Italics indicate thinking

Bold is for attacks

Leona's POV

We were camping out for the night, Ruby had first watch and the rest of us were taking the time to relax in some sleeping bags. I don't think anyone was actually asleep since I could hear Blake and Yang mumbling.

"Hmm." I grumbled a bit leaning on a wall as I slept sitting up "Stirring over what Oobleck said…"

"How'd you know?" Yang asked.

"That was his point, to think you'd all get manipulated by that man." I looked away "He's gotten in your heads. All I want to do is fight and kill Grimm, who cares if that makes me some kind of monster."

"You don't think it's strange?" Blake asked me "You're not the most…calm person. You could use a way to relax."

"Fighting does relax me." I said "Getting in that kind of zone, the adrenaline rush calms me in a way…I can't explain it but if I don't get to beat on stuff my blood feels like it's gonna boil."

"Do all Amazons act so…violent?" Weiss asked.

"No, not all of us at least." I said.

"Then perhaps you should think about that a little bit, you are the first impression for your people." She said "Whether you like it or not when you represent something you have to think about how your actions will affect them as well."

"I guess…" I looked off.

"You face your problems, all I ever do is run away." Blake frowned "When you found out I was a Faunus I ran, when I saw what was happening to the White Fang I ran…even my semblance is to run away and leave myself behind…all I ever do is run away."

"At least you have something you want to strive for." Yang sighed "I just…go with the flow. I can't do it forever, I like not knowing what tomorrow will bring, it's why I want to become a huntress but my goals just happen to line up, I'm not doing this to be some hero."

"A lost girl, one looking for a fresh start, one who's always running from the past, and a crazed bloodthirsty warrior…I suppose we all aren't the picture of heroic hunters." I commented "We all just use it as a means for an end, seems to be the theme for this team."

"Nah, Ruby wants this." Yang sighed "She's always wanted to be a storybook hero…It's why she trains and tries so hard."

"Still…she's just a kid." Weiss said.

"She's only two years younger than us." Blake told her "We're all kids."

"At the end of the day this is still a job, fantasies or not." Weiss said "It's not what we thought it would be, but it's what we chose."

"Enough talking…let's sleep." I laid down "We've wasted enough time talking."

Later

"Hey…where's Ruby?" Yang asked waking us up.

"How would I know, I was sleeping." I coughed and cleared my throat.

"RUFF!" Zwei scampered back in.

"What's going on?" Blake slowly woke up.

"Grab your weapons." Oobleck said "Your leader may be in trouble."

"Hmm." I strapped my cleaver to my back "Let's get going."

What are you doing Ruby…it's not like her to run off like that.

We followed the dog out into the streets and he led us to Ruby's scythe.

"Do you think she fell?" Weiss looked down a crater.

"If she fell her scythe wouldn't have fallen this far back." I picked up the weapon.

"Oh my…wait of course!" the Professor looked down the hole "How could I have been so stupid!"

"Of course what?" Blake asked.

"What's wrong?" Yang added.

"This city was previously home to thousands of people, people who needed to commute!" he pointed out "They developed a subway system to get back and forth to the main city, Grimm attacks increase population in desperate need of shelters so they evacuate into the metro tunnels and find but wild forest and deep caves! This isn't an underground crime network, but an actual Underground Crime Network."

"Mole people?" I blinked.

"Ugh." Weiss sighed.

"Actually, in a matter of speaking Miss Lionheart is right." The Professor said "In a last-ditch effort the people took up residence in the caves originally cleared for the subway, they lived underground until…an exploratory explosion opened up a hidden cavern filled with subterranean types of Grimm. The tunnels were sealed off after that and created the world's largest tomb…"

"If Ruby is down there, we must find her quickly." He said taking out his weapon.

"Then let's get down there." I started climbing down.

The rest followed behind me, the caves were quite, you could hear the dripping of condensing water on the walls and squeaks of mice and bats. There was a pair of rails running down the length of the cavern for the train to travel.

"Hmm…that way." I pointed.

"Are you sure?" Yang asked.

"There are drag marks pulling that way." I said "If something was being moved through this cave that's the way it was headed so if they have a base it'll be that direction."

