Akame waited for a few hours, the bodyguards never left the building, Miss Malachite probably never told them any of the information she got from her informants either, she wanted to catch one of them so it would have been easy business dealing with the other and Miss Malachite but they never left the building so she could only assume that they had a tunnel to leave or they lived there, with a sigh Akame left to head home, as she wandered away she couldn't help but feel that she was being watched again... this time it was a bit different, last time it had killing intent, this time it had nothing but intrigue, she began to move in a fashion that would be difficult to follow, in the past few days she had to act as the prey more so than the predator, with a sigh Akame walked downwards into the city
(o)
Yang leaned on the side of the map table, Esdeath was currently in a meeting with Ironwood and the other council members, she was told to wait, so she waited. For the first time in a while she began to think of Qrow... she really needed to apologize for what she said... he probably doesn't even remember
"Yang, how've you been getting used to this?" Williams' voice came from behind her, closing her eyes Yang turned around and then reopened them, the woman before her looked vastly different now, not physically, but now that she knew more about this... woman, she could see everything she couldn't the last time they met, she seemed smaller than last time too, but her expression was one of pure spite
"Shut your mouth." Yang growled as she took a few steps away from her
"You seem a little angry." William commented as she began to walk around the map table "Wouldn't you want me to remove my control over you?"
"I'm stronger than you, I don't need you to-"
"Those eyes still haunt you, Those burning red eyes. The Grimm spook you still, I have seen inside your mind and I can see your fears." William said coldly as she began to walk around the room, Yang felt her eyes begin to burn, the room grew dark and she could hear growling
"Stop it." Yang ordered as she looked around the forest she was in, the glowing red eyes seemed to fill every shadow, she couldn't tell which type of Grimm they were "Stop it!" Yang ordered again, as she raised her fists to defend herself, but found her cybernetic was gone, and her gauntlet was gone as well she was completely defenseless, breathing heavily Yang began to spin around trying to see all of her enemies, the sound of movement was right behind her, but every time she looked over her shoulder there was nothing there, beginning to panic a bit Yang swung wildly earning a cold laughter
"No matter how strong you become you'll still be nothing more than my puppet." Williams voice echoed from all around her, covering her ears Yang concentrated on what was muffled by her hands, kicking her leg back she opened her eyes and watched as the forest faded back into the previous room, Yang quickly spun around and rushed the slowly recovering woman, cocking her arm back
"Freeze." William ordered just as Yangs' fist was about to hit her, Yang tried to move but found her body wasn't obeying her "You hit rather hard, sadly though..." William trailed off as she leaned forward and rested her forehead on Yangs', who seemed extremely irradiated by the close proximity "After master Esdeath sent me to the command ship I thought I would never get to see you again... but luckily for me I get to brief you on your mission. Aren't formalities beautiful?" William whispered as she pulled Yang closer to her "You breath because allow you to." William whispered into Yangs' ear, Yangs eyes slowly began to close as she felt her body shut down slowly "You may breath." William said causing Yang to begin to gasp for air but she could do little else, any attempt to speak was canceled out by her own gasping for air
"You even sound like a dog, maybe that's what you should be. Give me enough time in your head and I can make you forget you even have a little sister." William added with a giggle, Yangs' eyes turned a bright red and she began to focus on William who was listing off things that she could make Yang do
"Perhaps I'll make you a foot rest, you seem like you would fill that role perfectly, or perhaps-" William excitedly listed until her voice was cut short by a pair of hands rapping around her throat, Yang had moved enough to get a hold of William, she made no effort to get Yang to release her, Yang squeezed as hard as she could her eyes seemed to be burning red, William continued to stare at Yang as she acted on instinct
"Yang?" She needed to kill this woman, again tightening her grip Yang pushed her semblance farther that before she felt her hand start shaking as she applied more and more pressure until she heard a sickening pop which snapped her back to reality, William was lying in front of her, her neck was bruised and crushed, with a gasp Yang leapt back but failed to stand, crawling away from corpse she crawled back until she hit something, looking up she saw Esdeath who was staring past her at the corpse
"I... I- I- I don't..." Yang stumbled as she looked at the corpse again then back to Esdeath who wasn't even paying attention to her, Esdeath closed her eyes and sighed
"Raven, take William to Alexei." Esdeath ordered as she walked over to Yang and held her hand down to her, Raven walked over to Williams' body, picked her up and walked out of the room, slowly taking Esdeaths' hand she was pulled up
"I'm so-" Yang began but was silenced by a hard strike to her jaw sending her back to the ground
"If William is truly dead there will be hell to pay." Esdeath hissed as she walked over to Yang and pulled her up by her hair "If she is alive then you got very lucky." Esdeath hissed again, Yang couldn't help but try to make herself look smaller "William is an important tool for me. If you ever endanger her again, I will make you wish you never met me. Do I make myself clear." Esdeath growled earning a quick nod from Yang "Good." Esdeath said with a sigh "Now deactivate your aura." she ordered, Yang listened and let her aura drop, immediately regretting the choice she heard a sickening snap and powerful pain surge through her left arm, dropping to her knees she muffled her scream, as she stared at her now broken arm
"Use this pain to remind you what happens if you harm anyone who serves me again." Esdeath said in a cold tone
"But she invaded my mind!" Yang quickly said through gritted teeth
"I know, and she will be spending a few days with me in the torture chambers for that." Esdeath said with a sigh "But you cant go killing my servants because they used to be able to control you. Now then, heal your arm we have work to do." Esdeath ordered leaning on the table, Yang quickly reactivated her aura and felt the pain slowly fade away into a dull throbbing, she knew that Esdeath needed to act this way, she had just, apparently, nearly killed an important tool for her
"I'm sorry... for trying to kill William." Yang apologized then began to blink in surprise when she realized what she said "William... it doesn't sound weird anymore."
