Thankfully I managed to not skip this week after all. With no more to say and no intention to blabber, here's the next chapter; I sincerely hope you like it.
The towering form of the church slowly rose above their heads as Ruby and Weiss steadily climbed the road leading towards it. The massive rectangular building easily dwarfed every establishment in the area and had a vivid white coloration. Along with the green vines beautifully crafted all over the windows and outer walls, slowly covered by a thin fog, it seemed so out of place that the ex-heiress momentarily shivered.
There was no fence and no guards stood around to protect it, as the pair moved towards the tall brown doors in the entrance. On their left, a small isolated area filled with graves greeted them, making Ruby raise an eyebrow.
"Have you ever seen something like this?" she asked Weiss. "Which one; the questionable aesthetic, the lack of any proper surveillance or the cemetery right next to their sacred ground?" Ruby smiled awkwardly "well…all of them."
The white girl looked at her with a thinking expression "I think the cemetery is somehow tied to their religion or something- probably some sort of 'resting place away from the Grimm' symbolism." "That sounds right." "As for the rest, other than them being slackers, I have no idea."
They moved through the fog, reaching the gates, and tried moving them, to no avail. "My fair lady" Ruby made a childish exaggerated bow before Weiss pointed Crown, sending a small purple gravity glyph that slammed onto the door's lock, pushing it open, allowing Ruby to get in.
"You know, that's technically breaking and entering" she said. "You know, you should have thought that before you helped me open it" Ruby put her head out and winked at her, making the pale girl roll her eyes "just let me get in, you dolt." "Sorry" she replied "just wanted to release some stress before we get started."
Weiss stood for a moment, before stepping in after her partner. "Does that stress have to do with the possibility of the pool of life being here?" she asked as they both strode through the main hall, moving around tall white pillars, covered in green marble vines. "Yes."
"Does it have to do with you thinking whether it could heal Jaune or not?" Even without her turning around, Weiss could see her leader's face drop. "Can we please focus on the altar? It must be this way" she pointed towards their front, picking up the pace as she broke away from Weiss, who suppressed a sigh before following her.
The altar was truly there; a wide circle made of pure white stone, forming three thin columns that looked like they were being shot out of the earth, reaching up to nearly two meters high. The glowing surface of the stone seemed to be reflecting the light coming outside the windows, illuminating the Holy Place without any sort of dust being utilized.
The columns were not perfect circles; rather, their surface was serrated and the edges were thrashed. "It looks rather simplistic" Weiss exclaimed "albeit beautiful." "It also looks ancient" Ruby trailed her hand over the pillar "it definitely is older than anything we have seen outside the Grimmlands."
A smile slowly formed on her lips- but she immediately suppressed it. What are you, a kid? You should be ashamed, Rose! You have a mission! Hoping that her friend hadn't seen her, Ruby turned on her torch "according to what Ms. Goodwitch told us, Melia was around here the last time everyone saw her. Let's see what we can find."
About half an hour later, both girls were standing next to the altar, looking at each other trying to gather their thoughts. Their search had proven to be fruitless; no traces of the girl, of anyone else and anything unusual happening in the place.
"Either she simply ran off on her own, or whoever took her was really good at covering his tracks. Unless the local police lied to Goodwitch and messed around the place." "Yeah…" Ruby stood up, her silver eyes scanning around the white circle. "But she can't have vanished, now. Someone would have seen her. This is so frustrating!"
The pale girl nodded in agreement, despite the seemingly out-of-nowhere complains, her arms and shoulders slumping down as she looked at the pristine white floor- wait, what?
Weiss got up "Ruby, look behind you." The red girl turned around, confused. "I mean down on the floor, you dolt. There are marks next to the altar." Both girls knelt down; there truly were some white marks, trailing in a circular, door-like pattern originating from the white stones. "It looks like something was moved across it!" Ruby grinned "Weiss, you are a genius! How do you think it opens?"
Instead of answering, she spun Myrtenaster, conjuring a huge black glyph across the surface next to the trail. Drawing her rapier back, she felt the floor moving, as the altar slowly and steadily opened, revealing a dark passage. Under the dim illumination, they both saw a stone staircase leading down, thin fog pouring out of it. "Yes" Ruby said "now I can do it!"
Weiss raised an eyebrow at her leader's antics. Ruby had a tendency of acting childish, even among missions of such importance, but…this time she was off. The red-clad reaper never used vague language, and never referred to herself instead of her team.
"What can you do, Ruby?" Laughter filled the place; a childish, yet wicked laughter coming out of the girl's mouth, that made Weiss' hair stand on edge. "Save Jaune- it will show me how!" Ruby turned around- and Weiss' heart nearly stopped.
Her friend, her leader, her teammate; the gentlest and purest soul she had ever met, was looking at her with a malicious grin, her eyes shining with a bright red color; unlike Yang's passionate and fiery ones, these were pulsing with savage glee, nearly dripping out of her face.
"R-Ruby?" she whispered "what are you-" "Let's go, Weiss! We have a girl to find!" the moment passed, and the image got lost, a confused Ruby now staring at the ex-heiress, her innocent silver pools open wide in worry." "Are you ok? You look like you saw a ghost, Weiss." I might actually have, she thought as she stood up.
"I am fine, sorry. I am just a little tired from using my semblance, that's all" or at least I hope so. "Come see what I found" Ruby motioned her to come closer, showing a small, red object that was lying on top of the staircase. "Is that a girl's shoe?" "I think Melia went this way." "Good" she took a couple steps backwards "let's go find Blake and Yan-" "Agh!" the groan of pain coming from Ruby's mouth stopped her in her tracks.