The others trusted my tracking and we headed down the dark tunnel, sure enough the deeper we got the louder and more clearly you could hear movement and talking.

I'm getting excited…we're in for a fight.

"There's Ruby." I pointed "She'd gonna run into that squad though."

"Step aside girls." The professor stepped in front of us and aimed his strange rod, it popped and shot out a blast that exploded and blew the enemies away.

"RUBY!" Yang hugged her sister.

She's not in bad shape…good.

"I'm fine, but listen Torchwick has all kinds of weapons and robots." Ruby explained as I gave her back her scythe "Thanks."

If Torchwick is here…Neo might be too.

"They're all loaded up on train cars." Ruby explained.

"That's preposterous." Oobleck said "These tunnels are sealed all the tracks just lead to a dead end."

"Places people we're leaving now!" Torchwick buzzed over the intercom.

The cavern filled with loud screeching and whirring as the train cars on one track began to pull out, their wheels grinding on the old metal rails.

"They're going somewhere for sure." Yang said.

"I can't get a signal to call for backup." Ruby groaned.

"It would seem we're down to only one option." The Professor said.

"We've gotta stop that train." Ruby glared.

"Alright." I smiled eagerly "Let's go! Nature's Wrath!"

I sent some roots out from under the ground to swing us onto the back-car's roof.

"Alright we must get to the engine car to stop the train." Our supervisor said.

"Umm Professor." Weiss cut him off.

"Doctor."

"What's that?" she pointed into the car where there was a bizarre beeping barbell shaped device.

"That…would appear to be a bomb." He pointed.

"They're coming!" Ruby pointed to the front of the train where enemies were pulling themselves onto the roof.

"Okay time to go!" Doctor Oobleck said when the bomb started beeping louder "Blake detach the caboose or it'll kill us all!"

"Wait, it decoupled itself!" Blake yelled over the wind.

"That's not good." Oobleck sighed when the back car exploded.

"He's gonna bring the whole tunnel down on us." I looked back.

"There's another one in this car!" Ruby yelled.

"They all have one!" The Doctor yelled from the third car.

"We have to keep moving then!" I grabbed Ruby and Weiss and jumped to the next car "We need to think of something, we've got bombs behind us and White Fang in front of us."

"Get them!"

"HMPH!" Yang punched a man into a car.

"Get outta my way!" I roared swinging my blade wide to send out a shockwave that left them all open for Weiss and Ruby's dash attacks.

"He plans to lead the Grimm to the city!" Oobleck yelled "The cars detach and explode to create openings! We need to hurry, go into the cars and try and stop those bombs! Ruby you and I will try and stop the train."

"HMPH!" I kicked the hatch open "Let's get in."

"Alright, this is what we trained for." Yang said as we dropped in.

We started to move forward.

"HRA!" I held my blade at a diagonal to block a stab "Neo."

"Hmm." The girl snickered a bit.

"You three can go, I'll handle this car." I cracked my knuckles "I've got a few things to take care of with this one."

"Right." Yang nodded and took the others passed.

"Neopolitan." I looked across at her.

"It's just like…old times." She said in a raspy voice.

"HRA!" I short forward and slammed my sword down, shattering her illusion.

We traded a few strikes, our weapons bouncing off each other.

"Are you here to play around or fight me?" I asked.

"I'm fighting." She wheezed.

"Not with that umbrella." I glared.

"Oh you want me to be serious." She said as I tried to punch her "Fine…"

Neo tossed her jacket off, standing there in just a brown tank top that was tucked into her white pants, I could see the tattoos extending down her arms, the sharp star like patterns a clear symbol of her bloodline of matriarchs.

"I should use this too, my ceremonial weapon?" she smirked pulling out a curved hunting knife out of a strap on her thigh "You remember Veinripper?"

"Of course I do." I smirked back "RAH!"

I slammed my blade down again, Neo spinning around it.

"You're as slow as ever." She shanked my side "They always said that Bloodsplitter's size would be the end of you!"

"GRR!" I slid back and held my side "Start talking…why did you leave the village?"

"This…" she caressed the burn on her neck "This is why?"

"Huh?"

"The Sun Goddess…rejected me." She said in her raspy tone "I was tainted and she took my voice as punishment. With nothing left…my own family wanted to hid the shame so instead of admitting what happened they sent me to man's world to learn about them."

