Hello everyone! I promised a double chapter this week and here they are. I hope you all enjoy them!
As I have already told you, next week I will be taking a holiday break; therefore, the next update will be on Thursday, 02/01/2020.
I wish everyone Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year's Eve until we meet again!
"Ruubes! Weissy! Where the heck are you? This place is as good as empty!" Yang's voice echoed through the mansion as she and Blake passed over the knife-covered kitchen floor.
"Makes sense they would check around in the most random and time-consuming manner possible. Weiss truly turns timid next to your sister" Blake commented as she pushed the refinery door open.
"Yeah, Ruby does that to…people?" the duo stepped in and the windowless abandoned room got into view. Along with the total lack of Ruby and Weiss inside it.
"Ok. I am starting to get worried now" the blonde murmured. "For a good reason" Blake replied and ran towards the back of the room.
"What is it?" The faunus didn't reply. She only picked up something from the ground. A large, red, high-impact sniper rifle.
Yang felt a chill down her spine. Not only Crescent Rose was there, Myrtenaster and Crown were thrown aside too. Both girls' backpacks were also thrown on the floor- their contents half-spilled.
"I think it's safe to say they got them. Ruby would never leave Crescent Rose and Weiss would never leave Ruby." The brawler gritted her teeth.
"But how would they? Rubes and Weiss are not some half-assed pair; they are almost as good as we are. And where did they take them?"
"There are no traces of them having used the path we came through. Plus, we would have heard something. And there is no other exit" Blake deduced after making a quick tour of the room.
"So what, they just flew away?" "That, or" the faunus said thoughtfully "they used a hidden passage."
"Are you sure?" Yang asked, shooting her partner a look of disbelief. "Or is it just you reading too much mystery novels?"
Blake gave Yang a serious look. "I do, but that's not the point! Don't you remember the diary map? There was a tunnel that led directly to the mansion."
"And you think that it's here?" A quick nod was her reply. "It's the only lead we have." "Let's get to business then. Take the back side, I will search around here."
Quite some time later, Yang found herself angrily tapping every single cm of the room's pavement, hoping to at least hear something unusual; to no avail of course.
She raised her head and stared at her partner's back, who was examining a few holes in the wall. "Found anything?" The girl didn't even turn around "nothing. You?"
"Nothing here as well." She was starting to get frustrated. They were suck here, wasting their time searching, while that asshole was doing who-knows-what to Weiss and Ruby!
Yang angrily kicked the pipe next to the forge closest to her. The force she put behind the strike was unexpectedly high and the blonde found her foot breaking the old tube.
Blake turned around at the sound of breaking metal and got really confused at what she saw. Away from the broken pipe, pieces of gears, cogs, wires and other machinery were scattered on the floor around Yang's feet.
"Sorry; I just got so angry; I will-" "Wait" she cut her partner off. "Did all these come out of the pipe?" she asked, while walking next to her.
"Yeah, why?" the tall huntress slightly tilted her head. "These tubes are supposed to be hollow and durable, to allow molten metal pass through them; they shouldn't have pieces of machinery inside."
"Well…" she tried to reply, but stopped. Lilac exchanged stares with yellow and both girls immediately fell upon the mold attached to the end of the tube.
It didn't take them more than a couple minutes for Blake to smile triumphantly "I can sense air from underneath." Yang grinned widely "perfect. Let's just open it."
"You might have broken the mechanism though. We will have to push it open." "On it!" without wasting any single moment, the pair got up and pushed the piece of massive rock.
Said rock proved to be not so massive after all. It was lighter and far easier to move than one would expect just by looking at it.
After a few tries, the huntresses forced it open and revealed an opening leading below. "I think we are delving into hidden underground passages too much recently" the faunus half-joked.
There was no reply however, since the other girl's eyes were fixed on something on the ground. A small piece of red cloth was hanging from the edge.
Yang picked it up and showed it to Blake; it was a scrap from Ruby's cloak. "At least we know we are on the right direction" she merely said to the brunette.
"Let's go. We have wasted enough time already" the faunus carefully checked the tunnel and jumped in. "There is no water here, so it must be safe; come."
Yang grabbed Ruby's backpack and tossed it to Blake along with Crescent Rose, before taking Weiss' equipment as well. She then jumped and landed next to her partner.
"It seems to be going upwards, so we will take it in a fast pace, ok?" the black-haired girl asked. "I am fine even with running, Blakey. Let's go save them; and Dust has mercy on anything we encounter along the way."
They exchanged nods of approval and started running, hoping above everything else they would manage to reach their beloved friends in time.
-o—
Her head hurt like hell. That was the first thing that came to Ruby Rose's mind as she regained her senses. The immediate next one was that her body was stiff and hurting as well. Especially her arms.
A whip of cold, nauseous wind slapped her cheeks. She realized she had her eyes still closed; as if her entire being commanded her to not open them, to return back to the merciful oblivion she had entered after that horrible series of impossible dreams.
Were they truly dreams? And if not, then what were they? She opened her eyes, keeping her heavy eyelids from closing again.
