Hello everyone! How are you ding? I hope you are all doing fine!
Chapter 112 is here and as always, I hope you enjoy it!
Thanks once more for keeping up with one way or another with the story so far; you are all the best.
See you next week in chapter 113 (and hopefully with less killing heat). Until then, be well and have fun!
The tunnel was surprisingly well- kept and the rails clean of most grime and ruin. No piles of rubble were blocking them and no tumbled trains could be seen using the underground system. Except for one, that was.
A small vehicle the size of a van drove on the rails, its headlights being the only source of illumination that broke the pitch-black darkness of the tunnels. The symbol of Vale city was etched on both of its sides.
Sitting in the back of the van, Blake let her gaze fall out of the window. The deep darkness, even with her own eyes, was harrowing to say the least- but fitting for the gut-wrenching feeling in her stomach.
They had told her to sit down and rest as much as possible during their ride to Dawn Bridge. And she had truly tried to do that, honestly. But…
"Falling deeper into the pit, aren't we?" the voice, calm and collected as always, asked her. It was unnerving her to no end, with its self-satisfied and know-it-all attitude. It aggravated her so much that it sounded as if it knew everything about her, even her deepest thoughts and fears.
She turned her head and let her eyes fall on the owner of said voice. Yellow met yellow as Blake stared at her image, seated on a leather chair right next to her with an infuriating smirk plastered on her face.
She no, it, wore the same clothes she had in Lakkard minus her sword and gun. It had been two days since she had first heard it talk to her. It was the second time she had actually seen it take her form.
She had chosen to tell no one, for a simple reason. She knew that this was not real. She also knew that it was no trick of the Eldergrimm or their cult. It was simply her turning crazy; nothing more, nothing less.
"What do you want?" she cleared her throat. "Nothing in particular. I just figured out you wanted to talk to someone about, you know, what has been plaguing your mind for a while" it haughtily replied to the girl.
"Even if I wanted to, I would definitely not choose you as my partner. If you can actually read my mind, you should have realized that already."
"Well, forgive me then; I thought that since you haven't told anyone so far about your deteriorating mental health, you just wanted to share it with me. After all, what other reason might be for that extremely and utterly foolish show of selflessness you are trying to put on, Blake?"
"I am neither pretending nor trying to put on any show" she narrowed her eyes in protest, making her feline features even more noticeable. "I am simply trying to protect my team the best way possible" she spat.
"Do you, now? Because I don't see that; if you truly cared about them, you would have turned down Ruby's idea and let a true leader take the mantle in your stead" she counter argued, making Blake gulp audibly.
"Instead, you gave a weak speech about how you are unsuited to lead and then proceeded to do the exact thing you should avoid; accept the responsibility and become team leader despite being painfully aware of how stupid and how unwise such a decision was" it emphasized again.
"I am simply trying to do my best. If they decided I am worth it, then it is my responsibility to stop running away and accept my duty. If Ruby is brave enough to understand her shortcomings and let me lead in her stead, then I have no right to prove her wrong. I will do it; properly."
It-Blake narrowed its eyes, losing the mirth its face had etched on "so, it comes down to proving you are as capable as everyone thinks" it hissed in a loud tone "you are even more self-conceited than I thought."
"You have a lot of nerve to call me that" Blake replied to her smirking, infuriating clone "I am not doing this for myself. I just want to-" "-show that I am a true, functional member of RWBY again" it licked its lips.
"That is not-" "You are so self-conscious, so self-centered that you have to have the world rotate around you" the voice spat venomously. "You are talking crazy- stop it" she was getting really, really annoyed now.
"Even when the world ends, or your friends' lives are on stake, the first thing that comes to mind is how you will prove yourself to everyone." A snort made Blake's blood boil "more than seeing others well, it is more important if you are the one who helped them. Don't try denying it."
"That's enough!" she raised her voice only a little. "We both know that you are a figment of my frail mind. Everything you say- everything you are trying to tell me- are nothing more than my own insecurities!"
To her outburst, the figure didn't respond. It simply smiled as it faded in the background, her image reflected in those eyes matching her own.
