Disclaimer: RWBY and Hollow Knight do not belong to me. They belong to RoosterTeeth and Team Cherry respectively.
Thank you, everyone who reviewed! You've no idea how nice it was, while being inundated with university work, to get a comment on this frankly bizarre story. It brightens my whole day, to think that this many people like this story. So, thank you all!
University makes one busy, especially if you study physics. But, since quantum physics isn't what people are here for, let's get on with the chapter!
Chapter 6: The Nightmare, Part I
In the deepest darkness...
The Hollow Knight had left the room of Team RWBY as soon as it had heard the skittering legs. Not distant whispers, but here and now so there was work to be done.
Carefully closing the door so as to not awaken anyone, the Knight looked down each end of the long hallway. From it's left it heard more skittering and the Knight turned down the hallways, stepping quickly.
It almost bumped into a human. The human gave a quiet strangled yell, and the Knight stared into the green-blue eyes of the orange haired one. Nora Valkyrie?
"Good gods you almost gave me a heart attack!" Nora Valkyrie hissed, clutching her chest. The Knight stared at her as the girl got her breath under control. She was dressed in strange attire, a loose gray piece that everyone wore around here, and pants that only covered a fourth of the legs. The attire didn't seem to be built for battle.
"What in the world are you doing out this late?" Nora wheezed.
The Knight put a hand on it's nail.
"It's a bit late to train, isn't it? Don't ya sleep? Then again, maybe you don't-"
The Knight pointed at the girl, who pointed at herself.
"Me? Well, it's kinda silly really, but Ren hasn't come back yet from his nighttime walks and I know sometimes he takes a while to get back to being sleepy but he usually doesn't take this long without messaging me and so I thought maybe I should go out and find him, maybe keep him company-"
The Knight listened to the fountain of words coming out of the girl, nodding when it seemed she was over. Then as Nora Valkyrie took a deep breath, no doubt ready to unleash more words – the Knight heard the sound of many legs.
The Knight tensed and Nora Valkyrie looked around, face uneasy.
"What was that?"
The Knight moved down the hallway, towards the sound.
"H-Hey, what's going on?"
The Knight continued moving, noting that Nora Valkyrie began to follow closely. The girl was looking around the darkness with fear, and the Knight tapped into its Soul.
There was a point of light in the distance. Something was coming closer. The Knight began to pull Soul into its hand, ready to unleash a spell. The light grew brighter, the Knight felt Nora shuffle behind it and-
"It's late for a walk, isn't it?" Headmaster Ozpin said. In one hand he held his cane. In the other one of those strange objects they called Scrolls. The Headmaster's normally amicable expression was nowhere to be seen. There was a hard look in his yellow eyes as he stared at the Hollow Knight. The Hollow Knight stared back, not sure what was happening.
From behind them came the sound of many legs and Headmaster Ozpin and the Knight turned as one, Headmaster Ozpin shining a light down the hall. Nora Valkyrie gave a strangled gasp and the Knight stared at the woman who looked remarkably like the orange haired girl. Hair slightly longer, eyes perhaps a different shade of blue, lines in her skin denoting age-
"Mom?" Nora whispered, beginning to take a step.
"Miss Valkyrie, that thing is not your mother!" Headmaster Ozpin snarled. Nora started, the woman at the end of hall began to move back-
The Knight threw forth its hand and a Shining Dagger flew forth, a streak of pure white Soul bolting towards the thing. The spell hit the woman, and no blood spilled out-
The shriek echoed across the hall, deafening, and many legs ran back into the darkness. Before anyone could think of chasing after it, the Hollow Knight felt an all too familiar pulse and chime. The sound of skittering feet vanished in an instant.
Nora Valkyrie was sitting down on the ground, still looking down the hall with wide eyes. And Headmaster Ozpin was giving the Knight a look that promised violence.
"You two. In my office, now."
In deepest darkness...
The Headmaster's office stood at the top of Beacon's highest tower – the clock tower. This meant that Headmaster Ozpin's office laid within the heart of countless gears and pendulums, ticking away each and every second. To be in this room meant to be constantly aware of the passage of time.
At least Ozpin had invested in comfy chairs. Not that the Hollow Knight was using them. Nora had sat on the edge of one of the chairs, cradling Ren's scroll and looking around the office. And Headmaster Ozpin was sitting behind his desk, interlocking fingers in clasped hands and staring at the Hollow Knight.
There was a moment of silence, each second punctuated by the clicks on many gears.
"If you had any idea about whatever that creature was – If you were the one responsible, then you aren't leaving this office."
Nora started at Ozpin's tone. There was none of the kind professor she had become used to. Only something cold and certain. Was this what the Grimm saw when the Professor took the field?
The Hollow Knight did not seem at all cowed by the professor's tone. The bug stared down at the professor, before shaking their head.
The headmaster stared at the Knight for a moment, before sighing. The Headmaster suddenly looked incredibly old and tired.
"Sometimes I wish I had James's temper. Sometimes life is easier with anger," the headmaster pinched the bridge of his nose. "Nothing but complications since you've come here, but I can't blame you. You've done nothing to harm any of my students, this I'm sure of," Ozpin shot the Knight a glance, "Am I wrong?"
The Hollow Knight shook its head.
"Do you know whatever that thing was?" Ozpin asked.
Another shake of the Knight's head.
"I suppose that was too much to hope for..." Ozpin muttered.
"U-Uh, sir?"
All eyes turned towards Nora. She was leveling them a fierce face, absently running a finger across the cracks in Ren's Scroll.
