It's been about two months and I didn't exactly finish this in a few nights. This was me working sporadically between my 15 hour shifts and sleeping. Thankfully I've switched divisions so now I only work 12 hour shifts when I'm not in school. So now the limiting factor is school and social obligations with friends, meaning I'm going to try to aim for an every other week release schedule now. I hope I can manage to keep to this more workable schedule.
With that done it's time we check on the Hunters and other players in this mad game of chess.
"So how do we get there? I can't exactly fly." Dunstan said as they stood on the cliff overlooking the Emerald forest.
"Well we get there the same way I did last time. The problem is going to be scaling the cliff to get back up." Ruby said as she spotted the panels bearing Beacons emblem sticking out of the ground.
"And how is that?"
"Just stand on one of these and use your scroll to activate the pads here." Ruby said as she stood ready to launch.
"An elevator, now this is something I understand." Dunstan said as he stepped onto the platform activating the device from his scroll giving him a 5 second countdown.
"When you get down there fire a shot off so I can find you easily." Ruby said feeling the floor pull back slightly before launching her into the sky towards the forest.
Dunstan felt the platform shift beneath him and braced himself knowing that any attempt to get off would just result in an unwanted injury. With a click the platform snapped forward launching Dunstan through the air. Looking forward he saw Ruby dip under the treetops with her scythe raised above her head to catch any branch in an attempt to slow her decent.
Refocusing on his predicament Dunstan pulled out his cane and with a flick separated the blades changing it into a whip. Approaching the forest he threw it out catching the nearest branch. When he reached the apex of his swing the branch snapped causing him to fall even further through the canopy. After smashing through a few branches Dunstan came to a stop a few feet above the forest floor still holding onto his cane as leaves fell around him.
Looking up he saw that the whip was still attached to the branch it snapped off and was caught on something. Tugging on the whip snapped the branch in half letting Dunstan fall to the ground. Looking around he saw the forest slightly lit thanks to the moon and stars that hung in the sky. Finding Ruby nowhere nearby Dunstan pulled out his pistol and held it to the sky firing off a shot that echoed through the woods.
Listening to the new found silence Dunstan relaxed as he leaned against the base of a tree. Seeing the shattered moon light up the night was a welcomed sight to the Hunter after all he had been through before Beacon. He wondered what could have happened to cause a celestial body to shatter like that. Sure legends and myths about gods playing with the sky were common and fun to hear on occasion, but the sight of something so different brought him back to his first night in the forest.
Hearing the crackle of leaves beneath feet Dunstan got up with his cane ready to strike at whatever appeared. Peering into the darkness he saw a flash of red followed by petals falling around him as he holstered his cane.
"So nice of you to finally arrive."
"It's not easy finding someone via a single shot in this forest. All I got was the general direction, everything else was me running around trying to find you." Ruby said pulling her hood down now that she was done running around.
"Well you found me. Also how come you didn't tell me it was a catapult? Next time give a little warning before you try to kill me via fall."
"I wasn't trying to kill you and besides even if I was, I wouldn't warn you. You're still alive, so let's go hunting." Ruby said merrily over the prospect of killing some Grimm.
"Fair play, just don't expect me to give you any warning if I ever have to take yours."
"I wouldn't ask for anything else. We don't have all night, come on." Ruby ran deeper into the forest her scythe still on her back.
Dunstan followed quickly behind trying to keep pace with the cloaked hunter. The trees would occasionally block out the light as they passed beneath. Walking through a small wall of bushes Dunstan walked up next to Ruby who was standing in the middle of a clearing with her weapon resting on her shoulder. The shadows skirting just out of the corner of his eyes readied themselves as their numbers grew. Soon the tree line was covered in a mass of shifting darkness with flashes of red streaking past each other.
"I've been getting rusty lately. It's been ages since I've killed anything." Dunstan said grabbing the pistol off his belt.
"I wonder how well this will work." Ruby mused to herself giving her weapon a twirl as she eyed the Grimm beginning to make their way towards the Hunters.
