The flaps of Petal's dark brown coat billowed around her as she leapt from tree to tree, leaping from one trunk to another, and kicking off with as much power as her semblance and natural strength would allow. The world around her was like a blur as she launched herself forward through the forest, thinking only of her lost teammates, and following the scents they had left behind, which were growing more and more faint with each passing minute she wasted in this place. Just the thought of it filled Petal with a frantic sense of panic, and a fear that they had encountered something similar to what she and Mila discovered in that cave, something that they stood no chance in defeating on their own. Behind her, Mila was trying his hardest to keep up, but even with his own semblance active, Petal was much faster.
"Slow down!" he called out, but Petal continued on the fading trail, pushing herself to go faster.
She leapt from another trunk and rolled in the leaf-covered ground before taking to her feet again. In front of her, she could hear rushing water and the unmistakable sounds of an alarm echoing within the deep chasm. Mila finally caught up to her and stopped to catch his breath as she walked closer to the edge of the crevice, taking note of the rapids below, and the facility further up the river. Her glowing eyes narrowed and her slitted pupils seemed to grow thinner as she glared furiously at the place she knew her friends to be. It wasn't because of their scents, but because she could feel it. Somehow, she knew they were there.
"Atlas." murmured Mila, as he took his own look at the facility.
"Are you certain?"
"Positive. I should've known when I saw the research. Only Atlas would consider experimenting with Grimm."
"I doubt the military would approve of this." Petal stated.
"You would be right in that." said Mila, squinting slightly as he tried to get a better look. "I imagine it would be a private military or mercenaries, but we'll know for sure once we get there. Are you sure they're there?"
"Yes," said Petal. "Their scent is strongest here, meaning they spent some time in this spot. I also pick up some strange scents, unrecognizable ones. They were either captured by these strangers, or they willingly followed them, but there is only one place for them to go." said Petal, and she pointed to the facility. "There. Add that with the alarms, I would say they didn't go willingly."
"Then we have to hurry. They might be in danger." said Mila.
"I agree." said Petal, and she flipped the hood of her jacket up to hide her face. "Let's get this started."
Petal took off, following the river until she was directly across from the facility, where she then jumped from the cliff, activating her claws as she did so. The claws her rings created grew harder, as the frosty dust changed from a mist into a solidified shape. She dug the icy nails of her left hand into the rock face, slowing her descent until she reached the bottom, where she kicked from the wall and slashed out at the water, creating a frozen landing for herself. She continuously created more platforms as she sprinted towards the base, and she could hear Mila following behind her.
"You, stop!" yelled a man from the landing platforms of the base, but Petal ignored the request. "Gahhh!" he screamed, as Petal launched from the water and slashed at him with her frozen claws.
They cut cleanly through the white plating of his armor, and then froze solid as the mist that was cascading from the wound bloomed into a chunk of ice. She rolled on the ground behind him and continued attacking the other guards who were in the vicinity. A woman came and she leapt over her, sending a wave of frost towards the woman's arms, encasing them in ice as she landed on the other side. She then kicked backwards and sent the guard to the ground, grunting and cursing as she tried to force her arms to move. Just before Petal could freeze her in place, a hazy blue blast struck her side, completing the task for her. Petal looked to the cause and saw Mila lowering his gun. She gave him a quick nod before continuing towards the closest entrance into the facility.
Inside, she saw several oily skinned humanoids, all with the appearance of the blue Grimm she had fought multiple times before. Petal glared menacingly at the three in front of her and she began to charge towards them. A red, flaming blur flew past and struck the closest one in the chest, creating a massive hole in his body. Petal leapt up to its shoulders and used it to push herself towards the others, sending it to the ground with the force of her launch. She spun while diving forward, sending a spiral of icy mist around her. When she landed and rolled past them, the two bodies began to slide apart, the frozen pieces shattering as they struck the metal floor of the compound. Mila ran past her as she took to her feet again, and the two continued through the facility, taking out any other Grimm they saw along the way. On occasion, they would also see guards fending off the odd creatures, and opted to ignore them until it was necessary to fight their way past.