I'd heard that the Chief can speak to the Sun Goddess…but is she real? And why send Neo ahead…is she the one who told the explorers of our home?

"Tainted?" I was confused.

"Oh I'm sure you know." She licked her blade clean "Hmm…yes, you taste…delicious."

"You…tasted blood too." I was shocked.

"It was in training…but it was so good, why do they hide it from us, the taste, the sensation…the power." She glared.

"Power?"

"Oh…you don't know." She smirked licking her lips.

The door into our car flew open as Yang punched a grunt in.

"Working here allows me free reign to get what I need…to scratch my itch." She stabbed the guard a few times she got up.

"HMM!" she licked the blade again.

Slowly her tattoos glowed, turning bright red.

"HAA!" she suddenly dashed in and slammed me with a punch to the gut.

"BLEH!" I coughed as she swept my legs and stabbed my in the gut "GAAHH!"

"Until you harness the blood like I do you can't…help me in my quest." She explained softly, whispering in my ear and licking her knife again.

"What quest?" I asked slipping an arrow into my left hand.

"Haven't you seen how disgusting this world is." She stood up twitching "We need to destroy it, they hide in their shelter cities, living selfishly with needless things, they don't know how hard the real world is, the savage Grimm of the jungle would kill them in seconds!"

"HRA!" I stabbed her arm with the arrow.

"TSK!" she slid back.

"Hmph." I licked the arrow clean "Sorry, I just got sick of you talking, maybe that's why the Sun Goddess took your special voice."

"Jokes…" her tattoos glowed even brighter "YOU MAKE JOKES?!"

Neo stabbed at me, I reached out and grabbed her wrist to pull her in and elbow her in the face, busting her lip open.

I felt a rush of energy like never before, I so rarely ever tasted blood while on my fighting high…but this felt amazing.

"I see what you mean." I clenched my fist and picked up a small blade from the grunt Neo bled out "Come on, let's go a few more rounds like when we were kids!"

"GRR!" she gritted her teeth and shook her head "No…"

She suddenly looked up at me with bloodshot eyes "YES!"

The two of us started fighting up close, looking for ways to grip the other and stab. Out knives would occasionally clang together or briefly dig into the skin of the other, blood dripping down out sides.

"HMM!" we both licked our blades clean.

"MORE!" I snarled at her.

"LEONA!"

"NEO!"

Again we dashed in with a flurry of stabs, shakes and slices, each trying to deliver a serious wound that was deeper than an inch or two, fortunately Neo and I were both so high on blood and already familiar with each other's movements that it wasn't making any difference.

*BEEP*

"Crap that bomb!" I yelled.

"No…not now." Neo growled, blood dripping own her side, her mouth practically foaming "Must…kill."

"Neo…"

"RAH!" she stabbed herself in the leg.

"WHAT?!" I yelled.

"Need…it…" she shakily grabbed a bottle on her waist and chugged half of it "Yes…no more…"

"What?"

"Drink the rest." She threw the bottle to me and then walked over and decoupled the car.

"Wait what is this?" I asked.

"That's not important, just trust me." She smiled "Till next time…May Mother Nature…and the Sun Goddess…guide you."

"Neo!" I yelled jumping at her reflection, only to have it shatter and leave me in the next car.

"Trust me…Leona…" I heard her voice whisper on the wind.

"Dammit." I punched the floor and drank Neo's potion, it was pretty sour, before heading towards the front of the car to regroup with the others.

"Oh god what happened to you!" Weiss gasped "You look terrible."

"I'm fine." I shrugged my wounds off "We're gonna hit that wall."

"What should we do?" Yang asked.

"Weiss! Leona!"

"HMPH!" Weiss and I both slammed our weapons down, I encased us in roots while Wiess surrounded that with ice to brace us for the collision.

Sure enough we slammed right into that wall and got sent flying, I was a little out of it, partially from blood loss and partially from the collision.

"Ow…" Ruby groaned.

The ground behind us rumbled and a huge black King Taijitu snake burst free, a horde of Grimm behind it.

"We're not done yet." I hissed picking up my blade and shaking a bit with excitement "We're just getting started!"

AN

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Till Next Time!