"Just don't get killed. Ozpin won't be happy if I have to explain why one of his students…" Dunstan paused wondering if Ruby even could be killed since she was connected to the Hunter's Dream.
"You going to finish that thought Dunstan?"
"Never mind, just try not to die."
"Bet I can kill more than you can." Ruby said playfully hoping to get some fun out of tonight's fight.
"Are we assigning value the Grimm, because Ursai definitely take more to put down then a Beowolf?" Dunstan said looking out seeing a few Ursai among the beowolves.
"Beowolves are 1 and Ursai are worth 5. Any large variants are worth triple their points."
"What if we run into a Nevermore, Taijitu, or a Death Stalker?"
"We aren't out that far we shouldn't run into anything too terrible. Now let's get started, I think our audience is tired of waiting." Ruby said as the Grimm formed a circle around them.
"I'm sure they don't-" A Beowolf leaped forwards only for the upper half of its head to be blown off from Dunstan's pistol. "-mind too much. I'm trying to have a conversation here!" Dunstan yelled as even more charged only to be decapitated with flick of the whip.
"They can be so rude sometimes." Ruby agreed as she yanked her scythe back tearing through one's back and letting it fall to the ground. "I like this new strength though."
"I remember testing out my new abilities on the towns infected to see my progress." Another body falling to the ground as an Ursa charged through the crowd eager to kill what the beowolves couldn't.
"I got it." Ruby said as she leaped over Dunstan hooking the Ursa's neck on her blade and dragging it to the ground in the process. Giving it a jerking motion the blade tore through its unprotected neck leaving another body in their circle. Ruby looked back only to see 5 beowolves dead, each with a silver knife sticking out of their head.
"Having fun?"
"Yes." Ruby quickly answered as she vanished in a storm of petal and a few Grimm realized they were suddenly missing limbs before a second gust blew past killing them. "I may not have Crescent Rose, but this is still fun."
"Good, wouldn't have wanted this to be boring."
Using a burst of speed made for a more tiring form of combat without Crescent Rose to help move her around the battlefield. Everything was going fine except that the number of Grimm didn't seem to be decreasing. Every one killed was replaced with another eager to attempt an attack on the Hunters.
The Grimm just kept coming and Beowolf got behind Ruby striking her across the back, throwing her to the ground as it was shredded by Dunstan's whip. Standing back up Ruby made sure the blow didn't breach her aura and checked her cape before striking back at the Grimm.
Now with the situation dawning on Dunstan he realized he would have to take more drastic measures to ensure that neither him nor Ruby got drastically injured. The sheer amount of Grimm almost guaranteed that he would be whipped into a bloodlust once the killing started. Dunstan replaced his cane with a black short sword with two blades intertwined.
"Watch my back for a moment I need to prep myself." Dunstan said as he went through his pouch pulling out a small black sphere.
"Alright." Ruby quickly answered as she started darting towards any Grimm that got close, dispatching them with discretion.
"May my mind stay my own as I use a beast to preserve others. Let my rage be directed at our enemies as allies fight by my side. Should my mind be lost, let others kill the beast that has taken my place." Taking the gumball sized pellet he crushed it between his molars swallowing the substance.
As Dunstan finished a Beowolf slipped past Ruby hoping to kill the unsuspecting prey only to have a sword thrust through its mouth. Putting both hands on the hilt the blades separated in a scissor motion splitting the Grimm's head down the middle.
With the beast dead at his side Dunstan got to work by charging the remaining Grimm. As he passed each one a shimmer could be seen as blood began to seep from the wounds. Each motion was swift and focused like a surgeon only cutting away at what was needed to finish his prey.
Ruby followed behind taking care of anything that tried to sneak around Dunstan making sure nothing in his blind spot stayed alive for long. Even Ursai had become nothing more than a slight annoyance to Ruby thanks to the combination of her speed and strength being able to cut through most of the Grimm.
