My god. This is definitely the longest chapter I've ever written and I'm still not sure if it was big enough.
13k words Honestly doesn't seem like enough here for the things that were covered. You'll see what I mean soon and I'll talk about it at the bottom. There's a lot I want totalk about IRL too in regards to RWBY volume 6 but... I don't want to make the mistake of spoiling anyone who hasn't seen the latest chapter.
General thoughts; great episode, close for my favourite so far this volume and getting me excited for the next one.
I'll leave it at that for now and let tou get into the chapter.
A little note, I'm trying out a new software to catch spleeling mistakes and the liek but this is my forst time using it, not to mention it's a pretty ling chapter so It/ I might have missed some. IfI did and that sort of things bug you feel free to call me an idiot and mention it so I can fix it. I've been going back over old chapters and feeling really bad about the mistakes I never noticed before. I might have to go back and do a full scrub to polish every single chapter if I somehow get the time.
...
Yang couldn't help her erratic breathing.
She tried, oh she tried.
Doing everything she could to steady herself, to reign in her feeling before they collapsed in on her.
It was hard, and with every step she took away from Blake it got harder.
It got so difficult at one point that Sun rested a hand on her shoulder, looking to her in concern.
"Are you alright Yang?"
She panted, shaking her head. They were far enough away that Blake wasn't in view anymore. Only then she spoke.
"You know," she wheezed. "You're not actually supposed to touch someone if they have a panic attack."
The Faunus' hand snapped back. As his eyes widened.
"Are you having an attack?"
She shook her head. "It feels like it a little but… nah, it's different. I used to have them all the time before Beacon. This is just me acting up."
"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" he pressed, a worried look still etched on his face.
She appreciated it more than she thought she would.
Sun was… well he was more than just a friend. Neptune was a friend, a close one, but Sun to Yang… Sun felt like the brother she'd never had; always looking out for her when he didn't need to about the smallest of things. Now was a good example it this and she did feel thankful for it but…
"Oh gods Sun." she hissed, her hands rising to her face. "I almost… I-"
She'd almost lost it. It had been too much, way, way too much. Blake had just been… she'd been there right in front of her.
She'd tried her hardest to push it down, her anger and bitterness, but she couldn't. It had slipped through her control and swallowed her voice.
She had every right to be angry at the Faunus but, but she didn't want to be like that. It made her feel sick to her stomach, like she was going to throw up.
She'd tried to be calm, tried to think that maybe she could talk to Blake and that yeah, she knew things would be heated but that maybe they could talk things out like adults.
That had all gone down the drain as soon as Blake opened her mouth and Yang felt her rage surge through her core.
She'd tried to control it, force it down.
And then…
Yang's eyes flashed red just recalling the conversation.
Blake didn't know.
She didn't even realise she'd done something wrong.
That was… that should have made her feel better somehow she thought, that maybe if Blake was just ignorant to her faults they could work through it but instead;
It just made her feel like she'd swallowed something sour.
Blake didn't care.
Blake didn't care enough to remember the things Yang had been through, or she didn't think they were important enough or-or something else that meant she didn't realise her mistake.
And it hurt.
It hurt in a way Yang couldn't describe with words or thoughts. Her soul had burned.
Blake didn't care, so fuck her!
That… that was how she felt anyway.
And yet her mind knew that while she was justified in how she felt, this… this was far too much. That had been clear when she'd touched Blake. "Sun." she whispered. "If I… if I ever put my hands on Blake against like that I need you to stop me."
"Yang," he said softly. "You know you wouldn't hurt her."
That was the thing though…. Yang honestly wasn't sure.
"It doesn't matter. Please Sun, if… if I ever look like I might-"
"Alright." He nodded. "I'll keep an eye out."
"… thank you." She sighed in relief.
This was so backwards. She was angry and she wanted to be angry.
She wanted Blake to know she was wrong, she wanted Blake to feel bad for what she'd done…
But the instant she'd grabbed Blake's arm, the moment she realised that she was considering smashing her fist through Blake's fa-
Even the thought of it clogged her throat.
She'd almost done it. Almost gone too far and… and…
It had terrified her.
She had been scared of what she'd almost done.
She didn't want to have another opportunity for it.
"Did you mean it?" Neptune asked suddenly. "What you said to her I mean, that you two were… done?"
She'd said that… hadn't she?
"Y-yeah." She nodded, ignoring the way her stomach dropped. "I… there are some things you just don't put up with, you know? I'm not dealing with that. I need to… I need to take care of myself first and that means… that means Blake needs to be out of the picture. She can… she can figure things out this way too. It's better for everyone."
She closed her eyes to banish the voice in the back of her head that told her she was being a coward, and so, she missed the look Sun and Neptune shared.
They weren't convinced. Not at all.
"Anyway," Sun coughed. "I think now's as good a time as any to go over what it is we're dealing with. You know what it is?"
"Yeah," Yang nodded, thankful to move onto the less personal topic. "I've got an idea. It's not something we've dealt with before but I'm pretty sure you know about it."
There was a beat of silence as they walked.
"Sooo…" Sun prompted. "Are you going to tell us or what?"
She smirked. "Now what kind of fun would that be?"
"Seriously?"
"Uh-huh. Listen, I'll list off the clues and you try to figure it out."
"Why don't you just tell us?"
"Because you need to study up." She said with a roll of her eyes. "You two don't have the Odyssium to help you. You might as well learn."
"Ugh, fine." He grumbled "Sheesh, I drop out of Haven and still have to talk classes. Gimme them then."
"Okay," she nodded. "Let's start out with the markings on the scene. Large grooves in the stone and ground over nineteen inches long and five inches deep. What do you say to that?"
Sun crossed his arms and hummed.
"Well I guess it used claws at least. It must have been pretty big, or at least had big… hands I'm guessing? How many marks were there together?"
"Four."
"Yeah, probably some sort of hand then. Nep, got anything?"
"It was probably done with speed." The blue haired teen tried. "If it was less five inches then it mustn't have gone deep. It could have sharp claws but if they were that long then I'd just say that the proportions of it should be normal… I think anyway. Was there anything left of the victim?"
"No, nothing but blood," she said, shaking her head. "But I think he's still alive."
The Faunus raised an eyebrow. "How come?"
"I tasted his blood."
They winced.
"Ugh, Sun groaned. "I hate it when you do that. It's weird." He sighed. "What you get from it?"
"That it was fresh, and that the boy, Mata, wasn't dead when it was spilt. If it didn't kill him straight away then it probably wanted to take him home to feast on, and considering there were no body parts left behind it didn't want to waste anything."
Sun narrowed his eyes at her. "What are you thinking?
Yang sighed. "The mother said she and her son heard voices, her voice to be specific."
"So intelligence?"
"At least the rudimentary kind." She agreed, "But to be that much like the woman's voice it must have had some sort of ability for it…. Then there was what's been happening on the island."
"What do you mean?"
Neptune shuffled. "She means the food shortages."
"Exactly…. People are hungry, food and Lien is low and with so many new faces others were worried… some might have already been desperately hungry and been pushed over the edge into doing something stupid."
Sun's lip curled. "Cannibalism. You think someone was desperate enough for cannibalism?"
Yang looked away. "No offence Sun… but Faunus… well they've had some reactions… you've seen it haven't you?"
His eyes fell shut for a moment as he let out a long breath. "Yeah… I know how to deal with it but… it feels like Faunus are more susceptible to magic for some reason."
"One little mistake," Yang muttered. "One little taste would be all they need for it. Around twenty people have gone missing, my guess is the first wasn't a victim of the same fate as the rest."
There was silence between them, heavy, nervous.
Sun licked his lips.
"You think it's a Wendigo?"
"With all the evidence pointing to it? Yeah."