The scents of her comrades were growing stronger as they pushed forward, and it only filled her with even more determination to keep going.
"Faster. Faster." she growled, forcing herself to move as quickly as she could.
The claws at her fingertips were now made of purple-white static that coursed around each appendage. As they came upon another set of Grimm, she leapt to a wall and then dove, slashing the head off one, and then rolling past it before slashing the legs off the other, causing both bodies to convulse as electricity ran through them. As she rose to her feet, a guard in white turned the corner ahead and aimed a gun at Petal, but Mila was quicker and shot over Petal's shoulder to hit the guard in the chest. The man or woman flew into the wall, striking their helmet-covered head, and slid to the floor. Petal and Mila continued past them and they showed no sign of movement, telling Petal that they were unconscious, or pretending to be, at the very least.
Ahead, a door she saw at the end of the massive corridor burst open as a dark spire pushed past it. On the end of this spike was another Grimm, impaled through the chest, and forced into the wall of the hallway, pinning it there. She then saw a familiar girl leap through the doorway, her foot striking the Grimm's head, burying it into an indentation in the wall that it had created from the impact. The girl flipped backwards and glared with eyes that were mostly crimson now, leaving little to no traces of the glassy white they used to be. The blue of her hair was now getting closer to a bluish-gray, while the highlighting white within it now resembled blood. Shimmer looked like a wild animal at this moment, more so than she had ever seen even Mila look when he was using his semblance.
"Shimmer." Mila gasped, lowering his gun and taking several steps closer. To this, the girl turned her head and the look on her face was one of unrecognition, which caused Mila to stop in his tracks. "No." he said, shaking his head slightly.
Just as Shimmer began to move, another body came through the doorway, tackling the girl into the wall. The girl's pink hair was a mess, and she seemed to be exerting every bit of strength she had to hold Shimmer in place, but even that wasn't enough. Shimmer shoved her with one arm, sending Rose into the opposite wall, where she fell to her side, gasping for air. Shimmer let out a horrifying growl as she started to move towards Rose's unmoving body.
"Shi!" Mila screamed, and Petal heard his gun fire before seeing the impact right by Shimmer's side. The girl jumped and turned her menacing glare towards Petal and Mila. "I'll distract her. Get Rose and then try to help me once she's safe. I'll try to calm down Shimmer."
"Is she losing control, like you?"
"I think so. And she was so confident it would never happen. I kept telling her it was only a matter of time. Somehow, the experiments mutated my semblance, and I knew that when she copied it, she would suffer from it too." he said, reloading the cylinder of his revolver with a variety of shells from the pouch on his belt.
"I'll help too." Petal said.
"After you help Rose. Once she's out of the way, do what you want." said Mila, taking aim again. "Shimmer! Calm down a bit!." he called out, but it was as if Shimmer couldn't hear him. She hissed while pacing sideways on all fours, like some kind of animal that was preparing to charge its prey.
Petal waited for Shimmer to start rushing them, and then moved to meet her. Just as Shimmer dove at Petal, she jumped and dove over her. Shimmer drifted to a halt in order to turn around but Mila's bullet struck her side, causing a crackling black, red, and blue aura to course around her in a smokey manner. Shimmer hissed as her glowing crimson eyes found Mila, and whatever traces of her old self that might have been there before was now gone. They were just red, no whites, no blues, simply scarlet, just like the beast that had been infused with the semblance she so often favored. Petal tried to ignore the repeated sound of gunshots and Mila's beckoning voice as it faded further away. She glanced up once she reached Rose's side to see Shimmer diving from one wall to the next, and then propelling herself down the hall to chase Mila.
"Rose? Hey, Rose, wake up." Petal said, shaking her slightly.
Rose groaned as she shifted under Petal's touch, and looked up to see her with one open eye. "P-Petal? Shimmer, she's…"
"It's being handled. Mila is taking care of it. How are you feeling? What happened here?"