"Where's Ren? What's going on?" Nora demanded.
Ozpin seemed to age several years right before their eyes, and something seemed to crack in Nora's expression.
"H-He's alright, isn't he?" Nora asked, knuckles turning white as she clutched the scroll.
"Why don't I get us some hot chocolate?" Ozpin said, standing up.
"Headmaster."
Headmaster Ozpin stared at Nora, Nora scowling back at him, and he sighed.
"I won't lie to you, Miss Valkyrie. I do not know what has happened to Mister Lie. I do not know if he is okay. But I do intend to find out. And I do intend to bring him back."
"Oh."
Nora looked down after that one word, and seemed to curl up on herself. As Ozpin left towards the cabinets in his office, he heard a quiet sob.
The Hollow Knight watched the normally exuberant girl try to mask her cries, before turning away.
When Ozpin returned with two mugs of hot cocoa in hand, he blinked at the sight of the Hollow Knight staring at a piece of paper, one of his pen's in their hands. The Knight was staring at the paper with an intensity usually only reserved for people fighting Goliaths, before slowly putting the pen down to paper.
Ozpin was almost certain that the Hollow Knight would tear through the paper and carve into the desk it self, the way they were writing. Finally the Knight stopped, taking the paper and all but shoving it into Nora's hands. The girl fumbled with the paper, startled, and Ozpin took a moment to look over the girl's shoulders.
REN. FIGHTS WELL. WOULD FIT IN HALLOWNEST. SAFE.
As Nora stared at the writing, Ozpin handed her a mug.
"The Hollow Knight is right, you know. Mister Lie is a very capable young man," Ozpin said gently. Nora stared at the mug for a moment, before speaking in a thick voice.
"Yeah, he is."
There was another moment of silence, and though Nora looked slightly more cheered than before, it was a brittle cheer.
"Headmaster?" she asked.
"Yes, Miss Valkyrie?"
"Do you know what...That thing, that looked like my mother..." Nora seemed lost for words.
"I've never encountered such a creature before. Which leads me to believe that it comes from the same place as the Hollow Knight."
Eyes turned towards it, and the Knight shook its head. It had never encountered such a creature, or heard about anything like it. However-
"You have a suspicion?" Ozpin asked, looking at the Knight. The Knight nodded and Ozpin wordlessly handed the Knight a sheet of paper.
Nora and Ozpin waited for the Knight to write, Nora taking another sip of hot chocolate and feeling slightly cheered by it. She'd have to tell Ren that it turned out the Headmaster made a wicked cup of cocoa.
DARK CREATURE. DEEPNEST?
"And what is the Deepnest, when it's at home?" Ozpin asked. The Knight hesitated, clearly trying to think of words, and Ozpin gave a reassuring smile.
"Don't worry, we have plenty of time till morning."
"Morning, sir?"
"The creature has fled for now, and I do not believe it will return. Both your Team and Team RWBY will be called for this mission. Perhaps you should go back to your do-"
"No. Sir. Please?" Nora pleaded.
Ozpin sighed, nodding.
"I thought as much. Very well, Hollow Knight. Tell us about this Deepnest."
In the deepest darkness...
It was odd, being called to the Headmaster's office. Headmaster Ozpin usually dealt with students face to face on campus grounds itself. To be called to the office was a serious matter.
At first Pyrrha thought that perhaps Jaune's transcripts had been discovered. Jaune had certainly panicked at the thought. And then they had learned that Team RWBY was also being called to the office. First thing in the morning, skipping classes. That Ren and Nora weren't in the room when Pyrrha had awoken, and that the Hollow Knight wasn't with Team RWBY…
Pyrrha had a bad feeling.
As the elevator climbed up the tower, everyone remained silent. The aura coming off of Professor Goodwitch could only be described as frigid. No one wanted to talk under her gaze.
The clicks of gears grew louder and louder, until the doors opened and they were ushered into the Headmaster's office. Professor Goodwitch did not follow them.
Gears clicked under glass floors, past glass walls, and the face of the clock read 7:00. A pendulum swung solemnly over the elevator.
The Headmaster sat at his desk, several mugs around him. He was pouring over various pages of paper. The Hollow Knight stood in front of him, silent as ever. And Nora was rubbing sleep out of her eyes, leaning in a chair with a blanket having been tossed over her.
"Ah, you're here," Headmaster Ozpin said, adjusting his glasses. He looked tired, but he stood up straight with purpose, "There's much to cover in a short amount of time."
"Headmaster?" Jaune and Weiss asked at once. Weiss shot Jaune a look and her team leader fidgeted a bit.
"You first, Mister Arc," Headmaster Ozpin said.
"Oh, uh...Where's Ren, sir?" Jaune asked as Weiss crossed her arms.
"Lie Ren is currently missing. As for where he is," Headmaster Ozpin turned his gaze to Team RWBY, "Miss Schnee, perhaps you would care to explain about Hallownest?"
Team RWBY looked shocked, Weiss most of all. The Schnee Heiress tried to school her expression, but still seemed hesitant.
"You knew, sir?"
"I had suspicions that something was going on, but I was hoping you'd tell me yourself," Ozpin said sternly.
"We wanted to get more info before we brought it to you, sir," Ruby explained, coming to Weiss's rescue.
The Headmaster stared at them for a moment, before nodding.
"Not at all a bad course of action. In the future, however, you should tell your superiors that that's what you were intending to do. What's done is done, however. Tell me everything."
