The feeling of her aura snapping back to herself when she collided with a tree left Weiss feeling a little more than winded. There was an exhaustion already trying to cling to her bones, but Weiss forced herself back upright.
They hadn't been prepared for a fight quite like this. Carrying weapons had felt like a precaution in a lot of ways, since their one major threat would be kept at a relatively safe distance from them.
When they'd left Vale, their team had been under the impression that they were simply walking out to see how the giant grimm was moving towards the city. Mostly, they were supposed to be tracking its path and see whether or not it had gotten closer in any meaningful way.
That had all changed when they'd stumbled on a hole in the ground that was practically oozing with black sludge.
Within seconds of that, they had been attacked.
Qrow was standing out of the way, because he wanted to see how they could do against a real grimm. The sort of grimm that had once been normal.
That didn't mean that they were doing so well with it themselves.
She got her legs under her and stepped in towards the grimm, which looked like a gorilla. It was much stronger than she had been prepared for, and so far all it had managed to do was throw the four of them around like they were nothing.
And Weiss was getting tired.
"Ruby!" Weiss called to the girl, who had just landed up in the treetops nearby. Ruby looked down at her, then to the grimm that was between the four of them.
Qrow had somehow managed to disappear out of view entirely, and that was even more worrying than anything.
"Yeah?" Ruby called back, doing her best to focus on the grimm. She was shifting her weapon, and Weiss already had a feeling that gunfire wasn't going to get them anywhere.
However, it was as best as they could hope for.
"It's too strong!"
"No, it's not!" Yang roared from the ground, sprinting towards the grimm and reeling her arm back so that she could throw a strong punch at it. "We're going to-"
The grimm turned on Yang, and Weiss watched as it stood up on its short legs, bringing an arm back to return the hit.
It slammed into Yang, and Yang was thrown back so hard that she actually managed to go through one of the trees.
Someone needed to help, Weiss thought as she turned her attention to her teammate. She waved Myrtenaster, thinking hard on what she could do.
If she was going to be able to freeze the grimm, she needed to be able to get in close, but she was already hurt. This wasn't ideal, and Weiss had no idea how to move forward.
She watched as Yang stood up, and her hair looked like it was somehow glowing and about to light on fire, her eyes blazing violent red. Yang stalked towards the grimm, slow and prepared.
"Ruby, we need to-"
Ruby didn't even get a chance to reply before there was a gunshot and one of the forms of Blake's weapon came rocketing out of the trees.
It wound around the grimm's chest, the bladed end of the kusarigama embedding itself in the soft red part there. The grimm cried out in pain, and Weiss watched as the grimm was pulled off balance.
Yang took the cue and sprinted back in, hitting the gorilla in the face so hard that it looked like there was a burst outwards.
Almost as quickly, the grimm dropped to the ground, and Weiss heard one more gunshot, coming from Ruby's position.
The bullet hit the grimm, and it dissipated so quickly that Weiss could barely even keep track of it.
"Not bad." Qrow called, sitting up in one of the trees. He looked calm, bored even. It made Weiss' stomach turn at the thought. "For a bunch of kids."
"What do you mean for a bunch of kids?" Yang called back, and she looked like she was doing her best to calm herself down. Weiss didn't know what to do, and so she just used a last glyph to allow herself to get back to ground without injury.
"Good question." Qrow replied. "Pop quiz, any of you know what that was called?"
All four of them fell back into line, and the way that they exchanged a look down the line told Weiss that none of them knew. She hadn't exactly been able to get that sort of knowledge herself at home, and classes hadn't presented many giant gorillas.
When none of them replied, Qrow took it as a chance to keep talking and explain how he was feeling about the whole thing.
"That, girls, was called a Beringel." Qrow explained with a shrug. "They're mostly known for being able to beat the everloving crap out of you. It's been a long time since I've seen one."
"So why did we see it?" Weiss asked, still feeling exhausted. The sensation practically clung to her every bone, but she did her best to stand up tall. "If they haven't been around."
"I dunno." Qrow snapped. His eyes tore away from them as he glanced back in the direction of the pool of sludge that they'd found. "But it's a big deal."
Weiss didn't like the way that her stomach flipped over that statement. If they had just encountered something that was going to have serious, large-scale ramifications, then how were they supposed to move on? Would they report back to Vale, or…
Qrow looked between the four of them and sighed. "You kids stick together for a minute. I've got to make a call back to Oz."
With that, their mentor slipped off and out of view. If they were going to have some time as a team, then Weiss was sure that they needed to talk about it.
She looked to Ruby first, then Yang. Weiss was sure that if any of them knew the situation around Vale well, it had to be them.
There was a long moment of silence, and Weiss wasn't surprised at all when Ruby was the first to talk.
"So we just fought a real grimm." Ruby started, and Weiss couldn't help but think that she looked a little like she was in disbelief. All of their worlds had just flipped upside down, and none of them knew what to do with it. "The first one in…"
"Yeah," Blake sighed, and she wrapped her arms around herself like she needed a hug. Her black hair hanged down in front of her face almost like a curtain. "We did."
