So, if the title of the chapter wasn't indicative enough this is part one of a two part chapter. It was all going to be done here, both team RWBY and Hazel's fight, but this one's 7k words as is and Hazel's would be similar length. That is a LONG time to write and read fighting, so I decided to split it up.
Hazel's is written and is likely coming in the next day or so. I just did not want to release a chonker that was just fighting.
"Stay close to each other. No one goes anywhere alone."
Qrow raised a hand and stepped down the embankment, drawing his greatsword from his back. With the weapon held in one hand he inched towards one of the carcasses. Reluctantly Weiss began making her way down with the others with a hand firmly clamped over her mouth. Her fingers did little to block the nauseating air; her eyes stung, and the back of her throat burned.
This would not be the first time they had seen such a display. The undulating globs of blackened flesh twitched with a life of their own as they slowly dissipated. Ambrose came to mind, its apples filled with cores of Grimm flesh. Merlot had been responsible for that then though and the wicked man was long gone since.
What could have caused this then? Holdovers from the madman's experiments? A crazed co-conspirator? Weiss had not even considered the possibility that Merlot may have had a partner in his schemes. It would make sense given the scale of his efforts - how was one man to infect an entire kingdom after all?
Merlot hadn't. The eastern front and as far south as Vindemia had been tainted with his works, perhaps a quarter of Vale in all. Yet this was clearly beyond the range of that by some ways.
Using the tip of his sword Qrow prodded the fetid flesh, parting it to inspect for further clues. That or maybe he was morbidly interested in it. Blake gagged and drew her mask tighter. Yang hissed, clenching her arm until her knuckles went white.
"Three gashes. Long but not too deep. Landed on its back," Qrow explained as his fingers grazed the bloodied pelt. "Looks like it crippled it. Went for the leg, then the throat. Probably tore it apart before it could even bleed out."
"Why though?" Ruby, muffled by her cloak pressed against her face, shook her head in disbelief. "Grimm don't hunt. Maybe a territorial thing but I wouldn't think deer would wander so close. They had to have known."
"Desperate maybe, or scared. Something could have spooked them." Enough to charge headlong into a nest of Grimm? What in the world would have been threatening enough for that? Qrow sighed and stood, grimacing and fanning the air before his face. Flies buzzed free as he kicked the carcass and Weiss felt bile shoot up her throat. "Happens. What I don't get is the fleshy crap…" He glanced back and his brow pinched. "Yang, you alright?"
The question was wholly unnecessary. Anyone could take one glance at Yang and see the blonde was struggling. Her right arm twitched in its wrappings, fingers clenched so hard Weiss swore she heard bones creaking, her leg hand gripping the bicep just as firmly. Rather than try to play off the obvious Yang shook her head, brow furrowing as she closed her eyes.
"Miasma," she croaked, gritting her teeth as her shoulder rolled. "You guys don't smell it?"
"Kind of hard to get past the corpses," Blake said.
"Yang?" Ruby slid up to her sister's side and held Yang's arm, coaxing it to try and help settle her. Yang yanked her arm free and stepped back. "Yang, let's go back. We can find another way around."
Except there was no telling how far the miasma might have spread. What if they needed to travel an entire day's distance back just to circumvent the cloud? Weiss glanced around the scene and tried to take notice of any traces of the foul magicks but found none. Wasn't miasma so thick that you could see it? Not unlike a cloud of smoke from a campfire, billowing and immediately identifiable.
"I'm good. Let's keep going."
"Kiddo, there's no shame in us turnin' back. If you're having a hard time -" Qrow began.
"I'm good!" Yang snapped. Her eyes flickered and she inhaled sharply before shuddering. "Let's keep going, please? Standing here isn't exactly helpful either, ya know."
Blake held Yang's arm. "Hey, why don't we find another way? I can use my magic to get us around faster. We can catch up."
Yang growled and shook her head though made no effort to pull away. Though she looked ready to speak no words came out, eyes drifting away from Blake and over the surrounding forest. Weiss' eyes followed, and though she did not know what it was that had captured Yang's attention at first it soon became immediately apparent.
Everything was silent. No birdsong, no small forest critters scurrying along the ground. Even the insects which had seemed intent on harrying them the entire way were now absent save for flies feasting. Even the wind itself seemed hesitant to encroach on the violated soil, as if Edea herself held her breath here. Straining to pick out any sounds that might cause alarm Weiss could find nothing. Beyond Yang's uneven breaths and the drone of flies the forest was completely, deathly still.
