RWBY: Grey Chapter 3
"Yuri... are you still awake?" Blake asked. She was looking down at the young man, who had amazingly remained in the same kneeling position for the past four hours. She had managed to get some sleep between their last conversation, but... she just couldn't take her mind off of him... she had too many questions. He shifted almost immediately, opening his eyes and looking up at her. "I am." He answered. He shifted off of his knees and stood up to look at her. "Is there something you need?" He asked quietly.
She nodded. "I... want to ask about you." She said, jumping silently off of her bunk. He smiled walking just past her to the window, opening it fully. "Okay..." He said. Before she could say anything, he turned, lifted her into his arms, and leapt silently out the window. She almost screamed, the dorm was so high off of the ground, and he just jumped out the window!? He spoke as they plummeted towards the forest below. "Did you know... young wolves will protect the young of larger cats when they're in danger, so that they can hunt together with them when they get older?" He asked. They passed through the canopy and Yuri landed his heel into the trunk of a tree. Amazingly, the tree bowed under their combined weight, and took the majority of the impact. Even still, for her... the ground couldn't have come sooner.
Yuri put Blake down, and it took her a minute to stop shaking. "You're absolutely insane." She said. He turned to her and cocked his head. "I don't think that anything I've ever done is sane. Now come on, we're almost there." He said. She gave a rather frustrated sigh, then followed him when he started walking. "Where exactly are we going?" She asked. He turned to face her, with a rather sad look plaguing his face. "Those four people in the photo? We're... going to their graves." He said, then turned away. Wait... they're dead? I thought... maybe they had went separate ways... that's why those things are "precious" to him. She felt even worse about going through his things now.
They walked in silence for about ten minutes. He had closed his eyes when he told Blake of his friends, and he had kept them closed as he made his way deftly along the unseen path. She darted her eyes around, before realizing something: They weren't alone, a pack of Beowolves had begun following them at a distance. "Um... Yuri there's-" "I know." He said, without opening his eyes. He shifted his nose into the air, giving a few distinct soft sniffs. "Sometimes, the prey... will forget who the hunter is." He said, then he smiled. "I don't have the greatest vision in the dark, since I'm human. But, my hearing and sense of smell is better than that of the Faunus. Tell me, since you can see them... there are three of them... right?" He asked.
Blake made a quick check of the area around them. He was right, three Beowolves had begun closing in on them slowly. Yuri grinned. "It's very rare... that I fight Grimm, not to say that I've never done it..." He said. He pulled off the black undershirt he had been wearing, and it didn't take Blake too long to realize what he was talking about... he had a huge scar running down his back. "Believe it or not... this scar... came from the day where I buried my friends." He said. He turned back to her. "Do you know the difference... between a Hunter, and a Huntsman?" He asked.
By now, the Beowolves had slowly crept closer, and were now withing striking distance of Yuri. Blake had also realized that neither of them had their weapons. Then, just like that, the first attack came, as one of the beasts lunged towards him. Blake attempted to shout, but Yuri, to her surprise had already moved. He shifted his body just a bit to the left, then when the Beowolf passed him, he grabbed its arm and spun it face first into the tree next to them. His hands still clenched around its arm, he pressed his foot against its side. He pulled, and the flesh and bone between its shoulder and torso gave way with a rather nasty rip. The Beowolf howled in pain, and began flailing itself wildly.
It didn't last long, as Yuri turned its hand to face it, then rammed the claws through its skull. "A Hunter... eliminates those that attacks them, while a Huntsman... tracks and eliminates anything they conceive as a threat." He said. The other two moved in, albeit slowly. Yuri turned, and gave a rather authentic snarl, making the beasts pause. Then she saw it. He didn't bring his mask with him... did he? No, he got straight up and grabbed me. So why is there one on his face? She looked him over, then noticed that he's changed quite a bit after he snarled.
A black substance had coated his arms, chest, and back almost like a fur. He snarled again. "You see, there are two kinds of animals in this world, those who get slaughtered, and those who slaughter, I'm the latter, but rather than slaughter, I use my gifts to protect... because I've seen suffering... and I don't think anyone should have to go through that." He said. He doesn't even seem angry... more sad than anything. The other two lunged at him, and he caught them in his claws, crushing their heads with seemingly no struggle. He dropped them to the ground, then turned back to Blake.
The substance on his body dissipated, and not long after, the masked wisped away as well. Yuri's eyes, carrying a wild, unbridled look, shifted to Blake. "You're alright, yes?" He asked. She nodded. "What... was that?" She asked. He smiled, seemingly calm once again. "What you just saw... is Grimm Visage." "That... was my gift, passed down to me from my parents." He said. "So... it was a Semblance?" She asked. He shook his head vigorously. "No... a Semblance... would never be so evil." He said. "Evil?" She asked. "My body... is a vessel for evil. As a vigilante... I've been taking on the burdens of those around me... protecting them from being used by others... it's taxing, and one day it went to far... I snapped, and became that... thing... that evil." He said.
