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Scene 11:
Golden Regrets.
A/n:
Edit: I added timestamps to Scenes 9-11 to get the timeline across better
So I'm putting this here because of the response I got from last chapter.
Not going to lie, I was surprised by it. Mainly because what a few of you got so worked up about didn't actually matter.
You see, there are going to be parts were characters show their flaws, become hypocrites, and show the darkness that lies in humanity.
That part with with Blake picking Jaune over Yang, Weiss, and Nora wasn't supposed to be one of them.
It really didn't mean much and I basically put it in there completely on a whim.
I thought it would be cool for Blake to see what the others were doing, to give you a sneak peak at the other side.
Didn't really work.
So, I took it out. It really wasn't supposed to mean anything, and was supposed to set no real precedents.
When I read your response to it I was surprised because that little scene was honestly as important as that part where Ruby asks Ms. Goodwitch about uniforms.
Nevertheless, when I went back and re-read the entirety of what I had written so far, I found a problem with it.
You guys were right. Whatever I was going for, I didn't do very well, and instead I set a bad precedent for Blake. More than that, it really didn't fit with anything I was doing at the time, or where I was going.
So, yeah. Sorry for making you read that.
But thanks for catching it.
It still left me feeling a bit like the Joker.
I make Taiyang try and strangle Ruby to death and nobody bats an eye.
I make Blake pick Jaune over Yang and everyone loses their minds.
So, again, I fixed it. You can go back, if you want, and read the revised version of Scene 10, but not much has changed. Blake just didn't see anyone else except Jaune.
In any case, here's my second Super chapter to make up for it.
It's got gore, humor, and sadness.
It's also my present for breaking 1000 visitors, 75 follows, and 45 favorites in less than a month since i posted this story.
Enjoy.
Yang pov
8:43 am
I'm not in the mood for this. I thought angrily, staring down an Ursa in front of me.
I had just landed a few moments ago after being launched from the cliffs of Beacon into the Emerald forest for the Initiation.
The Ursa roared and charged at me, running at me with the full force of 1000 lbs of muscle and bone. When it got in range it tried to swipe at me with its large claw.
Most people would have felt a degree of fear seeing an Ursa charge at them. They would have felt the need to dodge, to avoid the large Grimm.
Instead I simply raised my left forearm to block the hit. I felt no fear, only hate.
Nearly 4000 N of focused force collided with me, enough to tear a man in half, to grind his bones to dust, to completely obliterate him.
I just bent my knees and grunted.
Then I grit my teeth, pulled my arm back, and retaliated.
All the Grimm had time to do was briefly realize that its almighty swipe had almost no effect on me. That I wasn't sent flying, killed, or even hurt by it. It could only briefly wonder why? Before its existence ended.
I threw my right fist filled with my fire and fury at its head.
Boosted by the power of my aura and my gauntlets, it hit more than twice as hard. Well over 9,000 N of force focused into an area the size of a fist flew straight at its brain in an instant. My fist smashed through its white, bony, mask like it wasn't even there. It passed through muscle and blood veins before it hit the skull.
My armored fist shattered its skull before ending its journey in the beast's brain. The sheer force of my punch traveling through its mostly water-based body sent a shockwave through it. The shockwave obliterated the brain, agitated the blood, and caused its skull to shake itself apart, causing it all to detonate in an explosion of blood, bone fragments, and gore from the destructive pressure in a loud, wet, crunchy, POP.
All from one punch.
The shower of gore covered my in the crimson blood of the dead Grimm, but I didn't care right now. I just wanted this to be over. I just wanted to end this.
I wanted to end them.
I heard another growl behind me and turned. I took count of at least six large Ursai in the forest with me. All looking to feast on my bones.
I glared back at them as my aura flared. That nightmare I had last night left me in a bad mood.
When I got to Beacon, I was happy. I had left everything that had happened in Patch behind me. It may have just been for a moment, but I forgot all the craziness, the insanity, of my life beforehand. I trusted Qrow and dad to take care of everything, and I left it behind me.
It felt like it was just a moment in time, but in that moment I was blissful in my ignorance. I felt better than I had in years. She wasn't there to remind me about my mistakes anymore. I didn't have to come home to see my "family" anymore, to see them as they reminded me of the price of my failures.
Of my mistake.
I was finally free. Free to live my own life, to be what I wanted. Without those constant reminders there, I quickly left the depression, guilt, and trauma of my old life behind me as I focused on my future.
But then I had my nightmare, and I saw her face again, and I felt that same failure.
Again.
Even now, I can hear her saying, "Yang, why did you abandon me?"
I grit my teeth, close my eyes, and try to hold it in. To reign in control of myself
It was just a dream, it's not real I tell myself.
I try to push it out, to focus on the here and now. To focus on my most hated enemy.
"Why did you let me go?"
I push out the guilt, and replace it with rage. The guilt feels like water, suffocating and drowning me. It sucks the life out of me, slowly withering me into nothing. The hatred and rage feels like a burning fire. It hurts, and it kills me, but it also fuels me. It burns away the guilt, giving me energy and strength were I had none.
I will take this hatred over my own guilt any day. I will take the burning fire to the drowning water.
So I let the hatred and anger build, because as much as I know it destroys me, I can't handle the alternative.
"Yang…why did you do this to me?"
And as I gaze into the angry red eyes of the Grimm in front of me, Grimm that feed off my anger, I can let it burst out of me.
"SHUT UP!" I roar, letting my aura blaze through my body, giving it energy it needs to satisfy my desires.
My eyes run red, my hair is on fire, and my mind is an inferno. And in that one moment, I feel the blissful moment where the girl known as Yang can fall away with all her faults, guilt, and pain. In her place rises pure, untainted, powerful rage.
And with that, I charge forth, forgetting everything about myself as I let my hate fill me and guide my fists. I become an avatar of destruction and rage. I tear my way through the Grimm, each blow hitting with god-like force. I don't even bother trying to evade there blows.
Why would I? The pain feels too good to let it go. I know I deserve every hit, every strike. I know deep down that I deserve this pain, and it feels good to receive it.
