Chapter 7 is up. I hope you enjoy it.
I am doing it again, but I will once more thank you all so much for reading the story; I am trying my best to make it enjoyable to all of us.
Special thanks to Reaper of Heroes and Mojo1586 for helping me improve the writing style with their comments.
It took no more than ten minutes for the bumblebee team to reach a large, two-floor mansion with a considerable-sized, snow covered garden filled with chestnut trees. A beautifully crafted iron fence- the only one the girls had seen so far- surrounded the estate, its entrance illuminated by a pair of antique-looking dust powered lamps.
In front of the gate, however, seemed to be a commotion; two armed men were shouting at a woman, who was screaming back at one of them in an exaggerated and over the top manner.
"Oh-ho" Yang playfully exclaimed, giving a side glance at Blake, who nodded "just be civil; don't aggravate them too much." The blonde grinned "I am known all around Vale for my good manners, kitty."
She removed her hat, fixed her less than suitable for this weather attire and strode forward, grinning widely "sup, everyone? You are being really loud, you know."
All three of them turned around to look at her; the woman was at her mid-forties, with elegant features, a pleasant looking face with long black hair and matching deep eyes. She wore what looked like a very expensive poncho in pale color.
The man next to her was forty-something too, with pale skin, dusty-looking black hair and washed away green eyes. He was slightly plump, his expensive black coat looking a little too tight on him.
The third person was thin and a lot younger, about her age, with whitish hair and black eyes. He was the only one among them carrying a gun with him and he was wearing a uniform under his long brown coat. Both men wore the same pendant as the Mayor and the Innkeeper did.
"Who are you, now?" the young one said, his voice slightly hostile. "Aren't you supposed to tell someone your name before asking theirs?" she giggled, almost hearing Blake's eye roll from behind her. "You are the one who interrupted us, uncalled" the older guy remarked.
Yang faked thinking it for a few seconds "hey, you are right, sorry. My name is Yang Xiao Long, huntress extraordinaire, and this is my partner" she pointed towards the faunus who was standing a couple steps behind her "Blake Belladonna."
The boy scoffed, but the other two looked at them "are you members of team RWBY?" the woman asked with a hint of hope in her voice. "Half of it, actually. The others are…"
Blake moved forward, donning a more professional-looking expression "…on their way" she added flatly, putting her hand on the blonde's shoulder "us two arrived earlier than expected."
"That's great!" the man replied, visibly happier now. "I am Isaac Pale and this is my wife, Bonette." "Pleased to meet you both" Yang turned her head toward the other one "you don't have a name, pal?"
The man visibly scoffed, not even pretending to be polite "I have more important things to do" he turned to the Councilor "Sir, we have to hurry, remember? We don't have time for them."
Both huntresses sighed deeply. "What are you talking about, Cyril? They will help us with the investigation!" Ignoring Cyril's protests, Pale turned to Blake "two members of the search party got lost in the woods an hour ago. Sheriff Cloud tried to locate them, but we haven't heard of him since then, too."
Blake's cat ears perked atop "you were searching in the woods this late at night?" "We are looking for a missing person, lady" Cyril replied making Yang tighten her metal fingers.
"What's your problem?" she narrowed her eyes. "My problem is we are wasting time on you instead of doing something, that's my problem." The blonde fumed, taking one step forward before her partner interjected.
"Yang, stop" the faunus spoke, her voice still flat and emotionless "he is right about wasting time anyway. Sir" she turned to Pale "show us the way, please. We might be able to look for them more efficiently." "Thank you so much; we are grateful. Cyril, stop groaning and lead the way."
"Are you sure about that, Blakey?" Yang whispered to her partner as they both strode through the town, following the two men. "Risky it might be, but we can't just sit by and wait- even without Grimm around, the woods is far from safe. The possibility of them having broken a leg or something and freezing to death right now is not one we can ignore."
Yang nodded "you sound like Rubes now." The faunus smiled "Am I? That's a good thing." "Quit talking and keep moving!" the deputy's voice sounded from ahead them as they reached the woods. "I will seriously beat the crap out of him when we get back, kitty."
All four of them moved towards the outing, where they could see seven people waiting for them, with dust lanterns in hand. Two of them had guns as well- too few for the pair's taste. "Who are these two, Cyril?" a tall, muscular boy holding a carbine asked. "They are two of the huntresses I asked for, Ray" Isaac Pale replied.