"Yes because when you broke her neck she failed to have the dominate personality between you two, she can no longer control you." Esdeath explained as she placed a map on the table and activated the hard-light mapping causing the hills and mountains to protrude from the map
(\_/)
Qrow was paralyzed, his body was still dying but a lot slower now, enough time for the others to get back with the supplies, Chelsea stared at the needle in her hands, it was another paralysis needle, she kept debating on if she could actually save him
"Hey, we got the roots, leaves, and syrup, you needed." Tatsumi said pushed the door open, Chelsea quickly moved away from Qrow so she could maintain some amount of her reputation
"Yeah... thank you, I just need the water and alcohol then I can get to work." Chelsea quickly said as she stood, Tatsumi raised his eyebrow
"Why were you so close to him?" Tatsumi asked causing Chelsea to quickly begin to wrack her brain trying to figure out a way to play it off
"I... was... trying to hear if his heart was beating properly!" Chelsea answered with an awkward laugh
"Ever since Qrow got here you have been acting strangely." Tatsumi commented as he placed his box on the ground then stepped out of the way and Lubbock placed his on top of that box
"Why did you need so much stuff?" Lubbock asked with a sigh
"Because I have to make a few generalized tonics that will help him stop dying..." Chelsea commented as she began to separate the different substances "Can't we ever just get a visit without the need to help them?" Chelsea asked with a sigh as she placed her hand on Qrows' shoulder
"If you wanna ask... whoever maintains this place, be my guest." Tatsumi answered earning a hum from Chelsea, Qrow groaned and rolled over onto his side nearly falling off the couch but was caught by Chelsea and rolled back
"You stay right there, don't need you taking any more damage than you have to." Chelsea ordered earning a cough from Qrow
(o)
Ruby walked over to Qrow and summoned a barrier of ice around him
"Jaune keep close to him." Ruby ordered as she leapt upward into the tree he was resting near looking around she couldn't seem to see anything, a slight fog had rolled in and what she could see was mostly outlines, looking around she tried to see any movement, looking down at Jaune
"Check the ground, see if it's steps are heavy." Ruby ordered, Jaune knelt down and felt the ground, he felt two small vibrations going towards him and another massive set of vibrations moving towards them
"Ruby we got company!" Jaune called up to her, Ruby jumped down next to him and looked over her shoulder, Ren and Nora ran up next to them both seeming exhausted
"We... made it in time..." Nora panted out as Ren looked happily over Jaune and Ruby, they were both safe
"Good, we have to get out of... here..." Ren trailed off as his eyes drifted over towards the loud clopping, Ren paled as he dropped to the ground, Ruby turned around and her eyes widened
"Aren't you a rare one!" Ruby said with a smile spreading across her face, taking a few steps forward, the large beast looked like a man riding a horse, but the imp riding on the back of the ancient horse was an equally aged imp
"Esdeath told me about the time she found one of you... she told me how your two halves can survive apart from each other, that must be agonizing." Ruby conversed walking towards the beast which roared at her, the immense heat from the roar reaching her, Ruby scoffed and let out an exhale of frost
"You're not special, I can do it too." Ruby commented with a grin
"Get away from that thing Ruby!" Ren shouted his voice seething with rage
"OoOoh keep that fire Ren, it's unique, I'm assuming you lived here?" Ruby quickly deduced as she casually dodged one of the claws of the beast "Do you really think you can catch me like that? Use some of your heads, you have two of them." Ruby snarked as she spun and looked at the others, Ren looked furious, Nora looked scared, and Jaune looked slightly jealous of her skill
"Ruby we have to run." Ren quickly said his voice beginning to shake finally feeling the depth of the situation they were in
"No... no, we wont be doing that, we cant run away from this while carrying Qrow, so we'll slaughter this beast as well as any other ones that come here too." Ruby denied as she rushed the beast, leaping into the air she leaned back ducking under its arm and avoiding the other arm as it launched back towards its body, kicking off the limb above her Ruby hit the ground and rolled out of the way of another attack once she got close enough to strike the horse moved away from her as the imp continued its assault, Ruby ducked under one of the arms and she heard a few small explosions, looking over her shoulder she saw Nora running around the right side of the beast firing at the creature causing it to use its arms to defend its body