It only fuels my fire.
One Ursa strikes me in the head hard enough to cut off some of my golden mane. Normally, seeing my immaculate hair harmed would have thrown me into a bloody rage. But the rage I feel over my hair pales in comparison to the inferno of hate I have become.
I don't just feel hatred, right now I am hatred.
And as hatred, I retaliate with the due force.
I send a jab flying into its gut. It punctures its thick underbelly, digging deep into its abdomen. With my fist embedded elbow deep in the Grimm, I trigger my gauntlets.
The explosive slug detonates deep inside the Grimm, pulping it, but it's not enough for me. My aura protects me from its explosive force, leaving me unharmed, allowing me to continue. So I do.
I quickly fire round after round of explosive dust ammunition into the belly of the dark beast, each one detonating with a muffled Bang. Finally, after 4 shots, it ruptures with a loud, meaty, BOOM. The entire chest of the large Grimm explodes in gore, sending my fist flying back and the tearing the ruined corpse in half.
Using the recoil of the blast, I spin on my foot. Turning my backwards momentum into forward rotation, I throw a powerful left hook at the Ursa raising up behind me. It had planned on striking me down while I had my fist stuck in other Grimm. I had other plans.
Right when my left fist connected with the other Ursa's chest, right when I felt its thick hide give in and open up, right when I felt the wetness of its crimson blood on my fist, I fired. I fired the 8 gauge high explosive Dust round right into the opening I made in its chest, blowing it wide open with a wet, crunchy, BANG and sending it flying back in another explosion of gore.
By the time its corpse hit the ground, I had already changed targets, focusing instead on another Ursa.
In front of me stood the last Ursa, an old one. It was big, bigger than all the others I had slain, and had white spikes coming out of its back. Had I been in my right mind, I might have tried to come up with a plan of attack, how to fight it as intelligently as possible.
Instead, only one thing was going through my mind right now.
Hate
Before I could make my move, it came at me with a powerful strike, hitting me in the right shoulder with its massive claws and pushing me back a few feet. My aura absorbed the blow with ease, and I empowered by the pain. The pain fed me, and made me what I was. Each hit cleansed me, helped me forget about the past, and focus on the now.
And now I needed to retaliate.
So, I returned the blow with one my own. I stepped back up to the Ursa, twisting my body as I sent a left jab right at its left arm. The instant after my fist connected with its arm I triggered my Ember Celica with a loud BANG. The detonation of my explosive rounds combined with the thunderous force of my fist blew its arm off in another small explosion of gore.
Before it had time to ponder its new, three legged existence, I followed up my initial jab with a powerful cross. I stepped in, throwing my whole body into my aura filled right fist. I threw it as I twisted my body, adding even more force to the blow.
My cross slammed into the right leg of the Ursa, which, unlike the other one, was firmly planted on the ground.
It didn't matter.
My thunderous, explosive, cross slammed into the old Ursa's right leg. The detonation of my Ember Celica was punctuated by another loud BANG as I blew off another leg in an explosion of blood, muscle, and bone.
No longer having any support up front, the Ursa began to fall forward. Before it could, however, I decided to deliver my final blow in the form of a fiery, explosive, uppercut.
I recovered from my cross, and threw my arm up into its face with all the fury I could. My right fist kissed the Ursa right in the bottom of its chin, tapping against the armored mask of the Grimm, and didn't stop.
It drove through, propelled by my force of hate and rage. Instead of penetrating like my last blow, this one pushed. It pushed, and pushed, and pushed, stopping for nothing. Muscle and bone gave way to my whims as its head was twisted and pushed away from its neck.
For one final push, I triggered my Ember Celica once more, causing another high explosive dust round to slam into its head with a thunderous BOOM. With that one, final, explosive, push, the Ursa's head was blown of its body, leaving a bloody stump of its spinal column sticking out of its neck.
Now that I was done, I felt…cleaner.
Ironically, when I was done, I was covered from head to toe in gallons of Grimm blood. Sure, it would evaporate off soon enough, like all dead Grimm did, but right now I was a fearsome image of blood and fury.
Still though, this was what I needed. I just needed to let all my anger, my rage, my hate out. I was feeling better already. I couldn't even remember what I was mad about.
"Yang"
Then I did.
Weiss pov
8:57 am
This is actually going better than I thought
In the dream, the Grimm had come at me in endless waves, eventually they didn't even give me time to catch my breath.
Now, however, a couple would come at me every so often. There wouldn't be too many to handle or anything, just a handful of Beowolves, maybe an Ursa. That being said, after my dream, I took them all seriously.
After all, it was the weakest of Grimm, a simple Beowolf, that killed me in the end.
It did more than kill me. It took me apart and played with me. I thought darkly with a shiver as I recalled the events of that nightmare.
Shaking my head, I took myself out of those thoughts. I wasn't in a fight right now, but I still needed to stay alert.
BOOM!
I turned my head towards the sound. It was the sound of a far off explosion, though not too far off. After a quick bit of mental math, I figured I could get there in a reasonable amount of time. More importantly. That explosion was the sign of another initiate, another student.
I needed a partner, and this was my best chance of finding someone. As much as I had pride in my own abilities, that nightmare reminded me of the price of arrogance. I could not afford to be picky, not when my very survival was on the line.
Even if it just so happened that this person already had a partner, I still needed to join up with them. Strength in numbers after all.
So, with that in mind, I made my way over to the sound of the explosion. As I did, I heard many more explosions sounding off from the same place. I could only assume that whoever it was, they fought with some form of explosive weapon. Considering my own abilities, that could be quite useful.
I myself don't have too much killing power on my own. As much as it pains me to admit, my abilities revolve less around being powerful myself, and more changing the field of play, or introducing exotic elements.
While I might not be able to kill something big and powerful, like a Deathstalker, by myself, I can freeze it into the ground with Myrtenaster, allowing an opening for someone else. In addition, I lack the ability to effectively kill large amounts of enemies in short time.
