-Sometime Ago; Late at Night-
A storm had brewed just above the two teams heads, and it had begun to rain like cats and dogs in a matter of seconds. They all rain down the now muddy path ahead and they had their arms over their head in an attempt. It didn't exactly help that there was nothing but darkness for miles and no sign of a town. They couldn't even get out the map, since they didn't want it to get any damage. They all ran with great speed as they tried to avoid the rain; All of them were pretty much soaked
"This rain is coming down hard!" Nora said to the group.
"We've gotta find shelter soon!" Jaune said.
"There's no way of knowing for sure, not without the map!" Rosario said.
"We have to find something fast!" Ruby said.
Scout tripped on a rock, she fell flat on the floor face first, making everyone stop in their tracks. "Scout!" Melody exclaimed, running to her; she and Ren helped her up off the floor, revealing her face was covered with mud and her face had been bruised slightly. She coughed a bit. "Are you okay?" Ren asked.
"I think so." Scout said coughing slightly, as she slowly stood up with their help, "Ow my face. I can't see anything with all this mud."
It wasn't until Neo spotted a house in the distance, when lighting roared through the sky. "There!" Neo said pointing in the direction, "There's a house up ahead!" The group turned to where Neo was pointing and saw the house in the distance as well. "We can take shelter there!" Ruby said, "Come on guys!"
The group started to run in the direction of the house; Melody had taken Scout's hand and ran with the group leading her. They managed to reach the house and go on the front porch; thankfully the front porch had a balcony just over them, so they had some kind of protection from the rain. They all took a moment to catch their breath after hours of running after the rain started.
"Oh my gosh!" Nora said, "That was crazy!"
"At least the very least we're out of the rain now." Roman said removing his now soaked bowler hat.
"Yeah…" Cristal before gesturing to everyone's outfits, "But we're still soaked."
"... Let's see if anyone's home." Ren said, "We can all dry off in there."
"Right, good idea." Ruby said, before standing up straight.
Ruby went to the front door, and gave a knock. "Hello?" She called out, "Excuse me, is anyone home?"
They didn't hear anyone on the other side; all that was heard was the sound of the rain. Ruby knocked again before calling out, "Um, I'm sorry to bother you, but, my friends and I just want to stay for the night to avoid the rain. I promise we'll be gone by morning."
They still didn't hear anyone from the other side of the door, the sound of the rain was all that filled the silence. Ruby turned to the group and shrugged, "It doesn't look like anyones home."
"They could be out for a walk." Jaune said, "But than again who would want to walk in a storm like this?"
They heard Scout let out a sneeze and sniffle a bit. "We should really get inside, before one of us catches a cold." Cristal said, "I'm sure whoever owns this house won't mind."
Ruby nodded in agreement before grasping the doorknob and turning it, although she soon quick to realize that the door was locked. Roman soon took notice of this, "Hang on Red I've got it." Roman said, as Ruby moved over. He than shoulder charged the door, breaking the door's lock. After Cristal instructed Senka to wait outside, the whole group stepped inside the house; they were first met with darkness.
"It's pitch black in here." Melody said, "I can't see a thing."
"Let's use our scrolls as a flashlight!" Nora said.
"We gotta conserve our Scroll's energy, remember?" Ren said to Nora.
Roman soon rummaged through his coat pocket and took out his light. With a couple of snaps, a small flame appeared. "Ladies and gentlemen." He said, getting to the front of the group, "If I may lead?"
The group started to follow behind Roman; Neo merely chuckled and said before following behind them, "Show off."
They started to explore the houses living room. From Roman's lighter, they saw a few papers and books scattered on the floor, and they caught whiff of a very strong yet cringing aroma. Though they couldn't tell where it was from exactly. Finally they moved into the kitchen, where they heard water drip from the faucet.
"Hey Roman?" Cristal said before pointing to the right of the room, "Turn your light over there."
Roman nodded and turned his light over to the right. There they saw a generator of some kind. "Looks like that's what powers the house." Ren said.
Cristal went over to the generator, to take a closer look at it. She saw the insignia that was on the generator. "It's dust powered." Cristal said, "It might even still work. From the looks of it, it just needs two vials to get it working."
"This machine looks old though." Neo said, "Are you sure it'll work?"
"Only one way to find out." Ruby said before taking out some of her Dust that she had been carrying for her bullets. She handed it to Cristal, and she placed two of the vials in the machine. She searched for a switch and found a lever. With a flip of the lever the machine started to hum.
"That should do it." Cristal said, "Someone get the light switch."
"I got it!" Nora said, as she started to feel the wall for the light switch. When she found the light switch, and she flipped it upward. At first it seemed like nothing had happened, but after awhile, the light had started to flicker, and the room filled with it's glow; Roman put out a flame and put the lighter in his pocket. "Finally light." Jaune said relieved.
The whole group noticed the dust all around the kitchen. "... I don't think anyones been living in this house for a while." Melody said.
"No kidding." Rosario said, noticing the actual state of the kitchen, and turning on the light of the living room, "This whole place is a mess. Wonder how long this house has been like this?"
"Or who lived here?" Ren said.
They heard Scout sneeze again, getting their attention turned to her, "I still can't see anything with this mud." Scout said to the group. "Oh right." Ruby said, "Now that you mention, we're all freezing. Let's see if we can find a bathroom anywhere, and get the mud off of you."
"That would be nice." Scout said, "And some dry clothes would be nice too."
"If we're able to find the bathroom, we can see if there is hot water." Melody said, "I think most of us here would want to take a hot shower."
"Ditto." Neo said.
"After being out in the rain for hours and hours, I could really use one." Rosario said.
"Just be on your guard." Roman said, "You never know what could be in here."
"This house doesn't look like it's been used for awhile." Jaune said, "What could be in here?"
Just as this was said, as the girls went up the stairs, a couple of bats suddenly flown from the upstairs making Jaune scream slightly as the bats flew out of the open door. They all looked at Jaune awkwardly, and he couldn't help but laugh out of embarrassment. Everyone couldn't help but laugh at the look Jaune was giving and he had eventually laughed along with them. "Okay, let's start looking around." Cristal said, "We'll take upstairs, and you boy's, can stay down here and see what you can find."