"We've never dealt with a Wendigo before." Neptune warned.
"I know." She said. "I've been doing as much reading as I can on them; they've got supernatural speed, Endurance and reflexes not to mention an insane hunters' sense."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning that you can't hide from them. Apparently they can hear your heartbeat from a mile away."
"Well that's not unsettling at all." Sun frowned.
The blonde shook her head. "Gets worse: Wendigo's are constantly starving, because they grow in proportion to what they eat. It means that they get bigger with every meal and will never give up on a kill because of their stomach."
The Faunus let out a hiss. "It's already eaten so many people by now though. How big will it be?"
"Don't know, but I'm not looking forward to finding out."
Neptune took a breath. "Okay, anything else we should know?"
"They're intelligent."
"Yeah, we got that already."
"Human levels of intelligent."
"…oh."
"Yeah," she winced. "Oh is right. Since it used to be a human – or in this case Faunus – it understands what we're saying, it can listen to our callouts and recognise attacks, maybe even try to trick up somehow if we're not careful."
"Can it be reasoned with?" Neptune asked.
"If you think it'll get over it's mad starvation? I'd tell you to go ahead in any other circumstance, but it clearly hasn't been killing in self-defence."
The teen sagged for a moment, before sighing. "Okay… yeah I get it. Is that it then?"
"For how dangerous it is? Yeah. This is a big deal guys, Wendigo's are some of the worst."
"Does it have any weaknesses at least?"
"Possibly." She offered. "Silver should work just fine and it's supposed to have a frozen heart."
"So your fire will work?"
"Not as easy as I would hope for. One of the books said its skin is so cold it's resistant to heat, but its insides should be particularly flammable. It can regenerate though, so we'll need to work fast if we do manage to cut it open. The real issue is the aftercare."
"What's the procedure?"
"You brought the silver box?"
"Yeah, melted down all the silver I could find like you asked."
"Good, we'll need it."
"How come?"
"Because the Wendigo's a weird one. It's like, a physical thing, but it possesses people, takes over their body. If we're going to make sure it's finished off we need to smash its heart and bury it in that box and then deal with the body."
"I don't like where this is going."
"Yeah," she winced. "We need to dismember, salt and then burn the body before scattering the ashes."
Sun threw his hands into the air. "Why is everything with magic so pointlessly convoluted?"
She shrugged. "Beats me, if you wanna blame someone blame the gods."
The Faunus sighed as Neptune frowned. "So, how are we tracking it anyway? Are we even going the right way?"
"Oh yeah, trust me I can tell. Sun, you'll probably pick it up soon too with your senses."
"Can you?"
A nod. She could, her own senses were… well they weren't exactly human anymore. It had been small things back at Beacon, her sense of smell having been gifted a boost of some kind.
But over the months… her other senses had gotten the same treatment, they'd grown.
Yang could smell people's scents, she could taste blood and understand glimpses of its contents, she could hear the rustles of leaves from so far away, hear the fear on a person's breath, she could see farther, sharper than she could before. She had no night vision, but in every other aspect her sight could give a Faunus a run for their money.
And she could feel more.
Of course, all of this was… well, it was amplified when she focused her magic into her heart. It wasn't all the time thankfully, else she might have feared going mad from the sensory overload. It was fain when she let it rest, but when her heart glowed with magic it became so much more.
Yang understood what it was. What Merlot had granted her.
Draconic senses.
The idea was as insane as it was incredible. Whether it had been intended she wasn't sure, but it was definitely useful to her in most situation. Now being one of them.
Yang could track. She felt proud of that fact, that she'd been able to develop that skill thanks to her sense meant that if she had an idea of what she was looking for, she'd been able to find it in most cases.
Here, she could feel the prickling on her skin.
The cold.
It wasn't so odd, they may have been in a jungle on a tropical island but it was dark. It could get cold sometimes.
But the leaves should not be sprinkled with frost, of that she was certain.
"We're getting closer." She said suddenly. "Be on your guard and get ready for a fight."
"Right."
Sun and Neptune deployed their weapons on her order, keeping close as Yang quickened her pace. They were close now, she could feel the frost, see her breath in the air. They were feeling it now too. Wendigo's were creatura of the cold and this was the perfect sign for that.
And up ahead…
"What... is this?"
"A… mine I think."
"No Menagerie never broke into the mining business, a warehouse I think." Yang said. "They probably stored food hear ages ago… don't know why it'd be abandoned though… but I think we're in the right place."
The right place didn't look all too welcoming though it must have been one of their main storage houses because it was big, surpassing some of the lower trees above.
It looked old and rusted too; with broken and boarded up windows and holes in the walls that made it look like the whole building was about to fall through. This place had been left to fall by itself, people had decided to leave it be.
Why had it been abandoned in the first place if food shortages were a concern?
"So we doing it?"
Yang nodded, pulling back her sleeves, arming Ember Celica, and focusing her magic into her arm.
"Let's move."
…
…
"Did we lose them?" Ilia asked.
"No," Blake whispered. "I lost sight of them but they're in that warehouse. Just stay close to me alright?"
"Got it." Her companion nodded.
It was slow going, but Blake had been able to catch sight of the mercenary trio before they'd made their way into the jungle. She was too far away to hear what they were saying, but thanks to her night vision Blake could at least see where they were going.
Thankfully that also meant that it was easier for them to hide in the undergrowth. Blake did her best to be invisible, discarding her white coat and hoping that the nightlights didn't give away too much. With half of her body made up of completely black skin it was easier than she had thought.
Ilia similarly hid, her skin and hair tinting black until all that was visible in the darkness were the whites of her eyes.
The chameleon Faunus had stuck close to Blake as they trailed the trio, but now she shuffled nervously and eyed the warehouse. They were still a way off, but Blake had managed to catch a mane of golden hair enter just minutes before.
"I don't like this." Ilia muttered.
"What?
"I said I don't like this," she repeated, louder this time. "Why are they out here? Why are we out here?" A huff escaped her and the air in front of her fogged up. "We've been following them through this jungle for the last twenty minutes and now they stop as some creepy warehouse in the middle of nowhere. Is nobody else's survival instincts telling them this is a bad idea?"
"We'll be fine."
Ilia scowled. "Are all Huntsmen like this?"
"Huh?"
"Lacking any sort of self-preservation!"
Blake sighed. "Ilia if you don't want to be here then you can go. I can handle a Grimm just fine."
Ilia wasn't impressed. "Yeah right. Like hel I'm leaving you alone. With how reckless you usually are it's my job to pull you out of the fire."
"How am I reckless?"
"I'm sorry, what was that at the Vale docks crawling with White Fang?"
"Our team leader had been captured."
"I know, I was one of the people who wanted to kill them, that's not the point," she hissed, glazing over the little titbit of information Blake had certainly not known. "You decided to go as a team of four Huntsmen-in-training instead of calling the police or letting the staff at Beacon know."
Blake scowled. "What's the point you're trying to make?"
"That it's suddenly become my job to make sure you don't jump headfirst into dangerous situations and get yourself killed."
"I didn't ask you to do that."
Ilia's mouth twitched downwards. "It's not about being asked to or not."
"What are you talking about, I can look after myself, you don't need to look after me."
Ilia hissed something under her breath, looking away.
"I'm starting to see where Yang was coming from."
"What was that?"
They were cut off by a bestial shriek and sliced through the silence like a knife.
Blake and Ilia nearly jumped out of their skin and the noise and snapped towards its direction.
It was coming from inside the warehouse.
Blake was already moving before Ilia could get in a word. The chameleon swore and rushed to follow as Blake ran for the warehouse.
Lights were flashing through the broken windows now and she could hear the sound of shouting and gunfire.
Blake wanted to rush straight in the front door, but she knew it was a bad idea. Ilia had called her reckless. Fine, she'd be more stubble here.
