"It's hot!" Shouted a sweaty Nora as she pulled her items from the pickup and looked around. The engines on the cars had finally given out and left their passengers in the middle of the Vacuoan desert. Yang was still mumbling and kicking the tires in frustration, her main concern: what the humidity will do to her hair. Blake and Ruby were waiting ahead of the group, both watchin the scene before them.
Weiss, being the ice queen-literally and figuratively-was most definitely out of her comfort zone. She was sweating more than anyone, her hair removed from the siganture side ponytail to a messy bun, jacket around the waist and pants rolled up mid calf. The Schnee heiress was forcibly gifted with Cat's water bottle and cooling pack. Despite all her arguements she eventually took them reluctantly, making the wolf promise to take care of herself as well.
"Alright, you brats." Coco said from atop the pickup, "The road in front of us will lead us to the nearest town, which is 'bout a day or so away. With resting spots along the way so we won't be camping. Let's go, this heat is killer on my hair." Fox chuckled, helped the commander down and followed after her. Yang caught up to her team with the provisions on her back. "At least we won't be out here too long, if they put up resting spots." She followed after her raven haired girlfriend, adjusting the strap along the way. Catalaya checked on the ice mage once more before checking her weapon and trailing after the pale girl.
1Hour and 30 Minutes of Walking Later
"Oum dammit!" Yang shouted as more sand got in her eyes. "How much longer are we going to be walking?" They'd been following the road for a while now and she was tired. She was carrying her tired sister on her back and barely even shuffling over the dunes. Blake wasn't doing much better, she was leaning against Pyrrha as she walked, both's water almost gone. "Should be another 3 miles straight ahead." Coco said from atop Yatsu's back, she gave up walking a while ago.
Cat was walking ahead, seemingly unaffected by the scorching heat. Truthfully, she felt like she was being cooked from the inside out. She didn't understand why they wore these skins constantly. Plus, she'd been so worried about Weiss, ice mages just starting out aren't known for doing well with the heat.
That and she hadn't taken herself into account. She had enough and stopped, drawing Weiss' attention. "Cat, what are you do-" she stopped mid sentence as she took in the sight in front of her. Catalaya had taken off her shirt and left her toned musculature out for the world. She gulped as she watched sweat slide down her torso and fly from her hair as she shook her head. "Snow, you alright?"
Weiss blinked, Cat was gazing at her with concern,"Your face is red." Weiss turned her head away. "Just fine." She'd almost walked away when she felt herself being lifted and screeched. Catalaya had picked her up and then held her to her chest. "You should rest." Weiss' mouthed opened and closed like a fish as she fought for soemthing to say. "No arguing."
The tall woman continued on, placing the paler one's bag on her back, not noticing the way Nora tried to hold her laughter. "Way to go, Catalaya!" Yang shouted aways from the duo. Weiss blushed and hid her face in Cat's chest.
The group walked for another two hours before Nora shouted, "Holy Mother of Sloths!" She ran off from the group,"Sanctuary!" She shouted like a banshee. The rest followed close after and found what they need, a reststop. When the building crossed their gaze, even the most tired were sprinting to the front door. Catalaya, of course, was still hung up on one thing, "Snow?" Weiss looked up from her comfortable position, "Who is the Holy Mother of Sloths?" Weiss chuckled and said, "It's nothing."
Yang and Ruby were fighting to get into the fridge first, each desperately in need pf water. They only stopped when Weiss opened the fridge door and took two bottles out,"Just get a water you dolts." She walked her way back to Catalaya as the sisters took a bottle with embarrassment on their faces. "Here." Catalaya was cleaning her katana and looked up, "Thank you, Snow." Weiss sat down and watched the process of her cleaning her sword."Why do you call me Snow and not Weiss?" She asked after taking a sip of her water. Cat paused for a second in thought then shrugged,"I prefer to call you Snow." Weiss nodded and leaned back in her chair. It was a peaceful calm between the two, at least, until Nora showed up dragging Ren behind her.
"Hey, Cat." She plopped down in front of them,"Got any more stories?" Catalaya chuckled at the childlike look in her face,"I have a few. What would you like?"Ruby jumped up and ran to the slowly forming group,"How about your sword? I can tell there's a story behind it." Yang ruffled her hair,"No, your just a weapon geek." Catalaya smiled and nodded,"Does it have a name?" Velvet asked laying across Coco's lap. "Balanced Insanity. It's actually two swords merged together." They looked confused, "Can you explain? That doesn't seem possible." Jaune said.