"Sure." Ren said, "It isn't like there's nothing better to do."
With that, all the girls went up the stairs while the boy's stayed on the first floor.
They turned on the hallway lights and had managed to find where the bathroom was, a couple of them actually, since they found at least five guest bedrooms, with their own bathroom. "Huh…" Neo said, "I guess this guy used to have a lot of visitors."
"Looks like." Rosario said.
"At the very least we have beds to sleep on, despite all the dust." Melody said, as she lead Scout to one of the rooms, "I'm gonna go help Scout get this mud off of her."
"Good luck with that." Neo said, "I'm gonna see if I can get washed up, in one of these rooms."
"Me too." Rosario said.
"Cristal and I will see about the master bedroom!" Ruby said hooking her arm with Cristal's. "You two have fun." Melody said. Rosario, Melody, Scout and Neo went into the rooms as Ruby and Cristal pushed onward towards whatever was down the hall. They entered the master bedroom, the light above, flickering ever so slightly. The room was rather large in size and in the middle of the room had a large worn out bed covered in dust. A dresser sat by the bedside of the room, with pictures that looked faded.
Cristal picked up the picture to look at. "Looks like the owner of this establishment was some kind of doctor. Wonder what could've happened to him."
"Don't know." Ruby said removing her red cloak, "I think I'm gonna go get dried off and get in some warm clothing. Rather not take a shower and waste all the hot water for everyone else."
"You can go and do that, I'm gonna go and get changed in the bathroom, maybe wash up my face." Cristal said.
Ruby nodded, as Cristal opened the bathroom door and turning on the light, taking her bag with her. Ruby placed her bag on the bed and started to change out of her usual wear. She switched from her usual wear to a long sleeved red t-shirt with long black pants and white socks. She couldn't help but sigh with relief after she was in warm clothing.
"Ah! Much better!" Ruby said with a smile, "Welp, time to hang up, these clothing up to dry, wonder if there any hangers left in the closet."
Ruby looked around the room and spotted the closet. She approached it and opened it, finding only two clothes hanger up on the shelf above. Ruby reached for the clothes hanger, going on her tippy toes. She managed to grab two of the hangers, and slid it off the shelf but-
THUD!
Ruby flinched slightly when she heard something fall to the ground. She turned and saw that it was a worn out book of some kind; Ruby tilted her head slightly at this. After she hung up her dress and draped her red cloak over the bar, she went to pick up the book; taking a quick look at it, she realized that it was journal. Curious to who it belonged to, she opened the book and saw faded handwriting that was written in cursive.
On the inside of a cover she saw a name, most likely whoever owned the journal.
"Property of Forrest Zeitlin?" Ruby read, before thinking aloud, "I guess that's the person who lived here."
Ruby started to flip through the pages and saw that most of the first few pages had pictures. One of the man, named Forrest himself, with people, men women and children alike. They were most likely his patients Ruby thought to herself. Soon enough she found of the man's hand writing; they were research notes from Ruby could tell, with a photograph of what appeared to be an artifact of some kind, which she found strange. Was he also an archeologist, she thought. She couldn't tell the color of the butterfly since the photo was colored in black and white.
"It's been years since I've studied its pattern." Ruby read to herself as she sat herself on the bed, "After studying it, looking into it, I know it stays with them. They told me, in the past, it used to go from one generation to another, and they were to become the next head of the family. Since the Great War, it had become nothing more than a legend, since before anyone knew it. They say that it had left them, because of what happened between the kingdoms, or some say it that it never existed to begin with and it was all just a ruse. Some hadn't lost hope of it returning, despite the winds of change between them. They know-"
As Ruby went to look through the next entry, she noticed that the entry had suddenly cut off. She couldn't help but find suspicious, as she noticed signs that the pages had been torn out, and it had been on purpose. Ruby saw the next set of handwriting, had been sloppy, almost as if, it was written in a hurry.
Ruby continued to read to herself, despite some of the words being in a mess.
"I had hoped that it wasn't true, but it is as I feared. She is aware of its existence. She knows it lies with them. From an old friend, I have learned she had made a deal with the head of the family. She would give it to her willingly but it is unlikely she will keep her end of the bargin when she does. It is unclear to me what she wants with the Scion, but if they fulfill her request, it is most likely, that many of the citizens of Remnant will be in more danger than it already is. I have done terrible things for her sake, but the least I can do now, is hide all of my research about the Scion. I've scattered my papers across the winds of Mistral, in the hopes they can be hidden from her. For the first time in my life, I hope and pray it does not return, for the sake of Remnant and for the sake of whoever shall-"
Once again the sentence was cut off but this time she saw a faint stain of blood at the end of the page, leaving Ruby to wonder what had become of the writer. Though as Ruby reread what was supposedly the last entry to Forrest's journal a single word had struck as odd to her.
"Scion…?"
Suddenly a scream rang through Ruby's ear; the voice she had recognized belonged to Cristal. She saw her stumble out of the room looking utterly terrified. She placed her hand over her mouth, as she suddenly started to throw up. Ruby placed the journal over on the dresser and ran over to her.
"Cristal, what's wrong!?" Ruby said, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Are you okay!?"
Cristal let out a couple of coughs before saying, "There's a… I found a…"
"What? Cristal what is it?" Ruby asked not quite understanding her.
Cristal didn't say anything to Ruby; instead she pointed to inside the dimly lit bathroom. Ruby looked back to Cristal for a moment before she made her way inside. She took notice of a very strong disgusting aroma in the room; she noticed that the closet inside the bathroom had been opened slightly, and saw a couple of flies buzzing around. Slowly Ruby made her to the closet and peeked inside; her eyes soon widened in horror, before she let out a terrified shriek echoing throughout the house.
There inside the closet of the master bathroom, she saw inside, was a decaying corpse, that had no doubt, been the man… Forrest Zeitlin.
