Hello Everyone! How are you doing? Hope you are all doing fine.
With no further ado, here's chapter 151. I hope you all enjoy it!
Thanks again for following/ favoring/ reading the story so far. You are all awesome!
See you all next week in chapter 152. Until then, be well and have fun!
Fear froze her guts. The slowly forming black flesh, bursting out of the porcelain arms and crawling out of the wicked mask covering the doll's emotionless face gave form to her worst, most vivid nightmares.
Ruby was overwhelmed with fear, as the creature opened its stitched mouth and uttered sounds that should never reach the ears of a living human being. Its sinister eyes peered into her soul- reaching out to it.
But even in that state, her combat awareness remained top-notch. As the monstrous doll moved again, she lowered her stance and thrust forward with her sword, screaming as she aimed for its horrifying head.
The monster… ducked. In a confusing display of awareness, it lowered its head with a humane motion, avoiding Ruby's thrust. She blinked in a heartbeat, avoiding its follow-up attack and landing next to her sister.
"It's Grimm, Rubes" lilac eyes seized the monstrous figure, trying their best to not be overwhelmed by the deathly aura oozing out of the tiny little form. "A creepy one" Ruby, hands slightly trembling, answered.
The Grimm tilted its head sideways. The mask had slightly cracked and the thin, sewn lips with the caked blood and foul, rotten flesh, gleamed in their torches' lights. Red dots gazed at the two humans in hunger.
Yang's face darkened. She could see the scarlet wisps of energy pulsing out of the creature, fading into the darkness. Its body was pieces of rot and Grimm flesh, sewn together with wire and bound by magic.
Its size was small, but its mere presence had darkened the room. All of the dolls were being highlighted in her eyes; shadows cast upon their human features like mischievous devils dancing in the macabre night.
It had dodged Ruby's thrust in a way that resembled a trained fighter or a highly intelligent beast. She cracked her fingers and took a defensive stance-
"Death is naught but an obstacle; a temporal stop in life's journey"
The words echoed in her mind. There not spoken, announced or even written. They had been directly voiced inside her skull. Yang felt dizzy and lost her senses, stumbling momentarily to the back, wide open.
The monster didn't hesitate. If fell on all fours and charged her with a speed impossible for a normal human to react to. Thankfully for Yang, Ruby was no normal human.
The sound of metal scraping on bone filled the kitchen, echoing in the hellish room as the blonde fell on her back. Thorn parried the Grimm's claws and jaws, allowing Ruby to kick it away towards the large pot.
The figure crashed on the metal surface with a loud thud. Yang stood up with her sister's help the same moment the monstrosity jumped on fours again. Losing no time, it charged ahead like a hyper speed bullet.
Once more, Thorn swung in a parrying arch and deflected the flubbing claws. Ruby kicked the Grimm again, but this time the doll regained its footing and dashed away, vanishing in the darkness at immense speed.
"Shit!" a surge of air burst from behind them. Yang punched towards it but the thing sped up and vanished away in the shadows again. A gust of wind erupted from the ceiling. Dust fell down on them from above.
A doll crashed on the floor. The kitchen table creaked. The utensils let a metallic noise, as if something had just scraped by them. A shadow was momentarily caught by Yang's torch, before fading in a wisp of air.
"It's moving at high speed and using the shadows to escape our sights" the blonde concluded. "That iτ does" Ruby replied. Yang's eyes shot open wide in confusion at the flat, emotionless reply from her sister.
"Rubes?" a surge of air appeared from behind her. Before she could turn, the doll charged straight at her with its sharp, deadly claws aimed straight at her tender stomach. Ruby held her breath and bust forward.
Before rose petals could even touch the ground, the brunette's blade had parried the attack. Ruby burst at its back and swung hard at the doll's pulsing flesh throat, aiming to decapitate the hellish monstrosity.
It sped up and vanished again into the darkness. Ruby's boots touched the ground "you think you can challenge me to a fight of speed? I will send you back to the abyss, you disgusting spawn of hell!" she shouted.
"No, Ruby!" the reaper burst into petals the moment her eyes caught a surge of movement in the dark. A split second later, the sound of blade on bone reached Yang's ears again. High-speed movement followed it.
Another parrying sound erupted from behind her back. A slice glinted on her torch. Movement followed it and then a sound of wood getting splintered echoed before the large kitchen table broke in half.
