(Opening Theme: Let's Just Live Performed by Casey Lee Williams)
-Kuroyuri-
One the far side of the once great village Kuroyuri, Melody had sat on a ruined staircase with her knees close to her chest as she played with the cross that hung loosely around her neck. Frosty sat by her side as he would sometimes rub her leg as a way to comfort her. All she did was sit in silence, listening to the wind blowing, and feel the cold air, though she didn't necessarily mind it. She had something on her mind as she sat on the wooden steps. The words of her dad kept repeating in the back of her head from their conversation last night. She was currently in a turmoil about what had happened, and what she should decide to do. She wanted desperately to be in control on the creature inside her, she wanted to be able to tell Ruby and her friends, but she couldn't.
She was just too scared. Too scared to tell them, too scared to hear what they would think. If it happened with her mother, than who's to say it would happen to the others too. She resented her mother for leaving sure, she still couldn't help but blame herself, for not getting it under control sooner, or even realizing that it was there. She saw the way they looked at her when she snapped at Jaune, they were scared of her; and she hated the fact they were.
Melody let out a sigh as laid back on the wooden porch, running fingers through her hair, before her hand went back to the cross around her neck. Frosty crawled on her chest and sniffed at her necklace in her open hand. The young teen couldn't help but chuckle slightly, "You like it, huh little guy?"
The little white fox tilted its head slightly to her, "... This was a gift from dad after I got into Signal Academy. He said he got it on one of his missions and thought it would suit me. It really does… Even after I left home I still kept it with me after all this time."
Melody's expression changed as she looked to the cloudy gray sky above. She let her good arm fall to the side, at her arm's length.
"Sometimes…" She said, "... Sometimes I wonder if I ever made the right choice, about leaving Patch… I want to see my Aunt sure, and at the same time, I don't want to have to hurt, nor kill them… But often at times I wonder what they think. What Yang, and Uncle Tai really think about me after I left… Like, if they hate me for it… You know what I mean…?"
All Frosty did was let out a yawn in a response to her question and scratched his ear. Melody chuckled slightly as she went to scratch his ear; Frosty leaned in for the touch.
"... Yeah… That's what I thought you would say." She said, leaning her head back into the wood floor again, "... Maybe I should tell them about the Creature… I've already kept it from them… From Ruby long enough… And after what I was about to do Jaune, they have a right to know this."
BOOM! BANG!
Melody sat up straight when she heard loud sounds in the distance and Frosty jumped off her chest as his ears perked up.
"What the hell!?"
She stood up and ran towards the concrete path where the buildings were and Frosty ran to her side. There in the distance she saw explosions, and heard the sound of gunshots. From the smoke she could tell where it was coming from and her eyes widened with horror and realization.
"Oh no…"
With Melody allowing Frosty to climb up her shoulder, she sprinted towards the sounds and gunfire, back to where her friends and were hopefully still standing.
Team RNJR, Roman, Neo, Scout and Rosario all flew back sliding across the concrete floor with grunts and groans of agony by a brute force. They all struggled to stand up, as they were armed to the teeth, though some of them had slight difficulty since some were still injured from the previous fight. They all caught their breath and turned their attention to what had hit them exactly.
A creature of Grimm, though it wasn't like any of the Beowolves or Ursa they have ever seen before. This Grimm in particular, was a bone-like horse like creature, with paws on the front and hooves on the back, giving off a sound of a pattern as it had walked. On its back, there was a humanoid creature it's mouth sewn shut though the inside of it's mouth glowed red; it had long horns sticking out of it's forehead and the arms being so long it's clawed hands had been dragged along the ground. It's eyes glowed red in a pool of black tar, and arrows and all other sorts of weapons were wedged into its back, though it didn't seem to care that they were nor did it even notice it was there.
The creature, one known as the Nuckelavee, looked upon the group, most of them having a horrified look on their faces, before it's attention was drawn to a nearby shriek. The Nuckelavee turned to the Grimm Griffon Senka, and spotted Qrow and Cristal who still laid unconscious against the tree. The group look as their eyes widened in realization that it was going to attack them first.
"NOT ON MY WATCH!" Rosario yelled as she ran to them. The Nuckelavee went after Rosario; it attacked her with it's arms in an attempt to stop her. Thanks to the weapons on her heels she made herself jump several but she safely rolled on the ground; she picked Cristal up, throwing her over her shoulder. "BLONDIE!" She yelled over to Jaune, "I'VE GOT HER, GET HIM!"