The story that Team RWBY wove was equal parts unbelievable and strange. With the Hollow Knight staring over them all though, and the Headmaster's expression, something cold was beginning to settle in Pyrrha's stomach.
"Could you show us this Dream Nail?" Headmaster Ozpin asked.
Weiss nodded, expression stoic as she held out her hand and formed a glyph that Pyrrha had never seen before. Like a flower encircled by a wheel, glowing a strange pink color. The moment Weiss's fingers closed around the glyph it blossomed and unfurled into a copy of Weiss's weapon. Weiss stood like that for a moment, face illuminated by the strange light of the Dream Nail.
"You said that you could enter Hallownest using this, correct?" Ozpin said, looking intently at the Dream Nail. At Weiss's nod, the Headmaster took a step beside her.
"Show me."
Weiss didn't hesitate. She brought the Dream Nail high above her head, the blade turning into a plume of flame as she did, and slashed through the air with a 'kiai'. A pink cut sat there in thin air, as if the world itself had been cut.
Pyrrha wasn't sure what happened next. There was a black blur as the Hollow Knight moved in front of Weiss, and Headmaster Ozpin slammed his cane down into the ground, walls of green energy separating them from the cut. A moment later the cut exploded in a flash of blinding white light.
When her sight returned, Pyrrha saw intricate white lines in the air, creating an elaborate pattern. The pattern glowed for a moment more, before fading away.
"What the hell was that?" Yang bit out, sitting up from the ground.
"Language, Miss Xiao Long," Headmaster Ozpin said mildly, turning to Weiss. Weiss was on the ground, the Hollow Knight arched over her protectively. She seemed dazed, but quickly snapped out of it at the Headmaster's look.
"That's never happened before..."
"Have you ever seen anything like that?" Headmaster Ozpin asked the Hollow Knight. The Knight stared at the air where the sigil once stood, before shaking their head.
The Headmaster looked thoughtful. Pyrrha started as Nora stepped next to her. She was still dressed in her pajamas, and there was a cracked scroll in her arms.
"Now what, Headmaster?" Nora asked, unusually straightforward.
"We will have to try in the dormitories hallways," Ozpin said. His gaze softened for a moment, "We will get him back, Miss Valkyrie, mark my words."
"Nora?" Pyrrha asked, uncertain. 'Him?' They couldn't mean-?
"Something attacked Ren last night," Nora said softly. A horrified silence spread across the room. Wordlessly Pyrrha offered Nora a hug and the smaller girl practically leaned into her side.
"W-Well, what are we waiting for?" Jaune asked, his normal shyness buried, "We gotta go find him!"
"Patience, Mister Arc. There's a reason I called you all here this early. Your classes are canceled for today. Officially, the reason will be a gas leak in the dormitories. Dangerous, but mundane and fixable within the day. Unofficially, Team RWBY and Team JNPR will be sent on a mission," Headmaster Ozpin gave them all a look, "And as unofficial this mission is, it will be treated as a real one. You will report to your assigned huntsmen just as you would if this were a regular student mission."
"Assigned huntsmen, sir?" Pyrrha asked. The Headmaster gave a dry smile.
"That would be me. I normally do not take the field anymore, but I promise I won't slow you down. Professor Goodwitch and James should be able to handle a day without me."
"As for the creature we are searching for," Headmaster Ozpin began to walk towards his desk, "We did not get a good look at it. Based on speculation on the part of myself and the Hollow Knight, we believe it might be something from the Deepnest," the Headmaster glanced down at loose pages, "The Deepnest being a territory of the greater kingdom of Hallownest. Not part of the kingdom, but falling under the domain of the tribe known as the Deeplings."
"You talked to the Hollow Knight, sir?" Weiss asked.
"Of everyone here, they are the only ones from this Hallownest itself," Headmaster Ozpin quirked an eyebrow, "You seem surprised."
"They're not very talkative, sir," Ruby chimed in. The Hollow Knight didn't seem insulted by this, though Pyrrha would admit that she couldn't ever actually tell what they were thinking.
"No, they are not. Very to the point when answering questions. Before I forget, thank you, Miss Xiao Long, for teaching the Knight our writing."
"Oh, uh, no problem."
"As I was saying, the Deepnest was not part of the Kingdom of Hallownest. Apparently because it was filled with all manners of dangerous creatures. That the Deeplings themselves prided their independence was another issue. We do have reason to believe that this creature is from the Deepnest, due to its disguise."
"Disguise?" Blake asked warily.
"It looked like my mother," Nora offered softly, still leaning against Pyrrha. Pyrrha simultaneously felt chilled and furious, and the way Yang's eyes flashed red meant a similar sentiment. But Blake… Blake looked horrified.
"Miss Belladonna?" Headmaster Ozpin asked gently.
"...When Weiss and I were in Hallownest. After fighting Hornet. I swore I saw...a-an old friend of mine, in the shadows," Blake cleared her throat, "Though, I'm beginning to suspect that it wasn't him..."
"Most likely not," Headmaster Ozpin's eyes narrowed, "This only furthers the hypothesis that this creature, whatever it is, disguises itself as loved ones. No doubt in an effort to disarm prey. The Hollow Knight told me that they've never heard of such a creature, but guessed that it might be from the Deepnest. Admittedly only because the Deepnest is a 'dark place', but its all we have to work with."
Headmaster Ozpin paused suddenly, as if listening to the clicks of gears.