Well, powerful enemies. I could freeze a bunch of weak Beowolves, but they probably wouldn't actually be dead so much as frozen.
In any case, I lacked killing power against both large groups of weak enemies, and one powerful enemy. If I had someone who could do both or either, our abilities combined could be used to devastating effect in the battlefield.
This person, however, sounded like this was exactly what they excelled in. They sounded like a brutal powerhouse, which is exactly what I needed. Someone I could truly benefit from.
With my brains and their brawn, we would rule with absolute power! I raved silently
And with that thought, I stepped in the smoldering clearing. Standing in the middle, surrounded by craters, bloodied remains, and fighting off a pair of Ursai, was a girl.
A girl with a large, explosive, silver hammer.
This'll do nicely
Ren pov
9:27 am
Well…shit
I had just finished off the black head of the King Taijitu by using an aura enhanced palm thrust to blow its head up using its own fang. That's about the time that the white head showed it face again, bringing friends with it.
This was kind of starting to remind me of the nightmare.
Let's hope it simply stopped at "reminding" and stayed far the hell away from "fulfilling".
With some kind of silent signal, the Grimm began to attack, much to my chagrin.
First, a Beowolf ran straight at me, trying to swipe at me with its right claw. I dodged by sidestepping the swing, spinning around the claw, and stepping inside its guard. With a quick flash of movement, I swung my Stormflower in my right hand at it while I spun around again.
The emerald blade cut deep into the neck of the Beowolf, slicing through it thick blood veins, jugular, and throat. When I was done I jumped away before the waterfall of blood and gore spilling from its open neck could fall on me. It soon fell to the ground, dead.
Not taking any time to enjoy my kill, I moved onto the next one.
This one rushed at me with more speed, intent on tackling me as much as it was slicing me to pieces. I ducked under the swing and used one of my Stormflowers to slice open its leg. I didn't cut deep enough to cut its leg off, I wasn't even sure I could do that, but it was more than deep enough to cut through the muscles and tendons in its leg.
As it flew past me, blood poured from the wound. When it came to a stop, its leg was too injured for it to do more than fall to a knee and howl in pain. A howl I quickly put a stop to with a quick burst from my Stormflowers.
Six 9mm Dust rounds flew into its unarmored neck and tore it apart, causing a tiny little explosion of meat and blood with each impact, and leaving nothing more than a gore covered spinal column to connect its head to its body.
A third one came at me, trying to swipe at me with a slower, wider, right clawed hook. I couldn't step inside the guard, nor was it moving fast enough to simply let it fly past. So I jumped.
Flipping over the Beowolf's swipe, I turned around in midair. I landed on the back of a fourth Beowolf that had been charging my position. From my new position I filled the third one with Dust rounds from my Stormflowers, stitching a line of bullets from the middle of its back up to its neck.
Sensing another threat incoming, I dropped to the ground in an instant, allowing another Beowolf claw to sail over me, one that had the clear intent of decapitating me. Instead, the claw dug deep into the Beowolf I had been standing on, number 4, tearing out the back of its fellow Grimm's neck, along with its spinal column.
Not leaving number 5 any time to ponder its traitorous actions, I looked up and fire my Stormflowers into the unarmored bottom of its skull. The 9mm Dust rounds tore apart the Grimm's jaw before moving onto its brain. It died after having its skull quickly and messily torn apart by round after round of ammunition.
Rolling out and to the side, I allowed the now headless Grimm to fall to the ground beside me. I looked at the five bodies around me, taking a breath to regain my wind. Before I opened them again, my instincts once again screamed Danger!
So, answering it warning, I flipped into the air, just barely dodging the large white head of the King Taijitu as it passed underneath me. I landed on the ground next to the bottom of the large snake in a crouch. I looked up at it to see it staring at me hungrily. I considered fighting it off here, but then I heard the sound of more Beowolves.
I suppose I could have fought them all off here, but I needed to reload. In addition, I would like to find a partner soon, and not get bogged down trying to kill every Grimm I came across.
So, with that, I turned and ran. When I ran, I focused on a form of battle meditation, trying to expel all the hostile emotions such as fear or anger from me. Since the Grimm homed in on them, if I went running through the forest in terror or rage, I would likely draw a large horde of them towards me.
And that would be bad I thought to myself.
Still, purging the negative emotions from me wouldn't completely save me. The King Taijitu already saw me and had my scent, it could just track me the normal way. The same goes for any other Grimm that was close enough.
As I ran I could feel the large snake crashing its way through the forest in an attempt to get me. Each time it would get too close, my instincts would let me jump, flip, slide, or even roll out of the way.
I ran fast, and I ran hard, but I knew endurance was not my specialty. I knew that sooner or later I was going to have to stop running. My nightmare reminded me of that.
I looked up ahead and saw a large fallen log in the way of my path. A log far too big to simply vault over. Gritting my teeth, I dug deep for another burst of energy. Just before I reached the log, I bent my legs farther, pooling energy there. Then, with a tiny burst of aura, I jumped up.
When I got to the apex of my jump, just over the top of it, I stuck the blade of the Stormflower in my left hand into the thick wood of the dead tree. Using the blade for grip, I pulled myself over the log, vaulting over the 13ft tall log. I hit the ground in a crouch on the other side of the fallen tree, taking a brief moment to catch my breath before I would run again.
The King Taijitu had other plans, however.
KRCKBOOSHTRK!
It smashed through the large, rotten, tree in an explosion of force, wind, and wood chips. The force of the blast sent my flying into a clearing. Then it sent me falling into a ditch in the clearing.
Fortunately I still had my aura, unlike that time in the nightmare, and it buffered the blow for me. What should have snapped my spine or broke my legs simply felt like I fell down some stairs. That being said…
I still felt like I fell down some stairs.
I got up and looked around groggily, trying to get my bearings. It looked like this "ditch" was actually more of a large, dried up river bed. On either side of the bank was the forest, but it was completely clear along the length of it.
Interesting…I wonder if this leads to the ruin? I pondered
HHHSSS
I was torn from my thoughts, however, when the snake that threw me here decided to join me.
