Disclaimer: I hereby declare that Roosterteeth studios RWBY production crew may freely use any ideas, characters, or events written in this story free of charge and without any threat of lawsuit for any production, though it would be preferable to inform me of the use of the idea if used.

Mansion of frozen blood Ch1

""Cheers!""

An enormous mug of wine, a glass of wine, a cup of sparkling cider, and a baby bottle clinked together in the center of a table before returning to the mouths of their owners.

After returning to Beast Cove to drop Fuji off with Chiyo, the lady had actually decided to tag along with them after Byakko informed her that they were going to the Icicle Inn to celebrate. Unsurprisingly, the inn was run by one of Byakko's old lovers and one of Chiyo's dearest friends. She was an elderly polar bear Faunus by the name of Susanna, who had mastered the art of aging wine in the arctic conditions of Solitas. And Chiyo showed Lan that she was already used to breaking the sound barrier while being carried in Byakko's arms, as long as the man angled his body so that he was the only one receiving any wind resistance. However, since Chiyo received the VIP princess carry, Lan and the little ones found themselves stuffed into Byakko's Gi, where the old man's voluminous body hair both protected him and unsettled him as it wrapped around him as if it were alive.

The three of them soon landed in middle of a forest near the town where the inn was located. There, Chiyo had donned a Hanten, while Lan bundled up Fuji, the little ones, and himself in parkas and other snow gear he had managed to barely prepare before grabbed by the scruff of his neck.

Fuji had giggled and waddled around excitedly as she enjoyed her first experience with snow as the little ones ran and flew around her. This soon turned into a snowball fight as Byakko threw 15 snowballs into Lan's mouth as the boy stuck out his tongue to catch a snowflake. The boy then proceeded to collapse to his knees while choking on them as everyone else began to playfully pelt each other with snowballs. Thankfully the snowballs quickly melted into water which he swallowed and later returned to the environment as yellow snow. A while later after they had their fun, the family headed over to town.

It was a quaint, charming little town surrounded by glaciers which were defended by a system of turrets and militia patrols. A small fjord cut through the center of the town, with the northern half residing on a higher elevation and being home to a greater number of manors and more upscale businesses. The lower area however, had access to the fjord's beach which wound around the end of the fjord creating a pathway that slowly increased in elevation until it reached the sheer cliffs of the higher end.

The inn the three were heading two was a large building in the middle of the lower end, situated right in front of the main fjord-side path that connected the two ends of the town. The air was filled with the delicious smell of freshly baked pastries and finely cooked stew as they walked up towards the cozy-looking building's entrance.

The moment they first entered a large elderly woman standing behind the counter, who Lan guessed was Suzanna, tensed up before she rushed forwards and dove into Byakko's arms where she nuzzled her face into his chest. She was a very tall and muscular old woman, with fluffy white hair and round bear ears. The greeting between her and Chiyo was equally warm, and when the large woman turned on Lan, the boy decided to take the initiative and dive right into the mighty bear hug. His back well trained from years of his grandfather's crushing embraces, he was able to hug her back just as fiercely as she did him.

The family was then sat at a large table near the fireplace and their orders taken, with the drinks coming first.

"Should you really be drinking now Grandma?" said Lan as he eyed Fuji who was happily drinking from her bottle.

"Not to worry Lan, I made sure to fill plenty of bottles beforehand" she said, lifting up a basket filled with full milk bottles. "But more importantly, congratulations on taking your first steps into the secret world. But I hope you know what exactly it is you're getting into."

"Yeah" said Lan, as he sipped his cider, "me too." The table in front of them was soon filled with over a dozen of Suzanna's special homecooked dishes.

"Only the best for my sweethearts" she said as she pecked Byakko and Chiyo on the cheeks. "And gotta make sure the little ones in our family get what they need! You two are gonna need to grow fast if you're gonna keep up with this old man!" she said as she slapped Byakko on the back so hard it would have brought a normal man to their knees.

"Mmmmm, I missed this" said Byakko as he shoved a ground steak patty covered in mushroom bacon gravy into his mouth.

"Your cooking did always have its own unique charm" said Chiyo who sipped a spoonful of creamy salmon soup.

"Is Fuji old enough to eat this stuff?" asked Lan as he scooped some skillet cooked chanterelle and goat cheese spread onto a piece of toasted bread and shoved it into his mouth.

