Act V - Life's Pieces
Chapter 41 - Kindred Spirit
[Erika's POV]
It's been months since I last saw my idiotic brother head out on his own, and in that time I had to pick up where he left off, keeping Ruby, Jaune, Nora, and Ren all together while learning more of this world. It was hard, and I couldn't... I haven't stopped worrying about Kai, whatever he was doing, wherever he is. I do hope he was okay, that's all that mattered.
Death. All I could see among the darkened sky was a wasteland of what was once a village, its structures totaled, whist arches fell and rotted into nothing, its a dead-zone of ruins and shambles. The smog hung low, covering areas of the village, Kuroyuri. The stench of death was almost intoxicating, making me pull my scarf over my nose as I coughed.
"Oh, man," Jaune whispered, whilst I moved ahead to see if anything else was around, but even from the entrance, there was nothing, no life, not even plants thrived in this wasteland, dead lotuses shriveled up in old water banks
"I...think Ren was right, there's nothing...just nothing." I gaped, feeling a chill cross my bare arms as I held my jacket close to me. I didn't like it but we had to try, for Qrow's sake. "Come on, even if we can't find anything we should at least tend to Qrow."
With Ruby's Uncle becoming delirious, we had little knowledge of this location or what might be around us. Tyrian was a maniac and while he fled, for now, he'd have the perfect opportunity to strike us, we barely stood a chance against him, and now our greatest defense was gone, along with two of our teammates.
"Any of these places look like a pharmacy?" I heard Ruby ask hopefully, but I just shook my head, staring towards the empty streets ahead of us
"Even if there was, I can't make heads or tails of what buildings are which?" I replied with a puzzled expression
"Ren really didn't want to come here...did he?" Ruby muttered, though...I think I know why
"Uh...didn't seem so," Jaune answered, looking rather off about the environment
"Do you know why?" Ruby tried asking, but Jaune shared my expression at our glance before he sighed
"I think I have a pretty good idea..." Even I felt sorry now, with Ren being very calm and focused, seeing him snap like that was strange, but if your home and family is taken from you, I guess I would be the same
"Kai, is this like how you felt when you arrived in this world?" My empty question rang only with the howls of a breeze
[Flashback...]
"Sis, its been hours, tell us what you and Ruby have been working on, come on!" I heard Kai complain to me, whilst Ruby was adding the finishing touches on my own weapon, the colors looking beautifully destructive for my liking
"One second~!" I sang happily before Ruby wiped the sweat from her head as she smiled happily at the holster for my weapon
"Ok, done!" Ruby called, before the door to maintenance opened, revealing my more badass brother to us both, I quickly covered the item with my body, hiding it from his line of sight. "Its the second prototype two-stage weapon I ever designed, hope it's awesome!"
"Ruby, if you made it, it be like Thor's hammer if given a new form," Kai commented with a flirtatious tone to my mechanic. Really, in front of me? I cleared my throat, making Ruby blush as she regained her composure, Kai stifling a laugh
"R-Right, presenting Erika's Huntress and draconic inspired, buckshot-incendiary-shield!" Ruby announced, allowing me to grab the weapon and present it to my brother, while he kept a neutral expression for the most part
The weapon was modeled after a black Remington Model 870 but with three extra barrels. Faint, silver lines covered the body like scales, while the shell-injection port was instead a glowing meter for Dust, right now it had compact Fire Dust shells, turning both the meter and a few designer points orange. His eyes seemed to glance between it and the slug dispenser before flicking what would be the safety downward and instead the entire structure of the gun unfolded.
A grave shield took its place, the orange glow stretching down the center with the tips of the shield brimming with the same color. After a few short adjustments on his arm, Kai flicked the switch and my shotgun was back.
"It comes with a standard shell injection and pump-action, as the glow in the chamber indicates the dust type. Flicking the safety down converts the powerful buckshot into a weaponized shield capable of releasing elemental bursts from the face, while the edges are sharpened with whatever element is currently in effect." Ruby explained, before I twisted it back, then to the right. "It can also load up to three extra shells for a bigger blast!"
With her breakdown covered, Kai smirked, handing the weapon back to me. "Awesome, and Eric approves while Iota is... Iota, jealous - you are, shut up." Motioning to the shotgun he asked, "What's the name?"
I had given it thought back then, and it still felt right to say it, "Infernal..." I whispered, not realizing that we stopped at a large open courtyard and that Infernal was in my right hand. Why did that memory come back to me? Was it me just daydreaming or something else?