Catalaya nodded,"As you can see, the handle is obsidian and bone. With obsidian being a brittle material the most you could make is a carving knife, unless it ends up enchanted. Bone, however, is a lot easier to work with." She held the sword, handle first, to the group. "The obsidian is part of a sword called Devil's Insanity. Imbued with the strength of five hundred thousand demons. It generated immense heat that could cut through any substance or material." She tilted the blade into the sunlight, "It would also shimmer in the daylight, as you can see." The blade shimmered dark black beneath the light coming through the curtains.
"And the other part?" Ren questioned as he stroked Nora's head. "The Gods Wrath, was made to combat Devil's Insanity. Made of the finest steel and enchanted by high order preists and monks to fight off the evil within. It would become incredibly hot when used, stopping any magic on contact." Ruby oohed and awed as Catalaya explained the two swords properties.
"Then how did they end up merged?" Pyrrha asked from the front. "During a 4 day battle in the Blood Lands, both swords were knocked from the grip of rhe dueling swordsmen and flew across the terrain. They came near a traveling monk who almost immediately ran into the two swordsman, he sensed that the weilders were unbalanced in spirit and mind. So, in the process, they brought only destruction. So, the monk merged the two swords, intending that only one of balanced spirit should weild it."
She held the katana in her hands, "Neither warrior, because of the new requirements could not weild it without being burned. So, in rage, they attacked the monk and ran back to their respective kingdoms. The monk survived and brought the weapon to the only place that guaranteed its protection, Drelathaer."
"Your homeland?" Velvet asked. Cat nodded,"As I said before, to become like myself their must be control over the darkness inside. My ancestors believed since the sword desired one with true balance, they would find one who could weild it and gain power. For many centuries, warriors were trained in hopes of acquiring the weapons power. They failed, each and every time they attempted." Weiss leaned forward,"Then you came along, right? They trained you?"
Catalaya shook her head,"No. They were only training males, women weren't allowed in the ranks until my father came into power but they still couldn't be part of the special groups. My brother Jīnsè trained me in secret. I wanted nothing to do with the politics of the clan, so I asked him to train me, he agreed." Ruby raised her hand slightly, "How long did he train you?"
Cat scratched her chin in thought, "We started when I was around 5 years old, it went from there. My mother found out and decided to test my abilities on the sword, she didn't trust any of the other applicants. I was brought to the temple and placed in front of the sword, given the same direction all before me were given: hit the target across the room."
"I unsheathed the blade and stood. It felt kinda hot then it became freezing cold then nothing as I turned to the target. I pushed my power into the blade and with a simple swipe half the back wall, along with the target, was destroyed." Coco laughed, "That must've been hard to explain."
Cat nodded, "It was, that it was. My father was furious I had practically destroyed the temple, until he realized I still held the sword in my hand, I wasn't being repelled by the enchantments. I ended up being trained by the same monk who enchanted the weapon, he also helped me come here."
"What about your father?" Cat growled, "He wanted me to join the army, I refused. He threatened to remove my privileges, I told him where to shove them." Yang burst out laughing, "Basically, he was pissed, huh?" She said rolling on the floor with laughter. "Indeed he was. I told him that I wanted to go out on my own, he wanted me to prove my strength. I did." "What do you mean?" Weiss asked with worry in her voice.
"He challenged me to a fight. Last one standing would win. My father isn't wolf like me, he is lion, a lot faster than me. So he was able to hit me before I even blinked, it how I got these scars." She turned to thw side to show 3 diagonally parallel scars. "He caught me when I turned, I grabbed his neck and threw him through a wall after, knocked him out cold." "Damn, that's impressive." Coco said. "Was it worth it?"
"Ask me in a week." She turned to the window, "We should sleep." She sheathed her blade and curled on the floor not to far from Weiss' spot on one of two beds. The group split up; Weiss, Ruby, and Blake shared one bed while Yang and Cat slept on the floor, they didn't mind. Nora, Pyrrha, and Velvet another bed while Coco slept on the floor. The boys slept in the living room spread around. The group fell asleep almost instantly, snoring and drooling in various positions. Sometime in the middle of the night, Weiss had fallen off the bed and landed on Cat. "Shit," she lifted herself slowly, "sorry about that." Catalaya grunted and wrapped a large paw around the princess and snuggled closer.
She tried to lift the large black paw but stopped when the bundle of fur growled and pulled her closer with her back to the wolf's chest. "Fine," she grumbled, "don't be so rough. 'Night Catalaya." Catalaya grunted in response and rested her chin on the pale girls head, relishing in the feeling of her smooth hair.