"So what does this mean?" Yang asked, holding her head high and squinting at the distance, searching out any other threats. "The last people that fought real grimm like that were back when we were all kids."
"I don't know what it means." Weiss said, trying to ignore her own worries. "But if there are small grimm and a giant one outside of Vale, what does it mean for the other kingdoms?" She paused. "In Atlas they've always relied on the cold or the military to keep monsters away, but now..."
Ruby bit her lower lip. "Maybe we're going to have to talk to professor Ozpin when we get back to Vale." She offered. "I mean... they're the one that would need to know this, right?"
"But Qrow's already calling Ozpin. If we end up seeing them..." Yang shrugged. "It'll probably be Qrow doing all of the talking, you know that right?"
"Yang's right." Weiss sighed. "I just don't like this."
Blake picked her head up and looked out towards the black pool, searching for something the same way that Yang had. "We aren't the only ones out on a mission." She said in a way that struck Weiss as being far too calm for the situation that they were in. "Which means that it is possible that other teams have encountered grimm."
Weiss nodded and looked down at the ground, grinding her toe into the dirt road.
Road.
"What about travellers?" She offered, looking back up and feeling a spike of cold through her heart. "What if..."
Weiss watched in horror as the looks of fear began to settle over her teammates faces. The stakes had just been raised, and she couldn't help a slight jab of guilt that came over the realization.
But at the same time, she couldn't regret it. Not when the possibility that someone was going to get hurt that didn't have the benefits of being heavily armed like they were.
"That'd be..." Blake started to speak, hugging herself and looking away from the rest of them. Her gaze settled far off, away from the city and even further away from them. "That'd be bad."
"Yeah." Weiss said, looking down at her feet. Grinding her toe into the dirt on the road a little bit more. "It'd be... bad."
The sound of a twig snapping brought all four of them to attention, with Blake even sinking into a position like she was preparing for a fight.
Sure enough, it was just Qrow standing there.
"Uncle Qrow?" Yang asked, looking at him and staring him down. "What did Ozpin say?"
Qrow sighed heavily and waved a hand. "We're going to finish our patrol, then head straight back." He explained calmly. "They're alerting the other teams that are out in the field and with any luck nobody's going to get hurt."
That didn't help. It didn't make anyone feel any better about the situation or any more relaxed. Weiss wasn't going to be able to calm down until she was back in Vale, she was all but certain of it.
"Alright." Ruby said, hugging herself now. Not doing well at all. None of them were. How were they supposed to? "So I guess we're just going to... keep going?"
Qrow looked down the road, searching for something. He was on just as high alert as the rest of them it seemed. "Yeah." He said quietly. "I know that's probably not what you guys want to do, but now recon is more important than it was when we left."
"Right." Weiss said quietly.
Qrow gave them a few more minutes to recuperate and relax before he began to walk. It was a way that he could keep the others calm, and Weiss didn't have any choice but to fall into line behind him.
Ruby and Blake ended up at her sides, and Yang trailed behind like she was ready for a fight at any second. Protective as always.
No matter how safe she was with the team, Weiss didn't know that she was actually going to be able to calm down as much as she needed.
But, that was just one of the curses of their trip, it seemed.
And that was fine.
Watts sat in the front of the inn, with a glass in front of him and Hazel across from him. The two of them were able to play along with the setting easily enough. Tyrian was off scouting out the area outdoors, and Cinder was up in their room, supposedly resting.
They'd been brought to this specific village in search of a lead for the maidens. There was something that Hazel wasn't telling him, and Watts was absolutely certain of it.
Hazel was sitting, braced against the table and swirling his glass in his hand.
Watts was about to say something, to try and break the silence, when he heard a voice from across the inn's bar room.
"-I swear, she ripped the leaves off of the trees!" A man exclaimed, waving his arms about as he told an absolutely outlandish story. "Turned them to ice. Scary as all hell. You can't even imagine-" The man droned on, and Watts paid some attention to it in the background of his mind.
And that was certainly a strange story, Watts thought. He looked across the table at Hazel. Hazel understood him without a word needing to be said between the two of them. Surely he was going to do everything that he could to commit the story to memory.
Watts was sure that he could do him one better.
For that reason, he reached into his pocket and removed his trusty scroll. Watts bypassed the initial lockscreen and went straight to a recording application. This way, he was going to have an audio log for them to follow and refer back to later on.
Since he doubted that it would matter, Watts opted to set his scroll down on the table between the two of them.
The man across the bar continued on in his story. A quick glance over told Watts that he'd even gathered a small crowd around him. If either he or Hazel wanted to, they could head over and join in. For now, it didn't seem like it would be worth it to do so.
"Where did you see this?" A skeptical voice asked, the owner of it scoffing in disbelief. "That doesn't sound like any semblance I've heard of."
