RWBY: Son of Salem

Chapter 39

Marek

"Hey." I felt someone's hand on my shoulder.

"Five more minutes..." I buried my face in the crook of my arm.

"Everyone else is already up!" Ruby's voice said as she pushed the back of my shoulder. "Now..." she yawned. "Get up."

"Fine..." I sat back in my chair, rubbing my eyes. "Are we leaving this place, yet?"

"We're working on it. Now come on."

"Alright..." I got up and followed Ruby outside.

"Can we just go back to bed?" Oscar asked.

"If we're all so tired, maybe we should make breakfast?" Blake suggested.

"You wanna make it?"

"Not really." Blake replied.

I looked over to see Ruby and Qrow push a flathead trailer behind the motorcycle. "You guys got the bike ready?" Ruby asked.

Yang gestured to it. "Well, it's done now. So let's hook this thing up and-" Qrow put his foot on the flatbed, causing one of the tires to pop.

"You people are just beacons for bad luck, aren't you?" Maria said.

Qrow walked over to a fence post and sat down as Yang sat by the well. "I'm starting to think the universe just doesn't want us getting to Atlas."

"It's just a flat tire, I'm sure there's a spare." Ruby said.

"It's not just that, it's everything. Storms, crashes, monsters..." Yang sighed. "I'm so tired..."

"Me too. It feels like we're always having to fight to get by." Blake added.

"Yeah. But that's what we signed up for."

"We signed up to try and save the world, not just... delay the inevitable." Oscar replied.

"Last night, I...I couldn't stop thinking - why are we even going to Atlas?" Weiss asked.

"Weiss, we have to."

"Why?" Yang asked Ruby. "Ozpin hid the Relics behind giant doors under enormous schools, but... how long would it take Salem to find a lamp in the middle of nowhere?"

"What? The Grimm might-"

"They'd find it eventually, sure, but bury it or just throw it down the well, it would take years." I added. "It might not even happen in our lifetime. But we could be done with it now."

She detached the relic from her hip and walked over to the well, holding it out over it. "I am...really...tired..."

She hesitated before letting out a squeal and dropping the relic down the well. "No! No! No! I didn't mean to!" Ruby yelled.

"Ruby, it's fine." I told her.

"No! No, there's something down there! I saw it, it was looking at me!" Ruby replied.

"Hey, it's okay. You just said you're tired. It's probably nothing. Now let's go." Yang said.

"What's wrong with you?! We can't just leave, we have to go down there! We have to get the lamp back! Oh, what was I thinking?!" Ruby placed her hand on her forehead.

"All we have to do is fix this trailer. Hey, farm boy, check the shed for a spare." Qrow told Oscar.

"I'm not leaving without the lamp!" Ruby shouted.

"I'll go down with you..." Blake said with a sigh.

"We'll go down together." Weiss corrected.

"Fine!" Qrow stood up. "Get the stupid lamp. Oscar, fix the stupid tire."

Walking over to the well, I looked down it before letting out a sigh. "Let's go get the stupid lamp." I hopped down the well, followed by the rest of team RWBY.

Yang and Ruby pulled out their scrolls and turned on the lights. Searching the tunnel, there was no sign of the lamp. "Maybe the current carried it away." Yang suggested.

We started to walk down the waterway, searching for the relic. "Oh, come on, where is it?"

"Turn off your lights and just look for the glow?" Blake suggested.

"Okay..." Ruby and Yang turned off their lights.

Continuing our path, I noticed a blue glow further down the waterway. "There." I pointed to it.

Ruby follows the direction I'm pointing. Running ahead, she disappeared behind a corner. "Guys, I-" she stopped and a second later there was a terrified scream.

"Ruby?!" Yang yelled.

Ruby came running back toward us, the relic in her hands. "What's wrong?"

She looked back and that's when I noticed dozens of Grimm following her. She pulled out Cresent Rose and started shooting at them but it didn't seem to do anything. The Grimm let out an ear-piercing screech causing me and the others to struggle to stand. "What is this...?"

