpiece in could hear the sound of several chickens cawing out followed by Yang. "I just wanted to eat one of you. Why are all of you are all so aggressive I thought chickens are supposed to be docile."
Chickens may not be able to fly, but they can still leap into the air and flail their wings while charging their attacker. Having a swarm of chickens flying about swarming Yang didn't do her any favors when they blocked out her vision due to sheer numbers. She ran through the swarm until she lost them and was stood behind a tree. Walking back Yang peered around seeing a few chickens patrolling the outskirts of the field.
"Yang," Ruby said, "Not that I don't appreciate a tasty meal, but I don't see how this is important to the mission."
"Well I followed a few signs carved into the trees and found this field full of chickens. Thought it would be way easier to catch a chicken than that."
"Wait, Yang did you say you found signs leading to that field?" Blake said immediately drawing the connection between the two.
"Yeah, there were a few arrows carved into the trees leading here. Only took me about thirty minutes to follow them there."
"Yang that's probably where our target gathers his food, you have to be careful. They could show up at any moment to grab a meal." Blake said trying to offer some advice to the blonde brawler.
"Don't worry Blake I can set up shop around here and see if they show up. I just have to worry about those chickens they may be small, but they are ferocious. I'll see you back at the pickup zone so don't go getting stuck in a tree while I'm gone."
"I'll try not to disappoint you." Blake said as Yang turned pressed the button ending the call.
Ruby was still enthusiastic for their mission despite finding nothing of worth for the last two and a half hours. She suddenly came to a halt when the sounds of a battle came from the distance. The tell-tale sound of Beowolves could be heard along with yelps of pain from the injuries they received. Making her way over to the location Ruby kept low and went from bush to bush hiding her approach. Coming upon the brawl she saw a cane stabbed through a Beowolf and blood profusely bleeding from the wound. The sight of a Grimm bleeding was a shock to Ruby as she never imagined the monsters bleeding. They were always known for being difficult to study due to disintegrating after death and wounds instantaneously sealing making blood draws impossible.
She immediately refocused on the fight when the body of a Beowolf was flung and landed right next to her having some blood splatter onto her cloths. Looking over the fighter's clothing they reminded her of the rouges in old fairy tales lacking proper armor and having their face concealed behind his attires collar. Some of the blood covering his cloths had begun to dissipate as black smoke along with the bodies lying around him. Relaxing the man examined his surrounding before pulling his collar down to expose his nose. Holding his head upwards he sniffed at the air trying to find a smell that didn't belong to the carnage around him.
"I don't remember their being a strawberry patch around here." At the mention of strawberries Ruby froze in place immediately regretting her choice of shampoo. Closing her eyes in fear she heard the sound of bark being carved opening her eyes she saw him carving an arrow into a tree before heading back into the woods out of sight. Ruby didn't move waiting for any sign that he might return and after a few minutes she looked at her cloths seeing that the blood had already dissolved.
A small glimmer of light flashed behind her when she felt a sharp object try to spear her in the back. The pain was immediate with her eyes opening as wide as possible from the sudden blow her aura barely holding the weapon back preventing it from impaling her. While slumping back to the ground she was lifted up by something gripping the back of her neck. The feeling of something trying to rip its way through her back like a claw was all Ruby could focus on when whatever was holding her up tossed her out from her hiding spot. She collapsed to the ground like a marionette with its strings cut looking up only to see a pair of boots and hear it speak, recognizing the voice as the man she saw earlier.
"Sorry kid thought you were something else, but you're a tough one taking all that." With those words her world began to fade to black the feeling of hopelessness filling her before losing consciousness.
The sun had begun it's decent over the horizon when team RWBY minus its leader were sat waiting for the transport to arrive. Yang was pacing back and forth in worry while the others simply sat still looking over the video feeds. Ruby's was similar to when she knocked her out with the image being a close-up of the forest floor most likely knocked out of her ear and forgotten.
"Where is she, she should have been here by now, and why isn't she picking up her scroll?" Yang said with some worry behind her words.
"She likely got distracted while on her way back Yang and her scroll is on silence. So just be patient and she'll show up in a cloud of rose petals." Weiss said reassuringly.
"Weiss is right Yang have some faith in Ruby. All this worrying can't be good for your health."
