Hunters of Justice (RWBY/DC)
Chapter 37: Fables Among Us, Part 2
As soon as Ruby and Bigby walked through the threshold, they immediately found themselves in a vast wood. It was certainly much more welcoming than the dark forest that had surrounded Ruby back in her 'story', but at the same time there was a slight edge to the otherwise saturated environment that they found themselves in. Off in the distance, nestled on top of a vast cliff overhanging the sea, was a magnificent castle.
"That must be where the Evil Queen lives," Ruby guessed, and Bigby nodded.
"Yep, at least in this story," Bigby replied, placing his hands in his pockets. "Come on, let's go find your friend. The sooner we get this over with, the better."
"Okay," Ruby said, then followed the wolf-man. She couldn't help but notice him sniffing every so often, almost like a dog, and so she asked, "Why are you sniffing so much?"
"Trying to get her scent," he replied. "Mundies tend to have a very distinct scent, so it shouldn't be too difficult to find her in all of this."
"Mundies?" Ruby perked up her eyebrow at the term, and Bigby waved his hand while shrugging.
"It's what we Fables call people like you," he clarified. "You're from the Mundane World, we're fictional stories come to life. Hence the name, mundies. Mundy if you want to be singular."
"Oh, so like muggles from Harry Potter," Ruby suggested.
"Sure, if you want to think of it like that." Bigby gave a nonchalant shrug, adding, "One of my main jobs as sheriff is to make sure that mundies don't find out about Fabletown. We have spells and charms meant to keep people away and disinterested, but if enough are curious they will get overloaded."
Ruby nodded, then perked up her eyebrow at the fact that he was apparently telling her what seemed like classified information to them. With his back still turned to her, Ruby asked, "If mundies like me aren't supposed to know about Fabletown, how come you're telling me so easily?"
"You're with the Justice League, aren't you?" he asked, pausing his search to look behind his shoulder. When Ruby nodded, he nodded as well and continued, saying, "Thought so. Fabletown was found by them a few years back after Beauty turned into Lamia again and escaped into the mundane world. The Beast and I had to work with Doctor Fate to stop her. Wasn't pretty, and after that the League agreed to keep us secret in exchange for their members knowing about us on a need-to-know basis. Obviously, this entire thing enters that territory."
He emphasized his point by twirling his hand towards the forest around them, and Ruby nodded. She was admittedly curious about the mentions of other Fables, while at the same time worried about the reference to Beauty turning into Lamia, whatever that was, but figured now wasn't the time to ask about that. Assuming he would even answer, as that seemed to be pretty private information, judging by the uncomfortable look on his face.
At the same time, though, some of her curiosity was getting to her, and as they started walking again, she asked, "So, about the…Fables. Were you guys always living in the real world or…?"
"No, we weren't. All of us are originally from the Homelands, fantastical counterparts to locations in the mundane world with some entirely fictional," Bigby explained. "Technically, right now we're in the Magical Forest, or at least a portrait of it. Hence why everything looks like a freaking painting. Anyway, a couple centuries ago we fled into the mundane world after an Empire started conquering everybody."
"I take it this Empire was the evil empire?"
"You catch on fast," Bigby noted with a gruff chuckle, then nodded. "Yeah, they were bad news. Conquered a lot of homelands, but the bastards were smart about it. Would conquer for fifty years, then consolidate for the next fifty before starting up again. That way they wouldn't overextend themselves, then install loyal citizens in their new territories and thus limiting the risk of rebellion. Gave us time to get out, though, and after the whole mess with the Queen of Fables ended with her getting sealed in this book, we founded Fabletown. Been there ever since."
"They still a problem for you guys?"
"On occasion," Bigby admitted. "But they do have an ambassador with us."
"That's good…I think," Ruby replied. She wasn't entirely confident in her assessment of the situation, but she had only learned about it within the past hour. Or at least it felt like an hour; time felt really screwy at the moment, as though days had passed yet it clearly hadn't.
Then the question she wanted to ask reared its head, and with a gulp, she said, "Since we're being honest with each other, I suppose I should be as well. I'm not from Earth. My friends and I are from another planet called Remnant. It was just like Earth, actually."
Bigby immediately understood exactly where this tale was going, and he winced. He then asked in a gentle tone, "How?"
"We were invaded by an alien calling himself Brainiac," Ruby answered. "Conquered then destroyed Remnant in about two days. We barely survived and managed to escape, landing on Earth about three months ago. Everyone else on our planet who wasn't killed are his prisoners, last we knew."
"Jesus, kid. I'm sorry."
"Don't be," Ruby insisted, shaking her head, then glanced up at the concerned Big Bad Wolf. "But, back home, before Remnant was…destroyed, we had fairy tales of our own. I grew up on them, actually, and I even have a copy of a large collection on my scroll. Since you guys are Earth's fairy tales brought to life, I was wondering if—"
"If Remnant's fairy tales are the same thing?" Bigby finished her sentence. When Ruby quietly nodded, he sighed while rubbing the back of his head. "To tell you the truth, I don't really know. I've never encountered Fables from other planets before."
"I see," Ruby quietly replied, hanging her head. Bigby frowned, not liking to see a young girl sad like that. It reminded him too much of his own daughters.
"But," he added just as he had an idea, "that might just be because not a lot of aliens live on Earth. Maybe a couple hundred, at most, which isn't enough for their Fables to come to life. We live and breathe based off of how many people know about us. Our popularity, basically. The more popular we are, the greater our power and immortality. It's possible that, should enough of your people come to live on Earth, Fables from Remnant might be born as well."
Bigby did have another concern that Remnant's Fables did, at one point, exist just like Earth's only to be destroyed alongside Remnant, but there was no reason in his eyes to bring that up. Would be counterproductive, to say the least.
Ruby looked up at Bigby. She let the answer swirl in her mind, then let out a gentle and hopeful smile. Bigby smiled as well, then he collected himself and shot his attention forward, returning back to his trademark gruff demeanor. Ruby chuckled at the display, and let it slide.
The pair continued walking through the forest, Ruby with Crescent Rose at the ready just in case something were to pop out and attack them. Luckily, thus far nothing did, and from the increased sniffing coming from Bigby, he was picking up Weiss' trail. Eventually, they came across a familiar stream, with a small cottage next to it. Bigby's ears twitched as he heard commotion coming from inside the cottage, which sounded an awful lot like the rattling of plates and dishes, but the curtains were drawn closed so neither he nor Ruby could see what was going on inside.
"That the dwarves' house?" Ruby asked. When Bigby nodded, she added, "Weiss must be in there. Which is good because that means she's following the story. Probably why nothing bad has happened yet."
"Most likely." Bigby breathed deeply, then turned towards Ruby and said, "Well, better get this over with."
"Yeah, something tells me she is not going to like what she's going to have to do," Ruby pointed out. She knew the story of Snow White intimately, and her fate was one of the most famous aspects of it.
Together, both Ruby and Bigby walked up to the house of the dwarves, and Ruby stowed away Crescent Rose as Bigby knocked on the door. A few moments later, the door opened as a dwarf with red eyes greeted them.
"What do'ya want?" the grumpy dwarf asked, placing his free hand on his hip while giving Ruby and Bigby a frown.
"Um, hello!" Ruby greeted. "Is…Snow White here?"
"You mean Ms. Bossy-and-Grumpy-Know-It-All?"
"Yeah, that's her," Ruby confirmed with a nod. "We're friends of hers."
The dwarf raised his eyebrow, not entirely believing Ruby's story. Which made sense, as the dwarves were protective of Snow White in the stories, even the grumpy one. It was then that they saw a flash of white enter view, and for the first time since this mess began, Ruby saw Weiss.
To her amusement, she saw that Weiss was directing the other dwarves in how to clean up after themselves.
"I swear, how you guys ever managed to live like this is beyond me," Weiss chastised. "Your home was practically a pigsty. Clothes thrown on the ground, dirty dishes piling up in the sink. You all should be ashamed of yourselves."
"If it's so disgusting, how come you don't clean it up?" the grump dwarf asked with a slight growl, but Weiss closed her eyes in exaggerated patience and shook her head.
"I will not clean up your mess. That is your responsibility, not mine," Weiss insisted.
Ruby couldn't help but let out a giggle at the familiar behavior. Back in Beacon, Weiss had acted the exact same way, which led to some heated arguments between her and Yang. It certainly wasn't helped by the fact that Yang once dumped two weeks' worth of trash and dirty clothes on Weiss' bed as a form of protest.