Green and black assaulted her vision, forcing her to shut them at once. She tried a few more times in order to allow her silver pools to get used to the pulsing brilliance.
When she finally managed to keep them open, Ruby gasped at what she saw. She was tied standing on a rock, detained by a pair of iron shackles that were tight enough to have scratched her wrists.
But that wasn't even the worst part. Her prison was next to the edge of a cliff, on top of a weird round platform created by three rune-covered circles and guarded by four humanoid statues with reptilian faces!
In front of her was a large hole on the ground, from which a large pillar of sick greenish light was reaching up to the sky. This is just like my dream!
In front of it, with a large cloak draped over its turned back, a hooded figure was chanting. Next to the figure on top of a rocky altar covered in weird shining green sigils, a young man was sleeping.
No, that was a mistake. The man wasn't sleeping; he was unconscious. She knew that very well, as well as who that man was. "JAUNE!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.
The figure turned and Ruby felt her entire body tense with anger; deep amber orbs, framed by long scarlet strands of hair, were poking holes at her.
"You…" she hissed through her teeth. Alizar didn't reply. Instead, he walked right next to her- and punched her right cheek.
Her head slammed on the rock, sending a powerful jolt of pain down her spine, despite her aura absorbing most of the damage. Before she could even scream, he grabbed her by the neck.
"Take this condescending tone with me again, and I will tear off your tongue, Red Bitch" he announced, voice seeped in fury. "Don't forget the only reason you are alive is to suffer as long as possible."
He tossed her back, head slamming on the rock once more, albeit a lot weaker than before. That didn't make it any more pleasant, however.
That was not what mattered at this point. There were more important things she had to deal with. "Please, release Jaune. I did what you asked- I came here."
An arrogant smirk appeared on his face. "Nice; it's good to see you are at least able to understand your place after one minor beating."
Alizar stepped back, totally ignoring her request "did you enjoy peeping into my memories, Ruby Rose?" She narrowed her eyebrows in minor confusion, before realization hit her.
"What happened and how?" was the first thing she managed to blurt. The situation was dire, but maybe she could buy some time to find an opening for her to escape- and save her boyfriend from this lunatic.
"The Seamens' Disease" he emphasized the name, smirking widely. "Or, more accurately, the dark powers of Avyssos that have been polluting the seas around this island for the last eleven years."
"Avyssos?" she asked. "The first and oldest creation of the God of Darkness" the boy replied. "Avyssos. The first Eldergrimm, imprisoned inside this very piece of land."
To the seasoned huntress, this revelation hit much harder than the previous punches. She suspected it; they had discussed the possibilities a couple of times with her team on their way here.
But, the confirmation of its existence and even more the fact that this vengeful person standing in front of her was aware of all these, was a totally different issue. A very terrifying one, on top of that.
"So, there is an Eldergrimm involved" she managed to finally comment. "Oh little Rose" he grabbed her neck again. Ruby could smell his breath over her nostrils, as his hateful glare tried to burn her defiance.
"You have no idea how deeply involved the Eldergrimm is in our story. You could say it was part of the reason everything happened the way it did."
"What are you talking about?" He scoffed before replying. "The attack that fell on our island was not a random dispute over politics; it was Lionheart executing Ozpin's orders."
"Ozpin… ordered the destruction of this place?" she gasped. After the incident with the Relic of Knowledge, the silver-eyed warrior and the headmaster's relationships had been tarnished.
She knew he was a manipulative person that had twisted the truth in many occasions, but executing innocents was on a totally different level.
"Not exactly. The senile old fool had merely instructed the detention of my father who had found Avyssos' crypt, so that he could persuade my family into joining his cause."
"That sounds more like him" she whispered. "But, being the incompetent fool he had always been, he entrusted the worst of the worst to take command of the operation."
"Lionheart, who was working for Salem." He scoffed again "you saw the rest. That piece of trash sent a group of huntsmen to do his dirty work- and told them they could get all the gold they wanted if they made sure nobody survived to tell Ozpin what had truly happened."
"And that resulted in…" she averted her eyes, only to be punched once more in the nose. "GAH!" she screamed, feeling her aura rattle, despite enduring the hit.
"Say it, why won't you?" Ruby heard his voice in her ear. "SAY IT!" he screamed, making her eardrums hurt and her head shake.
"The heroes praised by humanity as protectors of peace signed my homeland's death. One with his incompetence and the other with his sly nature offered our heads to the Immortal Witch!"
He punched Ruby once more in the stomach. Her insides heated up and bile rose in her throat. "And, of course, you all hid that from the world and even erected academies in their name!"
He kicked her ankle, making Ruby lose her balance and fall, only for her chained wrists to get scarred by her shackles. She closed her eyes to endure the pain.
"I am sorry you had to experience all these" Ruby only said, getting up. Another kick made her fall down again. And this time, she stayed there.
"You are not sorry; not yet. I thought my nightmares could break you, but your stupid friends helped you keep on track. I underestimated how stronger you bitches are all together."