"You... snapped? What caused that?" She asked. He turned sharply. "It's not important, it's over now." He said. "Let's go, we're almost there." She followed wordlessly. I'm almost certain that he knows I'm a Faunus... and he hasn't bothered me about it. So I won't him on this... since it seems to dredge up something he doesn't want to think about, and that's fine... if he wants to open up to me, he will. The walked silently again, then a small clearing came into view in the distance. Along with four distinct mounds of stone. They passed through the treeline after a moment. He turned to her. "Be careful, they like to come around here when I'm out. They nest here because of the aura my friends give off." He said.
Blake looked around, and, upon seeing that there were no creatures, let alone Grimm for at least a few miles, she relaxed. "Why would the Grimm care about the aura?" She asked. He smiled. "In the Menagerie, there was an old library that I frequented on rather... rainy nights..." He started. "I... must have read almost every selection that was available... but I really loved to study the Grimm, and there was one book that truly intrigued me." He said. He walked over to the furthest mound and she to the one closest to her. She took a moment to inspect the graves. They were rather large, and despite her previous assumption, they weren't mounds at all, they were hollow stones.
She pressed her hand to the surface, it was cool... wait... what is this exactly? It's almost pulsating under my palm... like it still has a heartbeat. "You feel it... right?" Yuri asked. She nodded, still entranced by the soft beating from the stone. "Why... um are... they all like this?" She asked. He nodded, then pointed to the stone. "That's Kaia's grave." He said. "She... was my best friend." He said. "She was the daughter of my father's business partner, and despite being older than me by a few years, she would always stick by my side. We were never apart." He said with a smile.
"If you don't mind me asking, what happened to them?" She asked. "Something went wrong... that's all." He said. So that's a no go too, eh? That's fine, I don't know him that well, so I don't expect him to talk about things like this yet. "What about the White Fang?" She asked. He smiled weakly, making his way to each of the stones as he spoke. "Honestly... the principle behind their actions is wonderful, they want equality... but the actions behind their principle... violence... to achieve change... will only be met with violence to keep the norm." He said. He turned to her. "I will always... stand for what's right... to me... right now that's changing everyone." She looked at him confusedly.
Change... everyone? "How do you plan on doing that?" She asked. He smiled, then stepped towards her. "When you look at me... what do you see?" He asked. She was rather taken aback at the question. What... do I see? "Well... I see a Human." She said. "That... is the problem." He said, stepping closer to her again. "If you and I... can't begin to see one another as people, rather than the respective species that we belong to, nothing will change." He said. He smiled at her and turned back to face the graves. "When I looked at them, I never saw Humans or Faunus, I just saw my friends... people." He said happily. "We never saw each other based on characteristics that we did or didn't have... we were just us." He said.
"Come on, we should head back." He said. Yeah he's right... I'm actually starting to feel weak... I guess only three hours of sleep does that to you. She nodded and they began the trek back to the school. As they walked quietly, Blake began recounting the events of the past hour. So I found out that his friends are dead, but not how they died. I saw that "thing" that he can do, but not what it is. I learned that he is... I suppose a friend to Faunus. Also... something happened to him, that's haunting him... but I can't even begin to consider what happened. Wow, if I'm being honest... I didn't really learn much... but he was willing to explain some things, so that's a start.
Her mind began to feel cloudy... and she realized that they were still quite a ways away from the school. "Hey can we-" She didn't finish, but rather gave a start when she felt Yuri lift her into his arms. "You... you don't need to carry me." She said, looking up at him. He smiled and nodded. "You're right, I don't... but I want to. So sleep, I'll wake you when we get there." He said. She would have argued, but she really hadn't gotten any sleep... so she did as he said, drifting off to the slow deliberate pace that he had taken.
"Hey, we're back." Yuri said, propping Blake on his forearm. She stirred after a moment, then shot upright. "How long did it take?" She asked. "Well... about 2 hours to scale the cliffs to the school... and I stood here for another hour, since I didn't think that you had enough time to rest." He said with a smile. Is he this nice to everybody? She looked around them, they were in the hall, right outside the door. She looked back at him, then smiled. "Thanks... for... you know." She said. He nodded. "If either of us couldn't extend some semblance of kindness towards one another, how could we hope for Humans and Faunus to become equals?" He said. Her blood ran cold. Wait does that mean he knows that I'm a Faunus... no... he hasn't said anything about it... calm down Blake, everything's okay.
They silently looked at one another for a moment, then she smiled. "You know... it's only been a day since we met... but I'm starting to feel a lot more comfortable around you." She said. Despite the fact that I can't tell if you see through me or not. He smiled in return. "Hopefully I don't slow your team down. As I said, I've minimized my run-ins with the Grimm... so I'm not an expert in fighting more than a few at a time." He said. She shrugged. I think he'll be okay. Yuri turned and opened the door. "There you two are!" Came Yang's voice in the darkness. "I was wondering when you two would get back." She said. Blake could see that she was taping up her hands. Yang turned to Yuri. "You ready for our match?" She asked.
Am I ready? Fuck I hope so.