"RIGHT!" Jaune yelled before sheathing his blade. He started to run over to Qrow, causing the Nuckelavee to attack him. He managed to dodge it's arm when it went to attack him; he picked up Qrow, putting his arm over his shoulder and Qrow just seemed to have slumped, but unconsciously made an effort to stand despite this. Just when Jaune and Rosario were about to make a break for it the Nuckelavee arm blocked their path causing them to back up slightly; it than charged at them with full force.
"ROSARIO! JAUNE!" Ruby yelled in a panic.
"WATCH OUT!" Scout yelled.
Both Jaune and Rosario stood there paralyzed with fear as it charged at the both of them. Just as it had gotten closer to them, the color on both of their bodies, and Cristal and Qrow's suddenly disappeared. The very second this happened, the Nuckelavee stopped in it's tracks and started to look around, actually wondering where they went; Even Senka was actually confused as to where his partner had went.
"It can't see us…?" Jaune said confused.
It wasn't long before Rosario finally noticed that their own bodies had lacked color, "Our bodies-!" She said with shock and surprise. They both looked to the group and saw Ren's hand on the ground; they were soon quick to realize that Ren was the one that did it.
"JUST GO!" Ren yelled to them, "GET THEM OUT OF HERE!"
Roman and Ruby gotten the Nuckelavee's attention, by firing at it. It turned over to them, and went to charge at them. "QUICK! EVERYBODY SCATTER!" Ruby yelled. The group quickly split apart with a quick pace, just as the Nuckelavee ran into the building just behind them, shattering it into pieces. They had started to fire onto the beast, and Jaune and Rosario used the distraction as the opportunity to get their severely injured somewhere safe from the battle. As soon as the color left their bodies, Senka had quickly went by Rosario's side, as they both moved with a quick pace.
"Jaune, over here!" Rosario said, pointing over to a nearby alleyway, just far enough from where they were fighting the beast. They went into the alleyway and laid Qrow and Cristal next to one another; Senka went to the young girl's side.
"Are you sure they'll be okay here?" Jaune asked the bounty hunter.
"Don't worry they will be." Rosario said, "As long as that thing doesn't try to find them they'll be safe."
Rosario patted Cristal on the head earning a groan from her, "Just hang on a little longer alright? We'll be back before you know it." She than stood up and turned to Jaune, "Let's get back to the others. They need us."
"Alright." Jaune said. Rosario ran out of the alleyway, and Jaune was about to follow behind when he suddenly felt something grab his hand. He looked and saw that Qrow was the one that had grabbed his hand, giving him a certain look. Though he soon felt his hand go limp as Qrow just passed out. Jaune looked to Qrow before looking over to Cristal who was still breathing horsley.
"BLONDIE!" He heard Rosario yell, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING BACK THERE!? COME ON! WE GOTTA HURRY!"
Giving them one last look, he ran in the direction Rosario had gone to and Qrow's hand fell to the floor. Just as Jaune disappeared, Senka had stood over the young girl as she gave out moans of agony and as she gave out raspy breaths. He knew she wasn't going to last much longer. He knew she was fighting for her life right now, but though from the way she was he knew she was losing the battle. He couldn't let her die, she was his partner and he couldn't let her die. He knew that their was only one way to help her, though he didn't know how it would affect himself, he had no choice.
He had to save her in the only way he knew how.
His eyes glowed a bright color of orange and small red markings appeared around it's beak, while the red eye on her back glowed red as well. With a screech, he bit her wounded shoulder as her red eye on her back glowed violently. Red markings suddenly appeared on her and the Griffon's body and they were both swallowed in a red light.
The group either fired or charged at the Nuckelavee, doing whatever they could to bring it down. Ruby and Roman went to the Nuckelavee with their blades and all; Roman with his hand blade, and Ruby with her scythe. Roman tried to attack its legs attempting to get it at a disadvantage, but all it did was attack him, kicking him with it's front foot causing him to fly back and cry out with agony when he felt a huge pain from his wound; he flew back a few feet. Neo quickly ran to his side when she saw him topple on the ground.
Ruby gritted her teeth at this and attempted to attack from high above. She launched herself in the air with the help of her Crescent Rose, and was about to, but the Nuckelavee grabbed her and slammed her on the ground breaking the tiles. Nora and Scout were about to attack next but the beast grabbed Nora with its other arm and threw her to Scout hitting her, making them fly back too. Ren started to run around it as he fired from his pistols, getting its attention drawn towards him.
