Wednesday Release because I finally had the time to finish this up I've been working on this sporadically for the last 14 days in between work and family. Sorry everyone for going dark for two weeks I've been busy getting ready to move houses. You never really know how much you own until you start trying to fit it all into cardboard boxes. So good news is that everything is nearly packed except for the beds, TV, and computer meaning I can hopefully finish the next chapter and get it out on time this Sunday. I'll be explaining the situation with the story updates further next chapter. If you find any errors in the writing feel free to message me and I'll fix it up to the best of my skills.
For those of you still here thank you for your patience and I hope you enjoy the show.
Yang was asleep in one of the houses bedrooms when her scroll went off like a car alarm causing her to flail about for the device. Grabbing the device Yang pressed the button answering whoever was calling her this early.
"Hello who is it?" Yang asked rubbing her eye.
"This is Bullhead Pilot 714 I'm on the outskirts of the city awaiting confirmation for pickup."
Yang jumped out of bed and kicked down the door across the hall from her to see Weiss sleeping in the bed. Grabbing the covers Yang ripped them away from the Heiress throwing her to the floor in the process. Weiss flailed about on the floor momentarily her senses in disarray after being so unceremoniously awoken from her slumber. Seeing this Yang reached down lifting Weiss up onto her feet when she started berating the brawler.
"Do you have any idea what time it is Yang? I swear this is almost as bad as that air horn your sister uses." Weiss said as she stretched her arms knowing that Yang probably wouldn't let her go back to bed.
"Go wake up Blake there's a Bullhead coming to our location to pick us up." Weiss eyes flashed with hope hearing those words.
"I'll grab Blake you get Ruby." With that she ran out of the room leaving Yang to walk down stairs and wake Ruby.
"Are you still there?" The voice asked from Yang's scroll. Fumbling the device in surprise Yang brought it back up to her head.
"Yes I'm still here where are you going to land?"
"I have orders not to land this craft Mam I'm going to hover next to your building and have all of you jump in before I go to the secondary location."
"Secondary Location? Why do you have a secondary location are there survivors waiting for rescue?" Yang asked trying to figure out how a Bullhead knew of their current situation and need of an evac.
"I was told to come to your location first before going to recover the Huntress and her partner from the Communication station."
"We'll be up on the roof in 2 minutes so get ready for that pick up." Yang said running into the living room. Reaching over the couch Yang pulled the blanket off in a rush to wake her sister so they could leave the city only to find her not there. Frantically looking over the rest of the room for any trace of her sister Yang stated checking every room that lined the first floor.
"Yang are you and Ruby ready? That Bullhead should be here any minute." Weiss shouted down the stairs.
Yang's breaths started to become heavy with panic as each room failed to reveal her sister. Yang started to rack her mind trying to figure out where she could be when she looked out the window spotting the comm tower in the distance.
"No she wouldn't." Yang said out loud almost trying to convince herself.
"Yang what's taking you?" Weiss said as she stepped into the room seeing Yang look out the window in a daze.
"She's gone again Weiss. I'm not with her and she could be anywhere out in this godforsaken city." Yang smashed her fist into the wall punching a hole through the plaster.
"We can look for in the sky once we board that bullhead. She wouldn't want us siting around worrying about her so let's go get her." Weiss held out her hand which Yang gripped almost crushing the pristine fingers.
"Let's go get my sister." Yang replied her voice full of energy and life as she climbed the stairs and opened the roof access door.
Looking out over the city was a sight to see with smoke bellowing upwards in some areas of the city from stray fires. The moon had begun its downward arc across the sky and the horizon still lacked the sunrise they so desperately wanted to see light up the dark night. The Bullhead flew over the city walls making its approach on team WBY's position. The aircraft stopped above the building and began lowering itself towards roof level when bullets started bouncing off of its side.
Sparks shot off as the right side of the vehicle was pelted with small arms fire from the town's folk. Opening the left hatch the team jumped into the craft before it lifted off out of range of their attackers. The pinging sound of bullets against the armor slowed as they continued to rise until it came to a complete halt. They let out a collective sigh of relief when the bullets stopped and the craft stabilized high above the city.
"I'm glad all of you made it out okay." The pilot said over the intercom.