Weiss felt like she had been tossed in a frozen lake. Every inch of her body prickled unpleasantly, fingers twitching in anticipation against the grip of her rapier. Ruby had drawn her scythe too, the curved blade glistening as the sun's rays raced along, its deathly beauty on full display.
"Come on. If you're not goin' around then we've gotta get moving," Qrow ordered with a wave. "Stay together. Blake, Weiss, let us know if you hear anything." Both girls nodded. "Good. Let's go."
Rather than give the rotting carcasses a wide berth they cut right through them; ground squelching as still fresh blood soaked the soil. Weiss kept her eyes firmly ahead, one hand clamped over her mouth and the other now holding her weapon steady. In a single file procession, they moved along, passing through the carnage and into a thicket of ferns that reached her mid-thigh. She had hoped that once they moved beyond the bodies the air might clear and they could breathe easily once more. Instead the rancid odors remained, growing worse the further they moved from the initial scene. Blake's face crumpled behind her scarf, shoulders squared as she marched forward. Yang continued to tremble, baring her teeth and speaking silently to herself, no doubt to keep herself calm. Even Qrow had taken to shielding his face with one arm, dragging his greatsword along over one shoulder.
Ruby could not do much for herself as her scythe required two hands. The brunette gagged and clamped her mouth shut, shaking her head and blinking back tears. Weiss offered her cloak for Ruby to use as a facemask but was declined.
"You might need it," Ruby insisted, pausing to choke on the air itself. "It's not so bad. Smells like Zwei after he's played outside."
What the air smelled like was a number of things. Rotting eggs, an uncleaned outhouse. The canals of Vale on a hot summer afternoon, the excrement, food waste, and occasional body or two turning the slow flowing waterway into a potent, noxious cocktail that kept even the hardiest of scavengers at bay. In fact Weiss was certain she could jump into the canal and still come out smelling better than the forest did in that moment.
Only now that the scent was so heavy it felt oppressive could they see the miasma. Like a stubborn early morning fog it clung to the forest floor, a silent, all-encompassing blanket of corruption. Churning through soft soil, marching through ferns and brambles, needles clinging to their trousers, Weiss examined the few pine trees they passed. Sap leaked from the bark. That was normal.
Black, ichorous sap was not.
A low growl split the silence and brought them to heel. Something slammed against a tree and Weiss whirled around, blanching as she saw Yang unbury her fist from a birch tree. Blake hurried to her side and examined her bandaged hand, splinters and chunks of bark protruding from blackened flesh, and she stumbled back as Yang pushed her.
"Alright, you're goin' back, firecracker. Blake, lead her out."
"Qrow, I said I'm fine."
Qrow scoffed. "Yeah? None of us are, kiddo. Go with Blake, we'll meet you ahead."
"What happened to not splitting up?" Yang snarled, lilac eyes giving way to orbs of red. She twitched and her shoulders shuddered. "I'm. Fine. Keep going."
"Ruby? Go with 'em. The three of you will -"
"I'm not leaving!"
Weiss cringed at the scream. Yang's voice echoed through the still forest, the leaves trembling in its wake. Qrow looked ready to pick Yang up himself and carry her out, although Weiss wasn't certain that was a good idea. She had forgotten, somehow, what miasma did to Yang. To anyone really. While she herself felt lightheaded and her stomach was gripped by the throes of nausea her body was not fighting back a visceral reaction as Yang's was. She did not have to worry about losing herself.
"Fine." Qrow sighed and rubbed his jaw. "Weiss? Clear the air. See if one of your runes will work."
"You want me to use magic?" Weiss looked around dubiously.
"Fuck. Alright, Blake, can you give her your scarf? Maybe that'll help?"
Rather than wait for Blake to try Yang shoved her aside and stormed forward. Her eyes locked on Qrow before she shouldered past him, hissing as her arm spasmed at her side. Clutching it to her chest she doubled over, growling again and shaking her head.
Yang's growl was met with a more pitched version, reverberating and echoing. Then another joined in, and another.
Weiss' hair stood on end and she whirled around, raising her rapier. A blueberry bush flanked her and sat still and silent. The growls ended and she looked around for the source as did the others. Nothing in the trees, nor along the ground. Visibility was poor from the dense vegetation, ferns spreading out in every direction, sightlines disrupted by pines and birches. If only herself had heard it she could chalk it up to paranoia. All of them though?