"Ah, Professor Goodwitch should've evacuated your wing of the dorms by now. You'll find your lockers on the first floor of the tower. Gear up and head to your dorms at once. We have no time to loose."
In the deepest darkness...
Ozpin wasn't sure what would happen when Miss Schnee used the Dream Nail once more, this time in the dorm halls. He had hoped that it wouldn't be a repeat of the explosion that had rocked his office, but it would be his luck that something magical stopped working the moment he set his sights on it.
Thankfully, instead of an explosion, the cut in reality expanded with the flow of many of those strange glyphs, and as the world whited out Ozpin felt deep magic settle around him. Deep magic, and old. He hadn't encountered this sort of magic in ages.
When the world came back into view, the warm halls of Beacon had been replaced by cold gray stone. As Team RWBY had reported, Hallownest seemed to comprise of various caverns. Caverns that were practically pitch black. There were several cracks and hisses and several of his students held up torchsticks. Illuminated by the bright Dust based glowsticks, the cave became even more gray. Bright as the torchsticks were, their green-blue light leeched color from their surroundings.
"So, this is Hallownest?" Mister Arc asked, hesitant. He started as the Hollow Knight moved behind him, looking around their surroundings.
"Do you recognize this place?" Ozpin asked. The Hollow Knight shook their head, still looking down the cavern.
A cavern that lead two ways, neither one more promising than the other. Ozpin had been hoping to avoid this…
"To cover the most ground possible, we'll have to split up into two groups," Ozpin said. He thought over the team compositions for a moment.
"Miss Rose, Mister Arc? You'll be joining myself, along with Miss Nikos and Miss Xiao Long. The other group will consist of Miss Valkyrie, Miss Belladonna, Miss Schnee, and the Hollow Knight."
Ozpin slid his gaze over his students, and caught Mister Arc's curious look.
"Yes, Mister Arc?" Ozpin asked, mildly. Mister Arc started, but spoke up. Something that the boy wouldn't have had the confidence to do when he had first showed up.
"Why those teams, sir?"
"A good question. I'll make it brief. We are on a search and rescue mission for Lie Ren. Miss Valkyrie, knowing Ren the best of all of us, will take Miss Belladonna and the Hollow Knight to traverse these dark caverns. With Miss Schnee to act as firepower, they will cover the most ground in the search. Ourselves will be taking a slower, defensive team. We will methodically search through the caverns, able to meet any creature we might meet."
Something they'd have to do. Without the Hollow Knight, they'd be walking mostly blind in the caverns of Hallownest. In both ways, Ozpin thought ruefully. As of now he was jealous of Miss Belladonna and the Knight's night vision.
"Any other questions?" Ozpin asked. Light though his tone might've been, his students stood up straight and gave curt nods. He gave a small smile and made a motion with his hand.
Miss Valkyrie made her way down the path to his right immediately, followed by Miss Belladonna and Miss Schnne in short order. The Hollow Knight stared at them for a moment more before running down the cave. A dark shape seemingly gliding down into the darkness of the cavern.
Ozpin raised an eyebrow and turned to see Mister Arc taping torchsticks to the side of his shield.
"I've been in dark caves before, sir," Arc explained, both hesitant and determined, "You can't have too much light."
"Indeed," Ozpin said, only letting some mirth trickle in the words.
"Alright, let's move out. Sir?" Miss Rose belatedly asked, having taken leadership automatically.
"Carry on, Miss Rose."
They walked down the other path of the cavern. Miss Schnee's reports hadn't been exaggerated. The caves of Hallownest twisted and turned in various ways that confused the mind and it was a small mercy that they hadn't found a fork in the 'road'.
They also hadn't found much in the way of enemies, something he hadn't been expecting based on the Hollow Knight and Miss Schnee's reports.
"This is giving me the creeps..." Mister Arc shuddered.
"Doing alright there, Vomit Boy?" Miss Xiao Long asked, her usual cheer subdued. Mister Arc sent Miss Xiao Long a look before answering.
"I can't help but feel like something is going to spring out on us at any moment…"
"It's a bit weird," Miss Rose agreed, "Usually a vengefly or something would be bothering us."
"Vengefly?" Miss Nikos asked carefully, rifle in her hands as she scanned the cavern.
"They're sorta like mosquitoes mixed with ants. They're like the size of rats and tear their prey apart," Miss Rose said calmly.
"Ah?" Miss Nikos asked, not pleased with the description.
"Chill, P-Money. They only hunt in small groups and they ain't that strong," Miss Xiao Long said easily.
"That's a relief," Mister Arc sighed.
Ozpin, who had been listening with one ear, stopped at the same time Miss Rose stopped. For a moment, he had heard a faint buzz…
"Sometimes they get bigger," Miss Rose said softly. Slowly Ozpin extended his cane. Mister Arc, staring at Miss Rose, paled suddenly and pointed his shield at the ceiling.
A creature matching Miss Rose's description in all but size, being about the size of a small pony, stared at them with black eyes. With an ear splitting shriek the vengefly detached from the ceiling, wings beating furiously as it launched itself at them.
Miss Nikos shot it several times through the head and Miss Xiao Long lunged forward, delivering a devastating uppercut. Even in it's death throes the vengefly tried to snap at Yang's face, earning several more punches before it stayed down.
"Not as durable as the Grimm," Ozpin noted as Miss Xiao Long shook her hand, now covered in what was presumably vengefly blood, with disgust.
"No, but they don't die as easily," Miss Rose said. Ozpin watched as the all but dead vengefly continued to twitch even as it bled out.
