Hello again everyone! How have you been doing? I hope as well as I do.
Anyway, I don't have anything else of importance. Chapter 32 is here and as always I am thankful for taking your time to read it. I sincerely hope you enjoy it!
See you all next week with chapter 33.
"Am I the only one who finds having a burial ground next to your house kind of macabre?" Weiss said while they were striding through the foggy, tomb-filled terrace.
"My guess would be they wanted to pay respects to their dead; some old religions of Menagerie follow that principle too" Blake replied. "Most of them use small shrines, not actual tombs though."
"Maybe they just wanted to have them close by" Ruby exclaimed, checking around for enemies. "It is weird, though" she lowered her rifle.
"What's weird?" The reaper turned around to reply to her sister "There are very few tombstones and I noticed Ms. Red's grave doesn't seem to be here."
"What were you expecting?" Weiss scoffed. "Most nobles would never bury their wife next to the servants or employees, Ruby. It's common sense- why are you looking at me like this?"
"It's nothing" the brunette smiled, earning a giggle from the other two members of the team. "I don't see any enemies around; let's move."
They walked away from the small burial ground and into a large garden. The grass was black and wilted and a series of black, dead trunks decorated the stone-paved path, as if escorting them.
"This is creepy now" the pale girl noticed "but it must have been very beautiful when the island was inhabited." Yang nodded "yeah. Just imagine everything green and filled in flowers under a blue sky."
They shared a tender smile, earning an eye roll from Blake. "Is that a well?" she pointed ahead, where the remains of a stony cylinder were visible through the fog.
Ruby moved ahead and stood right in front of it. A broken, rusty mechanism was on the ground in front of it and she could see traces of… "There are weapon marks all over the place."
Yang stepped next to her "lots of bloodstains, too. There is one on the edge of the well, like they dragged someone." She peeked into the chasm. "I can see something. Rubes can I have some light?"
"No need to" the faunus had already used her own superior vision to determine what was that caught her partner's interest. "There are skeletons down there- quite a few if I may add" she said flatly.
Weiss flicked her wrist and send a couple sparks light the walls of the structure, revealing the significant pile of dead bodies inside. She grimly counted about half a dozen bodies.
They were in a bad condition, humidity and moisture definitely working on them. However there was one thing that all girls noticed, despite the half- decomposed state of their attire; they all wore servant clothes.
Ruby was the only one who didn't look, securing there would be no ambush from behind them. "Care to fill me?" she asked. "Five or six people- probably from the household's servant body."
"I would say they were killed and tossed into the well to rot" Yang added, stepping away. "This is no Grimm work; just like the fellow that got killed in the Lighthouse."
"This is no bandit work as well" Blake said. "They were tossed inside there in order to be 'cleaned' later." Ruby raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"What Blake means is" Weiss gulped "they gathered them in this place in order to properly hide the bodies afterwards; either by sealing the well with dust or even melting them with acid."
The faunus nodded in agreement, obviously disgusted. "Not even the White Fang were so thorough into disposing bodies. This is professional work that somebody put a lot of thought into."
"Then why was it so easy to find, Blakey? Why didn't they finish the job?" "Isn't it obvious?" Ruby replied to her sister. "Because something got them before they had a chance to."
All of them turned at their team leader, who was kneeling on the ground, trying to pick up something that was stuck in the mud. She tugged it free after a couple seconds and rubbed it in her fingers to clean.
"Weiss take this with you for evidence, please" she tossed a small golden cylinder at her partner. "This is a dust bullet cylinder. How is this evidence?"
"It's a 45mm cartridge for semi-automatic small carbines." Ruby replied as Weiss showed it to the other two who had now gathered next to her. "From your tone, I get that it's not normal weaponry, is it Rubes?"
"This is military-restricted weaponry, designed for use on low-visibility missions. There is no way the huntsmen of this island had something like that- it's very cheap and easy to mass produce but ineffective against Grimm."
All of them stared at Ruby who had a neutral expression on her face. The conclusion to this was simple- yet no one wanted to openly admit it.
"Whoever killed those people came in the island prepared and intending to do so" Blake finally said. "What and why?" she then added.
"Let's move on to check the other buildings- no need to spend more time here" their leader pointed forward, everyone looking towards where she was pointing at.
The untended gardens gave way to a mist-covered staircase. The mansion was tall; they couldn't see the top but Weiss insisted it was at least three-floor high.
Unlike the village houses, it was made of stone and had large windows. Two smaller buildings stood behind it, their outlines barely visible. A broken carriage was lying on the road between them.
"We first secure the two facilities. Then we enter the mansion. Last thing I want is to have those things ambush us from the back."