"Get. Down."
What? Why? "Yang? What are you -"
"Get down!"
Weiss saw the flames spill out of Yang's mouth as her legs were swept from under her. Something collided against her back and she heard a rapid clicking in her ear, a slight weight pressed to her back. Something sharp grabbed her shoulder and she winced, then shivered as a heavy liquid spilled on the back of her neck.
Ruby kicked the Grimm off her back in an instant and the small, gangly creature slammed against a tree. With a hiss and flailing of limbs it stood, snapping its elongated, beak-like jaw at them. Baleful red eyes flitted between them and the beast, posture mirroring a poorly beggar, hunched over and bent, raked its long talons against the dirt.
A fireball engulfed it a second later and the Grimm screeched and flailed, incinerated instantly.
The trees shook. Ferns rustled, and birds that had been silent until then took off in a frantic flight.
Dozens of similar creatures converged on them, clawed feet and hands tearing apart plants to get towards their prey. Feeling a surge of fear Weiss grabbed her rapier and fought to her feet, weaving an earth rune and leveling her rapier.
"Stalkers!" Qrow screamed.
Gangly, almost human bodies exploded into their view. Several jumped for Weiss and she erected a stone wall between them, ears ringing as a piercing, manic chittering erupted around them. Claws scraped furiously against stone and she paled as two clambered over the top of the wall. She drove her rapier through the first to jump, dodging the second and feeding it her weapon's edge.
Ruby darted away from a cluster of Stalkers, twirling her scythe around her body and using it as a fulcrum. Grimm exploded into severed limbs, screeches cut short. Blake used the trees to her advantage, her kusarigama propelling her from branch to branch. Acrobatics in a circus would envy how she tumbled through the air in controlled chaos, blade cutting clean through anything in her path.
Qrow caught another Stalker on the flat of his blade, standing before a curled up Yang. Its claws lashed at his face and he sneered, grabbing the Grimm's throat and squeezing. Its body went still and he hurled it aside, cleaving another in two.
If that had been all there was to the ambush it might have been an impressive feat. More Grimm continued to spill in, clambering over each other in a desperate bid to strike. Fauna became flattened in their wake and Weiss saw a steady stream of Stalkers pushing through trees, a black river parted by the obstinate trunks. All around them cries rang out. Battle cries of her comrade. Frenzied, bloodcurdling screeches of the Grimm. Her own voice rang hollow in her ears as she fended off another wave of beasts. Her feet worked quickly beneath her, focusing every bit on balance as she was her swordplay. A rune here and there. Little time to cast anything powerful.
They're everywhere! This is absurd! How had they managed to waltz into a swarm of Grimm utterly unawares? Weiss jumped back away from swiping claws and her rapier pierced the chest of a Stalker. It had to be the miasma's doing. It disoriented them, threw their senses into chaos and tormented Yang. The alternative was they were hopelessly oblivious, and she refused to believe that.
Black shapes darted relentlessly around them. The forest had woken up and unleashed a bounty of fell beasts upon them and their group struggled to defend themselves. It was any wonder the deer had been torn to ribbons as they were. What hope did such gentle animals have against a swarm of Grimm?
Ruby whistled, a red flurry as she zipped around the battlefield. Somehow, she navigated the claustrophobic trees with innate grace, snaking between trunks and cleaving Grimm in a blinding flash of steel. Yet for every Stalker they felled two seemed to take their place. A field of hatred. A storm of gnashing teeth and viscous talons. Blake landed with a roll and immediately Grimm set upon her, kept at bay by her chain swinging wide around her. The weighted end caught one Stalker and crushed its skull. The blade hooked another in the chest.
Wood creaked and Qrow shouted, his voice drowned out by the raucous chittering. Ruby lurched and scrambled as a tree fell, limbs snapping as the trunk split in two.
Severed at the roots a towering pine crashed to the ground, separating Qrow and Yang from the rest of the group. More Stalkers converged, their spindly bodies racing across the ground on all fours. Over the cacophony a louder, piercing screech brought Weiss almost to her knees, her brain rattling from the intensity. Through one eye she saw a larger shadowy figure racing through the trees, broad shoulders splitting trunks like toothpicks on impact. In place of a Stalker's usual feathers bony plating sprouted, spines jutting out in haphazard fashion. A lone crimson eye homed in on Yang, spittle and blood flying from the Grimm's beaked mouth.