"Sir" another voice from behind the man continued "we discussed it with the Mayor already; we don't need them." "All right, that's enough!" Yang took a few steps forward, her eyes emanating a partially red glow.
"We are here to help you; not destroy your village. What's the matter with all of you, people? There are four of you lost somewhere out there right now" she pointed further towards the forest "and instead of being happy we are here, you complain? You act as if you don't want us to find them!"
"We will find them on our own, Miss" another guy, tall with washed away blonde hair, stepped forward. He had a harsh look on his face, his blue eyes staring down at her. "You can't barge in as if you own the place- and I know the Mayor asked you to keep out of our business."
"You know what; I've had enough of this" Blake walked next to Yang "you don't want our help, that's fine. It suits us the best. But you can't stop us from searching on our own. Will you join us, Mr. Pale?"
"Of course I will" the man walked towards them "and after we return with the sheriff, the Mayor, you and I will have a very serious talk, Mr. Cotton" he added in an angry manner, following after the huntresses as every other group spread out to search in another part of the woods.
Their boots slowly tread through the snow as the three of them moved through the path, Blake leading the way and the others behind her, with Mr. Pale holding their only lamp. "Your fellow villagers have behavior issues, Councilor" Yang said, after brushing away a snow-covered branch.
"They always disliked strangers to be honest" the man replied. "To that extent?" Blake exhaled and tugged her overcoat tighter. "They were very suspicious of me in the beginning, too. After I talked to Mayor Abbey about my honest interest in the White Altar, they accepted me as one of their own."
They all stopped for a few seconds, the faunus lowering her gaze, carefully examining the ground "someone recently passed through this place; the snow is messed around in a straight line."
"Could he be the sheriff?" her partner asked "I don't know; mild the snowfall it may be, but it still stops me from identifying tracks. Sir, are you sure no other team entered that deep before us?"
"Almost certain." She got up and nodded "let's continue this way then." They started walking again, Yang immediately jumping back to the previous conversation "I noticed your wife doesn't wear your holy symbol; not a fan?"
"Yang, could you at least pretend to be sensitive?" her partner groaned from their front "Mr. Pale is-" "a person who wants your help at this moment" he cut her off. "I appreciate your professionalism, Ms. Belladonna, but there is no need to concern yourself over that."
He turned to Yang again "Right now, I am an anxious father and friend before everything else. And to answer you, Ms. Xiao Long, no she is not a fan of our religion. She simply accepts it, albeit a little begrudgingly."
The blonde chuckled "thanks for keeping it simple" she gave him a friendly pat on the back "and don't worry; we will find your daughter and your friend, who I guess is Mr. Cloud?" Isaac bit his lip "he is a family friend; worked as my bodyguard for a few years, too. Good man, way too obsessed with his work, so he never made any family."
He jumped over a bush, brushing off the snow from his arms "when we built our house here, I supported him becoming the sheriff. It was supposed to be a simple job, since in its two years of existence, there have been no crimes around; everyone obeys the peaceful doctrine of the Altar."
"Let me guess. Communal lifestyle and polite behavior to no end?" Blake turned to their left, jumping over another thorny bush. "Yes, the Altar supports the concept of preserving the ideal place; this heaven on earth its six founders managed to reach. A holy land, safe from the creatures of Grimm. Here, everyone can live peacefully. I-"
He stopped for a second, making both girls stop moving and turn at him "Melia is 17; she is a huntress in training and a fan of your team leader, Ms. Rose. She wants to attend Ozpin Academy so much."
They started moving once more, before he continued "normally I visit the village on my own; the reason I brought everyone with me, was so they would be able to see for themselves this place."
Yang shook her head "you hoped she would change her mind." "I am ashamed to say, but yes. I…just couldn't bear the idea of my girl training to fight the same monsters that we saw rampaging through Beacon five years ago."
"I guess she didn't take that too well, did she?" the blonde asked in a concerned voice. "We had a few heated arguments about that back at home, even the day before she disappeared" he added bitterly.
"I…can understand that" Yang replied. "Our team leader, Ruby, is my little sister. Before everything started, before she trained to become the hero she is, we fought a lot about her becoming a huntress. I felt the exact same thing at some point." Blake looked back at her partner, smiling softly. "And what did you do, then?" Mr. Pale asked.
She laughed, a fond memory of her childhood bursting through her mind "my father told me that it was more important to help her be who she wants, than force her be who I want to. It's one of the few great things he said- keep it in mind when we rescue her and you talk about it."