1:10am Next Day
Bam! Bam! Bam!
"Up and at 'em! Lets get moving!"Coco shouted from the doorway. "Grab your stuff, we're leaving in a hour." Team RWBY remained asleep, so she took it into her own hands to wake up the soldiers. She told Nora to go wake them up. What happened next was just strange. Nora kicked in the door with surprising force and readied herself to shout only to find team RWBY laying atop a large black wolf with calm looks on their faces, resting peacefully. The wolf turned to Nora and shushed her with its paw before carefully rising. It lifted each girl onto its back and walked to the bathroom carrying their clothes in its jaw. Thirty minutes later, it came back and plopped each of them on the couch before curling at Weiss' side.
No one said a word.
"So," Jaune started awkwardly, "what was that?" The four girls looked at him with untamed anger then looked at his female teammates then went back to tiredly eating their pancakes. Ren nodded and handed them some pain pills and went back to flipping pancakes. After eating they packed up and headed out into the chill air. The sun still hadn't risen and it had become frighteningly cold overnight, "Better than walking in the heat." Coco had said as they started off on their trek to a possible hiding place of an armor piece.
Blake walked while leaning on Yang and Ruby drowned herself in some music from her headphones as Weiss walked beside Catalaya in her wolf form. The paler woman seemed to be doing much better now that she wasn't practically melting. Cat snapped at Nora for the fifth time when she tried to hop on her back while she led the teams to the temple not to far. This time it didn't take long as Cat was guided by the magical energy in the air. The arrived at a large sand dune as Cat sat in front of it and did nothing. "Where is it?" Nora asked impatiently. Catalaya sighed, returned to her original form and began to scrounge around in her pack only to pull out a book with silver etches, and ruby's in the leather. She flipped to a specific page then took two steps right, four forward, three left then bent down and wiped away some sand and motioned for the group to come.
They gathered around to see a sandstone circle in the ground, words written her native tongue,"What does it say?" Ruby asked.
"I sink deep between the tan grains, thrashing for air. The darkness closing in, my heart cries in despair. Instead of breaking, I wait to bend. Running quickly to the end as I sink again."
"Didn't tell me there would be riddles."
Yang groaned,"What does it mean anyway?"
"Tan grains? That means sand, obviously." She said. "I sink deep between sand?"
"Quicksand?" Weiss said.
"But why quicksand? To hide the entrance?" Blake speculated.
"What are those thing on the edge?" Velvet asked.
"The number 15."
"Why?" Ren asked.
Catalaya turned and said,"The fifteen. Five gods. Five devils. Five mortals." Then she perked up and ran off,"Follow me." The groups ran after her, she'd led them to the back of the dune that looked to be made of moving quicksand. "In there." "No way in hell I'm going in there." Yang said,"Do you know how hard it is to get sand out my hair?" "Trust Yang to have her priorities straight." Weiss mumbled. "Ruby, got any rope?" Coco asked. "Yeah, why?"
"So we can send one person in, with the rope tied around them." Catalaya said.
They tied the rope around the waist of the wolf and hoped it worked. Weoss watched worriedly as Cat walked right into the swirling wall, holding onto the rope for dear life. When the rope went slack, she had a heart attack. "Oh my dust! Is she okay?" She asked. They watched the swirling wall stop and begin to seperate vertically, creating a pathway through the thick substance. On the other side was Catalaya patiently waiting and shaking sand from her hair. Weiss sighed in relief, "Worried about your girl, princess?" Yang said as she moved forward. Weiss promptly flicked her forehead, hard. They couldn't see anything as the quicksand wall closed back up. Something clicked, the side of the wall sparked and caught flame, illuminating the hallway. Cat stood beside one with a claw on the wall, "Everyone okay?" They nodded and she flipped through her book again. "According to one of the travelers who came here, they encountered simple traps after crossing the first entry way about 7 meters from here." She closed her book and activated her armor,"Be careful."
They took the hint and loaded their weapons. Velvet took pictures of the writing along the walls, hoping Cat could translate them,"What does the writing say?" "It's in Elven, I don't know the language." "Oh." "But there should be a red book in my bag, it should tranlate the text for you." Cat tossed said book to the bunny faunus who smiled in thanks and watched as the writing on the walls translated itself onto the blank pages. "Stop." Cat said as they crossed the first entry way.