As the killing continued Ruby began to notice Dunstan getting more and more vicious with his strikes. The swords were being stabbed into Grimm then ripped out at odd angles causing splashes of blood to erupt from the wounds. Gone were the skill of before and the precision of a surgeon. Instead the desire to relish in the brutal killing of the surrounding beasts seemed to fill him.
His entire posture had changed with Dunstan staying closer to the ground and every strike being used to maim or kill in an instinctual fashion. Looking around she began to notice they had moved further into the group of Grimm and were pushing out of the swarm.
The sight was the usually calm Hunter giving into a more primal urge scared Ruby not because of the violence, but because if Dunstan could succumb to it so could she. The last time she lost control she woke up in Asylum surrounded by bodies. She could only imagine how Dunstan would react to her at the moment possibly as another prey to be hunted or something to ignore.
The feeling that she got from seeing them eviscerated was beginning to weigh on her when she felt herself being pulled back. Her blood calmed down and while the urge to give in and lose herself was still there she had the choice to act on it instead of being swept away with the flow.
As they neared the outer edge of the swarm a Giant black snake crashed through the other Grimm to get at the escaping prey. With an open maw it went to devour Dunstan only for a scythe to be slammed atop its head. With her scythe planted Ruby ran across the snake's back splitting it open while it tried to shake off the Hunter.
Reaching the halfway point the other head of the snake rammed into Ruby saving itself from the red reaper. Getting ready to finish the downed girl a series of quick stabs began to run up its back on a path towards its head causing the King Taijitu to hiss in pain.
Ruby could see the snake trying to throw off something and when it turned around she saw Dunstan hooking his blades into the Grimm to hold on. Taking the opportunity Ruby planted her feet and waited for the snake to stop flailing so she could land her next blow. Finally fed up the snake slammed its head onto the ground in the hopes of crushing whatever was attacking it.
The moment it touched the ground, Ruby shot off catching its neck with her scythe. The blade sunk half way through the Grimm before it snapped off throwing Ruby forward as she was no longer dragging the behemoth. Looking at her half destroyed weapon Ruby collapsed her polearm and stored it on her back.
Giving out one last cry the Taijitu died leaving a massive body as a divider between the Hunters and the encroaching Grimm. Seeing an opportunity Dunstan and Ruby broke into a sprint back towards Beacon's cliffs. As they ran through the woods the Beowolves would try to herd them to a more favorable arena only to be shredded as the Hunters continued towards their destination.
Coming out of the woods they ran through some ruins and stopped a few feet from the cliff. Looking over the edge Dunstan couldn't see the bottom of the ravine due to the clouds that seemed to flow through it like a river. Across the gap was a cliff face leading to the top of Beacon's cliffs. It was clear that this natural barrier would keep most of the Grimm at bay and unfortunately neither him nor Ruby had a quick method to bridging the gap.
"So what now?" Ruby asked with their backs to Beacons cliffs
"Well you're going to be fine. I on the other hand can't use a Hunters Mark to get out of here." Dunstan said as he looked up the insurmountable cliff face.
"Come on it can't get much worse than this." Ruby said gesturing to the horde of approaching Grimm when a Death Stalker busted through the tree line showering the area in wood as it screeched. "Why does that keep happening?"
"Well might as well face the music then." Dunstan said walking forward his swords at the ready.
"Alright, we got this." Ruby said as she unfurled her weapon realizing it was still missing the blade.
"Yeah we definitely 'got this' now come on, death waits for no one."
"So many people to arm and so little time." Floes sang as he went through the crate pulling out more vials of the crimson liquid.
"You remind me of an extremely happy person I once knew." Emerald said as she watched them offload the truck.
"I assume he got you to smile."
"Yeah, his death got me to grin as I saw that stupid expression frozen on his face."
"Hope it was worth it, dude had a family last I checked." Floes said while letting the others handle the cargo.
"He shouldn't have broken into our facility."
"Well it got the job done since we're working together, though it is begrudgingly."
"What is all this stuff anyway?" Emerald asked seeing two men offloading a single crate.
