Hello everyone! How are you doing? As usual, not many things to say here. Chapter 26 is up. I hope you enjoy it.
Once more, thank you so much for keeping up with the story, either by following/favoring, or simply reading it. You are the best.
See you next week. Have fun!
The thing that rose up from the pile was definitely a Grimm. The powerful pitch black torso that resembled a tall, muscular human made sure of that.
And that was the only normal thing about it. The lower body was long and serpentine, its end covered by the lack of proper light. Blake was sure she spotted a waving reptilian tail behind its back.
The head was long and snake-like, resembling a huge cobra. The bone mask covered the entire face and hood, with only the trademark red eyes contrasting its pale color.
The worst part, however, was the arms; or rather, the lack of them. Instead of normal upper limbs two hissing masses of long squirming snake bodies sprouted from each side of the torso.
Little red eyes and bone masks adorned each head, making every single strand of hair in Blake's body stand on edge. She tried to measure them. She stopped after the first twenty.
"Slowly back off" Ruby whispered, the faunus complying without any protest. The creature's head tilted around messily as if just waking up from a slumber. The red eyes opened wide.
Its snake-like jaws opened with a hiss, revealing two sets of fangs. Green saliva dripped from them, merging with the rain water.
At once, all the tiny heads turned to the huntresses, filling their vision with dozens of small crimson orbs, gleaming in the dim light. The hissing grew stronger.
"Run" was the only thing Ruby had to say, before both girls' semblances activated. A burst of petals and a shadow clone teleported them a few meters away, both skidding on the wet mud with their weapons drawn.
The sound of dozens tiny bites on the warehouse walls followed, and after that the moving mass of serpents tore open the door.
Its slithering body crawled through the opening… "Fire!" Envelop and Crescent Rose sprung into action, pelting the Grimm with dust-powered gunfire.
The walls shuddered; the stones got filled with smoldering holes. Mud splattered all around the place. The monster fell down on the wet ground, the falling rain hitting its corpse.
Still… "It's not vanishing" Blake said as she quickly replaced a clip. Ruby nodded, rapidly reloading her rifle. She took one step sideways before she noticed something strange "did its arms get thinner?"
Realization hit both girls a second too late. Snake heads dug out of the mud around their feet, ferociously biting them. Ruby screamed in pain, as she felt her aura continuously getting poked and assaulted.
Blake was swifter. She activated a shadow clone that teleported her away, landing on top of a half-wrecked pile of crates. A second later, Ruby burst next to her, panting.
Their attackers retreated inside the earth, leaving a few tiny holes behind them. "I hope they are not poisonous" the faunus said. "I have antidote, but it was designed for King Tajitu; I have no idea if it will…work?"
The red-caped girl's reply got sidetracked, as the snakes surfaced around the corpse, reforming the swirling appendages. Quickly, its 'arms' regained their form and started squirming.
The creature's red eyes shone again and the serpent slowly got up. The large head snapped towards the huntresses, letting a low hissing sound that was barely heard beneath the rain.
"A parasitic-type Grimm?" Blake grimaced. They were a little more than twenty meters away from their enemy, but their lack of knowledge about it made the situation nothing less than tricky.
"Seems like it" Ruby replied. "I have never seen parasites able to leave their host- Professor Port would have a field trip with this."
The long body started moving towards them, very slowly "So what's the plan?" The reaper narrowed her eyes "destroying the host is pointless and getting close to it is very risky… we have to ground it."
"How are-" before Blake could finish her question, the snakes shot forward with unimaginable speed. Both girls were ready and jumped back on the ground just one moment before the host slammed the pile with its powerful body.
The half-rotten wood didn't even resist as a powerful bite snapped it in half. "SPLIT!" Ruby and Blake ran in opposite directions, the former bursting towards the sea and the latter running north.
The faunus was half satisfied half terrified to see the thing follow her. She picked up her pace running across the yard towards the scattered remains of abandoned boats, gunshots being heard from behind her.
Knowing Envelop wouldn't cut it at this distance, she drew Nightfall and swirled it around just in time to deflect the incoming onslaught of bites.
The large head opened its jaws, releasing a wide green cloud. The cat girl had no intention of confirming first-hand what this poisonous-looking gas was and quickly teleported under the nearest boat.
On the other side, Ruby cursed under her breath when she saw the thing follow her teammate. She shot twice at its back but her bullets didn't even graze the monster.
We have to ground it… shooting on the ground to gain momentum, she activated her semblance once more and burst quickly on top of the warehouse.
Her heartbeat increasing as she saw her friend avoid the poison wave, she quickly removed two long red barrels and fastened them on Crescent Rose.
Blake dived under the nearest boat as Ruby attached a small revolving external chamber, rain mixing with the sweat from her head and dripping all over her glove- covered hands.
The Grimm kept ignoring her and followed Blake under her hiding place, slowly tilting its head below the boat. "Just let me make it in time… please…"
Blake held her breath as the nightmare head peeked at her. Dozens tiny snake-Grimm hungrily opened their fangs to feast on her flesh, saliva falling over their fangs.