"Taken." Rose muttered, before trying to sit up against the wall, which Petal quickly assisted in accomplishing. "I… It's…" Rose stammered, but no more words left her mouth. Instead, she quickly latched around Petal, pulling tighter against her body, and squeezing so hard that Petal felt it hard to breathe. "I knew you would come."
Petal awkwardly put a hand on Rose's back and softly rubbed it in a comforting manner. "Of course. What's a rose without its petals, right? I couldn't sit still when you're lost out here."
Rose then squeezed her harder but remained silent. Petal finally reciprocated the gesture, before resting her head against Rose's, taking in the scent of her hair and the embrace of her body.
"Come on, Rose. We need to go help Mila with Shimmer."
"We need our equipment first. It's what we were looking for before Shimmer snapped out of nowhere. One of those things attacked us as we rounded a corner and she suddenly went mad. She ripped it apart and then took off. I couldn't get her to stop."
"Then let's go find your gear. We need to do it quickly."
"I think it's this way," said Rose. "We saw a sign saying the armory was over here, and we checked most everywhere else."
Petal gave her a nod, a smile, and then helped her to her feet. The pair of them ran down the hall that Rose had pointed out before coming across another set of doors, ones that had a projected sign beside them that read 'Armory'. Rose pressed a slim, white keycard against the sensor and the doors slid open, revealing a room of armor and rifles, and on a table near the back of the room, Rose's staff and coat. Petal also saw Shimmer's coat and belts, her daggers comfortably placed in the attached sheaths. Rose pulled on her red coat and zipped it up, before grabbing her staff and connecting the two halves together. Petal found a duffel bag and shoved Shimmer's gear into it before slinging it over her shoulder.
"Won't that restrict you?" asked Rose.
"It will, but we have to get to her somehow. You could always carry it, if you want?"
"I have another idea." Rose then pointed a finger in front of them but nothing happened. A look of fierce concentration appeared on her face and still, nothing appeared. "No good." she groaned.
"You can't use your semblance?" asked Petal.
"They drugged me or something. I haven't been able to use it since the fo…" Rose suddenly stopped and looked as if she remembered something that had eluded her for some time. "The forest. Petal, there were others in the forest that attacked us."
"I know. I smelt them while we were tracking you guys. I don't think they're here anymore, or if they are, they're well hidden. I don't smell them at all."
"Then we got lucky. Those two were dangerous. They also mentioned a 'him' once or twice. I don't know who they were referring to."
Petal nodded. "Mila and I found some stuff in a cave too that pointed to something. Mila has some ideas but we'll wait until we're all safe to compare notes, okay? For now, we help Mila and Shimmer. Then, we have to get to the village." Petal then sighed as she looked into Rose's eyes. "Flint was attacked before we returned. We tried calling you two and got no answer, so we assumed you were in trouble. We also found some sort of monster in the cavern, which only made us more concerned."
"Flint? But he's a professional Huntsman, how could something take him by surprise?" asked Rose.
"If it's the same thing as the Grimm we found, I don't think even Flint would have stood a chance," said Petal. "We'll discuss it more later."
Rose gave a nod and the two left the armory, Rose volunteering to carry the bag over her back so Petal would have a full range of unhindered movement. It was easy to find the others since they only had to follow the gunshots from Mila's revolver. They rounded a corner and saw Mila take aim once more, but Shimmer was too quick, and much too close. She spun, kicking the gun from Mila's hand, and then fluidly kicked him in the side of the head. Her foot stayed connected with him as she forced his body towards the ground, and Mila's body crackled with a black-crimson, aure of smoke. Shimmer grabbed a fistful of his hair and pulled his head from the ground, opening her mouth to reveal strings of saliva in between her sharpened canines. Drool leaked down her chin and dripped the ground as she moved closer to Mila's neck with her bared fangs.
"Shimmer!" Rose yelled, trying to get the girl's attention.
