Chapter 16: Fever Time

(Day 16)

Normally, Blake woke up by herself, either from not having to rest anymore or through a warm morning breeze from outside when the door opened. But today it was different. She was shaken awake. Of course, she expected that would happen one day, either through Yang or Ruby.

However, it was Weiss who was forcefully waking her up. "Blake! Wake up!"

Blake sat up with a long yawn and stared at Weiss. "What time is it?"

"Shortly after sunset."

Blake blinked and laid back down. "Yeah... Good night."

"You have to get up! Now!"

"Ugh. What is it? Can't you wake up Yang and Ruby?"

"Well... I tried." Weiss said and gestured to the others, who were still lying in their primitive beds.

"Wait... Why didn't-"

"They're sick," Weiss replied. "They didn't wake up, so I held my hand on their forehead. Both got a high fever."

At that, Blake shot up. "What? How?"

"I don't know. Please, tell me you haven't spend your level up yet."

Blake took a quick look at her implant. "No. Wait, Yang had the Antidote, didn't she?"

"Yep."

Blake quickly bought the medicine and looked at the ingredients needed. "This could be a bit hard."

"Why? What do we need?"

"For one bit of Antidote, we need Mushrooms, Flowers, Narcotics... and Leech Blood."

"Leech Blood. Wait a moment." Weiss started searching through their dossiers. "There it is. Leeches... According to the dossier, we can find them in the swamp. That was up north, wasn't it?"

"How bad is their fever?" Blake asked, and put a hand on Yang's forehead, only to immediately take it away again. "By the gods, that's hotter than a cooking plate."

"So... We have to go to the swamp to get the blood. Any idea where to find the flowers and mushrooms?" Weiss asked, already preparing for the trip.

"Well, according to the little picture my Implant shows, the flowers have a blue color with a white edge. I think I found some of them around a plant up on the mountain. For the mushrooms, I remember grabbing some of them when we were in the cave. Since we can easily get the flowers, we should focus on the Leech Blood."

"I'll get our Raptors ready then. Try to pack some stuff."

"Uhm, can we even leave them alone here like that?" Blake asked, gesturing to their friends.

"It's not like they'll walk off and do anything stupid."

"I meant that they need someone to take care of them." Blake corrected.

"I'm sure that's something they can do alone if we leave the food here."

They turned around, as Ruby suddenly started to speak in a weak voice, almost as if she was breathing her words. "Crescent Rose... The other can never find out about this..."

"Then again, I'm also good with not hearing about their fever dreams." Blake deadpanned.

They opened the door and left it open behind them to led in some fresh air. As the two stepped out onto the sand, they were able to see a faint figure in the distance, approaching them. "Someone's there," Blake muttered.

As the figure closed it, it became clear that it was someone riding on an Iguanodon. He was wearing green-dyed leather armor and had a tired expression on his face.

"Hey, Ren." Weiss greeted. "What are you doing here?"

Ren jumped down from his Iguanodon. "I don't wanna stay at my base for a couple of days. Nora's... well..."

"What's with her?"

"Is it okay to say it's this time of the month again?"

"Oh, gods. Remember what happened last time?" Weiss asked Blake.

"Yeah... She destroyed half of the building after Ren couldn't make her pancakes, which was ironically due to her accidentally injuring him during training."

"Also, our Trike laid an Egg, and it seems to have awakened motherly instincts in Nora. She even scared the Trike away from the egg." Ren added.

"Did Pyrrha and Jaune not come along?"

"Sometimes, sacrifices have to be made. Also, I've dealt with this alone for years. I need some time off too."

"Fair enough. You're actually coming at a perfect time." Weiss replied, and put her hands together.

"Why?" Ren asked, a worried expression on his face.

"Ruby and Yang are sick, and we need to get some Leech Blood from the swamp," Blake explained. "Can you look after the two in the meantime?"

"Sure. What exactly do they have?"

"High fever. We don't exactly know how they got it, but-"

"I know how!" Blake said. "Remember the Trike yesterday?"

"The one you found in the woods? Yeah, it was... sick..."