"Alpha!" Ruby cried. Her legs bent and she launched herself to the fallen tree, over it, then at the charging Grimm. Weiss' blood froze as her partner's attack glanced off bony armor and Ruby was smacked aside, little more than a gnat.
With a terrifying fixation the Alpha Stalker lunged at Yang, crashing into Qrow and sending both itself and him tumbling across the dirt. Weiss heard him curse loudly then an anguished cry, both from Qrow and the beast itself.
They had to help. They could not help themselves. Weiss caught snapping jaws on her blade and pushed back, hissing as talons raked across her shoulder. Superficial but alarming. Once shook free she pierced the Stalker with a spear of ice and ran another through, coughing and almost retching as miasma flooded her lungs. Her chest constricted and she groaned, stumbling towards another Grimm. Had Blake's weapon not relieved it of its head she would have felt its claws tearing into her. Instead they slammed against her chest harmlessly and its body collapsed at her feet.
No time was afforded to her to thank Blake. Stalkers continued to beset them, scurrying about now and vying for a plan of attack. Weiss backed her way to Blake and the pair found themselves encircled, a dozen soulless faces watching them, maws snapping in bloodthirsty anticipation.
Something struck the fallen tree and Weiss jumped. The trunk creaked then gave way, snapping apart and rolling free. The Alpha hurtled through the air and crushed its lesser brethren, writhing as it batted them aside and tried to stand. Qrow rushed in and drove a shoulder into its chest, the pommel of the sword knocking it through where Blake and Weiss had stood.
"You two! Find whatever is creating the miasma!"
"But -"
"Find it! Kill it! Now!"
In an already chaotic situation where they had little time to think, only react, Weiss lacked the luxury of arguing. Qrow leveled his sword and caught the lunging Alpha, driving it back with a kick and swatting aside its lesser variants. Rasping, Weiss covered her mouth again and found Blake among the fray separating herself from another skirmish. Abandoning Qrow in the middle of the fray felt wrong but he seemed intent on their doing just that. Despite the size of his weapon Qrow swung it as though it were no longer than a short sword, the wide blade cleaving apart anything it struck. He would be fine. He would have to be. Although the steam which seemed to be pouring off the man was a call for concern. Had Yang burned him on accident or was that the miasma?
She stumbled as Blake grabbed her arm, hand wrenched from covering her mouth. Immediately Weiss felt her lungs begin to burn, retching and coughing as they ran through the newly split pine and over to where Ruby and Yang fought.
Well, Ruby really. A blur of motion, a windmill of death, Ruby's scythe spun around her at near blinding speeds, whistling as it turned Grimm into black fleshy chunks that littered the forest floor. A convenient byproduct of it all was watching the miasma clear in the wake of the scythe's rotation, although it would fall back in within seconds.
An impressive display but not one Ruby could keep up forever. She would tire sooner or later and Yang, still prone on the ground, did not appear capable of fighting.
All the more reason to expedite the process. While Qrow had provided no direction to their goal it was simple enough to figure out where they needed to travel.
The miasma thickened as they ran, the sounds of Grimm screeching and steel sundering flesh ringing out behind them. More than a few Stalkers attempted to give chase only to be cut down in an instant. Ruby sent them off with a reassuring smile, face glistening and hair matted, arms trembling. Weiss couldn't find the strength to return it.
Onward they ran. Growing thicker with every passing second the miasma began blot out the sunlight, turning what should be a glowing mid-afternoon scene into one of foreboding twilight. Sight was quickly becoming unreliable as clouds of impenetrable magic saturated the air. It clung to their skin and made it tingle unpleasantly, and just the act of running through it felt like wading through water. Through it all the Grimm took no mercy on them either. Stalkers managed to evade Ruby and gave chase, claws tearing into ground and growth alike as they raced after her and Blake, red eyes the only part visible any longer. Blake released her hand and Weiss drew a rune. The earth trembled and a tree collapsed, crushing several Grimm and delaying more.
A temporary reprieve at best. Stalkers clambered over the tree and their dying kin to continue the chase, screeching and filling the air with their chilling song.
Weiss' lungs wanted to collapse. Tears continued to spill, and her nostrils flared, every gasping breath making her insides burn. If not for the adrenaline she would have surely collapsed already; having mindless killing machines on your heels did wonders as a motivator.