"I'm sorry." Was the first thing to break the silence, as I and Jaune looked to Ruby
"Huh?" Me and Jaune blinked, looking at our leader, who's expression was crossed between hurt and guilt
"This is all my fault, I should have never dragged you guys into this." Ruby apologized for no reason, so Jaune spoke up for us
"You didn't drag us in, we wanted to come." Jaune tried to reassure, but Ruby looked back to Qrow, hands shaking a little
"But, you didn't know about Tyrian, about-"
"Ruby, please don't do this to yourself." I interrupted, smiling softly as Jaune took over for me, but his own expression was filled with regret too
"We nearly...we nearly lost Pyrrha, you almost did too. You lost Penny, and your team, and in a way...your sister and Sky." That last one hurt me too just thinking about it. "But you're still here, despite everything you've lost and everything you could still lose, you CHOSE to come out here. Because you felt like you can make a difference."
"Don't you get it, Ruby?" I began, my hand holding onto hers, whilst Jaune rested his hand on her shoulder. "We came out here...because you gave us the courage to follow you this far and beyond."
For once in the last couple of days, her smile lifted, eyes brimming with the same look of determination as I've come to know. I can see how Kai fell for her, he was a sucker for cute things, it even gave me and Jaune hope too, knowing that if we stuck together, we could change the fate that was handed to us all. I may not have experienced the same things for the same amount of time, but this world meant a lot to me now, I'd be damned to let if fall apart to Salem.
*SCREEEEECH*
The tender moment dissolved. All of us soon froze at the deathly, pained scream of something demonic, unlike any Grimm I've ever heard before. It was strained, almost a chorus of voices screaming in agony, but what scared me more than anything was two things. It sounded like the word 'Die', and the worst...was that it was really close.
Quickly I spun around, loading three extra slugs into Infernal at the ready, but I quickly dropped my guard at Nora and Ren, both panting from the sprint they endured. But Ren seemed to smile in relief at us, whilst I tilted my head.
"Wait, how the hell did you get here so fast?" I pointed to the mountain. "That's at least a couple miles!"
"What are you guys doing here?" "Did you hear that noise, what was that!?"
I heard something, "Wait...do you hear that?" I asked them in a low voice, turning fully to peer into the misty ruins ahead. That's when someone dropped to their knees behind me
"No..." Ren seemed to breathe in utter despair
"Ren, what is it!?" Ruby worried for Ren's collapse, while my eyes immediately fell upon the twisted shadow that now stood before us, my hands wavered with Infernal
"...Something's here." Jaune finally caught on, turning to face my petrified face, my pupils dilating completely
"N-No way...that can't be a Grimm!" I nearly choked, watching as the massive beast shambled from the shadows of buildings, hooves clopping to a stop with a low snort
"Ren?" Nora's shaken tone yet the stage, while I forced the words out like bile
"A-A N-N-Nuckelavee!" I screamed, the human torso rose from its back, riddled with arrows and broken spears. The caged mouth stretched out a long moan of pain, the irregularly long arms twitched at the horse's feet, the skeletal fingers curling tightly. "LOOK OUT!"
*ROOOOOAAAAAR*
Its scream caught us all off guard, forcing us to cover our ears, before we noticed the massive arm stretch in an arch, sweeping us all off our feet, smashing us back towards the tree in a complete daze, only Ren and Ruby seemed to land, whilst me, Nora, and Jaune tumbled in beside them.
When the creature's body rose back up, its body slanted, bones and muscles clicked and snapped to twist the neck to leer down at us, more specifically, at Qrow. Jaune seemed to realize this sooner and ran to grab him, but not before the Nuckelavee's fist reached out to grapple him. Reacting, I swung Infernal around, blasting a roar of flames into the slender arm, seeing it recoil from the crystal shrapnel.
Sensing my danger, it changed its pattern to charging, the building-sized-Grimm steamrolling towards Jaune and Qrow, so I once again took the lead, sliding to the side of the equine, loading another shell for puncture the exposed ribs. The creature reeled back, the horse's front claws pivoting toward me instead.
I rolled backward, avoiding being trampled. Yet the horse's head swung low, knocking me back on my ass while I lost my grip on Infernal. The front legs kicked up again, stepping closer to trample me as the legs came down, crushing the cobblestone between me. Without realizing it, my body had been drained of all color, the rotten breath of the horse sniffed me and soon focused on the gunfire that riddled its side. Could it not see me?
*BOOM-BOOM-BOOM*
Nora fired three of her grenades, causing it to scream and fall back, only then did the veil lift and I felt the strangely mellow wave of emotions revert to as they were moments ago. "Was that your Semblance?" I asked Ren but he seemed entirely focused on the Nuckelavee
"Get out of there, Erika!" Ren yelled, so I didn't hesitate to grab Infernal and regroup, the four of us continuing our gunfire against the large Grimm that kept its distance for a moment, blocking the rounds with its hands, the horse bucking wildly to throw off our aim.