"Your nightmares?" she stared at him. "As I said, the Disease is nothing more due to overexposure to the power leaking from Avyssos' crypt. You saw what it does to humans."
She nodded, seeing a grin form on his mouth. "Well, a friend of mine provided me with this" Alizar grabbed a semi-transparent flask from his belt, seemingly enjoying the confused stare of his prisoner.
Said prisoner saw there was some weird, gooey liquid inside the tiny container. "It allows me to control the Eldergrimm's power to an extent" he merely said, his smile only growing as Ruby's eyes opened wide in horror.
"You…you were the one that made me see all these frightening dreams!" He licked his lips in satisfaction "not only you, of course. I admit you were my primary focus, but the nightmares were intended to affect you all."
She gasped as he continued. "Belladonna and Schnee reacted marvelously, trying to hide it in order to not exhaust you even more. Honestly, it was so pathetic seeing it that-"
A wet, slimy projectile hit Alizar's face, cutting him off. It was warm and disgusting and he reactively used his hand to wipe it off. He looked at it and immediately realized what had happened.
Ruby had just spit on his face.
He turned at her, his anger rising by the second, and met her equally angry stare. "Don't think that just because I am cuffed, you can insult my family and get away with it!"
"That's it- you ARE DEAD!" he punched Ruby again. And again. And again. Kicks followed soon enough and when Alizar got bored with them, he punched the petite huntress a few more times.
And, despite the pain growing every single moment with every single hit and every single furious attack, she endured. There was no way she was giving him the satisfaction of screaming or shouting.
She might have been sympathizing with what happened to the Red Family, but that was another issue. There were limits and Cinder's crazy brother had already passed a lot of them to begin with.
Finally, the assault stopped. The redhead stood over the battered and bruised girl, panting and breathing heavily. "You think you are so tough, don't you? I bet you feel sorry for us, because you are such a hero."
"Your words, not mine" she responded. "You have suffered a lot, but you are not the only ones. Hit me as much as you want, that doesn't change what happened."
"You bitch…" he sounded exhausted as well. Ruby was sure he was restraining himself a lot to not kill her. But she had never begged for her life before; she wouldn't change that now.
"You hurt and insulted my family" she added. "Even if I ignore Pyrrha and Uncle Qrow, your sister killed hundreds of innocents when she let Grimm loose into Vale. There is no excuse for that."
"What do you KNOW?!" he roared again. "My sister wanted the maidens' powers to kill Salem! SHE WOULD HAVE SAVED THE WORLD IF NOT FOR YOU!"
"I figured as much" Ruby calmly replied. That was true; Cinder's parting words and actions had made the reaper truly consider the Fall Maiden's actions had some different ulterior motive than the obvious one.
"But that is no different than what Ozpin did; sacrificing innocents in the name of 'the greater good'. At least he had the tiny bit of dignity to drag only trained warriors in his mess."
The man's eyes opened wide and Ruby steeled herself for the next round of beating. But it never came. Instead, Alizar stood in front of her, looking at the silver-eyed girl in a very calm and cold demeanor.
Having Weiss Schnee as a partner had trained her to recognize this was the worst kind of anger- and the scariest one.
"You have quite the big mouth. But it's fine" he finally said. "I wonder if you will still be acting smart once you see your beloved ones' final moments."
She prayed he didn't detect her entire body going pale in horror. "What… do you mean?" she stumbled. "Oh, losing our cool there? Perhaps I should have told you from the beginning."
"The reason you all are here is simple; you will be sacrificed to awaken Avyssos. And the reason you are still alive is simple as well. I want you to be the last tribute to it- I want you to see and hear each one of your so-called family die in agony and pain."
Her eyes drifted to Jaune and her lips trembled. "Don't worry; he will be the last one before you" Alizar laughed haughtily. "The opening act is a much different one; it includes a pretty little princess."
"No…" she gasped. "What did you…? WHAT DID YOU DO TO WEISS?" The man simply laughed even louder. "I did nothing more than throw her inside there" he pointed towards the pit.
"You are lying; Weiss would never lose to you." "Having misplaced faith in her is quite pathetic. Schnee was even easier to succumb to her nightmares than you."
"Don't worry" he quickly added as Ruby started tearing up. "I made sure to not let her die by the fall." If possible, his lips curved even more, making his face look even more sinister in the sickly green light.
"However, she is weaponless and without any dust to protect herself. When she realizes the terror that lives down under, she will wish that I had killed her."
Ruby didn't reply; she merely hung her head to hide her tears. "I hope you have good hearing" he cackled.
"After all, I would hate you missing her dying screams and pleads for help as the Atlesian bitch is getting eaten alive piece by piece. A pity the strongest member of her team got captured so easily."
Alizar grabbed her hair. "At least Cherry is strong enough to bring the other two alive. Torturing them in front of you will be so fun. I will start with that stupid bimbo of your sister."
Ruby raised her head. She stared at the man with dried tears in her eyes- and started laughing.