Chapter 82
"Now, my young lads and lasses, if you may recall back to what I told you last year about the levels of cognition that the Grimm possess! Who can tell me what I compared them to!"
Ruby yawned. It was five-thirty in the evening on a Friday. She just wanted to be done with class so she could go back to her room. There was a half-finished box of cookies that had been eyeballing her at break, and she felt it was an appropriate time to go and collect her retribution. Yang had left her a little single serving milk carton in their mini-fridge from lunch, which she figured would go swimmingly with approximately seven to eight macadamia nut cookies. Dinner could wait until later, when Weiss got back from the CCT.
"Yes! You there! Mister Winchester!"
"Like angry pandas, sir."
Ruby rolled her eyes. What a dumb answer from such a dumb person. He was an asshole, and clearly he hadn't bothered to do the readings or remember anything from first year.
"Ho hoh! I like that answer, but it's not exactly what I said last year."
Ruby sighed, leaned back in her chair, and put her hand up. Professor Port was very quick to notice, and called on her.
"Ah, Miss Rose! Perhaps you have a memory to match your fighting skills!"
"A Kakapo, sir. Without predators and with ample food sources, the Grimm never had a need to develop defense mechanisms and evolve their brains. So all they do all day, like the Kakapo bird, is eat and fuck."
A dull chorus of 'ooohs' circulated the room, stemming from a shock at her nonchalant cursing.
"Ho hoh! Very good! But please mind your language!"
"Sorry."
It's alright, my dear!"
Blake leaned over to her as the Professor started off on a tirade of how dumb the Grimm were, all information she was more than familiar with. She'd been on enough away missions with her team to understand just how mindless Grimm could be. Big, lumbering, and stupid. Made life easy.
"Jeez, Ruby, you have no chill."
"I'm tired, Blake. Training this morning wore me out. Then I had an econ exam, which I barely studied for. I just wanna go back to the room and relax."
"Class is over in half an hour. Think you can sit still until then?"
Ruby gave Blake the side-eye, noticing her bow twitching.
"Sitting still isn't a problem, I'll fall asleep at this rate. I mean, I already know all this shit. We've fought Grimm, we know what they're like."
Blake sighed.
"You'll survive. And please be nice to the teachers, Ruby."
"You're not my mom, you can't tell me what to do." she chuckled out.
Blake stared.
"Right, but your mother would have liked you to be nice to your teachers and pay attention in school, right?"
Ruby leaned all the way back in her chair and hung her head off the back.
"Ugh, yeah probably."
"So, you should do that."
"Don't you read erotic fiction in class all the time?"
That garnered a harsh stare. Blake lifted her notebook and pencil off the desk and gave her a look.
"No, I take notes. I might know a lot of this stuff, but it doesn't hurt to take it down anyways. And I might read erotic fiction on my time off, but I never read it in class."
"Yeah, you do, in Peach's health and wellness class."
Blake bit her lip.
"Oh, well, I don't really feel like I need to listen in that class, so-"
"Ah, see, I don't feel like I need to listen in this one."
"I realize the double standard, but to be fair-"
"To be faaaiiirrr!" Ruby quoted, musically.
"Shush. Now, as I was saying, personal health and wellness isn't going to try and kill you. Grimm will try to kill you. Ergo, I think you should pay attention in this class."
Ruby rolled her head and looked at Blake over an invisible pair of glasses.
"I could give you ten reasons right here and now how Personal Health and Wellness could try and kill you. And if you listened to the lessons, you'd be able to as well."
"Just listen to Port, okay?"
Ruby snickered.
"Yes, Mom."
"Thank you."
She sighed a heavy, long-winded sigh and slouched forward over her desk, crossing her arms and propping her chin up on them. Even though she thought it was trivial, she turned on her listening ears again and did her best to focus on the lesson. The professor continued on.
"Now, I would like you all to take this very useful information about the Grimm and their dull, thoughtless behaviour…"
Ruby yawned again. She needed a nap.
"...And throw it away! Forget it!"
Ruby paused mid-yawn, her mouth locked open.
"A lie! A farce! A trick!"
She frowned and sat up, straightening and peering down at the surprisingly energetic old man.
"For you see, long ago when the kingdoms were founded, our ancestors realized the need for educational facilities that would prepare the youths of each land for the difficulties they would face in the wilds of our planet. They created the Huntsman Academies!"
Of course, she already knew that.
"Do forgive me for encroaching on my dear colleague Doctor Oobleck's curriculum, of course! But as I was saying, with the creation of the Huntsman Academies, it was found that the best way to prepare children for a future of fighting Grimm is to have them actually fight Grimm face-to-face, Mano-a-Mano, fight them for real! Why only study something dangerous when you can get right up close and personal!"
Yes, that was how they learned to fight. Real Grimm. The Emerald Forest was full of them.
"And now I'd like you to turn your attention to the proximity between the school grounds and the edge of the Emerald Forest. They are nearly on top of one another!"
A concern washed over her. She had also noticed how close the forest was to the school, and she had wanted to ask why it wasn't more dangerous. She had shoved that question to the back of her mind to stop it from nagging at her. She sat forward.
"This is on purpose, children! It always has been! Since the inception of the academies, we have needed live Grimm to train you with, and thanks to a few… intrepid scientists, a selective breeding program was implemented several decades ago to create a race of Grimm more docile and mindless than your regular-fair Grimm!"
Docile? What they had faced in the Emerald Forest was considered… docile? If that was the case, how dangerous were the wild Grimm?
"This goes for most local varieties as well! Some of you may have come from communities bordered by Grimm infested lands, but you may have also noticed a lack of frequent attacks upon them! Much the same as our training grounds, the populations therein were replaced by our more meek and dull variety! This stops more powerful and dangerous Grimm from moving in."
Ruby sat back. She was, to be honest, shocked.
"But in the wilds of Anima and beyond, there was no point in replacing the populations of Grimm, which allowed them to roam free and evolve. Unfortunately, this means they are not as stupid or compliant as our Emerald Forest Grimm!"
She watched him pace, dumbfounded.
"This may come as a surprise to some of you. But that was my intention! Surprise! You've been learning to fight Grimm in a safe and comfortable environment, under the watchful eyes of your professors and trained Huntsmen!"