Another movement erupted in the dark. She turned her head, but the sound of combat had already been teleported to the left corner. A loud gasp of frustration was heard and a heavy thud accompanied a metal noise. The pot was thrown away towards her. She caught it with ease.
That thing… she let the pot down and tried to adjust her torch. It keeps up with Ruby's speed! That's effing insane! The sounds continued their fierce dance around her, in ways impossible for the girl to keep up with.
What can I do? A blade gleamed in the dark, followed by a loud clank. Is there anything I can do here? Two shadows were cast on the wall for a brief moment before fading in the dark. The pot clattered once more.
What can someone whose only talents have ever been to punch things and set them on fire do? She grabbed her palm. What good are you if you can't even help me in this? She gritted her teeth- and then stopped.
Her eyes fell on the half-collapsed table in the middle of the room. It was a truly large piece of wooden ornament, made of wood. It was made of highly flammable, old and dried-up wood. She blinked; twice.
She could- yeah, she could easily do that. There was no need to try and find the monster. She just had to make sure it had nowhere to hide in. Best thing was; she didn't even have to burn the table to begin with!
What exactly are you trying to do there? The voice rumbled inside her head the moment she reached out for a fire shard. You don't need this primitive, pathetic means to see your enemy- I have shown you as such.
Her body shook from the power. Yang's lilac eyes travelled across the room, trying her best to see- a flash of steel parried the doll's clawed arms the very moment before it skewered the brawler's stomach.
"I am afraid too!" Ruby screeched in the darkness, trailing off as she moved "and I need you, sis!" she added at once. Fuck off, whoever you are! Yang grabbed the shard, flipped it and pierced her left shoulder.
As the searing pain reached her brain, she activated her semblance. In combination with the dust erupting around her, a luscious golden flame blew- or not.
A feeling of dread and abandon crept up Yang's soul. Her semblance did activate, yes, but instead of the usual brilliant gold flames her body got enveloped in a sinister-feeling miasmatic green hue.
Wisps of green fire flew away from her wreathed arms and legs. Sparks of unholy energy erupted from her torso, adding more to the horror and disgust she felt. Her arm throbbed- pulsing with intense ferocity.
She felt hot; it was unnerving. Never before had her own semblance hurt her in the past. Black shapes danced in the flames, fading away from her sight. These flames were not hers. Or at least she hoped so.
The heat intensified. A powerful sense of pleasure clutched her soul. A feeling of intense libido pounced on her body. It wasn't normal; there was no sensation of lust or love in it; only a primal and brutal violence.
Her body responded in kind. Thank all the Gods dwelling in Remnant it was only Ruby with her; the urgency and intensity of her emotions was scaring her. Thank Dust Weiss wasn't around- she dreaded the results.
Do you- see now? The voice almost cracked her skull. Her eyes pulsed in agony. She shut them and rubbed them with her fists. The monster ran at her with immense speed- wait, she could see it? Her eyes were shut!
"Yang!" Ruby parried the attack again. And Yang didn't hesitate. A quick jab forward was enough to hit the creature the fleeting moment it took to recover from Ruby's parry. It ducked under her fist and hid again.
Or at least it tried to do so. Its body erupted in a ferocious green blaze. A short pillar of eerie fire spread around its form, engulfing the thing in a shining outline of flame, making it plainly visible- and visibly slower.
She may have screamed, as the bottled up heat exploded in a powerful wave of pain, pleasure and tormented agony. Whatever this thing was, it was violent and impossibly gluttonous. Yang roared and knelt down.
The doll opened its mouth to screech in agony, unearthly shouts leaving its sewn lips. Eyes popped out in pain, filling its body in black goo. Red magical power poured out of its wires, voraciously consumed by flame.
It tried to run away- dust knew where to. Ruby blinked again and Thorn impaled the Grimm's head before the reaper drew it away, splitting the horrid nightmare in half. Its pieces fell down, slowly vanishing away.
Taking one quick stare at the thing, Ruby ran to her sister who was still standing in the middle of the room, holding her head with her eyes shut as she tried to control the malicious flames bursting out of her body.
"Did you see?" "Fuck you. Fuck you ten thousand times!" Her skull felt like it was- actually it was on fire. Her brain fought hard to function at this state. "Whoever you are, fuck you again and again! Go AWAY!"
She opened her mouth, taking large breaths. She tried to remember Cherry's teachings. She tried to-
An image blurred before her eyes; a seemingly ordinary scene that took place no more than a month ago. She was laying on the couch, next to Weiss who had her glasses on- so damn cute- and working on her PC.