The baby responded by jumping onto the table and shoving her face into a plate of Swedish meatballs.

"Oh, Fuji! Eat with manners" scolded Chiyo who pulled the baby's now sauce covered face out of the dish.

"Aw, let her have some fun" said Suzanna as she set down bowls of leftovers for Ignis, Edel, and George. "It's a celebration isn't it?"

"I guess so" said Lan, who took another sip of his drink. "So, how did you and grandpa meet?"

"Wooo boy! Gettin' right into it aren't we?" said Suzanna with an excited smile "Well that was years ago when I was still young and hot...well hotter. You see I was the most fearsome bandit queen in this region, robbing transport from all kinds of powerful businesses and military organizations as they transported goods from the ports further inland. But that all changed on the day I met your grandpa who was a mighty—"

"Let me guess, bandit king?" said Lan as he munched a crab cake.

"Close" said Suzanna "Pirate King, he was heading up the Beast Pirates at this time and had made quite a name for that iteration of himself."

"Iteration?" asked Lan.

"Oh, you know how old the man is" said Suzanna.

"Not really" said Lan who shook his head.

"He's gotta duck out of the public eye once in a while, maybe say that he's his own son or something" continued Suzanna, who ignored Lan's interjection. "If he didn't people might start getting suspicious about how old he really is. Well anyways, at the time me and my men were attacking a cargo ship that had just arrived in port, the one nearby in fact. Things were looking to go just like they usually did, but suddenly out of the clouds above came an enormous airship. Me and the boys and girls watched as dozens of paratroopers leapt off the side of the ship and landed on the deck below, quickly taking over the vessel before we had even begun boarding."

Suzanna then grabbed and flexed her sizable right bicep.

"Now, I wasn't going to just watch as we had our payday stolen from right under our noses, so I clawed my way up the side of the ship, jumped on the deck, and yelled at the top of my lungs for their leader to come and fight me! A moment later, I heard a whistling sound and your grandfather crashed onto the deck of the ship. And Boy did he make an impact, decked out in that kimono gambeson thing he was wearing and holding that huge ass godsdamn sword of his over his back. Well anyways, I challenged him to a duel then and there, pulling out my Carolingian sword and pointing it right at his chest. I remember him opening his mouth and laughing at the top of his lungs before saying 'I like you!' and accepting the duel. That was it for me at that point, and the moment our swords clashed and I stared into those piercing eyes of his, I fell head over heels for him. Heck, I don't even remember what happened after that."

"Isn't that cause I sent you flying into the glacier?" asked Byakko, who grinned while stroking her hair. "Look out that window, you can still see our crater over there."

The group turned and saw far off in the distance, a large crater in the side of the ice.

"Oh wow, it's uh, still there." Said Lan, as he shoved a vandbakkelser into his mouth.

"Yep, her men surrendered real quick after that" said Byakko "And as a show of good faith for her gumption, we took her aboard the ship where Chiyo treated her."

"And that's how I fell in love with Chiyo too" said Suzanna, causing Lan to choke on his cider "waking up to see that adorable smiling face standing over you. Whooo boy! I am so glad that I found out that they were polyamorous."

"You have to be to have a healthy relationship with this one" said Chiyo, who scratched Byakko behind the ears.

Sensing that the conversation was beginning to turn towards dirtier topics, Lan quietly excused himself and went outside to take in the cool night air. The night sky was clear and filled with stars as he stepped outside with a mug of hot cocoa. He walked forwards to a nearby railing coming between the street and the beach and hopped up onto it.

"It's peaceful here" he thought, as he sipped his cocoa and set it down at the railing at his side.

The chaotic hustle bustle of Amygdala had been very fun and interesting, but it often left him with very little time to sort through his own thoughts, it was kind of odd having the chance to just think.

"So, I've basically recovered from exposure to the boundary…now what?"

This was the first time Lan had honestly thought about what he wanted to do in the future, and the major choice that he would eventually have to make: Give up his connection to the mundane world and protect the world from the shadows like his grandfather or sever his connection to the esoteric and dedicate himself to the wellbeing of mankind like the huntsman he admired as a child.

"Wish there was way to do both" thought Lan "Gotta to talk to grandpa later, see if there's some way to do that" at that moment he felt the world begin to shift around him "although it'll have to be after I deal with this problem."