The cat Faunus unsheathed Gambol Shroud and swung her ribbon upwards. It sailed over the roof and sank into the metal. "Come on," she called back to Ilia as she clambered up the side of the wall, her ears flickering at the sounds of fighting inside.
"Would you slow down!?" Ilia pleaded, scrambling after her as Blake climbed onto the roof. "Why are we even up here anyway?"
"Just trust me okay?"
Blake was still moving, towards the centre of the building and raised her blades. She swiped down, cutting into the weak metal and sheering it open. Below as a walkway."
"In here, we can see what's going on from above."
Ilia followed as Blake hopped down the hole and the walkway rattled from her weight. It felt like it was going to fall away under her feet for a moment but thankfully settled enough that she felt safe to move. Ilia landed lightly behind her, eyes scanning around for threats.
The noises were coming from further in.
"Let's go." Blake whispered. "We can pounce on the Grimm from above if they need us."
Ilia wasn't listening, she was too busy looking around with wide eyes.
"I don't like this," she muttered. "It's wrong. There's something really wrong here." The chameleon girl swallowed, readying her whip as she looked to Blake.
"Dammit let's hurry up and take a look. If it looks like they can handle it themselves I'm not getting involved."
Blake gave a huff in frustration, but knew Ilia wasn't going to budge. She turned away. It didn't matter. Right now they just needed to see what was going on. There was light up ahead peaking over the dozens of hundreds of shelves. Flashes. Probably gunfire and the two blondes' semblances. Blake creped along the walkway, hands tightening on Gambol Shroud as they monstrous roars and cries got louder.
What kind of Grimm was that? It didn't sound like anything she'd hear before.
Right there, there was the end of the walkway, right over where the fighting was coming from. Blake came to it, gripping the rails and looking over the-
"What the fuck is that!?" Ilia whispered in horror.
She didn't know.
All she knew was that Yang was fighting it.
…
…
Yang ducked under a swipe that could have taken off her head, rolling away as the monster in front of her let out a scream of rage towards her.
Good, it was too focused on her to noticed Neptune slicing through its leg, making it stumble and giving her enough time to move away. The flesh knitted itself together before her eyes and she scowled.
She knew it would happen but it was still annoying.
…The fact that she referred to a ferocious, murderous monster healing its wounds every time the cut it as annoying was a sign of just how much of a downwards spiral her life was at the moment she was fairly sure.
The fact that she was only slightly horrified by the thing in front of her didn't help either.
She'd been right; it was a Wendigo, but it looked a lot more brutal than she thought it was going to be.
Like most of the creatura she'd gone up against its skin was an oily black, like any Grimm it emanated a black miasma from its pours but this… this went further.
Yang ducked under its claws again as it lunged at her and fired a shotgun shell at its face, launching herself backwards.
She suppressed a shiver as she shook her hands, gunk flying from her fingertips.
This was by far the most disgusting thing she'd ever seen:
It was leaking. Dripping black gunk and ooze like a rotting carcass and its skin was sticky. Every inch of it was walking pestilence. What was worse, was that it smelled how it looked, which meant that it was hard to focus when her stomach churned dangerously.
And still, it looked like a monster out of a nightmare.
It was huge, from all the poor souls it had devoured it was three, maybe four times her height, towering over her even with its crooked and hunched back. It had yellowish bones – its ribcage – sprouting out of its torso, so wicked and sharp Yang thought they might actually be used as a weapon.
Its whole body was gaunt, gnarled and twisted like it was malnourished, which just made its strength and speed even more ridiculous.
The beast turned to Sun as he summoned two clones to pelt its sides and Yang took the chance to focus magic into her fist.
There was no reason in holding back here, no point in reigning herself in.
Yang felt her heart pump wildly as she focused on her trigger.
Belladonna lilies blossomed in her mind.
Fire swirled on her palm and in and second where it roared to life she clamped it in her fist.
It burst out like an explosion, washing over her arm and all the way up to her elbow.
It had taken her months of practice months of understanding how to control, how to maintain her flames, but Yang had the advantage of her arm and leg being obsidian instead of flesh. It gave her the chance to push herself further than she would have, faster than she could have.
It might not have been all too flashy, all too impressive, but it sure as hell was a step up.
Yang's right arm, and leg, was made out of flames.
She kicked off the ground hard and shot towards the Wendigo's back.
It noticed her attack and spun around to face her, lashing out with one hand to cut her out of the air.
Yang opened her palm and fired out a wave of sparks and shot her upwards and over its limb for her gauntlet to bring her back down like a hammer. Her flaming fist crashed into its shoulder and it screamed as its shoulder buckled and splintered. She reached out with her other hand and grabbed at its head, grabbing it hard and twisting.
The Wendigo shrieked as it lost its footing and tumbling to the ground. It was a momentary victory as Yang was caught in the chest by its elbow lashing out.
It threw her back and she let herself roll away, far enough for her to stand.
She'd hit it but could already hear the shoulder popping back into place.
If anything, she'd just made it angry, and judging from the way it glared at her, it knew how to hold a grudge.
Oh yeah, if there was one thing Yang hated most about the Wendigo, it was its face.
It was an elongated white skull, and it must have been a deer Faunus when it was human because the antlers that sprouted from its head were huge and vicious-looking. Its teeth were chipped and razor-like, each tooth looked like it could slice her open with ease.
It had human looking eyes though. That was the worst part.
Its eyes were bright and round and tired looking. It was as if someone was wearing a mask and she could see bits of the face around the eyes underneath.
It looked so wrong in how suffering it looked, because Yang knew it wanted nothing more than to tear her open and feast on her insides.
This thing used to be a person, someone who had been desperate enough to eat someone else.
It was about time she put it out of its misery.
"Sun, Neptune, ruin its arms as much as possible while I deal with it!"
She didn't wait for an answer as she charged at the Wendigo, trusting that they would do as she asked.
The thing had stood up now, leering over her as she fired a round into its chest.
The dust didn't do much other than push it back, and with a roar the Wendigo leapt forward.
Yang dived, skidding under it and smashing a fist into its side. It grunted and sailed over her, pivoting as it landed and lunged again. Yang raised her guard and it hit her, knocking her off her feet even as she prepared herself to tank the hit. It sent her into one of the old selves behind her, knocking it down along with the several dozen shelves behind it. It gave her more room though, as she flipped backwards, landing on the shelving and kicking off it.
As she moved back the wooden shelf flew forward as a makeshift barrier between them.
The Wendigo blasted through it, splintering it as it charged onwards and making a pass to grab her in its scythe-like claws again.
The tips of its talons whispered past her face, close enough that she could almost feel them.
Sun came from above before it could reach her and swung down like an executioner with his staff.
The silver tip smashed into its forearm and its bone cracked under the force of both his strike and the silver carving through its body. The Wendigo cried out but before it could retaliate it fell forward.
Neptune had been behind it and cleaved through its ankle with his glaive.
It spasmed from the lighting that shocked through it for a moment and blood splashed onto the ground when Neptune had managed to cut.
It hit the ground hard and as it did Yang sun in the air. With eh feet behind her now she kicked off the next fallen shelf, catapulting herself forward and into the Wendigo's banc once again.
Sun smashed his weapon into its jaw to stun it as Neptune rained down as many blows cuts as possible, trying to cripple its movement.
Its skin sizzled under her fist and for a brief moment Yang thought the rest was history.
That idea was wiped out when suddenly a gust of wind and frost erupted from its wounds.
Yang was sent flying, as were Sun and Neptune, crashing through shelves as she landed hard on the floor.
She groaned, blinking the haze from her eyes. Damn. She'd landed on her head hadn't she?
The next second her body was screaming at her to move.
