Chapter 9:

Red Like Roses – Part 2

"I couldn't take it, couldn't stand another minute"

Was that music Ruby hear?

No, she didn't have time to think about something trivial. She has a Grimm to slay.

"Couldn't bear another day without you in it

All of the joy that I known for all my life

Was stripped away from me the minute that you died"

Yet this music that's building up… It resonates with her. From the pits of her soul to her silvery eyes, this song sang to her.

It knows her.

"To have you in my life was all I ever wanted

But now without you, I'm a soul forever haunted

Can't help but feel that I had taken you for granted

No way in hell that I can ever comprehend this."

Nora and Ren glanced at one another, also wondering where this music is coming from.

"Do you guys hear music?" Ren asked as he dodged a battered claw.

"I wasn't dreaming when they told me you were gone

I was wide awake and feeling that they had to be wrong"

Several grenades went off, blasting chunks of the Deathstalker's carapace, allowing Nora and Yang to inflict critical damage on its weakened armor.

Nora's eyes flickered around the forest, "Where is this music coming from?" Her hammer struck the joints of its arm, crippling its claws. "It must be magic!"

"How could you leave me when you swore that you would stay?

Now I'm trapped inside a nightmare every single f'ing day"

A burst of rose petals zipped through the Deathstalker's crippled arm, a large red scythe tore through its arm. The Deathstalker let out a painful shriek that could be described as deafening. But somehow, everyone could still hear the music, clear and untainted by the sound of battle.

"It's like a movie, but there's not a happy ending

Every scene fades black, and there's no pretending

This little fairy tale doesn't seem to end well

There's no knight in shining armor who will wake me from the spell"

"Nice job sis!" Yang blasted off the ground and delivered a painful punch to the Deathstalker's face, cutting off it's awful screaming. "The tail! Watch out!"

"I know you didn't plan this

You tried to do what's right

But in the middle of this madness"

The stinger gored the earth where Yang was standing. The heavy rumbling of the Deathstalker shook the ground beneath them, its tail repeatedly lashing out in blind hatred and rage.

"I'm the one (I'm the one, I'm the one)

You left to win this fight"

Ren blurred across the field and jumped into the air, firing off his pistols before slashing the tail with the prolong blades of his guns. He grunted as he clung to the Deathstalker's flailing tail, utilizing all of his firepowers to blast its tail lose.

"Now!" He shouted and jumped off the stinger, allowing Ruby to finish the job.

Ruby's eyes briefly flashed, her grip on her Crescent Rose tightened.

And she burst forth in a flurry of rose petals.

"Red like roses

Fills my head with dreams and finds me

Always closer"

Ruby sliced through the tail, bringing the Deathstalker closer to death.

"To the emptiness and sadness

That has come to take the place of you"

Only the Deathstalker's left arm and damaged legs remained. The Grimm knows that this is the end, but it's not going down without a vicious fight.

"I know you're broken down by anger and by sadness

You feel I left you in a world that's full of madness"

"Rampaging Grimm coming through!" Nora shouted, smashing her hammer onto its backside.

The Deathstalker twisted and turned, thrashing the air in its final death throes. Even in its pathetic state, it was still a threat to the hunters-in-training.

If they want to finish this without risking their lives, they will have to cripple its movement before the finishing blow. In a silent agreement, Ren and Ruby dashed in opposite direction, their weapons became a streak of silver and green, chopping through the Deathstalker's leg.

"Wish I could talk to you, if only for a minute

Make you understand the reasons why I did it"

The giant Grimm slammed onto the dirt floor, writhing and screeching.

"Nora! Yang! Finish this!" Ruby hollered, narrowly avoiding a swipe from its claws.

"You got it!"

"Here I come!"

They charged towards the crippled Deathstalker with blistering speed. Straining their arms for the ultimate strike.

"I wanna tell you that you're all that ever mattered"

Dual shockwaves echoed and billowed the forest. The two bruisers crumpled the Grimm from opposite ends, finally ending the menace once and for all.

"Want you to know that, for eternity, I'm shattered

I tried so hard just to protect you, but I failed to

And in a prison of abandonment I've jailed you"

"Woohoo!" Nora spun her hammer in the air, "That was fun! Did you have fun, Ren?"

Ren responded by faceplanting onto the ground. Not that anyone could blame him, it was an exhausting battle.

"Oh, no! Ren!"

"I never planned that I would leave you there alone

I was sure that I would see you when I made it back home

And all the times I swore that it would be okay

Now I'm nothing but a liar, and you're thrown into the fray"

Ruby sat on the ground, sharing Ren's exhaustion. But she also wanted to listen to this song. Jaune was definitely the only person who would play music in the middle of a battle, somewhere in this forest.

"This bedtime story ends with misery ever after

The pages are torn, and there's no final chapter"

"You okay, Rubes?" Yang sat down and placed a hand on her shoulder, "We can take a short break until Ren gets up again." They glanced towards Nora who was gently poking Ren's head with a finger. "Might be a while… Until then, we can enjoy the music Jaune is playing."

"I didn't have a choice; I did what I had to do

I made a sacrifice, but forced a bigger sacrifice on you"

Ruby smiled, "Sounds good."

She closed her eyes and listened deeply to the lyrics, floating out from nowhere.

"I know you've lived a nightmare

I caused you so much pain

But, baby, please don't do what I did

I don't want (I don't want, I don't want)

You to waste your life in vain"

"This alternative rock is awesome." Yang complimented while stretching her arms, "Could use some lyrics to go with it. Feels a bit empty."

That caught Ruby by surprised, "Wait, you don't hear it?"

"The music?"

"The lyrics."

Yang eyed her sister with concern, placing a hand on her forehead. "Did you bump your head?"

Her eyes widen, "M-maybe."

"Red like roses

Fills my head with dreams and finds me

Always closer

To the emptiness and sadness

That has come to take the place of you"

/-/

Jaune's eyes emitted a low fiery glow that slowly dimmed as he finished up the song from his sound synthesizer. The song was instrumental to others, but not to Ruby. The lyrics are not for the ears, but the mind, heart, and soul.

"You're not the only one who needed me; I thought you understood

You were the one I needed, and you left me as I always feared you would

Would I change it if I could?

It doesn't matter how"

No one seemed to have noticed his glowing eyes.

Pyrrha was focused on the entire battle. Ready to jump in if things got bleak. However, after seeing the one-sidedness of the battle, she decided to relax a bit and observed the teamwork they displayed.

"The petals scatter now

Every nightmare just discloses

It's your blood that's red like roses

And no matter what I do

Nothing ever takes the place of you"

Weiss and Blake were still laying on the grass, their legs were still shaking from the flight. Every now and then, they would jolt a bit, feeling the falling sensation. They were officially traumatized by the experience. The one who's suffering the most was Blake; her eyes dilating and bow twitching.

"Red like roses

Fills my head with dreams and finds me

Always closer

To the emptiness and sadness

That has come to take the place of you"

The instrumental slowly came to a soft halt and Jaune closed his sound synthesizer scroll, his fiery glowing eye fading along with the song.

"Let's go meet up with them." He said.

Blake groaned, "My body is not leaving the ground."