Chapter 19: That's A Pretty Big Hole
Back at the campsite, the rest of the team members were sitting around talking at a makeshift campfire. Weiss desperately attempting to woo her sister with tails of her exploits while Hex and Yang were sitting next to each other in a desperate attempt to keep the PDAs to a minimum.
"Hey fearless leaders, anything interesting happen while you were out?" Nitro asked as the two entered the area, Oobleck left the team alone while he studied their maps pinpointing locations of interest.
"A herd of Goliath class Grimm several clicks southeast. They aren't posing a threat to our operation nor are we going to engage them unless necessary." Nova said rather stiffly, his combat senses were still on a high. Every inch of this city smelled like death and it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up when he wasn't on the move.
"That's not what I meant cap'n. Ease up a little will yah?" Nitro responded rolling his eyes.
"Not what you meant…. Huh?... Oh… OH!... NO!" Nova responded pinching the bridge of his nose, leaving a confused Ruby.
"Professor Oobleck was with us the whole time so it's not like anything would happen…." He muttered quietly hoping no one heard but Yang grew a smirk.
"So, what you're saying is you WANTED something to happen?" She wiggled her eyebrows causing Hex to snicker.
"What are you talking about?" Ruby asked still confused.
"How you Nova wanted you two to start dating." Luna broke in from the back, the small girl hung out her cloak and let her shining silver hair loose, the streaks of neon blue almost glowing in the firelight.
"LUNA NOT YOU TO?!" The two leaders started sputtering causing everyone in the room to groan at their denial. Their consistent refusal to admit their feelings for each other was getting old, if they didn't change things up soon, Luna was pretty sure she'd just kidnap them and lock them in a room alone.
"So… anyone got any stories to try and pass the time? It's still twilight and I believe Winter wants us on watch rotations so…." Nitro started opening up the floor, Ruby and Nova sat down near the fire next to each other but a healthy distance apart.
"What kinda stores?" Yang asked suddenly interested.
"OH! I Got one," Weiss piped up causing everyone's gaze to turn to her.
"Where did you come from I thought you were with your sister?" Blake asked raising an eyebrow.
"Winter called me a boob and left to speak to Oobleck about watch rotations." Weiss shrugged. Yang snickered at the mention of the word boob causing Hex to smack her over the head for her childish behaviour.
"What's the story?" Luna asked very interestedly, she looked up to Weiss and Ruby as older sisters even though she and Ruby were the same age.
"The first day I met Ruby, we were on the bullhead to Beacon. She literally exploded." Weiss laughed remembering. "HEY! That wasn't my fault, you were the one that shoved fire dust in my face!" the leader yelled.
"You inhaled fire dust?" Nova asked raising an eyebrow, turning his gaze to the girl sitting on his right.
"Yeah…. I sneezed pretty hard and nearly blew us off the ship." Ruby rubbed her head sheepishly.
"And let's not forget at the entrance exam you literally dropped in on me. Then had me drop from a giant nevermore…" Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose.
"You rode a nevermore…. And jumped off…" Luna asked in wonder.
"Yeah well… I also ripped its head off." Ruby smiled as if that sentence was the cheeriest thing in the world.
"SO COOL!" Luna marvelled, imagining Ruby and Weiss as some sort of superhero team jumping off the bird.
Weiss ruffles the younger girl's hair. "What about you guys, anything interesting?"
"That's all there is?" the purplette asked the heiress. "You aren't very good at telling stories."
Weiss just turned up her nose, "If you think you're any better why not tell one yourself?"
"I got one," Nova said raising his hand. "You have a lot…" Nitro adds as if trying to recall some imaginary list.
"Yeah well, we've been through a lot. When Luna and I first started off Haven academy and got paired up with team THRN, Nitro used to give me a lot of shit. I didn't start off as the person you guys know today, I was pretty awkward at well…everything." Nova rubbed the back of his head.
"Ah! This guy, you think he's clumsy now? He used to be so much worse, often bumping into walls, tripping over tables, stumbling in the cafeteria. Honestly we thought he was doomed to drag us down." Nitro said with a sigh.
"He was bad at everything… except combat." Hex said swallowing some water.
"Kinda like Ruby?" Weiss asked quirking her eyebrow and pointing at the reaper.
"HEY!"
"The first mission we go into, he instantly flips a switch in his brain and slaughters a pack of beowolves in seconds. Honestly, it was crazy how coordinated he and his sister were." Hex confirmed, causing Nova to fluster in embarrassment.