"What if I lose?" she had asked. The most beautiful eyes in the world turned around and stared at her "you? Lose to a thing that can't even hold its shape? Preposterous" she had stated as a matter of fact.
"I am serious, baby. What if this thing; what if those days are my last?" The flames intensified. Her skin was flaring in agony. She could see and hear Ruby calling out to her. She tried to keep off her sister's touch.
Weiss removed her glasses and bent over Yang's laying form. Her pose was extremely insinuative, but her expression was anything but flirty. She stared at her with her mismatched cyan orbs narrowed fiercely.
"You are my future wife; do you understand that? You are not allowed to die unless I give you permission to. Until death do us part is utterly unacceptable- even if he does, I will tear hell apart and get you back. Am I understood, Yang?" she uttered something absolutely ridiculous.
Yang's breathing calmed down a bit. Her skin stopped crawling and her hands stopped shaking. "I don't want you doing anything stupid! Do you understand?" she had countered. "Then stay alive" Weiss had replied.
The sounds of sizzling flames slowly melt back to the dark and haunted recesses of her mind. "This is not on my hand to do!" she had countered at the ridiculous proposals. "Then try changing it- as I am doing now!"
Yang's eyes fell on a surprised, yet relieved, Ruby. Silver shaking disks in the verge of tears met lilac confused ones. She raised her hands and, to her relief, saw her own pinkish skin and gray metal unmarred by flames.
A loud sound made both girls jump on their feet. The large table finally gave in and completely collapsed, sending all the elaborate carved dolls crash down on the floor with a mighty boom that echoed like thunder.
On the ground, next to the massive upturned pot, was a single cracked Grimm mask, made of pure white bone. Ruby picked it up, shivering in horror. Seeing a mask remaining from a Grimm was a totally new thing.
"It looks like a carnival mask tailored for children, if you ignore the dark motifs" Yang moved closer. "How do you feel?" Ruby asked her while passing her the mask. "Fucked up" the gold-haired woman admitted.
The silver-eyed girl narrowed her eyes at her sister. "Do you want us to talk about it?" "No" Yang replied "not now at least." She took deep and long breaths to calm her heart "I am in the mood for action, not talk."
"As is that thing inside-" "Enough, Rubes" the tall girl cut her off "I said I don't want to talk about that thing eating my mind; end of the story."
"Stubborn, idiot blockhead" Ruby turned around trying to calm after the fight and her sister gave her an adrenaline rush- and her eyes came across a frozen face with large black eyes staring a couple meters away.
"AAH!" this time she barely managed to contain her scream. Her anger dissipating at once at the sound of her sister's voice, Yang jumped next to her as Thorn was raised, ready to decapitate the maid-dressed doll.
It stood next to the open door, hands crossed in full attendance. Unlike the Grimm, her face was plainly visible and her porcelain lips curved in a sincere smile. That of course didn't change an important fact; this doll was standing in the same entrance they had used to get in that room.
"She wasn't there before! I am done!" Ruby raised her arms, but Yang's metal hand stopped her. She turned to glare at her sister. "What?" she asked, her face a mix of anger and terror. Yang's gaze softened at once.
"I am not seeing anything weird in this one" she gently explained. As a confused expression formed on Ruby's face, she elaborated "I was able to see the other's Grimm nature before it transformed- this one is ok."
Silver eyes darted between the doll maid and her sister. "Are we going to blatantly ignore the fact that this creepy-looking thing moved behind us?" she exhaled a bit to blow off some steam. Yang clicked her tongue.
"Is there anything we can do about it?" she asked her "or about that?" she raised her left hand "unless you want me to stop using my ability and grab some pop-corn while you fight them, Rubes" she pointed out.
"I am just trying to find a solution" she gritted her teeth. "That's what I am telling everyone!" Yang roared. "There is no fucking solution! Didn't you see what just happened? I tried to fight and something possessed me! I almost burned myself to a crisp. I almost hurt you! Don't you all-"
"I don't care!" Ruby roared back. "If this is what it takes to keep you alive and well, what the heck is wrong with it?" "What sort of stupid question is that?" Yang's anger rose. Her restraints crumbled slowly.
"If you want me to be preserved, barely alive while something slowly eats me from the inside, swap me for a mummy! If these are my last days on Remnant, I am spending them fighting to the very end, Rubes!