All of them wordlessly moved along the old, pebble-paved road. After making sure there was nothing inside the rotten and destroyed carriage, they reached the larger and most remote of the two.
The girl checked her gun once more and nodded as they stood in front of it. It was long and consisted of only one floor, with a triangular roof on top.
A series of rotten and broken doors with a particular large window for each of them betrayed its intended use- Weiss noticed it at once. "This must be the household stables."
"Did you have horses back in Atlas?" her partner asked her. "Not in our mansion, but learning how to ride one was part of my 'polished upbringing' as my father called it. So, we did own some establishments- why are you smiling like that again?"
"Baby" Yang's half-amused tone from behind made the ex-heiress turn around. "I would have expected you to not falling so easily for Rubes' bait after five years of knowing her."
"Well" she huffed "I am pleased to see her acting like a dolt again, so I am letting it slide." Ignoring the looks of disbelief she earned from the Bumblebee pair, she turned back to her partner.
"So, are we checking it or not?" "Blake and I will. I want you two to stand lookout and secure our perimeter. Even with the tunnel sealed, I just don't trust this fog. Or anything else here to begin with."
Cyan eyes narrowed in approval. Blake moved next to her, while Weiss and Yang took off, starting to patrol the facility's perimeter.
-o—
"I don't think we will find anything noteworthy here, Ruby." Raven bangs covering her shining cat-like eyes, she walked out of the third room to her leader, standing behind her.
"For now I am just pleased we haven't found any poor horse…" she trailed off, earning an earnest smile from the brunette. Ruby's love for animals was well-known among them and Blake was more than happy to confirm it at any given time.
"I am grateful for it, too" she replied and moved on to the fourth one. The door was torn quite badly- and neither of them liked that.
As the entrance was pushed open and both took a good look at the horse-sized chamber, they were justified for their unease. The raven girl slightly averted her eyes, while the red one just clenched her rifle.
The interior was filled in blood. Floor, door, walls, pavement; all of them were so horribly splattered; there was no way to avoid looking at it. The only saving grace was there were no horse remains inside there.
For the mass of massacred bones and remains of clothing and weapons definitely belonged to a human. Blake's head hung and Ruby knelt next to it.
"Semi-automatic 45mm caliber Mistralian Carbine- type Griffon. I think we found one of our attackers" she got up. "I don't think anything needs to be said about what happened to him, however."
"Dust rest his soul; even if he was a murderer, no one deserves to be torn apart alive by Grimm" Blake only added. "Do you want to check the rest?"
Ruby nodded and took a deep breath to embolden herself. She then looked in the close distance, where the two silhouettes of their teammates had stopped, checking out the woods.
"Yes. Let's be done before Weiss and Yang are back from their patrol."
-o—
"I think this is as far as we should go" the shorter girl stopped. "We can easily observe the tree line and we have line of sight to Ruby as well."
Yang cracked her fingers. "Yeah. It sounds about right. We take a two minute break and then retreat to cover the other side towards the mansion."
"I agree. Even though I believe they will have ended by then- the stables is long, but not that extended. And there are not many complex places to look at."
"Well, I am sure next to the Schnee Stables, nothing looks as big as it should" she giggled, but got no answer. Instead, she was met with the side of her girlfriend's head who was staring towards the half-covered, misty woods.
"Hey, baby. We were joking- you know that, right?" a soft sigh escaped Weiss lips, as she continued keeping lookout. "Of course I know that. Not that it makes it any funnier, mind you."
"I am sorry…" she lowered her hat, tossing it on her back. "If you truly are, please focus on our patrol. Last thing I want now is to let a minor thing as this to get in the way of our mission."
Normally Yang would retort that if it bothered her, it was no minor thing. But Weiss was right. This was far from the proper place to start this kind of talk.
So, she did hold her tongue and bit her response back. Silence followed as both of them kept watch. One minute passed. And five seconds. Yes, she was counting them.
Ten more seconds. Twenty. Thirty-four. "Yang, can you hear this?" "Hear what?" A lilac colored eye slightly opened in confusion.
Usually Weiss' fake cold shoulder kept for no more than two minutes and she knew well to let her lover's inner self do the damage control. But that rarely- which is never- came along with hearing things.
"Just focus please…I am sure I heard something…" the tone of her voice indicated Weiss was not pissed. She was cautious.
The blonde took a couple steps forward in order to not get away from the pale girl's eyesight. She stayed silent and tried to- the sound came to her. It was distant and smooth. And familiar. Too familiar.
An island girl herself, Yang had spent lots of her childhood days at the beach, both in sunny and rainy days. She was sure there was no way she could ever forget this sound; once soothing, now simply terrifying.
"This is the sound of the ocean; waves crushing to the shore" she turned and said to Weiss who was standing behind her. "It shouldn't be audible from here. But I guess the tide is really high after all."