"You mind going back down I have to grab my sister?" Yang asked while knocking on the pilot door.
"Red hood carries around a large scythe."
"You've seen her?"
"Yeah she's at our last pick up zone actually. Saw her fighting off some beowolves with the help of the town's Huntsman. One hell of a sister you have down there if she to hold her own like that."
"That's Ruby alright. We going to provide cover for them or what?"
"Just buckle up and sit back. Once we drop in they're going to jump in here and we're going to see just how fast this bullhead can move from a vertical landing to a horizontal takeoff." The pilot almost sounded excited for the chance to push his craft for once.
Yang and the others could felt the bullhead descending back into the city when they looked out the side seeing Ruby fending off what looked like beasts confined within human clothing. The monsters stood on two legs at roughly 7 feet with fur bursting out of their clothing. The faces hardly resembled a humans and looked like it was twisted to form a beastly visage hunching over as if its spine no longer was meant to support someone on two legs. Each wielded something in their hands from an oversized spear that looked like it was built to kill beasts as large as elephants to the occasional axe.
"You didn't tell me they could climb ladders!" Ruby shouted at Dunstan as she deflected one of the beast's spears.
"I thought it was obvious. How do you think they wound up on the roofs of those other buildings?" Dunstan said while running the tip of his cane through the chest of a towns member before throwing him off the roof and onto the ground four stories below.
"I would have destroyed the ladder after we made it up here if I knew they had the coordination to climb them." Ruby brought the blade around the beasts left arm before the recoil from her bullet carved it off.
"Then we wouldn't be able to get up here later and it would prevent others from taking the same path we did." Dunstan argued remembering how difficult his trip through Yharnam was made by a few closed gates forcing him to circle the entire city simply to reach the other side of a door.
"We are never coming back here." Ruby argued as one of the beasts raised a spear high over its head.
Ruby leaped out of the way as the spear embedded itself into the roof. With a howl the spear was ripped back out throwing concrete in every direction and leaving a sizable hole in the structure. As it charged forward Ruby easily side stepped the attack with a twirl. From afar it almost looked like Ruby was dancing with each beast she fought as she avoided each swipe of their assault. Her own swings seemingly only meant to scratch the surface of her opponents instead of cut completely through them.
After leaving her mark Ruby leaped backwards out of the way as a whip covered in serrated blades danced across the beasts bodies carving out sizable chunks. Dunstan stood in front of them pulling pack his cane before thrusting it forward like a rapier having the whip shoot forward piercing two beasts. With a jerking motion the whip retreated from the beasts causing a spurt of blood and flesh to come out as it exited the wounds it just made. Flicking his wrist the whip lined the blades back up before he pressed the tip of his cane onto the ground locking the pieces back in place returning his weapon to its bladed form.
Ruby was grinning ear to ear as the fight continued without any of her current opponents being able to match her speed. Even if a few of them came close by trying to predict her next move it was only guess work or luck that allowed their attacks to land near her. Running past Dunstan to meet her next prey Ruby started to bask in the hunt feeling her body fill with ferocity with each passing kill. She knew the amount death surrounding her would only feed her growing desires, but she hoped that they would turn into merely passing feelings once Dunstan helped her grow into a Hunter. Her thoughts were interrupted when a bullhead seemingly fell from the sky before leveling off and hovering just off the side of the roof.
The hatch on the side opened to reveal her team watching the ongoing battle with mixed feeling flashing across their faces. With an escape route in sight Ruby started to ease up on her attacks and slowly backing away towards the vehicle. Ruby fired off a few shots into the group of beasts knowing that she could at least distract them for Dunstan while he pulled away from combat and towards her.
"Let's go our rides here." Ruby nearly cheered as she ran towards the roof edge towards the craft.
"Just get ready to jump." Dunstan advised while the beasts continued towards them every time one got to close it meeting its end at Dunstan's cane. Unfortunately this didn't detour the others who continued forward.
"Ruby, come on jump in!" Yang yelled over the roar of the engines as she held an out stretched hand beckoning her sister.
