Hello everyone! How are you doing? I hope as good as I am!
Chapter 39 is here and as always I hope you enjoy it! Thanks a lot for following/favoring or simply reading! You are the best!
Ruby swung hard, the silver blade cutting through air. An explosion followed after that, sending a cloud of burning ash towards the boy.
Alizar activated his semblance and blocked it with a stone wall. "So, the rubies on the blade were actually fire dust crystals. I got careless" he waved his left arm and the wall broke.
With his right one, all crumbles floated and were hurled against Ruby. She shouldn't have lots of aura left after taking the blast, so after she dodges that, I will-
To the man's surprise, Ruby didn't rush away. She sliced with the blade, sending another fiery wave to meet the projectiles. The powerful blast engulfed the shards and absorbed all impact behind them.
Why did she not…oh! The amber orbs opened wide as he saw the reason. Behind Ruby, right next to the chasm where the pillar of light was bursting from, Jaune Arc was lying on the altar.
His face became a sadistic mask of hatred- under the greenish light, he seemed nearly inhuman. Ruby cursed under her breath. "You are protecting him, hahahahaaaaa…LET'S SEE HOW MUCH YOU CAN KEEP IT UP!"
She didn't reply; Ruby only tightened her grip on Thorn. She was hurt and barely could activate her semblance. Only two times more, three at best. Gotta make them count.
The ground shook behind her, and fear clutched her heart as she realized what was going on. "JAUNE!" Ruby jumped back and burst into petals again.
She grabbed his body and then jumped forward to avoid the stalagmite burst- a huge rock slammed on her back and made her scream in pain.
"GAH!" she stubbornly held both Jaune and Thorn, as Alizar laughed maniacally and unleashed a hail of stones at her.
Ruby dashed away once more with even greater speed. Rose petals filled the area, making Alizar release his power as his hated enemy and her stupid lover disappeared from view.
"THIS IS THE WAY OF A HUNTRESS?" he roared. "HIDING LIKE A COWARD?" a flush of air surrounded him and a powerful punch landed on his face.
Ruby's skin and pieces of the broken chain hit the man's jaw, breaking his aura again. Thorn came after, but she didn't activate the dust.
Instead, she hit his gut with the hilt and slammed his face with the blunt side of the blade. "DIE!" A spike burst out below her and Ruby was forced to roll to the left.
"SUFFER AND DIE!" a series of blasts followed afterwards and the huntress maneuvered among the protruding spikes, cutting down the razor-sharp tips with her weapon.
"I'VE GOT YOU!" he elegantly whirled his left hand and all spikes crashed on Ruby. "AH-AAH-GAH!" she screamed and struggled as her body started getting squeezed by the cold, hard stone.
"YOU ARE NOTHING WITHOUT YOUR SEMBLANCE! YOU ARE USELESS WITHOUT YOUR GUN! YOUR FRIENDS ARE NOT HERE TO HELP YOU!" he was delirious; his entire reasoning had vanished in thin air.
To Alizar, this was the moment he had been waiting for. He would squeeze her to an inch of her life and then drag her half-conscious body to the altar. "YOU BEAT CINDER BECAUSE OF YOUR SILVER EYES BULLSHIT! YOU ARE NOTHING WITHOUT THEM!"
Ruby flipped something that shone as it slowly fell in front of him. Alizar noticed it way too late. She followed by sniping it with a pebble she picked out of her shoulder.
Once more, Alizar was lost in his delirium and barely managed to react. The explosion was smaller, but hit him head-on. "NOOOOOO!" the scream was not one of pain, but one of pure hatred.
Her rock coffin loosened and Ruby Rose dashed forward. She didn't need her semblance to do what she knew she had to.
Bloodied and battered, filled in burns and bruises, the man stepped out of the smoke. "I HAVE TO WIN! I HAVE TO KILL YOU! THERE IS NOTHING ELSE TO LIVE FOR!"
He stretched his arm, but once more underestimated the girl's natural speed and agility. Thorn slammed him on the face, leaving a bloody line on the man's lip and nose.
He stumped back and Ruby knee-kicked his chest. "AAAAARGGGGG!" the redhead rushed forward to punch her- and she knew at that moment she had won.
Ruby dropped Thorn and grabbed his arm. Her martial arts skills sucked, to be fair, but her well-trained body and powerful physique made up for it.