There were labeled tiles along the floor, placed randomly from her view. She tapped the first one, an eagle. It fell, into some kind of pit, "It's a pit of sand snakes, incredibly poisonous." She looked out across the room,"We nees to follw a certain pattern, or else." Cat flipped through her book again,"Step on the exact ones I do." With her eyes on the book she stepped onto the fish, the lion, the monkey, the snake, the bear. She ended up on a platform in the middle of the room that held no tiles. The group carefully made the same steps and gathered on the platform right when the tiles and platform lowered themselves. "What's going on?" Jaune asked looking pale. "Its taking us to the next level, which should be approaching about now."
On cue a doorway appeared in front of the group. They walked through numerous trap, trick door, giant boulders, and arrows shooting form the walls. It was the final one that caused problems. "What does the book say about this one?" Blake asked. "Nothing. The author didn't finish." Ruby turned. "Wait, why?"
Catalaya showed the pages to the group, the words cut off abrubtly. The pages were covered in dried blood and tears. Something fell to the ground with a growl. "Mierda mierda."Catalaya said. "Cerastes."
"What's a Cerastes?" Jaune asked. A pit in the room caught fire shadowing the large figure in the room. "That."
Rising from the sand is a humongous serpent. Two large ram-like hornssat atop its head as it watched the group with hunger in its eyes. Catalaya unsheathed her katana, "Velvet and Yastu I need you two to go to the alter behind it and unlock the case. It'll be encoded and in need of translation so take the red book I gave you." Coco didn't seem to like that plan untill she realized what she was doing. "You want us to keep it occupied while she translates the script and Yastu protects her?" Catalaya nodded. "Alright. You heard the woman." Yastu and Velvet slowly seperated form the group inadvertently catching the sand serpent's attention which was quickly drawn back by Yang shooting it in the face. The duo ran to the alter and watched the tablet translate itself onto the book.
Catalaya ran forward at startlingly fast speeds and roundhouse kicked the serpent's head when it lunged at Jaune, "Idiot!Keep moving, never stay in one place!" She shouted as it flung her into a wall which she used as a backboard, launching herself back at it with a diagonal slash to the neck. The remnants of team CFVY were unloading clip after clip of bullets into the sand monster alongside JNPR and RWBY. The combined effort chipped its scales and damaged its left horn.
The moment it fell to the ground, the serpent burrowed into the sand seemingly disappearing. It jumped up again by Nora's feet, she barely moved in time to shoot it. Catalaya cast a quick spell to see the spitual energies of her companions, each was incredibly stong but the one that stood out the most was Weiss'. It seemed dampened down, much like hers when she doesn't use her magic.
She had a plan,"Nora, cover me!" She ran over to where Weiss and Blake were situated behind an overturned table. "Weiss, you need to use your magic." "Yeah, small problem." She paused to quickly reload,"I don't know how." She fired off again. "Then what about with the Draugr?" Blake asked ducking from a stray sand stone chunk. "I don't know what I did! I just saw it and the next thing I knew I had an ice sword and had leapt 30 feet." Catalaya turned to her, "What were you feeling?"
"Pardon?" Weiss asked confused. "How did you feel before that? When you first saw it?" "Scared. I was scared out of my mind when I saw the thing."
She continued firing,"Then I was angry, angry that it would try to harm my friend and by the time I opened my eyes, I'd severed its arm." Catalaya smiled, "Magic is emotion. The stronger the emotion, the more powerful. Use that. Use that anger and fear and turn it into something good."
She took her hand and gripped it firmly,"Push your emotion into this bullet." She put it into the chamber, "Imagine, visualize power flowing into it," she turned to the serpent, "and fire."
Blake watched with curiosity as the gun began to produce a soft blue glow as Weiss closed her eyes, breathed deeply then opened them and fired at the creature. A flash of white light hit the Cerastes and exploded into long jagged ice shard that dug into its flesh and protruded out the other side. The serpent thrashed in pain and its movements slowed. "Keep it busy, I need to sever its head." With that Catalaya took off toward the giant sand snake as Weiss repeatedly keep firing shards past its durable scales. Catalaya jumped onto a table then flipped backwards onto the adjacent wall. She called forth the dark flames and leapt high into the air. The ceiling became a spring board as she twisted midair and completely severes the monster's head from its body.