Shimmer looked over and saw Rose standing there, waving her hand. Beside her, Petal was lowering her body to the ground, her hair standing on end as she dug her claws into the metal ground beneath them. Shimmer gave a faint growl as she dropped Mila back to the floor. Her hair was almost completely black now, and the red streaks had only grown more pronounced. The outsides of her eyes had taken on an orangish tint, while the center remained ever so crimson. Red streaks had begun running along the pale complexion of Shimmer's body, and with each passing second, she seemed only more and more like a monster, like a Creature of Grimm. Petal kicked from the ground and charged as Shimmer did the same. Shimmer jumped to a wall before kicking off at an angle, diving for Petal, who slid to a stop, and kicked Shimmer's stomach as she passed over her. Shimmer's body flew into the ceiling and was frozen there as Petal sent several icy slashes of her claws towards her. Rose ran past Petal to check on Mila, who was slowly rolling onto his back while groaning quietly.
"Shimmer. I need you to stop." Petal said, but she only received angered growls as a response. "Shimmer, please. I don't want to hurt you."
"I'll rip you apart." Shimmer said, her usually quiet tone coming out as a terrible hiss. "Unwanted. Outcast. Never heard." she growled, slowly. "I will kill you all."
Petal's expression softened as she looked up at her struggling companion. "Shimmer, none of us think that."
"Liar!" she screamed. The ice holding her body began to crack and Petal readied herself for the next attack.
"Shi." murmured Mila, who was being helped by Rose. "Shi, calm down." he said, slowly, and Petal could hear the pain in his voice. "Shi, please."
The girl's wild eyes looked from Petal to Mila and she scowled at the sight of him. "You never loved me. It was always Blaine that you preferred, wasn't it? I'm glad he's dead! You should join him!"
"You don't mean that. You know that isn't true." said Mila.
"I meant every word." Shimmer hissed, and several black pillars erupted from the ground and from around her location.
Petal had to leap backwards and then dance around a dozen protruding spires. Rose too had to step away, but Mila simply stood there. None of them struck him, though they had gotten uncomfortably close, some of which even scraped along his arms and legs, cutting into his black jeans and his red leather coat, and even drawing blood now that his Aura was broken. Shimmer broke free of her ice and launched from the ceiling, tackling Mila to the ground. She sat atop his chest, her fangs bared, and her eyes flicking over every inch of Mila. Drool ran from her mouth to drip onto his face and chest. Shimmer raised her clawed hand into the air, but just before he brought it down, a gigantic blast of energy struck her chest and she flew into the wall. Her smokey, multicolored Aura crackled and dissipated into a gathering of particles as she hit the floor. Petal looked to the source of the blast and saw Rose holding Mila's gun, the barrels extended and smoking. With a creaking whirl, the three extensions folded back towards the main body and it fell from Rose's shaking hands. She stumbled backwards before meeting the wall, and covered her face as she began to cry and shake her head.
Petal moved to Mila and helped him to his feet. "Can you carry her?" Petal asked. Mila nodded slowly and looked at Shimmer's unconscious body. "Will she be alright?" Petal questioned.
"I think so. By the time she wakes up, this will all seem like a bad dream. I would say her hair and stuff will regain its natural color in a day or two. She got pretty bad. I'm more concerned about her." Mila said, looking to Rose, who was now huddled on the ground and sniffling.
"I'll handle her. Grab Shimmer and we'll get out of here."
"Got it, Petal." he said, and he lumbered over to their unconscious partner.
Petal moved to Rose, and knelt down in front of her, removing her hood and deactivating her semblance. Instantly her entire body felt like it would collapse. She had never had it activated for such a long time before, and even though she knew she could, she doubted it was something she ever wanted to do again.
"Hey." Petal said, putting a hand on her partner's shoulder.
"I shot her." Rose murmured.
"She's fine. I think Mila's gun took more damage than Shimmer."
"Are you joking, at a time like this?" asked Rose, glaring at her.
"It's what I do, but I'm sorry. You're right, I should be more considerate." Petal held out her hand. "Let's get out of here. You can yell at me the whole way back about how rude and immature I am. And, if you're lucky, I might not even argue back."
Rose shook her head as she wiped tears from her eyes. She then accepted Petal's offered assistance but instead of Petal helping her, Rose wound up having to catch Petal, who had fallen to her hands and knees atop of Rose.
