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Cover Art: Z-ComiX

Chapter 67

Just show them the Grimm. This was her home. She wasn't going to back down. As always, those words were so much easier to utter in the calm and quiet of your home when your blood was pumping and it felt like nothing could get in your way. Now in the outskirts again, with the moon high in the sky and cold air and mist wrapping around her ankles, Yang wished she could take them back.

Yang pulled the fine cloak Ruby had left her tighter around her neck, cutting off the chill from freezing her ears. Even after wearing it for a few days it still looked new and fresh compared to anything in the slums, and it was warm and soft on her skin. She'd told Junior she stole it off some drunk who won it in a card game. He hadn't cared enough to dig deeper. Though Ruby always said it, she never really clung to the idea they'd find a way out the slums – or that Ruby going to the Collegium would be the way to do it. Not that she'd say that and ruin her sister's dreams, but it just felt unrealistic. The cloak was real, though, and more than she could have afforded in ten years working for Junior.

Moving up the city won't much matter if the Grimm wipe us out.

The reminder drew her eyes to the Arcanist beside her. Blake had her own cloak strapped tight to her, but she'd thrown most of it over her left shoulder, leaving the right side of her body and her arm clear. Her long, silvery sword was drawn and held limply before her, tip trailing toward the floor. Yang wondered if she knew how to use it.

"Are we invisible right now?" Yang asked.

Blake spared her a short glance, golden eyes catching the moonlight and glinting like a wolf's. "No." Her voice was quiet. Calm. "I'm not going to draw the Grimm until we're ready."

"Couldn't we sit safely on the edge of the forest and draw them from there? Why did we have to go inside?"

"We're not far in."

Far enough, Yang thought. There were as many trees behind them as ahead, and though she could just make out the light of the city between the boughs, it was a long sprint to reach safety – at least a hundred metres to the nearest farm and well over a kilometre to the wall. She'd seen the other night how little protection farmyards would offer.

"We only want to draw out a single Grimm." Blake said. "Bring more and we'll end up overwhelming the watchmen. We're trying to prove the Grimm are here, not get people killed."

"People like us?"

Blake sighed. "You don't have to be here, Yang. I can do this myself."

Shame pooled in her gut and she tightened her grip on Ruby's cloak, laughing sharply. "I'm just fucking with you," she lied. "Keeping my spirits up with a little arguing. You know how it is." Slowly, she loosened the wicked kitchen knife at her side, wishing it was attached to a polearm. "I'm good for this. I'm the toughest, hardest, meanest bitch in the slums."

"You're certainly one of those things…"

Blake stopped suddenly, and Yang almost collided with her back. The faunus looked up, letting her hood fall back as she stared toward the sky. Yang tried to wait patiently, but patience was hard to find in such a cold and lonely place.

"Blake?"

"There are Grimm close."

"G-Great. How do you know?"

"No owls." Blake nodded not to the sky but to the boughs above them. "Grimm don't necessarily attack other animals, but the wildlife doesn't know that. They stop making noise when Grimm are close, and the owls were hooting nonstop before."

"Maybe it's us that spooked them."

"Maybe." Blake didn't sound like she believed it. To be fair, neither did Yang. "I'm going to start casting now. It should draw the Grimm closest by, which will hopefully be just the one."

Yang stepped back and watched the Arcanist work. It wasn't the first time she'd seen magic, not with Ruby around, but the way Blake did it was so much less… well, it was just so much less than Ruby. There was no wind, no tingling electricity on the air and no visible sign of magic at all. All she could see and hear was the faunus whisper something under her breath, and then the air in front of her began to shimmer. Slowly, smoke began to belch from the shimmering air – not fire smoke, it wasn't black enough for that, but a grey, foggy kind of smoke that fell to the floor and spread out around their ankles.

It would have been useful to have an ability like that for ditching people following you in the slums, or for creating an avenue for an escape. Yang crouched and touched the smoke with her fingers, finding it cool to the touch but not as tingly or magical as she expected. Given that the last Grimm they faced had eaten and turned Blake's magic against her, she couldn't blame her not wanting to use anything that could be thrown back at them.

"That's enough." Blake cut the spell off suddenly and the air stopped shimmering. The smoke remained. "I don't want to push and draw more. We'll see if this gets a reaction first and I can try again if it doesn't."

They waited. The first minute or two were in tense silence, but the longer that went by without sound, the more Yang relaxed until she was finally able to breathe normally. Blake was frowning and looking around, seemingly surprised by the lack of interaction.

"Maybe the infestation isn't as bad as we thought," Yang said.