Yang had to buy new clothes after that, for her and Weiss, but she insisted it was worth it.
Hearing Ruby's laughter, Weiss opened her eyes and shot her attention towards the door. As soon as she saw her partner, Bigby currently hidden behind the door, she dashed forward and gave Ruby a relieved hug. Ruby happily returned the hug, equally pleased to see her partner safe and sound, only for Weiss to break away and bop her on the head.
"Ow! What the heck?!" Ruby hissed, rubbing the top of her head while Weiss gave her the stink eye.
"That's for opening up that book and getting us trapped in here," Weiss insisted, leaning forward while placing her fists on her hips.
"I didn't know it was magical!" Ruby pointed out, giving her partner a frown. "Besides, it wasn't like there was a lock on it! Frankly, we're lucky we were the ones to open it up and not some random person."
"That's not the point!" Weiss stomped, but before she could say anything else, Bigby cleared his throat and caught her attention.
"Excuse me, but is now the time for you two to argue like children?" Bigby asked. A moment later, Weiss opened the door fully, allowing her to finally see Bigby Wolf in his entirety.
"Ruby, who is this?" Weiss asked, clenching her fist while giving the man a defiant and protective glare.
"Oh, this is Bigby Wolf," Ruby answered, with Bigby giving a curt nod as well. "He's the Big Bad Wolf, but he's a good guy now and helped me get out of the story of Red Riding Hood."
"…What?" Weiss asked, thoroughly confused.
"It's a long story. Basically, Earth's fairy tales are real and are called Fables. The Fable characters outside this book are real people, I mean. Not the characters from inside this book like these dwarves, they're not really real. They live in a place called Fabletown, and Bigby is their sheriff. The crazy lady who captured us is the Queen of Fables, who's the living personification of every single evil queen in folklore wrapped up into one. When she was released, Fabletown sent Bigby to try and stop her, but he got trapped as well."
Weiss stared incredulously at Ruby, then slowly swiveled her head towards Bigby. From the look on her face, she thought that entire explanation was utterly insane, and Ruby couldn't really blame her. She thought it was insane, too, but at least it was an interesting kind of insane.
"…Fables? Fabletown? What does—You know what, never mind. I can deal with this later," Weiss declared, throwing up her hands in defeat.
"Smart move," Bigby remarked, then studied Weiss more closely. After a moment, he chuckled. "Hehe, a little short for Snow White, aren't you?"
"I will stab you," Weiss immediately countered, causing Bigby to laugh.
"You've got the edge, at least!" Bigby shook his head, his laugher slowly dying down. As it did, his face grew harder and he said, "Alright, we need to get a move on."
"Finally, something that makes sense," Weiss stated. But before she could step outside the cottage, however, Bigby and Ruby stopped her.
"I'm sorry, Weiss, but you can't leave yet," Ruby said. "That isn't how you get out of here."
"Isn't how I—you got out of your story!" Weiss pointed out, and Ruby nodded.
"Yes, but only by completing the story," Ruby clarified.
"The Queen of Fables wants us to complete these stories," Bigby explained. "So far, you've been lucky and have been following along like you're supposed to. Has the witch showed up yet?"
"No…"
"Good, then that means we're still on track." Ruby nodded, then added, "Look, Weiss, I know you're not going to like this, but trust me when I say this is the only way you're getting out of here. In order for you to get out of Snow White's story, you have to complete her story. At least the main beats of it."
Weiss let her jaw hang and her eyes widen. She stared into Ruby's and Bigby's faces, seeing that they were completely and utterly serious. There was nothing she wanted more than to insist that they were mistaken, or that this Bigby had somehow deceived Ruby, yet at the same time she knew her leader. Although Ruby could be quite childish, she wasn't stupid or naïve. The fact that they were standing in front of her was credence to the fact that whatever they did worked, at least partially. If it had worked completely, they would have been freed entirely.
With a resigned sigh, Weiss accepted that they were telling the truth. She then groaned as she remembered a key detail about Snow White's story, specifically after her run in with the witch.
"I am not eating a poisoned apple," she declared.
"You…kinda have to," Ruby pointed out, giving an apologetic smile. "But, it doesn't kill her, so you'll be fine!"
"Sure, I'll be fine," Weiss sarcastically replied, crossing her arms and bringing them to her chest, "after I fall into a coma. A coma I only get out of after I get found by some random Prince Charming who just so happens to be walking through the forest one day, and decides to steal a kiss from my unconscious body. Forgive me if I don't feel particularly inclined to let that happen."
"Don't blame you. Prince Charming's kind of an asshole, anyway," Bigby remarked.
"Oh, he's real, too?" Ruby asked, and Bigby nodded.
"Yep. Real womanizing jackass, that one."
"Fantastic," Weiss stated, narrowing her eyes. "So, unless you have any other ideas on how to get out of here, I will not be following this stupid plan."
"It may be stupid," Ruby admitted while raising her finger skyward, "but it's the only way we can get you out of here. You're playing the role of Snow White, and Snow White eats the poisoned apple, falls into a coma, and gets woken up by a kiss. If you don't do that, we're going to be stuck."
"Why do I have to do any of that?" Weiss asked, throwing her arms to the side.
"Because if you don't, the story will make you," Bigby revealed, his voice low and almost menacing which threw both girls off. "That's when bad things happen. Right now, this story is practically Disney. But, if you try to refuse the apple, things are going to go Brothers Grimm on you very fast."
"Fairy tales get dark, Weiss," Ruby added. "They were meant to teach kids lessons by scaring them. Some of them are like horror stories. The last thing any of us wants is to have this turn into a horror story, and I can think of many ways for Snow White to turn into one."
"Well, I—" Weiss tried to counter, but once again she was met by the utterly serious looks on Ruby's and Bigby's faces. After a few moments of silence, she finally relented and let out a defeated sigh. "Fine, I'll eat the apple. But I'd still rather not be kissed by a prince I don't know."
"You might not exactly have to. There's room for interpretation for these things," Bigby pointed out. "In Red Riding Hood, the Big Bad Wolf was killed by a hunter or woodman, but since Ruby was a Huntress, she was able to 'save' herself from me."
"Loopholes. You like those, right Weiss?" Ruby asked, and Weiss sighed.
"Okay, but what loophole is available to me, huh?" she asked. "Eat an apple, almost die, and get kissed by a prince seems pretty ironclad for me."
"It doesn't have to be a prince. Just a kiss of true love," Ruby pointed out.
"Where are we going to get that, then?" Weiss asked, giving Ruby a cross look while placing her hands on her hips. They then heard a cough coming from Bigby, and both partners turned to see him giving them both a meaningful look. At first they were confused, then they slowly realized where his head was at and they began to blush.
"It doesn't have to be romantic love. Just true love, whatever the hell that means," Bigby pointed out.
Slowly, and with their cheeks crimson, Ruby and Weiss turned to face each other, then they gulped. After a moment, Weiss said, "Okay, fine. Better you than a random guy I don't know."
"…Thank you?" Ruby replied, unsure if that was a compliment or not. "I mean, what else are BFFs for?"
Weiss nodded, and in an effort to relieve the tension, Ruby added, "I'll be gentle."
The Ivory Mage immediately bopped her on the head once again, causing Ruby to squeal and Bigby to laugh.
The trio, along with the seven dwarves who were proving to be quite accommodating and helpful in their endeavor, decided that the best path forward was to simply wait it out. Both Huntresses were at first worried about the passage of time while in the Book of Fables, but Bigby had ensured that one of the spells that went into it involved time dilation. What seemed like days inside the book was only a few hours outside. Given how the Queen of Fables was trapped in this book for centuries, it undoubtedly led to her losing whatever sanity she had left. A fate none of them wanted to share.
Finally, as the dwarves went off to work the mine once again, the three saw a figure wrapped in a dark cloak approach the cottage. They immediately knew that this was the Evil Queen, now in her witch form, and Weiss took a deep breath to calm her nerves.
"Are you certain I have to eat it?" she asked, and Bigby nodded.
"Yes," he answered.
"Don't worry, I'll wake you up right away," Ruby said, then frowned and crossed her arms. "At least you can show a little appreciation. I'm giving you my first kiss, after all. You should be honored."
"Ruby, please don't make this any more awkward than it needs to be. I'd rather we just get this over with and never talk about it again."
Ruby gasped as though she had truly taken offense, then remarked, "Oh, so you're just going to use me then toss me aside, huh?! Is that what I am to you?! Just a conquest to be used for your pleasure?!"