Just then, the horse became stationary, allowing the human torso to twist irregularly to strike us with its retractable arms. I quickly ducked under one, running to duck behind an old wagon, using the cover to fire shots towards the creature's head, landing a few rounds into the horse's muzzle, but then I watched as the Human section covered its face again, just as the horse took command.
"So it can't use both parts of its body simultaneously?" I realized, seeing that this Grimm was far smarter than what Sky and Weiss had explained to me, the only thing I knew was that Grimm who have lived longer grew smarter and stronger, but what kind of hell did this thing crawl through to reach this point of evolution?. "Ruby, I need covering fire!"
"On it!" She called back while I ran to my right, avoiding the arms attempts to snatch me while the sharp ring of sniper fire dug deep into the Grimm's haunches, forcing its eyes to glare back at Ruby and Ren.
That's when I ducked, avoiding the arm of the appendage, as it smashed Ruby into the ground, before its other arm punched Nora away from her, followed by the arms swooping in my direction, I leapt between both elastic joints, buckshot scorching both as I rolled and broke into a sprint. Ren followed by, firing a hail of rounds.
The Nuckelavee countered by snatching onto Ren's arm, locking them both into a stalemate. Ren pulled himself free, just as Jaune came into view.
"Guys, keep moving, go in a circle!" Jaune relayed for us, so we followed his plan, circling the large Grimm as it struggled to focus on a single target, instead it curled its arms up to defend the face, the horse bucking in the direction we ran, keeping us from getting close.
Jaune then moved in, striking the Grimm's back leg, only for the Horse to snort, kicking its back legs out and knocking Jaune towards me and Ruby, as we both kept firing to cover Jaune's recovery. When he did, we watched as he sheaved his blade, which made a smile form on my lips.
"What are you doing?" Ruby protested, Jaune immediately withdrew the scabbard and sword, the edges extended, locking together for a broadsword, the light reflecting off the golden edge. Me and Ruby looked at each other a smile crossing between us as we took to distracting the Grimm for our swordsman.
Jaune got his chance, leaping into the air before bringing the sword down on the Horse's left thigh, releasing a cloud of black smoke with its cry of anguish. That's when it leapt back to stand between us all, with a grotesque snap of bone and muscle, the body twisted, arms flicked outward to sweep the area.
"Everyone, duck!" My warning came to late, so I knocked Jaune backward, just as the sweep of the arm backhanded me up and through the glass of a nearby building, the shock muffled my ears, but I could feel my back recoil from colliding with a wooden object of some kind. I cried out but heard nothing as my aura flickered
I couldn't hear anything but drums in my ears, my breathing was ragged now, seeing the blood trickle into the right side of my vision, whilst my left arm twitched from the laceration across it. This whole aura-control was tough in a situation like this. Dammit, I was sure I had gotten stronger...
"Not...now, I haven't...no..." I tried to speak out against my clouded eyes, but my vision was failing me. I couldn't move my arms or legs, that pulsing feeling in my chest was no longer calm, it seemed to scream at me to move but I felt very sleepy
...
...I remember you telling me something once, before all of this...
My eyes were glossy, I think I was becoming delirious, I was hearing voices now. But I could see him, his content smile as he sat next to the broken window I had sailed through, as though a memory retraced itself over the derelict houses.
...that, no matter what transpired, if we grew apart or... something happened to me, that we'd still be family...
He smiled brightly, clutching his dog-tag.
...subconsciously I hadn't forgotten that it pushed me to move on, to... let others in... don't you see, even with a world between us, you still stuck by my side...
...Even though I've changed alot, I still can't imagine my life without my older sister!
My arm was shaking, but my fingers slowly coiled around the handle of my weapon as I push with all my might to sit up...it burned, no, now it was cold, my breathing was loud and ragged but tickled my senses, Something welled up inside of me, it was burning against a frigid storm.
I wanted nothing more than to hold Kai, to tell him everything was okay... but in the time we spent apart he had become someone entirely new, and it scared me, that I had somehow lost my little brother to time. But it was those words, hearing him say them back to me was almost ironic, but I felt so happy, that, even without my involvement, he kept moving forward on my words.
A soft smile split my lips, "You never deserved to suffer the way you did... and now that you've grown I was so sure I had lost sight of you..." A hoarse chuckle left my lips. "Come on, what kind of person do I take you for...? If we grew apart, I'd kick and scream until I bridged that widening gap."
