Bloodborne Twin Ch. 3
Bloodborne belongs to FromSoftware and RWBY belongs to Roosterteeth.
The arrow blazed through the air until it was halted halfway through a beowolf's heart and body, killing it instantly as it collapsed. Ella nocked and fired another arrow in quick succession, and then another. She was able to kill three beowolves, all perfect shots straight at the heart, before the soulless monsters were upon her.
The closest beowolf lunged at her from above, but its pounce was rewarded with an effortless cut through its unarmored chest by the sword version of the Bowblade as she made her charge.
Without stopping she instinctively dodged by rolling under a swipe from the second beast, only to cleave the third one behind it in a powerful, deadly upward slash. A deceptively powerful spin, and her blade sliced the second one in half diagonally downwards.
She lunged to stab through the chest of the beowolf that tried to grab her. It was a miss, but she did not allow that to stop her; she pulled back the sword instead, did a twirl around the now smoking corpse, and slashed another one next it, dead.
She ducked under a swipe and sliced open its stomach, bringing the soulless beast down on its knees. She pulled out the Hunter Pistol, aimed it at its face and pulled the trigger...
Click!
Her eyes widened in surprise and became confused, why did it not fire? That little moment of distraction, however, was enough for the wounded beowolf to take a clawed swipe at her. Caught off balance, she could only attempt a parry that deflected the claws, but not the blow. She was sent flying away, her pistol knocked loose from her hand.
She had but a split second to notice she was going to land right next to a trio of the beasts coming at her on all fours, but that was all the warning she needed. She landed on her feet, charged at the closest one, and pounced exactly before she was sliced to ribbons by a clawed hand. The heel of her boot found a beastly snout, and as the monster shook its head furiously to get rid of her, she activated her blood magic and used it as a springboard to jump high into the air while she was about to be attacked by the two trying to help their comrade. She transformed the sword into its bow form again in mid-jump, spun around as she nocked an arrow, took quick aim at the three beasts and fired three quick, precise, lethal shots, leaving her now out of arrows.
Below her, the large pack clustered around her expected landing spot. Thirty feet high in the air, she noticed this, and as gravity reclaimed her, she switched her sword for a flint lighter and a Molotov, lit the cloth on fire and tossed the makeshift firebomb at the gathered pack. It struck a beowolf squarely on the face and exploded, showering three others with liquid fire. Their black fur caught like dry leaves, and the air filled with their guttural screams, their packmates scurrying to get out of their way lest they also were turned ablaze. They frenzied about for a few frantic instants, then collapsed on the ground burned to crisps.
The Hunter and the monsters glared at each other, some scarce fifteen paces between them, each side waiting for the other to make a move. The brief respite gave her a chance to reflect on the fight so far, and so far things were disappointingly easy. Always so mindless and predictable, always attacking without thinking things through, without covering their flanks. Dumb as scourge beasts, but there was one difference between the two, it was their intent. Scourge beasts kill for blood and flesh while these creatures seemed to kill out of hatred.
Good thing the long arduous night in Yharnam had trained her to be a proficient killer, but the fruits of her labor were the sight of easy prey. She was going to end this... very quickly, and the anticipation of it brought a smile to her face knowing what she was going to do.
Predictably, the beowolves charged at her without a thought of using tactics. She pulled out the Blade of Mercy, pulled it apart into two separate blades, activated her Old Hunter's Bone...
And she used the power of her blood magic to enhance the tool's duration. The aura surrounding her glowing blood red.
She closed the distance with her magically enhanced quickening ability, and as soon as she cut down the closest beowolf she came by, she teleported again into the middle of the pack. From there, all hell broke loose. She was swift, fast, graceful, and deadly as she sliced, diced, and dismembered every beast that she teleported around, making her a literal whirlwind of death. She was too fast and unpredictable for the beowolves to keep up as they tried to catch, claw and bite at her, but none could lay a single blow to her. As soon the last beowolf died by first being cut deep in the belly, bringing it down to its knees, and then had its head decapitated by the two blades crisscrossing, the carnage was over.
In the end she killed the remaining forty of them in under three minutes without breaking a sweat, all thanks to her unique ability. Normally she would resort to using what she calls her inner power to make quick work of the whole pack in the first place, but she feared that by doing so she would potentially lose the support of the villagers. So using the Old Hunter's Bone was hopefully the safest bet she could go with to ensure their trust.