"Yeah well, a few missions in, closer to the end of the second semester, we got sent on a mission deep into the forests of Mistral." Nova started his tale, Hex and Nitro's face went dark, all traces of smiling gone, their eyes shadowed over realizing the story he was telling, they kept quiet. RWBY seemed to notice the shift in mood and alerted.
"It was just like any other field mission, kill a pack of Beowolves at a nearby village and hunt possible Ursa and Nevermore sightings. Straightforward and simple, but what was supposed to be a routine mission turned sour pretty fast." Nova clasped his hands around his mouth in a thinking fashion, much like Ozpin.
"We eradicated Beowolves and tore a few Ursa a new one, on our way out however, things turned for the worst." He continued, Ruby, clenching her fists in anticipation as Yang, Weiss and Blake leaned in closer.
"We felt something…. Watching us, since the beginning of the mission. At first Thorian and Rogue, our old teammates tried to brush our worries off as mere paranoia. We were fools to believe in them." Nova cursed as everyone had a sudden realization as to where this was going.
"They came from the trees, swift and coordinated. An ambush of White Fang assassins, a lot of them." Nova said, Blake, tensed at the mention of her old organization. "We had no idea how they found us, the battle was intense. Amidst the confusion, Thorian and Rogue turned on us... we were betrayed." Nova felt his own anger releasing heat and Ruby who was leaning next to him placed hand on his shoulders while a simultaneous gasp of surprise erupted around the campfire.
"They were working with the White Fang the entire time, we never suspected them because they weren't Faunus. But, Onyx, resorted to some… unscrupulous methods. The moment we thought we could trust them, the moment Luna and I let our guards down, was the moment of our sold us out and threw Hex and Nitro into the mess with us. We fought tooth and nail to make it out of there alive, in the end those two escaped and we were left out in the wilderness, with no supplies or way of contacting Haven. At this stage we weren't sure we could even trust the headmaster Lionheart." Nova rubbed his arm raw and Ruby just squeezed his hand.
"That's why you were afraid of revealing your secrets, that's why you wore those disguises…." Weiss clasped her hand over her mouth in shock. The sympathy in her eyes, she felt for her friends, from her observation of the SDC business partners, she had seen her fair share of traitors... but for people you trusted as close friends to turn on you... that must've been extremely painful.
"That's not everything that happened that day…" Nitro added, Hex held onto Yang tightly, a scared look in her eyes, alarming her girlfriend.
"What else… what could cause…" Yang tried asking but the words died in her mouth as Hex looked into her eyes, the trauma evident on her face.
"That day, we were lost in the forest, no food, no water and no way of contacting help. We assumed Haven would send a search party eventually as the mission was supposed to take two days but we finished in one. If they found us gone more than two days we would get help but first we needed to find some way to survive. Nitro's left arm was broken from the fight and Hex was badly wounded, she got stabbed in her right side." The ASHN leader regaled.
Yang winced and turned to Hex, who lifted her shirt to reveal the stitched scar on her right, just under her rib cage, above her waistline. "It was pretty deep at the time... though thinking back now I feel like I was just too tired from the fighting to handle myself." she scooted closer to her girlfriend. Yang's face instantly softened and pulled her so that the purplette's head was resting on her shoulder, the blonde's left arm wrapped around the other's shoulder. "Luna used her powers to slow down the blood vectors to keep me from bleeding out while Nova and Nitro applied first aid. The downside is that she had to slow down over twelve different blood directions and continuously do it during the stitching which lasted a while. The result was both of us being nigh incapacitated." Hex clung onto Yang's arm as if it was the only thing that was keeping her stable.
Blake and Weiss held their breaths, their gasps stifled in their throats as the gravity of that situation was dawning on them. Three out of four members on the team incapacitated and lost in a forest full of Grimm with no supplies.
"We had to trek for miles in the jungle, Hex could barely walk and I had to carry Luna on my back. Camping in the night was dangerous me and Nitro had to keep constant watch. Unlike here at Vale, where Grimm are active during all hours, the more dangerous Grimm in Mistral were nocturnal. We ate tree bark and fruits if we could find them. Animals weren't scarce but none of us were in any condition to blindly poke around the unknown forest." Nova shuddered remembering the taste of the awful food.
"The worst part was on the last day." Nitro said darkly. He had been unconsciously clutching right arm the entire time, as if it was still broken... the pain forever burned into his memory.
"What happened? Did something else go wrong?" Blake asked extremely intrigued to find out how they survived.