He hadn't told his grandfather yet, but soon after he began to secretly practice using spiritual energy again back in Amygdala, he began to see some strange things every now and again. Suddenly his vision would warp, and he would see the world in a new way, before returning to the way it normally was soon after. It was actually quite beautiful as he saw glimmering specks of lights of countless colors rising out of everything around him and others slowly falling from the sky. And suddenly there structures here and there that weren't there before, like trees made of glimmering crystal or ghostly houses hidden deep under waves. But there were also other more mysterious and unsettling sights that he was growing accustomed to.

A faint silhouette here, lights without clear sources there, sometimes eyes staring back at him that quickly disappear like a mirage dissolving in fog. Rarely, these things would creep closer to him after he stared back, this concerned him at first, but quickly got over it as he found using a casual essence strike would always dissipate them or drive them back into the shadows. He was glad for the practice too, since he had barely any experience using these abilities, and since the battle with the robot back in Amygdala, he had found that severely overtaxing his spiritual energy could have severe negative effects on his Aura and semblance. In fact, his aura had barely recovered at all since the end of the battle and had only began to recharge again after he had recovered a great deal of spiritual energy.

"Gotta remember to balance that." He thought as he swatted away what looked like a large fly made of miasma.

"I wish that my kind had learned of these skills back then" said Veritas "We might have actually had a chance if we did."

"Maybe" thought Lan, "But let's focus on the now for now."

After another minute, the view in front of him warped again and his vision returned to normal. He then straightened up, brushed himself off and prepared to go back in when he heard the sound of crunching snow slowly approaching him.

"Dad~~, can't we find a place to rest yet? My feet are killing me…." Said a very nerdy voice

"Stop complaining" came a gruff voice "It's your fault for packing so much luggage…which I am so generously helping you carry."

Lan's ears perked up as he heard this.

"Wait a minute." He thought "I know that voice."

"Sammy!" he shouted as he turned "Is that you!?"

Letting out a surprised squeak, Sammy tripped over his own tail and almost fell on his face, but was caught by his father Momonga just in time.

"What the—Lan! What are you doing here man?" he asked as he adjusted the large spectacles on his face.

"Visiting one of grandpa's friends!" said Lan who excitedly ran up to his friend, "But enough about that, get over here and give me a manly hug of ultimate manliness!"

"Uh what do you—"Started Sammy, but his eyes soon widened as he saw Lan flex in a way that somehow allowed the boy's muscles to be clearly seen even through his snow clothes before charging in like a mad tiger for a hug "AH! WAIT, NO NO NO!"

But too late, Lan seized his friend in a tight muscular hug that probably would have broken some bones if Lan hadn't stopped himself in time…although there were a few cracking sounds.

"Oops, sorry" said Lan as he dropped Sammy back onto the ground "so used to hanging around with grandpa I forget some people don't have the muscular definition for the manly hug of ultimate manliness."

"Ugh" groaned Sammy as he twitched face down on the ground.

"Uhhh, has he unlocked his Aura yet?" asked Lan, as he looked in Momonga's direction.

"Sadly no" said the gruff man "My son spends more time in front of the computer than in the training room, so he has yet to either unlock it himself or prove himself to me that he is ready to have it unlocked."

"Well, anyways it's good to see you both again." Said Lan who lifted Sammy up and popped the boy's parts back into place with several cracks that caused Sammy to whimper in pain. "Come join us in the nearby tavern for food and drink, I'm sure Granny Suzanna…Aunty?... Graunty Suzanna! Can find a room for you two to stay the night!"

Momonga turned his gaze towards the building, then nodded his head.

"Very well, the two of us were just looking for lodgings for the night, we accept your invitation."

"Great!" said Lan who ran and grabbed all of their luggage "I'll take these for you, so just go sit at our table!"

"…Huh, strong lad" said Momonga as he watched Lan run towards the building while holding Sammy and all their luggage above his head.

After coming inside, Lan quickly announced Momonga and Sammy to his family and the group exchanged greetings. Learning from his son's plight, Momonga was able to talk Byakko out of the manly hug before walking away with Suzanna to discuss rooming as some of her employees helped carry the luggage.

"It's so nice to meet one of Lan's younger friends" said Chiyo who smiled while patting Sammy on the head.

"Oh, uh it's nice to meet you too" said Sammy who blushed, the boy then whispered to Lan "Hey, who's this cute girl?"

"That's Chiyo" said Lan "My grandma."