Hearing that Ruby got ready to jump into the craft when she was suddenly shoved nearly throwing her over the edge of the roof. Ruby looked down seeing the city streets below her as the beasts continued to worm their way into the building as if driven by some force. It almost looked like a sea of moving mass with what had to be a majority of the city being drawn to them. Turning back around Ruby saw Dunstan's standing where she had been with his back to her. He was standing dead still when she heard the familiar sound of a fishing line being reeled in resulting in a splash of blood from Dunstan along with his body jerking forward as he tried to stand tall.
The bloodied claws retreated back into the crowd before finding their owner as he stepped out in front of the pack. The Huntsman walked forward his attire in taters along with his axe now with an even bigger gash running across the head of the weapon. His appearance was mostly the same only with some more bestial qualities starting to show through like with his canines protruding from his mouth and his fingers starting to curve into claws.
Ruby felt her blood run cold with his appearance along with every instinct held in her body yelling at her to run away. Looking at Dunstan she saw the pool of blood forming under him as the occasional drip from his wounds formed a ripple. Hoping that Dunstan would follow after her she jumped aboard the bullhead.
"Dunstan just run!" Ruby yelled at him as he slammed one of his vials against his leg letting the blood work its way through his damaged body.
Ruby was about to jump out when the bullhead tilted sideways throwing them against the other side of the bullhead and against the closed hatch. Looking out the hatch Ruby saw the claws shoot past the bullhead just missing their intended target. Leveling back off Ruby only caught a glimpse of Dunstan walking towards the Huntsman before the craft shot forward intent on leaving the city.
"We need to go back down there Dunstan is still back there fighting that thing!" Ruby yelled at the closed door.
"I'm sorry, but I can't risk dropping back into that city again the engines on the side of my craft can only take so much fire and stress. I doubt they could handle another trip into that city let alone another dead drop for evac."
"If you leave Dunstan behind I swear that I'll bring this whole craft down and grab him myself." Ruby said slamming her fist into the pilot door the impact reverberating in the closed environment.
"You think I don't want to save everyone in that town? You think I want to leave survivors behind when I'm their only hope for escape? Well guess what, I'm just a damn pilot who's powerless to save others. My job is to bring Huntsman and Huntresses to and from their destinations that is the most I can do to help save lives. Every single one of you is critical to turning the tide your lives are valued at a hundred of mine so sit back down and let me finish my job." The intercom turned off leaving the team in silence as the bullhead continued gliding through the sky.
"Ruby are you alright?" Blake asked seeing her leader stunned over what she was just told.
"Are we really just numbers to throw against the encroaching darkness?" Ruby asked her eyes starting to lose the shine that hope once granted.
"You know we're more than that we're beacons of light in this dark world inspiring the world while defending those to powerless to defend themselves. We're people who've decided to value others over ourselves and you know that." Blake said in a saddened tone her bow trying fold down onto her head.
"Weiss?"
"We all made our decision to join Beacon on our own knowing that we'd live a dangerous life. Becoming a Huntress was the one thing I got to decide in my life and with it I took the responsibility to decide my own fate. If it leads to my death then it was by my own hand and not someone elses." Weiss said looking dejectedly towards the floor.
"Are we just supposed to give up on Dunstan then?"
"We don't have a choice Ruby! If we go try to find Dunstan we'll be left there to fend for ourselves! We'd be committing suicide and the city would claim 4 more victims!" Yang yelled at her sister as her eyes started to turn red in anger over the situation.
"Well at least he wouldn't be alone!" Ruby replied with her hand clinched at her side.
The argument was broken when the intercom came to life again. "This is the Atlesian Fleet under the command of General Ironwood. Bullhead 714 state you intentions and current flight manifest for verification."
"This is bullhead pilot 714 returning to vale after dropping off a team of Huntsman at these coordinates." Team Ruby was silent as they listened intently to the broadcast call wondering why the pilot would be lying about his actual passengers.
"Your manifest has been cleared proceed to Vale immediately along the provided flight path to avoid our fleet. Deviation from this path will be recognized as hostile intentions and we will be forced to open fire upon you."
"I read you and am adjusting to the provided path. Good luck out there." The call ended and the pilot let out a sigh of relief. "You girls okay back there?"