Trusting her indicts Yang threw herself to the side, gasping as the Wendigo's antlers clipped her side, sending her spinning as she hit the ground again before hurriedly scrambling onto her feet.
"Ow." She muttered. Her aura hard flared up in time to protect her but it had still winded her. The thing hit like a bullhead.
It had stopped now though.
Strangely, it was standing still, watching Yang but not moving. Considering it had been relentless up until this point Yang wasn't sure this was a good thing.
And then she noticed her surroundings.
Everything… was frozen.
Icicles and frost covered the walls, the ceiling and the floor. Everything was freezing.
Wendigo's had powers over the cold.
Yang hadn't thought it would be this severe though.
What was even the point in all of this?
It was still watching her! Why was it doing that?
Yang frown and took a step forward.
She was immediately on the back foot as a spear of ice sliced through the air towards her. She twisted back in a way that nearly broke her spine, planting her hand on the ground as it melted the frost beneath and pushing off, just in time to hop over the blade of frost that could have removed her hand from her wrist, or at least dug into the obsidian.
"Guys!" She yelled out a warning. "It can control the ice like a weapon!"
"Are you serious?!" Sun cried as he wrapped his tail around one of the railings above. "Territory control? Since when could physical creatures do that?"
"Dammit." Neptune swore, climbing up on top of one of the fallen shelves and scanning his surroundings for surprise attacks "It's a spirit too remember? Who knows what else it can do?"
"It looks like the damage we did is gone and healed up too." The monkey Faunus glowered.
Yang's eyes narrowed. "No, I can see something. Little burn marks where you and me damage. Fire and Silver still works at least."
"Got any ideas then?"
Yeah she did.
"Neptune, how much silver have you got?"
"A few pounds of it why?"
"Do you think it would be enough to cover my hand if I melted it down?"
"...Gods dammit Yang."
"Let's try it out."
…
…
Blake was frozen. She couldn't move, her body wouldn't move, and even though she shivered madly it wasn't because of the cold.
She was terrified of the thing down below.
It was like nothing she'd ever seen, faster and stronger than any Grimm she'd ever seen in her life and screeching like an animal in its death throes every time it drew breath.
It was wrong. Just looking at it Blake could tell it was wrong, her blackened side writhed and shuttered as if alive, trying to draw her away from the ledge.
Blake didn't know what was going on.
But she knew that that monster wasn't a Grimm. Grimm couldn't freeze things, they couldn't regenerate broken bones and close opened wounds.
This was the thing that had been killing Menageries people?
She looked back at Ilia, who'd dropped her camouflage. Her face looked pale, and Blake wasn't convinced it was her Faunus heritage that was doing it.
Ilia looked over the edge, even as she shook like a leaf. "Those three are fighting that thing… they… they're going up against that."
Blake swallowed. She was right. Sun, Neptune and Yang were right in the thick of it fighting tooth and nail against that monster without a hint of fear.
How?
This thing had killed so many people! it had taken another one just hours ago and-
Wait…
"Ilia," she whispered. "We need to get to the other side of the warehouse."
"What!?" the other girl hissed, eyes wide. "You want us to try and sneak past this thing? Why?"
"Yang said it mightn't have eaten its last victim yet. If we can get past we can find them and get them out."
"And then what? How is just waiting up here for them to kill the thing going to make a difference or not?"
"I don't know." Blake growled. "it just is. Just- I'm going. Are you going to help me or not?"
Ilia bit her lips so hard it bled.
"Fine. But one of these days Belladonna you're going to get me killed."
A twisted smile spread across her face. "Let's hope it's not today."
Another more human roar sounded below and they looked down in time to see Yang leap through the air. Her hair blazed brightly from her semblance, her leg burned with wildfire and her fist was covered in molten silver.
Her first met the monsters, melting it on contact with a wet gurgle as it shrieked in rage.
"Let's go!"
Ilia followed her lead as she kicked off the railings, latching onto the rafters just above her and hoisting herself up. She spread out her arms, balancing on the beams and hurried over them, over the fight below.
Ilia grunted as she followed, looking down nervously. The former White Fang member was easily considered athletic, had near perfect balance, and yet with the danger of falling meaning she'd land in the middle of that, her nervousness was palpable.
"Who do you even know this is where we're supposed to be going?"
That… was a good question. How did Blake know where she was going?
The answer…. Was that she didn't. Or she did, but not for any real reason. It was like a gut reaction, except she knew it wasn't. It… it was something she just knew, something that drew her towards the other side of the warehouse.
'Please be trustworthy' she begged. 'Please let this feeling be real.'
Her lift side… it wasn't in her control sometimes, it acted on its own and it had… it had done things she hated it for.
But it had helped her too, twice now.
She hoped – begged even – that it would do so again.
The side of her neck stung as blackened webs crawled up the side of her face. There was an itch, as if nothing… something was brushing over her eye.
And then she could see things.
She wasn't even sure what it was, it was like… a layer, a creep, spreading across the walls and ceiling. It was like a black crust spindling outwards from somewhere.
The origin, wherever it was, she was getting closer to it.
"Hey, Blake… do you… see that?"
She did. It was a light, faint, barely visible even to her, at the other end of the room. There was a shadow too, a shadow of a person. She frowned. As they got closer she could just make out their Faunus features… they looked like-
Blake's eyes widened.
"Mata!"
"What?! It' him?"
Blake didn't answer, jumping down in front of the body.
It was Mata. She hadn't even realised was him that had been taken. He… looked pale. His clothes were ripped and there was a long, nasty looking cut across his shoulder and running down his chest. It was covered in crusted blood. It was his.
Ilia landed beside her just as quietly and when she saw him she swallowed. "Oh god… is he…"
Blake bent down, pressing her ears against the boys' chest.
After a moment…
She sagged in relief.
"He's alive." She said, letting out a breath. "He's unconscious, but his heart's beating fine… I guess the thing wanted him fresh when it finally got around to eating him."
Another roar and crack of gunfire reminded them what was going on behind them.
Blake lifted Mata gently before handing him to Ilia. "Get him out of here and back home. Get him to a doctor okay?"
"Right." She nodded. "But what about you?"
"Huh?"
"I can see it Blake," something crossed over Ilia's face. "You're not planning on leaving yet are you?"
She wasn't.
"Just go. I'll be back later."
There was a pause.
"You better be." She muttered, jogging away with Mata and vanishing into the shadows. She'd be able to get out fine. Now it was just a matter of making sure that monster wasn't around to come back for them.
She readied Gambol Shroud and made her way closer to the sounds of fighting that still raged on, making sure to keep herself in the shadows as much as she could and using the crated and scattered containers as cover as best she could.
She was close enough now to peak her head out, just in time to see Yang crash a fist into the monster's side. It skidded in the opposite direction, feet crunching across the ground but that didn't seem to be as much as a problem for it as the liquid silver than splashed off Yang's arm and onto its skin.
Blake could see the smoke from here, and the smell of rot melting nearly made her gag..
It reached out to grab at Yang but the brawler sidestepped it quickly, clamping onto its wrist and pulling hard. It straightened out and Neptune dashed in, cleaving the beast at the write and severing it.
There was a gurgled screech from the creature as it reeled back and Sun suddenly attacked with a barrage of clones at his side.
They forced the monster back and Blake watched as it leapt to the other side of the room. Her skin crawled as its hand regrew from its stump, cracking and popping wetly as it did.
She watched it as its eyes bore into the trio who faced off with it and watched as it growled, lowering itself onto all fours.
What was it doing?
Suddenly there was a gust of wind that forced Blake to cover her face, frost riding on the air and flakes were starting to spread across her skin.
It was worse for the mercenary trio, as the sudden gale knocked them back and forced them to evade the ice lances that speared towards them.