Kai was out there, fighting a battle I had no clue about, nor did I know what kind of hell he's gone through, what right do I have to sit here and do nothing? He's giving his all, scarred and broken, so I'll do the same, I'll reach him, I'll be there when he needs me no matter what.
Spitting out a glob of blood, a strange current or energy surged across my body, lighting my eyes on fire with a crackling white. "Not yet, I'm not done!"
*BAMF-CRACK*
The Nuckelavee snap its head toward me, blocking with a hand as I slammed a large chunk of stone down into the palm. The fingers coiled around the rock, shattering it as the left arm swept upward, slicing across my iron soles as I flew backward, bolts of white and black snapping across my whole body. Just as the arms flinched toward the shieldless Jaune, I brought my body down with a quaking stomp.
The courtyard's stone folded upward, creating a barrier of stone between us and the horse. "My body's screaming... but I can still move!"
My skin had a slight radiance to it now, while my irises glowed with a sharp white merged to the onyx. My scarlet hair was buzzing with electricity, and my muscles - no, my entire body surged with an untold level of strength and speed, I could barely feel the strike of the claws through my soles. While my energy skyrocketed I could hardly keep this form for long. But I can still move!
The Nuckelavee snarled, eyeing me carefully at my newfound strength. My teeth were bared and I found myself talking like Kai when he was upset or emotional. "No one else... I won't let you hurt anyone else!"
With a deafening shriek, the arms came barreling toward me during my sprint, I swayed to my right, my armpit sliding across the left as I retracted. "I haven't gotten used to this level of speed, need to end this fast!" With a heel to the ground, I broke apart the cobblestone, pushing the Grimm backward from the shockwave
I leapt high, sinking my fingers into the side of a building as I ran up the wall, avoiding another fist that lodged itself in the building. With a carefully timed backflip, the air from another swipe grazed my back just as I came to soar above the Nuckelavee's head. "I'll win with a single strike to the head! How does he say it again...? Oh, right!" "Manchester SMASH!"
With a devastating ax-kick, the foundations under us shattered while the Nuckelavee's body twisted downward from the blow. Or at least, that's how I saw it when in reality, the body had slumped in time to dodge my blow, the left arm prying itself free of the building. "Crap, I can't dodge mid-air."
Ren suddenly flew in from a house with Jaune's shield, pinning it to the ground before it could reach me. Jaune then impaled the limb to the ground, the cries of the Grimm echoed, thrashing in vain as Ruby did the same to the right, using her scythe's naginata form. "Yeah, that works too I guess." I breathed, dropping the power surge I obtained
Sensing its distress, the horse pulled and bucked to pry itself free of the restraints, but Nora came hurdling down from the tower, her hammer crushing the skull of the Horse into the cobblestone, leaving only the human torso to scream and moan in agony at its humiliating defeat. Seeing the end was within sight, I felt my legs give out, as the last of that energy flickered away, and I shivered. "Man it's cold out..."
But I could still feel my head dripping with blood from my forehead, and my arm too, but my eyes were more focused on Ren, who simply walked up to the Nuckelavee, procuring the dagger from its side. Once in range of its face, the face screamed at him, but Ren wasn't even phased, flicking the dagger in his hand, thrusting up once to completely amputate its left arm.
Then he grabbed its horn, before turning to pull the dagger through the back of its right shoulder, leaving it to scream and wiggle like a deranged animal. Ren then flipped the blade again, creating a horizontal, green laceration through its chest. But as it screamed, I read Ren's lips as he opened his eyes, 'For Myself'.
*SHING-thud*
The screams of many were finally silenced with the Nuckelavee's head severed completely, leaving us to watch the rising black smoke. With my heart finally beating at a normal pace, I fell onto my side, hearing Jaune calling my name, but I was barely able to keep my eyes awake, I was so tired.
"-Erika, stay awake!" His shaking was about the only thing keeping me from punching him, but I just whined with a pout at him being stupid
"I wanna sleeeep~!" I cried, trying to rest on the cobblestone, but I did peak an eye open, raised a thumb. "Got my Semblance, think I'll call it... Overhaul." It was right there and then I passed out from exerting all my stamina
To Be Continued...
Ugh, I hate having to do this, pausing every two seconds and stuff to write down a fight, God knows Volume 5 is gonna be a [BEEP]ing treat. Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter dedicated to Erika and her own reason for striving to become stronger. Seeya in the next chapter, maybe, might take a while!
Next Chapter: The Man who Walked the Stars
Sky's training is nothing short of hell, Albatross proves to be a strict and unbeatable teacher with more than a few stories.