Chapter 8: Bonnie & Clyde

Name: Wendigo

Abilities: Shape shifting, light manipulation.

Features: Stag skull and horns, long/lanky forearms and shins, short black fur.

About: The Wendigo is a relatively rare species of Grimm, or rather it thrives best in areas humans typically dare not dwell. Liking to remain reclusive in any area that lacks sunlight, Wendigos prioritize deep cavern systems. They also lurk around regions far north and south of Remnant due to the lack of sunlight for large portions of the seasons.

Wendigos are not particularly strong, having a build similar to that of a coniferous beowolf but lacking in sharp teeth along most of their jaw and having notably duller claws. Their bite force is incredibly strong though.

The Wendigo is able to morph its body to take the appearance of almost any humanoid figure. Even going as far as to recreate an esophagus to enable speech. However they don't seem to be able to directly manipulate their mass, so they generally only mimic things between 3 to 7 feet. Doing otherwise would likely lead to disproportionate body anatomy.

It should be noted that while the Wendigo morphs its form, it can't do much for the rest of its appearance. It still has black fur and a bone mask. This doesn't come as too much of a detriment though as it also has the ability to manipulate the light around it, albeit only to a small degree. This enables them to create a thin 'projection' of sorts around their body, to give off the appearance of flesh and blood along with other colors, not unlike a chameleon.

The Wendigo's entire angle is that it disguises itself as that of a human in order to lure astray wanderers into a false sense of security, and in turn, a trap.

In Event of Encounter: You can rest easy knowing you won't be encountering a Wendigo pretending to be a friend or family member during your day to day life, and shouldn't be a concern for even when on an outing in the wilderness for the majority of Remnant. They should only be a problem should you find yourself deep underground, or in isolated tundra like regions.

While not traveling in packs, Wendigos usually have one or two accomplices with them. They will attempt to divide you from your peers if you're not alone, and will lead you along a path either to an opportune area to spring a trap, or just lead you along far enough so that escape and calling for help is futile. So stay in constant communication with those around you. From there they will attempt to pounce you, or if you ever catch onto their charade.

To avoid this, make sure you have a source of light that outputs roughly 50 or more lumens. Shining this light source directly into the suspected Wendigo will break it's light bending illusion and reveal it's black fur, confirming or laying to rest any suspicions you may have had. Your conventional scroll flashlight should do the trick.

From there, your best bet is to attack the Wendigo if you're armed to any notable capacity. While it has a strong bite, it will not be able to use it quickly, making it almost completely outclassed by your conventional beowolf, so it's a relatively easy match up.

Even without former training, your best option is to face it head on. While escape would be somewhat plausible, as it doesn't sprint that much faster than the average grown human, it is likely it knows the layout of the environment better than you do. Finding a way of escape would be somewhat unlikely unless you're on familiar ground.

Jaune read looking down at his scroll. It went on a little bit more, but he got the gist of it. Ruby had sent sent him a link to this site without any context. He went back to his messages.

That's cool and all, but why are you sending me this?

He needed to be sure, but he already had a feeling in his gut that he knew why.

Sorry, I'm on horseback rn, texting isn't easy. Me and Death ran into a couple of those things. Pretty scary. But now that I know about them a bit more they seem kinda cool, don't you think? She replied.

I guess, not in much of a good mood when you're out there. Jaune was about to hit send when he thought about what her text said, going back to reread it.

Wait, did you say you were on horseback?

Ruby pocketed her phone just as it vibrated. It had taken Jaune a second to reply and she didn't want to take it back out so she just decided to leave it there for now.

By now the trees had returned, and the sky was beginning to draw darker. Due to the thick clouds overhead it was hard to tell where the sun was, but this was still the first time for a couple hours she could tell time was passing aside from looking at her scroll. The sun was great, but clouds every now and then had a great sense of limbo where burning daylight on trips always made her feel like she was wasting time. And if it's going to turn night soon she'd finally have a chance to rest. Or rather rest while not riding a speeding horse.

"Hey, will we be spending the night resting or are we gonna keep moving?" She asked.

"... Your call. We wasted a lot of time in the tunnels so it'd be best if we made it up. But if you need to rest we can stop. It'll also give me a chance to help you improve."

"Alright, lemme think."

Even though Ruby said that, she had already made up her mind. She got to sleep on solid ground and be tutored by the grim reaper? It was almost too good to be true. If only the circumstances were different.

"Resting up sounds good."

"Very well."

"... Hey, do you… actually think we can stop Salem? It must sound stupid to you, but I've never been in a situation like this." She asked, looking for reassurance.

"Can't say for certain. I barely have a clue what we're up against. Ozpin knows more than he's letting on, that much I know. But a collect four routine doesn't sound particularly difficult. But even if it is harder than it sounds, I think we'll manage."

"Alright…" Ruby said with a faint smile. She got what she needed.