with a guttural roar the Nuckelavees' torso began to spin extending its arms out hitting Jaune, Ren, and Nora, Ruby ducked under the first arm but suffered the next strike as it sent her flying into the frozen barrier she created for Qrow, staring at the cracked ice she focused on maintaining the ice again causing the cracks to vanish, Dropping off the ice Ruby began to slow her breathing, listening to her heart beat, she closed her eyes and focused as much of her power into her as possible
"Mahapadma" Ruby shouted causing everything to gain a blue hue and slow to a stop
"Uggh... I really should practice using this ability more." Ruby commented covering her mouth "Okay, let's get rid of you." Ruby said walking towards Nuckelavee, cocking Crescent Rose Ruby aimed at the beasts' heads and fired, there was just a popping noise and nothing happened
"I probably should have realized that firing in frozen time would do nothing." Ruby commented to herself as she pressed the button to collapse the weapon and placed it on her belt then summoned a blade of ice, Ruby cocked her arm back to stab the beast, hearing a clanging noise Ruby looked to her left and cursed, diving back as time returned to normal Ruby felt a powerful strike to her lower back, quickly reaching behind her she grabbed Crescent Rose and looked it over
"Dammit..." Ruby said as she placed the newly broken weapon back on her belt "Jaune! Get ready to move Qrow!" Ruby shouted as she summoned a pair of blades of ice, Jaune blocked a strike from one of the arms and dodged away towards the now slowly breaking barrier that was protecting Qrow
(o)
Esdeath sighed Yang was reading over the mission briefing and asking questions
"Wait... you want me to kill any of the bandits that I find... wont that have a negative impact with Raven and her tribe?" Yang asked looking over to Esdeath
"It will send a message, and it will tell Raven that you are not to be trifled with." Esdeath explained "Besides, they are bandits, they hunt and kill defenseless men, woman, and children, they are weak and I want you to prove that to them." Esdeath added earning a hum from Yang
"Wha-" Yang began but froze, Esdeath looked around
"Oh... It has been a while since Ruby used this ability, I'm sure she will be surprising whoever is powerful enough to force her to use this." Esdeath commented as she stood and walked around Yang, then looped around map table nearby feeling the time stop drop after roughly seven seconds "Huh, I guess she's a little out of practice." Esdeath commented as she leaned on the map table
"-t do you mean... send a... Esdeath?" Yang asked looking around until her eyes landed on the woman "How did you do that?" Yang asked as she stood and walked around to the same side as Esdeath
"Hm? Oh Ruby stopped time, it doesn't effect me because I'm stronger with Demon's Extract than her." Esdeath answered "And I want you to send a message to Raven. Telling her that you are mine, completely." Esdeath explained earning a slow nod from Yang
"Alright, I can do that." Yang agreed resting her hands on the table, Esdeath let out a laugh and began to run her hand through Yangs' hair, Yang seemed content with this, so Esdeath continued petting her
"Yang, you wont be in my presence for a long time, I want to make sure that you wont fall back into weakness." Esdeath said earning a hum from Yang
"I wont fall." Yang said earning a sigh from Esdeath
"Time is a powerful force, but I trust that you will remain mine." Esdeath said as she applied a little more pressure on Yang with each pet
"Yes ma'am..." Yang agreed, she was enjoying being able to relax with one of her closest friends, and Esdeath was able to farther encase Yang in her service
(o)
Ruby leapt forward slashing at the beast, it again dived out of the way and spun again, Ruby dodged each limb as it spun wildly, with anyone else it probably would have hit them, Ruby looked over at Nora and Ren both of whom were launched into the wall of two different building, running towards the beast she slid under it's legs and slashed at its gut causing it to howl and kick Ruby sending her
"Dammit..." Ruby growled spitting some blood, standing she recreated her blades as Jaune ran up next to her
"This is getting us no where. We need a plan." Jaune said watching as Ren and Nora struggled to stand, Ren rushed the beast in a rage
"Ren's lost it." Ruby commented watching as he took a massive strike and kept rushing0
"REN STOP IT!" Jaune shouted but was ignored by Ren, Nora seemed to be just as concerned and called out to him, Ruby sighed as she rained a few spears of ice into the creature causing it to leap out of the way after taking a few hits, Ren seemed to regain his focus after seeing the ice looking over his shoulder at her Ruby looked pissed
"Hey, dumbass, keep your head on straight, running in head first really doesn't seem to be working." Ruby ordered as she gestured for him to dodge, rolling out of the way of one of the arms he moved back over to them, as it began to attempt to remove the larger shards of ice from its body
