"CAN YOU HEAR ME, WEISS?"
"You dunce!" Weiss held her hands over her ear, "I'm only wearing one. And I'm standing right next to you!"
"Oh, right," Ruby pulled back, trudging through the deep snow that had built up in the sheltered path. Her red cloak fluttered behind her as she fiddled with the foam plug in her left ear, "Remember guys, one in, one out till we find the Liliac."
Sure, the bats would probably attack from the air, but they needed every sense on high alert out here in case there were other Grimm lurking in the trees on the lower slopes. They'd been walking for an hour in the direction Yang had estimated the two snowball-fight crashing bats had come from, but so far everything was pine needles and ice and broken rocky slopes with zero Grimm-infested caves.
Nevertheless, Ruby was back in high spirits. She paid little mind to the cold wind nipping at her nose and ears. "Alright, we'll explore for big caves, and if we don't find anything we can do a grid-search for smaller stuff. Sound good?"
Blake nodded, nudging Yang's arm to get her to look down at the notes she'd taken. The brawler already had both earplugs in - she knew very well the displeasure of getting hit in a previously injured area. Her mouth dipped into a frown at the word grid-search. "Soooo, Weiss, how do those glyphs of yours work, exactly? Can you maybe just, hop up in the air and get a birds eye view of stuff?"
The heiress turned to Yang, ready to be cross, but, well, Yang was deaf. Plus resisting the urge to tear that idiot miner apart piece by piece (verbally, of course) had taken an extraordinary amount of effort. She heaved a sigh, "Sure. Why not?"
She pointed her index and middle finger to the ground and brought her hand up in a sweeping motion. Her alabaster hair, her pristine coat and combat skirt, and the delicate white-on-white of her family crest on the snow gave credence to all of her oft-despised nicknames. Ice Queen. Snow Angel. Ruby watched her partner spring into the air, onto a second glyph already waiting to propel her higher into the pale light of the overcast sky. Definitely Snow Angel. She made a mental note to never call Weiss that to her face, but wow.
Ruby glanced downhill where the trees were a little thicker. Probably Weiss wouldn't be able to see much from the air over there. She started down the rock-strewn hillside, "I guess, uh, let's look around some while we wait?"
With another groan from Yang after she read Blake's note, and a quick message to Weiss's scroll to relay their intent, the trio set off once more. Before too long Blake and Yang fell behind, Ruby having called upon her semblance to scout ahead for larger openings, leaving the others to do a more detailed search.
Sharp amber eyes scanned the terrain for any sign of rocky outcroppings, sinkholes, or pretty much anything that looked suspiciously cavelike. Her ears, however were of little used with how much they ached. The man at the counter had given Ruby an odd look when they'd asked for five pairs of ear plugs, but at this point Blake would have preferred literally taping her Fanus ears to her head. The plugs simply were not made for feline ears of any sort, and with her ribbon constricting them as well...
"Here, let me see."
Blake started, unaware Yang had been watching her fidget with her ears. She instinctually ducked back from her partner's attempt to reach for her bow, causing the brawler to frown. "They're bothering you, right? The earplugs. I've got a better vantage point so, let me see? Maybe I can fix 'em."
The Faunus froze, uncertain how to respond. On one hand, she was fiercely protective of her Faunus ears - the soft velvety appendages had suffered being poked, prodded, and yanked far too many times for her to count. On the other hand, this was her partner asking. She been through enough with Yang to know she could be trusted.
For a wild, fleeting moment, Blake considered giving in - Weiss wasn't around to see, or to tease. No one would have to know. A blush slowly crept up her neck as she worked up the courage to speak.
"Uh, Blake?"
Blake snapped to attention, "Actually, if you want-"
"Your scroll is blinking," the brawler pointed to the small device in Blake's hand. It was a message from Ruby. "...What were you saying?"
"Nothing," Blake squeaked, mortified and beyond glad her partner couldn't hear her. She shied away from Yang's lopsided smile, forgetting to write notes for the brawler on her scroll as she turned and stuttered, "Let's- let's go."
When they caught up to Ruby, she was squinting, framing a sizable boulder jutting from the forest floor with her thumbs and forefingers. When she noticed the others, she grinned, "Hey check it out- it looks kind of like a person, huh? See the nose? And the funny hair? Kind of like Professor Ooblek."