The giant Deathstalker sure hadn't felt very 'safe'. Neither had the building-sized Nevermore she decapitated during the formation of her team. She stuck the end of her pen between her teeth and rested her cheek against her fist. Professor Port stopped in the middle of his stage, and lowered the tone of his voice.
"Now, let me be very clear. In the wild, Grimm are very, very dangerous and extremely intelligent. They hunt in packs. They can communicate. And they are very much living creatures. The Grimm you will come across after you graduate as Huntsmen will not be attacking you for tutorial purposes. They will be actively hunting you."
Her breathing caught in her throat.
"The Grimm are sentient. They can feel, they emote, and they can hurt, just like any of you. They have the capacity to show compassion, and the capacity to show vengeful malice. They hold grudges. They remember."
That wasn't possible. Grimm were just dumb animals, who willingly walked into their weapons for the slaughter. Right?
"For there is a hierarchy within the Grimm. They have long ago created societies within themselves, rivaling in complexity to our own. They have monarchs, caste systems, and as near as makes no difference a form of politics and governance from what we can observe. The selectively bred ones? Those are considered to be the dregs of their society. The lowest of the low class. They are immaterial to the higher ranks of Grimm. So they, and the lands they reside in, are ignored. That's what keeps us safe."
That wasn't possible. Grimm weren't smart enough for that kind of structure.
"And at the top of these societies, there is an Alpha. Every group has one, and their reign, much like our kingdoms, can stretch entire continents. For example, the mighty Arachnae of Menagerie, whom we have taken to 'lovingly' calling Marrok! Or even the Queen of the Grimm herself, Salem the Immortal! Now, lucky for us she tends to keep to herself on her island, much like the rest of the Alphas around the world."
There was a Queen of the Grimm? And why were huntsmen naming the damn things? Ruby shuddered, unsure of how to feel.
"But I suspect, and many of my colleagues will agree with me, that the most dangerous of the Alphas, the top of the top, worst of the worst, is the Alpha that resides in Kayaba Forest, on the north end of Anima. A massive Beowulf, towering over even the tallest of Goliaths. We estimate it to be around three thousand years old."
Kayaba Forest? That was the last mission her mother accepted before she died. That forest was a death sentence to any Huntsman stupid or crazy enough to venture in. Hundreds had died trying to reclaim the land there. It was as good as condemned.
"I will spare you the details of the missions I have gone on to that forest. There was never a victory. Only slaughter. That Alpha detests humans to a degree higher than any other Grimm I have ever known. It knows we go there to kill it. And that makes it bitter."
Ruby was shocked. There had never been a time when Professor Peter Port had refused to share details of a mission. That was all he did, frankly. Galavanting on on the stage, weaving tales of victory and conquest, of Grimm slain and lives saved. This was a new one for her. She almost didn't believe what she was hearing.
"That bitterness has kept the Alpha alive. It has kept the forest empty of humans and faunus alike. We could never hope to go in there again. And as future Huntsmen, you must also avoid that place to the best of your ability. If you are tasked to go, there is no shame in saying no. I encourage it, in fact. The Grimm in that forest are intelligent, and very old. They will kill you. And they will enjoy it."
She sat back.
It wasn't possible.
/.../
The insubordinate ran forward, beating its paws into the ground. For the briefest of moments, her heart stopped beating, which was quickly remedied as the Alpha charged its foe, the wind rushing around her as the two hundred tonne animal galloped away, and the ground shook under each footfall as it closed the short distance to the insubordinate. The much smaller Beowulf rose up on its hind legs, as if it wasn't afraid.
This was it's mistake.
Ruby watched in awe as the massive Alpha bore down on the insubordinate and clamped its teeth down onto the small beast's skull. With a loud crunch, it bit through the thick armour and easily crushed the smaller Beowulf's skull like it was made out of cardboard, squirting a copious amount of black oozing blood onto the fallen snow. It opened its jaw and let the dead animal fall to the ground, already in the process of decaying. With a roar, it reared up and stood to its full height to tower over the large crowd of Grimm, issuing a challenge. The forest went silent as the line of Grimm surrounding them and the dead body shuffled nervously. Ruby sniffled and eyed the Alpha, who returned a worried glare.
"I get the funny feeling that we're in for a fight."
The Alpha huffed out its nostrils, rising a cloud of condensation around its face.
"Yeah…"
From off behind them, a roar came. Ruby's fantastically sharp reflexes and hearing acted for her and spun her head around to the nine o'clock position, homing in on a break in the lines of Grimm. From that gap came a sinister pair of eyes, glowing like spotlights as they advanced. The Grimm that stood to the edge of the gap shuffled sideways as very large and very angry looking Sabyr prodded its way forward. The massive pair of canines that drooped from its upper armoured jaw seemed to shimmer in the light as it bared its teeth and growled at them. Those massive fangs were larger than she had seen on any other Sabyr thus far, in fact the whole Sabyr was just about the biggest she had ever seen. It towered over the Grimm around it, being close to twenty feet tall to the shoulders. It stopped just past the edge of the circle, and growled at her again.
"Alright. I suppose you're here to challenge us for the position of Alpha."
Of course, she noticed that it was keeping it's eyes on her, and not the Alpha Beowulf. The two-meter long canines were starting to make her blood run cold. The Sabyr bellowed at her, making her close her eyes tightly and grimace as the stench of un-brushed carnivore teeth blew into her face with hurricane force. After what felt like a good sixty-odd seconds, the bellowing stopped, and she was able to open her eyes again. She reached up and brushed a fleck of gooey saliva off her cheek and onto the ground.
"Okay, that was rude. I'll give you one chance to turn around and march your ugly ass back the way you came with your head still attached. Am I clear?"
The Sabyr roared at her again. Ruby pursed her lips and nodded.
"I suppose that's how it's gonna be, then."
She turned her attention back to the Alpha, who had positioned itself around behind her, preparing it's stance for attack. It caught her eye and she gestured to her combat vest that was lying in the snow just next to it.
"Would you mind?"
The Alpha nodded slowly and leaned its head down, picking up the vest very gently between its front teeth. With a shallow flick of its neck, the vest came sailing through the air over to her, and she caught it in her right hand. She slung it on and did up the clasps with three familiar clicks of cold brass, and peered back at the Alpha.