"They attacked the farmland. That wouldn't happen if the outskirts weren't overflowing. And don't remember that we haven't seen any people either. You said the desperate live out here. Where are they?"

Good question. Likely dead. Yang swallowed and stayed silent.

"I'll try again. Something bigger."

Blake focused on the space in front of her once more, bringing up the same spell but with far greater force that had the smoke belching out and spilling down like water, splashing left and right from her position until she was a figure wreathed in smoke and shadow.

Yang eyed the trees ahead and to the sides but none of the wolflike creatures approached. The air was still, the trees stiller, and the only movement came from the smoke slowly spreading out to wrap around her own ankles.

Then, the night went dark. The light from the moon winked out for a moment, casting them in blackness. It lasted only a second, the shadow passing by, but that moment was enough to have Yang step back and look upward.

Great wings flapped in the night with loud, feathery gusts of air. The dark shape, visible in its blackness against the dark sky, wheeled up and around. A loud, booming screech reached their ears and Blake staggered back, afraid.

"Nevermore…"

"What?"

"Run." Blake whispered. "It's time to run."

The bird dove down. Yang swore and lurched back, twisting and stamping one foot down as she hurtled away from the smoke in pursuit of an already fleeing Blake. Behind them, trees snapped like twigs, great cracks as trunks metres thick shattered and fell. The ground shook and Yang stumbled, catching herself on one hand and rolling forward.

It saved her life.

Talons as long as Ruby's body swung by above her, missing by a hair's breath before crashing down into the scattered leaves and soil, carving a great trench two feet deep before the avian form screeched in fury and wheeled back up, bringing with it a huge amount of dirt and rock. Feathers as long as a man stabbed down in its wake, their pinions piercing wood and soil with ease.

Scrambling to her feet, Yang jumped the trenches and ran as fast as her legs could take her, feet pounding to the rhythm of the heartbeat thudding between her ears. She didn't dare look back, but she listened to the sound of beating wings, the cracking of boughs and branches as it came down, and threw herself to the left the moment it started, diving behind a tree and rolling onto her side, hands over her head.

The Grimm burst through the space she'd occupied, talons gouging through the ground again. This time, it didn't take off again but instead skated across the ground, smashing trees aside with its wings and bulk before skidding to a stop and planting both taloned feet down.

Its turn was awkward thanks to the confines of the forest and it had to spread its wings and smash four trees aside just to complete it. Bright red eyes glared hatefully down on her as a beak as long as her arm and wickedly serrated snapped at the air.

The ten inch long blade grasped in her right hand felt just a little inadequate.

"Over here!" Blake bellowed out from a distance away, throwing one hand into the air. A bright light sparked up from it, raising ten or so metres high before exploding like fire. Piercing white light flashed over the Grimm's back and Yang's face. "It's this you want! Come for the magic!"

The Nevermore clacked its razor-sharp beak at Yang but did turn away, much to her shock. Unlike any normal animal, it completely turned its back on her, screeched at the distant figure and went crashing toward her, wings tucked in against its body to let it charge through the trees.

"Get to the farms!" Blake shouted. "Make sure they see!"

The farms. Right. Steeling herself, Yang sheathed her dagger and left Blake to the Grimm. There was fuck all she could do to stop something that big anyway. Instead, she sprinted for the edge of the treeline, toward the light of torches and lanterns and the smoke rising from chimneys. Cresting the rise that marked the edge of the outskirts and bursting forth, Yang leapt and cleared the ditch, landing and rolling on the grassland on the other side. Pushing herself up, she clung to her cloak and raced to the nearest farmhouse, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Grimm! Grimm! Grimm in the farms!"

There was no time to stop and see if her cries were heeded. People had to have heard the screeching by now but might have assumed it was some poor bird being killed. She kept running, past the first house where she could hear people moving inside and between the next two.

"Grimm in the outskirts! Grimm in the farms! Help! Grimm!"

Behind, she heard doors crash open and people come stumbling out shouting about pranks and drunks. Lanterns were raised, men and women in their sleeping wear trying to see what all the commotion was about. Dogs barked and farm animals brayed, whinnied and kicked at stalls.

Then, it happened. A tiny figure cleared the trees and dove down into the ditch. Not a second later, a far larger shape burst from the trees and over her, the Nevermore's giant, black form rolling down the embankment before finding its feet. Upon realising it was in open territory, it spread its wings victoriously, great feathery wings that reached up twenty of so metres, eclipsing the nearest houses and leaving no mystery as to what it was.

"Grimm!" someone howled. "Grimm!"