"That is not what I-!" Weiss began, only to hear a knock on the door downstairs. She closed her eyes and pinched her nose, then walked down the stairs to let in the disguised Evil Queen and get this story over with.
Ruby and Bigby watched her go, and once she was out of sight he asked, "Are you actually upset?"
"Oh, no. I'm just messing with her. It's fun, you should try it," Ruby offered, and Bigby let out an amused chuckle as they heard Weiss converse with the Evil Queen. They only paid attention to bits and pieces of it, but they could clearly hear just how done with everything Weiss was.
"Thank you for helping this poor old woman, dear," the witch said.
"You're not old," Weiss dryly pointed out, to which the evil queen laughed.
"Oh, I am, but thank you for the compliment. I must say, this is quite a charming house. Do you live here all alone?"
"It would certainly be quieter and cleaner if I did, but no. The others aren't here at the moment, so it's just me, a helpless little damsel who is no threat to you or anyone else whatsoever."
Ruby could almost see Weiss rolling her eyes as she made that comment, but forced herself not to laugh and let the story continue unabated.
"I can most certainly see that. You know, for a girl as pretty as yourself, an apple would suit you perfectly. Would you like one?"
"Sure, I'll take an apple, totally-not-suspicious-at-all-old-woman-whom-I've-never-met-before."
"Wonderful!"
Everything went silent, then Ruby and Bigby heard Weiss take a loud bite out of her apple. A moment later, they heard a thud as she collapsed onto the ground, followed by the evil queen's maniacal laughter. Laughter that was almost immediately cut short as the seven dwarves returned, saw Weiss' body on the floor, and immediately threw themselves at her 'killer' and chased her away, fully intending on ending her as soon as they caught up.
"Okay, show time, Red," Bigby remarked as they walked down the stairs. To Ruby's amusement, they saw that Weiss, just before she slipped into her apple-induced coma, had managed to flip her middle finger towards the evil queen, which Bigby also appreciated. The apple itself had rolled out of Weiss' hand to the other side of the cottage, and had immediately turned rotten and decomposed, which made Ruby wince in disgust.
"The real Snow White and her would get along fantastically," Bigby remarked.
"Oh, you know her?" Ruby asked.
"I should. She's my wife and mother to our kids, after all," Bigby remarked. Ruby paused and blinked, then her eyes sparkled and she brought her hands to her cheeks as she cooed.
"Please stop doing that," Bigby requested, averting his gaze so that he wouldn't fall into that spell.
Ruby could only smile, then calmed herself as she stood over Weiss' body. Taking a deep breath, she kneeled and brought her face to Weiss', reflexively brushing an errant lock of white hair behind her ear as she did. At first she intended to just give her partner a quick peck on the lips and be done with it, but then her gaze drifted over the other girl's face to the sharp scar across her left eye. Without really thinking about it, Ruby found herself closing her eyes and softly pressing her lips to the long healed wound instead for a few quiet beats, before blinking and pulling away.
As she stood back up, she was worried that perhaps it wouldn't work, but a moment later Weiss' eyes flickered open. She groaned and sat upright while shaking her head.
"That wasn't even a good apple," Weiss remarked, and Ruby nodded.
"Yeah, certainly wasn't a Honeycrisp. Those are the best apples," Ruby declared, causing Weiss to give her partner the stink eye. Ruby happily looked right back with a guileless smile on her face, then Weiss sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. Ruby laughed, then helped her partner to her feet and together all three walked outside.
A moment later, they felt a tremor course through the land. The next thing Weiss knew, she was back to wearing her Ivory Mage costume, complete with Myrtenaster strapped to her hip. She pulled it out and spun the cylinder, sighing contently, then the earth shook again at the emergence of yet another door. Like the first one, it was connected to nothing, but it was much simpler in design. On the top were three bears walking in a straight line, telling them which tale this story was taking them to.
"Hey, there's another one," Weiss pointed out, pointing behind them to the front door of the dwarves' house.
True to her word, it was shifted to one covered entirely by vines, roses, and thorns. Much like Weiss', it was quite ornate in design from what they could see underneath the layer of vegetation, but at the moment it looked quite dilapidated and even a little corrupted.
"So, that one takes us to Yang," Ruby said as she pointed to the bear door, then back at the rose door, "while that one takes us to Blake. Hmm, which one do we choose?"
"Might be best to tackle both at the same time," Bigby suggested, to which both girls immediately nodded. He nodded back, then said, "You two go get Yang while I help Blake."
At his suggestion, Weiss raised an eyebrow and asked, "Wouldn't it be best for one of us to go with you?"
"Maybe, but I'd rather you two stay together than one of you go alone, just in case something goes wrong. I'm immortal, you're not."
Ruby paused and frowned, then nodded. "I guess when you put it like that it makes sense. Okay, you go help Blake, we'll get Yang. With any luck, we'll be able to get out at the same time."
"Here's hoping," Bigby said. Then, with one final nod, the trio split apart, each going into their respective doors and disappearing into the warm light. As they closed the doors behind them, the world melted away into nothingness.
Walking into the forest had turned out to be the wrong decision, Yang had found as she leapt over a knotted root poking out of the ground. Behind her, she heard three sets of thunderous footsteps as her pursuers gave chase, crashing through rocks and trees with reckless abandon.
"Oh, come on! Don't you guys ever give up?!" Yang shouted as she rounded a corner, sliding across the ground to keep up her momentum.
At the same time, Yang glanced behind her shoulder and saw the first of her pursuers, a monstrous bear with deep brown fur and blood red eyes. Its fur was knotted and stained with red splotches, and its claws were long and sharp, kicking up bits of dirt and rock with each and every step. The bear itself was enormous, its shoulders reaching up to Yang's head, and it snarled and roared as it gave chase, causing bits of slobber to spew everywhere. Behind it were two smaller bears in a similar coloration and look, the first a head smaller while the second came up to Ruby's height. Yang knew who these bears were supposed to be, judging by what that crazy woman had called her previously, but she only knew the smallest was Baby Bear. She had no idea which of the larger two were Mama and Papa Bear, but she wasn't particularly in the mood to find out.
It had started a few hours, she assumed, after she walked into the dark forest. It quickly became obvious that her earlier assumption was correct in that the forest wanted Yang to go into that seemingly abandoned house. She'd go in one direction, only to find herself back in front of the house. So she'd go another, only to get the same result. It was infuriating, and it made Yang want to rip out her beloved hair. But Yang didn't want to enter the house, not only because she wasn't a burglar but also because she wasn't going to let anyone tell her what to do, at least not without good reason. While she was certainly no stranger to bending the law, breaking and entering just because that's what Goldilocks did so didn't qualify as a good reason. Eventually, the forest seemed to give up on subtlety and decided on a more forceful approach, which led to her coming into contact with the Three Bears. At first, Yang tried being friendly with them, seeing as how she didn't break into their house, but almost immediately they shed their peaceful visages to transform into something straight out of someone's nightmares. They looked like Ursas, only with the Grimm bits replaced with the actual animal.
Yang had tried to fight them, and even managed to put them down after a lengthy battle, but it had taken a lot out of her. It didn't help that Ember Celica was nowhere to be seen, which made things even more difficult. Then the bears just stood back up and regenerated their wounds like nothing ever happened. After that, Yang decided to run, which she had been doing ever since.
"Seriously! I did nothing to you! I was framed!" Yang declared, bouncing off a tree trunk to shift directions once again.
The bears only roared in response, clawing after her and swiping off a big chunk of another tree that Yang had bounced off of. She frowned, trying to find a way out of this mess, but unfortunately not finding any. So she kept running, hoping that she'd find one soon enough.
Unfortunately for her, as she rounded another corner, she was cut off by Baby Bear, forcing her to skid to a stop right in front of it. She leaned back to avoid its snapping jaws, delivering an upward kick at the same time, only for one of the larger bears to barrel into Yang. The Golden Dragon was carried off her feet and through a tree, shattering it into tiny splinters then again through another tree before finally being pinned to a large rock. The massive ursine pushed Yang against the rock with its paws then tried to bite into her neck, but Yang managed to grip the top and bottom of its jaws and keep them from closing.
Using every ounce of her strength, Yang pushed the bear back, screaming from exertion as her face turned red, then in a quick motion she broke the bear's jaw. It released its grip on her and stumbled back, clearly in pain, but Yang wasn't done. She gripped the tangled mess that was the bear's fur and pulled, slamming the bear against the rock with enough force to create a large crack. It was at this point that the other two bears attempted to rush her, but Yang merely stepped to the side of the rock and punched along the crack a few times. As she intended, the crack widened, allowing her to push the top half of the rock onto the three bears, crushing them.