"Those too?"
It nodded again, and reached down to close its mouth around the two sickles that were stuck into the snow. With the same motion, it tossed them over as well. Ruby caught them with ease, and flicked the blades out in each hand, turning her attention back to the Sabyr that dared usurp the Alpha. It glared back at her, its lips pulled back exposing the dangerous pointy end.
"Still no?"
A harsh gurgle was the only response. Ruby nodded.
"Alright. He's all yours."
The Alpha roared from behind her, piercing the heavens with its monumental sound. It charged forward with deep bassy bark, galloping through the snow and shaking the very soil under her boots. Ruby smirked and took off towards the Sabyr as well, building up her run and preparing her semblance for release. Just before she was going to run into the massive teeth of the Sabyr, she lit off her semblance and dove through its legs, leaving a long fluttering trail of rose petals in her wake. She stopped just the other side, filling the hole in the line of Grimm. They all seemed to pause a second to look down at her. She let her eyes flash for just a brief, fleeting moment.
And then All Hell Broke Loose.
The two Griffons that were standing to either side of her broke free from the trance they were in and proceeded to screech loudly in her ears. They lunged forward, one from the left and one from the right, beaks open and wings spread wide in defiance. She simply tilted her head and stuck her tongue between her teeth, biding her time as they approached. The sounds of flesh tearing behind her was a disturbing one, but one she was expecting as The Alpha easily batted the huge Sabyr aside, digging its claws into the insubordinate giant's neck.
The screech to her left was a little louder. She took this as direction, and dropped to her right knee, swinging her sickles around to the left. The blades pierced through the top and bottom of the closer Griffon's beak with a gross cracking sound, exciting an even louder and agonizing screech of pain from the poor animal. She ignored the anguished cries and pulled her weapons towards herself and rotated her torso, pulling the Griffon off its feet and slamming it helplessly onto its comrade. The sheer mass of the injured Griffon was enough to break the other's front legs, toppling them both to the ground. She made a mad dash up the pile and quickly remedied their lives, embedding the blades of her sickles deep within the soft spots in their head armour, their eyes rolling backwards as they were relieved of their abilities to think.
"Ahh-"
She took a tumble from up on the now-decaying Griffons, only to land, albeit right way up, at the feet of a very angry and very large Manticore, who roared directly in her face. Her ears were already ringing from the previous few times this had happened, so it's not like it did any more damage. She still made a face as she wiped the grime from her blades.
"Fuck's sake…"
The Manticore charged, lowering its horns to the ground. Ruby sighed and closed her sickles, sliding them into the two little loops on her duty belt. Her hands came up as the animal closed the gap between them, violently lifting its head to gore her. She was, of course, ready for this, easily side-stepping and driving her right fist into the side of the animal's jaw, knocking it off balance and onto its side. The Manticore slid along the snowy ground, scrambling back to its feet, very clearly discombobulated. The right hook had rattled its tiny brain inside of its skull and likely induced a concussion judging by how much it was stumbling around on its feet.
"That all you got?"
The Manticore barked at her, weakly, and tried again to charge her. As its head came down, she watched the pain enter its eyes from the sudden movement. Ruby dove forward and grabbed at its left horn.
"Everyone's got a plan until they get punched in the mouth, eh?"
She twisted the beast around by the horn and pulled its head across, and unleashed another skull-shattering left hook into the Manticore's face. It's armour splintered like pineboard, and it fell to the ground unconscious. Not being one to let things lie, she quickly pulled out her sickle and opened it, driving the pointy end into the soft forehead that had been revealed. The animal's head came off the ground from sheer impact force alone, and she lifted the nearly one-tonne head up and over the pair of Beowulves that were approaching from behind. The Manticore's huge, dead body followed it, landing on the pair of beasts with a heavy thud and flattening them to the ground. Ruby coughed, hearing the two Beowulves, clearly suffocating, crying out in pain from underneath their fallen comrade.
She took the brief interlude in action to check back over on the Alpha, who was currently neck-deep in Grimm, all attacking or at least attempting to attack it from all sides. The Alpha was certainly struggling, just by force of sheer numbers. The Sabyr almost had it pinned. Her breathing stopped for a second. She needn't have worried, as the Alpha muscled its way up to its hind legs and grabbed two whole Ursa around the necks in its teeth, biting down and swinging their bodies around like a hammer-tosser, levelling the surrounding Grimm. The Sabyr caught the torso of one of the Ursa, and the sheer aggression behind the swing pulled the screaming animal in twain, spilling its entrails onto the forest floor. The Alpha slammed its massive claws into the Sabyr and launched it up into a tree, breaking the twelve-foot-wide trunk in half and felling it over a small congregation of Grimm approaching from that flank. Ruby smirked.
A fleeting moment of victory, as a sharp hissing sound alerted from over her right shoulder. She turned, coming face to face with one end of a Taijitu, rapidly approaching with its mouth open and fangs extended.
"Shit-"
She dove sideways, flipping gracefully out of the way and landing boot-side down in the soft mud. The Taijitu's head snapped around, its ugly, narrow eyes closing in on her. She had to flip back sideways again as it made another lunging strike at where she was standing. She barely landed out of the way, instinctively slamming a fist into the side of its mouth, feeling the thin, hollow bones snap under her hand. The huge snake winced as it retracted its body, coiling up for another strike. This time, she had opportunity to pull her sickles out of their holsters on her belt, flicking them open just in time for the Taijitu to strike at her again.
She didn't even have time to curse or react or anything as the Taijitu struck the ground where she was standing, engulfing her in its giant mouth and shrouding her in darkness. As the jaw closed in around her, the snakes's big fangs tilled their way through the soil like pickaxes, filling the damp, smelly cavity with mud. Ruby didn't panic, as most people might have, electing to instead reach quickly upward and grab onto the round protrusion the snake's tongue was retracted into. This made the Grimm choke, evidently, as its throat closed violently around her and the head lifted from the ground. She held her breath and hung on as hard as she could, bouncing around off the inside of the snake's teeth. It hurt. A lot. Not having Aura meant that each impact was leaving serrated cuts on her arms and legs from the saw-like edges on each tooth. She wasn't sure she could grit her teeth any harder.