Women screamed. Children cried. Doors were slammed and lanterns blinked on deeper in the farmlands as the cry was sounded. Bells began to toll, distracting the Grimm and causing it to look over toward the nearest watchtower, where someone was striking the bell atop. The watchmen had seen it now that it was in the open and posturing.

With so much going on, the Nevermore seemed to forget about Blake. It lunged forward and screeched at the watchtower, then snapped toward the nearest farm, sending the animals into such a frenzy that a herd of cows shattered through the nearest fence and stampeded away from it. Ignoring them, the Grimm leered at the nearest houses, chittering at one before flapping its wings and lifting its bulk off the ground.

Yang heard the watchmen coming from the clanking of their armour and their shouts for everyone to stay indoors. Pulling her cloak tight to hide her face, she slipped around the back of the nearest farmhouse, leaning against the wood and letting ten men run past with spears and bows in hand. What good they would do against such a monster she wasn't sure, but luckily for them the Nevermore didn't seem interested. Its eyes fixed on the city and it screeched victoriously before winging its way toward it.

"Shit!" Yang swore. "It wasn't meant to go for Vale!"

A shaking and gasping figure stumbled around the back of the barn, one hand on the wood to support herself. Blake was muddy, worn and her sword was nowhere to be seen. Hurrying over to her, Yang helped her stand, though the faunus looked more exhausted and shaken than injured.

"I'm okay," she gasped. "It didn't catch me. I… I'm just… exhausted…"

"The Grimm has gone for the city."

Blake followed its path and groaned under her breath. "It must have sensed the Arcanists in the Collegium."

"Or Ruby…"

"I doubt a single Wildmage can be felt over nearly two thousand Arcanists. It's the concentration of them in one place that draws them. It should avoid the main city if it can tell where the Arcanists are. Leave it to the Collegium," she said. "They can handle one Grimm. This might be the wakeup call they need."

She looked around, noticing all the people in the farmlands coming out to stare at the monster as it flew over the city gates. If a single person in the farmlands hadn't seen it, they'd hear the news before morning.

"We should go before Sergeant Hannar finds us," Yang suggested. "We've done our part."

"Yes. Let's see the Collegium deny this."

/-/

For all the panic racing through her as Weiss woke her up with a startled cry and the sound of similarly shocked and panicked sounds spread through the dorm and all the Collegium, the battle with the Grimm itself was short – so short that Ruby and Weiss didn't have time to even question if they should get involved. Ruby only managed to roll out of bed and rip on a gown then rush to the window to stand and stare with her roommate before the Nevermore took a mighty ballista bolt to the chest from a nearby tower situated along the wall.

The beast teetered to the side and screeched at the guards running along the wall – and would have rushed them down if not for bolts of light striking it from every side. Fire, ice, light, the colours and shapes of the attacks varied wildly. Some came as netting to entwine it, almost like the flame net Pyrrha taught them. Others were more direct, simple fireballs exploding on its chest.

For a single Grimm landing in the centre of the Collegium, there wasn't much hope of survival. It had struck with the element of surprise but found itself spoiled for choice and hesitating on which way to attack. It was caught in a myriad of attacks and brought down, giant wings flapping madly as it drowned under a barrage of spellfire that didn't stop until the monster was reduced to ash floating away on the wind.

"T-That was the same Grimm as in the Archives," Weiss whispered in the stunned silence left behind. There wasn't a window along the dorm not open, and not an Initiate not awake and staring in awe or fear. "Did they break out the Archives!?"

"The door is too small," Ruby said. "Something that big couldn't fit through."

"You're right. Then it came from outside…?"

"It must have…"

Merlot and she hadn't caught any Nevermore, so it wasn't an escapee from his lab – and that thing would have knocked down the entire Azure Archives to fit out that tiny passage. It wouldn't have made it this far. This thing landed, which meant it had been in flight. First the Grand Arcanist is killed and now this. We knew Grimm were in the outskirts but not Grimm this big!

A bell began to toll over by the White Cathedral, likely summoning Arcanists to meetings. Outside, Coco Adel stumbled out in a white nightgown and turned to face everyone peering out the windows. She raised her voice and arms, shouting out to them.

"Everyone stay calm! The Grimm is dealt with. Go back to sleep!"

A few of the Arcanists nodded and repeated the message, but they were all insane if they thought anyone would be sleeping after seeing this. Ruby pulled back and let Weiss close the window, but neither went back to bed. They picked their robes up off the hook by the door and Ruby poked her head out to see what everyone else was doing. Other doors were already open, people moving out to mill in the corridors and chatter about what just happened.