Breathing heavily and with her fists tightly clenched, Yang leaned forward as though daring the bears to rise back up. They didn't, at least at the moment, and so Yang relaxed and let out a sigh. She wanted nothing more than to sit down and take a breath, but even now she could see the rock begin to stir as the monstrous bears began to recover, and so Yang groaned and set off once again.
"You know, they really need to put a warning label on these kind of things," Yang muttered, ducking underneath a fallen tree, then put on her best advertiser impression and said, "'Warning: this book may be the prison for a malevolent, psychopathic, and magical queen. Please do not open.' Certainly would have spared me and my friends a lot of trouble…"
Yang grumbled, holding her body close as the air got cold once again. She could hear the distant roars of the three bears, undoubtedly having freed themselves and started chasing her once again. She groaned and hung her head back, prepared to run off once again when she heard another voice pierce the forest.
"Yang! Where are you?" Yang heard Ruby call out. She immediately sprinted as fast as she could towards the voice, and soon she found herself once again in front of the house. To her immense relief, Yang saw both Ruby and Weiss looking around for her, the former continuing to call out her name.
"Ruby! Weiss!" Yang shouted back, running towards her sister and teammate. She wrapped both in a big hug, and while Weiss attempted to squirm away, Ruby was more than happy to return it.
"How'd you guys get here?" Yang asked, pulling away and looking around for her pursuers. For the moment, they seemed to have stopped, and she wasn't going to question why.
"You won't believe us if we told you," Weiss answered. "I don't really believe it."
"Weiss, we're trapped in a book of fairy tales. Try me," Yang shot back, and Weiss sighed and shook her head as Ruby moved to answer.
"Long story short, I found the Big Bad Wolf, only he wasn't bad. Good, even. Kinda reminded me of Uncle Qrow. Anyway, turns out that he's a Fable, one of Earth's fairy tales that came to life because of people's belief in them. That's what it sounded like, at least. It wasn't very clear, but the point is he's the sheriff of Fabletown where all the other Fables live. The ones outside this book, I mean. The ones in here are not actually alive. Apparently, Bigby, that's his name, is also married to the real Snow White and they have kids. Moving on, this book was originally the prison for the Queen of Fables, who is every evil queen from folklore wrapped up into one crazy and magical package. Bigby was sent by Fabletown to apprehend her, but he failed. Now, the only way we can get out of these stories is to complete them. This place doesn't like it when we try to do otherwise. Any questions?"
A heavy pause fell over the group. Yang was staring at her younger sister while Weiss gave the blonde brawler a sympathetic look. Finally, after what seemed like ages, Yang finally said, "Huh. Neat."
Yang then pointed with her thumb behind her shoulder and stated, "So, I take it me not going in there caused the three bears to turn evil and try to eat me?"
"Yeah, pretty much. Bigby found me pretty early on and helped me out, while Weiss was lucky and had been following the story along by the time we arrived."
"I'll bet. Let me tell you, trying to fight those things without my gear has been a real pain in the neck," Yang remarked while rolling a shoulder, then she raised an eyebrow towards her two teammates. "How'd you guys get past the whole poison apple and prince kiss thing? I always thought that was weird."
"Oh, Weiss ate the apple, and as it turned out the kiss didn't have to come from a prince. It just had to be of true love," Ruby remarked.
Yang thought it over for a bit, then nodded. "Yeah, I can see it. Who kissed Weiss, then?"
Weiss' face began to blush from embarrassment, while Ruby's smile widened. Weiss then insisted while looking away from her partner, "I assure you, it was only out of necessity and it meant nothing."
Ruby gasped while bringing her hand to her chest and, in a hurt tone of voice, replied, "So, that's how it is. Well, I'm happy to know that my first kiss meant so little to you! Is everyone who kisses you treated like this, womanizer?!"
"Ruby!" Weiss shouted, turning around to glare at her partner who was scrunching up her face as though she was about to cry. Weiss knew that her partner was simply trying, and succeeding, to rile her up, only for Yang to gasp and clap her hands together.
"Oh my God, it finally happened!" Yang exclaimed, jumping up and down.
"Huh?" Weiss remarked, but Yang was in her own world at the moment.
"I knew this day would come! Oh, you could just see the tension coming from a mile away!"
"What in the Gods' names are you talking about?"
"You two getting together, obviously," Yang answered, her smile widening while Weiss' eyes narrowed to the size of pinpricks. "It was the talk of the town back in Beacon. Sure, a bunch of our classmates thought Ruby would get with Jaune, but I knew better. I knew you two would get together eventually!"
"'Get togeth-?' We're not dating! We never were!" Weiss insisted, and Ruby rolled her eyes, shook her head, and crossed her arms.
"Yeah, 'cuz apparently Weiss is afraid of commitment," Ruby remarked, causing her partner to shoot her an affronted look.
"Ruby, you are not a part of this!" Weiss insisted.
"How can I be when you keep pushing me away?!"
"GAGH!"
"Okay, clearly there are some road bumps in your relationship right now," Yang said, placing both of her hands on Weiss' shoulders, whose face was now bright crimson. "But, I know you two can work past this. Together. Now, which of you have their scroll? I want to take a picture of the new happy couple!"
"We are not a couple! We never were a couple! We never will be a couple!" Weiss angrily insisted, stepping away from the two sisters. "Just…break into the damn house already!"
With that, Weiss turned around and stomped away, eager to get away from them. Ruby and Yang watched her go, and once she was far enough way, Ruby leaned closer to her sister and whispered, "You do realize I'm just messing with her right?"
"Oh, absolutely," Yang immediately replied, giving Ruby a toothy grin. "I have never been prouder of you as a sister."
"Aw, thank you!" Ruby cooed, smiling and closing her eyes while Yang rubbed the top of Ruby's head affectionately. Then the Red Reaper looked up at her sister with an inquisitive stare and asked, "Did people actually think me and Jaune would…get together back at Beacon?"
"I dunno," Yang admitted with a shrug. "Just needed something to give the teasing that extra 'oomph.' Jaune fit the bill."
"Oh, good." Ruby sighed in relief, then added, "Jaune and me just sounds…off. It'd be like dating my brother."
"Yeah, that's what I figured." Yang nodded, then backed away from her sister and started walking towards the front door of the bears' house. "You two lovebirds don't get into any trouble while I'm breaking-and-entering!"
"We're not lovebirds!" Weiss shrieked, and Yang laughed before opening the door and stepping inside.
"Okay, how did this go?" she asked herself as she walked around the house. Yang then came upon a table with three bowls of porridge, and she snapped her fingers in recognition. "Oh right, the porridge. Honestly, I should feel guilty for eating their food, but they already tried to eat me, so screw 'em."
Yang went to try each of the bowls, and just like the story, found that one was too hot, the other too cold, but the last was at the perfect temperature. Feeling quite famished, Yang scarfed it down then wiped away the remains on her lips with her arm. She then moved to the next room in the house, where she found three chairs sitting in front of the fireplace. Yang sat in the largest first, but it was too hard. When she went to the next, it was too soft, and so she finally moved on to the final chair which was absolutely perfect.
At least until it broke under her weight, causing Yang to drop to the floor with a quick yelp. She stood up and rubbed her sore butt, muttering, "Can't support my weight, my ass. I saw how big Baby Bear was. This is a load of crap…"
Not happy at the insinuation the story was throwing at her, Yang made her way back up to the second floor of the house, where she found three beds of varying sizes and complexity. Knowing what she had to do, she hopped onto the largest bed and laid her back across it, but found it was too hard, as though she was laying on top of a rock. When she moved to the second, it was too soft, to the point where she was sinking into the mattress slightly. Finally, she moved to the smallest bed, and as with the rest of Baby Bear's things, it was just right. Part of her wanted to simply fall asleep as she laid on the bed, but she forced herself to stay awake and merely pretend to sleep, complete with a snore.
After a few moments, she heard the front open, then a trio of voices as the now much more kid-friendly Three Bears discovered her handiwork. They were quite surprised and not at all pleased at what they had found, and when they finally walked up the stairs and found her, Yang was ready.
"Look, there's somebody in my bed!" Baby Bear exclaimed, then Yang shot up, threw the sheets over the bears' heads, and sprinted towards the window.
