Hello again everyone! How are you doing? I hope you are as well as possible, all things considered.
Chapter 51 is here. I hope you enjoy it!
As always, thanks a lot for reading/following or favoring the story. I wish you all good health and as much positive thinking as possible! See you next week!
The bullets hit the Grimm head on. They ricocheted on its plating, spreading around the hall. However, the force behind them was enough to push the monster back.
"AGAIN!" without hesitation, Weiss commanded and the men complied without complains. As the Valkraghast got grounded, she pointed Crown forward, activating her dust.
A tall slab of rock erupted from below, totally sealing the Grimm away from them. "We must move before it breaks it, my Lady!" Weiss shouted towards Sophia who had just walked out of the room.
"You heard her!" she addressed her people. Immediately, the sound of pounding filled the room. The wall Weiss had erected started cracking and an angry howl was heard from behind it.
"Move!" Two men moved forward, Sophia behind them. They ran past the wall, hastily moving up the stairs. Weiss and four men rushed after them, as the wall started getting collapsed.
The last two walked past it immediately, but it was already too late for one of them. "GLAGH!" the poor fellow didn't even manage to scream as the tail pierced his throat.
"SHOOT IT!" Sophia's voice from atop the stairs shouted. Before Weiss could complain about the dangers of friendly fire, the guards emptied their clips of the thing.
The rain of bullets forced it back again, without any visible damage done however. "Move!" the CEO pointed towards the upper floor.
"Please no!" Weiss objected. "It has the advantage in narrow spaces! We have to pull it out in the open! Please, my Lady."
The caramel haired woman stared at Weiss for a second, while the sound of gunfire echoed in the corridors. "Move up and then towards the exit!" she finally concluded, to the pale girl's delight.
As soon as the last person walked past her, Weiss emptied her earth canister and sealed the ladder. Then, slightly confused for the lack of slamming sounds from below, she followed them.
"WENGE!" Sophia screamed for the umpteenth time in her radio. "WHERE IN DUST ARE YOU?" she started sounding really worried.
They reached the 1st floor and walked past their horribly slain comrades without even stopping to acknowledge them. Then, they walked down the staircase leading to the exit.
The first guard slammed the door open and looked towards the right and left, securing the area. He failed to check above, however. That was his last mistake.
A pair of large, skeletal claws grabbed him in front of his horrified comrade. "NONONOOOO! PLE-"
Anyone barely managed to react. The Valkraghast immediately dragged him up and ended his life with a disgusting crunch. His weapon fell down, splashes of blood following it.
"It's here!" the second guard slammed the door shut. "How did it manage to come out that easily?" Sophia glared at Weiss.
"Its most distinct feature is the ability to climb on any surface as fast as a spider. But I have no idea how it left the dungeon below." She lowered her gaze "I am sorry, my Lady."
Before Sophia could reprimand her, the sound of heavy footsteps reached them, coming from above. Huntress, CEO and the six remaining men accompanying them all turned and looked up.
Faster than anything could possibly have moved, the horrifying bone creature stared at them from above the staircase. Fresh blood ran down its jaws, dying its exoskeleton red.
"OPEN THE DOOR!" Sophia screamed and immediately her men opened fire. The Valkraghast jumped and hung from the ceiling, avoiding the bullets.
It ran towards them at impossible speed. Weiss barely managed to conjure a huge stalactite she shot to cut them off from it. The door opened and Sophia was escorted outside from two guards.
A split second later, Weiss saw the Grimm crash her ice block. "AAAAAA!" it landed on top of a guard and totally ignoring his aura tore his flesh to shreds. "GET OUT! NOW!" Weiss commanded them.
Another guard moved out as the other two started retreating, pummeling the monster with bullets. It jumped to the left, avoiding the gunfire. It opened its jaws and jumped-
A huge fireball slammed the Grimm on the face, courtesy of Crown. The monster roared in pain, trying to stand. "MOVE!" its wielder shouted. They happily complied as the Valkraghast stood up and shot forward.
Weiss shot another huge blast and stopped its advance. She then rolled backwards and jumped in the open, allowing them to close the metal door behind her.
"Get away from the walls!" At the huntress' command, the five guards and Sophia ran and stopped in the middle of the yard, in a place that would allow them to see this thing if it dared try attack them.
