The men didn't seem to know what to think of the scene before them. Ruby was standing within the wrecked doorway, rose petals flowing off of her in streams as if they were visible gusts of wind. Her silver eyes glared harshly towards them as her cloak flowed along with the rose petals around her.
When it didn't appear that these men would address her first, she broke the ice.
"I'm asking again. Can you please tell me where Melanthia is so we can talk?" Ruby once again asked politely, despite the fact that one could tell she was trying her damnedest to not shout or yell. "I wanna know what she has to say for herself regarding what the heck is going on down here with all of these Faunus." Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Because from what I can see and hear, nothing good is happening down here. In fact, so far I've heard and seen nothing but bad stuff. And I want to know what she has to say for herself, as she seems to be a big part of it all, if not the leading part of it all."
Velvet eventually caught up with Ruby, sliding to her side and taking note of the situation.
"Neither of you are even supposed to be down here! Shouldn't you be off protecting the gates? You want Grimm getting into the town, do you? We sure don't. So how about you get to that?" They retorted with angry glares.
"Our friends have that covered at the moment. We're splitting up tasks. I saw Faunus getting dragged into this place, so I grew concerned and decided for me and Ruby to follow to see if I can soothe those concerns." Velvet narrowed her eyes. "Though there's no way I can relax now. Not with what we've found down here. Melanthia owes us some answers. And depending on those answers, we might just have to get even further involved."
"We've already told you, this ain't any of your business! You have a job to do out here, not down here!" Velvet could hear several clicks of weapons around her. "Forget everything you've seen down here, do your job, then quietly leave. Don't go unnecessarily involving yourself in things that ain't your problem."
Ruby looked around them, noting that they did seem ready to fight at a moment's notice, depending on their answer. "So what you're preferring for us to do is to just turn around and walk away? Even after everything we've seen so far? You seriously expect us to do that and pretend like nothing happened?" Ruby asked quietly. Noticing that they were indeed serious about it, she sighed to herself, shaking her head. "I understand."
"Good, n-"
A blur of rose petals flashed before them, and one of them found themselves kicked across the face, hard enough to slide across the ground and crash against the walls hard enough to make a noticeable dent in it. Ruby looked on with an outstretched foot, eyes narrowed.
"You're taking us too lightly."
"Seconded." Velvet agreed, placing a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Faunus Slavery has been outlawed a long time ago. You should know the dire consequences of partaking in this current practice of yours, don't you?"
"None, if no one ever finds out about it. Which means, you two won't be leaving here alive."
Velvet sighed. She was perfectly aware of what that meant. At this point, she's heard it, and many lines like it, enough times for it to disappoint her due to the choice it signified. She didn't know whether to respect such stubbornness or be irritated by it. In this case, it greatly irritated her, due to the context of why they refused to surrender peacefully. If that's how things were going to be, combined with what she and Ruby have just witnessed, then Velvet found little to no reason for them pull their punches.
"You heard them, Ruby. They're not going to make things easy." Velvet stated, her ears folded back aggressively.
"That's fine. They weren't making things easy on all of those Faunus. So in return..." Ruby leaned forward, eyes narrowing. "We're not going to make things easy on them."
With this declaration in mind, Ruby shot forth in a blur of rose petals. The ones before her were given little chance to react before she smashed her foot into their gut, sending them flying across the room and crashing into the wall, cratering it.
"You brats!" They soon turned their weapons on her and blasted their firearms towards her. She vanished within a burst of rose petals, reappearing above one of them and smashing her fist into their gut, cratering the ground around them.
"You jerks! I can name-call, too!" Ruby stuck her tongue out before vanishing in rose petals again, reappearing behind one of them and kicking them in the back, knocking them into another one of their own.
Velvet narrowed her eyes, her ears twitching and listening for movements settling towards herself. As a bit of an aside, she was also listening out for any sound of Blake Belladonna. There was no mistaking her appearance, as rugged and beat up and tired as it was. There were several questions going through her mind ever since she saw the Cat Faunus.
What happened to her? How did she get all the way out here? What has she been doing before now?
As Velvet wondered, her eyes narrowed, eyebrows furrowed, with her rabbit ears folded down, and feet stomping slightly.
How did she survive the Menagerie Massacre?
There would be plenty of time to pursue answers to these questions, once she was actually able to help Blake out of her situation. Along with every other Faunus that were trapped here. She had to help her fellow Faunus here, all of them.
And while she's at it, she'll have to see to it that Melanthia, as the apparent ringleader of all of this, pays for it.
"Hold still!" She could hear them approaching, which got her focus back on the battle at hand. She leapt forward as some attempted to attack her with their weapons.
Velvet jumped towards the wall, bounced off of it, then towards the ceiling, then shot towards the ground. She then flipped forward and shot her foot outwards, delivering a powerful stomp to the ground. The shockwave it caused ended up sending all of them flying back and crashing against the walls, and they ended up slumping to the ground. Velvet sighed as she hopped away from the spot, which was deeply cratered with cracks spreading outwards. Briefly looking to the side, she grabbed what appeared to be a remote from the biggest person of the bunch, figuring it was important.
"We don't have time to waste on these guys. Let's proceed forward quickly."
"Right!"
They still had to worry about the Grimm that are likely to assault the town's defenses while they were away, and they had to support Yang and Blake as soon as they can.