It landed in the riverbed with a loud, resounding, THUMP, shaking the ground a little and stirring up a cloud of dust form the impact. When the dust cleared, it became apparent that we weren't alone.
I sighed, realizing that there would be no running, I would just have to kill this thing or it would never leave me alone. I just hope I could get some help before this reality started to actually fulfill my dreams. As much as some people might like the idea of it, I didn't really want to be a prophet.
Not right now.
Here we go again
Yang pov
9:38 am
No no no I thought, trying to get it together.
"Yang"
And there it was again. I could hear her voice calling out to me.
I knew it wasn't real, she couldn't really be here, but I still felt compelled to answer, to follow. It was as if she was really beckoning me to her.
I tried to ignore, to fight it. It was just a hallucination, an echo from my nightmare, a memory from my past.
It's not real, she's not really here. I thought to myself.
I shook my head, trying to get these disruptive thoughts from my head. I was going to leave, to ignore it. It was a hallucination, what did it know? It wasn't real. I just needed to move on, find a partner for the Initiation, and get everyone out alive. That's it.
Then the hallucination spoke again.
"Yang, Help me!" She cried out in panicked fear.
Just like that night. I thought in horror.
No matter how much I wanted to leave, to turn my back on it, I couldn't. Not now. Not when there was the slightest chance of it being real. I had let Ruby down so much in life, if I had even the slightest chance to find her again, to save her, to be there when she needed me, I was going to take it.
I don't care if it makes me crazy, I'm not leaving her.
And with that thought, I turned around towards the source of the voice of my little sister, and ran into the forest after her.
I ran hard and I ran fast. With each step, I felt something holding me back from giving me my all. Perhaps it was what was left of my sanity, trying to remind me that I was hallucinating, that this wasn't real. Maybe it was my doubt, trying to tell me there was nothing I could do to save her, or that she was never really there to begin with.
I don't know what it was, but I could still hear her, crying out to me.
"Yang, Please!" she pleaded desperately, fear filling her voice
I pushed through the doubt, and allowed my fear to guide me. I kept thinking about what would happen if I was even one second late. What would happen if I failed her again. The fear of those thoughts pushed me enough past my doubt to keep me going.
Then I heard it.
GGGRRR
It was at that moment that any trace of me that was skeptical of this whole thing, that thought I was just being crazy, left me. That was the sound of Grimm, hungry Grimm. Grimm that had found prey, and were swooping in for the kill. And there was only one thing Grimm ate.
Humans.
So, the moment I heard those hungry Grimm, I knew it wasn't just a hallucination. And with that thought, I pushed harder to get there. There was no doubt holding me back now, no caution. Either I would get there in time, or-
HHHSSSS
My eyes widened in fear at that sound.
A King Tajitu?! That's-That's- I began to think, fear and horror growing in me.
A King Tajitu, while certainly not the strongest Grimm in existence, was rather large and powerful. While I was confident I could kill one, I wasn't sure I could keep Ruby safe in the process.
Then that hate came back, and took hold in me once more.
It doesn't matter I thought with angry conviction, narrowing my eyes. Nothing will stop me! If it's a Grimm, it dies.
So with one final push off, I left the thick woods of the forest, and entered the clearing. It was a dried up riverbed with a sizable clearing on either size of the riverbed. Inside the dry trench was a number of figures, namely Grimm.
But they were all surrounding one, much smaller, more human, figure.
They were all right in front of me, but most were irrelevant. In my angry haze, I barely even noticed most of them, the only one I saw was the large King Taijitu. It rose above the rest of the Grimm, coiling up and preparing to strike at the human.
So it received all of my hate.
The second my foot hit the ground once more, I jumped, no, lunged at the giant snake's white head. I kicked off with all the force I had, using my Ember Celica once again to accelerate me even further.
I flew forward with an incredible velocity at the white head of the snake. Somewhere deep in my mind, I might have considered where the black head was, but right now it wasn't a major concern. Killing the one in front of me was.
As I neared the head of the King Taijitu, I reared my fist back, preparing to sling it forward with the force of my entire body behind it. I was moving too fast for any of them to even comprehend that I was there. Finally, I slammed my fist into the side of the white King's head, putting behind it all the force at my disposal.
Normally, the incredibly thick and armored hide of the King Taijitu would make it one of the few things that could weather a direct hit with my Ember Celica. However, this was not the case this time. I was moving at such a great velocity, and had my aura boosting me to such an extent, that I wasn't so much punching the Grimm, so much as I turned myself into a giant artillery Dust shell aimed at its face.
So, like the giant Dust shell I was, I didn't give a shit about its tough exterior.
Weiss pov
9:26 am
I regret everything I though in horror.
It turned out that this girl wasn't exactly what I expected.
Was she strong?
Yes, unbelievably so. In fact, she'd actually probably be an incredible match with me in combat. Unfortunately, she had some problems when it came to her personality.
You see, it turned out that this girl was Nora Valkyrie, the girl Lie Ren told me about. She's also the girl he warned me about. While he did say he was great friends with her, he was also the first to admit she could be a bit…spontaneous.
In fact, when we met he called her the living incarnation of spontaneity.
At the time I was skeptical of his assertions. I thought he was exaggerating her faults, after all, no one could be that bad. I was confident that if she was good friends with Ren, then she had to be amicable enough.
It turned out, if anything, he was underselling it.
Not that she wasn't…friendly…per say. It's more that she was just so…random.
"Weiss, Look!" She exclaimed, pointing off in a direction.
"What." I sighed, looking at her tiredly.
I swear to god if it's nothing again…I won't be responsible for my actions.
"It's an Ursa." She whispered to me, leaning up close to me ear to tell, as if it was some sort of scandalous secret.
But, it turned out she was right. Standing about 50ft away in the forest was an Ursa, one that had no idea we were here. Instead, it was turned the complete opposite direction, looking at something deep in the forest.
"Yes, yes it is." I said slowly, not seeing where she was going with this.