"I know!" The storyteller barked, slamming his glass down on the table in front of him. "I didn't believe it either. If I'd gotten to talk to the girl I would have, but that wasn't possible."
"So where did you see her?" The skeptic asked again.
He hesitated for a long time before finally coming up with his explanation. "Mistral's a big continent." The man explained calmly. "I saw her on the way to Oniyuri. She had a horse though, so she's probably not even out there anymore."
"And she toppled a grimm alone?"
"I swear on it." The man mumbled. "Before my very eyes."
Watts looked across at Hazel and Hazel just sighed and nodded. Neither of them wanted to follow a trail out to a village like Oniyuri. It was better than spending time in Kuroyuri or one of the other remaining ravaged villages that dotted Anima. Either way, it was sure to drag up a lot of problems for them to go.
Hazel got up, stretching and went to the bar like he was expecting to find something there. Hazel leaned in and said a few words to the barkeeper that Watts wasn't able to catch, and then he made off on his way up to the room. Presumably he was looking to tell Cinder what the update in the situation was.
After that, it was going to be up to one of them to go and find Tyrian. As useless as the man tended to be, Watts couldn't deny that he had his place among them. Especially considering that he had been Salem's mouthpiece of choice for so long.
Watts ended up sitting there for a long time, just listening along to the story before he finally decided that he'd heard enough. He finished his drink and gathered his thing before making his way up to the room to see that Cinder and Hazel were sitting on opposite sides of a bed, some sort of lesson going on in the space between them.
They both looked up at him and Watts took his place on the edge of the bed between them. "We're leaving first thing in the morning." He explained as calmly as he could. There was a moment of hesitation before he looked over at Cinder. "Have you ever been to Oniyuri, girl?"
"No." Cinder croaked back at him. "I haven't."
Watts looked to Hazel and raised an eyebrow.
"I know the way." Hazel said, managing to come off as so sad through every word. There was something that they were going to have to confront, but Watts didn't know what it would be. He supposed it would be a matter of time before he could really find out.
Watts was sure that there was a reason for it. Something that Hazel had kept locked up deep down in his chest that he'd never wanted to show. Eventually things would come to light. Watts was sure of it.
"Of course." Watts said, looking directly across the table at Hazel. "I suppose that means that we should begin on our travels, shouldn't we?"
Hazel hesitated, looking over at Cinder and hesitating. He was taking his time to make a decision, Watts realized. The four of them had spent so much of their time on the road that it was time for them to find a way to rest.
Relaxation wasn't going to be something that would come so easily when the situation with money was brought into perspective. That wasn't to say that Watts couldn't arrange methods of payments for their stays in the future. Usually it was a matter of them making agreements to do work around a village.
That hadn't been necessary lately, but Watts was certain that it was only a matter of time before it got worse.
"We should take an extra night or two to rest." Hazel suggested finally. "Ensure that all four of us will be in proper shape for such a journey."
"Because getting to Oniyuri will be such a concern." Watts responded with a roll of his eye. The chance was there for them to run into trouble but he had his doubts. Regardless of what had happened in recent times, Watts was sure that they could handle it.
The girl could fight, as could Tyrian. Hazel was one of the best fighters that he knew, and then Watts was also able to fight for himself.
Not that he ever needed to do so. The others were always able to get things finished before he ever needed to lift a finger. Watts definitely preferred it that way, since dirtying his hands rarely offered him any benefit.
"It will be if they aren't rested." Hazel growled back at him. "You and I can make the trip with no trouble, but we can't count on the others."
Cinder was still sitting there and Watts couldn't help but to smile when he saw the way that her expression contorted into anger. If anything, it meant that he was going to have a better way to get under Cinder's skin. That was a good thing for him.
It was just another way that he was going to be able to make sure that he got what he wanted out of the girl when they were in the field.
"I suppose that if you are so adamant on us staying, then I'm willing to do so." Watts replied, leaning back where he was sitting and ignoring as a crystal of dust brushed up against his hand. "But it will be up to you to decide how we will pay for our stays." Watts stared Hazel down with that, and the large man sighed.
He just got up to his feet, looked to Cinder apologetically, and then left the room. That in itself was good enough for Watts. It also left him alone with Cinder for a moment.
Watts looked down at her and stared into her eye. "Will you be well to travel?" He asked, knowing that he managed to come off as being completely bored in the process. "We can't afford for you to drag us down, Cinder. I'm sure that you know that."
And there it was, that tell-tale frustration written so clearly across Cinder's face. Watts saw the way that her jaw tightened and her one eye narrowed. The girl balled her hands into fists, and that told him everything that he needed to know.
Instead of giving the girl a chance to say anything, Watts got to his feet and wandered over to his own bed. "Good." He muttered. "You'll be sure to keep that in mind."
He'd gotten everything that he needed, he was sure of it.
Now it was just a question of where they ended up going and how they ended up going later on.