Ruby and Velvet does through the hallways, blurring past the paths without much fanfare. Velvet's attention was going towards finding the imprisoned Faunus, that was something they needed to taking care of first. They had to be freed as soon as possible.
"I sense a gathering of Auras through here." Velvet noted towards a metal door that was at the end of one of the pathways. "Many of them feel really small. It might be a factor as to why they couldn't escape on their own. Not to mention..." Velvet shook her head and proceeded to kick the door down, denting it inwards as a loud crash sounded from the impact. Ruby was quick to join her inside, and both of their hearts froze up from the sight.
Faunus. Numerous amounts of Faunus, gathered in cages both big and small, with some being chained against the walls via Lightning/Gravity Dust. All of them were cowering and whimpering in the dark, with dripping water from the ceilings and insects crawling about. The smell if the entire room was absolutely repugnant, and a majority of it came from the Faunus themselves. It felt like they hadn't been able to clean themselves for who knows how long.
And the most damning part comes from the fact that quite a few of them were wearing multiple wraps of bandages. Bandages or other kinds of binding and wrappings, around the places where their Faunus parts used to be if they were removable, given how those spots were bleeding. Some were more recent, given how they were covering and holding those spots while whimpering in pain, some even resisting the urge to yell from it. While others stoically sat with their scars, indicating that it's been like this for them for quite a while.
Either way, it saddened and sickened the duo to see them like this.
Many of them seemed to have been broken by their experiences. Though, as she and Ruby forcibly made their way inside, they immediately got their attention.
Some began to cry at the mere sight of them, once they realized they're not who they're used to seeing, and that they weren't hostile.
"Who, who are you...?"
Ruby saw how troubled and distressed many of their faces were, before she shook her head and straightened herself. "We're Huntresses. We're here to help." Though she had a feeling that they wouldn't exactly believe the words coming from a human, due to the sheer mistreatment they've suffered at their hands. Thus, despite her strong desire to help them, she chose to mostly stand aside as Velvet approached the prisoners. Ruby herself stayed on the lookout for any more enemies.
Velvet began to free them, using the device she picked up from earlier. Soon enough, most of the shackles and collars began to slowly turn off and unlatch, falling to the ground harmlessly. A majority of them felt the spaces where their restraints were, seemingly unable to believe what has just transpired. Ruby's eyes widened in surprise at the action.
"You freed them all just like that?"
"I know a thing or two about these kinds of things." Velvet nodded, before she turned towards one of the prisoners, kneeling to their level. "What happened to this town? What's going on that caused it to do things like what we've seen?"
Some lightly cowered, with only a few willing to speak up and answer clearly. "T-Things weren't always like this. It really wasn't. We were mostly minding our business, occasionally going out and fine-tuning the tower and walls defenses so that Grimm could be kept out. It would take some time, but otherwise we were living in relative peace."
"So what happened?"
"Melanthia happened." Another spoke up, holding her head. "She wasn't originally the mayor of this town."
"She wasn't?!" Ruby's eyes widened, while Velvet's narrowed sharply.
"No, she wasn't. In fact, she came here mostly we a visitor, tired and hungry from her travels, and was begging for help. We did our best to help her, and to get her back on her feet." She shook her head, shivering. "It's only when she fully recovered that her true core was revealed..."
They could still remember it from back then. And now that they do actually look back, the woman seemed innocent enough. But they always seemed a tiny bit put off by the lack of light in her eyes, almost as if her every thought behind them involved something sinister. In hindsight, listening to their instincts might have saved them a lot of misery.
"Once she fully recovered, everything went downhill quickly." Another whimpered. "It didn't take her long to completely take over the town and force everyone into subservience, while still playing up the appearance of being a normal settlement. She's especially, particularly abusive to Faunus, taking advantage and forcing us to fight for the right to keep our Faunus features for her entertainment. If we win, we are left alone for another day. But if we are defeated..."
"If they're able, our Faunus features are amputated. Then she leaves us to be thrown out and mauled to death by the Grimm." Another hugged his knees and buried his head in his arms. "We're all here because we're waiting to be thrown out there for exact that."
"None of us are to reveal the truth about her or release any information about her. If we tried, she'd have us killed en masse and the town destroyed, both by Grimm, and she'd simply move onto the next town."
"She's done these terrible things before? In different locations?"
"From what we've discovered about her, at least three different times for several years. Always relatively small and unnoticed places she can easily take over and then discard without a second thought."
Ruby stepped forward. "And no one's tried to stop her?"
An elderly Faunus looked down, dismayed. "We don't know much about the others. But for sure, we aren't strong enough to do so. She is an ex-Huntress."
Ruby's eyes slowly widened again, this time her silver eyes dimming in disbelief. "What..."
"She's retired from being a Huntress, in the sense of someone who protected people and slayed Grimm. Now, she's much more engaged in hunting, tormenting, and killing a specific kind of prey."
"...Faunus." Velvet muttered darkly. "And her amputating Faunus parts?"
"Her accursed 'trophy collection'." Another spat in disgust.
"But why? She was a Huntress, wasn't she?!" Ruby exclaimed, still somewhat unable to process it. "Why would she do such a thing?!"