As she looked at the sight of all the smoking, dismembered bodies of the soulless beasts, she sensed something from within the woods, watching her this whole time. She smiled behind her mask but, from out of nowhere, she began to chuckle when she heard growling, letting her realize the fun wasn't over yet.
Meanwhile the village defenders, including Quinn, Ginger, and their son, were watching the whole spectacle from atop their wall. It was amazing to watch a huntress in action, although her methods were somewhat unorthodox, and the way she dispatched the Grimm was quick and brutal but efficient. The way she teleported around almost made Quinn believe that that was her semblance, but in the back of his mind he believes there may be more to it than that. But then they all heard a growl coming from the woods, and it soon revealed itself to be the alpha. A very old looking alpha if the spikes on its back and limbs had anything to show.
To Ella's point of view it looked almost as big as the Cleric Beast. It had more bone plates on its body, and the spikes protruding from its arms, back, and legs were longer and more numerous than what all the other beowolves had. Even its claws were sharper, its ears more prominent. Other than the black shaggy hair that had grown in some places, it would be terrifying to many who would be unfortunate enough to encounter it, but not to Ella. She had already seen monsters more terrifying that would make this thing standing in front of her look cute.
Like the Bloodletting Beast, or even Ludwig for example.
She didn't have to wait for long when the alpha charged at her on all fours. She went in to cut the beast down while re-activating the Old Hunter's Bone. The alpha then took a leap to pounce on her but, before it could even land on her, she teleported under and away from the attack. Then she jumped and stabbed onto its back but the blades didn't go all the way through. The Alpha Beowolf growled in irritation as she tried cutting deeper into its flesh, but she had to jump off of it when it thrashed wildly to throw her off.
The alpha turned to attack her, its anger clearly more evident in its growls and attacks while Ella kept teleporting left and right, exploiting every opening it made. This went on for half a minute when the alpha decided it had enough and jumped straight into the air. She looked up, confused for a moment until she realized with widened eyes what it was going to do.
It came down fast and strong, slamming both of its claws into the earth causing a crater to form underneath it and sending a shockwave that would have sent the hunter flying if she didn't teleport away from its destructive radius. Only she teleported away at the last second, making her stagger a bit from the destructive force.
She tried to take a moment to get her bearings together, but the alpha lunged at the opportunity with its one arm pulled back and ready to strike her down. She saw this and barely dodged out of the way in time, but not before it knocked the hood off of her, revealing her shoulder length, ashen black hair. Her hair looked maintained by her own hand though rather done haphazardly.
Unusual hairstyle aside, the battle continued on except that Ella was now going more on the defensive. The alpha's reactions and attacks were now faster and fiercer with each swing, and the Hunter could only land a cut whenever she found a small but dangerous opening. She had gotten a few hits from the soulless monster but her powers also acted as her shield, absorbing the damage just so she could keep on fighting. Amazingly, even though the attacks from the beast should have been lethal to any hunter in Remnant, this thing never knew who the hell it was really dealing with.
The Hunter had to figure out a way to end this quickly, otherwise this fight might go on for too long. Quickly forming an idea inside her head she folded her blades of mercy back together before rolling under a swipe, only to pull out her throwing knife and jam it into the side of its right knee. The alpha growled in pain and retaliated by bringing its clawed hand down on the offender, but the claws only raked up dirt where she once crouched. She did the same trick again to the other leg, only it was a little easier this time since the beast was limping on one leg. The alpha collapsed from having both its knees internally disabled, so it tried to turn its body with its hands to face her. Since she was behind it she took the opportunity to hopefully finish it off as she took out her last Molotov, lit the cloth with her flint lighter, and threw it at the downed alpha Beowolf at the right of its side.
When the lit bottle shatters upon impact the burning liquid spreads across it body, covering the back and half of its torso and arm. The alpha screamed in agonizing pain as the flames slowly begin to spread throughout its body. She smirked in satisfaction at the sight of her work, but that moment of satisfaction completely faded off of her face, and her eyes widened when the beast stopped screaming... and stared back at her, snarling in both rage and pain.
The alpha was going to die, that much it knew once the flames had fully consumed it, but in its mind it promised itself only one thing. If it was to die in fire, it will not die alone. The alpha pulled out the knives with the strength it still had in it, and shakily stood up halfway, and with all the strength he still had left he charged stumblingly with a mighty roar.
The Hunter charged up to the beast with Simons Bowblade already out and ready to finish this fight in one go. As the two came to make one final blow, time came to a halt. As the claw came crashing down on the Hunter the alpha believed it would fulfill its promise to take her corpse with it, but failed to realize... that the Hunter was faster than it, and the Hunter wasn't aiming for its dark heart.