Weiss turned around, just in time to see the fluttering red cloak of her partner vanishing inside the opening, the wicked laughter filling the church's interior as Rose Petals drifted in the air. She blinked. Twice. Three times. The only sound coming from inside was her partner's voice "they are caaaaliiing meee!"
"WAIT; RUBY!" activating her white glyphs, the pale woman skated the distance, jumping as fast as she could inside the opening. She drew Crown and commanded her fire dust to light the sword's blade, as she kept skating down the ladder, following her leader's laughter. "RUBYYY!" she shouted, landing at a narrow, stone-made tunnel, before accelerating once more, to reach her-
She stopped. Ruby was standing right in front of her, her form half-covered in the darkness, illuminated only by Weiss' flaming sword. Her wide grin shone in the reflection of the fire dust and her bloody eyes were gazing at her "what do you want? I am sorry, but I have something I need to do."
"You are not being yourself, Ruby. What is happening to you?" She stopped grinning "I am going to use the power of the pool of light- to heal Jaune." "Get back to your senses, Ruby!" "NO! YOU GET BACK TO YOUR SENSES! I AM USING THE GOOD-FOR-NOTHING-POOL!" her screaming made Weiss flinched; Ruby rarely screamed-and only for very good reasons.
The girl stepped forward, a serious expression plastered over her face. Weiss' eyes opened wide as she saw a weird, red-black mist slowly creeping around her. "JAUNE DESERVES IT! I DESERVE IT!" the mist started to rise, making Weiss draw her swords; whatever that thing was, she had to find a way to kick it- the image of a shadow, filled with malice and hugging Ruby while staring at her with sharp, predatory eyes suddenly appeared behind the red girl.
That was the final straw. Activating her time dilation glyph with Crown, Weiss shot forward, Myrtenaster pointing at the girl's feet. Ruby drew Crescent Rose and reacted with incredible- even by her standards- speed, smashing Weiss' outstretched arm away, before spinning on her leg to kick the fencer in the stomach.
Surprised by the sudden brutality and insane reaction time of the reaper, Weiss barely managed to hold Crown in order to- Ruby punched her in the face, dropping her on the ground. A second, jet-fast punch slammed Weiss' petite frame down, kicking the air out of her lungs. Before she even managed to gasp in pain, Ruby kicked her weapons away and stood above her, red eyes filled with hatred as she readied her rifle for shooting.
"Why do you guys get to be happy" cyan locked on red, Weiss trying to contain her pain "while I get to spend my days in a hospital room, talking to a living corpse?" Weiss' mouth moved, her lips curling upwards to form a gentle smile "you are aiming Crescent Rose at me, Ruby."
Ruby blinked, as if trying to comprehend what she meant. "Are you really going to shoot me, partner?" "Yes" she raised the weapon slowly once more, the mist slowly moving- and then Ruby's hands trembled, as her finger hovered over the trigger. Her lips slowly parted "sister?" Ruby dropped Crescent Rose, her entire body shaking in anger.
"Who are you?" she asked, making Weiss confused. Her eyes had turned back to silver "GET OUT OF MY HEAD! STOP LOOKING AT ME WITH THESE RED EYES!" the mist swirled around the brunette, who had fallen on her knees, clutching her head.
With a quick motion of her left arm, Weiss threw a crystal just behind her friend, hitting the miasmatic cloud head on just before she grabbed her rapier and conjured a wall to shelter them from the blast that shook the entire cave to its core.
-0-
"How much time do you think has passed?" Ruby's voice echoed in the empty tunnel as she walked back towards the staircase. "Enough time for Blake and Yang to get worried, unless they got into some trouble of their own as well" Weiss replied, currently in a piggy-back ride in her partner's back. "I see the stairs- we will be there soon."
"Thank Dust- I still shiver from what happened down there." They started climbing the stairs "about that, Weiss…" "Don't worry; whatever that was, it wasn't you." "That doesn't change the fact I shouted at you Weiss…" another few steps up "I became angry at your happiness…" Weiss felt her trembling "…I called Jaune a living corpse…" she clenched her teeth "I nearly shot you with my baby."
"I know" Weiss replied gently, hugging her leader's body as she moved a few steps more- the light coming out of the altar was now visible from the opening above them. "I only want to ask one thing, Ruby. Do you really hate-" "Don't even think about it!" the voice replying to Weiss was hoarse and strained, accompanied by sniffs and pants- Ruby was crying.
"I could never, ever hate you, or Blake, or Yang. You are my team; my sisters, my family. Exploiting my love for Jaune… making me say these things to you…that vile bastard." "You swore; that's a bad sign- you only swear when you are mad."
"I am not mad; I am furious. I want to grab my babe, get down there and kill that thing- whatever it is. But we will do it the proper way- after we get you to have some rest."
They carefully crawled out of the trapdoor, Ruby immediately pushing the mechanism back in its place, putting all of her remaining strength behind her effort. Muscles flared, her body quivered, her hands got bloodied. But it was nothing- nothing compared to the pain she had inflicted upon her partner.
The stone finally gave in and Ruby sealed the entrance completely, panting and gasping for breath. "Are you all right? That seemed exhausting." "Fine" she replied "I am fine" she trembled, the adrenaline rush slowly leaving her body. "You are not."
"I know; I just…don't want to talk about it right now. I promise I will." She smiled to her friend "but at this moment, I only want to get you to rest- then we will talk."
Weiss nodded, as she gently put her arm underneath Ruby's, helping her to stand up. "Let's go then; I am sure Yang and Blake must be worried sick right now."
Slowly and tenderly, the pair supported each other's arms and exited the church grounds, moving through the thin fog out in the narrow road, trying their best to discreetly reach Pale Mansion.
"What are you two doing out here?!"
And failing in the most spectacular way.