Before Blake could comment on the likeness, Weiss dropped through the branches, landing more heavily than usual on the snowy pine needles. She straightened, still panting after the strain of her semblance use, "I'm officially ruling out the possibility of us stumbling across any gaping rifts, or giant cavern entrances, unless they're very hidden under these trees."
Ruby's shoulders slumped a little bit. Well, she shouldn't have expected it to be that easy anyway. "That narrows things down, at least."
"Not necessarily," Weiss huffed as she fixed the cuffs of her sleeves, "The Liliac are small enough- all it would take is a tiny gap for them to climb out of some underground cave. Assuming they're even coming from someplace nearby. I mean, who's to say the two from this morning didn't fly over from that mountain," she jerked a thumb at a snow-capped peak visible through the branches, "Or that one over there?"
"Yeah so, neither of you look like you found any caves," Yang looked from Ruby, to Weiss, then finally to Blake, who shook her head in confirmation. "Aw, man."
Blake patted Yang's slumping shoulder as the brawler resigned herself to more searching - her least favorite part of search and destroy missions.
While the brawler's expression was dour, Blake's was pensive, her free hand resting on her chin in thought as her mind drifted back to her days outside the kingdoms. "Should we... shift gears? Searching for caves might take weeks - weeks we don't have. But hunting... tracking the Liliac themselves..." she let the suggestion hang, seeking input from her teammates - at least, the ones that could hear. She knew Yang would be up for any alternative to searching anyway.
"If we could catch another one on its way to town, we might get a better idea of where they're coming from," Weiss crossed her arms, "If something like this even happens again."
"Yeah, the attacking in daylight thing might have been a fluke." Ruby let her gaze drop. A fluke would be convenient. The others were silent. Grimm didn't really do flukes. Nevertheless, Ruby set her jaw, drawing Crescent Rose and gripping her staff, more for the grounded feeling the solid weight of her weapon gave her than for anything else, "Alright, guys, let's come up with a plan."
Weiss rolled her eyes, raising her hand, "Something better than having me sit under a box all night, please."
"Staying out in the forest did get one of them to come to us though," Blake glanced at Yang, who was still watching the skies. She gestured to herself and her partner, "If we can tack one of them back to its origin, that could cut our search time completely. We could camp out here while you two keep watch at the tower?"
"Maybe..." Ruby frowned, trying to figure if they'd be able to get decent sleep, being so split up. Long shifts were killer when you had to be up and going all day. She noticed Weiss smirking, "Um, what do you think?"
"Oh, it seems like a decent enough idea," Weiss gave Yang and Blake a sidewise glance, "Especially for parties interested in a little 'alone time'."
"Alone…?" Blake straightened up to her full height once Weiss's insinuation clicked. Lips pursed, eyes blazing, she positively glowered at the other girl, though the fierce expression was somewhat undermined by her face's attempt to match Ruby's cloak in color.
Yang blinked, glancing between the two. Smirking Weiss and mortified Blake - equally rare sights in their own right. To see them both at once? Legendary. "Uh," she shared a confused glance with her little sister, certain that she was missing something important.
"Let's get our overnight gear then." Even with three of her four ears plugged, Blake didn't miss the heiress's quiet snicker as she turned on her heel and all but fled, dragging a quizzical Yang along behind her.
With a basic plan in place for the rest of the day, the team headed back to the cabin to gather their essentials before setting out once more. Much to Weiss's dismay, they also took a brief detour to return the trio of kittens to their rightful owner. Or at least, they assumed that Jack, the hapless boy who'd brought them the kittens in the first place, was the owner - his mother certainly took in the breadbasket of mewling fluffballs quickly enough when they'd shown up at her door.
After parting ways with Ruby and Weiss at the base of the tower, the latter's smirk earning another bright red glower from Blake, Blake and Yang headed back into the forest, walking in relative silence save for the occasional rustling of wind through the trees. It was a comfortable silence - one that allowed Blake to think. Or in this case, avoid thinking about Weiss, and her teasing, and that smirk, and the idea that staying out overnight in the woods with her partner would be in any way different from all the nights they'd spent mere feet away in their own bunks.