"Most creatures of Grimm take on vertebrae forms, if they take animal forms at all," Ozpin mused, "I suppose with that comes similar weaknesses."
"Sir?" Mister Arc asked.
"Tear the leg off an ant and it'll still fight. One can't say that about most other animals. We will have to exercise caution, the deeper we head into these caves. Who knows what creatures we will encounter, the deeper we go on?"
In the deepest darkness...
Team RWBY had never gone too deep into Hallownest in their occasional sojourns. Now Blake was thankful for that fact. The path Nora had chosen them quickly became darker and darker than any cave had any right to be. Physically Blake knew this wasn't possible, but traveling through caves that had never been traversed by humans or faunus had an effect on the mind.
And if Blake was uncomfortable, she couldn't imagine how Weiss and Nora were handling it, with only a single dim torchlight among them. She didn't even want to think about Ren, wandering around these caves alone. The only one at ease was the Hollow Knight, who walked through the caves like it was a sunny park.
'Well, not quite,' she amended, seeing the sword in the Knight's hands. Thank gods she had Gambol Shroud with her too. No more fighting without a weapon. Not that it'd be easy to use Gambol Shroud in it's chain-sickle form, in narrow caves.
"Are you sure we're on the right path?" Weiss asked Nora. The normally exuberant girl was looking around the cave walls intently, and more concerning, silently. Nora had been terse and all-business the entire time, and while the Blake from several months ago would've been happy about that now she wanted the talkative Nora back.
"I'm sure. Call it a hunch, but I'm sure that he went down this way..."
Blake winced at Nora's hoarse voice, brushing a hand against the stone cavern – wait.
In the gloom of the cave, she could barely make out several gashes in the stone. Not natural, certainly…
"Blake?" she head Weiss ask as she knelt down to the floor, groping for something.
"Huh..." Blake muttered, finding what she was searching for, "What are the chances that bullets are natural to Hallownest?"
Nora was next to Blake in a flash, plucking the bullet from her fingers and staring intently at it.
"This is from Storm Flower...Ren was here!"
"And he was putting up a fight," Blake noted. Nora gave a fierce grin and not for the first time Blake was intimidated by Nora Valkyrie. Her grins always seemed to involve too many sharp teeth for someone who wasn't a faunus.
"We better take more ground," Weiss said, and that was all the excuse Nora needed to bolt further into the cave. Blake cursed under her breath and ran after her, trusting that the Hollow Knight would keep Weiss safe.
Despite almost tripping on her face several times, Nora kept running down the cave, despite Blake's insistence that she slow down. She only stopped when she ran into a wall.
"Now do you see why you have to be careful?" Blake scolded. Nora rubbed her forehead, wincing, before turning her gaze to the wall. A dead end. Blake was certain she hadn't seen any other opening, but this didn't make any sense-
Nora stood up, wobbling a bit. There was a calm look in her eyes, and she unfurled Maginhild before running towards the wall with her warhammer, screaming at the top of her lungs. Blake took several steps back to avoid fragments of stone flying into the air, and she barely heard Weiss swear behind her with the echoes.
"What's happening?!" Weiss stepped down from where she was being carried by the Hollow Knight.
"There was a dead end! She's not taking it...well?"
Was it her imagination, or was the wall...collapsing?
With a final scream Nora slammed her hammer into the center of the wall, and it came crumbling down like loose gravel. It hadn't been a dead end.
When Blake saw what was on the other side, she kinda wished it had been.
The small cavern opened up into a larger cave, about the size of a cathedral. A cave that was filled to the brim with various bugs. The ground was covered in creatures that resembled centipedes but more spiky. There were so many of them that it resembled a thick, writhing carpet. In the gloom of the cavern ceiling, among stalactites Blake saw countless things with too many legs skitter around. And every single creature, seen and unseen, filled the room with an ear grating symphony that involves spine tingling clicking, nails-on-a-chalkboard shrieks, and low soft hissing.
She could feel Weiss take several steps back from the cave, and Blake could feel all her hair stand on end. Even Nora looked pale at the sight on the dark cave. Only the Hollow Knight seemed undisturbed. At least that's what Blake thought, till she saw the way they were holding their nail.
"What is this place?" Blake whispered.
"It's the Deepnest," Weiss took a breath, "Isn't it?"
The Hollow Knight gave a terse nod. Absently Blake noted that the wall Nora had torn down had been held together by what looked like silk.
"We have to keep moving forward," Nora said.
Blake and Weiss exchanged glances, before nodding.
There was no way they were leaving Ren in a place like this any longer.
In the deepest darkness...
"What the hell?"
Ozpin couldn't bring himself to reprimand Miss Xiao Long's use of language. Not with where they had found themselves.
'I'll admit, the last thing I expected to find was a jungle.'
It was a jungle. A proper jungle, filled with lush green plants, the thick clammy air filled with the fetid smell of decaying flora. The moment they had stepped out of the narrow cave into the larger cavern, Ozpin had regretted wearing his current outfit. Perfectly fine for the cold days of Vale, but absolutely miserable in a jungle.
A jungle, vibrant and alive, growing in a cave. A cave illuminated with light, though from where Ozpin did not know. It wasn't much light – barely any more than sunset. It was a strange light too, that seemed to exist everywhere, without source. But compared to the darkness of the winding caves, the jungle was a bright day.
"Are we still in Hallownest?" Miss Rose asked, curiously looking around. How the younger girl was handling the heat in her ensemble, Ozpin didn't know.