"Why did you lie to them?" Weiss asked some fear showing in her eyes at the possibility of her death coming from her home kingdoms fleet.
"I didn't lie I did just come from dropping off a team of Huntsman before coming to get you. Besides I doubt they would be too friendly if they knew where we just were. The fleet rarely mobilizes and when it does without a proper war going on that means the Atlesian council is interfering with the militaries actions."
"What makes you so sure?"
"I wasn't informed of anything despite being in the area so the orders didn't come from Vale besides we pilots have a habit of talking to each other when were not on the clock. Eventually we're bound to catch on to how the military and council interact with each other."
"So what are we just supposed to forget everything that happened in that city all the lives that were lost down there?" Ruby said holding back her tears.
"What happened down there is leagues above me and it's definitely above you if another kingdom's council is involved. My advice keep your heads down and avoid connecting yourself to the city." No one said anything while they thought about everything they'd done for Vale and how they were still small enough to be swept under the rug should they oppose a council. "Look just talk to Ozpin he's a good man and it seems like he's not under the councils thumb if the recent change in security means anything. If anyone can help you it's him."
When they sat down to rest for the remaining flight a blinding light illuminated the horizon behind them followed by another and another. It took them a moment to realize it was explosives going off over Asylum. The city was being bombarded and little more than ruins would be left by the time the fleet returned. Ruby felt her heart sink knowing that come morning nothing would be left alive in that city.
Team RWBY was standing inside Ozpin's office with a look of defeat about them over the fate of Asylum. Ruby remained silent once she entered the room and seemed to have her thoughts elsewhere during the broadcast that played across the monitor in front of them.
"The Atlas council released a statement saying that upon finding out that Asylum had been overrun for days by Grimm they took immediate action to contain the threat not wanting the Grimm to gain foot hold so close to Vale. The Vale council then released their statement shortly after thanking the quick thinking of General Ironwood to rally his already stationed fleet so quickly to solve the situation before it got out of hand."
"I was merely doing my duty as Head of Security to the Vytal Festival. As long as I am here no citizen will have to worry about the Grimm or White Fang." Ironwood said as the screen was turned off.
"That has been running across all news channels for the last few hours." Ozpin said looking over the group. "Everything that you've told me contradicts what has been released to the public."
"But Sir" Weiss said knowing where the conversation was leading and hoping to get the headmaster to listen.
"And I believe you." Weiss froze at his words even she wouldn't have believed what she and the others just told him. "The Atlas military wouldn't mobilize for something like an overrun city without first throwing some Huntsman at the problem to figure out the best course of action and some things can't be faked." Ozpin finished looking over at Ruby who continued to lifelessly gaze out the nearby window.
"I wish we could be of more help Headmaster." Weiss said as she and the others walked towards the elevator.
"Miss Belladonna would you stay a moment I have something I wish to discuss with you?"
The others paused looking at their teammate wondering what Ozpin could want. "Go on I'll be down in a minute."
Ozpin waited for the doors to close and the elevator to begin its decent before he began talking. "I received your message 'We need to talk' rather cryptic, but it got the point across. So what don't you want to share with your team that you want to share with me?"
"This isn't about sharing or trust this is about knowing when we're in over our heads. The White Fang are one thing, but this is something far worse that doesn't discriminate between its victims." Blake said as she reached into her back pocket pulling out a glass vial filled with a murky red liquid. "Something that devours everything it touches adding it to its own power and presence."
"All this brought on by a single vial?"
"Not a single vial Sir I found multiple empty ones lying around in the house we took shelter in. Weiss' theory on it being a waterborne illness due to how far spread it was made sense until neither Yang nor I showed any symptoms and our blood tests came back negative for any diseases and have failed to show signs of sickness."
"So you believe they purposely infected themselves."
"I doubt they knew they were going to face such a cruel fate by injecting this substance, but a majority of the town must have started using this stuff before it spread to others wither via coming into contact with the infected blood or possibly being bitten."
"And you're showing me this vial because?"
"I can't keep it on me and you are one of the few people with access to a lab that can quietly analyze this without too much suspicion."
"I assume you want to be informed on what is uncovered and what I find linked to it."