Still the miasma grew thicker. Having taken part in Blake's magic before Weiss was familiar with the complete lack of sight. Similarly, she was confident that Blake could navigate despite their blindness. However, the void used in passing with shadow magic never included creatures trying to tear you to ribbons. There were never trees to collide with, uneven ground to stumble over. Though they did their best to navigate they still lost their footing. Roots tripped them. Trees blocked their path and thorns dug into their legs, tearing at their trousers and skin. Wind, ice, earth. Fire was out of the question - Weiss had no idea if a spark would ignite miasma - as was lightning. Each spell delayed their pursuers but only for brief moments. More likely joined the chase too. Though certain they were keeping ahead Weiss swore she heard Stalkers all around them, their grating cries closing in second by second, talons poised to rend her flesh and drag her to a gruesome untimely demise.
Am I going to die here? Her eyes sought Blake and could only just make out her friend's form in the darkness. If she were to reach out, she could touch Blake's back, so thick the miasma was, and as loud as the cries were becoming she doubted they could speak.
Terror mixed with the bile in her throat and Weiss shuddered as she swallowed it back. They could not die here. She had not survived Ambrose, Merlot, Galloway and years of training to succumb to a pack of Grimm in the middle of nowhere. She refused to die here. They had to be close to Liar's Bay by now surely which meant close to salvation. There would be people there who could help, a means of leaving Vale. How could they fall when they were so close to salvation?
Weightless.
Weiss tumbled and gasped the moment she felt her feet leave the ground. Her hand grasped for anything to catch herself and she found a hold. Blake cursed and fell backwards while Weiss' fingers gripped her shirt and the pair collapsed, their momentum sending them careening forward still. The ground must have given way as she soon felt weightless again only to come crashing back down a second later. Air escaped her lungs and Weiss held her weapon at arm's length, closing her eyes and gritting her teeth. The world spun and they continued to roll, hissing as her back struck an exposed root, tilting her chin into her chest. By some small mercy their hazardous descent ended a moment later with them sprawled out on the ground, wheezing and groaning. Above, the Stalkers continued their pursuit and raced towards the edge of the embankment. Within moments they would be set upon…
Spitting out dirt and phlegm Weiss readied another rune and planted it on the ground. Though her arms and legs felt numb she managed to crawl away and release her magic, watching as ice erratically erupted, piercing Stalkers in droves. Their wiry figures writhed on the spikes and their cries ceased as they died, their fading corpses joining the miasma above.
The miasma was above them! High enough that they could stand and breathe unhindered by it even. Weiss smiled as she shifted to all fours, unable to laugh and instead coughing as her lungs relieved themselves. Her stomach churned and she swallowed again, grimacing and shuddering. They found a pocket of clean air. Had they passed through completely? What of the others? They hadn't abandoned their friends had they?
Hearing the billows of a furnace in the middle of Vale was normal. The industrial district worked throughout the day, filling the air with a voluminous smoke as metals, Dust, and debris were worked in infernal forges. The sound of air being drawn in by copious amounts and thrust inside was nothing new to Weiss.
Hearing that same sound in the middle of a forest was.
Forcing her neck muscles to comply she lifted her head to find the source. Any feelings of relief were immediately snuffed out, her shoulders dropping along with her jaw.
Stalkers had been one thing. A variant she had never encountered, sure, and in obscene numbers, but by and large not something to be terribly concerned for. If not for the miasma clouding the forest it would have been child's play to dispatch them, or easier at least.
"You have got to be kidding…" Blake drawled through raspy gasps.
Before them a massive flowering plant stood. Not unusual in a forest, if its stalks weren't pitch black and plated with bone. Wriggling tendrils with thorns the size of Weiss' hand stuck into the ground, pulsating as they moved. The body of the plant rose to match the highest trees in the small valley. Petals as thick as a boat's hull hung from the top and liquid pooled from between them, a nauseating honey that dribbled free. Red as blood, the petals shook every time the plant exhaled, and a fresh plume of miasma erupted from within.
Using her rapier to support herself Weiss swayed on the spot, still coughing as her lungs tried to recover. The Grimm - it had to be a Grimm - twitched as she stood, tendrils going stiff. Somehow it shifted then, contorting its body like a potter's clay and turning in place. Red eyes of various sizes littered one face of the Grimm, blinking asynchronously. They looked every which way before all of them jolted and fixated on her and Blake.