The creatures body dissolved into black sand and sunk deep into the ground beneath them. Catalaya recalled her black flames and sheathed her katana just as Velvet cried out "I've got it!" They ran, helping their injured to the alter where she stood over the red book. "It says "Of many animals, few are as strong as the few that are weak. Of which creature did the five gods intend to speak?" Velvet lookes to Catalaya who was chuckling to herself. There were small caricatures underneath the riddle. "The fish. The lion. The monkey. The snake. The bear." "Aren't those the tiles we saw before?" Yang asked. "Indeed." Velvet pressed each one in the order the were given.
The alter top began to shake, it then opened like a sliding door displaying the groups well earned prize. A piece of the armor, the left leg to be exact. Yastu was reaching in to grab it when Ruby stopped him,"It could trigger something." Coco looked at her curiosly,"And you think that because?" Ruby shrugged sheepishly,"Its like that in movies." Catalaya interjected,"She is right, I once had to retrieve an item in a situation similar and moving it triggered the final trap. Be careful." Slowly Yatsuhashi picked up the armor piece and placed it into a metal case. The giant of a man let out a breath and the vault began to shudder and shake.
"Told you so." Ruby said as she hefted her bag and followed the others back out the way they came. They stumbled and pushed the iniured first out the temples entrance. But panicked when they realized they were missing two people. Cat and Weiss. Yang tried to run back in but was stopped by Blake as she pointed to the quicksand wall. Weiss was using an ice dome to push the sand back, effectively keeping it from suffocating her and the tall girl on her shoulder. Once they breached the wall she collapsed on the ground dropping Catalaya beside her. "What happened to you guys?" Ruby asked. "You were right behind us."
"Floor caved in." Weiss said between pants, "Cat took the brunt of the fall and impaled herself on a spike." True to her words there was a gaping hole in her side that was sluggishly healing itself. Velvet worriedly looked over the wound despite Cat's weak protest against it, it wasn't too bad, she was using her magic to heal the wound although it will heal slowly due to how tired she was. The group decided to head back to the lodge then go into the nearest town for supplies and transportation the next morning. No disagreements there, each one of them was worn out.
9:47pm Same Day
After stiching each other up and eating their meager supplies the Hunters happily fell into a deep sleep. Some barely made it to their spots before fatigue completely overtook them. While the groups were sleeping through Yang and Nora's snoring, which was a miracle in itself, Weiss found herself unable to sleep. The previous events plaguing her mind, from how she felt her powers come to her more easily, the giant sand snake, and the temple's collapse. One thought in particular kept her from getting the rest she needed; Catalaya.
The way she held her hand during the battle and how she took the brunt of Weiss' fall, injuring herself in the process. She just did it, she was impaled on a stalagmite and bleeding out. Yet, when Weiss said she was unharmed, she smiled in relief. Pulling herself off the rock, she held Weiss' hand as they moved through the cave floor, she didn't ask for help, it was like as long as Weiss was safe, she'd keep going. This caused her to think back on the conversation they had when Cat began to lose consciousness. They'd stopped to rest, leaning on the wall side by side. The blood flow had slowed and Weiss watched with morbid fascination as the wolf girl's flesh and muscle stiched itself together.
The tendons rejoined one another as nerves returned to their pathways. She looked up to see Catalaya breathing heavily and wincing with each inhale,"Why did you break my fall? You could've been killed, you idiot." Catalaya dryly laughed,"I don't know. All I remember is thinking you would get hurt and the next thing I'm stuck on a pointy rock." Weiss blushed slightly when Cat said,"I like you too much to see you in pain." She coughed up a bit of blood and mumbled, "I wish to make you mine before-" That was when Cat finally lost consciousness and Weiss carried the much taller girl to the temple entrance where her friends awaited.Before what?
Weiss shook her head and carefully got up ftom the bed and walked outside to think. The cold desert at bight, was somehow very relaxing to her now. She watched carefully as what she recognized as Catalaya's wolf prowl the dunes near the lodge.She must be hunting some of the small creatures around here. Weiss thought to herself as Cat trotted back with small specks of blood tinging her fur. Her ears perked when she saw the pale girl, she happily walked next to her and sat on her right, a grin on her face. Weiss wiped the blood from her snout with her handkerchief then leaned into the warm body as though nothing happened.
They simply enjoyed the others mere presence to the point where Weiss was finally able to fall asleep while gripping the wolf. Catalaya smiled and carefully picked up the girl and brought her back to the room. Grabbing the pale girls blanket, she curled up on her pile of blankets, pulled Weiss to her chest and wrapped her under the blanket. "Mine." She growled to herself and pulled the girl closer so she could listen to the heartbeat of her frozen angel.