"I didn't eat the meat after we skinned it," Blake explained. If there was the choice between high-quality salmon and meat, she chose the fish.

"Neither did I. I'm trying to put myself on a bit of a diet."

"We're stranded on an Island full of dinosaurs, and you're worried about your figure?" Ren asked irritated. "Anyways, are you sure you aren't infected? It might be contagious."

"Well, it has been roughly ten hours since they ate. Judging by their fever, it must've started an hour ago, so we have around nine hours left unless it spreads through the air." Weiss guessed.

"Then we have to hurry. Leeches aren't big, so it might take a while until we find any. Ren, you watch over the camp."

"No problem. But hurry up, we don't exactly know how long the virus incubates."

Thus, Weiss and Blake quickly packed supplies for the travel, and jumped onto their Raptors, before leaving behind Ren. This had to be done fast, or else it might spread over the whole team, and maybe even beyond. And at this point, no one was sure what exactly this sickness would do besides fever.

Jaune was sleeping, as someone shoved him out of his bed. He landed on the ground with a loud thud and rubbed his forehead while trying to realize what was going on.

He looked up and saw Pyrrha, who was panting. It looked like she was in a panic, and had just shoved him out of bed. "P-Pyrrha? What's going on?"

"Jaune! Code Red!"

As he heard that, Jaune jumped up straight as a bullet, and stared at her. "Code Red? Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, initiate the security protocol!"

"We don't have any metal plates to cover the bathroom door with! We don't even have a bathroom door."

"Where's Ren? Is he hurt?"

"No, looks like he bailed."

"Dammit Ren. What can we do?" Jaune looked at the ground, not sure what to do. All the strategies they had established for a Code Red were useless now.

He slowly looked out of the door, searching for Nora. She was sitting in the enclosure, protecting the egg. The Triceratops was sitting in the corner, scared by Nora, who barked at it like a guard dog. "This is bad." He noticed a big Dragonfly, most likely a Meganeura, flying close by.

Those creatures had shown up shortly after the heat wave, and Jaune guessed that they used the immense heat to lay their eggs in waters that normally weren't warm enough for them. Of course, that also meant that Pyrrha was a lot more wary of her surroundings, and had fled the scene quite a few times.

The Meganeura came close to Nora, who instantly grabbed it, and crushed it in her hand with a grin on her face. "Never come close to the egg!" She yelled out.

Jaune slowly closed the door, and turned towards Pyrrha. "Well, we got a problem."

"Maybe we can flee like Ren did. There are a few places close-by where we could spend the nights." Pyrrha suggested.

"We can't leave Nora alone. Who knows what she'll do."

"It's not like we could stop her," Pyrrha muttered. "This is hopeless."

"We can still try to hold her inside the enclosure."

"Nora's not an animal..." Pyrrha replied.

"She just crushed a bug with he bare hand while smiling like a psychopath."

"Fair point. How fast can we put a saddle onto-" He was interrupted, as the door flew open, and angry Nora standing in the doorway?

"I. Need. Food!"

"Jaune! Run!" Pyrrha yelled, and Jaune started to run and hide.

Velvet was sitting in the middle of the dining hall inside Beacon, eating a sandwich. Classes were starting back up again tomorrow, so she had taken a couple of photographs earlier, getting ready for the combat classes by filling up her camera.

She was biting into her food, as her ears twitched. Velvet looked to the side and saw a group of four coming towards her, consisting of Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, Russel Thrush and Sky Lark. "Not again."

"Hey, Velvet. I heard you found a cave a few day ago. Made the news here..."

"Cardin. What do you want?"

"Well, it seems like you have good relations with Professor Ozpin. I've heard he gave you all medals for finding the cave and is talking to you privately. He even invited your team to Amity."

"And? We're top students."

"Why is Amity still in the air?" Dove asked, apparently cutting right to the chase.

"That's not in your interest."

"Oh, it is." Sky replied. "My Dad was a mechanic there. I wanna know why they fired him."

"Listen, I'm sorry that happened, but I really cannot tell you guys."

"But you should. Or else..." As he said that, Cardin stole her camera, and held it up, ready to smash it onto the ground. "This thing will go to hell."