"Are you going to kill it?' I asked slowly.
Then she looked at me like I had just asked if she wanted to bake it fucking goddamn muffins. Like I was the crazy one. Me!
"Why would I kill it Weiss?" She asked in a confused tone of voice, as if she couldn't even begin to understand why we would kill it. The worst part was how she asked it. It was the same way a teacher would ask a student why they were eating glue.
Fucking glue!
It drove me mad.
"So what are you going to do with it?" I asked a tense voice with an equally tense smile. It's all I could do to keep from strangling her.
"Ride it~" She sung.
She fucking sung.
And that was it, I broke. I could not take anymore.
I'm sorry Ren, she has to die I thought as I lunged for her throat.
Unfortunately, Nora disappeared. I don't know how she did it, but one second she was standing next to me, looking at the Ursa in awe and anticipation, completely unaware of my ire. The next, she's gone, fucking gone.
I look around for her, trying to find out where the hell she went.
"Weiss, look! I'm riding it!" She cried out excitedly to me.
No sooner had she said that than did my blood run cold.
Oh god no
I turned and looked to see Nora was, indeed, riding on top of the Ursa. She was waving at from on top of the large Grimm, with an ecstatic smile on her face. She most certainly didn't look like someone who was on top of a very dangerous and deadly Grimm that could grind her bones into dust if it wasn't for her Aura.
The Ursa, however, didn't even seem to notice her. It was still looking off in some direction in the forest, not even giving us a second glance. It was as if it sensed something, and was trying to find out what to do about it.
Soon it came up with its answer.
With a loud roar, it charged into the forest, chasing after whatever it sensed. Nora hung onto the Grimm as it charged forward, laughing in glee without a care in the world as the Ursa took deep into the forest, and away from her partner.
As much as I wanted to stomp my feet and throw a temper tantrum at the insanity that was my partner, I couldn't. Even if she was…random…I couldn't, in good conscience, leave her to die to the hands of a horde of Grimm. More importantly, she was my partner, and that meant we had to stick together and help each other out.
Even if she didn't understand that.
So, I grit my teeth, took a deep, angry, breath, and charged in after her.
This had better be fucking worth it.
Ren pov
9:47 am
What are they waiting for? I wondered as I looked at them.
The Grimm were just…standing there. They were all looking in the same direction, off to my left, as if there was something deep inside the forest that had caught there attention.
But what? Pondered.
I considered attacking while they were distracted, but I wasn't sure if that was the best use of my time. After all, my killing one of them could just break them out of their stupor. Then I'd have killed one Grimm, and enraged the rest of them.
In any case, this time gave me time to catch my breath, something I was in dire need of. So, taking a brief respite, I took a head count.
There were seven Beowolves and the white head of that King Taijitu. Not impossible for me to kill, but it would be somewhat of a challenge to kill the King Taijitu with all the Beowolves around, and vice versa.
That said, the snake didn't seem to interfere with me last time when I was killing the Beowolves, so maybe it wouldn't this time.
Before I could get much further in thought, the King Taijitu in question seemed to remember that I was there. It turned its white head back to face me, glaring at me with its angry red eyes filled with hunger. It slid its tongue out, tasting the air.
HHSSS It sounded loudly, in approval or anger I couldn't tell.
It reared back, preparing to strike at me. In response I got into a fighting stance, bending my legs and preparing to dodge its lightning fast strike. Then, it twitched, and then its whole body lurched-
BOOM!
A loud, wet, crunchy, gore filled explosion sounded through the quiet riverbed as a streak of golden, fiery, light flew from the forest on my left and slammed into the head of the King Taijitu. It slammed into the snake with such force that its head simply exploded in a fountain of blood, bone, and gore.
The shockwave from the explosion forced me to cover my eyes as the blood and pieces of the once proud snake flew everywhere. When I lowered my arm, the snake was, obviously, dead. A gory stump of bone sticking out where its head used to be.
In its place, was a girl with a long mane of fiery, golden hair. She was wearing a small brown jacket, underneath was a yellow shirt of some kind, and a pair of black shorts with an odd brown and white skirt-belt-thing.
Most importantly, her face was filled with rage and hate. Her eyes were fiery red, and her golden hair was wreathed in flames form her aura. She was radiating this rage, it was so strong within her.
And that's what the Grimm where sensing.
Considering how much of this she was radiating, I wouldn't be surprised if every Grimm in the forest could sense her. Every single Beowolf in the riverbed was staring at her with hungry red eyes.
Well, I guess I found my partner I thought wryly, trying to look at the bright side.
Thinking about how bad it was that she was attracting all these Grimm probably wouldn't do anything except draw in more Grimm. Then again, considering the fact she was radiating a god damn rainbow of negativity so fierce even I could sense it, I doubt anything I felt would even register.
It would be like lighting a firework during a bright and sunny day. Yeah, someone might notice, but it would barely make an actual impact.
I was torn from my thoughts about my situation when she made a move. Getting into a boxing stance, she threw her fist forward. It's at this moment when I saw the golden gauntlets covering her arms. When she threw her fist forward, as if delivering a punch, her weapon triggered, sending a Dust round flying at one of the Beowolves.
The second the shining shell made contact with one, it detonated with a loud BANG. The explosion engulfed the Grimm. While it wasn't enough to blow off any limbs, the heat of the explosion burned the front of the beast severely, while the shockwave of the blast likely crushed its organs. The sheer force of the blast sent the Grimm flying back, smoke wafting off its corpse.
Before it fell to the ground dead, the girl repeated this performance on the other Beowolves, screaming in rage with each punch. The other Beowolves attempted to dodge, but she saturated the area with her shot gauntlets. They rung out with a deafening BANG that threatened to drown out her screams and the howls of the Grimm each time they impacted.
Finally, it stopped.
All the Beowolves where laying on the ground in bloody, burnt, pieces, victims of the golden girl's fiery onslaught. They lay in a pockmarked area of the riverbed that was still smoking from the impact craters.
