RWBY: Lost and Forgotten
(Greetings, fellow RWBY fans and fanfiction readers! I have returned from a very, very, very long break due to...reasons. And now, I shall post...whenever I get done with a chapter. So, with season 7 just around the corner, November 2nd, I believe? I shall hurry up and get the rest of this fanfic done, I hope, before then. So, without further ado enjoy!)
Chapter 39
Chrome
Waking up to the sound of glass shattering, I took a quick glance around the room. Everyone was still asleep, even Oscar was passed out, too. However, I didn't see Jaune, Nora or Ren. Ruby wasn't in the room either.
Getting to my feet, I headed for the door, but my whole body felt a bit...heavy. Leaning against the doorframe, I saw Ruby and Qrow hugging. "You know, you can talk to me about stuff. Yang, too."
"Let's just get outta here." Qrow said to her.
I yawned, getting the attention of the two. "What time is it?" I asked.
Qrow shrugged as Ruby let out a soft sigh. "I don't know." she walked passed me and back into the living room. "I'll wake the others."
Nodding, I went over to the door and opened it, stepping outside and sitting down on the porch stairs. Feeling the cold wind blow passed me, I still felt extremely tired. Exhausted. I just wanted to sleep.
"Hey, Chrome." I glanced back to see Weiss yawning. "Glad you..." she yawned again. "Caught up with us."
I just nodded in reply. "Glad I did, too." I rested my head on my hand, still feeling extremely tired. "I wanna go back to bed..." I said with a sigh.
"I know what you mean..." she sat down next to me, her eyes pupils a bit dilated.
"Weiss." I glanced back to see Ruby standing in the doorway. "I asked you to hook up the trailer to Bumblebee."
Weiss just sighed as she stood up and pulled out her weapon. Using it, she welded the makeshift trailer hitch to the back of Yang's motorcycle. "There." Weiss sat back down as the others came outside. Blake and Oscar sat next to us on porch steps as Qrow and the rest stood around.
"Can we just go back to bed?" Oscar asked.
"If we're all so tired, maybe we should make breakfast?" Blake suggested.
"You wanna make it?" I asked her.
"Not really..."
Qrow and Yang push the flatbed trailer behind Bumblebee and hook it up. "You guys got the bike ready?" Ruby asked as she approached the two.
Yang just gestured to it.
"Well, it's done now. So let's hook this thing up and-" Qrow put his foot on the side of the trailer, and the tire on the opposite side went flat. He groaned in frustration before checking on the tire.
"You people are just beacons for bad luck, aren't you?" some old lady I just noticed said. I would've asked who she was but I was too exhausted to care.
Frustrated, Qrow just walks over to a nearby fence post and sits on the ground. Yang also sat on the ground by the well. "I'm starting to think the universe just doesn't want us getting to Atlas." she said.
"It's just a flat tire, I'm sure there's a spare." Ruby said with a sigh.
"It's not just that, it's everything. Storms, crashes, monsters... I'm so tired..." Yang replied.
"Me too. It feels like we're always having to fight to get by." Blake added.
"Yeah. But that's what we signed up for."
"We signed up to try and save the world, not just... delay the inevitable." Oscar said.
"Delay the inevitable?" I repeated before yawning.
"Last night, I... I couldn't stop thinking - why are we even going to Atlas?" Weiss asked.
Everyone shared troubled looks.
"Weiss, we have to."
"Why?" Yang asked, getting back to her feet. "Ozpin hid the Relics behind giant doors under enormous schools, but... how long would it take Salem to find a lamp in the middle of nowhere?"
"What? The Grimm might-"
"They'd find it eventually, sure, but bury it or just throw it down the well, it would take years. It might not even happen in our lifetime. But we could be done with it now." Yang told her younger sister.
Ruby detached the Relic of Knowledge from her belt, glancing at it before looking up at her teammates. Ruby glanced at the Relic one more time before walking over to the well.
"I am... really... tired..." Ruby said groggily.
I watched as Ruby held the relic over the well. She hesitated for a bit before suddenly screaming and dropping the relic. "No! No! No! I didn't mean to!"
"Ruby, it's okay." Weiss said softly.
"No! No, there's something down there! I saw it, it was looking at me!" she looked back into the well.
"Hey, it's okay. You just said you're tired. It's probably nothing. Now let's go." Yang said.
"What's wrong with you?! We can't just leave, we have to go down there! We have to get the lamp back! Oh, what was I thinking?!" she rubbed her forehead.
"All we have to do is fix this trailer. Hey, farm boy, check the shed for a spare." Qrow told Oscar.
"I'm not leaving without the lamp!" Ruby shouted.
"I'll go down with you..." Blake said with a sigh.
"We'll go down together." Weiss added.
"Fine!" Qrow got to his feet. "Get the stupid lamp. Oscar, fix the stupid tire." Qrow heads to the house, passing by me and the old lady on the porch.
"Where are you going?" I asked him.
"Where do you think?" he shook his flask as he walked back into the house.
"Stupid..." the old lady said below her breath, just barely loud enough for me to hear.
"Chrome, c'mon!" I looked up to see Ruby and her team looking at me. "We're all going to get the relic." Ruby said.
"Right..." I slowly stood up and walked over, my body feeling extremely heavy.
Placing my hands on the side of the well, I looked in it to see nothing but black. "Who's first?" Yang asked.
I glanced at the others to see them looking from one another. Wanting to get this over with quickly, I vaulted over the side of the well and fell into the darkness below.