Fighting around inside the constricted and caustic space, she was able to reach for her duty belt and pull her knife from its little leather sheath. Anything sharp would have done in this situation, but the knife was close at hand and easier to use inside a Grimm's mouth. With a short, stifled grunt she rammed the blade of her knife into the inside of the Taijitu's upper jaw.
"Ahh-ahhh-"
The giant snake hissed deafeningly in her ear and opened its jaw again, freeing her. Of course, freeing her twenty feet off the ground. She let go of the knife and reached for one of the Taijitu's huge fangs, grabbing on and wrapping her left arm tightly around it, keeping her feet away from the bottom tip of the tooth that was absolutely gushing venom onto the forest floor. It was barely enough grip as the snake thrashed its head from side to side to try and get her to let go. Lucky for her, she noticed that one of her sickles had embedded itself in the soft flesh of the beast's upper gums, just next to the joint where the fang met the skull. She smirked and reached for it.
"You're bleeding because you don't floss-"
She grabbed the handle of the sickle and twisted, pulling it towards herself and slicing through the muscle tissue and tendons inside the snake's jaw. With a disturbingly wet pop, the fang came free of the skull and drenching her in black, acrid blood as she fell, still wrapped tightly around the long fang. As she wasn't expecting the extra weight of the tooth, she landed a lot faster than normal, causing her to fall sideways and hit her head against the ground. She coughed and quickly righted, lifting the severed fang up and holding it like a spear in both hands. After two more moments of painful thrashing, the Taijitu turned its hockey-player gap-toothed smile back down at her, a river of black blood pouring from the wound in its mouth. Ruby sneered.
"Come get it."
And come get it, it certainly tried. The Taijitu dove in for another strike, opening its bus-sized mouth with every intention of swallowing her whole and lunged forward with lightning speed. Ruby simply raised the broken fang and let momentum do the work for her, as the Taijitu hadn't realized the danger and impaled the inside of its own head on the fang. Ruby let go and flipped backwards, folding and holstering her sickles back into her duty belt. With a flick of her bangs, she looked back up to watch the Taijitu recoil from the pain of getting stabbed in the mouth with its own fang. She saw the realization in its eyes, followed by a gentle fogging fill them as the venom started to course through its veins. Most regular snakes were impervious to their own venom, since if they weren't they might kill themselves every time they closed their mouths with any sort of gusto. The Taijitu, however, were not immune to their own brand based solely on the sheer volume of venom they had at their disposal.
The Snake's massive head started to hang lower and lower as the paralysis set in, it's weird sideways-closing eyelids fluttering softly. Most common garden snakes she used to play with as a little girl didn't even have eyelids. This odd display had a mildly disturbing effect as the massive ugly reptile sank down on its body, slowly running out of life. The venom took hold as she looked on, slowing the beast's breathing down until it breathed no more. She sighed inward, and grabbed at her duty belt, pulling out her sickles again.
"First one, then the other."
The Taijitu's black-on-white end came scorching around from the other side of the dead white-on-black half, mouth open and fangs extended. Ruby flipped backwards twice, positioning herself just out of reach of the new entrant's strike distance. The much angrier half of the snake tried to lunge for her, but it's dead twin's weight held it back, causing it to stumble and fall flat on its belly in the snow a mere two feet from her boots. She didn't even hesitate, lifting both sickles and driving them hard down into the top of the snake's face, just behind the angry, flared nostrils. There was a hiss of agony, one which she made immediately louder as she jumped forward and somersaulted along the top of its head, forcefully pulling the beast's jaw open and guiding its head around. With all the strength she could muster, she careened the beast's open, hissing mouth around and slammed it fangs-first into its own body. Her sickles came free with two geysers of black blood, and she dove forward off the snake's back and onto terra firma again.
She turned to watch, batting back a pair of stunted Creeps that had padded up to her. The big snake let go of its own neck and sputtered out a weakened hiss, it's eyes clouding over and it's muscles relaxing. She watched the heavy, fleeting breaths it made as its head sank slowly to the ground, before it let out one last dying gasp and finally succumbing to its own venom. Ruby shook her head, almost saddened by the sight.
"Pity."
She had little time to ponder the death of the giant, as a magnificently loud trumpeting erupted from just over her left shoulder. She turned to see a gigantic pair of tusks barrelling through the woods at her, knocking over trees and easily brushing aside smaller, lesser Grimm. She turned to face the charging Goliath, sliding her sickles back into their holsters. She slammed her fist into her left palm and shook out her shoulders, stepping into a readied stance.
"C'mon, I want you to hit me…"
She put her hands up, palms out, ready for the impact. The Goliath trumpeted again, lowering the twenty-foot-long tusks closer to the ground. Ruby grit her teeth. From her best estimate, this particular Goliath weighed in at close to a hundred and fifty tonnes. This was gonna hurt.
"C'mon! Hit me!"
The huge elephant swung its head to the side, and tried to slam into her with its tusk. She grimaced, and braced for impact.
"C'mo-"
And impact, it did, slamming it's massive curved tusk into her eager, waiting hands. Pain ripped through her forearms like they'd been dipped in liquid nitrogen and hit with a hammer. She bit down hard on her tongue to stop herself from screaming as the massive creature pushed her back through the forest, her boots digging through the soil like farm implements. Slowly, the giant Goliath started to lose momentum and slow it's charge as the kinetic friction between her and the ground became too much for it to push. Funny, she figured, since she weighed so much less than the animal. That was the only thing she really found funny, as the pain in her arm started to mount with every foot fall the Goliath made. It had slowed to a jogging pace, still trying to push her into the ground under its mass, but she just wouldn't let it.
"It's time for you to-" she grunted through the agony in her right wrist. "-stop!"
She put her right foot back and let it settle in the dirt, halting the massive animal's progress once and for all. She seethed with pain and anger, and wrapped her arms tightly around the huge tusk, her entire upper body flexing and almost tearing the seams on her shirt and vest from effort. She turned to glance quickly over her shoulder as the beast attempted to push her back some more. There was a tree stump just to her aft, likely created when the Alpha tossed some Grimm through the tree moments ago. She huffed, and gripped down on the tusk.
"Up and-" she flexed her core hard enough to break rocks on. "-Over!"