She threw Alizar down and let his body slam on the hard rock, landing on him. The maneuver was easy, but her left leg gave off and she rolled away without restraining him.
"AH! Aahhh…" gasping, Ruby jumped up. The strain in her body was huge, but she had no time to waste. Her eyes fell on Alizar- and she sighed in relief.
The man was lying down just in front of the chasm. He was unconscious, blood on his face and arms. She knelt and checked his breathing and pulse; he was alive.
The adrenaline left her body and the pain following after that was so immense she got dizzy and lost her footing. Ruby fell back- and got supported by something soft.
"Easy there, you dolt, you don't want to fall down there." She smiled, happiness filling her heart. "WEISS! YOU ARE ALIVE!" "What; were you worried?" a chuckle reached the reaper's ears.
"Of course I would be worried, Weiss you meanie-" Ruby turned to face her partner and stopped. Her eyes opened wide and the smile fell off her face.
Weiss Schnee looked bad. Normally that would be expected for a huntress after a fight, but Ruby was sure she had never seen her best friend that beat up.
Her hair was messed up and filled in dried blood. Her left eye was- Ruby didn't even want to get started on how bad it looked. There were bites, cuts and wounds all over her torso and her clothes were tattered and filled in dried blood and grime.
"You lost your hairpin" she said, tearing up. Weiss rolled her eye. "That's the first thing that came to your mind, idiot?" she tenderly hugged her. Ruby smiled sheepishly
"You look bad too. What did that scoundrel do to you?" "Something he will be trialed for" she simply answered. "Ruby" she menacingly asked. "Please Weiss…drop it, will you?"
"Only because it's you" she replied. "Sorry Weiss, but I know how short everyone's fuse is when I am concerned. I love you cherish me that much, but now is not the time."
"Fine, fine…" she looked around, trying to change the subject. "Jaune isn't here?" she then asked. "Oh" Ruby replied "I hid him behind a small cut in the mountainside- Alizar was baiting me by attacking him."
"Good thinking" she praised her. "Let's go get him- and then find the others."
-o—
Blake jogged up the mountain path, her breathing paced and steady, trying to ease the pain in her entire body. In front of them, in the not-so-far distance, the green pillar pulsed and roared.
A growl from behind made her stop and look. Yang was groaning in pain like a wounded beast, holding her waist.
"I didn't realize the kick she gave you was that hard" she knelt to check her partner- and wrinkled her face in pain when she saw how damaged her midriff was.
"Are you serious? This chick hits harder than a high-speed train! If you weren't there to disrupt her attacks, she would have sent my kidney flying!"
"Thanks for the vivid and totally excessive image Yang" the faunus replied, getting up. "When we are back, you have to get it checked. It may have damaged your ribs."
"Perfect; I will do that." After she hastily bandaged it, they started moving again. They reached a staircase and rushed forward, when Blake signed Yang to stop.
"What is it?" Yang whispered. "I hear voices from ahead…Ruby… and Weiss!" she exclaimed, making Yang's face light up. "YES!" the blonde jumped over to the top of the stairs and started running.
"Wait, Yang! We don't know-" she ran after her, but after they both saw their teammates safe and standing, carrying Jaune, she stopped protesting.
"Yang! Blake! CRESCENT ROSE!" Ruby screamed merrily. Next to her, Weiss was smiling. At this point, I won't even tease her, I guess-
Blake stopped her thought process as they got closer. "Weiss? Ruby?" she heard her partner say. "What is- What the actual fuck did this son-of-a-bitch do to you!?"
"Yaaanng, we fought. Things… happen in fights" Ruby replied. "Sweetie, not now, please" Weiss added. "Not now? YOU ARE MISSING AN EYE, SNOWFLAKE!"
Blake nodded. It wasn't uncommon for huntresses, especially their team, to get badly hurt in missions. But taking into account how severely hurt Ruby and Weiss were, Yang's reaction was, well, reasonable in the faunus' eyes.
The pale girl who, according to Blake's estimations, must be nearly numb in pain, asked Ruby to hold the boy for a while. Then, she walked gently and stood in front of her girlfriend.
"The rest of me is here, though. Alive, for you to-" Weiss didn't manage to finish as Yang hugged her so tightly she thought her breath was getting cut off for a moment.
"I was so scared for both of you!" the blonde cried. "I love you- I thought I would never see you again" Weiss whispered in her ear.