Yang growled as she battled away an icicle that flew too close to her face. The ground around her was layered in a sheet of ice, while around her in a small circle her foot melted it, forming a puddle around her feet that steamed and sizzled.
"It's planning something." She warned. "Sun, Neptune, I need you to slow it enough so I can get a hold of it."
"How are we meant to do that?!" Neptune spat, ducking as a freezing projectile sailed overhead. "You have fore but it's kinda hard to get a good grip for us."
"You have salt, don't you? Use it on the floor, maybe we'll get lucky and it'll have an effect on this thing too."
The teen made to say something, but was cut off when the Wendigo charged forward so fast Blake almost missed it spring forward.
Yang clearly didn't because she was already moving, raising her fists and ducking low into a boxer's stance.
She bobbed under a swipe and crashed a right hook into the monster's face, she sidestepped and jabbed forward with her left, Ember Celica cracking loudly and knocking away it's fangs as they tried to sink into her shoulder.
The Wendigo reared up abruptly and tried to stab at Yang's head, it's talons slicing through the air dangerously.
The brawler was quick to react, rolling back and slamming her hand into the ground. The liquid silver on her arm shot out was her hand was engulfed in flames again, but this time, the fire was thrown forward, riding the silver and washing over the Wendigo like molten slag.
They gave it no reprieve, Sun and Neptune fired into its chest and blowing burning its skin.
A guttural cry escaped the beast as it was forced to the ground but before Yang could take advantage of its weakness a wall of ice sprouted up between them.
"Son of a-" Yang cut herself off with a growl. "Break this damn wall down before it can heal itself!"
Gunfire racketed off it a second later on her command, and she extended her arm, hurling a stream of fire towards the icy barrier, carving a crater into it with each second. It wouldn't take long for them to break through and-
Wait… wait a minute.
Something was wrong. Blake could feel her skin tingle and her side writhed with… something. A warning? A premonition?
What was it trying to tell her?
Her eyes were drawn to Yang, to the frost that was… swirling around her feet. Her fire, that impossible fire that was spewing from her leg was… waning, getting weaker. The cold… it was being focused, trying to snuff out the flames.
And it was working.
But why?
That creature had gone practically silence behind its wall. Blake could see the outline of the creature just barely from through the ice and it wasn't moving. It was watching… waiting for… something. It was looking at Yang's feet.
This… this was a tra-
There was a shattering sound as the wall of ice collapse in on itself and in the same instance water splashed onto Yang's legs, dousing her flames and solidifying unnaturally fast.
"Shit!" Yang cursed. She was trapped in place, and the ice was webbing up her leg and beneath her clothes.
The Wendigo moved.
Its claws were outstretched, and its jaw unhinged itself, intent on ripping Yang in half as it tore towards her.
Sun and Neptune cried out a warning, but they hadn't realised Yang was frozen in place.
Blake had.
And she was already moving.
She didn't know what she was doing. Blake didn't have a plan, an idea or even a notion of what she was supposed to do but none of it mattered. She sprinted, hurling herself towards Yang.
She wrapped her arms around the blonde as she crashed into her the instant before the Wendigo slashed down at them.
The aura that flared through Blake was nearly instinctual, but it was familiar, very familiar. It was a feeling she hadn't felt in months.
Blake blinked.
Her vision was swallowed by shadow as something was expelled from her body.
She felt Yang in her arms, felt how she was carried with her and they were shifted forward.
They slipped past the Wendigo as it crashed into the far wall.
Blake coughed as they dropped out of the shadows surrounding them, skidding across the ice before coming to a stop.
She groaned as Yang pushed herself up and shook her head.
"Wha- what was, Blake?" the blonde's eyes widened. "What are you doing here?!"
The Faunus coughed, something felt like it was stuck at the back of her throat and it felt like something was… smoking off of her. That black miasma was wafting off her side.
What was that? What had she just done? Or more importantly how?
Her vision was still bleary as she tried to regain her bearings. They'd moved, not just from the ice but from whatever had just happened. They'd moved several meters from their last spot.
How.
"I-"
"I can't believe this." Yang swore. "I told you I didn't want anything to do with you and you show up now of all times? Do you even realise how bad of an idea it is for you of all people to be near this thing?"
"Yang focus!" Sun shouted. "Argue when this thing's dead."
"Fine," Yang growled, glaring at Blake. "if you're here then you better damn-well help."
"R-right." Blake nodded, breathing heavily. "Just tell me what you need me to do."
"Every time we hit it the bastard heals up, but it's been getting slower every time it does. It's losing energy, getting tired. As long as it doesn't start eating we can wear it out."
"No danger of that for anyone but us." Blake said. "We, I sent Ilia back with Mata. We found him and got him out of here."
"You did?" Yang blinked, looking genuinely surprised. "Alright then, we can focus on this guy without worrying about collateral then. Just say as far away from it as you can and start shooting."
Blake frowned. She could get up close and fight, she wasn't some weakling, yang knew that.
But she'd just said she'd do what she was told hadn't she?
"Alright," she agreed reluctantly. "I hope you know what you're doing."
Yang didn't hear her, she was already stepping forward to meet the Wendigo as it stood up, shaking away it's dizziness from having collided with the wall.
Now that yang had mentioned it, Blake noticed how its movement was different; it was stuttered, weaker now than it had been before.
It certainly looked angry now, but Yang did her job, lighting up her hair, as well as her limbs once again, drawing its attention.
Neptune hoisted himself up onto the walkways above a Blake did the same, Gambol Shroud shifting into its ranged form. Blake grimaced. Her gun wasn't going to do much damage like this but Yang didn't want her down there.
She had to do as much as she could.
She glanced over at Neptune. "What is Yang going to do? Can she take it?"
"Yeah," he nodded. "As long as she can get in one good hit, she'll be fine. Sun can watch her back. All we need to do is cover her."
"…Right."
She'd just have to watch then as Yang engaged the foe.
The Wendigo roared, and Yang returned it with her own, slamming her fist down on the Wendigo as it slashed at her.
Her knuckles skimmed it as the beast leaned to the side and struck her shoulder with its antlers. Her aura flared up but even so it was fast enough that it cut into her coat before it could properly shield her.
There was a red tint on the tips of the Wendigo's antlers now.
"Sun back me up!"
"I'm on it!"
There was a flash as Sun sped forward with his clones, slamming into the Wendigo's side and sending it stumbling back. Yang attacked from the other side, Ember Celica shooting her forward fast enough and hard enough that her uppercut lifted the Wendigo off its feet for just a moment.
It growled in pain as Yang pushed forward, steeping within its reach and shoving a fireball into its chest, again and again and again, each one exploding violently upon contact.
Winds coming from nowhere raged around them, fighting to douse the flames with front and cover the wounds that burned and sizzled its skin.
Ice burst out of the ground, trying to stab at them from behind. Sun's staff spun protectively behind Yang, protecting her back as she hammered down blow after blow.
The creatura's bones splintered beneath, the skeleton piecing out of its skin. Yang quickly snatched hold of the bones and yanked hard, tearing them out before twisting them around and stabbing them back through the Wendigo's stomach. The sound it made was as furious as it was pained, but instead of falling back like it had each time before-
It lunged forward and grabbed a hold of Yang's arm.
There was a scraping sound as its talons ground against Yang obsidian arm but the more dangerous matter was when it lifted Yang off her feet and slammed her into the ground.
The stone beneath her cracked as her aura shuttered. She managed to hold it, if only barely. Sun cried out as a sudden controlled gale of wind threw him back.
The Wendigo raised Yang up as she struggled against it, kicking against it hard. It raised its mouth to bite at her.
"Crap," Neptune swore. "Blake go help her now!"
That little gift of permission was all she needed.
Blake leapt over the railings, kicking off them as she raised her sword and cleaver.