Every microgram of physical strength she had she directed into her legs and back as she rotated her body over, lifting the Goliath off the ground. It trumpeted loudly and directly into her ringing ears, flailing its huge legs in the air as she got the beast up vertical. With all one hundred and fifty tonnes of animal pressing her into the ground, she was afraid her legs would snap. And with no aura to heal them, she would be a sitting duck.
"Little- further-"
She twisted and let go, freeing the weight of the Goliath to fall to the ground. It landed, throat-first, on the tall and jagged tree stump, which pierced right through the soft flesh and into its trachea. A torrent of black, smelly blood erupted from the huge wound, filling its mouth and lungs and choking it to death. Ruby coughed and rolled over, slowly sitting up to her knees to watch it flail its legs for one last moment. The light in its eyes faded as the blood river stopped pulsing out its neck. She exhaled through her teeth.
"Ffffff-uck off."
She tried to push herself back up to her feet with her hands. Pain ricocheted up her arm.
"Ah- fuck!"
She fell sideways, cradling her right wrist. Finally with a moment to take a look at herself, she brought her right arm around to look at it. Her wrist was purple and slightly swollen, and as soon as she put eyes on it, a constant, violent pain took hold of her arm. She struggled to her feet anyway, cursing a few significantly more vulgar words than normal in her head, and holding her wrist tight against her chest. She had no problem fighting with a broken wrist, she had done it before. But that was during the Vytal festival, when she had plentiful and soothing aura to fix it during the match.
"Bullshit."
She stood for a moment, fuming, and watched the Alpha grab the insubordinate Sabyr by the hind quarters and toss it aside like a wet paper towel. The Sabyr was somehow still in fighting condition after having most of its fur torn off by the Alpha's impressive claws. It bit and snarled, launching itself back at the Alpha, having learned absolutely nothing from last time. It managed to clamp its teeth around the Alpha's front leg, drawing quite a concerning volume of blood. The Alpha roared, splitting the heavens for the hundredth time that day, and ploughed its shoulder into the ground and put its immense body weight down on the Sabyr's head and neck, forcing it to open its mouth and let go. With the sort of force that would level small cities, the Alpha ripped its paw around and bashed the Sabyr across the clearing and into a tree, which splintered to pieces.
A loud roar came from behind her. She turned slowly, painfully around to look. A Berigel, which must have stood a good fifteen feet high, stood fast, its fists planted down into the snow. It didn't advance, but it did roar and beat its chest.
"What, you want to fight?"
The beast snarled, and beat its chest again. Ruby smirked.
"You perceive me as a threat, do you?"
She turned fully around to face down her opponent. She let go of her wrist and let it hang by her side
"You know, I watched a documentary about gorillas… okay, it was a movie, it had Sigourney Weaver in it, it was great. But I learned why gorillas do that chest beating thing."
She took a step forward. The Beringel barked shortly.
"Do you know what gorillas are? They're like you, just… shorter… and with black fur. And not Grimm."
She took another step forward. The Beast reached to its right and picked up a felled tree, holding it like a club. Ruby bared her teeth in a disturbing smile.
"You know, humans… well, I suppose humans and faunus come from a common ancestor that we share with gorillas. And since we share the same kind of cerebral processing power and our opposable thumbs...:"
She held up her left hand and wiggled her thumb for effect.
"...Some gorillas have been known to use rudimentary tools."
She gestured to the tree in its hand.
"In fact, all species in the Hominid family have been observed using some kind of tools. Whether it be rocks to open nuts, or sticks to fish for ants, or bigger sticks to beat each other to death with… we all do it."
She kept closing the distance. She stopped when she was about twenty feet from the huge, snarling, one-eyed ugly Grimm.
"And if you want to fight me, using tools…" she paused, and watched the Beringel raise the tree above its head. "...I think I'd be okay with that."
She drew her Five-Seven from its holster and put one right between its eyes. The Beringel froze in place, its brain stem severed by the pointed armour piercing round that had just cut through its armour like paper. Eventually, after a few seconds, its body caught up to its death and let go of the tree, which fell out of its grasp and landed behind it. The body fell forwards and landed at her feet, displacing a mound of snow into her face. She looked down at the back of its head, peering through the bullet's exit wound.
"Apex predator my ass."
There was a pained yelp from just in front of her. She looked up, catching eyes with a small, feeble looking Boarbatusk. It stood about thirty feet in front, pawing timidly at the earth beneath its hooves. Ruby tilted her head ever so slightly to the left and focused her glare. The Boarbatusk seemed to recoil slightly. She bared her teeth.
"Run."
The animal yelped quietly, then turned and fled. Ruby scoffed. Most of the Grimm around her followed suit, turning and fleeing from the area with their tails between their legs. A rare sight to behold, she figured. She turned around. She was alone in the forest, absent of Grimm. Save for two, of course. The Alpha and the giant Sabyr, still locked in dangerous combat. She tutted.
"Time to make you heel."
She dropped her pistol back into its holster and flipped the button clasp closed over it. On the muddy, snowy ground in front of her was her cloak that she had shed earlier when she had entered the clearing. It was a little dirty, but the soft white fabric almost seemed to beam up at her. She reached down to grab it with her one remaining good hand and lifted it up, shaking it off. With an impressive flourish, she slung it around her shoulders and forced her head back up through the hole and into the peaked hood. She settled her shoulders and braced her back. With an even sigh she relaxed and reached for her belt, wrapping her fingers around the hilt of her left sickle.
She dashed forwards, eye lit like spotlights. As she closed the distance to the last remaining battle, she pulled the sickle out of its holster and flicked it open, the blade shimmering in the light. The last ten feet to the Sabyr her feet didn't even touch the ground. The blade dug into the beast's fleshy shoulder, right beneath the giant piece of plate armour that protected its upper back. It yelled as she dug the blade in deeper and used it as a handle to pull herself up onto its back. She was able to observe each of the Sabyr's muscle groups move individually as it tried to spin its neck around to snap its jaws at her. She was quicker still, driving her boot into its jaw as it came around. The huge animal fell sideways, driven down by the Alpha forcing its front paws into its chest and neck. Ruby flipped off sideways, landing boots-down in front of the sprawled beast's exposed stomach.