"I can't not worry. She's my little sister and it's my job to look out for her and right now she's somewhere out there." Her anger was nearly boiling over at this point with her irises turning from lilac to red.
"Yang I'll go search for her, I'm the fastest here and if I find her and can't make it back my skills give us the best chance of surviving a night out here." Blake was completely calm when explain the situation clearly putting some thought into her solution.
"Blake if you go I go. That's my sister out there you can't hope to do this alone."
"No you two will only slow me down and if I don't come back you two need to convince Ozpin to send another bullhead out here to pick us up." The thought of having to leave a team member behind was painful, but not unusual to Huntsman. Sometimes a sacrifice had to be made even if it wasn't ideal and Blake made hers.
"Blake just look after her when you find her. I promise that a bullhead will be here tomorrow, even if we have to hijack one and fly it here ourselves." Blake couldn't tell if Yang was serious, then realized with Ruby involved she probably would result to stealing one of Beacons aircraft if it meant saving her sister.
"Can you even pilot an aircraft?" Blake asked jokingly.
"No, but I can. Growing up I had to learn a multitude of skill such as boating, ice skating, and piloting to name a few." Weiss' voice was full of conviction clearly willing to join Yang if it meant helping out her young partner.
"Ok then, hopefully it won't come to that and I can get back in time." Walking into the forest Blake vanished into the darkness leaving the reaming team members to their thoughts along with the quickly descending sun in the distance.
Pulling out her scroll Blake activated the tracker getting a read on which direction there leader was in before closing it, trying to keep the light she gave off to a minimal. Grimm were starting to become more common the deeper she went seemingly appearing out of the ground itself. Their red eyes shining through the forest were all she could look at as she jumped from tree top to tree top, pulling out her scroll occasionally make sure she was heading towards Ruby.
After twenty minutes of running she knew that making it back in time for their ride would be nearly impossible. Instead of dwelling on the fact she focused on her scroll finding that Ruby was only a few minutes away. Approaching the area Blake was filled with more and more worry about the fate of her leader. She wasn't moving if the tracker was correct and that meant she was either resting in one location or something much worse.
Blake stood still overlooking the church and graveyard from the tree checking her scroll and found that Ruby was inside the church. That wasn't a problem the real problem was their target was standing in front of the entrance with his eyes locked onto hers. Walking away from the church and towards her Blake was frozen with fear. The eyes were a light green and looked at her as nothing more than prey. The sensation was overwhelming something with so much confidence approaching her with the cane relaxed at its side. The individual came to a halt 20 feet from the tree she stood in planting its cane into the ground.
"Do you have any business at this Hunters Workshop?" His voice spoke with authority the same kind that any of her teachers' warranted when issuing orders.
Knowing stealth was out of the picture she jumped down from the tree, not drawing her weapon to try and prevent any unnecessary conflict. "I'm looking for my friend she should be around her and I need to bring her back home."
"And why do you think she is here?" He questioned clearly trying to pull any information from the interloper before negations took a turn for the worse.
"I tracked her to here and would like to bring her back to her family." Blake wondered what he was playing at. Ruby was most likely incapacitated by him and questioned. Sudden thoughts of torture methods filled her head nearly making Blake sick at the thought of anything like that being done to Ruby.
"So you tracked me then. I guess it was inevitable for others to finally find me after so long." He said with a hint of sadness in his voice.
"Just return Ruby and we can both walk away from this no one has to get hurt tonight." Her voice was powerful trying to end the battle before it even started.
"Alright," Blake froze at his words surly it couldn't be that easy, "You just have to pull her out of the coffin then."
Blake's mind went blank momentarily processing what she had just heard before reaching up and gripping Gambol Shroud. The distance between them instantly vanished as Blake appeared right in front of him taking a swing with her cleaver like blade. Leaning backwards the blade passed harmlessly in front of him grabbing the cane he quickly retaliated. Only to see the blow pass through the black haired girl as if she was a ghost and feel the sensation of his chest having a sword run across it.
"That is an interesting trick you did there. I once fought a man who moved so fast you couldn't see him when he dashed and you somehow manage to leave behind a copy when you do it." Blake couldn't even comprehend what he was saying with her rage addled mind and simply continued her assault.