She crashed down on top of the monster as her swords sank into its neck.
It screamed.
Blake cried out as the sound nearly shattered her eardrums and she lost her footing. Still with her grip on her weapons they slid down, cleaving through the flesh and muscle on its back all the way down as she fell.
Something, she wasn't sure what, pushed her into the air before she could land and the Wendigo spun to face her, eyes blazing with fury as it made to claw at her.
Her left arm snapped out and the creatura's talons sank through it, hooking into the dark flesh.
And they froze.
Blake… wasn't sure what was happening. It was- it was like she was being pulled in. her left side was writhing, not in pain but as if it was rejecting something inside her body. She could feel her heart pumping in her ears as her breath stifled.
The Wendigo wasn't moving either. It was shaking, stuttering and shaking madly.
What was…
What was-
"Get back!"
Yang's hand clamped down on Blake's shoulder, yanking her back. The Wendigo's talon was still dug into her arm and as she was pulled free black blood splashed onto the air.
Right as she was free everything came crashing back to her and suddenly she could hear the Wendigo scream again. Blake was frozen stiff as it lunged at her fallen form. It opened its jaws to bit down on her.
Yang was in front of her a second later.
She reached out and grabbed its antlers, aura smoking in her palms as she gripped tight.
Wait…. She was smoking from more than just her-
Yang opened her mouth.
And a hurricane of fire tore through the air and down the Wendigo's gullet.
Smoke and burning flesh and bone shot into the sky as its body spasmed and suddenly the flames burst through, dozens of flames streamed from the body like it had burst.
And suddenly it went limp.
And everything went quiet.
Yang dropped its body to the ground, breathing heavily as she stepped back. "Is everyone okay? Where's Sun?"
"I'm good." The monkey Faunus groaned, stumbling over. "Ow, I hit a wall hard. How do you do that all the time?"
"What I tell you? I'm tougher than you."
"Yeah, yeah."
"Oi Neptune, you coming down or what, we've still got things to do."
"Sure, on my way."
They kept talking but Blake heard none of it. She was too busy staring at Yang.
She'd… she'd just breathed fire! Actual fire!
How- What was this!?
The answer came quick, even if she didn't want to believe it. How could she not though? That thing was no Grimm, and after what she'd just seen…
"Magic." She whispered, as if the thought alone wasn't enough to keep her mind from running rampant.
Yang must have heard it, because she glanced over at Blake as she spoke and scowled.
"Right… you."
…
…
Yang cursed her own words as soon as she said them.
They were needlessly hostile.
Even though a swell of anger flowed through her Yang knew that feeling was illogical, ridiculous even. Blake had helped, and right now it wasn't the time to be so petty.
She had to force down her feelings, focus on the task at hand and think about it later.
"Anyway," she coughed. "We uh… we need to do some things here first. You said Ilia got the kid out of here right?"
"…Yes," Blake nodded, getting to her feet. "We agreed she should go back and bring him to a doctor while I… helped."
She had that much Yang couldn't deny.
"You did." She said, scratching the back of her head. "You uh… definitely helped my ass earlier and I mean, you did pretty good there cutting it up… which reminds me."
She turned to glare at Neptune. "Why the hel did you tell her to do that?"
"What?" the teen frowned. "You just said she helped!"
"Yeah she did but you put her in danger. Do I need to remind you that the Wendigo is a spirit?"
Blake watched as Neptune suddenly paled. "Oh."
"Yeah," Yang repeated. "Oh. I know you just forgot because we were in a dangerous situation but next time you should think about it before you say anything."
Neptune's head dropped. "I… I'm sorry Yang."
She sighed. The fact that Blake looked confused about it put her at ease a little. "It doesn't matter. It's already done and done, and nothing went wrong. Come on, we need to deal with things and then we can get out of here."
"Good." Sun grumbled. "This cold is practically freezing my tail off."
Blake swallowed as they made their way over to the Wendigo's body. "What are you doing? It's already dead isn't it?"
"It is," Yang nodded. "but we gotta make sure it stays dead. It won't take long… and then we're gonna have to talk with people when we get back."
They went about their work and Blake watched as Sun drew a knife and carved into the beasts' chest. There was a wet popping sound as he dug his way through flesh and blood, and the way his face scrunched up the smell wasn't too pleasant from where he was standing. With a tug he managed to rip out its heart and brought out a small silver box.
After a moment he stuffed it in and handed it to Neptune, who carved something into the lid that she couldn't read, before digging his glaive into the ground, digging out the dirt before burying the box.
While he did that, Yang went about something a little messier. She got her hands dirty and tore the corpse apart methodically; limb from limb, salting the blood and burning each piece steadily to ashes.
It was a… relatively disturbing process to watch, and yet somehow Blake could tell it was something that needed to be done.
A few minutes later though, they were done, and Yang wiped her hands off.
"Looks like we're done then."
"Good." Sun said. "When we get back I'm sleeping for a week."
"You do that." She grinned. "Be thankful at least, we didn't make too much of a mess."
Neptune blinked. "Are… you kidding?"
Yang blinked in return. "What?"
"You… haven't noticed?"
She frowned. "Noticed what? Speak in full sentences here Nep."
"It's just that uh… there." He said, pointing at the top of his head.
Yang blinked, slowly and took a handful of her hair, bringing it in front of her.
Blake swallowed. Her hair was matted with soot and a strange black gunk.
It had covered her head when Blake had grabbed her earlier. Whatever she'd one had left a few… dirty marks on the blonde.
Yang seemed to realised she was the culprit a moment later and turned to her, eye twitching dangerously.
"U-um… oops?"
Yang didn't look impressed.
"There better be a working shower in your home."
…
…
They arrived home without any further incidents and Yang made a B-line straight for the shower as soon as Blake pointed it out, brushing past the concerned faces of her mother and father. It might have been because of the look on Yang's face but hey, everyone knew Yang liked her hair a lot more than most people would have.
"What happened?" Her mother asked. "Is everything alright?"
Blake managed a smile at her as Sun and Neptune made their way further into the house and she took a moment to savour the warmth after the frost she'd just dealt with.
"It's fine. At least I think so. They… they dealt with the thing that was hurting people." Blake looked around. "Is Ilia here?"
"She is." Her father nodded. "She came back with that boy earlier. He's being treated and she's waiting in the living room."
"That's good." Sun said, approaching them. "Listen, Yang's probably gonna be done in like, ten, twenty minutes. We need to talk when she comes out. Can you guys uh, go find Sienna and meet us in the living room to talk?"
Her parents shared a look. "We can do that, just give us a few minutes."
Blake left them to it, going to check on Ilia. She found her in the living room like her parents had said, sitting on the couch with tea in her hands.
The chameleon Faunus saw her and smiled in relief. "Blake, thank god. I was so worried about you. They managed it then?"
"They did, amazingly. It might have been touch-and-go for a moment at the end there but I think but they managed."
Ilia relaxed a little at that. "It's dead then."
"That's what they said." She nodded, moving around the couch, practically falling into it beside Ilia. She still felt cold even as the house and tropical weather of Menagerie was starting to warm her bones again. It was still night, so it was slow going. "There were a… few things they did afterwards, to make sure it was dead I think."
"What like double-tapping?"
"Kind of? I'm not sure. Yang said it was… a spirit."
"A… spirit." Ilia repeated.
Blake bit her lip. "Ilia… do… do you know what we saw back there?"
"…"
"Ilia?"
"I don't know Blake," she sighed. "I'm not even sure what we say."
"Yang called it a Wendigo."
"A Wendigo… right, whatever that is. I don't know much about Grimm, you probably know a lot more than me but I'm pretty sure I'd have heard if they could control the weather!"