(Opening Theme: Let's Just Live Performed By Casey Lee Williams)
-Somewhere in Mistral; Farmland-
As Oscar did his usual chores around the farm, Destiny couldn't help but explore more if it's land. As usual she didn't go far from where Oscar lived, since he is the only one she can even talk to much to their own confusion. She floated at a certain height from the ground as she enjoyed the view of the sun and sky. As she enjoyed the view of it all she couldn't but wonder the same thing she had always wondered ever since she found Oscar. She wondered about her friends and her father and Neo.
Lately, the pattern with disappearing and reappearing had just come to a sudden halt, and she couldn't help as to wonder why. She was still new to this whole out of her own body experience and didn't quite fully understand what in the world was going on or what was happening to her, but she asked herself why. She wanted to find them, the people she loved and cared about but, she couldn't accomplish anything by staying here. Though she had no control of what was happening to her, or even why it was happening to her. The more she thought about it, the more it confused her.
Her train of thought was soon diverted off of the rails, when she noticed Oscar going inside, and it looked like he was in a hurry. She tilted her head slightly at this, and she descended towards the the building through the roof and into his room. She saw him packing up, putting everything into a bag.
"What are you doing?" Destiny asked, "You're packing a bag, are you going somewhere?"
"I'm going to the city." Oscar replied.
This had surprised Destiny a little, "The city? You're actually going to go there?"
"Yeah." Oscar replied, "There's something that I want answered, and, my best bet is in the city."
"Something you want answered?" Destiny mumbled to herself, before asking, "Wait, what about your Aunt? Is she okay with this?"
Oscar replied, turning to her, "I asked her this morning. She said she was okay with me going, as long as I keep in touch with her."
"Oh so you're really going to be leaving?"
"That's the plan."
"And whatever it is you're looking for, you're not going to stop until you find it?"
"Yeah."
Destiny crossed her legs, as she gently floated to the ground having a somewhat sad look on her face. "It's funny, you kinda sound like my friend Ruby." She said, "When I first met her, she had no hesitation to let me hide in her dorm room with her friends and sister. She said that they would protect me, and keep me happy when they took me in. She was even determined to help me find my dad. And maybe, maybe she's determined to find me too, but I can't-"
Her words started to trail off as she started to mumble; she started to play with her hair a little bit despite her body being transparent, leaving silence between them. Oscar could tell, that whoever her friends are she had missed them dearly. From the moment she had appeared she had thought about nothing but them, throughout her time here on the farm. Everytime she would bring them up, her words would just trail off. He could tell that she desperately wants to find them and be reunited with them.
Finally Oscar had spoke up, "You know… You can come with me."
Destiny looked up to Oscar just shocked and at a loss of words. He continued to speak, "Maybe if you come to the city with me, you can find out where your body is. And if you can get your body back you can reunite with your friends, and your dad."
"My body…" Destiny said, "You really think I can find my body there?"
"Not necessarily, but you can get an idea to where your body is." Oscar said, "We can help each other too!"
"You really mean it?" She asked him.
Oscar simply nodded his head with a smile.
"That's really kind of you Oscar, and I really appreciate it." Destiny said, "But… I can't do anything when I'm like this. I'm just invisible to the world, and I can only touch the ground."
"Oh, I guess you're right about that." Oscar said, but soon had thought of an idea, "Hey wait a second, you said you've been able to go inside the body of Grimm right?"
Destiny was confused by this but had nodded her head in reply. "What if you can do the same thing you do to Grimm to other things?" Oscar asked her.
Destiny just sat there shocked at what he was suggesting exactly. "You mean like posses a person?" Destiny said, "Like the monsters in the horror films?"
"Well maybe not posses a person, but, you know…" Oscar said trying to put it into words, "Just a temporary body that you can use, until you get your real one back."
"Put myself in a temporary body?" Destiny said, "But I don't even know what's happening to me, I don't know if I can do it. I can't even control a Grimm's body for long!"
"If you're able to go into one Grimm after another, than where's the harm in trying it?" The young boy said to her.
Destiny still looked nervous at this, as she started to rub her elbow. She was going it over in her head on what should she do. In way she thought, Oscar did have a point. If she could go to the city, she could have an idea on where to look for her body. It wouldn't be much, but it would be a start. She supposed it would be better than hopping from one creature of Grimm to another. Destiny gulped and had eventually replied, "... O… Okay… I suppose I could try it." Destiny said, "Though I can't guarantee that I'll know how to do it exactly. Do you have any ideas, on what I could use?"
Oscar thought about as he scratched beneath his chin. He thought long and hard at what she could use, since, she couldn't exactly posses a person and CERTAINLY not go prancing around in the body of a Grimm. It wasn't until-
"I've got it!" Oscar said, "Wait here a second!"
This left the little one confused as she saw him leave the room, and hear him go down the later. After mere moments of staying where she was, she heard him come back and enter the room again, but this time he was holding something in the palm of his hand. A small victorian doll, made from wood to be exact. The little doll was of an elf, as she could tell from the small pointed ears, and most of its hair was of a golden yellow. The right of her hair, from the side of the hair had transitioned to a brown color. The hair was tied into pair of braids, and it's eyes was of a light crystal red. The little doll wore a sleeveless brown hooded wool coat; holding it together was a simple purple ribbon. Underneath the coat was a simple dress that was of the color green and she wore a pair of small brown wool shoes.
The little doll as shown to be flexible, as the head rested on Oscar's hand; even the fingers showed signs of it being bendable.
"What an adorable little doll!" Destiny said looking to it.
"My aunt said this doll belonged to her when she was a kid." Oscar said, "She never actually did have the heart to give it away. Maybe you can use this, until your body is found."
"Maybe, but just one problem…" Destiny said awkwardly, "... I'm not sure how to do this."
"Well, how does it usually work for you when you enter a body of a Grimm?"
"That's the thing, I don't even know how it happens. One minute I could be exploring your home, or farmland and than when I blink, I just find myself in the body of a Grimm."
"Do you at least have an idea on how that happens?"