She stood there, looking over the carnage she wrought. She huffed and puffed, breathing deeply in exhaustion. She didn't seem to be as angry anymore, like this massacre helped blow off steam for her.
Feeling that this was an appropriate moment, I decided to get her attention.
"Hello?" I said, speaking up.
She spun around, looking toward me in surprise, as if she forgot I was there. When she first looked at me there was a degree of hope in her eyes. However, the second she actually looked at me, that hope gave way to obvious disappointment.
She shook her head, trying to shake something out of her head. When she opened eyes again, they were violet, and she had a cheery look on her face.
"Hey" She responded easily, getting into a relaxed stance.
"Thank you for that." I graciously said, gesturing to what she did.
At this she took another look around, realized that I had seen the whole thing, and for an instant, she faltered.
There was something inside her, something she was doing a very good job hiding. Most people wouldn't have even noticed. As it was, I could only tell that something was up, not necessarily what it was.
When she recovered, she wore a confident and smug grin.
"So, did I save your life?" She questioned with a confident smirk.
"Perhaps, but either way, I appreciate the help given. This would have been a decidedly more long and drawn out fight without you." I responded calmly
And there it was again, that little tiny flicker of…something.
Still, she was able to recover and smile through it, walking up to me with confidence.
"Well, glad I could help. I'm Yang, Yang Xiao-Long." She said, introducing herself with an open hand.
I took it and gave it a simple shake, responding. "Lie Ren, though I prefer to go by Ren." I said evenly.
She nodded in acknowledgement before speaking up again. "Well then, Ren, I guess that makes us partners."
"Indeed it does, though we should probably leave." I responded.
She looked at me curiously. "Really, why?"
"No offense, but just a couple of seconds ago, you were radiating negativity. I have no doubt that every Grimm for at least a mile sensed you, and is on their way here." I answered calmly, trying not to insult her, while still informing her of the situation.
As if to accentuate my point, there was a loud RRRROOOOAAAARRR in the distance, signaling the approach of a horde of Grimm. Looking around us I noticed that there were storm clouds coming toward us.
At this, she got a guilty look on her face.
"He he, whoops?" She said lamely as she rubbed the back of her head in guilt.
"It doesn't matter, we should leave before the horde gets here." I answered, focusing on more important things than whose fault it was.
No sooner had I said that than did a set of bushes in the right side of the riverbed began to rustle fiercely. In an instant the two of us both got into a fighting stance directed at the bushes. And then out from the bushes leaped a ferocious…
Rabbit.
A tiny little rabbit.
We just stared at each other for a couple seconds. The rabbit in terror, and us in surprise.
"Huh. I was expecting something big-" Yang began
RROOAARR!
As if the universe heard her complaints and decided she needed to learn lesson, an Ursa jumped out of the same bush, crushed the rabbit into a bloody stain on the ground, and roared at us. Before we could react, however, a loud Boom! Sounded from its back, along with a familiar cloud of pink.
The Ursa gave one last groan of pain, before it fell over on the ground, dead, with a large gaping hole blown into where the back of its neck should be.
"Awe…it's broken." A familiar voice whined.
"Nora?" I questioned, wondering how the hell she found me. The Ursa thing…well it wasn't exactly the first time it's happened, nor was it the oddest thing she's done.
When I called out her name she peeked up over the Ursa corpse, locked eyes with me, and screamed out in joy, "REN!"
In an instant she vaulted over the Ursa and tackled me into a hug. A typical, bone crushing, Nora hug.
"Nora." I said calmly, warning her to get off me before she killed me.
"Sorry Ren." She said cheerfully, clearly not sorry, at all.
I had long gotten used to it, so I didn't mind it too much. I looked to my side to see Yang have an odd expression on her face. It was as if she wasn't sure how exactly how to react to all this.
I sighed, knowing that such was the existence of Nora.
"It's okay Nora." I answered with my sigh.
"Who's this?" She asked, getting right in Yang's face.
Yang, not expecting Nora to "teleport" right in her face, blinked and yelped in surprise.
"Uhh…" Yang said, still trying to understand the entity that was Nora.
"Yang Xiao-Long, this my old friend Nora Valkyrie. Nora, this is Yang, my partner." I said introducing everyone to each other.
"Hey~" Yang said uncomfortably, still finding Nora's invasion of her personal space weird.
Thankfully, Nora pulled back and gave her some space. She looked at me and said, "Ren, you have a partner too! We could trade partners, and then We can be partners." She schemed
But something stood out to me.
"Wait, Nora you have a partn-?" I began to ask.
"NORA!" another familiar voice screamed in frustration.
"Weiss!" Nora cheerfully responded
"What the Hell was that!" Weiss screamed at her, the white clad Heiress walking out of the forest, her face red with fury as she stomped toward Nora.
Nora, either not understanding or caring about how Weiss felt about this, responded how only she could.
"I found Ren!" She responded happily, gesturing to me.
Unaffected by her antics, I played my part by giving Weiss a wave.
Weiss looked at Nora in rage, then looked at me in surprise and disbelief.
"Wha-I don't even-what the." Weiss murmured in incomprehensible horror as she dug her hands into her white hair, also struggling to come to terms with Nora's existence. She tried to understand how in the world Nora's "ride the Ursa" tactic actually worked.
I learned a long time ago that you'll waste a lot of brain cells trying to understand. All you need to do is accept it and move on.
Finally, after murmuring gibberish about it not making sense, she screamed in frustration before it melted into hanging her head in defeat and weeping.
It's then that I realized that Weiss was Nora's partner. I opened my mouth and widened my eyes in horror. Nora, while she was my best friend, something I wouldn't wish on anybody unprepared. I walked up to the crying Weiss and put my hand on her shoulder for support.
"Weiss, I am so so very sorry she's your partner." I said sincerely to her.
In response she just cried into my chest and said, "She took a live bird out of an Ursa."
Another sob
"And ate it whole."
"Yeah, she does that. Don't worry, I'll help you deal with her." I said, trying to comfort her.
If I don't then Weiss might actually lose her mind I thought as I patted her head.