"Huh?!" said Sammy, taken aback.

"It surprised me at first too" said Lan, "But I found out Grandma's a Jellyfish Faunus, so she looks really young…but I honestly don't see the animal characteristics."

"Oh, that would be my soft supple skin" said Chiyo who smiled with a hint of danger "and I can unfurl my subdermal poisonous stingers whenever I want~~." She said as she stroked Lan's cheek menacingly.

"Ah" said Lan, who suppressed his shivers. "Got it…So, Sammy why are you here?!"

"Oh, uh well…a mission" said Sammy who awkwardly turned his gaze to the side as he took a sip of hot cocoa.

"For the White Fang?" asked Lan as he munched an apple tart.

"Oh, uh no no. Me and dad aren't part of the White Fang anymore" said Sammy.

"What, Really? When did that happen?" asked Lan

"Oh, well…" Sammy turned his head to look at his father who was signing documents at the front desk. He then turned back to Lan and began whispering.

"It seems that the White Fang is beginning to head in a more violent direction these days" he whispered. "The faction led by Sienna Khan is gaining more and more ground, especially with the younger members. Just last week I've heard of some scary things that a guy named Adam Taurus did at a mining operation."

"Really?" asked Lan, perplexed "Why is the leader letting this happen?"

"Because Sienna's group is getting results" game a gruff voice from behind. The two boys turned and found Momonga looking down at them.

"Looks like you got a tale to tell" said Byakko, who offered the man a mug of ale.

Momonga looked at it for a moment, then sighed and sat at the table before accepting the libation.

"I guess it can't hurt, and knowing you two it's likely you'll be able to offer us some assistance" said Momonga, he then took a long draught from the mug before letting out a sigh and continuing. "The White Fang was originally founded as a symbol of peace between men and Faunus, and to that end the organization had been using peaceful methods of protest to combat discrimination…however the results have been greatly lackluster. So, it seems our current leader, Ghira, is preparing to step down. Me and some other likeminded individuals decided that resorting to terrorism wasn't how we wanted to make a difference, so we decided to leave…Heh, can't say the sendoff was friendly either. I still remember that boy Adam screaming at us as we walked out the doors, calling us cowards and traitors."

Momonga took another long draft from his mug, then rubbed his eyes.

"But I still think it's much more important to stay true to your own beliefs" he continued "Many of us went off to pursue our own paths, but at the same time we stayed in contact to see if we could help each other. That boy Daylen, I think you know him."

"Yep" said Lan as he crunched some hot bread "What's he up to?"

"Finally putting that political science degree of his to use, that's what." Said Momonga "He started up a legal consultation slash detective service that assists oppressed Faunus by finding evidence of malpractice and then taking legal action to address the issues."

"Oh! Nice!" said Lan, as he remembered his time back in Dust Hole "…Wait is that why you two are here?"

"Smart boy" said Momonga "The two of us were privately hired to assist his company with many miscellaneous tasks. Most recently we were tasked with looking into strange things that have been happening in this area."

"What kind of things?" asked Lan.

Momonga looked at the boy for a moment then said "…That depends if you two are willing to—"

"We'll help" interrupted Byakko.

"And that's the three of us" said Chiyo with her usual calm smile.

"Uh, actually…eight I think?" said Lan as he counted the little ones, Chiyo, and Veritas.

"Nine" chimed in Suzanna.

"But I didn't even tell you what—" started Momonga

"Don't matter we'll do it" said Byakko

"When we enter a town, we always leave the request board empty" said Lan as he pulled up the town's request forum. "It's the reason we take so long getting from point A to point B and why we always have enough lien to feed this thing" the boy poked his grandpa's stomach, making the old man chuckle "now tell us the details already so I can better multitask. If it involves going to the woods, I can help while gathering frost moss and thinning the Saber population."

"…Ok, I'm pretty sure you don't need the money so why do you-" started Sammy.

""Hate leaving things undone"" said Lan and Byakko in unison as they shrugged their shoulders.

"…Alright then" said Momonga as he rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a document. "I'm going to need you all to sign this before we continue."

After putting the signature covered (and partially torn) document back into this bag, Momonga began telling them about the issue.

"There has been a series of layoffs at a nearby Schnee Dust Mine, with mostly Faunus workers losing their jobs. However, the strange thing is that quite a few of them were immediately offered new jobs from various middlemen as laborers in this town at rates significantly better than they were making before…However, after reporting for duty and being sent on their first few jobs they aren't heard from again. Because of this, many have grown suspicious of any of these offers and attempt to find work elsewhere…only to disappear on route to their destination."