"I believe it is," Ozpin thought back to his conversation with the Knight. He had grilled the Knight about the various locales of the Kingdom of Hallownest, and though the descriptions had been brief they had been to the point.
"This is either Hallownest's Greenpath, or the Queen's Gardens."
"What?" Yang asked.
"The Greenpath, from what I had been told, was a forested area within the territory of Hallownest, and was a popular sight for pilgrims. For something called Unn. Perhaps a religion? And the Queen's Gardens were a cordoned part of the Greenpath, dedicated solely to the Queen of Hallownest."
"This place had a Queen?" Yang whistled.
"Well, it was a kingdom," Ruby pointed out.
"Yeah, yeah. Guess that means there was a king too, huh?" Yang muttered, curiously looking at her surroundings.
"This place gives me gooseflesh," Ozpin heard Mister Arc mutter. He couldn't blame the young man. As much of a normal forest this place looked, all it took was a moment to realize it wasn't. Forests were filled with the buzz of many insects, yes. But they were faint buzzing, and accompanied by birdsong.
This jungle was filled with buzzing calls and shrieks, hisses and whines. Not a single familiar sound. Coupled with the strange magic permeating the air…
'Not necessarily strange. Just unfamiliar.'
The magic of Hallownest was old, but this jungle had an entirely different feel to it. They'd have to be cautious.
"As long as there aren't any more vengeflies, I'll be happy!" Yang said cheerfully.
"Miss Xiao Long, duck!" Ozpin barked out. Yang hesitated for only a moment, before ducking low to the ground. Something buzzed overhead, missing Miss Xiao Long's neck by a few inches. The blur skimmed across the ground, resolving into a creature that resembled a vengefly. It's shell had a green tinge to it however, and in place of large jaws it had a proboscis the size of a dagger. The creature buzzed angrily, before launching itself at Mister Arc, who yelped and brought up his shield. The bug hit the shield with a dull thwack and flew away dazed, before being smashed into paste by Miss Rose.
In the distance, Ozpin heard more buzzes, similar to the creature they had killed. Yang let out a groan.
"Shouldn't have opened my big mouth."
In the deepest darkness...
"Shouldn't have opened my big mouth!" Blake hissed. The strange creature that resembled a pill bug but flatter and with more fangs than anyone sane would be comfortable with didn't seem to care about Blake's regrets and fell from the ceiling, lunging for Blake's neck. Slashing it with Gambol Shroud didn't cut it in half but did send it flying away from Blake, which was all she cared about at the moment.
She heard Weiss scream behind her and turned just in time to see one of the hell-pill bugs clamp its jaws around Weiss's ankle. Even with Aura, it clearly hurt, and Aura was probably the only thing that prevented Weiss from loosing her foot.
"Weiss!" Blake screamed, only for another hell-pill bug to burst out of the ground under her feet, hissing. Blake stumbled back and slammed Gambol Shroud into the bug, wincing as her sword sunk into stone.
A bolt of white erupted in the darkness and slammed into the hell-pill bug chomping on Weiss. Several more followed, the Hollow Knight throwing the ethereal daggers with deadly precision.
'First teleportation, now projectiles?'
Not that Blake was complaining. The ground shuddered as Nora slammed her war hammer into a growing swarm of hell-pill bugs. As the cave shook, Blake felt the smaller tremors under her feet cease and some deep unnamed instinct told her that they were alone for now.
Blake knelt down by Weiss, who was massaging her ankle. The pale skin was raw and red, though thankfully there was no bleeding. Aside from concerns of infection, Blake didn't want to imagine what the scent of blood would do in a place like this.
The Hollow Knight pulled its nail out of the ground and the corpse it had impaled, looming over Weiss in what Blake was starting to realize was worry.
"Are you okay?" Blake asked.
"I-I'm fine," Weiss hissed out, "Whatever that thing was had quite the jaws. We need to keep an eye on our aura levels down here."
"Weiss..." Nora murmured.
Weiss flashed Nora a stern grin, fiercer than what Blake would normally associate with the Schnee Heiress.
"Don't worry about me, Nora. Any more we dawdle is another moment Ren deals with this place alone. And I for one refuse to let a friend down."
Nora blinked at the words, before flashing her own fierce grin.
"Right on, Ice Queen!"
"Please don't call me that. If only I could use my fire dust here..."
"Bad idea," Blake said, glancing at the silk around them. The walls, the floor, even the ceiling – everything in the Deepnest was covered in the fine threads of silk. In some places they were gossamer curtains as light as air. In other places, Blake dared not tread on the ground for fear of loosing her shoes.
They hadn't yet met whatever created these threads, but Blake knew that they wouldn't avoid them for much longer.
"This place is a maze," Blake changed the subject, "How are we going to find Ren?"
"He'll have left some sign behind," Nora insisted.
"He would've been trained in it, after all," Weiss agreed.
Blake didn't want to dampen the mood by pointing out that finding any sign, deliberate or not, would be difficult. Instead she kept her eyes and ears open. For enemies as well as Ren.
Perhaps that was why she saw Adam, lurking in the shadows just out reach. He was exactly as she remembered him, the day she had left him. The sight of him, staring at her sent her heart fluttering – and not in a good way.
The knowledge that this was some monster disguised as Adam and not actually him was somehow reassuring, which told Blake more than she could ever put into words about her own feelings.
"Guys..." Blake whispered, still staring at the monster.
"Wait, is that-?" Weiss began.