Yang pov
9:53 am
So, I guess I have my team I thought
They seemed like a pretty good team. Nora, while weird, looked like she could be fun. Weiss seemed like she was probably high-strung, and maybe even a prude. In either case, teasing her should be amazing, and get me tons of laughs. Ren however...
Ren was a problem.
Well, that's not exactly right. He wasn't a problem himself. It wasn't his fault, at all. He wasn't annoying, he wasn't mean. No.
He was cool. He was nice and stoic, like a rock.
That, however, was kind of the problem. Unlike the others, I didn't exactly have a way to distract him, to make him not notice my faults. In fact, I know he's noticed when I falter slightly. He even saw me when I let lose against those Grimm during my fit of…whatever that was that led me to Ren.
I don't think he knows anything, but it'll only be a matter of time.
I'd prefer to not tell anyone about, my problem. Not only will they fuss over it, they might try and fix it. Once upon a time, I might have wanted that. If things were different I might have supported that, I might have even championed it, saying that friends help friends or some such things.
But now?
With my burden?
I didn't want any of them to know.
Even worse, however, was Ren's mannerisms. That stoic face reminded me of Ruby. Not that he really resembled, or truly acted like her. No.
Instead, it was his infallibility. His ability to see an insane scene with a straight face, nod in acceptance, and move on. I can't say I know a lot about the guy, I just met him a few minutes ago, but already he's reminded me of that Nightmare.
He might not have Ruby's hollow eyes, but looking at his blank face just reminds me of the dream, and I can't help but be pulled back into it.
The night before
I was walking through a dark forest. I don't know why I was here, or even how I got here. I just knew I was back in the forests of Patch.
I looked up, expecting to see the night sky, but instead I just saw a pitch black void. Not stars, no moon, no nothing. It's like the forest was in some kind of empty void.
The trees were dark, but not so dark I couldn't see them in the void. In addition, all the grass was...glowing, sort of. Despite all the darkness around, I could see the bright green grass easily. In fact, I could see everything easily, even though everything was shrouded in darkness.
Moving on, I continued to walk through the forest. I had the vague sense that I was walking home, but I don't really know from where.
Then I heard it.
"Yang"
Her voice was like a whisper through the trees. It was like the wind itself was talking to me.
I spun around, trying to locate the source of her voice. Then I saw a flash of red. Red like Ruby's red cloak.
I walked after it in search of my lost sister
"Yang, where are you?" She cried out to me. She sounded lost and confused.
"Ruby? I'm right here." I called back, trying to find her.
Then I spotted another flash of her red cloak as she walked through the shadowed forest.
"Ruby!" I called out to her. "Wait up!"
Then I heard a twig snap loudly followed by a low growl
"Yang!" She called out, panic filing her voice.
Then I heard her run off, followed by something big, something hungry.
"Ruby!" I shouted, running after her.
I ran through the forest, only able to see glimpses of her red cloak through the trees. My footsteps were loudly marked by the sound of twigs snapping and leaves crunching under my feet.
GRR
Another growl joined the first, signaling that another monster was chasing her.
"Yang, help me!"
"Ruby!" I cried out, desperately trying to find her, my little sister.
I wanted to do everything I could to keep her safe, to protect her. That's what big sisters did, after all. That's what I was supposed to do.
But I was failing.
GRR
Thump
The monsters growled again before the sound of something being hit hard echoed through the forest, and it was joined by the pained cry of a small child. Then it all went quiet.
"RUBY!" I screamed, running my throat ragged with all my screaming.
I pushed myself harder and faster. Those monsters had hurt her, and if I wasn't fast enough, if I was too late…
Shaking my head as I ran, tears falling from my water eyes, I pushed harder. My aura flared as I put my all into running as fast and as hard as I could. All the way there I screamed her name out as hard as I could, begging that my precious little sister was okay.
Finally, I ran into a small clearing. There, laying on the ground, were the bloody, torn clothes of my beloved little sister.
But not Ruby.
There was no sign of my sister herself, she was gone, just her tattered clothes.
I panicked, my breath hitching as I feared the worst. Even still, I had a glimmer of hope. In a frantic bid to find her I spun around, looking all around me for something, anything.
Then I saw it.
Another flash of red.
Not caring about why there was red there, or what it meant, I ran towards it. It was the only other red thing in this dark green forest. So I chased after.
Finally, I ended my journey, exiting the tree line and looking at something incredible.
It was a lake.
A crimson lake.
The water was bright bloody crimson. It glowed with that red light, lighting the whole area up an eerie bright scarlet. It was massive, and likely incredibly deep. The crimson water was reminiscent of blood, and yet…not.
It was like there was something…more to it. It was definitely more reminiscent of blood than water, though, but what it was remained a mystery.
It's…beautiful I thought in awe of the crimson lake.
Shaking my head to retain focus, I concentrated on why I was here. Finding Ruby. So I looked around, desperately trying to find her, to cling on to the hope that my baby sister was okay.
There! I thought, seeing her pale skin against the dark ground.
She was lying face down on the ground near the edge of a small cliff that fell into the lake. As I ran toward her, I absentmindedly noted and accepted some oddities about her.
I was still my 17 year-old self, but Ruby looked like she was back to being 5. In addition, she was completely naked. But, again, I just accepted it as vaguely odd and moved on.
I ran up to her body, feeling her neck for pulse. I breathed a deep sigh of relief when I felt it. It was weak, but it was there. She was alive.
"Ruby, get up." I said softly to her, shaking her shoulder.
She began to stir, shaking her body groggily as she woke up. She looked up at me with that face.
That old face.
It was filled with energy and life. Even if she was still sleepy, she still had so much energy in those bright silver eyes.
"Yang?" She asked, rubbing one of them.
"Hey Rubes." I said back, my voice cracking as my eyes watered.
It just felt so good to see her again, to see my beloved little sister again. The same one who would laugh and run and play outside with such vibrant energy.
She's back I thought, looking into her loving face again.
"You found me." She said happily, looking up at me with a kind and innocent smile.