The cat girl tried to take one deep breath, before the voice came again, this time speaking directly in her ear. A putrid, vile breath harassed her lobe as the figure hungrily hugged her from behind her back.
"That is irrelevant and you know it…" it trailed its voice, sending chills down her spine. "You may be true and I may be a figment of your very vivid imagination- an image of your shattering logic" it eerily added.
"However…" sharp nails ran up her chest "your ragged breath, like you are struggling to breathe and every step you take may be your last one is real."
Cold fingers trailed her stomach "your lack of appetite; the fact that it has been days since you have had a proper meal, just because you are always 'not hungry' or 'without any energy to eat' is so very real too."
"You stop-" A hand not her own clutched her chest at her heart's point "your rising heartbeat to the point where your chest is pulsing up and down like a smashing drum, is actually happening to you."
"No… I-" "The irritation, quenched only by your friends' presence, also is real." The figure engulfed her even more, squeezing her body from behind while Blake was too terrified to properly respond to its actions.
"Everything is real, Blake. Your mind is slowly, yet steadily falling apart; with or without me, your health is becoming worse. And you know it. You have been aware of your state since you cut off the medicine.
And the cause of all these is your fear; you are afraid, not of dying, but of the fact that one day you will use your semblance and will see one of your clones stare back at you through my eyes"
The cat girl whimpered, her pulse once more rising as it stripped her mind of the last defense it had. She tried to fight back, but her muscles were stiff as if she was actually being grabbed. Could this be real?
Then, it vanished away, its parting words resonating through her skull as if bashed with a hammer "pray that I am real, Blake. For if I am not, it means you are in a much worse state than you expected to be."
"Good riddance!" the black-haired girl couldn't prevent her mouth from spitting the words as the replica disappeared into thin air, its malicious words echoing in her ears. "I hope this is not addressed to me."
The voice was confused, a little annoyed and full of ill-concealed worry. Blake's yellow orbs opened, snapping her out of her daydream and making her notice Weiss' mismatched ones staring at her in wonder.
"Ahm… of course no!" she quickly apologized in a timid manner. "Then who were you talking to, Blake Belladonna?" her confusion gave way to inquisitiveness, as her artificial eye narrowed even deeper.
"I wasn't talking to-" "Thank dust, I am neither Ruby nor Yang" she cut her off "so, don't pull this 'it was nothing' to me. I have told you already I consider you the only sensible person in our team; don't make me re-evaluate my opinion, if you would be so kind, Blake."
"Weiss…" she took one deep breath to try regaining her composure. "It truly is nothing you should worry about; just another one of my stupid and pointless tendencies rising from the back of my messed-up head."
"Ok, I am worried even more now" she finished bandaging her belly, as Blake noticed she had been doing before, and put her hands between her thighs with fingers crossed in anticipation of the faunus' response.
"Am I that transparent?" she asked her. "Yes. But even if you were not, seeing you talking to yourself with your hand trying so desperately to grab something out of your bag is enough of a cause for me to worry."
"Wha-" only then Blake realized her right arm had been stretched back, reaching out to her bag as if trying to open it. When did I do this- more importantly, why did I do this? I didn't want anything from my bag!
She turned her gaze back at Weiss. There honestly were two options; she would either play the 'I am the team leader so trust me on that' card or sit and tell her friend everything about that replica of hers.
In all honesty, she wanted to do the former. Of all people, Weiss was the one who would never question the team leader's decisions. On the other hand, huntress Weiss may be obedient, but friend Weiss would definitely go on a rampage if Blake used her position to keep her away.
She closed her eyes and let a fond, thin smile form on her lips. "Since our return from Cornfield, I have been seeing a vision. It has my form and talks to me in my voice" she finally admitted to the pale girl.
The ex-heiress' eyes opened in acknowledgement "could it be related to Avyssos or Nyctos?" "I strongly doubt that. It makes me feel eerie and terrified, but not the same way the Eldergrimm did; it lacks that abysmal, dreadful feeling they carry with them" Blake firmly replied.
"Has it tried to attack you somehow?" "It mostly talks; tries to fill me with doubt and self-questioning. Like how to put it, as if my conscience took form and started being more aggressive towards my actions."