"No I don't." Blake said in a solemn tone. "I want you to keep my teammates and I as far away from this as possible. Despite how much we have done as a team this is something we aren't trained for or any Huntsman if Ruby's story is true."
"Except perhaps for Dunstan" Blake's gaze turned to the floor remembering what happened to the Hunter. "He would have made a fine ally to have at our side perhaps he could even have shed some light on this."
"If that's all I'd like to return to my team."
"I have a request to make actually I'd like you to contact me when you believe That Miss Rose has recovered enough for questioning along the subject of who Dunstan was."
"You want me to spy on my own team?" Blake said with some disgust filled her voice.
"Not spy just inform me when Ruby is ready for questioning. She is one of the few people who Dunstan trusted and I would like this to be as painless as possible for her."
"Is that all Sir?" Blake asked slightly angered by the headmaster's suggestion.
"Yes and please do consider my offer I do trust your decision on this matter and would rather you be the one deciding it rather than someone else who would be less kind."
Blake nodded in acknowledgement as she walked into the elevator watching Ozpin go back to his paperwork as the doors slid shut. Exiting the elevator Blake was greeted by her teammates who were stood around the area either leaning on the wall or siting in some of the few available chairs.
"What did Ozpin want to talk to you about?" Weiss asked wondering why Blake was the only one asked to stay behind.
"He wanted to hear my thoughts on what happened and asked me to visit the nurse regularly over the week for any signs of infection."
"Then why didn't he ask Yang too?"
"I'm more likely to go to the follow up appointments and follow his instructions." Blake calmly replied pulling out a book to read on their trip back to the dorms.
The dorm room door was blasted open as Yang opened the door trying to get to her bed. Grabbing the bed Yang threw herself up onto her bed landing on the welcoming soft mattress. Weiss, Blake and Ruby simply walked through the door before closing it behind them with each person going into their respective beds.
Each member had something to think about from their trip into the now destroyed town. Their lives put into perspective in the grand scheme of things when compared to the politics between the kingdoms. They would train for the next 4 years then spend the rest of their lives fighting Grimm and working to further expand the kingdoms. Yet the sight of an entire town vanishing over a single night terrified them. Years of bloodshed and effort erased by a single command. Lives thought well spent turned to waste as just as the town was.
Through this Ruby rested in bed staring at the ceiling while thinking about the beasts she killed. The future to distant to think on her mind wondered to the past and a familiar snow coated grave. A ghost hanging over it continued to haunt her and now it was accompanied by a much more visible ghost. A face with the lower jaw hidden behind a cloth cover intended to keep blood away from the wearer he barely appeared faded when compared to the woman beside him.
A strong gust of wind blew past Ruby obscuring her vision in a blast of snow before it vanished revealing a familiar graveyard surrounded in white flowers. Tombstones lined the edges staked atop one another forming what looked like small hills. The ghost of the woman was no longer visible, but Ruby could see the man sitting down in front of the grave markers staring into them.
Walking over Ruby grabbed him by the shoulder turning him around so she could clearly see his face. What she saw was a pair of soulless moon like eyes staring back into hers. Stumbling backwards Ruby tripped over a casket and fall through it tumbling through the pitch darkness that lined all graves.
Awaking with a gasp Ruby looked around the room to see everyone fast asleep and that her sudden awakening hadn't woken her teammates. Grabbing her covers Ruby pulled them tight around her body having it wrap her like a cloak before settling back down against the bed. Resting her head against the pillow she readied herself for another night fraught with nightmares with a singular promise running through her head as she slipped back into her slumber.
'A Hunter is never alone'
Finally wrapped up the Asylum arc and nothing says finished like a bombed out husk of a city. Now there's no way we can ever return to this area in a future chapter. Originally this chapter and the next one were going to be released as one until I realized I couldn't finish it on time so I made some alteration added a few scenes and made them into separate chapters. Looking back on it having one huge chapter release wouldn't have meshed well and I want to keep each chapter under 8,000 words. Some people get turned off by overly long chapters anyways and I'm comfortable with keeping them around the current length. Chapter 13 currently has 3,223 words in it so we're looking at around 5 to 6 thousand for the next chapter release.
Thank you for sticking around and more information about future updates along with a new chapter will be available this Sunday.