Qrow was hunching over a small wall as he watched the sun set. Every huntsman worth their salt in Mistral has apparently gone missing. Sounded like Salem or one of her followers had gotten to them, but that wasn't likely given how tightly Oz and his council keep their information like allies. It was probably just bad luck. Really bad luck. He needed to get the maiden and the relic fast, but right now his biggest concern was getting flat out wasted.

He pulled out his flask and was about to unscrew the top when he heard something from behind him. The times he heard it were few and far between but they were all he needed to give him a headache. The sound was fine, but putting it simply, it was a bad omen. He spun around to see one of Raven's portals, expecting to engage in combat or a talk. Talk that he'd rather skip to beating her ass.

Thankfully someone else came out, two someone's to be precise. And they were good someone's.

Ruby was stoking the campfire she had set up with a long stick she found. Death had left to survey the area to make sure they were safe. From Grimm or any other danger.

The horseman had told her that if she wanted to spend the night she'd have set up camp by herself. It made sense in strict 'do it yourself' mindset but that didn't make Ruby feel any better. Not that it was too tedious, but usually she had three other people helping her out.

She had been waiting for Death to come back for a while. It has taken her fifteen minutes to get a fire going and pitch miniature tent over her sleeping bag. She had been sitting in the dark for nearly twenty minutes now and she was beginning to feel a mixture of boredom and concern.

She was sure Death hadn't abandoned her and knew his way back. But at the same time it had never taken this long to scout the forest even if he did encounter Grimm. Taking this long wasn't right.

All she could do for now though was look at the fire she had been stoking for a while now and think. With a big crack a log she had put in let out a pocket of air, sending multiple embers flying. She used to like that about camping.

Now all she could think about was…

She stopped herself. She couldn't let herself go into that place. Not if she wants to make a difference. A good one at that. If only it was as easy as it sounds.

"Agh dammit…" She heard coming from in front of her. She looked up and saw Death walking into the light of the camp fire, scratching his head and tightly closing his eyes.

"What took ya so long?" Ruby casually asked.

"Was thinking about all this. Lost track of time."

"... Does it... scare you?"

"Scare? No. But it all seems rather… cumbersome. Having to play errand boy for someone who knows more than he's letting on is simply put, displeasing."

"Death do you… believe in destiny?"

"No…"

"If you don't mind me asking, why?" She asked, to which he let out out a winded sigh.

"We have to be who we are, before who we will be. We decide what to with ourselves, and with it, that which will become of us."

"I'm not sure I follow." She's always found it hard to get a read on him, but she could tell this wasn't something he talked about much.

"We are who we choose to be. There's nothing that can change you that you can't do back to it."

"But what if… what if something that was destined to happen did."

"Enough with the riddles. Just say what you will and be on with it."

"D-... Did I ever tell you what happened at the fall of Beacon?" She asked.

"The White Fang and someone named Cinder held an assault on the academy. Left it in ruins."

"There's a bit more to it than that. I… I had a friend- a few friends actually. Penny was the first one to die then. They called her an example, a demonstration… and Pyrrha… she was the best of us. She went to fight Cinder. I think she thought that… it was her destiny to confront her. But she couldn't win. And now, it's just so hard without her." She was beginning to tear up.

"..."

"I had another team too. Before all this. But after what happened there we just… it… it just didn't work out for us. Lately I've been thinking it was… destiny. Our fate was for it to be this way."

"... Your friend. Pyrrha. She made her choice. She chose her destiny. She did what she thought was right, and died on her own volition. Not Cinder's. Not fate's. Her's."

"But I could've-"

"There was nothing you could do. There was nothing anyone could do but Pyrrha."

"..."

"..."

"There's nothing you could've done then. But this is now. A lot of lives are in your hands, and this time, you can do something."

"Y'know, when I said I wanted peace, I meant it. Not this." Strife said, holstering Mercy.

"Oh hush. If your too much of a coward you should've sat this out." Fury responded, trying to bait her brother into a fight.

War raised his fabled blade from the back of a cadaver. One that used to be his sister.

"The Council has decreed the Nephilim to be a threat to the balance. If you take issue with the slaughter, Strife, take solace that we four can still carry on, and make the Nephilim's goal a noble one." The youngest professed.

"There's nothing noble about this."

"If you still have gripes with our task, take it up with our leader."

Death listened to his siblings bicker, and was unsure of what to think. He was sure Strife was about to ask what they should do. But he didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to feel.

Their excursion to slaughter their brothers and sisters had only just begun. They had already whipped out two camps of soldiers prepared to storm the White City. They had planned to take over the city and wait for the rest of the Nephilim to arrive. From there they would lead charge onto Eden, the City having more than enough means of transportation to do so.

The four were no strangers to killing, even on a large scale. Not long ago they had been for their cause. Taking Eden from the humans seemed just in the moment. They hadn't even begun to develop in the image the creator set for them, and were far from monopolizing the planet to rightfully call it theirs. If the Nephilim were quick they could keep the body count low and resistance even lower. But as the crusade went on the four couldn't justify their massacres as a proper means to an end.

Fury looked ahead and though what life would be for her. A boring future that would be achieved by attacking prey that she hardly saw as a worthy force, and far from the tiebreaker between Heaven and Hell the Creator had lead them to believe. Killing her own however, she was more than happy take the chance.