"Madam" one of them said "I am not confident we can repel it even if we see it coming! Our bullets only push it back and as soon as we run out of ammo, we are done for!"
Sophia was fuming. Wenge wasn't picking up. For all she knew, he and his men were dead already. And as soon as this thing reached them, they were all dead too.
Schnee was in no top shape, much thanks to her own meddling. Should they fall back? No. If Fenris had somehow escaped, everything she had planned and lived for these past five years would-
"My Lady" Weiss' voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "If you trust me, I have a plan." Everyone stared at the girl. "What sort of plan?" she asked her.
"I will explain, but first I want to check all our dust supplies. It is a risky one, but if we pull it, we have a good chance to survive." Sophia glared at her.
Chance? She hated leaving things to luck. Luck had never been kind to her after all. She had reached her position of power by determination, hard work and had spat luck on the face every single time.
On the other hand… "Tell us; what do you want us to do?" She smiled, glad to see the woman acknowledge her.
The Valkraghast, meanwhile, had reached once more the rooftop. After it had found it could fit in the extensive ventilation shaft of the building, every one inside it had become its prey.
Its hungry red eyes gleamed as it watched the humans. They had assumed shooting positions, ready to attack. They were really away from it, but there was no problem.
The attack came as fast as always. It ran down the wall with immense speed, avoiding the gunfire as its limbs allowed it to swiftly maneuver away from it.
"Keep steady… fire!" Weiss was behind the five men, sword in hand, ready to protect Sophia. "Fire again!"
As soon as it reached the ground, it charged. A few gunshots grazed its armor. It didn't even flinch. They were not able to harm it like this, unlike before.
"Steady…now!" another series of shots ricocheted on its armor. It was now nearly next to them; its prey would never manage to escape like this.
"Throw the Dust!" at once, four of them took out the cartridges they had removed from their guns and threw it at the monster.
"SHOOT!" Sophia and the fifth man shot their guns loaded with cold dust and hit the vials. The dust activated, creating a large frozen shard that kept the thing's feet in place.
"It wasn't enough!" "IT IS!" Weiss focused. Using the energy from the gravity and lightning dust she had obtained, she created a familiar array of glyphs.
She couldn't summon; she couldn't fight properly or aim. But this was an immobilized enemy very close to her. And behind her, Sophia was standing! There was no way she would ever miss that shot!
The Valkraghast roared, trying to move. Its tail slammed and the ice cracked as it started to move forward. It was so close to the humans, it could almost taste their fear and helplessness.
Its body got released with a loud crack. One second later, Weiss shot forward like a missile and passed through the Grimm's body. Lightning Stinger pierced its armor and evaporated it in a thick black cloud.
Weiss rolled down on the ground and immediately shot back to see if her enemy had survived. The only thing she met, however, was the awed stare of Sophia Carmel.
Her men were probably equally awed, but she couldn't see behind the masks. And she actually didn't care. The only thing she cared for was her; and she had saved her.
"I am astonished!" "So that's what members of team RWBY can do!" "Well done, Ms." Sophia rolled her eyes. "Stop complimenting her and get moving; we have to find the others and finish checking here!"
As if having heard her, the radio beeped "Ms. Carmel?" She picked it up, half angry and half relieved. "Where have you been, Wenge? I have tried calling you for at least half an hour!"
"I am really sorry, Madam. The staff rooms' entrance was barricaded so we had to go from outside the building." "That still doesn't explain your absence."
"We found a few faunus survivors. They were armed, so I couldn't reply, Madam." Sophia's eyebrow shot up. "Did you kill them?"
"Five survived and I can almost assure you they are the only ones except from us in the entire facility." She stared at her men, who were still showering Weiss with praise.
"Keep them tied up and bring them to the communication room. We shall meet you there."
-o—
The communication room was a huge mess. The mainframes were horribly damaged, the high-tech PCs seemingly destroyed and the place was ransacked like a horde of bandits had passed through.
There were old bloodstains everywhere, accompanied by some relatively fresh horribly mangled corpses, mostly of faunus nature.
Weiss stood dutifully next to Sophia as she finished exchanging information with Wenge about their findings.
All that time, five of their guards were inside the room. Five faunus, badly beaten and tied, were on their knees. They all had their heads hung save for a brown-haired man with a lizard tail and green skin.
