Hello everyone; I am back to uploading, how are you doing? Chapter 25 is here. It came out a little smaller than I wanted to, but I hope you enjoy it! No matter what, thanks for reading and following! See you all next week!
Alizar stood at the balcony, smiling, looking through the binoculars. The momentary pulse of light coming from the old lighthouse had been snuffed and the thick mist had once more covered the tower's topmost part.
"What is so interesting?" Cherry, book in hand, walked outside behind him. The damp atmosphere curled her fur, making her mood even worse than usual.
"Team RWBY, or at least a part of it, encountered Fog. The situation is rather fascinating, if I say so myself."
"Fog?" she narrowed her eyes. "The dark energies pulsing from Avyssos permeate the entire island, as you know" he replied without turning around.
"As a result, all surviving Grimm have developed some interesting attributes. Among them, Fog is my favorite; a Geist that has possessed a mass of mist instead of a solid object."
A hum of interest made the man lower his equipment and turn around to look at her. Cherry was smirking in satisfaction "this is one of the most fascinating things that have ever come out of your mouth."
"Praising me while insulting me; that's so much like you." He lowered his gaze, seeing that she had fixed her weapon on her back. "Are you already going?"
"You promised me a chance to fight them, didn't you?" her voice was flat and emotionless as she tightened her kimono. "I didn't expect you to be that battle-crazed that's all."
"Fighting worthy opponents like Ruby Rose is a chance I rarely get. If I can capture her in combat, instead of letting her be tortured mentally and physically according to your plan, then it's a win-win situation for me."
He sighed "we will never see eye to eye, will we?" She raised her mask "it's not my fault you can't look up here." Ignoring her as she walked away, Alizar turned his attention back to the tower.
-o-
Yang held Weiss' body tight in her arms, her breath slowly returning. The petite girl, frigid cold when she had found her, was steadily getting warmer due to the blonde's semblance.
To take down Weiss like this… gray entered her vision as the cloud swarmed around her. Yang flared her semblance once more, ready to punch anyone daring to attack, but nothing came.
Instead, a wave of overwhelming frost fell upon her. She felt her girlfriend tense again as the mist engulfed them. Her skin crawled, as she could sense her reserves slowly diminish… this thing is so cold, it actually eats my aura!
"Win...ter? Sis?" Weiss' whimpering tore Yang's heart as another cold assault made her curl protectively around the white-themed girl. This is no good, time to get the lower ground.
She gave a strong kick to the floor and jumped back, falling down the ladder as the mist swirled in accordance to her movement. Hugging Weiss tightly, she suppressed a groan of pain as she crashed on her back.
There was no time for messing around, however. Yang got up, gently helping the shivering girl back on her feet. She rubbed her eyes, slowly opening her lids, as the blonde examined the ceiling.
Much to her surprise, the fog didn't seem to follow, despite the growing cold. "How are you feeling baby?" "I had the weirdest dream. My head spins and I feel like I just came out of our refrigerator." She rubbed her shoulders, clearing ice from her metal shoulder pads. "I will live, nonetheless."
"Well, that's good. I am glad to see you up and standing" she appreciated. The pale pink had slowly crept back on her skin and if Weiss had enough energy to complain, then she was better than she seemed to.
"But I am sorry; it wasn't a dream" she pointed towards the ceiling, earning a wide-eyed stare from the alabaster girl as they both watched the soaked planks getting frozen solid, the temperature inside the room steadily dropping.
"So it wasn't a dream- this fog actually attacked me" she drew Myrtenaster and Crown, spinning both chambers to fire dust. "Yeah. We should get out of here; otherwise we will end up like this guy behind you."
"What guy behind m-" Weiss snapped back, suppressing the scream that came out from her very soul when she came face to face with the frozen corpse.
"He froze to death" she felt her breath turning ragged, as the drops started freeze and fall like small crystals on the floor. Gray shimmering mist started slowly descending from the opening in a very intelligent and predatory manner.
"Weissyy~ time to go!" Yang shouted. "No- we stay here. And take this down." Lilac eyes glared at her "we what?" "We can't outrun a fog cloud, Yang! And we need a place to rest"
Cyan disks shone in a purple hue as two blades flared with dust, casting their light on Weiss' eyes "this thing is going down."
"Damn, you are making me fall for you all over again" Yang grinned as she walked next to her. "What's the plan, Weiss-captain?"