Some, those on the other side of the building, hadn't been able to see it – though they'd definitely heard the commotion. Others filled them in, hands waving and voices rising as the story was told again and again.

"If that thing flew over the city, everyone will be in uproar!" Martyn said.

"Do you think it did?" Ruby asked.

He looked to her and it seemed their rivalry was on hold in lieu of the Grimm. Martyn answered with a quick nod. "I saw it coming in. It flew all the way from the Lower District to the Upper, then to us. Can't you hear the alarm bells in the city?"

His question caused everyone to quiet and shush those still speaking. The bell tolling for the Arcanists was closer, but they could just make out noise in the city itself. Bells, the typical method of alarm raised in event of a crisis. They were supposed to be reserved for attacks or fires, and they were definitely being rung.

"We just had the walls knocked down and the Grand Arcanist's tower, too," someone said. "Do you think Vale is under attack?"

"By whom? We don't have any enemies."

"Well, by the Grimm. You heard about the Azure-"

"Grimm don't blow up walls."

"Rogue Arcanists do. And so do Wildmages." A girl tossed her blonde hair from side to side, stepping up onto a stool to speak. "My mother is of the White and she told me that Wildmages and Grimm are connected. That's why they're so dangerous because they work together with them."

"That's bullshit!" Ruby swore. The girl flinched and several others gasped at such vulgar language. "There was a Wildmage in the Archives and he fought against the Grimm. Plenty of us saw it."

A few nodded, Martyn and Weiss among them.

"W-Well, he might be the exception. How else do you explain these attacks? What brought the wall down if not a Wildmage or a Rogue Arcanist? They didn't just fall down."

It had been a Wildmage. It'd been her. Ruby bit her lip but her silence was taken as defeat and soon the other Initiates were agreeing with the other girl. And why not? The only thing that could have brought down the wall and diverted the river into the Upper District was magic, and they'd all been there to see it happen.

"Oi. What is this?" Coco stormed into the corridor with a scowl and waved her arms. "Didn't I tell you all to go to bed?"

"You can't expect us to sleep after seeing that!" someone shouted.

"I darn well can. You're all working to become an Arcanists, aren't you? An Arcanist doesn't let one run in with a Grimm keep them up at night gossiping like spinsters. It was one Grimm, and now it's dead. Story over."

"The Arcanists have been summoned."

"To figure out where it came from and why," Coco said with a roll of her eyes. "What? Do you think they've been summoned to run around like headless chickens? They'll talk it out, decide on what to do and then get started on that tomorrow. You lot, though. You have lessons as normal, so get back to your rooms and go to sleep. And just in case it's not clear, no one is leaving the dorms tonight."

"Is there risk of more coming, Warden?"

"A flying Grimm could have always flown over the city to visit us. This isn't anything to worry about. This is the first time it's happened in years, but that's probability for you. We'll probably not see another for another few years. Now, enough," she said. "Off. Go. Or I'll start handing out punishments. I have the authority."

Muttering and complaining under their breaths, none dared test her. The corridor began to empty, and Weiss and Ruby followed suit, slipping back into their room and closing the door. Outside, the bells finally began to stop, though Ruby could imagine the panic wouldn't be over as quickly as Coco and the other Arcanists might have wished.

/-/

Glynda was absent the next day. Busy and visiting the King and Queen to report on the situation – the role should have been Ozpin's, but he was "indisposed and recovering" currently, and so couldn't make it. With no Lady Goodwitch to dictate her day, Ruby slipped out the White Cathedral and made her way to the Azure Archives, passing past familiar figures as she made her way to Merlot's lab and let herself inside.

"Blast it!" The Azure Arcanist turned to her with a furious snarl. "I've told you I don't know- ah, Ruby." He cheered up on seeing her. "Thank goodness. I thought you were yet another moron coming to ask me why the Nevermore appeared. I am studying the Grimm but that does not grant me a complete understanding of their every motive. I hope you're not here to ask the same."

"Uh. No." Ruby eyed the Beowolf splayed out on a table. It was still alive if the way it snarled and bit toward here were any indication, but its chest had been opened up and Merlot was poking around its innards. "Is that…?"

"Amazing, isn't it?"

"I was going to say gory and disgusting."

"Ah, but it's not." Merlot took her by the shoulders and steered her reluctantly toward the monster. Ruby clenched her eyes shut. "No. No. Look. There's no gore, I promise. That's what has me so intrigued."

There was no smell like dead bodies, and Ruby was unhappily familiar with that stench both from the floods and the odd body, animal or human, that turned up dead in the streets. Cracking one eye open, she realised there was no blood, either. No blood, no guts, no entrails.