"I need answers." She moved right in front of them. "And I hate not getting what I need. Who among you is the higher ranked one?"
There was no answer. Nobody dared even talk. "Ok, next question. How many of these" she pointed towards the destroyed equipment "happened because of you?"
Again, there was no answer. "Madam" Wenge said. "Do you want me to interrogate them? I can-" "No" she cut him off and knelt next to the leftmost one; a young-looking girl with brown hair and goat horns.
She focused her semblance, earning a gasp from Weiss who had walked next to her. "Show me; who among you is the highest-ranked one?"
Charmed by her ability, the girl showed towards the brown-haired man. "The only one to show signs of defiance, huh. How typical. Thank you" she stood up and addressed her guards.
"Find a room to use as prison and put this one in. Tie him even more." She drew a cigarette. "Kill the other four." All faunus' eyes opened wide as the closest guard raised his weapon- "NO!"
Surprising everyone, Weiss drew Crown and jumped, kicking the first armed man. He fell back and the huntress stood, her cyan eye gleaming in anger.
Sophia stared at her "and what exactly are you supposed to be doing now?" She gulped. Her breath was erratic. "My Lady; they are prisoners and have lost all will to fight. You gain nothing by killing them!"
The guards and Wenge drew their guns. They had her outnumbered; she was out of dust and missing an eye. In addition, she was defending others
However, no one tried to make the first move- the image of Weiss annihilating a Grimm earlier was too fresh. Nobody among them was sure she couldn't do something equally ridiculous again.
Sophia puffed out a smoke ring. She was losing her calm- and pretty fast. "These good-for-nothing criminals slaughtered my people here with no hesitation and you want me to spend resources taking care of them?" she slightly raised her voice and moved towards the huntress.
"They are no threat. Executing captives is something murderers like Fenris do!" the caramel-colored woman stood right in front of her.
"Weiss" she leveled her eyes at her. Like always, they shone. Their almond-shaped irises were beautiful, breathtaking, intending to make the weakened girl drown in them. "Move away."
She felt… attracted. Elevated. Disgusted! "AAAH!" without any prior notice, Weiss sliced Sophia's chest. The sudden attack caught the woman by surprise and she didn't manage to flare her aura in time.
"GET OUT OF MY MIND, YOU MANIPULATING BITCH!" Weiss roared and ran towards the woman. She was the woman who had controlled her and filled her mind with disgusting feelings.
She was the one who had killed Blake. She was the one who had taken Yang, her Yang, her beautiful Ray of Happiness. She was the one behind everything!
Suddenly, a wave of exhaustion hit her. She immediately felt dizzy and collapsed, her sword falling off her hand. Weiss crashed on the bloodstained floor, gasping for breath.
Wenge ran and helped Sophia to her feet. "Madam, are you-" "Yes! I am fine!" she threw a hateful stare to the pale girl trying to get up. "Nice save, Wenge. Thank you." He nodded in acceptance.
"No, you-" the ex-heiress tried to move, but one of the guards had already moved next to her and hit her with his rifle butt.
Sophia checked her chest. A thin line of blood had stained her jacket, but otherwise the wound seemed shallow. She couldn't aim properly, huh?
"You two" she told her men "go fetch me a first aid kit." The CEO walked in front of Weiss and leveled her with a gaze. She didn't shout of hit, but the anger behind her pulsing eyes was clearly visible.
"I told you already; learn your place. And you refuse to comply. Do you think you can help the poor little faunus over there who would possibly skin you alive if they could?"
"I was trying to get the world rid of a cold-blooded killer." Sophia grabbed her chin and met her eye with her own. "Like your father?" Weiss laughed "mentioning someone I hate won't prove your point."
"You are the kind I hate the most" Sophia whispered next to Weiss' mouth. "A brat who was served anything she wished and suddenly decided to play the hero. You forgot your place- among the other spoiled rich kids."
She squeezed the pale girl's cheeks "you don't deserve the second chance you got. You are filled with the sins of your blood in your veins and seeing you act all heroic makes me want to flay you to an inch of your existence."
"Say whatever foolishness you want. You took the people I love from me" Weiss replied. "My pride is all I have left; I won't let you take that as well."