"Hup-"
She jumped forward, twisting sideways and slashing twice at the soft underbelly and drawing forth two rivers of black ooze. There were already a plethora of jagged scars running the length of the Sabyr's body, what was two more, really. She ducked under a flailed foreleg, the huge claws attached to it barely missing her head, and slammed the blade of her sickle into the tense muscle on the back of the leg. She allowed herself to be pulled from her feet as the exhausted Sabyr continued to flail. Truth was, she was exhausted too. And so was the Alpha, it was evident in its movements, the way its pants were deeper and longer, how its shoulders no longer had a freeness of motion. The Sabyr managed to roll to its feet and charge down on her again as she landed.
Ruby dove to the left, rolling over her shoulder as the Sabyr ploughed its massively long fangs into the ground in an attempt to slice through her. She sprung back to her feet and took a slash at the side of its face, taking a sizable chunk out of its faceplate armour. It turned in pain, attempting to bite at her again only to be steamrolled by the Alpha pummelling it into the soil. Ruby jumped in after, and ran up the Alpha's back to give herself some height on the action, before flipping forward over the Alpha's head and flying down onto the Sabyr's exposed chest, sickle-blade first. The blade dug deep into the flesh, catching between two of its ribs and drawing a yelp of pain and a roar of anguish from the injured animal. Ruby ignored both noises and pulled the sickle free, breaking the rib in the process. She had to backflip upwards to avoid a swipe the Alpha made at the Sabyr, which knocked it aside and back across the clearing. She landed a little harder than before, but turned around to face the Sabyr, lying on its side on the other side of the clearing where this had all begun. She grimaced.
"I don't want to fight anymore."
She turned to the Alpha as the Sabyr struggled to its feet.
"What about you?"
The Alpha huffed through its nostrils.
"Thought not. Let's end this."
She turned back to the Sabyr, who had somehow managed to get back up onto three of its four legs, its left hind leg evidently broken at the thigh.
"I want it's head."
The Alpha roared. Ruby yelled. They charged forward at the Sabyr, which could do nothing more than snarl helplessly back at them as the massive Alpha Beowulf and the indestructible Huntress bore down on it.
It knew it was dead before they even reached it.
/.../
There was carnage all around them. Bodies strewn about, slowly decaying. That was something she had noticed about Wild Grimm. They took much longer to decay and evaporate than the Grimm from the school's forest training grounds. Perhaps, like their innate stupidity, that was something that had been bred into them. Ruby sighed and leaned back against the tree trunk, cradling her wrist.
"I am… genuinely… genuinely beat." she leaned a look across the clearing to the Alpha. "What about you?"
It whoofed quietly, its chin rested heavily on its front legs. Ruby gave a half smile. Zwei did the exact same thing, she realized. Maybe the Grimm weren't really as different as she had imagined.
"You can understand me when I talk, right?"
It looked over at her, huffed through its nostrils, and nodded just once.
"Huh."
She paused to chew on her tongue.
"Comprendez-vous aussi quand j'ai parlez Mistraili?"
The Alpha whined quietly, but lifted it's head and nodded once more. Ruby furrowed her brow. The beast settled its chin on its legs again. She tucked her right knee up to her chest and rested her broken wrist on it.
"Verstehst Sie Atlas Sprechen?"
A deep, bassy grumble came from the bottom of the Alpha's throat, and it nodded again.
"So it doesn't matter what language I speak, you understand what I'm saying?"
Another shor, curt nod.
"That's interesting. That's… spooky, actually. I wonder if it has anything to do with the Queen of the Gr-"
Before she could continue, the beast growled and bore its teeth. Ruby shivered.
"Not a fan of her, I take it?"
The Alpha shook its head and turned away. Ruby leaned forward and tried to stand up, fumbling on her very sore and very achy legs.
"Well, the good news is that I heard she retired from the whole world domination thing about a hundred years ago. I suppose when you try at something for two thousand years and get nothing out of it you sorta lose interest."
She hobbled over to the huge Alpha, limping a little. With her Aura still completely spent, she was no more than a civilian, fraternizing with a huge and powerful monster that could probably kill her by breathing too hard in her general direction. But for some inexplicable reason, she wasn't even the slightest bit afraid. She approached the Alpha and gently ran her fingers through the coarse fur on its snout.
"You were just a puppy when she spawned you, eh? Probably no bigger than Zwei."
A whimper came from within the beast. It was sombre, and sad. Ruby cocked an eyebrow.
"What, do you miss her or something?"
Another deep growl. Ruby backed up a step.
"Apparently not. Sorry, I didn't mean to offend."
It layed its chin back down on its paws and whimpered again. Ruby nodded.
"I get it. You miss somebody being nice to you."
This garnered a nod and a quiet whoof. Ruby chuckled.
"I think I understand you now. You've spent… hundreds of years, getting ruthlessly attacked by Huntsmen and Huntresses who come into your home with the sole intention of… ending your life, right? And you just wanted some peace and quiet and maybe someone to say 'good boy', right?"
The Alpha whined, blowing air out through its nostrils. She reached back out and ran her fingers back into its thick fur.
"How long has it been? How long has it been since somebody treated you like… a living creature?"
The Alpha whimpered and pushed its nose against her scratching hand. Ruby chuckled.
"You know I used to feel like it had been a while since somebody treated me like a living person. I live by myself, you see, in a world full of monsters. So it's sometimes hard to relate to the people around me. It's kinda funny that it would be you of all things."
She sighed and rubbed the Alpha's enormous snout, leaning forward and pressing her shoulder against the side of its jaw for support. She stood for a moment, feeling the Grimm's careful and deep breathing. For some reason, she hadn't quite noticed the smell of the Alpha's breath, because it didn't seem to have a smell at all. She peered around, examining the teeth that protruded out from under its top lip.
"Has somebody been brushing your teeth?"
The Alpha huffed and nuzzled down onto its paws. It was pretty amazing just how dog-like the Alpha was acting. It put her at ease.
"You know, the only person I ever knew to brush a dog's teeth, aside from the vet we take Zwei to, was my mother."
The Alpha's eyes flashed over and focussed on her face.
"I wonder if you ever saw her. The last mission she ever went on was here. In Kayaba Forest."