"We got picked up on the morning of the fourth day. But, on the night of the third… hell unearthed itself. We thought it was weird, that there were minimal Grimm attacks over the course of our stay, even more, strange that a fight in a forest full of Grimm hadn't attracted any. We were too tired to look past it as we were just trying to survive. The reason there were so little Grimm was because we... attracted something... Mistral's deadliest hunter." Nova passed his hand through his hair and wiped his face.
"The night was near pitch black, being in the woods, rain was pounding on our heads, disrupting our senses. We never saw it coming until it was too late. Like a black shadow in the night, barely visible if not for it's Grimm mask and glowing red eyes. It was near intangible like a wisp but large as an Ursa. It walked around on two legs but it would float through the air to move quickly, its arms were elongated, its fingers were long sharp claws, like talons." Nova felt his blood run cold recalling the memory, Ruby could see him visibly shaken, his face a deathly pale and his pupils had contracted in fear.
"The Phantom..." Weiss mouthed, to which Nova nodded in confirmation.
"It attacked us out of nowhere. Dashing through the thick vegetation, using the cover of darkness and the storm to hide itself. It was smart and efficient. Nitro and Hex suffered severe lacerations, in a near-instant as if it were toying with them. Refusing to deliver the killing blow allowing its victims to suffer first... I guess we had to be grateful it was a sadist because that bought us time. The cuts burned and carried tremendous pain, unlike anything I had ever felt before." Nova looked at Luna who was now shaking and clenching her cloak with white knuckles. Weiss and Blake instantly rushed over and hugged the girl who looked as though she were losing her wits in a panic attack.
"We would have died back then if Nova hadn't used every last ounce of his strength to fend it off." Hex said calming down a little.
"It was the first time I had properly lost control of my powers, seeing them hurt threw me off. I fought for maybe minutes...hours...I'm not sure...but, that thing feared my fire. It was terrified of my heat. It would have taken my head had it not gotten scared and tried to deliver an early killing blow. I barely managed to dodge but we traded an eye for an arm." Nova touched his scar.
"So that's how you lost your eye…" Blake said in wonder and horror.
"Yeah the scars healed and I got my eye back but the feeling of complete helplessness is there… looking back I feel like I should have died back then, in nature only the strong survive, and why we lived is beyond me…" Nova finished.
"Don't sell yourself short, you gave it your all, we survived because of you, we owe you our lives. If it weren't for you we'd be lost on our own, probably dead. That's why we swore to you that day, we'd follow you to the ends of the world and back." Hex smiled, her expression returning to normal.
"He didn't finish the story." Nitro said in a monotone voice.
"Huh?" Nova asked confused thinking he was done, he slowly realized what his friend meant and visibly shuddered.
"You forgot to tell them what happened after." Luna looked at him directly. All eyes turned to her. "After the fight, my brother was beaten pretty bad, none of us were in any shape to fight. Yet, the sounds of battle and the smell of blood, the fact that the Phantom was injured... drew in nearly every Grimm in a mile radius." Luna said darkly.
"Holy shit... could it get any worse?" Yang gawked in horror.
"Luna don't… it's…" Nova tried to say realizing where she was going with this. The young girl shot them a look that said enough.
"Me and Nova, on our last legs of strength turned on the Grimm. It was… a pathetic sight to see. Our arms no longer had the strength to wield our weapons, Hex and Nitro were going to die if we didn't do something. I… swung my axe on my last bit of strength and was about to collapse from exhaustion. They were on me in an instant like hyenas on a corpse." The younger girl held her arms around her.
"I took one two many hits and my aura dropped out... Their claws never reached me however…" She said solemnly.
"What… how…" Weiss asked concerned and confused.
"The reason my brother can't tell you the rest of the story is because, he jumped into the pack himself, no aura, no strength and I was pretty sure the shade of purple on his right shoulder wasn't normal. He took the blows for me, the beasts tore at his skin like it was paper… his entire back was going to be shredded…. There was so much blood…" Luna felt herself getting sick, looking down at her hands as if they were still stained.
"After that I lost my control for the first time, I'm not sure what happened but I passed out. I woke up and all the Grimm were dead, smashed and warped in unnatural positions. Hex said she saw the whole thing, my eyes and hair turned bright blue and the Grimm around us started to convulse and warp almost inside out. Nova almost died that day, if only…." Luna almost broke down into tears.
"You fought for us, if not for you, we'd be dead," Nova said adamantly trying to cheer her up.