"No, I don't know! I'm still new to this whole thing, I've never had a literal out of the body experience so I don't know if I'll be able to-"
Destiny had soon been cut off when there was a sudden white glow in the room, which made them both jump. An insignia of butterfly in the shade of blue, appeared in the middle of her forehead and Oscar noticed that her eye had changed to white. They were both left stunned at this. "Oscar…?" Destiny said somewhat fearfully, "What's happening?"
"You're eye changed color, and there's a butterfly in the middle of your forehead." Oscar said to her, just as stunned as she was. Suddenly the little butterfly on her forehead started to move its wings; it flew from where it sat, causing her and Oscar to back up slightly at this; the small butterfly was made entirely of a blue light, its wings decorated with white lines. It circled around Destiny for a moment before fluttering over to the small doll that Oscar held, landing on its neck as if it made a bowtie.
Just than the butterfly seem to sink into the doll's wooden skin, and at the same time Destiny's transparent body started to light up with blue.
"What's goin-!?"
There was a sudden explosion of blue light causing Oscar to scream slightly and drop the doll on accident; he fell onto the bed. "Destiny?" He called out, "Destiny? Where are you?" When he heard no answer from the child, he looked to the doll, and saw the blue butterfly still on it's neck. "Wait… Don't tell me…" Oscar said to himself as he looked to the doll.
He saw the wooden fingers twitch on the doll, and the doll suddenly blinked as it gasped for air; he jumped back slightly when the doll sat up straight. The crystal red eyes, had changed color. The left eye was now emerald green while the right eye was of an orange color in a pool of tar.
Just from that, right off the bat he knew exactly who it was.
"... Destiny…?" Oscar said still stunned by what was happening.
The little doll, who had happened to be Destiny looked up. "Oscar…?" She said, before looking at her hands. She felt her own fingers before feeling her face and pointed ears. "Huh…" Destiny said, "I guess it worked…"
"Yeah, I guess so." Oscar said to her, "How does it feel?"
Destiny looked to her leg, and moved both of her feet a little. With effort, she slowly stood up from the floor with her legs shaking slightly. As she took a step forward she suddenly fell backwards on the floor.
"I'm not gonna lie…" Destiny said to Oscar, "... This feels SUPER weird."
-Kuroyuri-
Mere hours had passed since the teams had split up, and, Ruby along with, Jaune, Scout and her cousin Melody with Senka following behind them, pressed onward towards the deserted village of Kuroyuri. With them, they had two of their injured, Qrow and Cristal. Despite what Ren had said, they had decided to go through the village with the two of them since they were both in no condition to go climb up the mountain. They had hoped once they had reached the village, they could find some medicine or scraps of herbs Scout could use to make an antidote. They couldn't let them die, they just couldn't.
They arrived at the village only to find it in ruins. Buildings were either shattered or covered in ash, as evidence from a fire, the flags torn, and the roads were torn apart. As they looked around the area, they couldn't help but get an eerie feeling, that had sent a chill down their spine. Frosty came out of Ruby's hood to perch on top of her head to get a good look, though Ruby didn't mind.
"Oh God…" Scout said horrified of the scene before them.
"Damn…" Melody said.
"Come on." Ruby said to them with a determined look. The four of them walked through the village, carrying Qrow on the make-shift stretcher while Cristal was on Jaune's back. They walked through the streets looking at the various buildings that had surrounded them. The cold air surrounded them, making them shiver slightly.
"Do any of these places look like a pharmacy?" Ruby asked the group.
"Honestly…" Jaune said looking around, "... It's hard to tell them apart."
"They all just look the same." Melody said.
"This is all just awful…" Scout said, "... Did the Grimm… Did they really do all of this?"
Ruby looked around the area as well; she looked and saw a bike on it's side, all busted and covered in ash. "... Ren, really didn't want to come here…" Ruby said, "... Did he?"
"It didn't seem so." Jaune said.
"I can see why…" Scout said, "I don't know how anyone can stomach this."
Ruby looked to Jaune, "Do you know why he didn't want to come here?"
Jaune looked around the village once more, "I think I have a pretty good idea as to why."
"I can only imagine what the people had to endure." Melody said.
After awhile, they had set Qrow and Cristal up against a dead tree, that stood in the middle of the once lively village. Senka laid against the tree next to Cristal, once in awhile he nuzzled her head gently with his beak. Melody sat beside her father still holding onto his hand, while Frosty sat by her side and Scout had brushed a cold wet rag against their faces in an attempt to bring their fevers down. Ruby and Jaune who had been exploring the town, returned to them; both of them had a look of dejection on their faces.
"Any luck?" Melody asked.
Ruby went over to Melody and kneeled beside her, "No." She replied with a look of sadness on her face, "Jaune and I looked everywhere, and we couldn't find anything, not even herbs or painkillers."
"... Oh." Melody said with sadness as well.
"... I guess it was worth the shot." Scout said with her ears going down.
They soon heard roars in the distance, which caused Jaune to tense up as he reached for his sword. "Jaune, it's okay." Scout said to him calmly.
"Yeah." Ruby said, "It's far off."
Jaune let out a sigh as he let go the handle of his sword, "... I know, but the others… They're still out there."
"Jaune, they'll be fine. I know they will." Scout said to Jaune going over to him.
Ruby looked to Qrow, Cristal and the others. Honestly she didn't know how much more of this she could take. She knew she had to be strong, for the sake of her friends, for the sake of Destiny she had to. Though she was really reaching the tipping point of this. After everything they had gone through yesterday, after their encounter with the enemy, after everything that happened last night, what they heard Ruby didn't know how much more of it she could handle. Melody could lose her only parent, she and Yang could lose their uncle, her whole team could lose Cristal, they could've lost Roman. Who knows what else could happen if they continued forward.
"It's all my fault…"
Ruby stood up, as she clenched her fist; Melody looked at her with concern.
"I'm sorry…" Ruby said, getting everyone's attention.
"Ruby?" Melody asked with worry.
"What?" Scout asked.
"What are you saying?" Jaune asked concerned.