Ruby turned around and leaned her back against the Alpha's cheek, staring off into the forest of dead Grimm.
"She was beautiful, you know. Hard to miss, really. White cape, this one actually, red and black dress, huge weapon." she paused to sniffle. "'Course this was before the United Coalition regulated all Huntsmen wear combat armour and rank. When you could walk into battle wearing a dress."
The Alpha purred quietly, as if it was listening in.
"Her name was Summer. Summer Rose. My mother."
The Alpha's breathing stopped, making Ruby pause and turn her head to look sideways at it. The Alpha was looking back at her, a look in its eye.
"Did… you… know my mother?"
The Alpha didn't say anything. But it did stand up again, brushing her off its cheek, and step forward and away from her. She watched it take a few steps away from her before turning back and staring into her eyes.
"... I don't understand, do you want me to follow you?"
The Alpha nodded. She approached slowly.
"Okay, but to where?"
All she got in response was a look that seemed to say 'trust me'. Since she had no real other option, she did, and she walked up to the Alpha with an inquisitive look. The Alpha bent its shoulders down and gestured to her with its head. Ruby took a moment to catch on.
"You want me to- I dunno, Nora once told me this was inadvisable…"
The Alpha growled and seemed to roll its eyes, a motion she didn't think was possible. She let a cheeky grin cross her face, before grabbing a handful of the Alpha's neck fur and pulling herself up onto the armour plate that adorned its neck scruff just ahead of its shoulder blades. She held onto the armour in her left hand in a death-grip, and kept her right hand tucked against her body. The giant Grimm turned its head to look at her.
"I'm good."
The Alpha huffed in understanding, turned its head back forward, and started to run into the forest.
/.../
They sailed through a large bramble bush, the wind beating the tears from her eyes as the Alpha landed gracefully and almost silently on the other side, sliding to a stop and almost bucking her off its shoulders. She was impressed with the grace and poise of the Alpha, considering its not-insubstantial bulk and evident exhaustion. Her grip on the Alpha's fur loosened as they slowed down, coming to a slow trot through the clearing. Ruby shook out her shoulders and sat upright, peering around the clearing they had landed in. It was free of Grimm, free of dangers, and free of snow as well. There was green grass sprouting up from the dirt, and the warmth in the air in this one spot felt almost unnatural.
"What a weird spot…"
She slung her legs onto the same side of the Alpha's neck and pushed off, sliding down the neck armour and landing on the ground with a dull thud. She looked around, eyeing the treeline for anything out of place, any set of wandering eyes that may have followed them. There was nothing. They were alone. Ruby sniffled and turned back to the Alpha.
"Something you wanted to show me here?"
The Alpha huffed and nodded once. She watched it turn away and plod off to the tall, fat tree on one end of the clearing. It stopped just short and sat down on its hind legs, ears folded back like a somber puppy. Ruby frowned and approached the beast, circling carefully around its left side so as to not startle it. She noticed its intent stare, focussed on a bush that sat at the base of the tree. She stared at it as well.
It was a rose bush.
"That's odd. I didn't think roses grew in this forest."
She came up alongside the beast and placed her hand on its foreleg. As she did, it looked up from the rosebush and onto the trunk of the tree, where she noticed something had been carved into the thick brown bark. She had to squint to make it out, but it appeared to be some kind of symbol. It was round, and had what looked like spikes coming out of the top of it.
"Who… who drew that? You?"
The Alpha huffed quietly in the affirmative, lowering its gaze.
"Hey, I can't fault your artistry. You can't exactly hold a paintbrush. Or a wood chisel. Hell, a lot better than I could have done with two foot long claws."
She chuckled to herself for a second, before letting her serious face return.
"What's it supposed to be of?"
Another shallow huff, and the Alpha looked back down at the bush. Ruby stood pensive for a moment. A thought came to her and she frowned. She dove her hand into her back pocket and pulled out her wallet, flipping it over to the side with the embroidered logo. She held it up and stared back and forth between the carving and the emblem she had sewn onto the leather backflap. It clicked in her head.
"Is that supposed to be… a burning rose? Like this?"
The Alpha sighed and bowed its head. Ruby's eyes widened and her injured hand dropped to the handle of her sickle.
"My mother was here, wasn't she. You did know my mother."
A low rumble came from deep in the Alpha's throat. Her voice became serious.
"You didn't kill her, did you?"
The Alpha seemed to growl in resentment, turning its head to look at her. She took a half step forward, her hand pulling the sickle out of its holster a few inches. It turned away and shook its head once. Ruby relaxed slightly, and slid the sickle back into its holster.
"It was that Sabyr, wasn't it? That's why it recognized me at first." She paused to rub her nose on her sleeve. "Because I looked like someone it had killed already."
The Alpha huffed quietly, returning its respectful gaze back to the rose bush and tree. Ruby sighed and stepped forward, approaching the bush on quiet feet. She kneeled down in front of it. It had taken a few moments, but she realized what this was, this carving, this bush, this odd grassy clearing in the middle of a snowy forest. It was a makeshift memorial. To her mother. Made by a Grimm. She reached out and placed her fingers on one of the roses on the bush. It was soft, and delicate. Like her cloak.
"You made this, didn't you?"
A huff, followed by a shallow nod.
"You met my mother. She was the one who treated you nicely."
She flicked her hair out of her eyes and looked over at the Alpha, still with its head down in mourning.
"I wonder why. I know you're not capable of telling me using words, but still. I wonder why she treated you like a living creature?"
It was against everything she trained for. Everything she believed in. But she had seen that certain Grimm could show compassion. Some even appreciation and affection. Perhaps her mother had seen the same thing in this Alpha, twenty-one years ago, and decided that this poor creature just needed ten minutes of love and family in its three thousand year long life of turmoil and hatred. Maybe that was the reason the Alpha's teeth looked brushed. Her mother had actually cleaned them. She smiled, picturing her using a large push broom to do exactly that.
"I'm glad she did. And I'm glad we took that fucking Sabyr's head off." she sighed and grimaced at herself. "Sorry, please mind my language."
Ruby hummed quietly to herself for a moment, remembering all the good memories of her mother and pushing them to the forefront of her thoughts.
"I feel like I should be mad. Like I should hold some kind of resentment towards you or to the rest of the Grimm. But I don't."