The sound of a dust shard getting broken was followed by the hissing and biting from dozens hungry mouths.
Feeling sorry for her clone, the raven-haired girl teleported on the enemy's back. Her earth-infused duplicate trapped all her assailants' mouths, allowing her to escape-
The massive tail slammed her on the back. Blake rolled on the ground to gain momentum and jumped back on her feet; only to get hit on the head by the remains of the destroyed boat and the crushed rocks.
The serpent rose tall in front of her, throwing wreckage all over the place. Trying to get over the massive headache and dizziness, she stood up- and froze on spot.
Sun's clones fell on her, striking from every distance. Her arms and legs stung like hell, as the gunchucks tore her skin and drained her aura. One of them smashed the base of her neck.
She knew it was faek. She knew she should try get up. She knew she should resist. But she couldn't. She couldn't hit Sun ever again. She would rather- "NOOOOOOOO!"
Ruby's voice snapped her out of the hallucination. Her pain-numbed brain barely registered what happened before a fiery shower of destruction fell upon the enemy.
Mustering every single drop of aura in her body, she teleported away, rolling on the ground to avoid the incoming Halo.
Ruby panicked when she saw the parasites literally eat Blake's aura away. She wasn't sure why, but her friend had stopped fighting back; instead she just stood there, waiting to be slaughtered.
Her silver eyes opened wide in horror as the large cobra head opened wide to shower the faunus in the possibly very deadly green cloud.
"NOOOOOOOO!" she picked up the modified Crescent Rose, glad she had managed to implement the shooting modifications at least. There was no time for safety here.
The machinegun modification spun rapidly and the increased dust output flared. The fire dust moved inside the chamber, unrestrained, instantly raising the weapon's temperature.
The first fire bolts slammed on the humongous head. The gas cloud never got released and the arms unattached from Blake's body. Her entire weapon was burning, but Ruby didn't care- she knew her baby could take it.
The moment she saw the girl blink away, Ruby removed the limiter and fired at full capacity. Her entire body flared from the rifle's overcharge.
Her nostrils filled with the smell of burnt leather- her gloves had just melted. Sweat oozed from every pore of her body, despite the heavy rain.
She felt a sharp, burning pain in her palms, her shoulder and her cheek. Was she burning up? She didn't care. All she cared was to continue firing at the horrible abomination that had nearly killed her friend.
And fire she did. To Blake, it seemed like the heavens had opened and holy fire rained down on her enemy. Like a meteor shower, Ruby's machinegun-propelled fire shots lit up the entire yard.
Showered in consecutive explosions, the serpent couldn't even attempt resist as its body literally evaporated from the massive heat. Its bone mask shattered into pieces, its torso got blown in half.
And then silence fell. Ruby stood at the edge of the roof, panting. Her eyes, blurry with sweat and rain, could barely see the outline of the Grimm behind the raised dust and smoke.
Her entire body felt hot, like she was burning up. She felt sick, Crescent Rose felt extremely heavy on her hands. Her silver orbs were closing- she felt exhausted.
Exhaustion hit her like a truck. Her head spun. Her eyes shut. She could barely feel her hands and cheek. Stumbling forward, Ruby felt her weapon leave her grasp and fall down the roof onto the ground.
Her own body followed soon enough.
-o—
"Elia, why is the port burning?"
His younger self's question came to Alizar's mind as he watched the old shipyard burst in flames- probably due to a dust overuse.
The red head boy sighed. He had been expecting team RWBY to bring the heavy guns with them, but this was too literal for his tastes.
"I don't know. Alizar, Robus" his big sister's bright amber eyes looked at them in concern "promise me you will both do as I say, ok? We have to go down there and find the boat dad hid for us in the lighthouse, ok?
Ah, the lighthouse. How many times had he and his siblings spent an entire evening there, messing around Barley's staff? They even had stolen one of his log books and used it as a secret diary.
He smiled bitterly. The diary should still be there. If he had any intention of messing around with Fog, he would have gone there to retrieve it- assuming it was still intact to begin with.
As the children ran down the shadowed road, the fires from the village grew wild. "The entire place is burning!" the frightened voice of Robus said "where is everyone?"
Robus. His younger brother. Alizar remembered him quite fondly; his curly, jet-black hair. His deep black eyes and pale skin. His smiling and caring thin face with the narrow jaw.
Of all three siblings, he was the one resembling their father the most. He even had the same taste in music and same eating habits, like separating food in is plate before devouring it.
The amber-eyed man wiped away a tear. His younger brother, long gone from this world, way before his time.
"We can't worry about them; remember what Jonas and Dad said" Elia's gentle and firm voice replied as they strode the hidden track, avoiding the burning houses.
"But…" Alizar cut off his brother "Elia is right, bro. We can't do anything- let dad handle it." He gave of a weak smile that seemed to do the trick, as Robus nodded and started moving again.
"These are my boys" Elia smiled with pride. "Let's go; the lighthouse is no far away. Barley will show us where the boat is" she added, before a pulse of green energy shot up from the mountain and suddenly stopped them in their tracks.