The monster melted into the shadows. Not ran, and Blake had a hunch-
"That's the thing that took Ren!" Nora growled, about to bolt.
"Wait!"
"What!" Nora snapped.
"If we all run after it, it'll just hunker down somewhere in this gods-forsaken place."
"Blake?" Weiss began carefully.
"It's hunting me. If I pretend to follow it alone-"
"You are not going to go after that thing by yourself!" Weiss hissed.
"I don't plan to. You guys need to follow me at a distance. Until we manage to corner this thing."
"Blake, this is-"
"Dangerous, I know! But its our best chance at finding Ren!"
Blake glared at them, daring them to argue. Weiss looked like she had swallowed a lemon and Nora looked torn between charging at the monster herself and letting Blake go. The Hollow Knight, whose expression never changed, stared at Blake with their head tilted, as if questioning her.
"You know I'm right," Blake told Weiss.
"...You better stay safe," Weiss ground out.
"Don't worry," Blake breathed, heart still racing, "I have a dance I don't intend to miss."
In the deepest darkness...
The Greenpath was super different from the Emerald Forest. For a forest filled with the Creatures of Grimm, Beacon's Emerald Forest hadn't been the grand adventure Ruby had imagined them to be when she played around in Patch's woods as a child. The Emerald Woods were just like any other forest, really. Forever Fall was neat though.
But Greenpath? Greenpath was, as that Gavino guy from Yang's favorite band would say, wicked.
Dense flora that on closer inspection didn't at all resemble any plants Ruby was familiar with. Humid fetid air that carried with it scents unrecognizable. The constant cacophony of buzzes and shrieks that replaced the bird song of Remnant's forests.
And then there were the less subtle things, like the lakes of acid. They had managed to fight of a swarm of those 'forest vengeflies' and found a worn stone path that looked out of place in the jungle. Walking down the path, Ruby couldn't help but feel strangely small. The stone she walked on was smooth and featureless, as if worn down by millions of footsteps. Headmaster Ozpin had called this place a pilgrimage, right?
Walking down the stone path was peaceful. The jungle seemed far away while they were on the path. Several times Ruby saw shapes moving in the bushes and trees, and she felt gazes on her and everyone else, but nothing attacked them.
"I do believe as long as we are on the path, nothing will harm us," Professor Ozpin had said, gently pushing Pyrrha's gun to the ground when she had pointed it at a large rustling noise.
Yang muttered about 'death-mosquitoes' as she walked past, and almost stumbled straight into a part of the path that had decayed. As it was, her sister managed to back away quickly as stone and ground crumbled and splashed into what looked like boiling water. Ruby first assumed that the yellow-green tinge was because of the jungle flora but soon changed her mind as the sizzling hit her ears and she watched dirt dissolve like sugar into tea until nothing remained.
"Is that acid?" Jaune asked, disbelief etched on his face.
"Whatever it might be, it certainly isn't safe. Keep an eye out and watch your step," Headmaster Ozpin cautioned, looking down at the sinkhole with a thoughtful expression.
"What kind of jungle has acid?!" Yang almost whined, before sighing. Ruby frowned. Her normally gung-ho sister didn't seem excited, which was strange. Usually it was Yang who got all giddy when visiting new places – especially if it involved roughing it out or camping.
So as they carefully walked down the stone path, now a stone bridge over a large lake of steaming acid, Ruby sidled up to her sister.
"You okay?"
Yang glanced at her, expressions warring across her face before settling on tired.
"I'm worried about Blake. And Weiss, and Ren-!"
"But mostly Blake?" Ruby asked.
Yang sighed, and gave Ruby a slightly guilty look.
"Is it that obvious?"
Ruby gave her a silent shrug.
"Blake's a big girl. She can take care of herself."
"I know, I know. But she doesn't have to," Yang said, firmly.
Ruby hadn't known exactly how Yang had broke Blake out of her funk. And she was really, really curious, but it had clearly been something personal and-
Not for the first time, Ruby was at a loss to figure out how to cheer up her sister.
"Hey, she's not alone. She's got Weiss and Nora. And the Hollow Knight! She'll be fine!" Ruby tried, mimicking the weapons her friends used. She managed to get a little smile out of Yang.
"Besides, look at where we are! A mysterious land, untouched by people! Who knows what we'll find!" Ruby said, putting a hand on her sister's shoulder and drawing a rainbow with her other hand.
At that exact moment, from the underbrush came a large rustling. And a tree walked onto the path. At least it looked like a tree at first. As the group stopped walking, the 'tree' shook itself, moss falling and revealing a bug. A bug about as tall as Yang, garbed in green armor (or was it just a shell?) with a beard of lichen that reached to it's belly. Two antennae covered in fuzzy lichen twitched in the air as the bug stared at them. In one hand it held one of those strange swords bugs used. In the other was a large shield.
The green knight stared at them. Everyone but Ruby and Headmaster Ozpin were pointing their weapons at it. Aware of the tension in the air, Ruby resisted the urge to take out her scythe and waved at the knight.
"Hello!" she chirped.
"Rubes," Yang began, only for the knight to tilt its head.
"...Pilgrims?" the knight asked in a raspy voice, like leaves in the wind.
"Uh..." Jaune began.
"Yes," Ozpin said, stepping forward. The mossy knight stared at them for a moment longer, before nodding.
"Careful...Danger, up ahead…Darkness...Nightmares..." the mossy knight rasped. Ruby felt Yang tense up next to her, and saw Jaune and Pyrrha exchange looks. The Headmaster seemed undisturbed by the news.