She narrowed her eyes as the fog kept pouring in "I have a couple suspicions I want to confirm; follow my lead and stay alert."
The first suspicion was easy to confirm- as soon as the entire ceiling was covered in a thin layer of ice, the mist charged. So it has enough intelligence to go after us directly, huh? "Blast it!"
Yang complied with Weiss' command and shot a missile, as both of them jumped back to the wall. The projectile passed through it and broke the wall, sending rabble all around the lighthouse.
The mist hit them head on, engulfing both huntresses in its icy clutch. Immediately, two black glyphs appeared beneath their feet and propelled them towards the other side of the room.
The couple landed and turned around as the cloud went after them at once. "Shoot again!" the blast once more ignored the gaseous body and created another large hole.
Weiss didn't wait for their enemy to fall upon them again, however. Making a swift arc with her blades, she activated a gravity-powered glyph in front of Yang.
The foggy mass slammed in front of it, just a few cm before the blonde. The power of the gravity dust kept it away, allowing both of them to reposition to their right before the barrier gave off.
"Smash the wall behind us!" Yang's swift metal punch broke the wooden plank. "Jump away!" Without looking back, she rolled on the floor and shot another missile at her previous spot, opening a larger hole as the cloud hovered behind her.
Weiss smirked as now three gaping holes in triangular positions on the wall had been formed. She landed gracefully in front of the only location without an opening, still smiling at the massive cloud in front of them. Just one more remaining.
Two sharp gasps resonated through the room, as both Weiss and Yang got impaled by large frozen spikes protruding from the floor. Their auras shook violently, as pain permeated their feet.
The girls looked down, horrified to see that the entire floor had been frozen and razor-sharp stalagmites rapidly grew in different sizes, slicing through the wood and their own bodies.
The entity didn't waste time. Grey mist assaulted their senses, as the chilling cold attacked their skin. It dried their mouths and hurt their nostrils. Their eyes felt like they would never open again from the severe pain.
"WEISS!" Yangs pained scream echoed. "I AM FINE! BLOW UP THE FLOOR!" "WHA-" the response was strained, like the blonde's vocal chords at this point. "JUST DO IT; LEAVE THE REST TO ME!"
The rising heat from the explosion, followed by the loss of foothold, felt like divine intervention to the alabaster huntress. She instinctively created a large white rune below them, allowing her and her girlfriend to avoid a very unpleasant crash landing.
Yang got on her feet, wiping away some wood splinters, the exact moment Fog rushed down after them.
Weiss spun Crown, forming a triangle of black glyphs beneath them. "When we get up, blast the wall in the remaining location to create a cross-shaped formation of holes, ok?"
"Sure" she only managed to reply to Weiss before the glyph system flared and shot them upwards. Deep cold momentarily pierced them as they rapidly passed thought the mass and reached the upper floor once more.
Yang quickly created the last hole required, as Weiss formed another floating foothold for them. "As soon as it reaches us, I want you to make us jump and grab the ladder that goes up, ok?"
The tall huntress nodded as her teammate quickly rotated the dust chambers to green. The grey mist below swirled and started ascending as she quickly cast one glowing green glyph at each of the four holes.
The freezing cloud surrounded them once more. "NOW, YANG!" Ember Celica roared and Yang Xiao Long made the jump and grabbed the ladder, her legs hovering in the air as her left arm held Weiss tight.
The petite lady pointed Myrtenaster towards the center of the room where their enemy floated and activated her wind glyphs.
At Weiss' command the circles flared; a powerful burst of energy shot forward from each opening, creating a dust-propelled twister of rain and wind.
Their enemy got simultaneously hit at all sides from the blast. Its gaseous mass got shriveled and surrounded by the powerful elemental attacks.
It tried to spread and escape, but its misty body got repelled by the cage of wind and rain, effectively trapping it inside. Weiss wasted no time. She flipped Myrtenaster's chamber to ice dust and cast a freezing rune.
The effect was immediate. The fog cloud, surrounded by wind and water, totally froze. Its mass turned into a giant ice shard, like a floating iceberg- and fell crashing onto the lighthouse's ground floor.
The sound of it breaking into pieces filled the interior. Both huntresses looked down; its form had been completely destroyed, leaving nothing but shattered remains in its place.