"It doesn't have any organs…"

"It doesn't." Merlot agreed happily. "Fascinating, isn't it?"

"M-More like impossible!"

The inside of the Grimm was… well, nothing. It was like a loaf of bread – break on the outside and bread on the inside. Merlot had cut into the Grimm's chest cavity, but the interior was just more of the same; more black mass that was also its skin. There weren't even any bones she could see, let alone the things it should need to stay alive.

"Impossible indeed," he agreed, "And that impossibility is why it's so fascinating. I think we can say without a shadow of a doubt that the Grimm are not natural creations, not looking like this. The reason they need magic is evidently to sustain themselves."

"Because they're magic?"

"Not magic, no. More like… crafted by magic."

"Like what the Black Arcana does?"

"In a way. This…" He picked at some of the blackish skin. "This is just mass. If it fills the entire body all the way through, then it wouldn't be outlandish to liken the Grimm to an animated statue or marionette. Of course, animation of inanimate objects is a theoretical thing and quite forbidden. It's to do with the potential for misuse," he explained when she made a confused sound. "The White banned it centuries ago out of fear one Arcanist might be able to assemble an animated army and cause too much damage. I agree with their decision on this one, to say nothing of the risks involved if the animated construct were to actually generate either sentience or some… misunderstanding of its given directives."

"Misunderstanding?"

"Hm. Let me give an example. A few years back the Black Arcana appealed for this field of knowledge to be unsealed – that means to make it legal again. They argued that rules could be made to ensure subservience of any constructs, giving them clear directives they had to follow. Not to harm any people, only to do certain tasks, things like that."

"The problem comes from if those directives aren't perfect or the construct misunderstands them," he went on. "Imagine I bought an animated statue of a knight and told it to clean my floor. It seems simple enough, but what if I was injured and fell on the floor while it was cleaning. Would it stop to pick me up? Would it move me aside? Or would it follow the only directive it has – to clean the floor – and thus grind me into dust in an effort to clean me away?" Ruby shivered at the thought, and Merlot hummed. "Indeed. That is how the White brought down that argument."

"So, the Grimm might have been made for one purpose, but they lost it along the way?"

"Possibly. That's only a theory and you can't jump to any one theory, Ruby. We need to be certain. What we can be certain of is that these aren't natural." Merlot clicked his fingers and sent a spike of ice into the skull of the Beowolf, killing it. "They are weapons – we can tell that because why else would they be created with claws, teeth, talons and the capability to ingest magic? They were obviously made to counter Arcanists. I wouldn't be surprised if the person to create them died to them. Such an end is only too fitting."

"Yeah. I guess." Ruby watched the body fade. "What did the Arcanists decide last night?"

"Ah. That is why you came? To pluck my brain for secrets decided behind your back?"

Ruby shrugged. It was the truth, and she wasn't going to deny it.

"The Grimm was seen by most in the city," he said. "The White's usual method of hiding the information to avoid a panic has quite obviously fallen through. Instead, they will have to counter the rising fear by mounting a campaign to show the people they are protected. This means visible and active incursions into the forests to drive the Grimm out. I believe Lady Goodwitch is petitioning the King for permission to do just that."

"Do we need permission?"

"Realistically, no, but it's a diplomatic nicety, and the White are all for those. Some people might start to feel nervous if large numbers of Arcanists trained and armed for battle march through the city, so letting those in charge know why we are doing it helps avoid ruffled feathers. I expect we will be travelling with them."

"Us?"

"I shall at any rate, and as my apprentice and the only other person in the Collegium with any knowledge on the Grimm, you may be invited along. Even though you don't know much, you know more from watching me work than many established Arcanists do. That makes you valuable. Invaluable should I end up dying."

"That's crazy. I don't know anything about them."

"And the others know less than nothing," he said. "You forget than most Arcanists are busy earning glory for their family. They don't care about the world around them. Even though you've only stood in on a few of my experiments, that alone puts your experience with the Grimm at more than many Arcanists will achieve in a lifetime. You will find that such niche knowledge opens remarkable doors once the need for it becomes apparent."

There was a knock on the door, followed by an Arcanist dressed fully in white entering. He noticed her but ignored her since she wore the same robes as him.

"Lord Merlot," he said politely, bowing his head. "The King wishes to speak to a… specialist on the Grimm. Our Lady Goodwitch has put your name forward and requested you meet with her immediately for an audience with the Royal family."

Merlot chuckled and placed a hand on her shoulder. "My point is proven. Come, Ruby. Let us see what Lady Goodwitch would have of us."

Next Chapter: 6th December

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