"You'll never take me alive!" Yang shouted as she leaped through the window, shattering it. She hit and slid across the roof, then landed on the ground on her knees.
With a confident look on her face, she skipped away from the house while Ruby gave her sister a round of applause. Weiss, still salty over the teasing the two sisters had been giving her, was scowling with her arms crossed and held tightly against her chest.
"That wasn't so bad. Like taking porridge from a Baby, am I right? So, what happens now?" Yang asked. Almost as soon as the words left her mouth, the ground shook and a door rose upward. "Ah, so we go through that?"
"Yep. Bigby's already there, but hopefully everything's worked out fine," Ruby stated, but Weiss adopted an unsure look on her face.
"If it had, wouldn't we all have gotten out of here?" Weiss remarked.
The other two members of RWBY paused to think it over, then Ruby threw open the door and sprinted inside. Weiss and Yang were right on her heels, and as they slammed the door shut, the world behind them vanished into nothing.
Blake's mind was a swirling mass of emotions at the moment. For one, the fairy tale she was currently in had slowly concluded its transformation into a horror movie, complete with a monster stalking her through the halls. The Beast had always been grumpy and demanding, but after she still refused his advances even after he 'saved' her life when she tried to escape, things got worse and worse. She had taken off into the frozen forest around them, but soon found herself back at the castle, only it had changed somehow. The Gothic construction had somehow grown even more foreboding, with large sections of it crumbled to ruins, the glass windows shattered, and a sense of death and decay that permeated everything. That's when the Beast came upon her, finally allowing Blake to see what he looked like. To her surprise, the Beast appeared to be someone she was intimately familiar with, a person she thought she wouldn't have ever seen again, but before he could do anything to her, someone else arrived and managed to get her away.
"So, that's the gist of things," Bigby Wolf finished his fantastic tale as they sat on top of a ruined spire. Blake was doing her best to remain calm, but even still she couldn't help but pull back her hair and gaze upon the castle grounds with wide eyes.
"I don't believe this…" she muttered, but Bigby merely nodded and patted her shoulder.
"Believe it. The only way we're getting out of here is for you to complete the story."
"No, I get that," Blake insisted, standing upright and looking up into Bigby's eyes. "Completing the story so that we can escape makes perfect sense to me. But Fables, Fabletown, all of that is just a bit much."
"It's a lot to take in, I know," Bigby replied, but before he could say anything, Blake cut him off.
"Yet that isn't even the worst part. No, the worst is what the Beast looks like. Who he looks like."
Bigby raised an eyebrow, then they heard a series of loud footsteps come from a nearby stairwell. With his shadow cast against the stone wall by candlelight, they watched as a man with a pair of bullhorns on top of his head walked towards them. Most of his body was shrouded in shadow, but when he entered a space where the castle walls had fallen away, they were able to see him in his entirety.
"Hello, my darling," the Beast remarked with the face and voice of Adam Taurus. He was dressed differently than she remembered. Gone was his black coat and White Fang mask that concealed a horrific brand. While he still carried his sword and rifle-sheath at his side, he was now wearing a red coat over a rough-spun black shirt with leather boots, and his face was unblemished and uncovered. By all accounts, he now looked quite handsome, but that itself was the mask for his true nature. Despite everything she had been through, Blake couldn't help but shrink in on herself, which Bigby immediately noticed and thus placed himself protectively in front of her.
"You're not real," Blake declared, but the Beast smiled wickedly and shook his head.
"Oh, I am very much am," the Beast insisted. "Just as I am so very disappointed in you, Blake. I did everything for you. Gave you what you needed and more, and this is the thanks I get? You running off, leaving me to die so that you can be with someone else?"
Bigby frowned and clenched his fist, then asked Blake, "Who was this guy?"
"Adam Taurus, my old…mentor," Blake replied, clenching her fist as well and wishing she had Gambol Shroud with her. "He was a monster who hurt many people back on Remnant."
"I'm the monster?" the Beast asked, then laughed as he threw his arms up and to the side. "No, I'm not the monster. That's just what they called us, Blake. If anything, they were the monsters and we were just striking back. But no, you had to turn your back on everything we ever stood for and you left us to work with the enemy. You ran, just like you always do."
"I don't have to defend myself to you," Blake shot back, although Bigby wasn't quite certain if she was talking to the Beast or this 'Adam' character. Frankly, he didn't really care, he just knew that attempting to complete the story this way was no longer an option.
"Back away, or this gets ugly," Bigby insisted, but the Beast merely chuckled menacingly.
Then, with almost blinding speed, the Beast gripped his sheath's handle and lifted it up to pull the trigger, firing a shot that struck Bigby center mass. He roared in pain and fell off the spire, and the Beast moved to attack Blake with a swipe of his sword, only to hit one of her shadow clones instead. As he attempted to recover, Blake jumped at him from above, gripping his arm and angling her body so that it served to loosen the Beast's hold on his weapon. She then ripped it away and tried to slash him with his own blade, but the Beast managed to knee her in the gut, causing her to accidentally drop Wilt off the spire. Blake retaliated immediately, headbutting her would-be suitor, followed by a series of light punches to his chest and face then a spin kick that sent him stumbling back.
"I'm done running," Blake insisted, settling into a stance as the Beast rubbed his sore jaw. "I don't care if you're the real Adam or just a shadow. As far as I'm concerned, you're just another villain I need to take care of. So, I'm going to tell you this once: stand down and leave me alone. Or else."
The Beast growled and stomped forward, conveying nothing more than malicious intent, but he didn't get very far before they heard a monstrous roar come up from below. Soon after, a large, hairy shape leaped upward, landing between Blake and the Beast. It was a large, muscular wolf-man, wearing the tattered clothing of Bigby, showing Blake who this was. He was snarling animalistically, barring his fangs and extending his claws as he faced Adam.
"Go!" he yelled, his voice much deeper now. "I'll deal with this imposter!"
Before Blake could ask what he meant, Bigby lunged towards the Beast, throwing the two of them through the stone wall and into the castle far below. She leaned forward to watch as they crashed through the roof, followed by the sounds of their battle continuing unabated. Scrunching up her face, Blake ran down the steps, fully intending on lending her assistance to the Big Bad Wolf, but as she reached the bottom of the spire, she was met by the rest of her teammates. All of them were wearing their superhero outfits instead of the fairy tale garb Blake was forced to wear.
"Blake, you're alright!" Ruby exclaimed as Blake ran towards them.
"Yeah, I'm alright," Blake confirmed, coming to a stop right before her teammates, then asked while pointing towards the sounds of battle coming from an adjacent room, "Bigby's with you, right?"
"Mmm-hmm," Ruby hummed while nodding her head. "He's the—"
"The Big Bad Wolf, I know. He told me everything," Blake confirmed, then shook her head. "I still don't know if I believe everything he said."
"Oh yeah. I fully intend to ask the League about this when we get out of here," Ruby clarified while nodding fervently. "I mean, I do believe him, but I think it's best to…you know…"
"Get it confirmed by someone we know and trust completely?"
"Yes, that."
"Smart," Weiss added, nodding along then shifting her attention towards Blake. "Now then, we need to finish this story. Where's the Beast?"
"Fighting Bigby," Blake revealed.
"Oh, perfect. Now then, we just gotta finish the story and—" Weiss started, but Blake cut her off.
"I can't," Blake insisted, and Weiss frowned.
"Blake, I know it's uncomfortable, but you need to do it. It's the only way we're going to get out of here," Weiss pointed out. "I had to eat a poison apple then let Ruby kiss my unconscious body, and that wasn't particularly something I wanted to do."
"I know that," Blake replied, idly wondering about the mention of Ruby kissing the former heiress but deciding against bringing it up now, "but I just can't. Not with him. The Beast, he…he looked like Adam. Acted like Adam."
The rest of team RWBY's eyes widened at the information. They all knew who Adam Taurus was. He was the leader of Vale's White Fang cell, and Blake's former mentor. Perhaps something more than that, even, but from both Blake's testimony and the news reports they read of his and his cell's activities, they knew he was an abusive, controlling monster. They even ran into him once during the Battle of Vale, where he outright attempted to kill Blake before another wave of Brainiac's drones forced him to retreat.
"Ah, crud," Ruby muttered, shaking her head and running her fingers through her hair underneath her hood.
"Why does this book make the Beast look like Adam?" Yang asked.