She yawned and plucked a rose from the bush and cradled it gently in her fingers.
"I don't hate the Grimm. I understand why they exist, the… whole duality of man and the repressed anger we all have and whatnot…"
She sniffled and set the rose down on the grass.
"... I mean, some of us are better at showing that anger than others, but… what can we do, right? Oof. But I'm not mad. I couldn't be mad. My mother died many years ago at the hands… claws… of a Grimm several hundred times larger than her. I don't think I could have faced it alone. To be honest, I don't even think I could face you alone. You already almost killed me once."
She looked to the Alpha, who bowed its head respectfully and looked sufficiently remorseful. Ruby smirked.
"Hell, the only reason you didn't is because three whole platoons of the Atlesian Special Forces showed up just before you were able to finish the job. You had to book it out of there, and I don't blame you. I'm still mad you tried, though. But that doesn't mean you didn't have every right to. I was invading your home. A-and then I stabbed you in the eye. So… sorry."
In lieu of a verbal acceptance of her apology, the Alpha craned its head over and very gently brushed its cheek on the side of her arm. She sighed and patted the beast's nose, stroking it like she would Zwei's. Ruby sat down on the ground, crossing her legs and settled her bum into the grass. She sniffled and leaned against the Alpha's cheek, staring up at the sky through the trees. It was quiet. It was serene.
"I forgive you. I hope you forgive me."
A warm breeze circled around her, fluttering her hair into her face. She pulled an elastic out of her vest and tied the long brown locks into a loose ponytail. She pulled out a tangled split end, sighing and realizing she kind of missed her short hair. But only a little.
Her attention was grabbed by a dull booming way off in the distance. She glanced over her shoulder in the direction they had come from. A frown crossed her face as she pulled out her phone to check the time.
"Uh oh. I think we're no longer alone out here."
The Alpha turned as well and growled in the direction of the noise. Ruby pushed herself up to her feet.
"Time for us to go. South side of the forest. Post haste, my friend."
The Alpha barked and stood up, leaning its neck down for her to climb. With a patient flip, she landed on its neck, one leg on each side, and grabbed the big Grimm by its scruffy fur.
"Let's go, pal."
She gripped tight as the Alpha reared up and bellowed out a mighty, earth-shattering roar before landing on all fours again and bolting off in the direction opposite the dull booming. Ruby kicked her heels into the beast's neck, gently enough to alert it to her intentions.
"Hyah!"
The Alpha understood, accelerating to an alarming speed as they crashed through the forest, flattening trees and bushes and lesser timid Grimm underfoot. Ruby grinned.
Closure
/.../
They burst through the edge of the woods like a cannonball through timber, felling a small row of short evergreens as they made it to the wide open plains that bordered the south end of Kayaba Forest. The Alpha kept running for a few moments more, flattening huge patches of long grass beneath its enormous paws and filling the air with dusty pollen. They finally slid to a stop and turned around close to a kilometre and a half from the edge of the woods. Ruby shook out her shoulders and took a moment to breathe, as did the Alpha, no doubt exhausted from the long run. Ruby chuckled.
"Whew, that wasn't so bad. We got away, didn't we?"
The Alpha huffed deeply and sat down on its hindquarters, letting her slide down its back and onto the ground. They had ran far south enough that the weather had cleared of snow, and the chill had left the air. In fact, they were far south enough that her phone buzzed in her pocket to alert her that it had connected to the mainland cell service of Mistral. She rolled out her damaged wrist and circled around to stand next to the Alpha and look back on the forest. And all of a sudden, she was glad the Alpha had understood her when she said 'post haste'.
"Oh, fuck."
The sky above Kayaba forest had turned a dull, dark grey. Not from clouds, not from smoke. But from the entirety of the Atlesian Air Fleet hovering over the north side of the woods. Every battle cruiser, every mother ship, what looked like every single transport Manta, and every one of the long skinny Corvettes hoved slowly into view over the treetops with a distant humming of repulsion drives.
"I'm glad we got out of there when we di-"
All of a sudden, the whole Atlesian fleet opened fire on the forest below them, lighting up the sky with muzzle flare from tens of thousands of machine guns, ground attack artillery, and heat-seeking missiles pointed directly downwards. After a few long seconds, the sounds and shockwaves of explosions met her, shaking her boots and ears as the barrage continued. After a few seconds, it all stopped, and she watched as the fleet advanced closer. She raised her eyebrows.
"You know what, James? This might be overkill."
She turned to the Alpha and reached her hand out to stroke its fur one last time.
"I think it's time for you to go, my friend."
The Alpha seemed to whine softly deep in its throat. Ruby clicked her tongue.
"I know. I'm gonna miss you too. But you can't be around when they come to pick me up."
The beast nodded slowly, and stood up to full height once more. Ruby grinned up at it.
"I'm sure we'll see each other again, oh great Protector of Anima. You're a noble animal. And a better friend than most."
The Alpha bowed deeply, like the Cervidae on her farm had. She nodded.
"Take care of yourself. Don't get into any trouble. And thank you."
She received a very gentle but very damp lick on the face from the beast's twelve-foot-long tongue. A chuckle escaped her.
"Auf Wiedersehen, Alpha."
After another very tiny whine, she Alpha backed off, lifted its head up high, and turned back towards the forest. She watched it go, bounding through the field almost silently despite its massive size and weight. Just as it reached the edge of the forest, it stopped and turned back to look at her. She smiled back, seeing how small the huge Beowulf really looked compared to the substantial trees, even knowing quite intimately how large it really was. She gave it a little wave. The Alpha bellowed out one last humongous roar and turned and bounded back into the forest and out of sight. She sighed.
"Goodbye, Kayaba Forest."
She reached up under the back of her combat vest and pulled out the flare gun velcroed to the small of her back. She brought it around and opened the forty millimetre wide chamber, fiddling with the latch on her right breast pocket. She pulled out one of the flares, a green cased cartridge almost the size of a soda can, and slid it into the chamber, flicking it shut like she'd seen in the movies. It was a bit of a stretch for her small hand, but she managed to pull back the hammer with her thumb, cocking the gun and readying it. She lifted the barrel up to the sky.
"It's been fun."
She pulled the trigger.