"It definitely sounds creepy; but not as ominous as it could have been" the blonde nodded. On the other hand, it rises one very important and essential question "do you think it's a figment of your imagination?"
Her cat ears flattened "I think so, yes. It has been months since I could properly rest and clear my mind. I can't be sure I am not slowly losing it from the stress and exhaustion of continuous deadly missions."
"Why didn't you say so?" Weiss' voice became flat "why didn't you tell Ruby of your state when she asked you to lead the team?" she made the question Blake was afraid of more than anything at this moment.
"Because" her throat was parched from anxiety "I thought -and still do- that I can handle it. I didn't want to let Ruby down. I didn't want to betray the trust Goodwitch showed me by naming me her successor."
She stopped for a second "that's a lie; I just wanted to prove to myself that I can still fight and be a part of team RWBY like before. I am sorry Weiss" she felt so tiny and insignificant, finally admitting it in the open.
"Are you stupid or something?" the harsh rebuttal was expected. It was also well-deserved. It still stung like a high-precision needle biting her heart "what the hell were you thinking, Blake?" Weiss' words hurt a lot.
"I messed up, I know" she shut her eyes again to contain her pain. "My selfishness and desire to prove myself will put us all in danger- I may as well have killed us all. I should have never accepted that- OW!"
The immense pain stopped her wave of apologies. She felt warmth run down her head, like an electric shock coming from the top. Weiss had pinched her left cat ear- and now stared down at her, face clouded.
"Why in the righteous and most benevolent ancestors of your proud race would you ever feel like you have to prove your worth of being a RWBY member? Did you get infected by Yang germs or utter idiocy?"
"Weiss, don't you get it?" she tried her best to not raise her voice and alert Velvet and Yang in the van's cockpit. "Glynda and Ruby agreed to pull me out of the front lines. They realized it's not my place there anymore! And they are right; how can I have you trust me like this?"
For a mere second, Weiss' eyebrows narrowed even more. Blake held her breath, until she saw the pale girl let out a deep sigh before moving to sit down next to her "I will only say one thing" she announced.
"If you believe that Glynda and Ruby have decided to name you SHU's next commander as an act of pity, you have gravely misunderstood how seriously those two take their work and how much they believe in you."
"What if they are wrong?" Blake replied, quite a lot calmer right now. "I would trust Ruby with my life, but she is not perfect. She could make a mistake in trusting me; and I could get us all killed because of that."
"Honestly" Weiss gently grabbed Blake's shoulder, forcing the cat girl to turn around and look at a pair of cyan eyes full of love and kindness. "Didn't we sign up for this thing six years ago?" she rhetorically asked.
"From the very moment RWBY was formed after that dolt's command to go out and kill monsters we accepted that any stupid mistake of hers would get us killed at any time. Why bring that up now, Belladonna?"
The feline eyes blinked a couple times. Of all the things she had been expecting to hear, she hadn't even thought of that. "Don't you think it's stupid to trust Ruby for anything else, but not for this?" Weiss added.
"You do have a point. Even though that doesn't-" "Blake, I have known you for six years. We have saved the world, fought off monstrous foes and an immortal witch while overcoming a world war against Grimm."
"That is-" "I refuse to accept you still can't find believe that you are as amazing as all of us know you are. If you need help, ask. I told you that already quite some time ago, didn't I?" she caressed the pinched ear as the black-haired girl buried her face into her chest, thanking her.
-o—
Smiling, Yang returned back to her seat next to Velvet who was easily steering the van "Weiss has Blake's issues covered- and made me fall for her once more" she smiled rubbing the blush off her cheeks.
Velvet rolled her eyes "as if you need anything more that seeing her to fall for Weiss, Yang" she jabbed at the blonde. "Can you blame me for that?" she replied. "I guess not" the faunus flatly answered.
"Jokes aside, that photographic memory of yours is so cool, Velv. You read the whole manual for steering that thing so fast!" The brunette didn't take her eyes off the road, but nodded in acknowledgement.
"Even without it, this thing was designed for emergencies, so steering it was going to be a simple thing no matter what. If you take into account how slowly Blake wants us to go to avoid collisions, it's barely a task."