"I don't know, but the same thing happened to me with the seven dwarves. They all looked and acted like my family's butler, Klein," Weiss revealed. "It's possible that the Book of Fables looked through our memories and found people from our lives that fit certain roles in the story, so it slotted them in."
"I can certainly see why the book thought Adam was the Beast," Blake muttered. "Angry, spiteful, violent, controlling, abusive. Especially towards the end."
"That…doesn't sound right," Ruby cut in, drawing the others' attention towards her. "Don't get me wrong, the Beast was certainly angry and a little controlling in some stories, but he wasn't abusive. Not really. Sure, he did imprison Beauty's father and let her take his place, but even then he treated her lavishly, catered to her every whim, and didn't force himself upon her at all. His anger was born more out of depression rather than actual malice. If she didn't want to do something, he didn't make her. The Beast let Beauty have free reign of the castle except for one wing in some stories, and in the end he lets her go willingly to see her family."
"How is it that you know so much about Earth's fairy tales yet have trouble with your homework?" Weiss questioned, and Ruby shrugged.
"It's my hobby, and it's helping out right now so you have no room to judge me."
"Fair enough."
"Thank you. Anyway, the point is that the Beast wasn't abusive in the actual stories. The way you've described Adam, Blake, he sounds like Gaston more than anything, or maybe even the Beast who fell completely to the curse…"
Ruby trailed off as she finished her sentence, then at once they all exclaimed, "Adam's not the Beast!"
"That's why Bigby called him an imposter!" Blake added. "Since he's the Big Bad Wolf, he'd be more attuned to that sort of thing!"
"Then who is?" Yang asked. "'Cuz if we don't find who the Beast is, we're stuck here."
The castle rumbled as the fight between Bigby and the false Beast continued, growing louder as their fight drew closer and closer. Ruby, Weiss, and Yang pulled out their weapons, readying themselves for battle.
Ruby then stated, "Blake, Yang, you two stay here and figure out what to do. Weiss, you're with me. We're going to go help Bigby."
Weiss nodded, and together the two partners raced down the hall towards the fight, disappearing behind a shattered wooden door. Blake and Yang watched them go, then turned towards each other.
"Okay, do you have any ideas? I'm gonna be honest, I'm not as well versed in fairy tales as my sister," Yang admitted, giving a shrug.
"It's alright," Blake insisted, then hummed to herself as she tried to remember what she could about the tale. Unfortunately, ideas weren't coming to mind, and after a few minutes of fruitless pondering she groaned in frustration. Yang sympathetically patted her back, then hummed to herself while pinching her chin.
"Maybe…" Yang began, slowly coming up with an idea. "Maybe we're thinking about those roles all wrong? The Book of Fables thought Adam was the Beast, and that was clearly mistaken. Who's to say it wasn't wrong a second time or that it looked only at the surface?"
"So, what? I become the Beast?" Blake asked, flicking her ears with a wry smirk. "Kind of typecasting me there, aren't you?"
Yang's eyes widened and she hurriedly waved her hands in denial, not registering that the faunus was only teasing her.
"Oh no, no, that's not what I meant! I wasn't talking about changing your role. I mean, if you aren't Beauty then who could be?" she sputtered, only causing Blake's smile to widen.
"Well, it's pretty obvious from where I'm standing." While Blake just kept smirking at her, the Golden Dragon glanced around at their empty surroundings. When she blinked and pointed at herself in surprised comprehension, Blake could only roll her eyes fondly.
"Yes 'Goldilocks,' of course I'm talking about you! I mean, if Ruby can be Weiss' Prince Charming, well…" Blake's explanation trailed off shyly as the implications caught up to her, and Yang couldn't help but smile and slightly blush.
"Oh. Well, I do think I'm beautiful, so thank you for the compliment!" Yang declared, laughing slightly then growing more serious as they heard the breaking of glass. "But, to be honest, I was thinking more along the lines of me being the Beast. I can admit I've let my temper get the best of me sometimes. And, um, I already told you all that stuff before about my parents, so I kinda understand abandonment. Besides, you fit the Beauty role more than me. You're way more of a bookworm, and you're kind, defiant, and always put other people before yourself."
"So are you," Blake countered, "and you heard what Ruby said. The Beast was lonely, ostracized for his appearance, let depression and fear drive his darker actions. I did that, and you've helped me a lot in getting past it."
"Oh. Uh, thank you," Yang remarked, feeling her blush grow slightly alongside Blake's, then she raised her eyebrow in confusion. "Wait, so if you're supposed to be Beauty and the Beast, and Adam's Gaston, the Rose, and a fallen Beast, and I can be both Beauty and the Beast…who's who in this story?!"
"I don't know, I'm just so confused and want to get this over with!" Blake declared, throwing her hands in the air as something slammed into the wall opposite them. Dust and loose debris were knocked off and fell to the stone floor, and both Huntresses shot their heads towards it.
"Screw it, we'll figure it out later," Yang declared, then turned towards Blake. "Now then, I believe there was a dance?"
Blake stared at her partner for a moment, then she nodded. Using the broken hallway as an impromptu ballroom, the two moved closer to each other. Yang then took her scroll, selected the first song she could find, and set it against a windowsill to set the mood.
"3-6-9! Damn you're fine! Move it till you sock it to me one more time!
"Get low, get low (Get Low), get low (Get Low), get low (Get Low)!"
Blake and Yang stared at the scroll as Get Low by Lil' Jon and the East Side Boyz started playing. Yang tried her best not to start laughing, while Blake merely gave her partner a flat look.
"Clearly, the music of a true romantic," the faunus declared, and Yang let out a snort before the two of them decided to roll with it.
Clasping their hands together and pulling themselves close, the two of them began to dance. While Blake could get through basic ballroom dancing like she shared with Yang and Sun at the Vytal Ball, for some reason her usual agility and grace was thrown off by the energetic beat of this music, leaving her unable to do much more than shuffle awkwardly along. Yang took it in stride, and she started helping her partner get the hang of things. While Blake wasn't dancing as well as Yang, by the end of their routine they were able to sync up quite nicely. Eventually, as the song came to an end, both partners backed away, then Yang gave Blake a cheeky smile and bow, which prompted Blake to roll her eyes in amusement before politely curtsying.
It was at that moment, however, that the wall separating them from the battle against the false Beast shattered as Bigby Wolf, still in his wolf-man form, was hurled through. His body was battered with bruises and some blood stains, yet even when half buried under rubble he was still pushing himself up. At the same time, Ruby and Weiss continued to attack the nemesis in tandem, looking more like red and white blurs striking Adam from all sides rather than people. Unfortunately for them, the doppelgänger had managed to reacquire Adam's sword and he was able to block and deflect their blows with little effort. Then, as Weiss moved in for another blow, he shot a round that managed to hit her in the chest and blast her into a flying buttress, followed by a slash across Ruby's back that made her slam into the ground and skip like a rock thrown across water.
The false Beast then snarled towards Blake and Yang, who were readying themselves for battle, and shouted, "No! You belong to me!"
"She belongs to no one, asshole!" Yang insisted, chambering a round and settling into a stance.
"I never did," Blake confirmed, grabbing a nearby candelabra and wielding it as she would with Gambol Shroud. The villain growled, his grip on his sword tightening to the point where his knuckles were turning white.
"Fine," he growled. "If I can't have you, no one will."
With that dark declaration of intent, the false hero shot forward, swinging his sword straight into Blake's neck. A Shadow took the blow for her, allowing Yang to punch the maniac across the jaw and making him spin around. At the same time, Blake swung her candelabra downward from the opposite end onto the top of his head, forcing him down to Yang's rising knee. The combo sent him reeling back, and Blake jumped up to deliver a spin-kick to his chest and sent him flying back into a column, shattering it completely.
"You know, if I remember the story right," Yang added as she aimed Ember Celica towards the antagonist, "it was Beauty and the Beast who took down Gaston together."
"Well then, let's do what they did," Blake added, and together the two partners rushed towards Gaston, intending to finally finish this.
With an animalistic roar, the fake Beast rushed towards Blake and Yang, who split apart to attack from both sides. Rather than the skill Adam was known for, even at his worst, the fictional counterfeit was flailing uncontrollably. His swings were wild, his thrusts overextended, which left plenty of openings for both Blake and Yang to exploit. A few times the false Beast was able to land a blow, but their Auras took it for them and left the Huntresses otherwise unharmed. Then, with one final swing, the pretender swing Wilt at Yang, who blocked it with her armored forearm. She grit her teeth as she felt her Aura take the powerful blow, but it remained intact, and before the false Beast could follow up with another attack, Blake moved in from behind and used a broken shard of stained glass to stab him in the back. He screamed and pain and reached towards it, desperately trying to pry it loose, but Yang activated her Semblance. Her hair came alight, wreathed in her fire, and she slammed her fist into the fraud's gut.