"It might be hard for you to completely believe. Obviously we can't explain the situation and make our point through words alone. Which is why, during the times we were sent out, other townsfolk would grab some Scrolls from her subordinates, transfer recordings of her travels to one of ours that we keep hidden, and place them back before anyone notices too quickly." Another lowered her head.
"We spent so long gathering video evidence in secret, just in case someone actually came to save us. We wanted to do something, even if it's bit by bit and slow and gradual, and not just wait for things to happen, or for someone to come save us to do something. And if someone did come to save us and fight Melanthia, we want them to have just cause to do so." She turned towards the back. "Come along, little one."
Ruby looked towards the back, and she appeared stunned as a Faunus child stepped forward. Though she couldn't tell what kind of Faunus she was, as her features were likely removed as well. Though that wasn't what stunned her, even though it was highly distressing that not even young ones were spared from this treatment. No, it was highly distressing to see the state this girl was in for another reason.
Of course as she feared and was saddened by, her Faunus features were amputated, likely to be the ears due to the bandages around her head.
What further distressed Ruby and Velvet was the fact that the girls left arm was mostly gone, while the top of her head appeared to have been burned. Both seemed to have been caused by fire.
"W-Wh-What happened to you?!" Ruby truly couldn't keep the concern out of her voice as she stared idly at the maimed child. Vicious injuries and scars like these couldn't be healed by one's Aura. Never completely. It briefly made her think of Weiss's scar down her eye, and how she got it. But now wasn't the time.
The girl said nothing, instead she walked up to the two Huntresses and reached no to hand the scroll to them. They were reluctant to take it, but if they truly insisted, then they wouldn't refuse.
"This one seems a bit more intact than the other one. It must have been one attempt of many. They must have been really desperate to keep this out of sight and out of their grasp." Velvet observed as she held the Scroll in her hands. "But what did that resolve cost them, since they couldn't fight against her and win?"
The question went quietly unanswered, as they both reluctantly decided to play what might be on the recordings.
'All I hear from you lot, is about how tough your lives are or hard you seem to have it. Over and over again, all of this barking and meowing and hissing about something you can't change. It's cute, really it is, but it's also excessive. No one wants to hear that stuff all day. So, it looks like I'm going to have to adopt a more proactive approach so that you'll all behave.'
Melanthia smiled as she lightly raised her hand.
'Oh, I know. Back where I'm from, there's nothing more fun than watching a blood match between beasts.' Melanthia lightly palmed her cheek as her subordinates gathered around with their weapons. 'This is perfect. With this, you'll better appreciate what you have, and learn not to demand more than you deserve.' She soon laid her hands down and her smile darkened. 'For those that lose their occasional fights, well, I do see quite a few interesting features among you that'll look nice for my collection. See? We all get something out of this!'
Velvet shook her head in silent frustration. "She places Faunus in death matches, then mutilates them and takes their Faunus features, and leaves those who lose and perform poorly to the Grimm."
"There's something else." Ruby muttered quietly, as the screen flipped to something else.
There was the sound of panting heard in the background, as someone was lying helplessly on the ground. It looked like they had been trying to run away, and have fully exhausted themselves of all of their stamina, and was covered in their own blood.
Unfortunately for them, for as far as they've gotten, escape was not in their corner.
'Are you proud of yourself?' Melanthia sighed in as she circled around the exhausted Faunus and kneeled in front of him. 'I had to get up in the middle of my well-earned sleep, because I hear one of you tried making a run for it. How'd that work out for you, considering no one tried to join you? Maybe you should have taken that as a cue that you're doing something not really worthwhile.' She shrugged, and lightly raised her hand. 'Though you did make for some pretty decent game, so this experience wasn't a complete waste of time. You didn't seriously believe you'd get away from me, did you?'
The helpless, exhausted Faunus slowly raised his head with one eye open, as he glared at the woman and her subordinates who surrounded her. 'Is...is that how you really see us...?'
'Why of course. I'm an ex-Huntress, after all. We're quite adept at slaying beasts. And I do believe I see a beast right in front of me. Faunus make for more fulfilling game than Grimm, more acceptable than other humans, and more challenging than normal animals, thus more rewarding overall.' She turned towards his Faunus feature, such being a skinny furless tail. 'Unlike Grimm, Faunus are more likely to leave a trophy behind...'
Melanthia's eyes darkened.
'Hunting game. That's the best you creatures can ever be worth.'
Velvet's rabbit ears lightly flicked slightly. She briefly wondered if Melanthia was secretly intending to subject her to such a thing. Hunting her down as if she were a wild rabbit, catching her and then mutilating her of her ears. It was no longer a wonder that she kept pressing her about how tired she was. In a sense, it was exactly what she wanted her to be.
Fortunately Velvet kept her suspicions enough to notice the strange tone and such, and now she knows that her instincts were proven to be right.
"Let's continue." Velvet muttered quietly.
She could see that Ruby was still stunned, especially since the woman let herself be known as an ex-Huntress. The fact that someone associated with such a role at all was doing all of this must have been rattling her.
Still, they had a little bit to go through, though she listened out for any enemies that might be near. It was possible that they were waiting for reinforcements. Still, they wanted to see what the abused Faunus had to say, as they risked quite a lot to gather all of this, including their lives. Especially their lives.
'Please leave her be, she didn't mean to!' A distressed Faunus mother was closely holding her daughter close to her, who was quietly whimpering in fear in her arms. Both of them had ferret ears atop their heads.