I wasn't able to really tell how far the ground was, which caused me to fall on my landing, twisting my ankle in the process. Landing on my back, the water instantly drenched my clothes as I let out a yelp of pain. "Damnit..." rubbing my ankle, I winced a bit.
"Chrome, you okay?" Ruby asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I yelled up the well. "Just...messed up my landing." still rubbing my ankle, I winced again. "Much more awake now at least..."
After I said that, Ruby, Yang, Weiss and Blake landed next to me. Getting to my feet, I tried to take a step but fell thanks to my knee thanks to the pain. "Damnit..."
"Here." I saw a robotic hand offering help.
"Thanks." I accepted the help up and Yang wrapped my arm around her neck. "Twisted my ankle..."
"Just lean on me 'til we get outta here." Yang said.
"Did you see the relic?" Blake asked.
"No." I shook my head.
Weiss and Ruby pulled out their scrolls, using them as flashlights as we walked the dark tunnels. "Oh, come on, where is it?"
"Turn off your lights and just look for the glow?" Blake suggested.
"Okay..."
Ruby and Weiss turned off their flashlights, and Ruby pulled out Crescent Rose, proceeding forward with caution.
"There." I pointed to a soft blue glow further down the tunnel.
Ruby rushed ahead. "Guys, I-" she stopped and a scream eachoed through the tunnels.
"Ruby?!" Yang shouted. Ruby quickly rushed back to us. "What is it?"
Looking down the tunnel, countless skeleton-like Grimm crept toward us. Ruby took out Crescent Rose and fired multiple rounds at them. One of the Grimm let out an ear-piercing scream. My body suddenly felt like a boulder was dragging me down.
"What is this...?" Yang asked, struggling to help me stand as well as herself.
"My weapon... feels heavy..."
"Run!" I glanced back to see the old lady rushing towards us. "Now!"
"Go, go!" Ruby yelled as the old lady turned around to run back.
As we ran, another scream from the Grimm filled the air, causing Yang to drop me as my legs gave out. "Damnit..!" I got back up and Yang quickly grabbed my arm again.
"This way!" we all run down the tunnel Ruby pointed out. We continued to run through the complex underground passages while avoiding more of the Grimm's kind along the way. Making out way to an underground room, however another large group of Grimm were here. We tried a run toward the other way, but one of the Grimm let out another scream, causing us all to fall to the ground.
"I can't... do this... I can't..." Yang said as she tried to stand.
"An exit. An exit!" the old lady yelled.
"Come on!"
I tried to get up but felt all strength leave my body. Falling back onto the ground, I just didn't care anymore.
"Blake... get... up!" Ruby said.
Using what little strength I had, I looked back to see Blake laying on the ground, her eyes dilated.
"It's fine..."
More Grimm approached as Ruby looked on in horror. She tried to crawl and attempt to reach out towards Blake, who continues to lie down motionless. The Grimm reach their hands down to her and-
"BLAAAAAKE!"
The room flashed with a blinding white light. Feeling my strength return, I grabbed my sister's arm and helped her up. She quickly returned the favor by grabbing my arm and helping me to the stairs.
"They're locked!" Weiss shouted.
"Out of my way!"
The Grimm let out another screech. Falling back down, I rolled onto my back.
After a few seconds, the room filled white again. Hearing a gunshot, Blake helped me up the stairs. "We're back in the house?"
Qrow was sitting at the bar, out cold. "Uncle Qrow, get up!" Ruby shouted.
"Hey! Get off me! What are you doing here?"
"We're leaving, you idiot! Come on!" the old lady shouted.
Yang suddenly grabbed my arm and rushed me out of the room. "C'mon!"
"Oscar!" I shouted as we made it outside.
"Oscar!"
"Oscar! We have to go, now!" Yang shouted as she helped me onto the flatbed. After a few seconds, everyone else rushed out and climbed onto the flatbed.
Yang started up her motorcycle and wasted no time driving away from the now burning house.
Once we were pretty far away, the old lady spoke. "The Apathy. They're not strong or ferocious. They drain your will to go on. Bartleby's estate was hemorrhaging money towards the end. He wanted to cut costs on Huntsman protection, but in order to do that, he needed everyone calm... always."
Oscar was reading from the diary. "Managed to get two away from their pack. Hike back was miserable, but got the bastards in the cellar. Wife thinks I was out sealing the waterway entrance. I'll do it tomorrow and tell her the truth once these things take the edge off of everyone. I'm tired."
"The next page proves that he did, but not before the rest of the pack followed their missing pair all the way home. My guess is they made their way beneath the estate through the water tunnels that Bartleby sealed up the next morning. Bartleby's plan worked." the old lady took the book from Oscar. "No one was angry or sad or scared. No one was anything. And then... no one was left." She then closed the book and tossed it out into the snow.
"I'm... sorry for what I said... about giving up." Weiss said.
Yang stopped driving when she heard this. "Me too. We can't quit until the lamp is safe."
"It's not your fault. It was those... things."
"I should have known. The signs were all there, but I'd never seen an entire settlement withered away like that. I suppose my mind just isn't what it used to be." the old lady said.
"Miss Calavera? How do you know so much about the Grimm? And in the tunnels, you knew exactly what to say to make me... to make my eyes do that. How?" Ruby asked.
"Well, isn't it obvious, girl? I had Silver Eyes." Calavera replied.
End of chapter 39