"I mean, I technically didn't even finish my first year as a Huntress." Blake tried to joke, but when met with Ilia's unimpressed stare she coughed, clearing her throat. "But you're right… I've never seen anything like that. And then what Yang could do I… I mean she could always… use fire. It was a part of her semblance you know? It was always her hair, and then I thought that she just learned how to use it better later on but this was… so much more. She was throwing it around and everything."
"I could see that."
There was a pause between them.
"I guess she was telling the truth then, wasn't she?"
Blake closed her eyes and gave out a heavy sigh. "Yes…. She was."
A few minutes later there was the sound of angrily stomping feet and Sienna stormed in, looking around.
"Well?" she asked. "Where is she?"
"Taking a shower." Blake said. "We were told to wait here while she cleans up."
The tiger Faunus clenched her jaw tight. "She expects us to wait for her?"
The younger Faunus winced. "It was messy work."
Sienna frowned as her parents walked into the room behind her. "Calm down Sienna. You're far too high strung for the situation." Ghira chastised. "As far as I can tell she succeeded, didn't she?"
Sienna grunted, flopping down onto the couch opposite Blake and Ilia and crossing her arms. "Subordinates are supposed to report on things immediately, not play around and waste time."
"Well they aren't really your subordinates are they?"
She raised an eyebrow. "Really Kali? That's the angle you're going for? You're paying them, remember? You should at least expect them to be punctual. We should know if they dealt with the treat you asked them to."
"We did, but you've got other concerns right now."
Blake nearly jumped out of her seat at Sun's voice. Seriously, how did he manage to sneak up on her?
The others seemingly felt the same way, snapping around to see the monkey Faunus lean against the doorway, Neptune beside him.
He gave them a little wave. "Hey. Yang's only going to be another few minutes."
"Thank you." Ghira nodded before Sienna could say anything. She glared at him and scowled.
Sun glanced at Ilia and Blake. "Are you two doing okay?"
"Uh," Ilia blinked. "Yeah, sure, we're fine."
"That's good." Neptune hummed. "You never know sometimes with what things like that can do. You can breathe in frost at best and… well, nothing things at worst."
Ilia shifted in her seat. "So… you guys deal with things like that regularly?"
Neptune winced. "That one in particular? No, that was a new experience but things like it, yeah."
Blake shivered. "And that's… what you do on your jobs?"
Sun nodded for him. "Like we told you earlier. Those sorts of problems are popping up more and more all over the place."
"I feel like you're deliberately excluding us from the conversation." Sienna grumbled, glaring at Sun and Neptune.
The blond Faunus shrugged apologetically. "Sorry, but we kind of leave it up to Yang to talk about things like this."
"What do you leave up to me?"
Blake's eyes snapped to Yang as she entered the room and she nearly choked then and there.
Yang was just out of the shower it looked like if the wet hair was anything to go by. It was tied up in a wild-looking ponytail so that it wasn't draped over her bare shoulders, and Blake had to fight to tear her eyes away from them before she was caught.
It didn't help that she was wearing an orange tank top that showed off her defined muscles and was a little tight in certain areas Blake definitely didn't want to be caught staring at.
She still wore her black pants, but had them rolled up above her knees, showing off her obsidian limb and a small scar above her knee.
That was a new one, Blake could tell.
"Just that we stick to the whole need-to-know basis thing unless you say otherwise."
"Oh, yeah, right," she shrugged and shot them a smile as she sat down on the last spare couch. "Sorry about that. It's just kind of the easiest way to do things. You can still ask what you want though, I can probably answer most of it fine."
"I understand." Ghira nodded. "Well I'm sure you have but I think it's probably good if I ask you personally. You dealt with the thing that's been troubling us haven't you?"
Yang nodded. "We did, and that was something I wanted to talk to you about actually."
"Oh?"
She sighed. "Listen, the thing that's been killing people, it was a person."
"What!?"
Blake and Ilia stared. They might have said something if it wasn't for the look Yang sent there way. She was technically telling the truth Blake could tell… somehow, but she was leaving out what it was they'd fought.
The way they had talked about it earlier though was making more sense.
That had been a person?
"Why would someone do that?" Kali asked, looking particularly concerned, as if she could sense something else was at play here.
Yang sighed. "There are plenty of reasons but if you want the one for the person who did this then look no further than what's been happening around here."
"What do you mean?"
"I asked around. You guys probably already know about the food shortages."
"We do." Sienna nodded. "I've been trying to work things out but it's been hard.
"Well you should probably prioritise it now, so that someone doesn't resort to… to cannibalism again."
Yang went on to explain what had happened, how someone had been desperate and hungry enough to devour their fellow Faunus. She described how they went mad after the first time, and developed something called Wendigo Psychosis. She didn't mention what a Wendigo was however, nor how the Faunus must have eventually turned into one.
Blake could figure it out though, even if she really would rather not have.
When she was finished explaining it, her dad sagged in his seat. "So this was caused by us then. Us and our mismanagement caused the deaths of so many people."
Yang shook her head before Blake's throat could even clench up.
Sun was the one to assure him however. "Don't think of things like that." He said. "There was absolutely no way you could have even known about this, and given the fact you've had to look after so many people you did better than you could have." He sighed. "it was only one guy. And even if he did a lot of damage it was only him who crossed the line onto something else. The fact that we didn't have others to deal with was lucky on our end."
Kali shifted. "Are you sure? Could there not be more people affected?"
Yang shook her head. "If there was, everybody on the island would already be dead."
That was… as dark thought, but morbidly comforting to Blake, if only because it assured her the threat was passed.
"As long as you make sure people won't resort to stuff like that again then you won't run into that problem again." Blake's parents shifted uncomfortably and in the end it was Sienna who spoke.
"Then I suppose we owe you thanks. You did what we needed you to do and probably saved a great deal more people than we would have been able to."
Yang looked slightly surprised but took it in stride; She coulds understand that while the woman was standofish to Yang, she was stressed out too. It probably didn't warm her to a stranger and it felt like Sienna was just... well it didn't matter, either way she made a point of nodding thankfully. "Happy that I could help."
The Tigress nodded. "Well then… I suppose we should talk about how we should actually pay you then, since we didn't really discuss it when you first arrived.
"Actually I already have a request for that." Yang said.
"Oh?" Sienna prompted, raising an eyebrow. "And what would that be?"
"I don't think it's much, just that you would pay for our journey to Anima in about a months' time."
"Anima." The older woman repeated. "Not Mistral? They have a seaport there that would make travel outwards easier."
Yang let out a breath. "You guys really don't know."
Ghira frowned. "You said the same thing earlier today. We don't know what exactly?"
Sun and Neptune shared a look, before Yang decided to just say it.
"Mistral's been taken over. It's under control of the White Fang."
The five Faunus that had been unaware of that information surged to their feet.
"What!?"
"It's true." Sun nodded, looking grim at the thought. "We were in Anima once or twice for a job, but the second time I got a message from Sage and Scarlet. They're my teammates that decided to go back to Haven. The city's been taken over by the White Fang and whoever it is leading them, considering you're here Miss Khan, and with what people are talking about in Menagerie I think it's pretty safe to say it's Adam Taurus."
Sienna stared wide-eyed at them as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing, and Blake couldn't blame her, neither could she.
"But what about Haven then?" Blake protested. "surely they wouldn't let something like this happen. They'd stop it wouldn't they?"
"They can't," Yang told them. "We don't know exactly what's happening, but from the message Scarlet and Sage managed to get out most of them have been captured and locked away. Some tried to get out and warn others and were killed for it."
"How do people not know about something like this if the whole cities been taken over?"
"Because communications been locked down and people aren't allowed in or out. The whole thing's been overseen by Leonardo Lionheart; the headmaster of Haven himself.