"Blake, we need -"
A tendril tore itself free from the earth and lashed out like a coiled serpent. Somehow Weiss' rapier remained in one piece as she deflected thorns. The impact nonetheless ripped her from her feet and threw her away, the same tendril snapping and whipping back at Blake. An explosion ripped through Weiss and she cried out, clawing at the dirt and rising again. Blake nimbly dodged the tendril, ducking beneath it and raking her kusarigama along the length of the limb.
It cut deep but did nothing to impede the creature.
A second limb wrenched itself free and split the ground as it crashed down. Shadows engulfed Blake and she vanished in the wake of another bone crushing strike, reappearing and dropping to her knees beside Weiss.
"Plan?"
As , trembling fingers wove an ice rune and she grimaced feeling her magic revolt, body cramping from head to toe. "Don't die," she hissed. Ice erupted, jagged spires catching an oncoming tendril and shattering on impact, showering them in shards.
Not much of a plan but then they had no time to form one. Again, the Grimm struck, pulverizing the ground as it swung its limbs with reckless abandon. Weiss stumbled, knees threatening to buckle, and scrambled on all fours to avoid being flattened. Still more limbs remained planted and Weiss considered briefly trying to scale one to attack the Grimm at its most vulnerable points.
Where?! The eyes? The stalk? The creature's anatomy made no sense, its body coiling and wrapping in on itself, a twisting msss of fleshy stalks forming a singular mass. It twisted itself free, clearly unrestrained by any skeleton, black mucous splattering from its maw as it released a guttural hiss, garbled, as though gargling liquid.
Miasma no longer being an immediate threat was of little condolence here. The Grimm's sheer size covered half of the valley, a modest thirty-foot dip between two walls of trees. Around it, Weiss realized, were bodies of slain animals. Deer, squirrels, birds, a fox or two. Each one mangled and disfigured like the deer they had encountered earlier.
Weiss formed a rock wall and threw herself against the ground, covering her head as it crumpled under the Grimm's blows.
Why were they killing so many animals? Why here? What was so important that the Grimm were taking up footing here?
Blake managed to leash herself onto one of the limbs. Hanging on for dear life she pressed herself against the thorny tendril, slowly dragging herself up its length. Hand over hand and using her weapon as a pick she scaled it. To what end Weiss didn't know. Lifting herself up on the wall she began to weave a rune of ice to help. Maybe she could freeze a joint and steady Blake's climb.
The rune shattered at her fingertips. Weiss cried out again and a sense of vertigo and pressure clamped down on her head, legs spasming beneath her. She coughed and bile came up this time, throat burning as she collapsed on the wall.
Blake lost her grip. Her weapon came free and she hung in the air before a tendril whipped towards her. Weiss could only howl as she watched her friend swat from the air like a fly, jettisoned towards the ground where she struck hard, bouncing once and coming to a stop. Motionless, breathing but barely.
Weiss saw blood.
Move! Her hands slipped and she collapsed against the wall again, chest heaving painfully. Cast something! Anything!
Her fire rune shattered, and her vision swam. Grinding her teeth, she rose to a knee, lifted the other, then fell forward. Blake remained still as a tendril lifted, thorns stained with dried blood.
It crashed down with a blow powerful enough to make the earth quake beneath Weiss.
"No…" Her fingers tore into the dirt and Weiss dragged herself forward. Her feet pushed uselessly against the ground, against themselves, knees driving her forward. "Blake… Blake…"
The Grimm quivered and hissed again, petals curling up and another plume of miasma spewing into the air. Weiss dragged herself forward, she tried to. Her limbs kept locking up and her chin all but laid in the dirt, rapier barely felt in her numb fingers. She watched the tendril squirm in place. Was it driving Blake's body further into the dirt? Was it enjoying itself?
She would kill it. Even if doing so killed herself Weiss would reduce the Grimm to scraps.
Easier said than done when she could scarcely lift her head.
Shadow formed around her, and Weiss dared to think Blake had escaped somehow. Her neck tilted and she saw the tendril overhead, blotting out the sun and hanging precariously above her. Her feckless response? She rolled onto her back and held up her rapier as if it might deter the beast.
The tendril came down. Weiss braced.
The tendril broke apart and chunks of black flesh crashed around her.
Her eyes went wide, and she watched the tendril grow shorter and shorter, slabs of the beast crumbling away. The Grimm's entire being shuddered and it tore more tendrils free, raising them high and slamming them frantically in the ground around it. Another lashed for Weiss and it split at the tip, fanning out and driving it's bisected halves into the ground harmlessly around her.