"So, you've been sent to investigate the area." Said Lan.

"Indeed" said Momonga, "It'll be a lot of ground to cover with only 2 people, so your help would be indispensable."

"I think we've heard all we need to hear" said Byakko, who rubbed his hands together. "Let's get started."

"Well I guess we all can investigate in our own ways" said Lan.

Byakko was put in charge of finding tracks and clues, and any other kind of investigation that didn't involve him interacting with someone (which would almost certainly blow their cover) as well as anything too stomach turning for other members of the team (such as diving into a septic tank, performing a cavity searches, etc.), Chiyo and Suzanna would stay in the inn and inquire about information with any travelers, Momonga would ask around town, Sammy would monitor social media to see if we could find anything interesting in the area, and Lan would use more…unconventional means of finding new information.

"Okay then" said Sammy "I think we're all se to goOOOOOWWWWW!"

Leaping off his chair, he grabbed his tail and pulled it to his face and saw Fuji gnawing away.

"ARRRGGHHHH! GET HER OFF! GET! HER! OFF!"

"Manhandle!" shouted Byakko, who leapt off his chair with both hands raised.

"Not my son you won't!" said Momonga, who moved between them.

""We got it"" said Lan and Chiyo.

Lan then proceeded to coax Fuji off of Sammy's tail with a large rod of hard candy, which he handed to Chiyo after Fuji bit into it before seeing to Sammy's tail.

"Is it bleeding?" asked Sammy who was too afraid to look and was covering his eyes.

"A little" said Lan as he bandaged it "But geez man, you should look into unlocking your Aura."

He then straightened up and almost bumped into a man who had been standing at the side.

"Woah! Sorry about that, can't believe I didn't see you there." Said Lan as he backed up awkwardly.

"Uh, Lan, who are you talking to?" said Sammy, who gave him a confused stare as he gingerly nursed his tail.

"Whadya mean who? This guy right—Oh" it was then that Lan noticed the little specks of light had appeared in his vision again.

"Something wrong boy?" asked Byakko, raising an eyebrow as he noticed Lan's surprise.

"Uh, nope! Nothing at all, I just, uh, forgot I had a , uh, ritual! Yes, a ritual going! A divination spiritual ritual to help with the search! And the invisible familiar I summoned notified me that it's ready!"

After bumbling through that, Lan stood there with an awkward smile on his face that nobody was buying.

"Wow, whatever happened must have really surprised you" said Sammy "I've never seen you bumble that badly before...and when did you have time to set up a divination ritual, you didn't even know about the search until—Urgh!"

Sammy collapsed onto his knees as Lan gave him a quick elbow to the ribs while muttering "Just go with it!" and eyeing his grandpa with trepidation.

"I will give you a pass for right now since we got to start searching" said Byakko who pointed at Lan accusingly "But we will talk about this later."

He and everyone else then got up and headed out to perform their respective searches.

Nodding, Lan turned back to what he believed to be a spirit. It seemed to be a large man, most likely a Faunus due to the large Moose antlers on his head. His face and clothing were obscured by some kind of arcane fog. Lan could tell from the way his head was moving that he was saying something, but was unable to hear him.

"Are you trying to help us with the search?" asked Lan.

The spirit nodded and continued to try and explain, but seeing that Lan wasn't able to completely understand him, the man moved towards the door and motioned for Lan to follow.

The boy nodded and did so, however the moment they stepped outside, the sparkling lights in Lan's vision began to fade and the world began to return to normal.

"d'OH, not now!" muttered Lan as he began slapping the side of his head "Disappearing just as I need you."

"Do not worry Lan, I can still see him" said Veritas, who popped out of Lan.

"Oh right, you're kinda dead too."

"Just follow me for now, he appears to be heading for the edge of town."

The two of them soon found themselves walking to the town's gates then, and after bribing the watchmen on duty, heading out into the snowy pinewood forest outside.

Expanding his web of spiritual energy, Lan found he could sense them better than ever before as he walked, the patches of darkness lurking among the trees. Things that were neither truly alive nor dead. Things that were paradoxically made from destruction.