Honestly, what was Weiss trying to insinuate? Alone time. Blake huffed and crossed her arms, playing off the frustrated gesture as an attempt to shield herself from the cold. She had absolutely no ulterior intent behind suggesting their current plan of action. Not in the slightest. ...Right?
"So, are you and Weiss okay?"
"Huh?" mercifully interrupted from questioning her own motives, Blake whirled around, her surprised expression spurring Yang to continue.
"Well you've been scowling at her like crazy today - I totally thought you were going to deck her earlier," the brawler smiled, amusement winning over worry at the prospect of Blake and Weiss duking it out.
Blake's blood turned to ice, a stark contrast to that incessant flush crawling its way right back up her neck. She'd noticed. Of course she'd noticed. Yang had always been perceptive. What else had she noticed? Without missing a step, Blake typed out a brief message lightning quick, refusing to look up at her partner. We're fine. It's nothing.
"Uh huh," Yang looked up from the scroll, one eyebrow quirked at her twitchy partner, "and Ruby hates cookies." The brawler's hands caught Blake's shoulders to bring them both to a stop, welcoming amethyst seeking out sharpened amber, "You know you can talk to me about whatever, right?"
Deep down, Blake knew her partner was only trying to help - but this was not helping. This was doing the very opposite of helping. The normally cool, collected Faunus felt her composure splinter into nothingness, her face radiating heat that nearly matched her partner's semblance. She was going to die on this mission, not from a fierce battle, or a Grimm attack, but from sheer embarrassment. In her haste to stop her partner's well-meaning questions, Blake's fingers practically flew over her scroll's keys.
I'll tell you later.
Only when Yang smiled and nodded did Blake fully realize what exactly she'd just agreed to discussing. Dust. Well, at least she hadn't really specified when later would be...
"Let's set up over there."
Startled from her thoughts yet again - this was becoming a pattern with Yang - Blake took a moment to study her partner. The nonchalant brawler either hadn't noticed Blake's fluorescent blush, or she simply wasn't commenting on it. Blake decided against questioning her good fortune.
Amber eyes followed Yang's gesturing arm to a sizable pile of jagged boulders resting a few paces away, probably the remnants of a long forgotten rock slide, the tallest of which was relatively flat, reaching just above the tops of the trees.
With a quick nod from Blake, the pair scaled the rocks in short order, finding an unparalleled view of the surrounding mountains, and much to Blake's chagrin, howling wind that bit twice as deep when unbuffered by the forest below. Fortunately, the Faunus had come prepared this time, pulling an enormous fleece blanket from her small pack. Wincing slightly at the cold seeping through her splayed out bedroll, Blake took her place on the boulder, gazing out over the vast expanse of terrain that led out into the wilds, away from the town. She felt Yang settle behind her, the brawler keeping watch over the path that led back to town and beyond.
The two huntresses-in-training sat in companionable silence, each wrapped in their own thoughts as they scanned the skies. Yang was fortunate enough to have the sunset on her side, a beautiful sight, and she seriously considered asking Blake to abandon her post so they could watch the reddening sun dip behind one of the towering white-topped mountain peaks together. Just as she was about to make her move, Yang felt part of a blanket drape across her. It was none other than Blake's black fleece blanket, cute stylized barking puppies of all sizes and colors dotted here and there across the soft fabric - a gift from Ruby, the first of her many valiant attempts to sway Blake's favor towards canine-kind.
Yang grinned over her shoulder at her partner sitting quietly under the other half, amber eyes resolutely trained on the skies. "Thanks but, you know I don't get cold, right?" She felt Blake shift backwards, jumping slightly when the Faunus pressed her freezing cold back against the brawler's own. "Oh." Yang leaned back as well, welcoming the weight of her partner's presence with a gentle burst of heat. "I've got you."
One side of Yang's lips quirked upwards in a lopsided smiled at the light rumbling sensation that could only be Blake's purr resonating through her bones. Being unable to hear it made her feel it that much more keenly. Resigning herself to what was probably going to be a peaceful night, which honestly didn't sound that bad the more she thought about it, Yang turned her gaze to the distant flickering lights of town, wondering how her sister was faring with Weiss.