"This is what will give the Fang what they need to cause a big enough distraction since Torchwick launched the train early. We sadly won't be able to rely on the Grimm to force the Huntsman to split their forces so we'll just make the Fang a tougher target and hope that they can manage." Floes said wondering what kind of results the Faunus would show.
"Do all of you dress up in that getup?" Emerald asked seeing two other people dressed in a white tux and top hat heading back to the truck for more crates.
"Nope, just me and I do pull it off nicely." He said as he pulled down the brim of his hat.
"Sure, so what are you guys a high society organization, some league of black market dealer, or a freaky cult?"
"A little of all the above." He replied seeing her give him an annoyed look. "Don't be like that little miss terrorist. We can't all pretend to be high and mighty while committing crimes against the kingdoms."
"It doesn't matter what we are, we'll follow Cinder into the pits of hell if she ordered it."
"Now that kind of devotion is fanatical. Although I can see your reasoning, she took you off the streets and gave you everything you ever wanted. No longer a street urchin forced to steal just so you could have a meal. She gave your life meaning and that kind of loyalty can't be bought."
Quickly drawing her revolver Emerald had it pressed against Floes forehead. "You don't get to talk like that."
"Come on, I already know everything about your operation. Even that Roman is being stored in the Atlesian fleet's jail cell and for some reason doesn't have his hat, going to have to fix that eventually. Then there are those plans Cinder hasn't shared with you."
"We'll know when she wants us to."
"Yes, yes, don't think obey. Terribly drab, you don't even know what's going to happen to yourself. Left to be executed for your crimes as Cinder rises in Vale's ashes. Heads up you won't have one in about a month, a head that is in case you didn't get it." Floes laughed as Emerald fired her gun narrowly missing him as he ducked out of the path.
"I'm going to enjoy killing you." Emerald said pulling out her second revolver as he had his back to her.
A sickening crack was heard as Floes arm bent at an impossible angle breaking his arm in the process of keeping the barrel away from himself. Turning around to face Emerald the arm was forced back into place snapping as it realigned itself. Emerald pulled herself out of the sight happening before her. She quickly brought her other gun up to end the man.
With no way for him to dodge Emerald fired three rounds into his chest. With each shot throwing him back until he was slumped against the truck door. As he slid onto the ground a streak of blood marked the white car showing that the shots had gone clear through him. Seeing how she just killed one of the men she turned to the others seeing them still hard at work offloading the container as if nothing had happened.
"Now that's wasn't nice, how about we just calm down." Floes said getting back up with three golf ball sized holes going clean through him, giving others a view of his inner workings. A vial was thrown to him by one of the workers and he slammed it into his thigh letting the serum heal as much as it could. "Much better, I'd hate to lose one of my favorites."
"Your?" Emerald recognized that same stupid grin and was brought back to the base lockdown a week ago.
"Still alive, yeah. You really shouldn't shoot your allies. Not all of them will be as quick to forgive as I am. Come on guys it's time to roll out we have to get these party supplies out before the festivities start. Until next time Miss Sustrai and if you want to join, feel free give us a call." Floes said handing her a plain white business card with its corner soaked in blood from his previous injury.
The truck pulled out of the base slowly as Floes opened the passenger side door and jumped in. As they left his right arm hung out the window giving a faint wave before they turned down a street off to their next destination.
"In all fairness I didn't fight any students or use the arena." Dunstan said as he sat in Glynda's office with Ruby sitting next to him. Both Hunters were covered in injuries though Dunstan's seemed the most severe with entire chunks of his armor torn off and the mask missing the jaw that made up the skull plate.
"What you did was incredibly stupid and dangerous. Your actions even endangered a student no less." Glynda said as Ruby tried to avoid her gaze.
"I like to think of it as on-site training with supervision."
"How you got so many Grimm to congregate to your location is beyond me, but the fact remains you needlessly got one of our own injured."
"I'm really okay, it's just a scratch. Give me a day or two and it will be gone." Ruby interrupted hoping that Goodwitch would calm down.
"Miss Rose you have a gash running down your leg and refuse to let the medical staff to treat you. Dunstan had to carry you to this meeting." She pointed out as Ruby looked down at her leg seeing the still wet blood that surrounded the cut that ran across her legging.