As Lan followed his glowing friend through the forest, he did his best to avoid things that he sensed were too large or powerful for him to deal with quickly. If a Grimm weak enough for him to quickly handle crossed his path, Lan would surround himself in an isolation barrier to hide his presence before swiftly grabbing the creature from behind and plunge his energized fingers into the closest thing it had to a head where he would crush the core of its essence and return it to nothingness.

"Ugh, why did I leave my backpack behind" said Lan after half an hour "I am both thirsty and afraid we'll be unprepared for what we'll find"

"I believe it was your grandfather who left it behind when you two rocketed away from Amygdala" said Veritas as he continued to track their unseen guide "And do you not have various tools and supplies stuffed into your multitude of pockets as well?"

"…Yeah well, the better stuff is in my bag" said Lan as he sucked a bag of green apple jelly.

Before long, Lan found the sparkle returning to his vision and the ghost's visage becoming visible again, and by that time, it seems that they had reached their destination. The three of them emerged into what appeared to be a clearing surrounded on three sides by sheer stone cliffs with the forest of trees behind them.

The large Faunus man walked over to a large cluster of bushes in the back of the area and motioned to them.

"Got it" said Lan "But first"

He quickly absorbed Veritas and activated his semblance then, with his eyes glowing, Lan threw a concussive orb combined with gravity dust followed shortly by a Crystal kunai combined with lightning dust at a seemingly random place in the cliff face. The first strike caused the point of impact to explode outwards towards the clearing, ejecting a Geist into the air which was almost immediately impaled and electrocuted by the lightning kunai.

"Can't get the jump on me no more. No sir" said Lan as he did a happy jig while the Geist dematerialized. The Geist was smart enough to lay an ambush using camouflage, so it must have been quite a bit old. Sadly, for it, Lan was the first person it had encountered who could literally sense its essence, rendering its stealth moot.

"I wonder what happened to all the people it killed?" thought Lan.

After making a note in his scroll to find them and get them a burial, Lan made his way to the bushes. Moving them out of the way, he found a small hole barely large enough for 1 or 2 people to fit through.

"Ugh" he said, wrinkling his nose as a pungent odor blew out of it "That smells like…rot!"

Quickly affixing a small mask over his mouth and nose, Lan leapt down into the hole, running down the gradually widening tunnel until finally he arrived in a large cavern. He paused for a moment as his eyes attempted to make out some strange shapes hidden in the darkness in front of him. Grunting, he snapped open a flare and tossed it into the darkness in front of him. As the flare descended and illuminated the scene in front of him, he closed his eyes and let out a pained sigh as his suspicions were confirmed.

The cavern was filled with piles and piles of corpses in various states of decay. The cold Solitas winter had frozen many corpses solid, but Lan had the sneaking suspicion that the regular addition of fresh bodies had allowed the decay to continue its process.

"I guess I know what happened to the Geist's victims" thought Lan as he began walking deeper in. But strangely enough, after passing the first few piles, the stench of death and decay faded. It was still there, but he began picking up other odors: a hint of formalin, the sour scent of acid, and the scent of burning flesh among other things. None of those would be present in a Geist attack.

With that in mind, Lan began inspecting the corpses more closely and found that after a certain point the majority of victims were Faunus, likely the missing workers and possibly individuals from other areas as well. Before he realized it, Lan found that he was almost at the back of the cavern. There he found the ghost standing next to a pile of bodies leaning against the wall and motioning to it.

Nodding, Lan took out a flashlight and walked up to it. The first thing that Lan noticed was the wall itself. It didn't look like the smooth weathered side of a natural cavern, but rather had the gritty texture of recently dried concrete. He then noticed that the ghost was making frantic motions at the pile of corpses, making scooping motions with his arms.

"Something in there?" asked Lan, the ghost nodded, and after taking a deep breath, the boy began to dig through the pile. The boy's stomach turned as he found that many of the bodies were still relatively warm. Many of them also revealed new details he could only see from close up. Many of the bodies were horribly mutilated, missing entire limbs, eyes, or entire chunks of random parts of the body. Others had strange growths protruding from their body, while others showed numerous surgical scars and incisions.

The list of abnormalities continued to grow as the boy tossed more and more bodies to the side.

"Uh, what supposed to be looking f—"

It was then that he heard a small almost imperceptible sound.

"haaaah"

A breath.