"I was not there for you- I am sorry!"
"You are here now; and I need nothing else."
"We brought your stuff with us."
"You are always looking out for everyone."
"I love you."
"I love you too."
"Ooookay…" Ruby looked at Blake. "Would you help us now that you are here? Alizar is unconscious lying there. Do you have anything to tie him up?"
"Ahm, Ruby" Blake said after looking behind her team leader. "There is nobody there."
The Whiterose pair turned- much to Yang's dismay- and looked. There was truly no one where their adversary's body had been laying just a few minutes ago. Only a blood trail, leading… to the chasm.
"He jumped?!" Ruby screamed. "Why would he-" "Wait, ain't that bad?" Yang cut her off. "Isn't the Eldergrimm going to go free now that the moron sacrificed himself?"
"I am not so sure" Weiss cut her off, grabbing everyone's attention. "I will explain later, but I got my hands on some dust, and decided to mess up their ritual as much as possible."
"Nice!" Yang grinned. Blake solemnly nodded. Ruby… just looked at the empty hole and the still-pulsing green light from within. And then, suddenly, the pulse stopped.
The light vanished, and the creeping atmosphere settled down, allowing all girls to catch a breath. Yang gasped. "Does this mean-"
"Yeah" Ruby nodded sadly. "It's over. Victory is ours." "I don't see you that happy" Blake commented. "I just wanted this to end differently" she looked at the open hole. "Not with another death."
"I understand how you feel, Ruby, but-" An eerie howl cut the faunus off. And then another followed suit. And another.
In only a few seconds, a cacophony of howls and harrowing screams filled the night sky. They echoed from all around the island, a true concert of unearthly screeches and mortifying inhuman noises.
"What the hell is that?" the tallest member of RWBY asked again. "That is our cue out of here" Weiss, supported by her, answered. "Unless you want to stay and ask them" Blake added.
The faunus walked next to Ruby and helped her carry Jaune's body. "We have to find a way out of this place as soon as possible."
Ruby nodded affirmatively. "The docks?" she proposed. "At this point, they are our only chance. We may be able to find something useful there."
"Going near the sea at this point is… risky" Yang looked at Jaune and Weiss. "We have no other option" Ruby countered. "We didn't check all the docks and maybe there is a boat we can actually use. It's worth a try."
Three heads nodded affirmatively. "Let's hurry to Pale Mansion. I have no desire to stay here any longer."
-o—
The hidden passage was thankfully not flooded and sooner than later the team reached the gold refinery inside Pale Mansion. The howling had stopped since long ago, now replaced by a deep silence.
Not that it helped ease anyone's mind at all of course. They stopped for a few minutes, bandaged each other and shared a few of the remaining painkillers.
Yang walked next to the broken stand and started tearing pieces of wood. "Yang what are you doing?" She then grabbed a rope out of her bag and started tying them up.
"I am making a makeshift platform to carry Vomit Boy on my back. We can't get out there with Blake and Rubes moving like this; so I am giving him a piggyback ride."
"Yang…" Ruby smiled. "Spare me any sentimental boohoo Rubes. I think at this point it goes without saying" she grinned and patted her sister's head earning a pleasured giggle.
"You have a fractured rib, Yang. I will take him." "I am the only one with aura yet, Blakey. There is no need to sweat the details."
"I am with Blake on this. We don't want you to get damaged anymore and she is in better shape than anyone else" Weiss commented. "You-"
The sound of something falling on the ground and breaking cut them off. "This came from upstairs" the faunus said. "We are not alone in this place."
"Ok, time's up" Ruby unfurled her weapon, secretly reveling at the familiar feeling of the scythe in her hands. "Blake, you carry Jaune. Weiss, you will protect Blake. Yang, take Envelop from her."
They all sprang into action and in a few minutes, team RWBY carefully walked out of the forge. "Remember; we only shoot when spotted. We want to avoid any fights" Ruby whispered.
They walked past the kitchen and out in the main hall uninterrupted. The place was as before, only half-dripping by the immense humidity. But aside from that, nothing else seemed to be happening.
And then everyone heard it. A slow, wet sound like someone drenched walking. A slow, unsteady, brutish rhythm followed suit. Worst of all, it sounded really close.