The older woman smiled deviously. She focused all her aura into her eyes and flared her semblance. The pain nearly split her head in half.
But she didn't care. All she cared for was to show this brat what happened to defiant little bitches like her. "Take your sword and kill those four."
Weiss' heart skipped with horror. "No…NOOOO!" She wouldn't make her do that! She couldn't make her do that! She would never do that! STOP LOOKING AT ME WITH THESE WONDERFUL EYES!
The proud huntress stood up. Her gaze was empty and hollow. Her eye was filled in sadness and grief. She trembled as she picked her blade.
As she felt her body move, she prayed for her heart to stop. Maybe if she could just drop dead, she could save the only thing remaining to her at this point.
The only saving grace was that she knew she wouldn't remember their faces after she would wake up.
-o—
"Let the brave huntsmen fight…" Weiss' voice slowly reached the end of the song.
"Their souls blessed in the night…" she had woken up in this small prison room a few minutes earlier, cuffed and tied to a wall.
"Prey they are the ones to gaze…" her memories of the last thing she did were hazy, but she remembered what she had been commanded to do.
"The morning sun rise ablaze…" even if she had forgotten, Sophia was 'kind' enough to let her keep her bloodstained clothes.
She looked down again. The red splatters on it were a huge antithesis to the gray-white of the uniform. Outlines from her fallen tears were visible above them.
She had been forced to kill those people. Her pride, her honor, the family name she was struggling to uphold through her life, was tarnished.
A little voice inside her mind tried to tell her it wasn't her fault. She knew it. It didn't help her at all. She had ended up from a proud huntress to a toy for Sophia Carmel's outbursts.
"You have a beautiful voice; and an even better taste in songs" the male voice that sounded made Weiss snap out of her sadness.
On the other side of the room, half-visible behind the large pipe he was tied to, the faunus with the lizard tail sat. He was horribly beat and visibly exhausted, but his eyes stared at her with interest.
"You… know that song?" The man nodded "nursery rhymes are not that common in Atlas nowadays, but most faunus whose families come from the rest of Solitas have heard a song or two."
Weiss nodded, visibly tired "thank you. I appreciate the compliment." He gave her a weak smile. "I should be the one thanking you."
"W-why?" she replied, a little uncertain. "Heh" he smiled "you stood up for us; got beat up and tortured mentally for our sake. It's not behavior we have been used to receive, especially from a Schnee."
A Schnee… the name sounded so foreign in her ears. Am I truly a Schnee? Am I worthy of the family name any more I wonder? "I don't deserve your thanks; I failed to protect them. I killed them with my-"
"-own hands, yeah. I saw it. But it wasn't you who did it, young girl. Heck, you weren't even in control of your body when you did it! Who would have guessed this woman had such a powerful ability!"
She lowered her head. "You are being way too kind to me. I still let myself be captured and exploited like this. I am at fault. I should be stronger than that."
"That makes you a careless person" he stated "but far from a weak or a bad one." "Again, you give me too much credit" she sniffed, trying to ease her running nose.
"Maybe" he replied again. "But I am sure that most people would be proud to say that even under the control of an enemy semblance they managed to stand their ground and fight for their beliefs. Don't sell yourself shortly, girl."
Realizing she wouldn't make this man stop complimenting her, she simply accepted the praise. "At this point it sounds stupid" she sniffed once more "but I am Weiss, ex-huntress. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too. My name is Kendrick Fern, ex-White Fang member and former Lieutenant of Blood Moon Company."
"Former?" she asked. "Yes, former. In the very unlikely case I survive, I refuse to continue working for a guy who butchered my friend like a pig and summoned this monster here to kill us all."
Weiss' eye narrowed. A small tinge of curiosity broke through the barrier of sadness. "What do you mean, he 'summoned' it?" she asked.
"Gray has lost his mind. He captured a weird-looking man and-" "Sorry, but I am aware of all these. What I am asking is how did he summon a Grimm like that? Is that his semblance?"
Kendrick lowered his gaze and licked his lips. "Do you believe in magic, Ms. Schnee?" Her gaze froze. First, she thought of Salem and the Maidens. But then, her mind traveled back in the restless port of Grimmwater and Alizar's rune arrays.
"Kendrick" she whispered back. "Please tell me everything; right from the beginning."