With both hands holding onto the handle, and with all her might she thrusted the sword up through its lower jaw and went right through its skull, instantly killing the beast and stopped its charge, although the weight of it pushed her back a ways. With it now dead she went to work on getting the sword out of its skull by collapsing the burning corpse to the side, planting her boot on its lower jaw, and with both hands she yanked it out with with a little effort. She quickly backed away from it after that and then turned away to pick up her pistol with her hood back up.
She ought to hand it to the beast's tenacity to keep on fighting till the very end, she could only remember a few beasts that had such drive. She felt that the alpha's death in a way was like an act of mercy, but she mustn't dwell on that. After seeing the pistol was near her she picked it up, holstered it back into her left coat hip, and headed straight for the village.
She suddenly stopped when she heard cheering from up ahead, and looked on and was surprised to see the villagers on the wall applauding to her heroic feat. Seeing and hearing this made her feel odd, because where she came from, hunters were feared and hated, but then she reminds herself of what the little boy said; that they were heroes. She should have scoffed at it, but this positivity from the villagers, no matter how foreign it seemed, it felt... comforting to her. It even made her smile for this rare gratitude.
Guess it was that easy to gain their trust.
After that moment, she then continued on to the gate. She could hear one of the villagers yelling out at someone to open the gate, stating that it was all clear. As she came closer, she stopped when the gate slowly opened to reveal the people gathering to greet her. Merely a dozen of them were holding various weapons ranging from swords pitchforks to guns she had never seen before, and they all had their guard lowered showing that they trust her. Quinn, Ginger, and Lavi (who was more happy than the others seeing a huntress in action) were at the front of the crowd with smiles on their faces. But that's not what stopped her in her tracks when she looked at a few individuals which stood out from the crowd.
What she saw before her eyes were select people with different animal traits to them. There was one man with what looked like fox ears and a woman with a set of antlers. The third one had easily recognizable wolf ears, and was the one she was more wary of. Her Hunter instincts went into believing that they're infected, but her observant eyes and rational thought questioned their behavior. Why were they not being hostile to anyone around them? How come their eyes were completely normal, and not wild and bloodshot? Seeing the lack of any bestial behavior should have settled her nerves but instead her confusion and discomfort grew even more.
'Just what are they,' she asked herself.
Her further confusion was broken off however when Lavi, with impatience at the protest of his mother, decided to run up to her to give her his own compliments.
"That was so cool," said the boy energetically, "the way you took on those Grimm was awesome! And your fight with the alpha was scary, but I knew you would win!"
"Why thank you for the compliment," she chuckled as she knelt down to his level. It felt somewhat strange but she quickly grew to admire the boy's enthusiasm. Could hunters in this world really be seen as heroes, the honorable Spartans that even Ludwig could only dream of? If this is what this strange world has to offer, then she would be more than happy to stay here.
"You're the reason I want to be strong when I grow up, just so I can be a hero just like you."
"Well, I do respect your determination," she replied, giving a soft smile as she puts her right hand on his left shoulder, "but the first thing you need to learn is to be brave, and think on your feet. Perhaps your father will teach you that someday."
Meanwhile, as she was giving the boy advice, the villagers came walking up to the two of them to congratulate her on her victory. She heard their footsteps and stood up greet herself.
...But as they came closer, she started seeing flashbacks.
Through her eyes the villagers were replaced by the image of an angry mob of Yharnamites, with their swords, pitchforks, muskets and cleavers held at the ready to take her down. Their faces had the physical signs of soon becoming blood addled beasts or later on. The image was fleeting, however, as it all went back to normal, but not for long. When the villagers were giving thanks to the Hunter, her vision was once again replaced by the angry mob, cursing her, blaming her and calling for blood.
Cursed beast, she heard one say. She couldn't understand, what was going on? Why was this happening to her? She grew more confused and scared, her breathing became slowly more erratic as they grew closer, and their voices becoming louder and harsher.
You flea ridden rat!
You foul beast!
You are not wanted here!
It's all your fault!
Her eyes were closed shut, trying but couldn't stop it, she couldn't make them go away. Without even realizing her actions, she slowly and unconsciously, with a shaking hand, went for her Blade of Mercy.