'Mommy?'
'No, there's no way. Your little girl's went ahead and acted woefully disobedient against me. Clawing is a pretty scary thing when it's from something wild and untamed, after all.' Melanthia lightly palmed her cheek, a cold gaze in her eyes. 'I'm afraid I can't simply let her off the hook with a slap on the wrist. No no. You need to teach runts consequences really early, or they just end up doing these offenses again. She needs to learn these kinds of actions are costly. And the certainty of those costs are more effective than the severity. Although combining them is quite a multiplier.'
'W-What are you going to do?'
'Let's see, she clawed at me twice with her nails, so the consequences should be twofold.' Melanthia stood up and slowly walked towards the mother, who gently pushed her daughter away from her, behind her.
'No, please don't hurt her!' I beg of you!'
'She's not going to learn unless she loses something twofold. It's the only way to emphasize that she won't do this again.' Melanthia roughly grabbed the mother by the shoulder, along with several of her subordinates, one holding a sharp blade coated with Fire Dust.
The young girl's eyes widened as her mother wailed in agony as her Faunus features, her ferret ears, were severed from their places, with blood running down her head. She fell to her knees as she held her head in pain, lightly shaking from the pain.
'Mommy!'
'N-No sweetie. Stay...where you are. I'd rather it be me...than you.' She stopped her daughter from approaching, despite being racked with agony. 'I'll endure this and more, if it's for your sake.'
'Well, look at this. A mother doing whatever it takes to shield her child from harm. Several animals tend to do that as well. Sometimes they succeed. Others...' Melanthia held out her hand, as one of her subordinates handed her one of their firearms. She takes a moment to inspect it, lightly wiping a bit of grime off of it.
She then turned and shot the mother through the head, without so much as blinking.
Her daughter blinked in shock at first, before she screamed and ran up to her now deceased mother, desperately shaking her shoulder, despite the blood spreading around her. '
Melanthia kneeled next to her and lightly placed a hand on her head.
'It's unfortunate, but she had two prices to pay as well, for not really keeping you under control. She should have taught you better, yet she failed. Thus, she too, lost two things, given how she's responsible for you.' Melanthia tilted her own head. 'Now it's time for you yourself to lose two things. I do believe you know what the first one entails. As for the second...it'll make you think twice about clawing at me and expecting to get away with it.'
The girl, still weeping quietly, turned towards Melanthia fearfully, flicnhing away from the scorching heat of Fire Dust...
"Stop. We've seen enough." Ruby quietly begged as the Scroll slowly turned off. She knew exactly who that girl was too. She turned to the small, quiet girl in front of her, who simply stared at her, as if having one remaining arm no longer bothered her.
And something about that sat badly with Ruby.
"How much did you risk yourself to gather all of this?" Velvet asked quietly. "And more to the point, I can't imagine having to have these recordings on hand, being reminded of your suffering."
"It certainly wasn't something we enjoyed doing." One of the others slowly stood up and stretched with a glare in his eyes. "But it's necessary. If we're to get it out there that these kinds of things are happening, more can be done about them. It needs to be brought to attention for anything to even be attempted to be done. What we suffer here today may help prevent further suffering elsewhere tomorrow."
It seemed that they were resolved on this, even if it came at their expense over time. And it certainly has. But for them to go through this much effort in order to gather what they needed, is proof that they haven't given up completely. Even if a direct confrontation wasn't possible, they were still building up their own way of fighting that may yield even greater results, if successful.
And she'd make sure that it did.
"We're going to get you all out of here, we swear it." Velvet strongly promised them all, before briefly turning to her Junior. "Ruby?"
Ruby still didn't say anything, instead keeping to kneeling down in front of the small girl in front of her. Velvet couldn't see her eyes from under her hood.
"That's right. We're not going to just leave you here to suffer." Ruby shook her head as she slowly stood up. "This isn't right. None of this is right. Nothing about this will ever be right, or okay." Ruby briefly remembered how friendly Melanthia's atmosphere felt when they first met her. But for the slightest of moments, Ruby felt that something wasn't quite right with her.
She never could have imagined something like this. And from someone who called herself a Huntress at some point in her life.
Velvet's ears twitched, and she quickly turned towards the door. "Break time's over, more are finally coming. They're bound to have alerted the others by now."
"Alright." Ruby acknowledged, stretching her legs as well as her arms. "Velvet, I don't want to overstep my bounds too much, but I think they'll feel a bit more alright following you more than me. So maybe I can deal with them while you get them out of here?"
Velvet wasn't entirely alright with leaving the fighting mostly to Ruby, even if it's to keep the enemy off of them. But getting these people out was significantly more important, as well as any other Faunus that might be unjustly imprisoned and tormented. "Alright. I'll focus on freeing the Faunus here. Clear me a path. Too much fighting that's too close might place them in even more danger."
"Got it." Ruby nodded as she stepped out of the door, and closed it behind her. She looked forward.
There was an entire large crowd waiting for her.
"And just where do you think you're going?"
Ruby briefly lifted her head towards them. "You're helping your leader do terrible things to people. Don't you feel the slightest bit bad about that? Don't you want to stop doing all of this?"
One of the women raised her weapon towards the teen with a sneer. "That's under the impression that one thinks Faunus are people. Besides, this is a town the world barely touches. Why should anyone care what happens to them?"