Ilia swallowed. "But why? Isn't he supposed to be one of the best guys? You're telling me he's locking away his own students?"
"I am… He's a traitor." She confirmed, before sighing heavily, and Blake had a feeling she was about to drop another bombshell.
She was right.
"And he's been working for the same person who ordered the attack on Beacon."
…
…
After all the panic and shock had subsided, it had been nearly an hour, Blake's parents trying to figure out what they were going to do with the news. Blake honestly had no clue. Considering the revelations she'd had hours before, this was just another thing to wrap her mind around.
Now though, there was something else occupying her thoughts.
Yang had excused herself and slipped out of the room to stand on the balcony. The moon was out, dipping in the sky. The Cat Faunus was beginning to realise she'd been up all night and she doubted she'd be the only one.
Right now however that wasn't important. Now, she stood at the door, watching Yang, as she in turn looked up at the sky, unsure of what do say or do.
Suddenly Yang sighed. "Are you just going to stand there or…?"
Blake flinched but swallowed the fear that wormed its way into her gut. How was it she felt less afraid of that Wendigo than she did now trying to talk to Yang?
All the same, being called out like that there wasn't much else she could do but walk up to the railings. She made sure to keep a good foot or two between them though, to give Yang her space.
The blonde didn't say anything, and because Blake didn't know what to say they fell into a silence, an uncomfortable one Blake thought.
She cleared her throat. "I'm… sorry… for not believing you earlier."
Blake tried not to look, she really did, but out of the corner of her eye she could see Yang stiffen and her eyes flash red for a moment before fading back to lilac.
"It's fine I guess." Yang mumbled. "It was probably unfair to expect you to just believe something like magic of all things. It took me a lot longer to trust it when Ruby told me."
"I still should have been more willing to listen, and I shouldn't have said what I said… about… the pills and everything."
"I get it." She sighed, "It's fine." Then muttering under her breath. "You apologised for one thing you did at least."
Blake was pretty sure Yang had forgotten her superior hearing.
She coughed awkwardly, and Yang must have felt it because she winced and sighed again, stuffing her hands into her pants pockets.
"Listen… there's… something else I wanted to ask you. Sort of a favour."
Blake perked up instantly. "Of course! Anything."
"We can figure something else out if you say no but uh… Sun, Nep and I plan on meeting up with Ruby in Anima in about a month, around the time we're taking a ship there. I was wondering… if you'd let us crash here until we leave."
The Faunus turned to her in mild disbelief.
"You actually… want to stay here?"
"It's… more like Sun and Neptune wanted to," she explained hesitantly. "And considering the problems you guys are going to be dealing with, we thought it'd probably be good for your family's peace at mind if they could keep tabs on us easier. That's to say nothing about how Sun doesn't want to move yet after he basically dumped all his stuff in one of the rooms so…"
Yang shifted uncomfortably. "I mean if you don't want to that's completely fine-"
"You can stay!" Blake interrupted, before coughing to the side and trying again, her voice was a little quickly despite herself. "I mean I'm sure my parents would be happy to after all this and I mean, it'd probably be easier like you said. I'll go talk to them, now even."
"…Thanks."
Blake nodded, turning and hurrying back in eagerly.
It left Yang alone again out on the balcony to look up at the moon and after a moment to make sure she was alone, she covered her face with her hands and out a frustrated groan.
"Shit."
Why did things have to be so complicated?
…
…
Meridian tower was a colossal construction. It was huge, a marvel of old Atlesian engineering and construction. It wasn't the biggest, nor was it the most secure prison on Remnant, that title went to Bleakrock, the prison located in the deserts of Vacuo, but even so it was an impressive thing, especially considering it held but a single prisoner, and in its whole time, only three.
Penny didn't have access to all of it, but she had the keys to a good portion of the tower. Not that she took advantage of that usually. Weiss' room was well over a hundred floors up, and she only ever had access to three floors in total, two of them being nothing more than basic facilities for survival.
The hundred or so below were as large and spacious as they were empty and lines with only Atlesian Knights watching the halls. Penny didn't like them, they were empty things. They disturbed her somehow. Perhaps it was how they were created in the same fundamental way, and yet were so different.
In fact it was only the first five floors that housed actual human soldiers, with their facilities, barracks and armoury all open to them at any time.
Penny didn't really like them either since they had a less than stellar opinion of Weiss. Penny was walking the halls currently, coming back from her daily viewing of her predecessor's memory banks when was subjected to listening to the words of two such men who hadn't seen her yet.
"The fact that we're out here is enough for me to see the higher-ups don't care about us. I mean what are we even doing here?"
"Would you relax?" The other one said. "It's not like the officers know us personally, they sent people here that were qualified."
"Oh yeah, qualified for guard duty, great."
"What's wrong with that?"
"Oh I don't know, maybe the snow, snow, and more snow in every direction for miles and nothing else but snow! And it's not like we're doing anything important."
"Uh, you do know we're guarding Weiss Schnee? The Heiress? That ringing any bells?"
"So what?" The first one snorted. The one Penny was deciding she didn't like. "This place is already chockfull of robots. Why do they need us to keep one girl in here?"
"I'd like to think we're protecting her." The second one mumbled.
The first didn't sound impressed. "From what exactly? You hear what happened right? How she killed all those people?"
"It was a lab accident wasn't it?"
"Sure," the guard said sarcastically. "That's why she's still here. I'm telling you she's some kind of psycho. They'd be better off getting rid of her."
"You can't' say that!"
"Why not?"
"She's under general Ironwoods protection."
"The tin man? So what? Everybody knows his days are numbered as a general. The council already wants rid of him for blocking the borders."
"I don't."
"Yeah well everybody that matters does. You might want to stop saying how much you like em' sooner rather than later."
"What are you saying?"
Penny had had enough. She walked past them briskly, ignoring how they suddenly snapped to attention at her presence and made her way towards the elevator.
The doors shut behind her and she let out a breath. She was well aware that she didn't actually need to breathe but it made her feel slightly better. Which was another thing-
Penny was particularly angry.
That she could feel angry at all was something she probably should have been amazed by, but she was too angry about the matter at hand to care.
How dare they speak about Weiss like that. Weiss was a victim. Weiss was her friend!
… She was wasn't she?
Weiss might not have thought the same about her, she probably saw her as nothing but a copy of the original Penny, and, she was.
But Penny felt the way she did regardless. Weiss was her friend, and instead of being there for her the way a friend should have been, she was her warden, her jailor and a threat to her. She knew that in reality Weiss saw herself as a prisoner here, and she was.
It was about time she did something about that.
Something in her chest sparked to awake.
And Penny's eyes shone with life.
...
So first off, the Wendigo.
I'm not sure If I puled off exactly what a monster like that should be like, that's up for you to decide but I tried my best. I did as much research as I could on it and there are some pretty interesting things about them aparently Wendigo psychosis is a thing but the legitimacy of it is still debated by people. Crazy thought though.
I know people in the cominuty are waiting for Miles and Kerry to add the Wendigo into RWBY proper. Who knows, Atlas is covered in snow, maybe in Volume 7.
The idea of Yang breathing fire was one I had a year ago when I saw some amazing are done by someone I can't rememeber the name of. It'll probably be one of the first if you look it up though and I wanted to include itin this scene ever since. (I had this scene in mind ever since I started the story but again I'm not sure if it lived up to it. That's for you to decide)
Everything else is slowly building up to something else, and sooner or late Yang and Blake are going to have to have a proper talk.
We'll see how that goes down.
Now I'm off to write some for Cloaks & Daggers and try to get some Unbroken in (If I could stop procrasinatiing I'd get so much more work done) but I'm looking foward to the next chapter, We'll be getting back to our favourite red and her band of criminals soon.
Until then, I hope you enjoyed.