"It doesn't even hurt that much." Ruby said standing up to prove a point as her leg gave out forcing her to quickly grab onto the chair for support. "See, perfectly fine."
"Miss Rose please let some of our staff look over your injuries before you hurt yourself even more."
"I don't need to go to the medical wing. I just need some sleep. Besides Dunstan has this awesome medicine that fixes everything."
"And you're not getting any for that paper cut of a wound. You want the good stuff, first you need something more severe like having you're bone jutting out or a missing limb you need reattached." Dunstan said while thinking back on the number of vials he still had in his possession.
"Alright I'll go, can they not draw my blood this time? Last time I think they took a little too much and I had trouble standing up for about an hour." At Ruby's mention of blood draws the room went silent with Dunstan eyeing Glynda.
"You did what!" Dunstan yelled at the blonde witch. "Do you have any idea what you are playing with?"
"You refused to share any information on the plague besides superficial knowledge we already gathered from team RWBY. We have to know what we're fighting and have countermeasures for it. We can't just put all our faith in you and hope that you can handle what happens." Glynda said with anger beginning to swell in her voice.
"You don't give a gun to a child and tell them to play with it. What you are toying with has wiped out entire cities and brought ruin across the land."
"Which is why we are researching it."
"You want to know the countermeasures to the plague? The solution is to scorch the very planet along with anything it can infect. If you want to slow the spread you kill anything that's infected as quickly as possible and anyone near them. There is no cure, only death."
"You can't know that for sure. I've seen how you marvel at our technology. Your primitive town might not have had the resources to research a cure."
"Where is Ozpin?" Dunstan asked in an unusually calm voice.
"That doesn't matter right now."
"Either you tell me or I hunt him down and when I find him I will not be in a talkative mood." He threatened as he stood up and began to walk towards the exit.
"You will not threaten me or the staff here."
"I made a deal with Ozpin and have upheld my end as best as possible. If he has broken our agreement nothing will stop me from reaching him." Dunstan said as he held the door open. "Ruby, go to the medical wing and spend the night recovering there. If I'm gone in the morning you know how to find me."
"Dunstan, please don't do anything rash." Ruby asked as Dunstan handed her his cane to help her limp to the infirmary.
"As long as no one attacks me I won't have any reason to fight. Now get moving you still have to get your injury disinfected and dressed." Ruby made her way out of the office as a dissonance in the tapping of the cane could be heard outside the door. With one getting quieter and another increasing in volume until it stopped in front of the door.
Glynda and Dunstan froze as the door was opened and the grey haired headmaster walked in using his cane with each step. "I hear you want to speak to me Dunstan."
"Just the man I was looking for. We have plenty to discuss, like you taking blood from one of my students."
"Ruby is a Huntress first and foremost and wouldn't object to the procedure."
"Only because she doesn't fully understand what can be made from it. Now how about we take this conversation elsewhere?" Dunstan said walking out of the room leaving Ozpin with Glynda.
"I'll be back in a minute Glynda." Ozpin responded as he walked out to follow the Hunter.
Their footsteps echoed in the empty halls of Beacon. The lack of students running around from class to class almost would have made the walk peaceful if it wasn't for the Hunter giving off an aura of anger. Passing through the archway Dunstan found himself standing in front of Beacons entrance looking at the statue of the Huntsman killing Grimm.
"So, why would you even consider experimenting with the blood?"
"I'm sure Glynda already told you the reason."
"That's her reason to do it. I want to know why you did it after I told you so much about what it brings to all it touches."
"I saw hatred, anger, and fear flash through your eyes while talking about it. Fear like that isn't something I've seen in a long time. You've seen things that would make most men lose themselves and begin to doubt why they continue forward."
"I lost all that and more during that night at the end of my journey. People like you have tried before and all they had at the end of their trails was madness that engulfed everything around them from the students and the teachers to the surrounding populous." Dunstan said with a fury building inside him.