Locating it and redoubling his efforts, Lan began digging through the pile more furiously than before, tossing body parts and limbs left and right and ignoring the slimy viscera that was splattering over him. Then as he moved away the final cadaver, he finally found what he was looking for.

Lying on the remaining bodies, breathing slowly and weakly, was a woman. Clutched in her arms was the corpse of a large man with moose antlers. The man's face had somehow been dissolved and the melted flesh had completely filled all of his facial orifices, leaving his features completely indistinguishable and had likely suffocated him.

"Ah" sighed Lan in understanding as he turned to the faceless ghost that was standing to the side.

Returning his gaze to the woman, he attempted to move aside the man's corpse so he could get a better look at her, but in response she simply gripped the body even tighter.

Lan paused for a moment, wondering if he should simply force the body out of her arms. But given her weakened state, he decided on a gentler approach.

He leaned down and whispered into her ear: "It's okay, you're safe now. But I need to take care of you, so please let me."

The woman slowly relaxed at these words, and Lan was able to gently move the corpse out of her arms and get a good look at her. Lan felt a hard knot form in his throat as he examined her. Most of her body was covered with chemical burns, and from her emaciated form Lan could tell that she hadn't had a good meal in a while.

"Gotta get her some help" he thought "but I won't be able to move her in this condi—"

At that moment she let out a sharp cough and grabbed her chest as she began convulsing. Alarmed Lan began to analyze her as best he could with his self-taught first aid knowledge and spiritual abilities and saw that her life was fading fast.

"Gods damnit" thought Lan. He quickly started thinking about what he could do, but none of the conventional methods he knew would do anything fast enough. He had one unconventional idea though, but it was one he wasn't sure he was ready to perform. But as he saw the life force fading from her veins, he decided to wing it.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small glowing crystal with smooth uneven edges. It was one of the few items he had received from gruncle Meng for his training, a training healing crystal to be used when learning how to create fine circuits of spiritual energy. When executed properly, the energies within the stone would intertwine with the recipients lifeforce and reinvigorate them. But succeed or fail, the stone would shatter after the healing process was triggered.

It was the only one he had, and he wasn't confident he would be able to execute the technique perfectly since he had only read the sections of the scrolls detailing how to use it and hadn't had any practice doing anything similar. Once again, he regretted leaving his backpack behind, which had the scrolls that he could have consulted tucked away in its many pockets.

Taking a deep breath and hoping he remembered enough, Lan placed the stone onto the woman's chest and began inserting fine threads of his spiritual energy into the stone. Creating the complex circuit from the fibers within the stone was extremely difficult for the boy, luckily there were a few guides inscribed inside of it to allow the learning student to better learn circuit formation. But even with those guides his circuit was a far cry from anything an adept would have been able to sculpt, especially since he was rushing himself to finish before it was too late for the woman.

After finishing the circuit as best he could, he had his threads of spiritual energy continue out of the crystal and begin to wrap around the veins of the woman's life force.

Gritting his teeth and hoping with every fiber of his being that what he created would be good enough, Lan sent a pulse of spiritual energy along his fibers into the stone. It began to glow with a soft green light as it was energized. That warm light then began to travel out of the stone along the lines of spiritual energy Lan had weaved and flow into the woman's life force, but at the same time sparks of energy began randomly shooting out of the stone from the areas where Lan's circuit construction was insufficient. Every time the energy struck part of the cave wall or a corpse, a layer of fungus or slime mold would instantly grow.

"Come on" thought Lan, wincing every time a spark shot out. "Work! Work!"

The stone gradually began dimmer and dimmer as its energy slowly ran out, and at the same times the woman's convulsions were easing as she slowly grew more stable. Finally, with a sharp crack, the stone ran out of energy and crumbled into gray powder.

Lan quickly began checking on the woman in every way he knew, and found that although she was out of immediate danger, she needed medical treatment as soon as possible. Regretting about the backpack for the third time tonight, Lan quickly fashioned a makeshift stretcher from sticks, bones, various clothing scraps lying around the cave, and whatever he could find in his pockets (which included a lot of adhesives and twine). After gently moving the injured woman onto it and strapping her in, Lan grabbed its handles and turned to the ghost.

"Is there anyone else still alive in here?"

The ghost shook its head, but just in case Lan spread out his spiritual energy field into as large as an area as he could as he headed towards the exit. Arriving at the entrance after finding…no one else, Lan pulled the woman into the cold winter snow outside as the specks of light faded from his vision. A light snow had begun falling as Lan exited the cave and began dragging the woman towards town.