Ruby looked up- and her eyes fell on it. There was a Grimm, on top of the staircase just above them. It was human-shaped and looked exactly like the fish-faced ones Weiss had told them she fought in the cave, except for one thing; it was at least two times their size.
There was no reply from team RWBY, not even one command was issued. It didn't even manage to howl; Ruby and Yang blew off its burly head, totally evaporating it.
"Run!" Ruby screamed at her team, just a few moments before a series of howls and screeches echoed inside the mansion as if responding to the gunshots.
They didn't even need to be told twice. As soon as the sound of dozens of footsteps started, they had already ran across the statue-covered corridor and rushed out of the front door in the front garden.
The fog-covered, amphibian-Grimm filled front garden. "Holy-" "Shit!" Weiss completed her girlfriend's swearing. The situation was so bad; nobody even cared commenting on that.
Ruby looked up; the fog was still dense and the sky was not even barely lighter than before they entered. A Grimm got up the statues and she reflexively shot it down.
Blake gritted her teeth. The situation was unexpectedly bad. More than fifty of them were slowly moving towards the wounded party. They couldn't outrun so many and at this point holding out was-
Her eyes opened wide as she saw two of them stopping just before the graveyard and making a full turn to not step inside. One of them stumbled inside and made a hissing sound as if it had just been burnt.
She turned to her teammates and screamed "RUBY! The graveyard! They seem to be avoiding it!"
"Are you sure?" Yang asked, shooting a couple down with the faunus' gun. "I trust Blake's instincts!" she screamed as she opened fire to create a path. "Follow me!"
Ruby rushed forward as five of them attacked her. Putting as little strain as possible, she swung Crescent Rose and decapitated two of them.
She stepped back to avoid two sets of claws and allow Weiss to stab one more. The pale girl, however, missed her mark. Immediately, the reaper switched her scythe back to rifle mode and shot all three down.
Behind them ran Blake, with Yang at her rear, shooting at the mass of monsters that started to flow towards them.
"Sorry!" Weiss screamed but Ruby dismissed it with a nod. Now was the time for action, not talk. A dozen more jumped at them, saliva dripping down their jaws. Countless more followed.
Ruby sliced, diced, and shot. Yang gunned like crazy. Blake tried to keep her pace and Jaune's body as steady as possible. Weiss parried any claw or jaw hurled at the faunus. And none of them stopped running.
It was totally insane. They ran across a field of viciously aggressive predators, trying to find a safe place out in the open. With nothing more than simple observations for guarantee.
It was madness; it was an act of pure desperation. It totally worked. Weiss fell on the ground, next to Yang, as they found cover within the tomb-filled terrace.
Blake carefully let Jaune down next to Ruby who was standing guard; but there was no need. The Grimm had stopped going after them as soon as they entered the burial ground.
They were moving around them, viciously howling and making slashing movements, but not even one of the fish-faced monsters dared take one more step towards them.
"You saved us, Blake" Ruby finally said after a few minutes of tense anticipation. "I am glad…and scared out of my wits" she replied.
"You tell me" Yang hugged Weiss who was having a hard time breathing as the exhaustion and pain had finally started having their toll on her.
"This is one of the craziest things we have done" the pale girl commented, pressing her bleeding eye. She let a small whimper as Yang helped her clean it with some water.
"Not as crazy as what we are going to do" Ruby told them. "What do you mean?" her partner asked. "Isn't it obvious? From what Cherry told you, these Grimm are nocturnal predators that follow the weird high tide's movements. So there is only one thing to do."
Yang and Weiss exchanged shocked looks as both realized what their leader meant. "You don't mean what I think you do, do you sis? You really want us to spend the night here?"
"There is not much night left to spend" she took off her cloak and covered Jaune's body. He was still cold as usual, but the carved runes on him were still glowing- at this point she could only hope.
Ruby grabbed his hand and intertwined their fingers in an attempt to calm her exhausted nerves. "I am taking first shift" Blake merely told her.
"Are you sure? You have been-" "-better than most of you. Yang aside, you two look like survivors from that stupid book you gave me that day."
"I am too exhausted to even comment on that" Weiss said. "Not that I expect myself to rest with these lurking around us." She snuggled next to Yang, Myrtenaster in hand.
"Good night" the faunus said.
"Sleep tight" Ruby followed.
"Don't let the fish Grimm bite" Yang completed, a series of howls her only answer.