The blow sent him flying through the wall, and the last they saw and heard of him was his screaming body as he fell into the ravine below. Both Huntresses stared out, breathing heavily as the others rejoined them. Bigby was holding his arm close, and Ruby was resting Weiss atop her shoulder, but for the most part they were fine. A few moments of rest and they would be good to go. Even Bigby, without the benefit of Aura, was recovering rapidly, and each breath came easier than the last.
Blake suddenly released something between a gasp of relief and a pained sob, the bloodied glass dropping from her trembling fingers with a clatter. Even if it hadn't been the real Adam they'd killed, it'd still felt real. After striking down someone who represented so many different things to her, so many regrets, she had no idea how to process the churning whirlpool of her emotions. Instinctively, Yang wrapped a comforting arm around her, letting the shaken girl hide her face from the others in her collar until she could regain her composure. When the earth shook and the world began to melt away, revealing that they were at long last about to finally leave their prison, Yang could only sigh.
"You know, I bet JNPR didn't have to deal with anything as crazy as this."
"NOW, THE WILL OF GOD WILL BE DONE, AND THE WORLD SHALL BURN IN THE FIRES OF ARMAGEDDON!" a giant talking praying mantis the size of a ten-story building declared as the battle waged under him.
"Goddammit! Not again!" Robotman cursed as he crushed the head of a Beowolf under his boot.
"What do you mean, 'again?!'" Pyrrha shouted, covering their retreat as they ran through a destroyed town, one that had long since been abandoned.
"Guardian, darling, my advice is to just roll with it for now," Elasti-Girl said as he stretched her arm out to slam an Ursa into a rusted car. Pulling her arm back, she shifted her body to the side to avoid the lunge of a Beowolf, allowing Negative Man's negative spirit to phase through the monster, causing it to explode.
Everything had happened so fast it was hard for anyone in JNPR to really comprehend what had transpired. One moment, they were walking through a ghost town, the next they were apprehended by a group calling themselves the Men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E., a group dedicated to eliminating eccentricities, difference, and various oddities in the world. They were quite weird and disturbing in JNPR's eyes. On the bright side, they did find out that the Doom Patrol was still alive, having also been captured by N.O.W.H.E.R.E., but they had also managed to capture quite a large assortment of Grimm which they had hoped to either turn 'normal' or use as weapons to ensure people fit their classification of 'normal.'
One thing led to another, and now both superhero teams had managed to break out, along with many of the oddities the Men of N.O.W.H.E.R.E. had stored away, which had led to an all-out brawl between all sides.
"I have seen some amazing things in my life," Jaune declared as he stood on top of a building, watching everything unfurl as False Men battled Grimm, his fellow superheroes, and other monstrosities he could hardly even describe, "but this takes the cake."
"Eh, I've seen weirder," Crazy Jane remarked. Or at least Jaune thought he was talking to Crazy Jane. She had so many personalities, all with their own unique powers, that it was extremely difficult for him to tell which one was dominant at the moment. Still, he gave Crazy Jane an incredulous look and raised an eyebrow under his helmet.
"What could possibly top this?" he asked while pointing towards the chaos around them. Almost as though the Gods themselves took his question as a challenge, Nora suddenly burst onto the scene, running for her life.
"THE BUTTS ARE LOOSE! THE BUTTS ARE LOOSE!" Nora screamed at the top of her lungs.
Just behind her, hot on her heels, Jaune saw a horde of naked buttocks with tiny legs coming off of them giving chase. When they neared the battle, their cheeks spread, revealing maws filled vertically with razor sharp teeth, which they used to leap upon Grimm and the Men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E., biting into their flesh and eating them. The Grimm returned the action in kind, and soon the battle of living butts and Grimm consumed all.
"…I was not ready for today," Jaune admitted, and Ren, with his eyes wide, nodded.
"None of us were."
When RWBY and Bigby finally emerged from the Book of Fables, they immediately noticed several things. One, the library was overgrown with thick, thorny stems straight out of a briar patch. Only the Book of Fables was left untouched, at least in the immediate area. Second, the vegetation had spilled out into the streets beyond the building, where they saw the Queen of Fables doing battle with Doctor Fate and a woman RWBY didn't recognize. She was wearing plate armor and wielding a sword, showing no features other than skin pale as snow and lips as red as blood.
Bigby did recognize her, however, and he rushed towards the battle in order to lend his assistance. Team RWBY was right behind him, and together they attacked the Queen of Fables who was forced to create a magical shield around herself to deflect the blows coming at her from all sides.
"Snow, what are you doing here?!" Bigby demanded, placing himself in front of the armored woman, who immediately stepped out to the side to give him an angry look.
"I came because you didn't report back!" she answered, poking her finger into his chest. "You were gone for hours, and I assumed the worst. Clearly, I was right."
"It's dangerous!" Bigby insisted, but the woman merely gave him a flat stare.
"Does it look like I care?" the woman asked, and Bigby couldn't help but sigh in acceptance. It was then that Ruby gasped in recognition. Now that she could see the woman more closely, and based on what Bigby had told her about his life, it wasn't hard for her to make the connection.
"Ohmygod, you're Snow White!" Ruby exclaimed, causing Snow White to shoot the young Huntress a look before glaring at her husband.
"You told them?!" she accused, and Bigby flinched back while nodding.
"I kinda had to get everyone outta there!" he defended himself, ducking just as the Queen of Fables continued her duel with Doctor Fate, sending a blast of magical energy flying that went off near them. Luckily it missed, sending up debris that rained down around them, but they were otherwise unharmed.
"Besides, they're with the Justice League. It's fine," Bigby insisted, but Snow White merely groaned and rubbed her forehead.
"I knew I never should have signed that agreement…" Snow White muttered under her breath, then turned to face the young girls with a hard stare. She pointed her sword at them and said, "Just understand this: you cannot tell anyone about this. Justice League or not, if you tell anyone, even your friends, I will personally come and rip these memories out of your skulls. Do you understand me?"
"I cannot permit you to do that, Princess Snow White," Doctor Fate countered from above, creating a shield around himself and the other fighters as the Queen of Fables continued her assault, cackling maniacally.
"Oh Gods, you were telling the truth. There really is a Fabletown…" Weiss muttered in resignation, shoulders slumping as she was forced to accept another layer of this world's insanity.
"Indeed it is, Ivory Mage," Doctor Fate added. "Still, although I will not let their deputy mayor wipe the minds of members of the Justice League, she is correct that you must uphold this secrecy. You cannot even tell your sister team unless it is absolutely necessary. Understand?"
Ruby nodded towards Doctor Fate, saying, "Alright, we can do that. Now, how do we stop her?"
As the question left Ruby's lips, the Queen of Fables cast several glyphs onto the ground, which served to create creatures straight out of the fairytales of Earth. She saw a great wolf wearing grandma's clothes, a dragon, three pigs wearing different styles of clothing, and more.
"Question. Do the animal Fables live in Fabletown, or…?" Ruby began.
"They live in the Farm. Might as well tell you since you know everything else, apparently," Snow White grumbled, and Yang couldn't help but chuckle.
"Now I can see why the Queen of Fables thought you were Snow White, Ivory. She's got your warm personality," Yang remarked, opting to use her teammate's superhero name since they were now in the open. Weiss didn't even bother trying to correct her, simply done with this entire situation, and turned towards the real Snow White, something she was still trying to wrap her head around.
"How did you seal her away last time?" she asked as the Queen of Fables' creations rushed them, forcing the superheroes and the residents of Fabletown to do battle.
"I had to trick her," Snow White admitted. "For as powerful as the Queen of Fables is, she's vain and petty, still obsessed with being the fairest in the land. I convinced her she couldn't be that in the real world."
"Yeah, well I doubt that's going to work again a second time," Blake pointed out, firing into the Three Little Pigs as Bigby, now a giant wolf himself, wrestled with his evil doppelgänger.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that she's pulling stuff from the book to attack us," Yang added as she climbed on top of the dragon and grabbed the back of its head, heaving it back to leave its chest open for Snow White to stab the beast in the heart with her sword.