Ruby slid into her sleeping bag, casting one last look at her partner. Weiss hadn't felt like talking- really hadn't felt like it- and volunteered for first watch with no fuss, even though she'd taken last watch with Blake the night before. That was a long stretch to have to be alert for. They would have to rethink their watch schedule with Jack- or drop out of the town watch altogether- if this was going to work without one of them keeling over from exhaustion.
Weiss leaned on the bell tower's stone rail, gazing out over the sleeping town. She had a frustrated, calculating look Ruby recognized from the times when a Dust theory problem turned out harder than she had anticipated, or when a new combat technique proved exceptionally difficult to master. She watched the heiress take a breath and exhale slowly so her breath misted in the air.
"G'night, Weiss," Ruby whispered, and ducked under her covers to get some much-needed sleep.
"Aaaaaaaand sent," Ruby closed her scroll, staggering up the last few steps into the belfry and collapsing into a pile of burlap sacks of wool. "Three days of nothing."
"Not nothing- we've had two more mid-day attacks, and a spike in Liliac numbers in the mines. Blake spotted that one yesterday afternoon," Weiss followed her up, rubbing her arms through her coat. "We're heading in the right direction."
Ruby groaned without moving, "Ozpin didn't even write back yesterday. These reports are so boring."
"If you skip them, Beacon will think we're all dead." Weiss threw up her arms, "They'll send out a rescue team and it will be your fault they wasted their time." When Ruby didn't respond, she grumbled, "We'd have a lot more to write about if the people in this town let us do our jobs." Gregor had yet to budge on his stance concerning the mines. The heiress marched to the other side of the massive bell, shoving any crates that were near enough to shove and scowling, "Where's Jack? Honestly, if he's home sleeping on a perfectly good watch night-"
"Maybe he had to go look after the kittens, or something," Ruby propped herself up on her elbows, wrinkling her nose. Wool smelled pretty strong when you were right on top of it. Or near it at all. She pulled her scroll back out, "I'm texting Blake. Wanna say hi?"
"Why? We saw them ten minutes ago," Weiss huffed, fumbling to light the small Dust lantern that hung on the wall.
"Suit yourself," Ruby shrugged, tapping a short check-in to Blake and her sister.
Blake never knew time could drag so slowly. Her life outside the kingdoms and her training at Beacon had prepared her for the heat of battle - the onslaught of enemies, overcome through mind-bendingly fast-paced combat tactics. But sitting and waiting... keeping watch... This was hard. Yang's company at least made it bearable, the brawler's heat a constant presence at her back.
A tiny blip from Blake's scroll caught her attention, and she pulled the small device out immediately, brows knitting together in confusion at the terse message.
Look.
There was no listed sender. The word simply sat in the center of the screen, demanding action. Baffled, Blake looked around, but there was nothing. She turned to glance behind her. A pile of smoldering ashes sat where Yang had once been. Blake shot to her feet, Gambol Shroud at the ready, her partner's name dying in her throat when she caught sight of her new surroundings. Gone was the peaceful mountain valley. All that remained was destruction. Chaos. Screams and cries, deadened by a pervasive cloud of smoke and soot, overrun by the cacophony of explosions raining down on all sides. Her eyes caught the silhouette of a lone figure walking towards her through the rubble.
Leave.
The command sounded as thought it had been whispered straight into her ear, but Blake refused. Even if she had wanted to run, she found herself rooted in place among the center of a pile of debris. Near the top of the figure, two pinpricks of bright, glimmering pink cut through the haze, boring straight into her.
Blake.
A new voice this time, different from the first, distorted and muddled, as though spoken through a broken scroll. Blake finally found her own voice. "Who are you?"
Blake.
The figure was nearly upon her - well within Gambol Shroud's firing range. Something kept her from shooting.
Blake - hey.
Amber eyes snapped open. Blake whirled around, eyes wild until Yang's hand appeared on her shoulder, the brawler's usual smile having slipped somewhat. "Well, good morning to you too, bright eyes. You all right?"