"Oh…I see…" the response was less than enthusiastic and the shorter girl averted her eyes. Yang noticed her left hand, grabbing Crown, was slightly trembling.
"Bab- Weiss" the rare use of her name by Yang made her raise her head again and stare at the girl. "What? I am fine- just a little mad but that's not the time for-"
"You are scared." And just like this, in the extremely genuine and tact-less way that Weiss had so fallen in love with, Yang addressed the Goliath in the room.
"I am not. You are imagining things" she forced the words out of her mouth. "I am a huntress. I would never get scared of some Grimm" she clutched her sword hilt tighter.
"Fine" Yang moved and stood in front of her "would you like me to call it unsettled then? Would this satisfy your taste?" she asked, donning a very serious expression on her face.
"Don't be stupid, Yang. I fought next to you against a rampaging horde of Grimm in front of Salem's castle. I took down an ancient Hydra only with Ruby's help!"
Impressively enough, she managed continue without raising her voice. "I stood against Hazel and Tyrian guarding Neptune and Sun's unconscious bodies with Blake and Lumia! Why would I ever be afraid of some fog and a lunatic with an inflated and misguided ego?"
Weiss stood there, breathing just a little bit heavier than usual. Her eyes were slightly wet, her cheeks red and puffy. Yang lowered her gaze- and smiled tenderly.
"Because you are human, Weissy. Fear knows no logic. Stuff like 'I fought in great wars and I fear nothing' is stupid." The Schnee clenched her teeth.
"I can't afford being afraid, Yang. Who's going to support Ruby if I am afraid? Who is going to be there for Blake if I am afraid? Who is going to stop you from doing stupid stuff?"
Yang's mouth opened a little to answer, but Weiss kept on. "How am I going to help you? Cowering away in fear, unable to prevent my sister's image from popping out of the mist?!"
"You will." The reply was simple and spot-on. Typical Yang style. "Like you always have. You will do it, while chasing your fears away. Because you are strong. Possibly the strongest of us."
Weiss looked at the blonde sadly "what are you-" "there is no shame in fear, Snowpuff. The only shame is in letting it control you." She raised her metal arm smiling awkwardly "trust me; I know."
"Yang…" cyan eyes narrowed in shame- and then immediately shot open wide as Weiss' face became even paler in horror. "Turn around. Now!"
"Winter again?" was the only thing she managed to say before she saw them. Lithe, human-like forms were slowly pouring out of the misty woods. She couldn't even count how many different bodies were there.
They walked closer to them, footsteps accompanied by a soft splashing sound that caused so many horrible theories to form in Yang's mind. The lack of any sound from the creatures only added to it.
"RUBY! BLAKE!" Weiss' scream cut through the night, as both huntresses readied their weapons and carefully stepped back. They matched their opponents' tempo, retreating towards the stables.
Blake appeared from the shadows and drew Envelop, while the sound of Crescent Rose cocking from behind them, indicated Ruby was already in place. "Take defensive positions and do not engage until we have clear line of sight!" the redhead screamed.
"What are these?" the faunus asked. "We have no idea, Blakey. They just came out of the fog. Thankfully, they seem pretty slow." Weiss held her weapons tighter to stop her trembling "or pretty cautious. Don't underestimate them" she added.
The forms crawled closer, the sounds of splashing feet along with a distinct saltiness permeating the air made Yang gulp. "Just how many are they?" Blake's eyes opened wide as more and more poured out of the half-covered trees.
And then suddenly, the first ones stopped moving. They slammed on something, bodies totally colliding as if hitting an invisible wall.
"The barrier!" Ruby shouted. Seems they can't pass it as well!" Weiss narrowed her eyes "maybe that's why Alizar put it in the first place- to repel all these."
In the same voiceless and unnatural manner, the figures started scratching and moving, trying to penetrate the obstacle. To the huntresses' relief, it didn't even budge.
The splashing footsteps increased, sending team RWBY on edge, their focus on the growing mass of half-covered figures piling up and voicelessly scratching the edge of the barrier.
After a few nerve-wracking minutes went by, the things started retreating. They turned around and walked away in the same manner, vanishing into the cloudy night.
All girls exchanged looks. The same mixture of confusion, fear and adrenaline rush was etched on their faces. "That was one of the most horrifying things I have ever seen" Weiss admitted, grabbing Yang's hand.
"We are all pretty tense and tired. Plus, no matter what they are, it is their natural habitat; it's a normal thing to happen" Blake agreed with her.
"Which is why we should get going" Ruby jumped off the stables' roof and landed on the ground. "Let's get inside- time to end this and go home. We have stayed too much here."