Ruby flicked her scythe and doubled over, spitting out miasma-tinged fluid and shuddering. Her cloak torn and tattered she took a glance back at Weiss, swayed, then smiled and vanished.
Then came the roar. Bestial, not unlike a Grimm, but colored with something more. A fireball twice Weiss' own size rocketed from the treeline and slammed into the Grimm's body, searing it and melting away a massive lump of flesh. Another struck near the top and the miasma ignited, the air hissing before sparking to life. The forest went red and Weiss lowered her head as heat spilled over them, hot air searing her skin but not burning her. The Grimm screamed, or as close as it could to a scream, wrenching all of its limbs free and turning itself on Yang.
One arm deformed, eyes red, Yang landed bodily on the ground and snarled, flames leaking from her cracked lips. She saw Weiss and her posture straightened somewhat, her face going slack and horror replacing fury.
Qrow knelt beside Weiss and placed Blake beside her, face taut with pain. Blake breathed shallowly, a large gash up her left side bleeding. "Do what you can," he rasped, dragging himself to his feet and charging the Grimm.
What could she do? Weiss eyed the wound on Blake's side and paled. It looked serious, not that she was a healer; she did not need medical expertise to recognize a bad wound. What did Qrow expect her to do? She had no healing runes, no medical supplies. Those were lost… Somewhere. Gods knew where her belongings had ended up now.
Over Yang's shouting and the sounds of Qrow and Ruby coordinating Weiss pressed her hands to the wound. Warm and slick with blood she tried to apply pressure, easing when Blake whined and shuddered.
Did she know a healing rune? No, of course not. Those did not exist. For all the versatility of her magic class they could not replicate the art of mending wounds. Too complicated. Too precise.
Weiss pressed her hands into the wound again, uttering apology after apology as Blake groaned.
What more could she do?
The Grimm howled, petals splitting apart and its remaining limbs thrashing about wildly. Lurching forward it lowered its 'head' and revealed rows upon rows of teeth, the top of its body splitting into quarters. Miasma spewed out and Ruby and Qrow dodged the jetstream. Yang embraced it, her hair igniting as she opened her mouth and fired back a stream of her own. Miasma ignited, fire climbed, and the Grimm screeched as its petals were set alight. Tossing its body side to side an errant limb managed to swat Qrow aside. Ruby avoided a few before taking a hit as well.
Yang caught a limb, snarled, then yelped as she was lifted off the ground, latching onto the flailing tendrils she was shaken about.
Ruby sped into the mess of writhing limbs and began to cut away, scythe slicing clean through flesh. With a new nuisance the Grimm forgot Yang and she fell from its limb, smashing the ground to try and squash Ruby. Qrow intercepted one of the limbs and drove his sword into it, failing to sever it completely. Gripping his weapon, he was lifted from the ground, falling free as Ruby finished the cut.
Cutting away limbs worked but there were still too many to contend with. An uphill battle was an understatement. They needed a decisive killing blow.
Weiss jumped as her wrist was grabbed. Blake coughed, shaking her head slowly and easing Weiss' hands from her wound. "Stop it…"
"I'm helping you! Now isn't the time to be stubborn!"
"The Grimm." Blake coughed again and her face crumpled, gasping and pushing weakly at Weiss. "The mouth…"
The mouth? What about the mouth? What did a mouth…?
Ah, the inside! That must have been what Blake was going for! Their weapons couldn't cut deep enough to deliver a killing blow and cutting away limbs was an inconvenience at most. They had to find a way inside, some way hitting where it would hurt. Yang swat aside another limb, shuddering and spewing out a fireball that exploded against the Grimm's body.
It worked for Merlot, didn't it?
Weiss nodded, filling her lungs with air before shouting. "Merlot!"
They did not have the time to say much more than that and she desperately hoped the others would follow. Qrow was lost, Yang appeared infuriated by the mere mention of the man, but Ruby nodded in understanding. They just needed to get Yang close then. Close enough to feed the Grimm a flame straight from Ralthor's forge.
"Pin it…" Blake tried to sit and got nowhere, contorting and devolving into another coughing fit. Weiss shifted her as carefully as she could.
"Are you sure?"