Ruby's brows furrowed in concern, "Wait... If the Grimm tore up your back... how come you don't have more scars?.. I mean... there are some but not that many... NOT THAT IT's A BAD THING!" she directed her question at Nova
Everyone eyed her curiously, "So you know what he looks like shirtless~" Yang said wiggling her eyebrows. Ruby turned crimson but she didn't bother to answer since literally everyone saw him shirtless at one point. This caused Yang to pout at the lack of reaction.
"The damage was skin deep, apparently my generated head was keeping them from getting close enough to really hurt me... so most of the scars healed, save for a few scratches."
"You all have been through so much…. I feel bad for even thinking my life was rough…" Blake said guiltily.
"We all had our own hardships Blake, some just had to see the ugly side of the world too quickly." Nitro added.
"My history just goes as far as all rebel stories go…" Blake began, the rest of the team pleasantly surprised the normally reserved girl chose to open up.
"When I was a kid, after the fall of the Royal Family. My parents who, at the time, were the heads of the White Fang, before things got violent, decided to step down from their positions to lead our people." Blake recalled. Nova flinched at the mention of his family history.
"I… called them out for their choice. I called them cowards, spineless people who would leave the good fight to hold themselves up for a quieter life. I was young and foolish and I didn't understand their reasons. Looking back now I realize how wrong I was. It was in the White Fang I met Adam again. He was everything I wanted to be… strong, fearless, cunning and willing to do whatever it took to bring our people to glory." Blake spoke highly of Adam as if there wasn't the underlying darkness they all knew. "We all know how he...really is..."
"Blake, you met Adam, but...have you ever met Onyx?" Nova asked interested in her backstory.
"No, I never met the High Commander. Adam was the only leader I needed... that was until I started questioning our methods. Things truly turned for me when I witnessed our brothers and sisters murdering innocent humans. I wanted nothing more than to rid myself of this organization, so… in my panic, I ran. And here I am." Blake finished her tale.
"Blake, I want you to know that your parents were not at fault for what happened, at least I have no reason to suspect them. Onyx is the only real villain here..." Nova conferred to the girl in black. Her friends all gave her an accepting smile. A non-verbal agreement that the past was behind them. The future was what mattered.
Blake nodded a silent thanks, a stillness fell over the team for a few minutes before Winter returned.
"Alright everyone, it's dark out and that means heavy Grimm activity. Ruby, you're on first watch, followed by Nova, then Weiss, Nitro, Yang, Hex, Luna and Blake." she said tearing them out of their mulling.
-Three hours later-
Ruby sat atop the concrete watch point, Crescent Rose in hand, humming quietly to herself as she kept her eyes peeled on the ever constant state of the city. East sidewalk, check. North building check. Grey lamp post, Check three times... ugh I would kill for a Grimm right now... she thought drumming her fingers along the handle of her scythe. Wouldn't it have made sense to put us on double shifts? With a partner? I could sit and watch the stars with Nova...she sighed dreamily thinking about spending alone time with her bestie/crush.
"Arf arf!" came the slightly loud barks of Zwei, tearing her from her fantasies and dragging her to reality. "Quiet down Zwei you don't wanna alert the bad guys!" the girl in red shout whispered.
The dog whimpered and spun himself around in a circle looking at the floor. Ruby deadpanned, "Zwei, this is a wasteland, you could literally go do your business anywhere…". The dog just barked again causing Ruby to sigh.
"Ugh fine come on," she said as she lead Zwei away from the team so he could 'mark his territory'.
"Honestly Zwei you are such a-" She hushed herself instantly when she detected the sound of unfamiliar footsteps.
She ducked around the nearest corner and drew Crescent Rose. Zwei scampered into the nearby bushes.
Peering around the corner she spotted two White Fang members. Found yah! Being the genius leader she was, instead of alerting her team, her first instinct was to tail them, unfortunately she was not the stealthiest of individuals and was eventually spotted.
"YOU THERE! Who are you and what are you doing here?" One of the men shouted.
"Uhh… would you believe me if I told you I was here to help you out?" Ruby asked tilting her head.
"Oh, really? well then welcome- AH YOU'RE SCREWING WITH ME AREN'T YOU!" The man realized enraged. Ruby just stuck her tongue out in a mocking fashion.
They shot at her but Ruby was too quick. In near an instant she knocked out the guys by dashing into the air and slamming her scythe down onto them. She would have celebrated her small victory had, when she attempted to touch the floor, it was no longer there. The roadway beneath her feet had cracked and shattered dropping her into the deep chasms below. Comically blinking in confusion she let out a panicked squeal as she plummeted into the abyss below.