"Cardin, isn't that a bit much?" Dove asked. "You know how important our weapons are."

"Wait, that's her weapon?"

As he said that, all four stared at him in confusion. "Well, yeah. What else do you think her weapon is? Her ears?" Russel asked.

"W-Well, I'm still gonna smash it. I already made my threat, I can't back down now."

"Why are you doing this Cardin?" Velvet asked.

"One of my friends wants to know what's going on. You think Imma leave him hanging?"

"No, why are you asking me? Ask Ozpin. Ask Glynda. They're more help than I am."

"You think I didn't try it? But no, it's apparently classified."

"Just give me my camera back."

"Yeah, right. And leave me defenseless? Without it, you only have your kicks and punches. They don't compete against my armor."

Suddenly, they heard barking next to them and turned around. Snow was standing there, barking at Cardin. "Snow? How did you-"

"Ah!" Cardin screamed and jumped onto the table.

"Okay, listen. I can explain. This is all just a huge misunderstanding."

"That's one ugly Chicken," Russel muttered.

"Chicken?"

"Guys? Let's go. Here, take your damn camera back." As he said that, Cardin ran away, quickly followed by Sky and Russel.

"What was that?"

"He's afraid of Chickens," Dove explained while running after his friends.

With Team CRDL gone, Velvet turned towards Snow, who was barking at them until they left through the door. "Snow? How did you get out of our room?"

The Yutyrannus looked at Velvet and tilted its head. Velvet sighed and picked the animal up. Not that it was easy. Snow had grown quite a bit and was already pretty heavy. It took all her strength to carry the dinosaur back to her room, where she had to sit down for a moment. "So, how did you..."

She started to look around the room and eventually noticed that the door was hanging in the doorway with the hinge broken. "Ugh. You broke it?"

As a response, the Yutyrannus sat down on a bed and looked at Velvet.

"Great. We can't keep you in here anymore." Velvet took a look at Snow, as she got an idea. "You know, maybe we can actually disguise you as a Chicken..."

"There it is." Weiss said as she and Blake came into the swamp. The air instantly got wetter, while the ground turned from sand and stone into mud, so that even the Raptors had their problems with walking through it.

"So... How are we going to find Leeches?" Blake asked, jumping off her Raptor.

Weiss pulled out the dossier. "They aren't that small. Maybe we can attract them somehow."

"Let me guess, you want to use blood as bait?"

"What? That could attract a lot of other predators. No, we need something different." Weiss started to think and looked around at the trees to find an idea.

"Weiss?" Blake asked, and stepped back.

"Not yet. I'm thinking."

"Seriously."

"I need to think, Blake."

Blake sighed, and tackled Weiss to the ground, just in time to avoid an animal jumping out of the water. Both looked at the reptile, and Weiss was quick to identify it. "A Kaprosuchus!"

Before Blake could ask what exactly a Kaprosuchus was, the animal jumped again, trying to catch one of them in its jaws. Blake created a Shadowclone to distract it, while Weiss used a Gylph to get out of the way. The Kaprosuchus caught the Shadowclone in its jaw, enabling Blake to throw a Spear at the animal.

It was thrown off balance, and Coral jumped onto the crocodile, digging its claws into the Kapro's side. With the Crocodile pinned down, Weiss approached it and stabbed her Pike into its head. "That surprised me..."

"Since when can crocodiles jump?" Blake asked, taking her Spear back. While the Pikes were more lethal than spears, they were too heavy to throw correctly, so Blake decided to bring a Spear, just in case.

"Well, you only know the modern crocodilians. Back in the day, they had a lot more variety." Weiss explained. She looked at Coral and whistled. "You two can eat it."

Thus, the Raptors started to feast on the dead Kaprosuchus, while Blake and Weiss went back to figuring out a way to attract Leeches. "You think Ren is doing okay?" Blake asked.

Ren was currently washing off one of the bowls he used to feed Ruby and Yang in the river. He had to admit, even though they were incredibly sick and harder to take care of than little children, it was at least better than being around Nora right now.