"... This… All of this is happening… Because of me…" Ruby said to them, "... I never shouldn't have dragged you, any of you guys into this."
"No, no cuz don't say that." Melody said to her, as she stood up too.
Jaune nodded his head in agreement, "You didn't drag any of us into this. We came with you because we wanted to come."
"He's right Ruby." Scout said, "Myself, Rosario, and Melody, were in this from the start, because of Cristal. Despite the risks, we made the choice to go and help her even after she told us what she was. And after we met you, we made the choice to come with you like we did back than."
"But…" Ruby said turning to Qrow and Cristal, "You guys didn't know about Tyrian, the other Shadows and Elise… I failed to protect Destiny and because of that she was taken… Cristal got hurt, I almost got Roman killed, and Uncle Qrow was-"
"Don't." Melody said sternly, stopping her and getting her attention, "... Don't do that. I've known you my whole life, and the Ruby I know and love would never put the blame on herself. If you think I'm mad at you than your wrong. I could never hold a grudge on you, you know that."
"You're a good person." Scout said to her, "I don't want to see you put yourself at the blame. It makes me sad, if you're upset."
"But I-" Ruby said.
"Ruby." Jaune started to say, cutting her off this time "... We… Lost Pyrrha. You lost her too. And Penny, your team, and… In a way you lost your sister. And yet your still here. Despite everything you've lost, everything you could still lose, you chose to come out here, because you felt like you can make a difference. You didn't drag any of us along… You gave us the courage to follow you."
Ruby looked to Jaune and the others, with an expressionless look on her face, but she took the words to heart. Eventually she smiled to them, grateful for what they said to her. Jaune, Scout and Melody smiled back at her, but Melody soon lost her smile when she and Jaune looked to one another. That's when she suddenly turned and walked away from them.
"Melody?" Scout said, "Where are you going?"
Melody stopped in her tracks, and turned to her slightly, "I'm going to take another look around." She replied, "Look after my dad and Cristal until I get back."
"But Melody they already-" Scout started to say, before Ruby stopped her. She simply shook her head to Scout. The young Fanus girl, seemed to have understand what Ruby was saying through her expression, "Okay." Scout said to her partner, "Just, don't be too long."
"... I know…" Melody said. With that she walked back the way Jaune and Ruby came, none of them actually stopping her; Frosty had followed close behind her. Jaune looked down at his feet. "I… I guess she's still upset after what I said to her last night."
"You didn't talk to her about it yet, did you?" Scout asked.
Jaune had replied, "...No. I didn't have the time to since well… We had to take care of Qrow and Cristal."
Scout soon said, "... I'll be honest, Melody doesn't tell me a lot of things about her life before she came out here. I'm supposed to be her partner and as partners we should help each other… I just wish I knew what was wrong so I could help her."
Jaune looked to Scout and Ruby, "... After the way she acted, after I said all of those things... Do you think she still hates me?"
Scout had said nothing, she just turned away thinking. Ruby had soon replied to Jaune, "I'll admit, I'm family and even I don't know much about Melody's problems or why she looked so scared last night. All I know is she hasn't been the same since she got her semblance. Melody, despite her being my cousin, she's been like another sister to me and Yang, so we pretty much know each other like the back of our hands. I know despite everything you said to her, she doesn't hate you. When you have the time, you can talk to her and see."
Jaune turned to Ruby before letting out a sigh, "Yeah… I'll remember that."
-Sometime Ago-
With the whole group wearing their spare clothing, had heard Ruby let out a terrifying shriek, and they were just horrified as she was when they found the corpse hanging from within the closet. All of them had quickly concluded that the corpse found inside, was the man who had owned the house they were in. Ruby had told them, that through the help of his old journal, the corpse was name Forrest Zeitlin. They couldn't just leave the body where they found it, so Roman, Neo and Ren had to move the body out of the room with care. They had gotten it downstairs, into the kitchen, putting an old cover on top of the body.
"Well…" Rosario said, "At the very least we know what happened to the owner."
"Do you think he was murdered?" Ren asked curiously.
"Who knows…" Roman said, "... Even if he was, someone went through the trouble to make it look like he took his own life."
"Who in the world could've done this?" Neo asked.
Within the living room, the rest of the group had looked over the journal that Ruby had found in the closet, as Nora had gotten a fire going within the fire place that was provided, while Melody herself decided to explore more of the house. Cristal shut the book after they were finished reading with it. "Well Cristal?" Ruby said, "What do you make of it?"
"Well, it does sound familiar." Cristal said, "But just like how my kind is I've heard about this Scion in stories and fairytales."
"So…" Jaune said, "Whatever this Scion, it's another legend? Like the Grimm Flower the Efah?"
"In a way, the Scion is a legend itself." Cristal said, "At least it used to be."
"Used to be?" Nora asked.
Cristal had simply replied, "Long when Remnant was in its Golden Age hell even before there was kingdom's, they're used to be a lot of things that people had grown accustomed to. The Scion, and Efah alike. In fact, believe it or not they're used to be more of me, people that were born from a simple flower and were known as Shadows. But ever since the Great War, a whole lot of us were wiped out and our lives faded into nothing more than stories. The Scion used to be known by many people, but if you were to mention it now to someone, I guarantee that they would just laugh in your face and call you crazy."
"... So, what is a Scion exactly?" Scout asked, "Is it supposed to be some sort of weapon?"
Cristal simply shook her head, "A Scion is not a thing. It's actually a person."
The group's eyes widened slightly at the sound of this. "A person?" Jaune asked, "What do you mean a person?"
Cristal started to explain, "Unfortunately, I'm not sure how the Scion came to be, but from what I've heard, or at the very least understand, that before the kingdoms were formed they were said be an ally to the Silver Eyed Warriors."
"Silver Eyes…" Ruby said, "You mean people like me…?"
Cristal didn't say anything but nodded her head in reply, "But like I said, it's only what I've heard. I don't even know if it's true or not."
Scout took the journal from Cristal and looked over it's continents again, "This, Forrest person, mentioned being a part of something terrible." Scout said before looking to her leader, "Cristal, do you think he has to do with the person that you can't mention? The one who's in control of Cinder?"