"My weapon...feels heavy..." Blake said.

"Run!" I glanced back to see Maria. "Now!" she turned around and started running back to the well.

"Go, go!" Ruby and her team ran after Maria as I took another look at the Grimm.

"Marek!" Weiss yelled, getting my attention. Turning back, I followed the others.

It didn't take us long to find the entrance but another screech filled the tunnels, causing me to fall to the ground as the others struggled to stand. "This way!"

Weiss, Yang, Blake, and Maria followed Ruby into another tunnel as I got back on my feet. Rushing into the tunnel, I soon caught up to the others. We soon found ourselves in a room with more of the Grimm.

Running to the other side, another scream filled the room, causing me to fall back onto the ground. "An exit. An exit!"

Feeling more of my strength leave me, I felt a sudden urge to just give up. "Guys...get...up!" Ruby said. I looked to my side and saw Blake laying on the floor.

"It's fine..."

Looking towards Ruby, I saw her crawl towards us and reach her hand out. "NOOOOO!" the room filled with a bright light, blinding me and causing a sharp pain to rush through my body. Ignoring the pain, I noticed that some of my strength had returned. Getting to my feet, I ran towards the stairs. "What just happened?" Maria asked.

"They're locked!" Weiss said as she tried to open the doors.

"Out of my way!" Yang rushed up the stairs but another scream was let out, causing us to fall back to the floor.

"No...no..."

I felt the same urge to give up but tried my best to fight it. Feeling my eyelids grow heavier and heavier, they slowly started to close. A few seconds passed before the same pain as before rushed through me causing me to quickly sit up.

Covering my mouth as I coughed, I pulled my hand back to see it coated in blood. "You okay?" Ruby asked as Yang punched open the doors.

I looked to my hand before Ruby. "Yeah...just..." I wiped my hand off. "Let's get the hell out of here."

Ruby helped me up and we both rushed out of the cellar and back into the house. "We're back in the house?" Blake asked.

I looked back down the cellar and saw more of those Grimm climbing the stairs. "Who cares? Let's go!" I saw Yang grab Blake's hand and run out of the room as I followed.

"Oscar!" Yang shouted. "Oscar!"

Rushing outside we saw Oscar had just finished repairs. "We're leaving, now!" I yelled as I got on the back of the flatbed.

A few seconds passed before the others joined us and we took off out of the farm.

Minutes later

"The Apathy." Maria said. "They're not strong or ferocious. They drain your will to go on. Bartleby's estate was hemorrhaging money towards the end. He wanted to cut costs on Huntsman protection, but in order to do that, he needed everyone calm... always."

"Managed to get two away from their pack." Oscar read from the diary Maria brought with. "Hike back was miserable, but got the bastards in the cellar. Wife thinks I was out sealing the waterway entrance. I'll do it tomorrow and tell her the truth once these things take the edge off of everyone. I'm tired."

"The next page proves that he did, but not before the rest of the pack followed their missing pair all the way home. My guess is they made their way beneath the estate through the water tunnels that Bartleby sealed up the next morning. Bartleby's plan worked." Maria took the book from Oscar. "No one was angry or sad or scared. No one was anything. And then... no one was left." closing the book, she threw it off the flatbed and into the snow.

"I'm... sorry for what I said... about giving up." Weiss said softly.

Yang stopped the motorcycle.

"Me too. We can't quit until the lamp is safe." Yang said.

"It's not your fault. It was those... things." Blake said.

"I should have known." Maria added. "The signs were all there, but I'd never seen an entire settlement withered away like that. I suppose my mind just isn't what it used to be."

"Miss Calavera? How do you know so much about the Grimm? And in the tunnels, you knew exactly what to say to make me... to make my eyes do that. How?" Ruby asked.

Maria smiled. "Well, isn't it obvious, girl? I had Silver Eyes."

End of chapter 39