With that, Ruby knew she didn't need to hear any more. She took a deep, long breath, then sighed. "Okay."
The offender found herself receiving a blurry fist to the face as Ruby closed the distance between them faster than she could react.
She was sent hurtling to the other end of the room, crashing against the wall. She turned around with a spinning kick that slammed into the heads of two others that surrounded her, effectively knocking them aside and knocking them out. Landing on her feet, she heard the clicking of several weapons around her ready to fire. She clicked her tongue at the incoming attack.
A whirlwind of rose petals soon briefly surrounded her, both reflecting the incoming bullets and blowing the attackers off of their feet. She wasted no time charging at them, smashing her fist into one's gut and slamming them into the wall in front of her. She turned her head and dashed towards the next closest to her, ducking under a blade coated in Fire Dust so she could launch a rocketing uppercut to their jaw, slamming them into the ceiling.
As they began falling to the ground, she kicked them right into another one, knocking them both hurtling across the room and sending them into a crumpled heap. She head her head up and lightly hopped up and down a few times, confusing yet another one in front of her. She took the bait and fired first, only for Ruby to vanish in a flurry of rose petals.
She found her head smashed hard into the wall with a harsh kick to the temple, denting said wall and knocking her out.
Checking to see if they would get back up and confirming that they won't, Ruby sighed as she dusted off her skirt, before turning towards the door. "Coast is clear!"
After four seconds, Velvet opened the door, seeing that Ruby knocked out all of those that came in response of the attack. More were bound to come, so they can't stay idle for long. "Follow me, everyone! No one stray from the group!"
Ruby watched as most of the Faunus imprisoned in this area began to move. Though the only one to stop by her was the girl from before. She blinked and turned to her, kneeling to her level. "Is something wrong?"
"...Are you mad?" She asked quite innocently.
Ruby didn't know what she was trying to say, evident by her head tilt. "What do you mean by that?"
"Because, uh, there's no reason to be mad, miss. I'm okay." She said timidly while lightly holding the stump where her arm used to be. "This is, um, what happens? It's what happens when we don't behave." She lightly looked up at Ruby. "If I, uh, knew my place and stayed quiet, maybe Mommy would still be alive, and I'd still have my arm. It's my fault. So it's okay. You don't have to be mad over me, miss."
Ruby went silent for a moment.
Eerily silent.
Velvet turned towards the girl cloaked in red as she felt her Aura beginning to quickly grow more intense and heavy, without disturbing anyone around her.
Ruby kept silent and still, her hood briefly overshadowing her face as she processed what the girl just said to her. Did those words really just leave a young girl's mouth? Did she really believe everything that she just said? Well and truly? Because Ruby was finding this situation more and more distressing the more she was learning and hearing from it. Everything she's learned so far was painting an utterly heinous view of Melanthia and everyone who supports her.
A woman who once called herself a Huntress put these thoughts in a child's head after robbing her of her mother and mutilating her while never batting an eye to either.
And yet, the same girl was seemingly asking her to not be mad over this, because apparently it's what she deserved?
How could anyone who called themselves a Huntress, past or present, do something like this?
'Unfortunately, there have been many who have ditched responsibility and decided to use their power for selfish and sometimes destructive ends, at everyone else's expense. The previous setup was very ripe for abuse.'
'There are plenty around the world who are willing to use this 'gift' for their own nefarious purposes.'
Ah. So that's how it is.
It's not like she didn't believe Velvet or Weiss at their words, but she didn't think she'd run into a case like this so soon. Not on her first mission.
Well, she has little choice but to do something about that, did she?
Ruby, very gently, placed a comforting hand atop the girl's head, and softly smiled.
"I appreciate you worrying about me. That's very sweet of you." Ruby pulled back as she stood upwards. "That being said, I'm going after Melanthia. She was a bad guy the whole time and she was trying to hide it from us. I can't pretend I'm okay with that." Ruby shook her somewhat at the last thing, remembering it as something her father said a few times. "No. I'm not going to let her get away with this. Any of it."
"Miss?"
Ruby turned back to the girl and smiled. "Ruby is just fine. Call me Ruby. Now, I need you to go with Velvet. She's kind and dependable, she'll protect you." Ruby took a deep breath, before turning down a passageway. "While I'm on my way to Melanthia, I'll make sure no one follows any of you."
Velvet was too late to try and stop Ruby as she dashed off in the opposite direction. It was troublesome, but she kept her focus on getting all of the imprisoned Faunus out of there, as soon as possible. That being said, she didn't miss it. What she felt from Ruby. There was little to no trace of the awkward young girl who was trying to find her way around to no avail.
The warrior within her has emerged, and is about to run wild. It was further made clear when she saw the spot Ruby took off from. Her feet had cracked the ground deeply.
Ruby is angry...
Yang has a certain respect for those who truly know their way around a scrap. And so far, the likes of Weiss was proving herself to be quite the fierce, yet elegant, fighter.
She was quite literally dancing around the battlefield in a sense. With her trusty rapier, she was able to cut and pierce through quite a few of them with near-relative ease. She was like a living flash of light skating all over the field.