"Dammit, I was afraid of this," Snow White cursed, her armor cracked and dented in places. Bringing her hand up, she conjured another set of pristine armor that replaced the one she was wearing, then shouted up at Doctor Fate and asked, "Doctor, can you prepare a spell that will lock her away?"
"Yes, but I need something to seal her in," Doctor Fate remarked, blasting the Queen of Fables away through the wall of the library. The glowing eyes of his helmet dimmed as though he was narrowing them, and he added, "Unfortunately, her magic is too great for me to seal her on my own. We need to get her into a book of her own accord."
"How are we going to do that?" Ruby asked, killing another conjuration of the Big Bad Wolf just as Bigby killed the grandma version. She then had an idea, and turned towards Snow White and asked, "Hey, can any book work?"
"Yes, why?" Snow White asked. Ruby merely nodded in response, then sped back into the library in a quick rose burst. The others didn't even have time to ask what she was doing before the Queen of Fables continued her attack, creating a wall of fire that surrounded them all and began pushing inward.
"It appears I was mistaken before!" the Queen of Fables declared, laughing manically. "You are not Snow White, merely her descendant! All's well, though, as it's much better to end the bloodline. Prevents any revenge killings down the road."
"If you touch my kids, you will wish you were dead," both Snow White and Bigby Wolf snarled, but the flames were too close for them to retaliate.
Doctor Fate was creating a bubble of magic that protected them, but with each passing moment the bubble was pushed more and more to the breaking point. The Queen of Fables laughed once again, only for a loud bang to ring out and strike the sorceress in the head. She was sent flying through a nearby window across the street from the library, breaking her concentration and the spell at the same time. The others then shot their attention towards the front doors of the library, where they saw Ruby aiming Crescent Rose in its 20mm configuration, using her scythe's blade implanted into the ground to stabilize her shot.
"Your Majesty," Ruby declared as the Queen of Fables flew out from the shattered window, her face warped in rage, "you've just been deposed!"
Ruby pulled the trigger again, launching another 20mm shell that struck the Queen of Fables in the chest. It was followed by three more shots, with the final sending the Queen of Fables falling out of the sky like a brick. She crashed into the ground, allowing the other heroes to gang up on her. They beat, shot, slashed, and stabbed the fictional character brought to life like there was no tomorrow, but soon after the Queen of Fables erupted upwards and sent everyone else flying.
"Enough!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, but even though everyone was knocked away, the immortal Queen was still breathing heavily. It was becoming obvious to her now that she needed more power if were to have any hope of killing these meddlers, but she had no desire to go back into her old prison.
"Oh no, the book! I've lost the book!" Ruby shouted as she laid across her belly on the ground, reaching for an open book just out of arm's reach. "The book that houses the most powerful information in the land! If anyone were to wield it, they would wreak havoc over the entire kingdom!"
Hearing Ruby's declaration, the insane Queen laughed loudly and shot towards it. "You foolish child!"
"No!" Ruby screamed as the Queen of Fables dove into the book, then she burst towards it and shut it closed. "Doctor Fate, now!"
With the spell already prepped, Doctor Fate cast it onto the book. Ethereal chains wrapped around it, capped off with a padlock that clicked closed, sealing its contents forevermore. The vines around the library and beyond then died and withered away, the source of their magical vitality now shut off from the world. With the crisis finally over, the others sighed and hung their heads to catch their breath, while Snow White and Bigby Wolf walked over to retrieve the book.
"Went a little hammy there, didn't you?" Yang asked as she and the rest of RWBY went over to their leader, Doctor Fate coming along just behind them and readying a spell to heal their wounds.
"Yeah, but I felt she'd, you know, believe that more than if I was completely serious," Ruby replied, then shrugged. "The Queen of Fables seemed to be that type of person. Looks like I was right."
"Quick thinking. What did you use?" Snow White asked as she looked over the book, then laughed as she read the cover. "A copy of the U.S. Tax Code?"
"Well, I figured that since she was using fairy tales for her arsenal, and those came from the Book of Fables, that meant she shouldn't be placed in anything creative," Ruby pointed out. "I doubt she's going to find any inspiration in there to use out here."
"I don't know. She could become an accountant," Bigby pointed out with a chuckle, then his lupine face turned more serious as he turned towards Doctor Fate. He asked, "Now what?"
"Now, we ensure that book can't be tampered with," Doctor Fate replied, turning towards Snow White. "I trust that Fabletown will do so?"
"Absolutely," Snow White replied, tucking the tax book under her arm. "I suppose we should get going. The longer we stay around here, the more questions that are going to be asked."
"I understand completely. Do you require any assistance?"
"No, we have ways to get back. How do you think we got here so fast?" Bigby pointed out. He and his wife then gave one final nod towards the superheroes, then Snow White hopped onto his back and they rode off out of sight. The heroes watched them go, then they turned towards Doctor Fate, wondering what to do.
"You girls head home. I'll take care of things from here," Doctor Fate declared.
"Okay," all four replied immediately, eager to go home and finally let this day end.
Bidding farewell to the sorcerer, team RWBY walked away from the crime scene, changing into their normal clothes when it was safe to do so, then taking the long way back home. They needed to, just to let themselves comprehend just how utterly insane their day was. By the time they finally made it back to their apartment, the sun was beginning to set, and they plopped themselves down onto the living room couch to let their aching muscles finally rest.
"Today was…something," Yang finally said, and the others nodded in agreement.
"What do we tell JNPR?" Ruby asked. Although she knew she wasn't supposed to tell JNPR or anyone else about Fabletown, she knew that they couldn't just not say anything. At the same time, she wondered where they were, but luckily that concern didn't last long as the elevator containing their friends finally arrived.
"Hey guys! How was-OH MY GOD!" Yang yelled as she finally caught sight of team JNPR. They were absolutely disheveled, their bodies covered in something that smelled nauseatingly foul, and they were all giving a thousand-yard stare off into space.
"Uh, are you guys okay?" Ruby asked, finally breaking JNPR out of their trance as they belatedly noticed their sister team's presence.
"Oh, hey guys. How was your mission?" Jaune asked, slowly walking towards them. Team RWBY couldn't help but back away due to the stench his body was giving off, but he didn't even seem to notice. Luckily, he did stop before he could get too close.
"It was…interesting. You?" Blake asked, and Jaune nodded while Pyrrha moved to answer.
"Ours was an…experience. If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not go into the specifics," Pyrrha requested.
"Sure, whatever makes you comfortable," Weiss replied, trying her best not to gag at JNPR's stench.
"Good, that's good," Nora sighed out. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go downstairs and turn Magnhild into a flamethrower."
"…Why?" Ruby asked, although she did think that was a cool idea. To her surprise, Nora didn't answer, instead merely shivering as her eyes went wide and held her body close.
"The butts…the butts…" she muttered under her breath, then Ren came to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
"Shh, shh. It's okay. They can't hurt you anymore. They're dead now," Ren soothed her as he and the rest of JNPR walked downstairs and out of sight. When they heard the door downstairs open and close, team RWBY stared at it for a moment, then Ruby turned towards her team.
"We will not tell them anything and we will just let them come to us when they are ready," she commanded, an order the rest of RWBY quickly agreed with.
[~][~]
Hello, everyone! Here's the latest chapter of Hunters of Justice! Special thanks to Jesse K and NaanContributor for all their help in bringing this to life. As you can see, things got a little crazy for both teams, and before you ask: no, I will not be showing that happened to JNPR. Gonna leave their adventure this time to your guys' imaginations.
Now, onto the Q&A:
Crossovernaru: Thank you, I'm glad you liked it. Figured that, with the primary subject matter involved in the chapter, a Geist in a library allowed the encounter to more organically happen. And yeah, Nora would do that and it is adorable.
aklike95: Can't answer that at the moment. Please understand that I cannot answer any questions pertaining to things that haven't been revealed yet. I can only clarify my thought process behind something as well as clarify what was already stated.
Jackalope89: This is the last of the misadventures portion of this arc, actually, but yes.
Sora with an S: I'd been planning this chapter for months now, actually. And yeah, Fables was a Vertigo property, which means it's available for my use however I so please in my story.
Shadowwolf of phantasms: They did, but it was all offscreen. I'm gonna let you guys think up how it all went down, as you only saw bits and pieces of it.
Jacob9594: Oh yeah, this entire two-parter was a blast to write.
Marc Ello-Re Yes: I'm glad so many people enjoyed the Fables characters being involved. I figured that since I was dealing with the Queen of Fables, it made sense to bring them in as well.
That's it for this update. I hope you guys enjoy, and let us know what you think!