Blake saw the cane coming towards her and rolled out of the way leaving behind a copy to take the blow. When she went in for her attack the blade only cut the air. Looking around for her target Blake felt a stab against her back and realized he dashed behind her when she swung. Swinging Gambol Shroud behind her Blake immediately knew she missed when she couldn't feel the blade connect and braced for the incoming blow. She felt three quick swings glance across her side before she leaped backwards to get out of his range. Unsheathing her katana with one hand and holding the sheath in the other she stood ready for a renewed assault.
"If you're going to get serious I guess I should as well." Forcefully stabbing the cane into the ground he pulled the black short sword off his back wielding it in his right hand. The sword looked to have two curved blades pressed together while being conjoined by the hilt. Rushing forward Blake started to madly swing her swords at the man.
Even though Blake could swing twice as many times as her opponent each swing was easily avoided or parried with the blade in his hand. When he finally swung the blade down at her she managed to catch it with her own swing forcing his sword away from her next blow. Before she could connect though the second blade from the sword catapulted free and into his left hand allowing him to catch her blade. With a flick of his wrist her sword was flung from her grip landing in the dirt behind her. Dashing away she tapped her earpiece while holding her sheath up threatening her opponent.
Back at the open field Yang could see the bullhead in the distance beginning its descent towards them, when their ear pieces turned on. "Yang, Weiss, leave without me he's stronger than any of us you can't beat him."
"Blake what's going on, where's Ruby?" Yang said in a panic.
"Yang, I'm so sorry, please tell Ozpin what happened here." The sound of swords classing could be heard along with what sounded like hits slamming into Blake's aura.
"Blake where are you we'll come help, there's nothing we can't do as a team." Yang pleadingly said to Blake hoping for something.
"Go get help, that's all you can do and before I go I want you to know-" The transmission cut to static as soon as the bullhead touched down in front of them.
"Blake, come on this isn't funny talk to me. Blake please don't do this to me. I can't lose you too." Yang had broken down into tears as the sides of the bullhead opened up to let them on board. Weiss quickly grabbed her and led her in before signaling to the pilot to take off. With a bit of hesitation he nodded before closing the doors and ascending into the sky for the flight back to Beacon.
Looking down at the ground she saw the destroyed earpiece lying in the dirt after she managed to dodge his last attack. The fight clearly wasn't going in Blake's favor her aura was nearly depleted and a few of his attacks had managed to get through leaving some cuts on her. None of the injuries were life threatening, but it was only a matter of time before one of his attacks dealt one.
"Having your allies abandon you to save them, a good decision on your part if your combat skills are any indication on how good they are."
Blake understood that this battle was lost no matter what she did. With the only difference she could make at this point being how drawn out her death would be. Deciding that being unconscious when the final blow was dealt would be the least painful way to go Blake charge at him drawing all her aura into a barrier that she felt get destroyed in a single powerful blow. With no reserves left she let aura exhaustion drag her into an unconscious state crumbling to the ground.
Seeing his opponent fall to the ground Dunstan checked her pulse finding her to still be alive. Carrying her back to the church he lit two jars of incense by the door before he began to dress her wounds. When removing her cloths he was tempted to remove her bow when the image a pristine white bow soaked in blood flooded his mind. Quickly pushing the thought away he finished bandaging her wounds. Re-clothing his patient he made sure to clear out more space on the floor for the bed she would rest in. Pulling a lined coffin off the wall Dunstan laid it on the floor next to the other one he recently placed. Picking the girl up off the table he gently placed her into the coffin adjacent to the one Ruby was sleeping in.
Yeah, not much of a reveal since I gave Ruby a nice dream sequence in the second chapter so most of you knew there was no way she could be dead. On another note my reason for Grimm not bleeding under normal circumstances is that their wounds seal up almost instantly meaning even if they have a gaping chest wound they won't bleed to death, although causing enough damage to the body or destroying vital organs such as a heart or brain would prove fatal.
Edit Notes: Grammar and Punctuation. Rhyming may not be my thing, but it is a skill I need to practice if I'm going to get better at for future chapters. Those of you going through each chapter to see these notes are going to see that each one is a continuation of the last. Don't expect a rewrite.