Cristal simply shrugged at this as she replied, "The hell if I know. This man basically expired years ago, and I was created three years way after his death. I wouldn't be able to tell you, since I was never there to begin with."
"Wonder what he meant by being a part of something terrible though." Nora said, "Makes you think about it."
"I guess." Ruby said, "But… With pages being torn out and somewhere across Mistral, I guess we'll never know."
Melody soon came back into the room; she caught her breath as she leaned against the door frame of the living room, "Guys…" She said, struggling to catch her breath and getting their attention.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Ruby asked.
Melody soon replied, "... You all have to see what I found."
The whole group looked confused but stood up and went to follow Melody. She had lead them towards the house's basement. They followed her down the stairs towards a flickering light just at the bottom of it. When they all got to the bottom of the stairs, there they saw a hospital bed, with restraints and faint traces of blood and a black substance on the bed, floor and walls. Machines surrounded the bed that were destroyed far beyond repair and desk with a single book shelf sat at the far end of the room, with a picture frame covered in dust. Not only that, black dust was seen across the floor as well.
From there, they could all tell that it was what remained of Grimm.
"Wha…" Ruby started to say, "What is all of this…?"
"I-I can't tell." Jaune said.
The whole group entered the strange room, as they started to look around. Rosario had examined the bed with leather restraints. "Call me crazy…" Rosario said, "... But I think this might've been a lab of some kind."
Nora and Ren examined the black dust, still not fully believing that it really was what they all thought it was.
"All of this belongs to Grimm." Ren said, "They're remains of a Grimm."
"But why would a doctor, be experimenting on Grimm?" Nora asked.
Cristal looked just under the bed, and her eyes widened slightly at what she found, "He wasn't experimenting on Grimm." She said, as the group looked to her confused.
"How do you know that?" Neo asked. Cristal didn't say anything but instead she took a tissue from a tissue box nearby. She reached under the bed pulled out from under the bed, a rotting dismembered hand making everyone gasp. Black vapor was seen, just like how the creature of Grimm's body was after it was killed.
"Is that a...?" Melody said in shock.
"Holy crap…" Roman said.
"But… That belongs to a person…" Scout said with her voice trembling.
"Clearly." Cristal said, putting the hand on the ground, "I'm guessing that's the remains of whoever was tied down to this bed."
"He was turning someone into a Grimm?!" Neo said, "Why would he do that?!"
Indeed, the whole thing didn't make sense to the whole group. A person just can't become a Grimm, it's just not possible for anyone. Well, they knew that it was only half true; they knew of a person that had been infected with Grimm.
"Destiny…" Ruby said, "... He was making more of her… Does that mean, they're more people like her out there?"
"Is that even possible?" Nora asked.
"No." Cristal replied before pointing to the hand, "Whoever this hand belonged to was a failed attempt to make one like her." Cristal than gestured to the black dust and the faint black substance on the sheets, "And those are evidence that it wasn't just one victim. There may have been more, hundreds more even."
The group looked around the room once more. This time a chill had gone down their spine at the thought of who knows how many victims taken down inside this place many would consider a nightmare. This time Rosario, and Melody approached the machinery, taking a closer look at it. "This is all just awful." Ruby said, "To think that there could've so many people down here.
"Did this all happen after Destiny was infected?" Jaune questioned
"That's impossible. If Forrest really was involved in this in someway the date in the journal goes back to at least 20 years ago." Roman said, "And based on his last entry date, that would've been a year before Destiny was even around."
"So this all happened before she had gotten infected." Ren stated, "Before she was born."
"It does explain a lot considering the evidence we found." Neo said..
"From the looks of things this machinery has been like this for some time." Melody said turning to the group, "Most likely this was here as long as this house has been standing."
"And with the way it is, I doubt that they continued any work like this" Rosario added.
"He really could've done all of this?" Ruby asked.
"... I don't think he even had a choice on the matter." Cristal said, thinking back to the photographs that Ruby and her found upstairs.
Roman soon turned his attention to the desk; he looked over the continents, through papers to books. Most of the ink had been washed off by something so some of the words were extremely hard to read. Roman soon noticed the picture frame. He picked it up and wiped the dust off of it; his eyes soon widened in horror and shock. The group noticed this reaction from him.
"Roman?" Neo asked going over to him, "What is it? What's-?"
Neo soon had the same reaction he did when her eyes laid on the picture. Everyone else was curious as to why they had very similar reactions. Ruby went over to them to look over their shoulders to see the picture. In the picture she saw the man from the earlier photographs in the rooms upstairs. Beside him was a young woman; her hair in the color of ash tied back, and eyes were in the color of amber. She wore a white lab coat under a pale green collar shirt with a dark brown skirt.
"Roman? Neo?" Ruby asked, "Who is that?"
Roman turned to Ruby, and replied with hesitation, "... That's Trinity's step-mom… Quinta…"
The whole group was put into shock at the answer.
-Present; Somewhere in Mistral-
After everything had calmed down, and moments of packing, Oscar finally made his way out of the comfort of his home. Destiny had went along with him, but for now, she was hanging out inside in his bag, finally getting a good rest after being some kind of ghost for weeks on end. For a moment he turned back to the place called home, giving it one last glance. Fixing his bag slightly, he started to walk again. As he made his way down the road, clouds above had started to roll in; thinking that they might be in for a storm, he picked up the pace slightly.
Finally, a familiar voice had broken the silence around him.
It was Ozpin.
"... I'm sorry." He heard Ozpin say in his head.
Oscar let out a sigh before he said to the voice, "... You know something… The weirdest part is how it feels. Leaving home is crazy. Going to the city is crazy. Everything you've told me… Everything Destiny told me is completely crazy. But… It doesn't feel crazy anymore. It feels like I'm doing the right thing."
"Well… I suppose that's good." Ozpin said to him.
"No." Oscar said to him, "It's crazy."