"It needs its arms to attack, if we can hold it still we can deal some actual damage." Jaune reasoned earning a hum from Ruby as Nora regrouped with them
"If you can get its arms to launch at you guys I can use Demon's Extract to hold it in place." Ruby added as Nora leaned on her hammer
"What about the horse?" she asked with a sigh, she was clearly tired by the battle
"If you wanna crush its head feel free, once both are dead we'll be good to get moving again." Ruby waved off as she ran her hand through her hair and turned back to the Nuckelavee which finally freed the final large spear of ice from its body, with a roar it turned to her, Ren and Nora darted off in two different directions, Jaune looked to Ruby for a second then bolted as the beast charged Ruby, as it charged it launched one of its arms at her, crouching low Ruby leapt over the arm as it slammed right where she was previously standing, summoning a large blade she send it down ripping through the arm and holding it in place, the creature cried out in rage as it launched it's other arm at her, catching her in the throat Ruby was slammed through one buidings' wall, freezing the wall that wasn't shattered Ruby slammed roughly into it. Grabbing the arm Ruby exhaled on the limb freezing it solid
"I'VE TRAPPED IT!" Ruby shouted to Jaune who signaled Nora, like clockwork she dropped from above the beast and crushed the horses' head, Ren threw both
StormFlower cutting off the creatures arms, catching the weapons, Ren placed them on his belt and drew his knife and walked up to the Imp
"You have claimed so many lives, it is time for that to end, its time for the dead to claim their vengeance." Ren spoke in an even tone, he then sliced its head off killing the creature and causing it to fade away, with a sigh Ren dropped to the ground and began to pant
"Good work team!" Jaune cheered as he sat down next to Ren, Nora ran over and hugged Ren with a giggle, Jaune looked around for Ruby but he couldn't find her anywhere
(\_/)
"Qrow, Can you hear me?" Chelsea asked as she fed him a bit of the concoction she created, Qrow didn't respond with words he just nodded drowsily "Good... you should be wearing down the effects of the poison, you'll be alive in no time." Chelsea said earning a groan from Qrow
"I wanna sleep..." Qrow groaned earning a smack upside the head from Chelsea
"If you fall asleep now, you'll die, do you really wanna put Leone through that?" Chelsea berated causing Qrows' eyes to open, he tried to sit up but Chelsea placed her hand on his chest
"Stay lying there, easy. Drink this." Chelsea ordered holding what looked to be a cold black drink "This'll shock your body and put you back where you belong. It'll wake you up."
"Thank you. Chelsea." Qrow thanked as he placed his hand on her shoulder, then used her to sit up a bit
"Ow. Now drink. Oh and it'll taste horrible." Chelsea added with a smile, Qrow rolled his eyes and drank the whole thing down "It'll take it a few seconds to kick in." Chelsea added
"While we wait, mind telling me about your confession earlier?" Qrow asked causing Chelsea to turn a bright shade of red "I knew I wasn't hallucinating." Qrow laughed causing her eye to twitch, quickly standing Chelsea jabbed a needle at his eye but he vanished before she got close
"Damn him." Chelsea happily commented with a warm smile
(o)
Slowly opening his eyes Qrow looked around he was lying on an airship, Ruby was resting next to him, quickly sitting up Qrow reached over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder, he let out a groan as his body screamed for him to stop moving
"Oh, you're awake!" a familiar voice came from his left, looking that way he saw a man dressed in Mistral air patrol uniform
"Li Wei?" Qrow asked earning a laugh from the man
"Glad you remember, we found you five on a whim. You're lucky no ones been out here in years." he added earning a sigh from Qrow
"What do we owe you?" Qrow asked earning a hum from the man as he sat down next to Qrow
"Nothing, not this time anyways. Those kids killed Shāshǒu, we owe you more than you owe us." Li Wei said seriously "If they are what Beacon was producing, then it's surprising that the place was destroyed."
"Yeah... right people wrong time." Qrow agreed as he lied back and groaned "I'm gonna sleep this off for a while longer. Wake me up when we get to Mistral." Qrow added as he shut his eyes and lied back down
"I'll wake you when we get there." Li Wei informed as he looked at his watch for a few seconds
A/N The next chapter will be coming out on the usual day if I can get it done by then, but if I cant it will come out as soon as possible. A couple of these chapters have been a bit of a rough journey, but now that we have reached the home stretch it has been a bit easier, I should also mention that I have a poll going on now, its the first time I've done one of these so it should be... generally simple.