Meanwhile, someone watched with a perceptive eye that something was wrong with her when the people were being close to her. He didn't understand why she was acting this way at first until his eyes caught sight her shaking hand, slowly going for her weapon. His eyes widened in realization: she was in shell shock, and it looked like one hell of a shell shock if he'd say so himself, and if he did not stop her now there would be a massacre. He knew what to do, it was kind of stupid, but there was no other way to it. If he succeeds in getting her out of that mental state then he had just saved the entire village, but if not...
Without hesitation, he reached out for her wrist.
"Ella…"
She heard her name but couldn't tell whose it was over the angry voices surrounding her. Then she heard her name again, and this time it sounded closer. It sounded like a man's, and it also sounded like he was concerned, but why was there concern when it was amongst the many that want her dead? Ella's hand unconsciously came halfway to her weapon when suddenly, she felt a hand grabbing her wrist.
"Ella!"
Her eyes went wide open, and she saw that it was Quinn standing merely nine inches from her face holding her wrist. He had a stern yet concerned look on his face, and when he spoke it sounded calm yet serious.
"Just look at me, okay? You're not in danger anymore, you're in a safe place. So just take deep breaths, just breathe." She reluctantly did as he told her to do and breathed deeply. She did this for a short while until eventually she could no longer hear the angry voices of her past. Even the illusion of the surrounding Yharnamites disappeared. What she saw all around her now were people giving them confused and concerned looks.
"Dad, what's going on," Lavi asked a little worriedly.
"There's no need to worry son, she just needs some breathing room," he replied, then he turns to the crowd, "okay, people, give her some breathing room, and clear a path for us!"
They were confused by the order at first, but soon they did as he told them and backed away, making plenty of room for them to get through the gate and into the village without further incident. The three (plus the rabbit) were soon joined by Quinn's wife as they made their way through the open path. Eventually everyone dispersed and went back to their separate homes, others to the local inn, but as for the four, they walked on in the direction to their home.
The way to their house went on in silence. Not a single one of them wanted to voice what happened back there. Eventually they made it to the Clansy home. It was one story high, and the base of the building was made entirely out of wood. The roof of course was made with dark colored shingles. There were windows on both sides of the door, but one would probably know there would be more.
"Honey," said Quinn, "would you please take Lavi to the inn after he puts Jasper back in his cage? I need to have a talk with Ella."
"Sure thing sweetie," answered Ginger. It was probably best if their son didn't hear whatever she had to say knowing his age.
Lavi looks up to his mother in confusion and worry, "mom, is the Lady Huntress in trouble?"
"No, sweetie, she's not in trouble," she reassured him, "they're just gonna have a talk and then they'll join us, okay?"
"Okay."
And so they went their separate ways. Ginger and Lavi went around the back, took Jasper to his cage and went to the inn while Ella and Quinn went inside the house. Once inside she was greeted to the sight of a spacious hallway, its walls having a couple pictures and a collection of family pictures. Soon after, Quinn led her to the dining area, although dining area wasn't exactly the correct word to say. It was both a dining area and a kitchen all in one room.
"Have a seat, please," Quinn offered as he gestures to the table. She went and took a seat on a wooden chair at one end of the square table. Quinn went and took a seat across from her.
The two of them stayed silent, only broken by the ticking of a clock for only a minute until she finally asked. "So, what do you want to talk about?"
Quinn leaned in on the table, his hands clasped together, and gave her a serious expression. By the look he was giving her, she had a feeling she knew what he wanted, and that it was going to come up sooner or later.
"I want to know the truth," he answered, "and nothing but the truth. Do you understand?"
All right, so here's chapter 3. This was a doozy trying to make the combat scenes look good and readable, but the hard part for me was the introduction of her PTSD. At first I really wanted to make it as minor as possible, but when I kept looking back at all the horrors Yharnam threw at her I knew it would never be possible, because going through all that doesn't leave anyone completely sane, and remembering the hunt works as a double edged sword.
Next chapter will be Ella telling the truth, even though she can remember next to nothing about her past.
About the pistol not firing another round, let me explain. In the Bloodborne game you never see the pistol go into a reloading animation. I thought it was either because the blood the Hunter has will magically replace a bullet for you, or FromSoftware was just too lazy to put in a reload animation. I can understand why they did that, because reloading a gun takes time, and it's enough for the enemies to attack you. So I'm going with the former just for this fic.
I want to give many thanks to CruxMDQ for helping me out with this chapter. If you like where this story is going please leave a review, and if you want to know something please don't hesitate to PM me a question.
anyways, this is Kyro2009, signing off.