He allowed a small smile to grace his lips, as all of them reached the meeting point, a small outing behind a thick tree line. Blake nodded them to stop as she stealthily scouted the area. He turned to Yang again "I will keep that in mind, thank-"
"Come in- and be careful" the raven-hair girl cut him off, her voice much more emotionless than before. Yang walked first and Isaac followed suit, the blonde lowering her head and suppressing a curse before stepping by and allowing him to take a view of the scene.
In the middle of the opening, three pools of frozen blood were spread, the tiny snowflakes falling through the trees slowly piling up on top of the red stains. In the nearest of them was a broken lamp, its shards scattered around, and two small black objects.
Blake slowly moved towards it, enough for her eyes to recognize one small-caliber handgun and a flare gun. "Think they belonged to them?" Yang asked her partner, standing next to her. "Unless we forgot anyone else" Blake replied in a saddened voice.
"No… for Altar's sake, no!" Isaac Pale fell to his knees, his hands covering his mouth while he tried his best to not vomit. Tears started running down his face, the bloody mess not only confirming his worst fears about the men's fate, but stirring up his suppressed terror about his daughter as well.
Yang quickly reached to him, helping the poor man stand. "Have some water" he took a sip, washing away the bile climbing up his throat. "Do you feel any better?" He licked his lips and spat "just a little, thanks a lot Ms. Xiao Long." She gave off a weak smile.
"This is so weird…" Blake's voice came from behind them, making Yang turn around and look at the cat faunus. "What does she mean?" the man asked. The huntress gave off a weak laugh "well, she is talking about the missing bodies, sorry to put it this way."
"I am afraid I don't get it." "To put it bluntly, Sir" Blake continued "Grimm and wild beasts attack humans, but they don't eat everything. There should be…remains of them on the ground." "Maybe…they ran away?" he asked with a little tinge of hope in his voice.
Yang sighed, before shaking her head in dismissal, snow falling off her cowboy hat. "With so much blood missing? Hardly. And we would have seen blood trails of them moving away."
"That's another thing baffling me, Yang. Even if it completely disposed of them, how did the killer leave this place without disrupting the scene? There are no footprints" she checked both guns "their weapons are fully loaded and the only sign they were attacked and killed is the broken lamp, the guns and their blood on the ground."
The tall woman raised her head, looking towards the trees "maybe some airborne Grimm took them out?" Blake clicked her tongue "under such thick canopies? Without them spotting it, or hearing it quickly enough to take cover, or at least shoot a few rounds? Sheriff Cloud is an ex-huntsman." "You do have a point there, kitten."
Blake stood up, wrapping the two guns in a towel and putting them in her bag. An impossible attack… three people dead on top of a disappearance… vanishing corpses without a trace…
"…they surpass everything you think you knew about Grimm…"
Salem's voice suddenly flashed in her mind, slowly crawling from a dark corner of her memories. Could it be…no, calm down Blake. This is a long shot by all means. There is no evidence behind-
Her cat ears perked, the faint sound of leaves rustling, despite the lack of wind, altering Blake to the presence of others. "Yang" she said, without raising her voice "we have movement at your nine."
Lilac eyes narrowed, as Yang slowly shifted towards the location, allowing Ember Celica to cock in place, putting herself between the Councilor and anyone who was coming at them. A few steps away, Blake slowly drew Nightfall, the lava-red blade shining at the dim light of Pale's lamp.
The sound of rustling leaves grew, now audible by all three of them, accompanied by another sound- heavy breathing. A few meters away from them, the bushes rustled, branches snapped and the sound became heavier as a pair of Grimm entered the outing.
Both huntresses opened their eyes in surprise; the medium-sized creatures in front of them were definitely Grimm; to Yang, they reminded her of The Apathy.
They had a black human-like form, with long, clawed bony legs, arms and torso, a white bony mask had replaced their face and a pair of wicked red eyes shone hungrily through their sockets.
But that was where their similarities with any other Grimm they had ever seen ended. Their wide open mouths had no teeth, save for two pairs of long, sanguine-red canines. At the top of their skulls, huge, black bat-like ears protruded from the mask. Their bodies were surrounded by a thin, dark mist that Yang swore smelled evil, if that was an acceptable description.
The two creatures stared at them, tilted their heads as if seizing the two women, and filled the night with an eerie howl that sent the man behind them screaming on the ground, before charging at their prey.