"We have measures in place to prevent that. A full lock down followed by decontamination in case of any breaches. Nothing gets in or out of their without going through a full screening." Ozpin said trying to prove to the Hunter that nothing could happen while everything was contained.
"Yet at some point it will make it out into the city below and from there you'll need to call upon your students to help purge the infected. They in turn will need to kill any allies who've come in contact with the plague. Those that survive will be living as carriers of the scourge waiting to die or have it overtake them. This is what awaits you if you continue down this path."
"That is why I am doing all I can to find a solution. As headmaster of Beacon I have to put the people over the students and myself. If this plague of yours can be stopped before it begins then no one will have to experience what you went through. You can stop being a Hunter and move forward."
"You don't seem to understand that we Hunters have a symbiosis with the plague. As long as one exists the other will too. We draw strength from it and in return we host the virus within our bodies letting it fester and grow with us. The only method we had to fight against the beasts assured their existence, ironic isn't it?" Dunstan said as his hand tightened into a fist.
"Even more reason for me to find a cure. With it you and Ruby can be cured and this plague finally wiped out."
"Our bodies have been changed by it too much already. From our very blood to our nervous system, everything has been altered to make us stronger, faster, and better. To remove the plague would cause everything to shut down, we wouldn't survive 2 minutes after the treatment."
"I know of the mutagenic properties and that's why we have to at least stop it from progressing. You and Ruby still retain your minds and bodies unlike those in asylum. If we can pinpoint why this is we might be able to stop it's progression in others."
"I see you won't stop until you find the cliff at the end of this path. You know I finally get what Gehrman had to go through watching his friends use the blood and forbidden knowledge to find their own solutions while they tore each other apart. Knowing that not even killing them would get the experiments to stop since it grew into something much larger than each founder."
"I'm doing this to save lives Dunstan. You speak of a war that no army is prepared to fight, at such a critical time my only option is to remove it from the table before it complicates things anymore." Ozpin said with conviction trying to convince both Dunstan and himself. "Will you be leaving?"
"I'll stay and continue my course. After all it is a Hunter's job to rip the cancer of the plague from the city once it falls and I'll make sure that anyone responsible is removed like the tumor they are. We aren't dogs to be leashed and ordered to hunt. We are beasts which bite at any we see as a danger to others."
"Then we'll have nothing to worry about."
"We can only hope, for both our sakes."
After getting her leg bandaged she asked for a patient's room and made her way up the stairs in search of it. The nurses walking through the hall grew accustomed to the little red hooded girl who was stood in front of a patient's room for the last hour. Even the occasional talking seemed to drain into the background as they continued about their work.
"Okay, you can do this." Ruby said as she stood outside a door. "All you did was nearly take his life, Forcing him to stay in bed for 2 weeks as he recovered. Absolutely nothing to be scared of, just walk in there and say you're sorry."
Reaching out with her hand Ruby pushed the door open and walked into the room. The entire room was rather plain with the same sterile white making up most of the colors. The only real color was now her red clothes and Cardin's orange hair. The sound of footsteps caused him to turn his head away from the window to see his assailant a few feet from the bed.
"Um, Hi" Ruby awkwardly said unsure of how to start the conversation. The silence lasted for a few seconds as Cardin's mind caught up with what was going on. The heart monitor started to beep madly as he took in a sharp gasps for air.
"Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Well that's a stopping point if I've ever seen one. Just have the screen fade out during the scream and fade back in during the start of the next chapter. We have Ozpin playing a very dangerous game right now and I don't mean that chess match he has going on with Cinder. Most of us wondered what Ozpin could do with one vial and now he has 100+ ML of blood. Just look at Umbrella Corporation and the constant outbreaks in their labs from a single vial in some cases.
For those of you itching for another Bloodborne/Ruby story check out 'The Longest Hunt' by NaughtFiction. It's a long read with each chapter averaging about over 10,000 words per chapter. The story takes a interesting look on the more spiritual and eldritch aspect of Hunters and their abilities even going as far as to show what happens when Hunters take blood from others.