Weiss's concentration was intense, as she dashed forward in a blur, past several Beowolves. They suddenly found themselves slashed across the chest in one speedy stroke, knocking them all back. Glyphs appeared behind them and propelled them towards Weiss, who had Myternaster at the ready. She pierced through the first that came her way then kicked it aside, sliced the first one upwards and pierce it in the ahead before also swiping it aside, then slashing clean through another with a spin, sending the two severed parts flying past her.
With a huff, she turned back towards the hoard with Myrtenaster in hand. She soon began her start and once again moved in a blur, piercing right through the first Beowolf she could see. She saw once attempt to pounce on her from above. A glyph below her feet pushed her upwards, and she ended up piercing straight through the middle of it, letting it fall lifelessly to the ground. Another attempted to leap at her again, fangs bared. She stood on another Glyph as a platform, slashing the Beowolf across the head and knocking it back.
"Weiss, incoming!" Yang shouted towards her as a warning.
Weiss immediately saw what she was speaking about, seeing a large Ursa approaching them. Weiss was immediately able to recognize it as an Ursa Major. It roared as it raised it's upper body a bit and slammed both hard on the ground. Chunks of earth shot up from the ground due to the impact, which briefly surprised Weiss, and confused her due to the attack not reaching her.
That's until one of the larger Beowolves hopped onto the earth chunks, onto each one in order to make it's way closer to her. And with a brief boost of momentum of their one, yet another Beowolf hopped onto it's back and used it as a springboard to launch itself towards her.
Weiss's eyes widen as it slashed at her with it's sharped claws, which she was able to parry, yet was roughly knocked off of her platform because of it, falling towards the ground. Another Beowolf launched itself towards her, and she prepared to attack it midair.
With a mighty leap, Yang both caught Weiss with one free hand and smashed her other fist into the , Beowolf's skull, shattering it to pieces and sending it far across the field. She lands on her two feet while having Weiss in the princess carry, smirking at her.
"Heya."
"I had that handled." Weiss scoffed as she broke away from her, keeping her eyes on the enemy.
"Sure ya did." Yang cracked her knuckles and rolled her neck. "Hey, mind telling me a bit about your Semblance? Wanna see if we can both come up with a game plan." Ember Celica clicked as she fired off several explosive shots, scattering some of the Grimm coming her way.
Weiss huffed as she placed another Glyph on the ground. "I'm able to use my Glyphs as platforms and shields, and they also help me focus Dust usage, and give me certain control over movement and momentum."
"Pretty cool." Yang placed her fingers ina camera like motion and took focus on the Ursa Major that briefly lead the charge from earlier. "I'm guessing that's what gives you an extra speed boost and allows you to bounce around like that?" She asked while firing another explosive shot towards the Ursa Major, blasting it in the face. It didn't do much to deter it.
"That's correct."
"Cool, that momentum thing could come in handy." Yang rolled her neck as she she clutched her fist. "Launch me towards that Ursa Major."
"What?!"
"Gimme a chance here, Princess." Yang flashed her a smile.
Weiss was unsure what Yang was thinking, but given their situation she decided to give her a chance. She placed a Glyph underneath Yang's feat, and it began to spin as it slowly turned gold from being powered up by Yang. Yang herself grinned as she knocked her knuckles together as a blazing aura surrounded her. She swiped her thumb across her nose and put up her fists.
"Let's do this!"
Weiss decided to go along with it fully, and had her Glyoh launch Yang forward towards the incoming Ursa Major via propulsion. Yang took off like a cannonball, a blazing fiery stream surrounding her.
She let out a wild yell as she shot right into the Ursa Major's gut, fist first. The forceful impact sent the large Grimm hurdling away from her whilst being burned by the flames she generated, before it crashed into a heap, knocking down several trees and crashing right into a boulder far away from them.
Yang held a hand over her eyes to see the results, before she pumped her fists with a cheer. "Got em"!"
"Goodness, you're seriously excited over something like that?" Weiss sighed as Yang jogged back to her side, rolling he arm with a grin. "I do believe that you might be crazy."
"Yeah, probably." Yang rolled her neck. "But ya gotta admit, I was pretty awesome back there, wasn't I?"
"You're impressive, to a point. I suppose I can grant you that much."
"Aw!" Yang placed a hand on her chest. "Are you finally beginning to defrost? Am I warming up to you, Weiss Cream Princess?"
"Don't start."
Before their brief banter could continue, Yang's eyes widened as she pushed Weiss away, a large tree nearly crashing right into her, picking up a huge chunk of earth due to being embedded into the ground.
"W-What in the world?!"
"Looks like someone's trying to play darts with whole trees." Yang narrowed her eyes as Ember Celica clicked for a reload. And she was right, for she could see an Alpha Beowolf, snarling at them from the shadows, holding an entire tree on it's shoulder with both claws.
"I've never known a Grimm to throw entire trees at people!"
"That's what happens when you come across these higher tier Grimm. Some of them get more creative. Or crazy. Your pick." Yang bumped her knuckles. "Hey! Are they done with those defenses, yet?!"
"Not yet. I wager they still need twenty minutes!"
"Oh that's just swell." Yang sighed, shaking her head. Twenty minutes might sound like something easily doable and manageable. But when one was fighting against a horde of Grimm, even four minutes could be a hellish eternity. "Hopefully we last long enough for that. Ah well. We'll do what we gotta do, I guess."
Weiss briefly pushed her hair back. "It won't be too much trouble. If this is the best that this Grimm horde can do, then I do think that we're going to be alright."