"Ren?" A weak voice yelled from inside the house. Ren stood up and walked in.

He saw Yang, lying on her back. Her face was completely red from her fever, and her empty bowl stood next to her. At least she seemed to be more resilient against illnesses than her little sister. "What's the matter?"

"My bowl's e-empty."

"How is your fever?" Ren replied. He had put some berries in the food he made and hoped that some vitamins would help them to get better.

He put his hand on her forehead and sighed. "Still high. I hope Weiss and Blake are back soon."

"Y-Yeah," Yang replied, and gulped.

"Yang? What's going on?"

"I think my l-lunch is ab-about to- here it comes."

"By the gods..." Ren managed to sigh before he regretted leaning above Yang's face.

"He's probably doing well." Weiss replied. "I think I have an idea." She showed Blake the Dossier and pointed at the picture in the middle. "See how the Leeches attack those people?"

"Yeah. Wait..."

"Blake, take off your clothes."

"Whoah, let me stop you right there. You're not going to use me as bait." Blake replied, slowly backing away, only to be stopped by a glyph behind her back.

"So you'd rather let your friends die, then have some small animals suck a bit of your blood?" Weiss asked angrily.

"It's not that. I just think that there'd be a faster way to do it."

"What? Send in one of our Raptors? Those two could go berserk.

"But- Ugh, fine. Can you turn around?"

"Hey, we're both girls," Weiss replied. "And you don't have to take off everything. Your shirt and pants are enough."

Blake groaned and took off her hide shirt and pants. After taking a deep breath, she stepped into the muddy water. "I'm in! It's not that bad, feels good actually."

"Well, mud is known to be good for your skin. Just make sure that nothing attacks you."

"Yeah, I'll look out for it." Thus, they started to wait. And wait.

"Feel something?"

"No. Not a single thing has passed by. Maybe they live deeper in the swamp?" Blake guessed.

"But it's weird. Why has nothing attacked you yet?"

"Are you waiting for me to be attacked?"

"No, just pointing it out. We'll wait five more minutes, and then try somewhere else."

"Okay. But I don't think any-" From one second to the other, Blake was buried under dozens of big leeches, desperately trying to find a free spot to attach. The mass pressed Blake underwater, and the mountain of leeches stuck out of the muddy water.

"BLAKE!"

"DAMMIT!" That was something Emerald and Mercury had heard for the whole day. They watched the angry Cinder burn down a tree out of frustration, and go back inside her house, only to slam her door with such strength that the whole shack shook.

"She seems... different," Emerald muttered. "Is she all right?"

"Of course she's not, kiddo." They turned around, and saw Roman, sitting on a log with a bowl of food in his hands.

"Well, yeah. It's Cinder." Mercury replied, for which Emerald rammed her elbow into his side. "Ouch."

"That's not what I mean," Roman said. "While she's always been a bitch, she has become a bit different."

"That what I meant!" Emerald yelled out. "She's always been so calculating and ho- I mean cold."

"Yeah. 'Cuz she was in control. You see, people like her are used to being in control of the situation. Think about it. Before we arrived here, she had us in the palm of her hands. You, me. The crazy bull. We all had to follow her order or die. But now, she has lost that. We're all equally fucked here."

"But she had to follow Salem too." Emerald pointed out. "She wasn't entirely in control."

"That's not wrong. But it is also another factor. Cinder always had the support of Salem, and now it has stopped. Add in the fact that she only has half of the Fall Maiden's power, and it's no wonder she is stressed."

"Is there anything we can do to help her?" Emerald asked, clearly concerned.

"Wait 'till she's used to the situation, and pray to every god that we don't end up being eaten by either a dinosaur or her," Roman replied, and resumed his meal. Apparently, Emerald was the only one who was concerned about Cinder.

"We're back!" Weiss yelled out as she, Blake and their Raptors came back into the camp.

"Finally." Ren sighed loudly as he walked up towards them. He glanced at Blake, who was staring blankly into the air. "Is she alright?"

"So... Many... Help me." Blake muttered weakly.

"She got attacked by what looked like every leech in the swamp," Weiss explained. "I think she got Bdellophobia now."