"Yeah, I did." I said, wiping the tears from my eyes.
I moved to pick her up and carry her back home through the dark forest, and I would kill anything that got in our way. So I bent over to gently grab onto her shoul-
SPLASH!
Suddenly, something shot out from the Crimson Lake beneath us, shooting up into the air. It grabbed onto Ruby's leg and pulled her away from me.
"Yang! Help me!" She cried out in fear as she was pulled toward the edge of the cliff.
I ran after her, refusing to let her go.
I lunged, just as she was pulled off the cliff, and managed to grab onto her right arm.
"Ruby, hold on!" I said, pulling with all my strength in an effort to pull her up to the cliff and into the safety of my arms.
I looked down to see…something, wrapped around her left leg. It resembled a black tentacle, and was coming up from the Crimson Lake below us.
"Yang, don't leave me!" She cried out, tears in her eyes as she feared for her life.
No no no! I can't let this happen! I can't lose her! I thought desperately as I tried to pull her back up.
"I'm not going to leave you!" I swore to her.
I could feel my grip slipping slightly from the sweat on both out hands.
"Yang, I'm scared." She said to me with fear-filled eyes.
"Don't worry, I'll protect you." I said, trying to put on a brave front, but inside I was breaking.
I refused to let her go, but I didn't know how to save her.
Then I heard the sound of cracking and popping. I looked down to see Ruby's arm and leg being pulled far beyond what they are supposed to. The extreme tension on her body was tearing her apart.
"It hurts!" She cried out, tears flowing freely as she cried in pain at being slowly torn
She screamed and hollered as her muscles and bones were put under the stress. I knew then that even if I could win in a test of strength against this monster, Ruby's body wouldn't.
Then, with a loud Pop, her shoulder was dislocated, eliciting another cry of agony.
Seeing no other choice, I pulled back one of my hands, trying to use my Ember Celica to blow a hole in the tendril. Then it happened.
I don't know what it was. Maybe a twitch, fatigue, I don't know. I'm not even sure what happened exactly, all I know is one thing.
I let her go.
I made a mistake, and I let go of her hand.
And that part is by far, the clearest thing to me. I didn't just lose my grip, she didn't just slip through my fingers. No. I let her fall.
And fall she did.
She looked up at me with teary silver eyes filled with such betrayal and sadness. She trusted me, and I let her go.
So down she fell, pulled down by the black tendril of flesh. Then, with a loud SPLASH, she was dragged down into the Crimson Abyss.
I just sat there on that cliff, looking down at the lake below, hoping, and begging, for her to come back to me. I prayed that she broke the surface, and managed to swim to shore.
But it never happened. She was gone. Lost to me forever. All because of my mistake. I let her down.
I let myself down.
And all I could think of as I blankly stared at the Crimson waves beneath me, was No.
Then, in a fit of rage, I screamed.
"NO! No No No! I let her go! Me! This is MY fault!" I roared as I pounded my fists into the ground.
I'm not a big sister! I'm scum! I was supposed to protect her! I couldn't pull her up a god damn cliff!
I hollered and roared in emotional agony, knowing that I was the only one at fault. She would still be here if it wasn't for my stupid! Mistake.
But then I was torn from my thoughts with one little word.
"Why?"
I froze in horror, paralyzed by my own fears. Slowly I looked behind me with wide eyes, trying to see who said. To my absolute terror, it was exactly who I thought it was.
"Why did you abandon me Yang?" Ruby asked, 12 years old, covered from head to toe in crimson fluid, and looking at me with those damned hollow silver eyes.
I could only look at her in mute horror, unable to speak as I felt my heart crumple up and die.
"Why did you let me go?" She asked, tilting her head in that damnable way again.
No, no no no! I thought, tears streaming down my face in horror at what had happened to my precious little baby sister.
"Why did you do this to me?"
I'm sorry
A/n:
Tada!
I'm back!
Sorry I was gone for so long. It was due to a combination of a bunch of things, including having to take a flight out to join my dad for his birthday in Philly.
Then other things came up like hanging out with him on MLK day and some other stuff.
So yeah, sorry for being gone.
In any case, I'll try to have Scene 12 out before February.
Once Scene 12 is out, I'm considering changing the way I release chapter to help make sure they're all up to a better standard.
What I'm thinking of doing is writing all 4 scenes in an arc at one time before I release them, allowing me to edit how I distribute the content better, and making sure the mesh better.
What this would probably end up meaning is that I would only really post once every couple weeks. That being said, when I do post, I post one chap a day for 4 days.
That's the idea anyway.
Let me know what you think about it.
Also, if you want a good idea of what the Crimson Lake looked like, look up Red Water from Full Metal Alchemist. It resembles that, but darker. More crimson, less pink.
I also kind of split up Ren and Nora.
I thought it would be funny.
I feel like Nora and Weiss is comedy gold that no one has struck yet. Plus Ren and Yang could be pretty cool seeing as they both have extensive martial arts skills.
That being said, it's also not plot centric. They're all going to be on the same team, that's not changing.
Team WYVR (Wyvern) is a thing now, and that's final. Don't like it, get out.
But, if everyone, and I mean Everyone says its fucking garbage and they want to kill me for it, I'll change it.
Regardless, more Yang stories. I have now unveiled that Yang has some serious shit in her head.
Well, technically everyone I'm writing does now.
But now I've shown you a real peek at what it is for Yang.
Plus, we got to see what Yang's nightmare was, as well as a hint regarding what happened to Ruby.
Also, regarding Weiss's cursing, I feel like Weiss is the type of person that curses violently in their head when angry, but due to her "proper" upbringing, does not say such things out loud.
Unless she's furious.
Oh, and tell me what you thought of this chapter. I might revise it a couple times before I post Scene 12
Some things I'm not sure about, mainly the comedy. As much as I love writing the comedy, I'm not sure how I feel about it sometimes.
So yeah, that's Scene 11: Golden Regrets
Up next is Scene 12: Viole(n)t Skies
That's right motherfuckers.
It's rhyme time.