But I am not going to be the same woefully optimistic moron we are all pretending to be so that my feelings will not get hurt! Do you think that I don't get it? I AM GONNA DIE! Dead, poof, finito! Grand Mother will drink my soul through this eye and pick her teeth with my metal arm!"
Ruby's breath was caught in her throat. She didn't even look at the doll even though she was sure it had its attention on them, fully enjoying the show they provided it with. "You- everything we talked about…"
Yang rubbed her eyes. They still hurt her, but the pang in her chest was far more painful. "I am here chasing an impossible dream, Rubes. And I hope that if we fail, I will at least burn to death on top of the Mad King's melting corpse. Dying to protect all of you is, well, acceptable."
"And what about us?" "I never said I wanted this, ok? I am just saying I am trying to let it end the way I want, if we prove too weak to stop it. That's all I can think of" she exhaled "and how much I'll miss all of you."
"…" the red-caped girl averted her gaze, making sure to keep an eye on the maid. "I refuse to accept it" she murmured "this was the reason you were so willing to separate from Weiss, wasn't it?" she asked.
"She is still hoping, just like you" Yang moved forward and hugged her. "I think only Blakey and Lu have started to seriously consider it, Rubes" she whispered at her ear. "I don't want to lose you" the brunette cried.
"Death- is not the end"
The voice came from ahead. Ruby and Yang dropped their hug, as cold shivers ran down their spines. Without her lips or eyes moving at all, the maid gently bowed before them "death can die too" she eerily gurgled.
All of a sudden, the lights flickered. Ruby and Yang's torches shook and went off, as a surge of crisp wind assaulted the huntresses' faces. Ruby picked up a wooden stick and lit it up with some dust and a lot of effort.
Its red gleam violently shook in the cool breeze. Its light shut and blew and roared, dying the room barely enough for Yang to see a fading, tall shadow crawl away in the hallway. The doll had mysteriously vanished.
"Death… can die too?" she tilted her head in confusion. What is that; a B-rate horror game riddle? "Are you ok Rubes?" she asked her sister. A quick wipe of her sweat was enough of a pause for the girl to reply.
"If there is no Grimm behind this, I think I am dying of heart attack" she had sat down on her back, trembling from the adrenaline rush. "I know. Sorry- for shouting before" the blonde adjusted her hat "I overdid it."
"I should be the one to apologize; I didn't want to press you that hard" the reply came. "I do get you, though" she helped Ruby up "this place is weird and barely makes any sense at all. Like always" she tried to joke.
"Yeah…" the brunette took a good look at the upturned pot again. For a mere second, she thought it was full of bubbling ooze. "We should find the altar then purge whatever is causing this and leave- if we can."
"Tar had reported to the police he had found the altar in the attic" she replied, rubbing her palm tighter than usual. The sensation of heat and overwhelming, orgiastic euphoria was excruciatingly slowly fading out.
What was that? She asked but got no reply. What were you trying to do to me? She was reminded of the various worship practices Cherry and Weiss had mentioned about the Elders and shivered at the concept.
Orgies… she clutched her chest in disgust. Cannibalism… she was all of a sudden reminded of the elderly man case, feeding people to the dolls after chopping them up- maybe in that very kitchen. She almost threw up. You are not trying to make me do this, are you? No reply again.
She stared at Ruby making a quick search of the kitchen for any hidden doors or moving dolls. She could see her sister's muscular back and her powerful arms trembling from the force she was using to fight her fear.
"Your sister is of a different cut than us" Blake's voice came to Yang. "She has that tenacity and determination to move on, no matter what. It's an incredible strength; to be able to do what you must despite the situation or your feelings. None of us has it except for Ruby and Jaune."
Lilac eyes opened wide in awe. She kept staring at her sister, diligently finishing her search despite her muscles trembling. She felt so much- so much- ashamed. Yet, she couldn't help but feel a surge of pride at her.
"There seems to be nothing here, Yang. Ready to go?" silver looked at her. Yang gave her a soft smile "after you, Rubes." The girl returned the smile and moved on, having now swapped her sword for her rifle.
The torchlight attached to it licked the outlines of the walls, opening a clear path to the door on the other side of the hallway as Ruby moved cautiously towards it.
Has her back always been that big? Yang tried to contain her shock and rushed after her sister, feelings of shame and guilt at her own lack of discipline being pushed down from her swelling pride.