Their Scrolls began beeping, and Yang pulled hers out. "Yo!"
'Are you doing alright? I'm checking in on you just in case you're feeling overwhelmed.'
"Nah, we're doing fine out here, Velvet. Just fine."
'Okay, good. Because something really important just came up, and I have to deal with it quickly and carefully. It'll be tough for me to do it and try and aid you straight afterwards. I'll check in again later.'
Yang blinked as Velvet cut the connection as soon as she made it. She couldn't help but notice that Ruby wasn't communicating along with Velvet. She hoped nothing serious happened. Though given the circumstances, that's probably indeed what's going on. Though it didn't explain what was going on with Ruby. So out of worry, she made the effort to contact Ruby herself, establishing a connection.
"Ruby, are you alright?"
'Fine, just fine.'
Yang blinked, startled at her being short and to the point. Less aimed at her and more towards whatever currently has her attention. "Ruby?"
'Sorry, Yang. But something super serious has come up, so I need to focus on it and deal with it. I promise to talk about it later. But if you're in serious trouble, you can let me know. I can close the distance as soon as I can.'
With that, Ruby also cut the connection for the time being. Yang paused as she got quite a lot out of Ruby simply from her tone.
Weiss moved closer to her while keeping an eye on the fields in case more Grimm aside from the Alpha Beowolf they can see in front of them. "What's going on?"
"Velvet's got something serious going down, so she may remain occupied for the time being. Meaning, we're gonna have to hold our ground for a little bit longer. Hopefully those repairs are done by the time they finish."
"And Ruby?"
Yang paused for a moment, pocketing her Scroll and putting up her fists, a focused look on her face as she recalled the restraint she could hear in Ruby's voice. And there's only a few reasons that she would be trying to do that, and one seemed most likely. The thought goes through her head as she shot another explosive round towards the next wave of Grimm.
"Something seriously pissed her off."
Blake grunted as she was still struggling against her Dust-powered shackles, unable to really break free from them. Escaping them, and Melanthia's grasp, was proving quite difficult despite her best efforts. She couldn't do anything against her, but she refused to stop trying.
Melanthia knew this first hand. She hasn't even known about Blake as long as she has everything else, but she could tell that out of all Faunus, she was the most persistent. It makes for a pretty incredible fighter when placed against other Faunus, but she becomes an utter nightmare outside of that.
Nothing she can't handle, though.
"I have to say, Blake. I think you're refusal to submit is reaching out to the others. If it keeps up, they might just do something they regret. And you'll regret it even more." Melanthia wondered curiously. "I could just have you killed, but you've kind of become a favorite of mine. Quite a disobedient and rowdy pet you are."
Blake lightly squinted an eye open. "I am not your pet. I will never submit to you."
"Come now, Blake. It's bound to happen eventually. The only questions for it are when and how." Melanthia lightly brushed her hand through Blake's hair, tugging on her damaged ear again. "And I do have a pretty good idea in both accounts, but you're still free to willingly do so. I suggest soon, before I have to do something drastic. Because really, I'd like to take care of your rebellious phase before it becomes an unfixable problem. Or worse, starts getting contagious."
"Tch."
Melanthia tugged even harder, bringing Blake's face to her own. "If you start giving them ideas, they're all going to be a bigger pain to deal with. And I'll have to place an even firmer hand around them. And if they continue to act up, then I' refuse to bother. The Grimm will wipeout the entire town and I'll try my luck elsewhere."
"You're seriously going to leave this place to the Grimm to destroy if they don't follow your beck and call?"
"I have no attachment to this place either way. What happens to it is none of my concern whenever I decide to leave."
Blake narrowed her eyes. "It's that easy for you?"
Melanthia slowly stood up. "Don't act like it's the worst thing in the world. Small settlements like these vanish off the face of the world thanks to Grimm all the time. If it comes to pass here, it will just be another tragedy on th-"
The door to the room was quickly smashed forward, flying into the wall and crashing into pieces. Melanthia and Blake both blinked in surprise, before both turned to the source.
Streams of rose petals flowed into the room like wisps, until their owner slowly stepped into the room. Ruby's face was revealed first with her hood pulled back, and her eyes narrowed sharply towards Melanthia.
There was only one reason for the young girl to aggressively make her way here, or to even make her way here at all. Melanthia sighed as she slowly stood up from where she was positioned. Blake's eyes were still wide with surprise at the girl's entrance, and Ruby briefly caught sight of her as well, briefly locking eyes.
"Barging in like this. I have a feeling that you've discovered something that's better remaining undiscovered, Ruby Rose."
"I thought we came to this town to protect it from Grimm while it's defenses were being repaired." Ruby muttered as she began stepping forward, one at a time. "But you've been tormenting and torturing all of the Faunus here!"
"Now, Ruby. You're a bit fired up right now. You're not thinking straight." Melanthia attempted to deflect. "How about we both sit down, relax, and have some tea?"
"You must be kidding. Do you seriously think that this is the time for tea? After everything I've learned about what you've been doing?!"
Melanthia shook her head, sighing in disappointment. "Honestly, it would have been so much better if you didn't choose to snoop around. You wouldn't be having such intense feelings that are bad for your emotional and mental health."
"You think I shouldn't be mad about any of this?! After seeing all the terrible things I saw and learning that you're responsible for all of them, what else am I supposed to think?!"