Nova awoke beside his team. ASHNRWBY had spread out their sleeping bags in formation around the campfire, each of them quietly snoring away except for the empty cot of one Ruby Rose. She must still be on lookout, didn't want to wake me, I'll go check on her Nova thought as he pulled his favourite fiery orange and black hoodie over him, and strapping Asura to his side. As he made his away across the broken building to the designated lookout point, he could feel something was off.
It was quiet… too quiet…
He raised his head and took a sniff of the air, trying to use his dragon sensitive nose to find trouble. His nose picked up...nothing.
That was a problem, no Grimm, no human, no Faunus, not even Zwei and especially not Ruby. Everyone in ASHNRWBY had a distinct smell, Luna smelled like rain and spring, Yang smelled like gunpowder and sunlight, Nitro smelled like greased steel and jet fuel, Hex smelled like melted solder, Weiss smelled like a freezer, Blake was like old paper and cat and Ruby smelled like roses and what he could only describe as happiness. Yet, in the wind there was no trace of Roses and happiness, only nothingness.
This worried him to no end, and upon checking the lookout spot, he was greeted by his fears, nothing. Without a moment's hesitation he rushed back and roused the others.
"MMmm urgh, is it my shift time?" Nitro grumbled. The others groaned and followed suit.
"Everyone wake up, we have a problem." He said now waking Oobleck and Winter.
"Wha?" came the near unintelligible reply of one Weiss Schnee.
"Ruby's missing." He stated flatly, instantly alerting everyone.
"WHAT?!" came the resounding reply, they all sat up alert and on edge.
"You heard me, I woke up for my shift and Ruby wasn't in her spot. I thought maybe she just went to check something out but the problem is, neither she nor Zwei are around. I can't pick up their scent." He confessed.
"ARF! ARF!" came the alarmed barks of a small corgi.
"Zwei! Where's Ruby, boy?" Nova asked desperately, leaning down to meet the dog at eye level.
"Arf!" it barked once then turned around and started running off. "He wants us to follow, let's go!" Nova led them off after the managed to rouse Winter and Doctor Oobleck.
Zwei lead the team through the concrete jungle. Nova had a horrible feeling creeping through his subconscious, it felt like someone force fed him a rock and now it just sits in his stomach, Ruby was in deep trouble.
Zwei suddenly came to a halt at the edge of what appeared to be a massive crater.
"Don't tell me…" Weiss started.
"Yup," Luna responded with a resounding pop of the p.
"She's…" came Yang.
"Down there…" Nitro said shaking his head.
"We need to get down there and find her... provided she's not..." Oobleck pointed out emotionlessly.
Everyone shot him a dirty look, "She's NOT dead..." Yang glowered causing Oobleck to visibly flinch. "My apologies Miss Xialong. Your sister is very much alive." He amended.
"What's down there?" Nova asked.
Winter let out a sigh, "When this city fell, the residents took up home in the massive underground caves, they made a liveable village up until…"
"Until there was a tragic mining incident and they unleashed a massive amount of underground Grimm. I was hoping to avoid there…" Oobleck started then he got to thinking. "Wait, we spent our time looking for our enemies when they were quite literally under our noses." He concluded.
"Huh?!" Came the resounding confusion.
"Well we could find no trace of our enemies above ground, Ruby suddenly goes missing hence…"
"They must be hold up in the old caverns. Grrreat…" Nova finished, grimacing horribly.
"What's his deal?" Weiss asked noticing Nova's unnerved look.
Luna sighed, "My brother is terrified of the underground. More precisely, he's claustrophobic but the underground scares him shitless."
"Language missy," Winter scolded causing the younger girl to just roll her eyes.
"Well… there's only one way we're getting Ruby back," Swallowing the lump in his throat, Nova turned to the team as they looked...first, in confusion...then in horror as he took a backward dive into the hole.
"He's gone mad..." Winter said mortified at what she just saw.
"Well they did say love makes you do stupid things," Yang shrugged, earning a punch in the shoulder from Hex before the rest of them followed suit.
The fun's just beginning... This chapter was pretty easy to edit so it came out faster than I expected. If I miss any spelling corrections, please forgive me, I need to change my glasses and it's pretty hard to focus on this many words on a page (You can only imagine what I'm like trying to study course material).
I wish I could heart react the reviews like I can do with comments on facebook but you'll just have to settle with an imaginary heart
Glad to see you're still with me Ethos The ET (^-^)
Absolutely love you all 3