Blake nodded, raising a hand before splaying it out against the ground. Her and Weiss' shadows elongated and raced towards the Grimm. Then they sprung to life, lifting off the ground and forming spindly restraints that lashed onto a pair of the Grimm's tendrils. It lurched and screeched, pulling in protest. Though Blake looked on the verge of losing consciousness she held on.
"Slow it!" Weiss screamed desperately.
Qrow obliged, charging in and driving his sword deep into the Grimm's body. With a scream of his own he dragged the sword through, scoring a gash ten feet wide before he freed his blade. Ruby mirrored the wound and the Grimm slumped to one side with a pained warble.
Ignoring every teaching that warned of overexertion Weiss raised a trembling hand, forcing an earth rune to form. When it shattered, she tried again, chest constricting and her vision darkening, head pounding as though a mallet had struck her. She forced the rune, grinding her teeth as most of her body went numb. Ground trembled and stone slabs rose free, wobbling but hanging midair, creating a pathway straight to the Grimm's core.
"Yang!" Ruby called.
Her sister took the cue, still cognizant enough to follow the plan. Or recognize an opening when she saw one. On all fours Yang leaped and landed on the first platform, hurtling towards the second, then the third. Her hair ignited and the blonde became a living, breathing flame, black smoke rising from her. A human comet launching itself from one footing to the next, rising up in an arc to deliver herself into the Grimm's gaping maw.
A tendril came up and crashed into Yang. She took the full brunt of the blow and careened away, flames streaking as she slammed into the ground some distance away. Yang moved quickly but stumbled, flames flickering along her body. The Grimm screeched again and tore free of Blake's restraints while Blake herself collapsed, groaning and breathing weakly beside Weiss.
Qrow rushed to defend them and cleaved free a chunk of flesh before being knocked away, sword flying from his hands. Yang's flames vanished, her arm still malformed, blood dripping from a wound on her skull and matting her hair.
Weiss watched as her platforms began to collapse and crash back to earth, the final remnants of her magic vanishing. As her head hit the dirt she watched the Grimm right itself, lifting its limbs and howling, mouth splitting open and body swelling. More miasma was coming. If it did not crush them then they would succumb to poison.
Then a red blur raced up the collapsing stones. Ruby launched herself from the final one and hovered briefly over the beast, suspended in freefall. Then she plummeted, scythe dragging weightily behind her. She fell into the Grimm and it crashed its tendrils down, planting itself as it began to spill miasma.
It stopped.
Weiss watched the Grimm lurch to one side, red eyes darting around frantically in search of something. Then it lurched again, tendrils curling in and slashing against its own body. The Grimm writhed and coiled, agitated screeches ringing out.
The first cut through its flesh let miasma leak free. Another cut formed, plumes of black seeping through. Scores of gashes appeared, and Ruby's scythe poked through, dragging along the skin, disappearing, then reemering seconds later. A storm of blades. A flurry of steel. The Grimm beat itself, thrashed, did whatever it could to dissuade its assailant. Ruby continued to tear it apart from within, miasma spilling out on clouds of dark. Illness given form.
With one last howl the Grimm lurched again, and its body separated. It fell away to the right, then the left. The stalk once comprising most of the Grimm collapsed under its own weight and pieces of the beast came undone, tumbling to the ground and filling the valley with its dying breaths. The miasma rose into the sky and swiftly began to dissipate, the rotting body's fumes joining with it. Weiss smiled, or she tried to, astonished and beyond thrilled to see the creature fall.
No Stalkers came. Whether attracted by the strange Grimm or summoned by its presence they seemed to flee in the wake of its demise. Only the five of them remained in the valley. Blake coughed and her head laid back, eyelids fluttering. Reminded of how much remained at risk Weiss pulled herself again, grateful as Qrow stumbled over and began to work at Blake's wound. The bleeding had largely stopped but Weiss suspected that was because there was little blood left to lose. Paler than Weiss herself, Blake closed her eyes, chest barely moving.
Yang staggered towards the fading Grimm, transformed arm dragging across the ground. She collapsed to her knees and began to claw through the Grimm's fading form, coughing and gagging on the fumes. With her neck muscles tight Weiss managed to roll her head once more to watch, breath leaving her with a gasp as she saw Ruby at last among the debris. Her partner sat in the middle of the Grimm's body, scythe buried in its flesh and head hung forward.
She did not move.
Nothing to see here. Nora tells me everything is fine and so it must be.
See you all next chapter!