"I will never forget the sickening green light" he murmured to himself. "The nausea, the disgusting feeling in the atmosphere as the pillar shot up to the cloud-covered sky…"
He looked at Jaune's body, the runes covering it pulsing with the exact same light- albeit a lot weaker. "How ironic…"
"Sis, what was that?" Elia gritted her teeth "forget it; let's go!" Robus whimpered "But-" "I said. Let's go!"
Both of them nodded meekly and followed her to the lighthouse. The tower was intact and seemed to be in a good shape.
Barley's house was dark but the storage room lights were lit- the old man was probably observing the area, waiting for them.
"How foolish we were back there… to think things would be so simple…"
The large door was open. The area was as usual- empty of stuff, since the old man kept everything on the upper floor. "Barley?" Elia asked in a low voice.
"P-pleaase… noo…" the voice belonged to the old man, but was meek and scared. It came from above and, without delay, the three Reds climbed up the stairs.
Near the end of the staircase, Elia stopped. She heard people talk and to her constantly growing worry, she couldn't recognize their voices.
She turned around and motioned her brothers to stay quiet, something both frightened children complied with.
Carefully, all three of them peeked over the bars, eyes wide in fear as they saw Barley, badly beaten, inside an oil barrel. Only his head was kept above the liquid, as a cloak-covered man was standing in front of him.
"What are we going to do with him?" the man, holding the lighthouse keeper's head asked. Another one stepped down the rope ladder and jumped in front of the poor old guy.
"Why are you still bothering with him? Leonardo was clear- no witnesses." Barley's eyes opened wide as the second man drew a knife and moved towards him.
"WAITT! PLEASEEE! NONONONO-GAAAAHHHH!" was the last thing he managed to say before the guy sliced his throat and pushed him inside the barrel with the lid.
"The world sucks- and the Grimm are not even the worst part of it. We learned that lesson the hard way that day" Alizar exclaimed, gazing the motionless Jaune in anger.
"BARLEY!" Robus screamed, making both men turn in surprise to them. "WHO ARE YOU?" the second one shouted.
"RUN!" Elia shot a glass projectile to both of them, knocking them off their feet, before the siblings started running down the ladder, half-terrified, half-crying.
Both men got up quickly. "Don't let them escape- nobody must survive!" the first said again, while the second touched the ladder.
"Ah!" Alizar and Robus slipped, as thick grease covered the stairs. They rolled on the floor and fell down on the ground.
Elia ran after them, but the first huntsman got in her way. She furiously grabbed her weapons and charged him. The other man jumped down, in front of the two boys.
"The part after this is really blurry. I remember listening to my beloved sis shouting and fighting as she tried to get to us. I tried to attack the man, but guess what; I was so weak" he sat down next to the knight.
"The assassin toyed with us while pretending to fight; he kicked me twice and threw me away. Robus got punched to the ground three times."
The man picked Alizar with his left hand, clutching his neck. "GAH!" Robus got up, trembling. He looked at the caped man who was strangling his brother.
"Heh, pity. You could have-" his words were cut off as Robus punched him in the back. Alizar felt the world turn upside-down as he was thrown on the floor.
And then, a gunshot. Followed by the sound of a body collapsing. "ROBUS!" Elia's voice pierced through his ears.
Alizar stood up. "No…" he felt his eyes water. His legs gave away. His brother, his beloved little brother was on the floor, bleeding, with a bullet hole in his forehead.
And the man over him….smiling?! "You should know better to fight a professional huntsman, kid."
The redhead looked at Jaune. "Professional huntsmen. Nothing more than low-life thugs, that's what you are."
He spat on the boy. "You talk big, talk like you are the heroes. People admire you, the protectors of humanity. You disgust me."
He stood up "truth is you are nothing more than hired killers and mercenaries. You are nothing better than Grimm- at least they have no other choice but to obey their instincts."
Alizar knelt in front of the lighthouse's yard and hugged his brother's cold body, panting and weeping. Around him, the two men were torn in pieces, their blood still dripping off Midnight's blades.
Elia gasped and panted, hot tears running down her face, reflecting the sickly green color that still pulsed over the island. "I will not forgive them!"
"Sis?" the girl turned around to her brother, sadness and anger marring her beautiful features. "I will not forgive them! I WILL KILL THEM! ALL OF THEM!"
She knelt down, her hair messed, blood all over her body as she clawed the mud "I SWEAR IN MY BLOOD AND MY HOMELAND! I WILL TEAR THEIR WORLD TO PIECES WITH MY OWN HANDS!"
"Up until her last breath, Sis kept her promise" he spat on the floor "she tried to end the disgusting world you bastards protected."
Alizar wiped his eyes, keeping back his tears "you inflicted so much pain to us. You destroyed our home- you killed our people. You showed us what suffering truly is."
He walked to the other side of the room, where a carefully crafted runic green circle was carved. One vial of dark, murky goo was kept in a chalice in its middle.
He drew something out of his pocket- a small piece of steel; part of a broken weapon he had Bistre recover for him from Yugure Cathedral. He dropped it into the goo "it's time for me to return the favor."