"We will be careful, thank you," he said with a nod.
"May Unn be with you, blessing your journey always..." the mossy knight nodded, before walking back into the undergrowth.
"I suppose my theory of Unn was close to the mark," the Headmaster said in the ensuing silence, "If Bartholomew were here he'd explode, I'm sure."
"Headmaster?" Ruby piped up.
"Yes, Miss Rose?"
"We're going forward, aren't we?" she asked, not with any trepidation. Indeed, there might've been a hint of excitement in her voice.
"Indeed we are," the Headmaster smirked. In a flash it was replaced by a stoic expression.
"On your guards, now."
"Jaune, you take front. Yang, you stay behind him, and Pyrrha, watch our back," Ruby ordered, before forgetting that she wasn't Jaune or Pyrrha's leader.
"I mean, uh-" she began, blushing.
"I suppose we're team RJPY for now, huh?" Jaune chuckled, offering her a nervous smile, "Wonder what that would spell?"
"Rain."
Headmaster Ozpin walked past them after this proclamation, while Jaune began muttering and counting with his fingers.
"That doesn't-"
"Ohhh, I get it!" Ruby chirped, "Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc, Yang Xiao Long, and Pyrrha Nikos!"
Jaune looked back at his hand, counting fingers.
"Ohh! Why didn't I think of that?"
In the deepest darkness...
"Adam, wai-!"
Blake trying to 'desperately call for Adam' was interrupted by another one of the centipedes. Centipedes, a bug Blake hadn't ever been a fan of, were no more appealing when they were as long as a train, as large as a car, with mandibles and claws like swords and exoskeletons like tank armor.
Blake had to stop to a halt as the centipede roared past, carving through the walls of the Deepnest like it was butter. Covering her face as fragments of stone pelted her, she saw 'Adam' stare at her before melting further into the shadows. Blake resisted cursing. This entire operation hinged on Blake acting like the perfect little victim to find this monster's lair.
The only bright side to this was that all the monster wanted to do was eat her, and that was barely a bright side.
As soon as the centipede disappeared down the newly created tunnel, Blake leapt towards where she had last seen the monster. As she ran down increasingly winding tunnels, she saw more and more glimpses of 'Adam'. And the tunnels became smaller and smaller, with more and more spider silk hanging around. She was getting close, and she shouldn't have been surprised when she tripped over the first body.
It was the dry husk of a bug. It looked like one of the ghosts they had seen in the City of Tears, and despite not at all looking human, Blake couldn't help but crawl backwards when she saw the empty black eyes starring at nothing.
Her heart was beating a mile a minute, and further down the tunnel she could see more lumps wrapped up in web. And the background noise of the Deepnest, so unearthly and uncanny, was now silent and that was so much worse-
Blake took a deep breath, and then another. She remembered a train in a red forest. And she stood up, Gambol Shroud in hand, and walked down into the spider's web.
In the deepest darkness...
"Whoa…" Ruby marveled at the stone temple they had found at the end of the path. Covered in moss and strange carvings and built into the growth and walls of the Greenpath, it was quite the sight.
"Sorta reminds you of one of Dad's old movies with that archaeology dude, huh?" Yang said, marveling at the structure.
"It looks kinda creepy..." Jaune said, looking at the temple as if it would unleash a giant scorpion. Which, considering where they were…
As Ruby put a hand on her waist, ready to whip of her scythe at any sign of stinger tails, Pyrrha gave Jaune a reassuring smile before turning to Headmaster Ozpin.
"Perhaps this is a temple to Unn?" she suggested.
The Headmaster stared at the temple, his expression betraying no thoughts.
"Headmaster?" Ruby asked.
"Be on your guard, students. Something is wrong here," the Headmaster warned, narrowing his eyes, before walking towards the entrance of the temple. Team RAYN gave each other looks, before readying their weapons. Yang cocked her gauntlets, walking in after the Headmaster, and Pyrrha followed her with spear and shield in hand. Jaune was muttering under his breath but trudged in after his partner. As Ruby followed him, one of the temple statues caught her eye. It looked like a bug's head, with long locks of hair. It's eyes though, were stained black, as if by ink. Ruby thought back to the warning the Green Knight had given them, before taking out her special bullets.
As she walked through the archway into the dark interior of the temple, Ruby swore she heard humming.
In the deepest darkness...Strip it out!
This chapter was originally not going to end there, but it was getting so long I decided to split it. I wonder how many will guess correctly who our teams are about to meet?
Greenpath and Deepnest are such wonderfully alien areas, and part of the fun of this crossover is making the characters of RWBY walk through these environments. My own headcannon for the Greenpath is that there is not a grass or tree in sight - it's all fungi, ferns, lichens, mosses, and other such plants. Remember, grass only showed up on this Earth during the Cretaceous period - for a long time of Earth's history, it didn't exist, and I love making settings predicated on that fact.
Speaking of the Greenpath, without the infection, it's a really peaceful place! Provided, you stay on the path.
Unofrutnatly, since the character's of RWBY haven't met the Hunter, they don't have access to the names of the various foes of Hallownest. Thus, Garpedes are centipedes and Dirtcarvers are murder pillbugs. For now.
And on the RWBY side of things, how are we feeling about the new designs? If Jaune's design is bumming you out, may I direct you to the DC comics and the amazing spectacle that is Young Blake?
Will Blake survive her descent into the Deepnest in search for Ren? What darkness lies in the Greenpath? Will our heroes endure?
Tune in next time to find out!