As soon as the sound of thunder was heard, the rain had started to set in, making Oscar run along the path. It had taken awhile, but eventually, he had soon reached the train station. He ran onto the covered platform, and took a moment to catch his breath. He looked around and saw that no one was around, which was good thing for him.
"Hey Destiny." He said looking over his shoulder to the bag, "Are you awake? We're at the train station.
Some rustling sounds were heard in his bag, in the large pouch; and sure enough, Destiny still in the body of a doll came peeking out letting out a slight yawn. "Is it safe to come out?" She asked with a whisper.
"It's okay no one's here." Oscar replied, holding his hand out to her so that she could climb onto it. She opened the bag slightly, before she climbed onto his hand; he brought her in front of him. Destiny stretched her wooden limbs as she groaned.
"It feels really nice to actually get some sleep." Destiny said as she fixed up her dress, "Though that doesn't stop it from this feeling weird."
"Hopefully you don't have to be in the body of a doll for long." Oscar said to her.
"I hope the same thing." She said to him, "So we can really get to the city from here?"
Oscar nodded his head to her before saying, "All we gotta do is get a ticket."
He walked over to a ticket machine nearby, and he allowed Destiny to climb right onto the keyboard of the machine. He started to search for his wallet.
"This is actually so exciting!" Destiny said as she bounced slightly, "I've never been to another city before. I've mostly lived in Vale all my life! That and I've never taken the train!"
"Really, you never have? Not even once?" Oscar asked her, as he got his wallet out of his pocket.
Destiny simply shook her head to him, "My dad and I just usually stay within Vale most of my life. We've never taken vacations, so it's going to be real cool to see another city! Despite the fact that I'm in a body of a doll."
"I guess it would be considered a close second." He said to her jokingly.
Oscar took out a lien card, and placed it on the screen to scan it. After a few moments the screen turned read.
"UNABLE TO COMPLETE REQUEST. REASON GIVEN: INSUFFICIENT FUNDS (CODE: 726)" The machine had read.
"What the heck?" Oscar said shocked, "It should've worked."
"Maybe it didn't read it?" Destiny said with a shrug. Oscar placed his lien card on the screen once more, but it ended up saying the same thing as it did before; Oscar couldn't help but groan.
"Okay, I got nothing." Destiny said, slumping slightly.
"Stupid machine." Oscar said, before asking, "I'm assuming whatever weird magic this is doesn't come with an infinite supply of money?"
"I kind of wish it did." Destiny had replied. Though what Destiny didn't know was, he was actually directing his question towards the voice in his head, Ozpin.
He had chuckled slightly before replying, "I'm afraid you'll have to solve this one on your-"
Oscar noticed that Ozpin had cut himself off suddenly. "What is it?" Oscar whispered slightly, not wanting Destiny to hear him.
"Hide Destiny. Be on your guard." Ozpin soon said in a hushed tone.
"What, why?" Oscar asked confused.
Destiny tilted her head slightly since she noticed how Oscar looked, "What's wrong?" She asked.
"I don't know." Oscar replied in whisper, "But you need to hide."
Before Destiny could ask why, a voice had come over them.
"Here."
At the sound of voice, Destiny hide herself, by putting her back against the wall next to the keyboard of the machine; she stood as still as a statue. Oscar turned to the direction of the voice and saw a man coming towards him. The man was large and muscular and had skin of brown. He had short brown hair and beard, and eyes that were of hazel. He wore a two-tone olive green coat with a large belt around his waist. His pants were black and the boats he wore was brown and white fronts. Some hair was seen on his arms, and Oscar could make out some scars at the edge of his sleeves.
The man soon towered over him, as he stopped near the machine. He raised his fist in the air, and Oscar couldn't help but tense at this. The man's fist landed on top of the machine, and the impact of it caused Destiny to stumble slightly almost falling where she stood. Oscar slowly stood up as the machine started to let out beep sounds. In the matter of seconds, the machine dispensed a single ticket and it drifted to the ground.
The man walked away and Oscar went to pick up the ticket up off the ground. As the man stepped out into the rain, he stopped to turn back to Oscar.
"Don't let such a small obstacle block your path." The man had said to him. With that he resumed his way, as Oscar watched him walk away. Destiny moved and let out a deep breath, as if she had been holding it in forever. "... That man…" Oscar said, "I felt… Who is he…?"
"Someone from my past." Ozpin replied, "Someone who should not be taken lightly."
Destiny tilted her head slightly again, as she watched the man disappear into the distance. "That's weird…" Destiny said, getting Oscar's attention. "What is?" He asked her.
"I think…" Destiny said, "... I think I've seen him before…"
"Destiny! Destiny!"
Destiny had jumped slightly, when she soundly heard a voice call out to her; this had caused her to look around, which left Oscar perplexed.
"Destiny, if you can hear me, you have to hang on, just a little longer! I'll get you somewhere safe! I won't let them take you away!"
Destiny of course recognized the voice calling out to her, but, something didn't feel right, at least to her. It sounded like her, but at the same time it didn't. Oscar soon her attention, "What's wrong?" He asked, "You looked kind of dazed."
Destiny turned but gave a small reassured smile, "I'm okay. I guess I'm still trying to get used to being in a doll."
Oscar let out a sigh, before holding out his hand to her again, "Let's wait inside, till the train comes, alright?" Destiny nodded to him, before climbing onto his hand again. They both found the door open, and they went inside to wait for the train.
-Meanwhile in the Mountains-
The second group, that had taken the path through the mountains, this being, Ren, Nora, Rosario, Neo and Roman, had been climbing for hours and hours, just to get where they needed to go. Often they would stop and take breaks just to catch their breath, before they continued up again. They had hurried as fast as they could for the sake of their friends; Destiny, Cristal, and Ruby's uncle Qrow.
They managed to get to a stony ledge, with them once again. Rosario and Ren were the first ahead of the group, and they looked ahead and saw more mountain, and a cave up ahead; Roman, Neo, and Nora soon came up behind them. All three of them, were out of breath; Roman especially.
"Oh good." Rosario said, wiping the sweat off of her forehead, "More mountains. Just great."
"We never get the easy path do we?" Ren said.