"It looks more like she is dead on the inside," Ren muttered in concern.

"Good news is, we've got the leech blood."

"I already gathered all the remaining ingredients," Ren replied.

"You were supposed to look out for Ruby and Yang," Weiss snapped.

"They are everywhere..."

"I tried to. Then Yang started to finally... well... There are lines I don't want to cross."

"What do you-"

"She needs to take a bath after she can walk again," Ren explained. "But at least we now know that this sickness comes with explosive diarrhea in later stages."

"Sucking my blood..."

"Let's just start and make the antidote," Weiss said and pulled out two dead leeches from the bags on the Raptor saddles.

"Blake? Can you open you implant?" Ren asked.

"Digging their little teeth into my skin..." Blake muttered.

"Blake? Come on, you don't have to-"

Sand was thrown into the air, as Blake landed facefirst on the beach, stiff like a wooden board. "Maybe we should do something about that," Ren said.

"We have to make the antidote first. We don't know if the sickness is lethal yet, and I don't want to risk it." Weiss said, and walked past Ren, straight to the Mortar and Pestle.

Ren quickly brought over the other ingredients, namely Mushrooms, Flowers and Narcotics. Weiss put all of it into the pestle and used all her strength to turn the mix into a greenish, almost fluid paste.

She put the antidote into five bowls and looked at Ren. "How do you think we have to use this? Eat it? Drink it? Rub it on our forehead?"

"I think swallowing it would be the safest bet," Ren replied, and swallowed his part of the antidote, only to almost throw it back up. "This... this is disgusting."

"It's Leech Blood, Narcotics, mushrooms, and flowers. Of course, it doesn't taste well." Weiss drank her portion, and her face warped into an expression of utter disgust and horror, as the antidote burned in her throat.

She stood up, took a bowl, and brought it over to Blake, before going inside. As she found out, Ren wasn't lying. There were puddles of... bodily fluids around both bodies. The house smelled like death and rot, and the heiress instantly held her nose shut.

She slowly walked up to Ruby, and poured a bowl of the antidote into her mouth, before repeating the same with Yang.

Weiss closed the door as she left the house, and took a deep breath. "You know, I think I'll burn that house down and let Blake built a new one," Weiss muttered, looking at Ren, who was sitting on the ground like he was meditating.

"Probably for the best. The two have to rest for now."

Weiss sat down next to him and noticed that he had dragged Blake into the camp, putting her down next to the campfire. "I think it might be a good idea to sleep outside for tonight."

"Yes. Let's sleep." Blake whispered. "Only then can I forget the terrors of the swamp."

"Did you give her the antidote already?" Weiss asked, wondering if Blake's problems were partially due to the sickness.

"Yes."

And here's Chapter 16.

Looks like one part of JNPR is living with Team RWBY for now. I also tried to not have CRDL be the stereotypical bullies, and give them reasons for annoying Velvet.

Also, if anyone wonders why they have all the symptoms that Swamp Fever doesn't give you in the game, it's just that the symptoms in the game don't really translate all that well into a realistic story since there are no stats for stamina and health.

Now to replies:

alaxbird: Yep, that's gonna be a lot of hell for Mercury.

Dev the Snake Faunus: I don't think she'd eat Adam. Slowly kill him and feed his remains to the dinosaurs though? Likely.

lordrenight: Ruby's fifteen. In my opinion, it'd be more surprising if she wouldn't say a swear word from time to time, especially after getting gleaming metal on her hand.

Kaiju15: Well, a Mosasaur should work against an Alpha Megalodon. But yeah, that's the only way she would go back in there. (Partially because she can't really use her Semblance underwater)

Guest: Yes, they did. But he won't appear in the story. Was just a little nod to the series.

Gizmo Gear: Since RWBY and JNPR already met, I can safely say the meeting with CRMEN will be awkward chaos since RWBY and JNPR don't know yet that Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury are evil.

Primus-Same: Well, here's the new Chapter.

Silken Emperor: Thanks.

RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth; Ark: Survival Evolved belongs to Wildcard Studios