"Sorry. I'm a little worn out." Petal stated, as she looked up into Rose's eyes. The two shared that glance for more than enough time to make it awkward, and Petal swiftly forced herself to stand up. "Sorry." she said again, and this time, she didn't bother offering to help, knowing that she didn't have the strength for it.
Rose seemed to understand and rose up beside her. Petal then noticed Mila carrying Shimmer's limp body in his arms, and while it looked as if he was struggling, he didn't complain. He walked past them and back towards the direction of the landing zone outside, where they had first entered.
"There's an exit this way." said Rose, still sounding congested from her crying, and pointing in the opposite direction of Mila's heading.
"There's an airship this way." Mila replied, continuing on his path.
"We can't fly an airship," said Petal.
"I'm sure I can figure it out. We need to get to the village, and then get back to the school as quickly as possible." Mila replied, coldly.
Petal sighed as she scooped up Mila's gun. "I guess we're flying, then. You go first, Rose, I'll cover our backs in case there's anything left to put up a fight."
"Okay." said Rose, and she started after Mila, and Petal after her.
The group soon found the landing zone, and the many injured guards that Mila and Petal had taken out upon their arrival. Rose glanced around with a stunned expression, and Petal smiled at her when their eyes met.
"Don't look so shocked. You act like it's a big deal that we can hold our own in a fight."
"There's just more than I originally thought," said Rose, blushing slightly.
"Hurry up." Mila ordered, as he was already setting Shimmer down into the canopy of the airship.
He climbed in after her, lifted her up again, and proceeded into the dark interior. The two girls shared another grin and followed suit. Rose climbed in first, but Petal then felt something, heard something. There was a loud rumbling, a quaking in the ground beneath her feet.
"Rose. Tell Mila to go, now! Don't wait for me!"
"What? What are you… Petal, wait!" Rose yelled, rushing to the door, which Petal swiftly slid shut.
Once closed, Petal froze it in place with her weapon. Just before she finished another pass of her hand over the seam, a large black tendril wrapped around her leg and threw her into the air.
"Petal!" Rose hollered, but it was mostly muted by the metal and glass between them.
The engine of the airship roared to life and the ship started slowly lifting from the ground. Petal crashed into the solid platform and groaned as yellow energy stuttered around her. She looked up and saw several tendrils, as thick as the trees of the ancient forest around them, reaching for the airship.
"Leave them alone!" Petal demanded, rushing forward.
She slashed at the ground with one hand, creating a ramp of ice, and then, after leaping off of it, she brought her other hand down, sending powerful, green cuts towards the tendrils. They traveled much quicker than the other elements at her disposal, and created much cleaner cuts as the multiple, oily tentacles slid apart. They crashed into the water, creating massive eruptions and waves as they did so, but more quickly grew back. One came from what seemed to be the cliff-face behind her and swatted her into the ground. Petal hit it harder this time, and her Aura broke, leaving only golden particles behind. She was breathing heavily as she forced herself to her hands and knees with shaky, unstable arms. As she gazed up, she saw the airship at an altitude now where the monster would not reach them, and felt relieved, despite the pain that coursed through her body.
The sight filled her with enough strength to fully return to her feet, determined to ensure their escape, as she was not one to take chances with things like this. Petal activated her claws again, slid off her coat, and rushed forward to the tentacle that grew out of the water. She slashed at it, but when her blades of air reached the tendril, something else rose to take the hit. A massive blob of oily, disgusting, black goo had risen from the depths, and a gaping set of jaws with white serrated teeth literally ate the cuts. She prepared another attack, but was met by another swatting arm. This time, she flew into a bundle of cargo crates, crashing through some, while others simply tumbled over. She felt stings all over body as the broken wood cut into her flesh, and she didn't think she could move anymore. All of her strength was gone, and she knew she was finished. With a brief intake of shallow air, she let her body relax into the mess of boxes and the varied contents of them. Her eyes closed tight, and her mind drifted off to a point where even the pain she felt no longer bothered her. The last sound she heard was the airship, flying off into the distance, carrying her friends back to safety.