"I see…" the tall girl turned her gaze to the front windows, where the deep darkness of the underground tunnel was slowly being penetrated by the vehicle's headlights. Thankfully, nothing but rails and stone was being revealed so far.
"Can I ask something?" the faunus slightly stared at the blonde. "Well, of course; anything you want, girl." "Don't you think it is suspicious how well we have been doing so far?" Velvet asked her, in a serious manner.
"I don't get it. We have been running away and fighting since we got in the dome; that doesn't count as 'well' in my book, bun-bun" a lilac pair of orbs narrowed, trying to understand what the girl meant.
"That amount of fighting is normal, taking into account the scale of the attack that happened inside here- and how many people it seems to have claimed" she grimly added, returning her eyes on the railway.
"But at the same time, for a mission against an ancient monster that can cause fits of murderous rage, it is going way too normally. There is no looming threat, or an overwhelming presence haunting us."
"You guys all had an episode while crossing the barrier, though. And it definitely was tied to Nyctos' ability." "That's my point. Actually, I have two issues with that, if you want to listen to my thoughts." "Obviously."
"One thing that bothers me is this. We have confirmed that Nyctos was around, both from the incidents with the night patrols and with what we all experienced in the black mist barrier, am I right?" Velvet asked.
"Yeah. Blake talked that with Glynda and we pretty much confirmed it, unless it's another new thing we can't think of" Yang concurred. "Why did we get over it so easily?" the brunette blurted her question.
"We are inside a ruined city, full of Grimm and corpses, with enemies lurking in the shadows and surrounded by a whirling magical barrier of malice; how are we so calm about this?" she finished her thoughts.
"Maybe-" Yang stopped. Velvet was actually raising a very good point. The previous time they had encountered Nyctos its mere shadow had managed to possess Ruby, Weiss and Blake to attacking each other.
And, if the horrible things the poor night patrol members did to their friends were any indication, its ability had grown stronger. Even if the shadow needed to sting them or contact them, it should have at least tried; they should have seen it around, or felt its haunting presence.
"I have nothing" she finally admitted. "You are right; it is weird and it makes me feel stupid for not realizing it sooner. Where the heck has it been all along? We should be seeing it or feeling it creep around us."
Without telling each other, both girls at once turned their gaze on the window. Velvet slightly raised the headlights' power and they used the extra light to try notice anything they might have missed so far.
While doing that, Yang sent few quick glances towards her back. Just by talking about it, she felt that every blind spot had turned into a nest of evil; the weapons' storage room, the drawer, the place under their-
The blonde quickly fell on all fours and let her lilac eyes examine every nook and cranny below the control panels and chairs. After she made sure nothing was lurking beneath their feet, she turned around.
"Sorry, can't calm down. I am going to check the weapons' locker" she said and took a couple steps to the back of the cockpit. She opened the small metal locker, right hand raised and ready to defend any assault.
Thankfully, there was nothing dangerous inside. The only things inside the locker were two rifles and a few normal cartridges- Weiss had taken all the dust crystals away as soon as they had entered the vehicle.
"I am getting paranoid" she stared at her palm. The bulging eye could barely be seen anymore. After its outburst in the barrier, this thing has been silent; hope it's for the best she thought, albeit reluctantly.
All of a sudden, Yang felt the vehicle stop. She opened her legs trying to avoid falling down. Before she could even turn around and ask Velvet what happened, Blake and Weiss slammed the door open in haste.
No one asked anything- the crashed train, full of broken glasses, dented wagons and rusted doors that blocked the rails could be clearly viewed by the van's front windows. They stopped, and all eyes fell on Blake.
The cat girl walked next to Velvet and spent a few soundless moments trying to see anything of importance. Then, she took a deep breath and her shoulders sagged "there is no bypassing it; we have to go on foot."
"Do we go through, or over it, however?" Weiss voiced her concern. "It may sound silly, but we might be able to find some clues if we search while passing through it" the team leader replied, as she moved to the vehicle's side doors with the rest of her team coming after her.
"Oh, this is not going to end well" Yang took out her lamp and armed Ember Celica. Weiss drew Crown and Velvet took out a large flashlight.
"Has it ever?" Blake unsheathed Nightfall and jumped out of the van.