War had always felt a sense of justice that seemed alien in the grand scheme of any realm. While the campaign against the humans proved to be a capable vehicle to quell his seemingly never ending rage, never did he feel such actions were his to call. He was above mindless violence, more than most in fact. Stopping his own kind in the name of what was right, to him, was a fair trade and the right call.

Strife was always weary of violence, in the beginning at least. Sure, proving to be one of the most proficient marksmen in reality was a title he was proud to have, and found using his skills for sport to be plenty fun. But using his talents for something that was innately hurtful only to lead down into a future that would surely only lead to more carnage was a different bag entirely. It felt good to pull the trigger, but that wasn't enough to justify what he was doing when it was something bigger than him. If he could put an end to the conflict now, he had to. It still felt wrong, but it was all he could do.

Death had always done what he could to look out for his siblings. Since all Nephilim were related, there was only so much he was able to. For the ones he could help though, he called family. They were few, but his three younger siblings were who he could be there for. Absalom being the eldest looked out for all Nephilim, and was very much a brother to all who would let him be. But he wasn't family to the rest of the four the same way Death was.

He had taught them how to survive, how to work as a team, how to take a beating and give one back, how to be their own people. Whether his brothers and sister realized it or not, or even if he'd admit it, he had always been there for them. But when the Nephilim militia had declared they were to seize Earth from Man, he didn't know what to do.

Absalom had asked him to be his first lieutenant in the crusade against humanity, a title that he reluctantly accepted. While bloodshed was hardly an issue for him, he knew what he was doing was strictly prohibited. The law was clear.

He didn't have the same entitlement towards Eden as his brother did. His respect towards the humans place in the grand scheme was something that he shared with few. He didn't seek a realm for the Nephilim to call their own, and should they choose to go down this path, it would lead to a fate less than desirable for his siblings. He had to make a choice.

So he did.

His two brothers and one sister had taken him up on his offer to take them to the Charred Council. They would bargain with the Council, and ask that they bring an end to the Nephilim's carnage. The Council would accept their demands, but they were not a forgiving lot. The conflict would be brought to a halt, but in return, the four would forever be their loyal enforcers and be given the power to be so. War, Death, Strife, and Fury. With their first mission being the extermination of the rest of their kind.

Death was still unsure if they were making the right choice. But before he even had a chance to come to terms with what he was doing, Fury had hastened their negotiation to a finish.

"So. What's it going to be?" Strife said turning to older brother.

"..." Death kneeled down to one of his brothers, just freshly killed. And pulled out a knife.

"You three will go to the White City and inform them they won't be dying anytime soon." Death said, he brought the knife to his brother's face and began skinning it, revealing his skull and unprotected eyes.

"And what exactly are you going to do? I doubt the Council will be content with your sloth." Fury said as she placed Scorn back on her belt.

"I'll go on ahead and scout for the rest of the insurgency. They should be here come daybreak tomorrow." Death carved off the front end of his fallen brother's skull starting from his forehead to his deformed chin, making sure to keep it in one piece.

"Hmph. Why even bother telling the birds, I say we just take off and kill the rest now. Or better yet, you three go to the White City while I take on the rest alo-" Fury stopped when she saw her brother, stand up and turn around from his place on the ground.

He had taken the skull from the corpse and fashioned it into a makeshift mask without a mouth, leaving just his orange eyes. She would never admit it but she did a double take there and then.

"Death, what are you-" Strife tried to question him but was cut off.

"Go to the Angels and tell them what happened." He looked at what was left of his family and made his choice then.

None of them knew it, but Death did. He knew what they did would sooner or later leave them with regret for what they would have done. He walked past his siblings, leaving them all to turn their heads as he did so.

"This won't take long."

The other three horsemen looked at one another before looking at the eldest one last time.

"Come." War said, summoning his steed and riding towards the White City, his brother and sister following suite.

He chose his destiny. And chose to do what he always has.

"Stand up."

"H-huh?"

"We're training, in case you forgot."

"Hu- Oh! Right."

Ruby immediately got off the tree trunk she was sitting on and grabbed Crescent Rose. She followed Death as he lead her into a clearing.

"Alright. Show me how you hold your weapon." Death asked.

'We are who we choose to be' ha! Always so certain this one is.

"Y-yeah." Ruby transformed Crescent Rose into its scythe form, and held it so the blade rested near the ground and by her back-most foot.

You think of him to be a fool?

"Alright… hold it up more. Regardless of the swing direction, gravity will do most of the work to get the momentum going."

No. But he isn't like us.

"Okay, but don't you hold yours in a reverse grip? You're the master here and all, but isn't that bad?"

Does he need to be?

"Generally, yes. While the attack comes out faster, it has to travel a longer distance and won't have as much power."

No. But when one's seen as much as we have, it certainly helps.

"So then why do you use it?" Ruby asked.

I think he's seen plenty already.

"Have to give them a chance somehow."

I do too.