Nora came up next to him; putting her arms behind her head, "Easy is no fun anyway."
Roman sat himself down on a rock nearby, resting his hands and head on his Melodic Cudgel; Neo went over to him, placing her hand on his shoulder. "How's everyone doing?" Rosario asked, "Everyone good so far?"
"I'm fine." Ren said to her.
"As long as I've got Ren here, I'll be a okay." Nora said with a smile.
"I'm doing good so far." Neo soon replied, "Nothing I can't handle."
"I'll be fine." Roman said between breaths; he groaned slightly as he grasped his side, "... Just give me a second to catch my breath."
"Of course." Ren said.
Rosario soon stood up straight as she stretched her arms and legs. "Okay." Rosario said rubbing her hands together, "I'm gonna go on ahead to see if there's a safe way around here. Nora, I could use an extra set of eyes."
"You got it!" Nora said to her with her thumbs up. With that, the two of them walked ahead of the group, while the group, stayed where they were. Ren turned to Roman when he heard him hiss his breath through his teeth.
"You sure your doing okay?" Neo asked.
"Yeah, yeah, don't worry about me." Roman replied, "... Ashamed to say it, but I think I'm getting to old for this." Roman couldn't help but chuckle slightly at this.
"How's your wound?" Ren asked him.
Roman turned to Ren and replied, "It's fine, nothing I can't handle. This isn't the first time I've had to travel with an injury like this."
"True, but it maybe best if you don't push yourself." Ren suggested.
Roman simply nodded his head, as he took deep breaths. Neo patted him on the shoulder before standing herself up; she looked down the path where they came from. "I wonder if the others made it to the village with Qrow and Cristal?"
"I'm sure they have." Ren said, his hand turning into a fist, "... I just hope they'll be alright."
Roman and Neo both looked at one another before turning to Ren, as he had both a worried and a tense look on his face. "Tell me something…" Roman said, "That village, Kuroyuri… It was your home, wasn't it?"
Ren didn't say anything, he just turned his gaze to the ground; that seemed to have answered Roman's question. "... All the other towns and villages across the kingdom had heard what became of it, including mine. I'm very sorry, believe me, I know it's hard to lose a place you call home."
Ren turned back to him saying, "What's past is past. We can't change what's already happened."
"Indeed we can't." Roman said to him, "That's the harsh reality of things. But at the very least… On the bright side, you have yourself a new family."
Ren looked over to Nora, who was helping Rosario look around for a safe way up the mountain. Ren couldn't help but smile, "Yes." He said, "Yes indeed." The three of them were soon startled when they heard the sound of thunder. They looked up to the sky and saw gray clouds start to roll in.
They soon heard Rosario whistle, "HEY! YOU GUYS!" She shouted over to them, making their heads turn to her and Nora.
"THERE'S WIND BLOWING OUT OF THIS CAVE!" Nora yelled pointing to the cave they were standing next to. Ren, Neo, and Roman, had went over to the entrance of the cave where Rosario and Nora stood. All of them felt wind from within the cave followed by an echo howling sound from within, just as Nora had said.
"There must be another entrance on the other side." Roman said.
"It could be a shortcut through the mountain." Neo said.
"Think it might lead to the peak?" Nora asked.
Ren looked to Nora and replied, "I suppose there's only one way to fi-"
"EEP!"
Ren was cut off when Rosario let out a surprised squeak when what looked to be a torn up blanket had hit her in the face; She fell flat on her back from the impact. Nora couldn't help but laugh while Neo and Roman stood there just shocked. "Yes, yes, very funny." Ren said before helping Rosario up. He removed the blanket from her face and Rosario shook and fixed up her hair. "Phew, thanks." She said to him.
"Think of nothing of it." Ren replied before seeing what had hit her. It was only than, he had gotten strangely quiet and kept still. The others had noticed this and looked to Ren with worry. "Hey?" Nora asked, stepping closer to him, "What's wrong?"
They looked at the blanket, but soon were quick to realize that what Rosario was actually a flag. The flag was of brown and it had the logo of a purple flower that they all had recognized.
"Wait a minute…" Rosario started to say, "... That's the symbol for Shion village…"
"The village where we found the Huntsman?" Nora said, "But… That's weeks away from here!"
"Than…" Roman said, "How did that flag, get all the way out here?"
Ren suddenly ran inside the cave letting the flag fly into the wind. Nora called out his name and ran in after him, the others had soon followed him. They had gotten deeper into the cave but had soon stopped in their tracks when they saw what was within. Their eyes had widened in horror at the site.
"Oh my gosh…" Nora said, looking around.
Their in the spacious area of the cave broken weapons and speckles laid around the floor and propped up against the rocks and swords stood from the ground. Some sort of puddles black substance from what they could tell laid around the ground and walls. They all looked around the cave as they went further inside. The looked to the weapons and speckles scattered about.
"What the hell is all of this?" Rosario said as she avoided stepping into the puddles.
"I've never seen anything like it…" Roman said looking to the walls.
Neo looked to the weapons, "It looks like there was some sort of battle, but… It's honestly hard to tell."
Ren picked up an arrow that had been on the floor; the the sand gently fell off as he did. He studied as the others came up from behind. "What in world could've done all of this?" Nora wondered. Rosario soon looked to the side and she gulped slightly, "I think I might have a good idea." They wondered what she meant by that, and she pointed to the ground next to Ren. There eyes laid on a hoofprint, but it was too large for an ordinary horse which could only mean one thing for them.
"That print…" Roman said, "It looks fresh…"
They soon heard the sounds of rustling and branches snapping nearby. They looked and saw that there was another entrance of the cave. Ren once again ran ahead of them and he had gotten outside; eventually the others did too. They saw the trees shake and heard booming footsteps sounding too close for comfort. They had soon realized where it was heading when they saw the village of Kuroyuri in the distance.
"No…" Ren said as his head shook slightly.
Nora took his hand, as a loud piercing roar was heard.
(Ending Theme: I'm Waiting For the Rain TV Sized Performed By Maaya Sakamoto)