With the woman behind him, he had to make certain to give a wide berth to any Grimm in the area, so he focused all the spiritual energy he could muster to scan the areas far ahead of them, so he could take detours in advance. It definitely took longer, but he couldn't afford to risk the woman in a scuffle.

"Hey, you awake back there?" asked Lan a while after they had entered the tree line. There was no response but he could hear shallow breathing, so he simply hefted the stretcher into a more comfortable position for her and continued on. A little while later, he began to hear her mumbling in her sleep. She started mumbling about her parents, how she was sorry that she couldn't help them, that the money she earned was never enough for her little brothers and sisters, how she'd hoped she could have made a better life for them. A little while later, she began mumbling a name, someone named Rufus. She began to weakly moan as she called his name, saying she was sorry, that she should have been the one to protect him not the other way around.

Lan guessed Rufus was the name of the ghost man who he could no longer see. Lan wished there was someway he could soothe her as she called the man's name over and over and over again. But he didn't have any sedatives or know anything about her that might calm her, so he gritted his teeth and pushed himself to get back to town sooner, no matter how much his vision fogged with tears.

The snowfall had increased now, but thankfully the wind hadn't picked up. The woman had begun crying and began to feverishly cry out that she wanted to go home.

"Don't worry" said Lan, as he snorted the tear-filled mucus that was building up in his nose. "I can see the lights already, we're almost back to town." The two of them pulled up to the gates soon after, and after paying the guards an additional bribe to let them in despite their morbid appearance, went through the gates.

"Look, Look! We're here!" said Lan as they passed through the main gate.

"Thank you" came the woman's voice from behind him.

"No, it's alright" said Lan who turned his head to look at her "I'm just glad I—"

It was then that he noticed she was standing right behind him, staring at him with a pair of serpentine eyes.

Confused, he looked down at the stretcher he was carrying and saw that the woman was still strapped in.

"Wait—Huh? How-" it was then that he realized that what was falling around them wasn't all snow, some were small pinpricks of light.

"Oh no" said Lan who set the body and the ground , he checked its pulse while also scanning it with his spiritual energy, but found no heartbeat or lifeforce "no no no!"

Lan quickly pulled some lightning dust out and began to defibrillate her while using his spiritual energy to try and stimulate her own, but he found that there was no longer a spirit in her body.

"But, but…when?" he whimpered as he turned to her ghost.

"In the forest, right after I started saying I wanted to go home." She said "Somewhere in the middle of that I think I finally just gave out. I only realized after that pain finally went away."

"I-I'm…I'm sorry" said Lan.

"Don't be" she said as she spread her arms wide "You brought me home. Before I died, I was able to get a whiff of the apple tarts that I always used to eat at the bakery down the street. That meant so much to me...But it seems that I need to go soon"

She took a few steps back to where Rufus was waiting for her and took his hand in hers.

Lan wanted desperately to say something, but he just couldn't find any more words.

"He told me that you're trying to stop what happened to us from happening to anyone else" she said, the two of them were gradually growing more and more translucent as small pinpricks of light rose from their bodies into the air. "The one who did this, his name is , don't let him get away with it."

The two of them then disappeared into the air and Lan collapsed to his knees, watching their lights disappear into the sky. He knelt there, mind blank, until his vision returned to normal. He then stood back up, took a deep harrowing breath, then grabbed the stretcher and headed back to the inn.

Well I managed to talk to Kerry a while back, asked if this could possibly become canon. It was the "don't want to make any promises" line, so I guess that's a friendly "no, never". So, I guess I know what I'll be doing with my life now, applying for grad school and entering a career I'll hate for the rest of my life. Hopefully I'll make a positive influence on the world somehow.

And for the first time in a while someone said they wanted to keep writing. So, I guess I'll try to keep writing for a little longer.

But it really is getting harder to write Lan, for all the shit he goes through, he's still a boy with a heart filled with hope, and I don't have that anymore. With that in mind his disciple would be much easier to write for me.

I also fear that my story may be a little too self-centered. Because 3 characters I planned were based on me. Lan was the person I wanted to be, his disciple the person I hoped I could still become, and one other character who would be an ally to Lan's disciple is the person I think I would probably become.

Well anyways, I hope my writing isn't the crap that I think it is and you're all still enjoying it.