A dream. A weird one. Blake let out a sigh, unable to keep the corner of her lips from quirking at that stupid phrase Yang was now so fond of. It was the brawler's choice response to the first words she'd heard when her hearing had first started to return - "good morning sunshine."
Blake had said it to her their first morning out in the wild, not really expecting her to hear, but Yang's blinding smile had been worth the temporary embarrassment. It still was. The town's medics Cyan and Curtis had practically thrown a party when they'd reported in to the clinic later that day, complete with more tea and specially blended (but unfortunately disgusting) herbal cakes meant to promote Yang's healing even further.
They were now technically on day three since the injury, and Blake could still catch the cloudy look that rolled behind Yang's eyes when she was having trouble understanding something being said to her, but she was starting to ask them to repeat things less and less often. Though, whether that was due to actual progress with healing or the stubborn brawler's own methods of coping, Blake wasn't sure.
"I'm fine," Blake waved a hand, "Nightmare." She looked around at the darkened, cloudy midnight sky. "It's... not morning at all."
Yang grinned. "Nope, but man did you nod off quick. And your scroll vibrated, so..."
Blake blinked down at her flashing scroll. So at least part of the dream had been real... It was a message from Ruby. Her eyes narrowed at the timestamp - Ruby had sent this nearly half an hour ago, but it was only just getting to them. They all knew their scrolls had been getting worse and worse reception as the days progressed, but this was just ridiculous. Weiss had mentioned it was probably due to interference from the snowstorm that was headed their way, but all Blake knew was that it was bitterly cold, and she would have frozen into an iceblock long ago without Yang's heat keeping her thawed.
Regardless, it made quick communications tough all throughout the town, only adding to the townspeople's growing sense of unease. It certainly didn't help that the Grimm kept sneaking through the cloud cover to attack. A farmer one day, a shepherd and his entire flock the next. There had been no fatalities, but the injuries had been gruesome enough to frighten any children Ruby had passed by when rushing the victims to the clinic.
Speaking of which, she should probably message Ruby back.
"Blake," Yang's tone was sharp, causing the Faunus in question to throw a questioning glance over her shoulder, "What is that?"
It wasn't hard to see the distorted outline of a dark mass in the sky set against the low-hanging moon. With her superior night vision, Blake could make out what looked like the contours of a pair of wings - two pairs? From this distance she couldn't be sure, but the shape seemed wrong. The movement seemed wrong, fluttering wingbeats replaced with a strange writhing motion.
A series of quick calculations flew through the Faunus's head. Whatever that thing was, it had sunk below the clouds almost right overhead, flying low and at barely half the speed they'd seen Liliac clocking previously. Adrenaline flooded Blake's veins. This could be the one. This was a pace they could match on the ground. If they kept out of sight, they could track it...
Typing a swift message to Ruby and hoping against hope that she would get it sooner than later, Blake hit send and got to her feet, keeping her eyes trained on the creature passing by above them. "Let's go."
A single nod from Yang, and the pair disappeared into the forest below.
"They what?" Weiss rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, dragging herself from her bedroll.
"A slow bat. They're following it," Ruby tossed her the message on her scroll. The wind caught at her cloak, making the edges stir as if the cloth itself was impatient. She checked and rechecked Crescent Rose's ammo and the extra cartridges at her belt.
"We can't leave," Weiss finished scanning the text and motioned to the bell dominating the floorspace, "With no Jack, there's no one to sound the bell."
"Yeah, no, we're not going- we're just getting ready in case something bad happens," and a bunch of bats decide to come to town. This was all assuming nothing bad had happened already- the time stamp was old. Ruby winced. Blake would be careful, she knew, and Yang would kill anything that followed them, no problem. She took a deep breath, wishing she had night vision so she could have been on forest watch every night. "They make night vision goggles, right, Weiss?"
"What are you talking about?" The heiress glanced back from scouring the low-lit streets.
"We should get some."
Weiss rolled her eyes. "Terrific. We can all incorporate them into our combat gear."
"Mmhm," Ruby had refocused and was typing a quick note to Blake. No Jack. Can't come and meet up. Send us coordinates if things get crazy. Be ninja quiet.
A/N: Let's get this train wreck rolling. Thanks for the reviews. See you next week.
- Fiercesomest