"I'd probably prefer it if you didn't think at all."
Ruby clenched her fists. "What."
"You're placing far too much thought into this, you're too young to be thinking that deeply. You've been given a task, you should dedicate your focus to accomplishing it. Anything beyond that shouldn't be if any concern for you." She shook her head as she began pacing.
Ruby gritted her teeth, then blinked when she saw Blake move slightly. She watched as Blake subtly shifted her eyes to something on Melanthia's hip. A remote of sorts. Understanding immediately, Ruby nods, and waited for her opportunity. "I can't believe you're doing what you're doing, and all of the things you already did! You were a Huntress once, weren't you?!"
"A Huntress? In a sense, I am still a Huntress. It's just that for the time being, this town is my new hunting grounds. With plenty of game that I can do with as I see fit." Melanthia shook her head with a shrug as she turned around. "You honestly shouldn't be too upset about this, as you're a fellow human. Faunus honestly don't have a lot of worth to them aside from their parts. And since they're always complaining about being mistreated due to them, why not take them off their hands? That way we both get what we want."
"You'd feed them to Grimm or just kill them almost immediately afterwards. Or just leave them to suffer, feeling hopeless. Who would ever want that?" Ruby retorted, leaning forwards slightly, rose petals rising around her.
"Well of course, I can't have them gaining the resolve to retaliate against me later, too much of a hassle. That's why they're also used as a warning towards the others if they attempt the same thing."
"And if you run out of Faunus to 'hunt'?" The ground began cracking around Ruby's feet.
"I'll just leave this place behind to be ravaged by Grimm, then move onto the next small town, my next hunting ground. I've been doing this for quite a bit, you see. Huntsmen don't really care about smaller communities, that's why they send fledglings like you." Melanthia chuckled as she slowly turned back around. "Honestly, I have no idea what they're thinking or how desperate they might be if they took in a runt like y-"
Melanthia received a speeding kick to the temple, and was sent hurtling, crashing against the wall and severely damaging it.
The remote Blake gestured towards flew off of her, and Ruby caught it as she landed on her feet. She pressed one of the buttons, and Blake's restraints came undone, both around her next, wrists, and her ankles. She took the brief time to clench and unclench her hands, stretch her lecks, and lightly crane her next. Afterwards, she stood upwards as she brushed off her shoulder. Ruby tosses the remote away while turning towards her.
"Are you alright?" Ruby asked worriedly.
"I'll survive." Blake responded as she kept her focus on Melanthia's briefly crumpled form. "You really sent her flying, but I don't think that's going to keep her down for very long."
"That's true, which is why you need to get out of here as soon as possible. I'll keep her from following after you." Ruby declared as she turned towards Melanthia and narrowed her eyes. "Go with Velvet. She's a rabbit Faunus that came with me on this mission, she'll help you."
Blake turned towards the girl, who looked like she was two years younger than she was. "What about you?"
"Again, I'll keep her here and give you time to run. Velvet's already busy freeing the other Faunus, you'll be safe with her." Ruby tensed as Melanthia slowly began to get back up. "You need to go, now!"
Blake hesitated, not entirely up to the idea of leaving the girl who saved her to fight by herself. But with how exhausted she is and needing a bit of time to recover, she wasn't going to be of any use to the red-cloaked girl. With great reluctance, she took a step back, before turning around and running down the path Ruby just busted open, leaving Ruby alone with the supposed mayor/ex-Huntress.
"Well, great. Now look at what you did. My pet's running away." Melanthia grunted as she staggered back onto her feet. "She had quite a bit left in her, and I wasn't done with her yet."
"She's not your pet." Ruby retorted with narrowed eyes, rose petals flowing around her. "You're not getting her back, either. I'm not letting you get past me."
"You're acting like you can actually hold me back. So that's how it's going to be? Fine." Melanthia rolled her neck slightly as she pushed the rest of the debris off of her.
Black flower petals began flowing around her, swirling around her, with quite a bit of it gathering along her arm. Ruby watched with caution, her cloak billowing due to both red and black petals flowing around the room they were in.
"Interesting. It would seem you and I have have quite similar Semblances." Melanthia began. "Just a bit of a minor difference."
The black flower petals manifested and gathered in the woman's hand, until it solidified into what looked like a spear. A spear made of black flower petals? Melanthia twirled the spear around, and stabbed it into the ground.
Ruby's eyes widened as she instinctively jumped back, mere seconds before multiple black spikes shot out from the ground beneath her, with bits of black flower petals flying around them. One spike managed to graze Ruby's cheek, before she dashed backwards completely, rose petals swirling around her. She briefly clicked her tongue while once again standing up to face her foe. Melanthia twirled the spear around, before pointing it towards the girl with a smirk.
"I've had more years to practice."
Fun Fact: Melanthia's name means 'Dark/Black Flower'. Fitting for Ruby's first human boss battle, maybe?
And the fight between her and Ruby begins in earnest, after freeing Blake!
In the meantime, Velvet's helping free all the imprisoned Faunus, while Yang and Weiss hold their ground outside against the Grimm horde.
Seems everyone's quite busy. But what will the now liberated Blake do...?
A Ruby motivated by righteous anger is a very fun Ruby to write, and I'm sure will continue to be a fun one for me to write.
Until next time!