Weiss stowed both swords away, before grabbing the semi-frozen ladder "this is so cold!" she whined, earning a tighter hug from Yang. "Metal arm to the rescue" she giggled.
"Sorry" Weiss accidentally stepped on the tall girl's knee, trying to establish a foothold. "No problem- at least we are...safe?"
Yang's tone changed immediately, making Weiss turn and look down again. She raised her eyebrows in confusion. Confusion that immediately turned to anger.
The ground floor of the building was filled in rabble, the wreckage from the collapsed floor and the remains of the monstrous entity. Rising up from beneath them, however, the gray freezing cloud slowly gathered in the middle.
"No..." Weiss gasped, while Yang suppressed her urgency to swear. Her lilac eyes saw the fog reform, getting amassed in a large orb in the middle. "It didn't work" she heard her lover whisper.
Didn't it? She focused her gaze. Not only the dense mass was much thinner and slower than normal, it didn't even acknowledged their presence at all. As if it is dizzy...
Then her gaze spotted something in the middle of the orb. Something small and well-concealed- and very familiar. So that's how it is, huh? I've gotta hand it to you, pal.
"Baby I have a plan, are you in?" The ex-heiress shot her a confused look. "that thing is a Grimm. I am going down there." "WHAT? Are you out of your mind?"
Yang moved slightly "There is a solid mass in its middle. I only want you to shoot both of us out of the door the moment I grab it- leave the rest to me."
The petite girl let an unladylike groan "I trust you to know that if you die, I am going to kill you." She put her left leg on the ladder and released her body from Yang's grip.
"I love you too" she winked as she jumped down. Yang didn't even bother halting her fall, as she created a crater on the floor, splintering wood and crashing ice.
The Grimm reacted at once. Instead of gathering its gaseous body, it sent the cloud upon the huntress, as she started walking towards it. She barely managed to put one small yellow shard inside her hand's gun before the enemy surrounded her.
Cold assaulted her once more- this time with a very focused and devastating frenzy behind it. Yang grinned. Seems you don't want me closer to you right now, do you?
Her semblance flared, engulfing her body in power. Adrenaline filled her body, as she left the tingling sensation of her fiery bursts on energy clashing with the gripping frost of the Grimm.
She kept advancing, still smiling. Her aura cracked and shivered. Her body tensed as another wave of cold wind hit her head on, but she was getting closer.
Another step towards it, as her eyes started becoming heavy. However, she could see it- the small, white bone mask in the middle of the room, protected by the powerful curtain of frost.
She reached out her arm. The cold was now chunking off pieces of her aura, but for some reason her enemy didn't move away. She was fine with that.
The thing was close...she could feel it pulsing… another step… her mechanical arm clutched the mask, the exact moment a powerful burst of cold hit her.
She saw her aura trembling as the fog roared with primeval fury, assaulting even the depths of her bones. Her metal fingers grew crystals as the furious cloud preyed on her body warmth.
She reacted by grabbing even tighter. Her throat was so frozen, she was sure her chords would break if she tried to use them. Not there was a need to of course; there was no way Weiss would fail to save her.
The sound of a glyph being activated confirmed her thoughts. The following gust of wind even more. Yang didn't even try to resist. The only thing she did was muster as much strength as she could to hold on to the mask.
Weiss added two more gravity and air glyphs propelling her wind cannon. She pulled the trigger of her semblance and felt her heart stop for a split second as the whirlwind picked the fog, Yang and half the debris and shot them out from the open main door.
Focusing her mind and cursing under her breath, she activated her stepping runes and jumped down, rushing after her reckless girlfriend.
Yang felt the dripping rain fall on her face, as the fog around her slowly dispersed. The freezing cloud was washed away from the rain, leaving only the form of a Geist in front of her, its face still held between her arms.
She didn't even stand up from where she was, lying on her back in the middle of the rock outside the lighthouse. She only activated her gun, grinning widely in satisfaction.
"You are one tough bastard, I will give you that" she whispered as the lightning dust flared and the Grimm got turned into dust, the mask disappearing in thin air.
"This place seriously sucks" she said as Weiss landed next to her, a tender expression on her face. "Yes" she helped her on her feet "let's get inside and see if there is any place left intact."
"That's a pretty awesome idea, I have to say. And while we are at it, let's give the poor guy a proper burial." Weiss nodded and they both stepped back in the tower.