The Nuckelavee extended its arms and grabbed both of Ren's hands he stopped in his tracks as he tried to break free from its grip. That's when Rosario made her move. She dashed towards the creature and let out a series of kicks firing rounds; the bullets hit the hands of the Nuckelavee and it was forced to let go. The whole now standing surrounded the creature all armed and ready.
"GUYS!" Jaune yelled, "RUN IN A CIRCLE! KEEP MOVING!"
They nodded their heads to Jaune and started to run in a circle as they fired onto the creature and attacked it from all sides. The Nuckelavee tried to attack them all but had no such luck hitting them since they all just kept moving, and dodging its attacks. Despite their bullets and even the flare shots from Roman's weapon the Nuckelavee didn't even seem phased by it whatsoever. Their strategy fell apart suddenly when Roman fell on his knees, when he felt a sudden dizziness. Blood had gone through his shirt and dripped onto the stone floor; he groaned and coughed up some blood.
The Nuckelavee used this an opportunity to attack.
"ROMAN!" Neo cried out.
Ruby acted fast and used her semblance, equipping her scythe (Since she folded up earlier) and managed to get in front of him. She blocked the hand from hitting him, but it grabbed the base of her scythe. With a scream she found herself flying through the air. It shook her back and forth as if she were a ragged doll. Jaune went to strike; we attacked the Nuckelavee legs and it cried out with agony dropping Ruby. While she landed on her feet he was kicked back with its back legs and Jaune was sent hurdling back a few feet, though he managed to stick the landing.
Ruby quickly ran to Roman's side, as he was still on his knees, holding himself up with his cane. "Are you okay?" Ruby asked him with concern.
"I'm fine." Roman said standing up hitting his side in an attempt to stop the bleeding, "Just worry about taking that thing out!"
Ruby helped him to stand up still having a look of concern on her face, "As long as your sure…"
He and Ruby soon noticed Jaune sheathing his blade, "What are you doing!?" Ruby shouted to him.
"Fights not over yet Arky!" Roman yelled after Ruby.
He removed the sword from his belt sheathed in all; the blade had extended itself, making the sword seemingly bigger, which colored Ruby and Roman impressed. They quickly jumped back into the fight, despite Roman's wound having opened back up. Jaune ran behind it and attacked it with his two handed weapon, and it screamed, while Ruby fired onto the creature. Once again the group had fired onto the beast leaving it somewhat defenseless. Finally the Nuckelavee had enough; stretching itself it started to spin around with it's arms extending, catching everyone by surprise and sending them flying all directions. The spines on its back had extended, and it let out a very powerful screech, causing everyone's ears to bleed; they tried to muffle the sound, but it was to no avail.
"HEY UGLY!"
A bullet had hit its arm letting the screeches come to a halt. The whole group turned saw Melody armed with her weapon, and Frosty hanging on her shoulder.
"Leave my friends alone!" She said, as she coaxed the beast to come to her. With another roar the creature charged over at the young girl. "MELODY! DON'T BE AN IDIOT!" Rosario yelled.
"RUN THE OTHER WAY!" Scout shouted.
Melody quickly jumped out of the way as the beast charged at her; she took the opportunity to equipped her scythe and she charged at it with full speed. Despite her only have one working arm, she used all of strength and energy into her attacks and swings. The others and cousin shouted at her, trying to tell her to run the other way and regroup, though she wasn't listening; she just kept attacking it with full force. It seemed like she had it on the ropes as the blade hit its leg and arms, though that was short lived when the Nuckelavee grabbed her ankle and swung her upward. Right when it threw her to the ground Melody managed to catch herself with the help of her scythe. Once again it was short lived when it hit her with its other arm, right across the face, and she skidded across the floor; Her aura shimmered slightly showing that it had easily broke.
"THAT'S IT!" Ruby exclaimed, as she ran she grabbed ahold of her Crescent Rose that she dropped earlier; Rosario and Scout soon followed behind her. Ruby charged at the best hitting it with her scythe before gaining a distance and firing at the Nuckelavee. Rosario jumped high into the air and fell towards it, attempting to hit its face, but it grabbed a hold of her prosthetic leg, which was a mistake on the beasts part when she equipped her blade; she sliced off one of it's fingers, and flew towards it thanks to her gun heels and hit the horse and the humanoid, head on. Despite this it still didn't seem phased by it. Scout charged at it with blades and attempted to attack its legs but once again it proved to be useless. It tried to hit her with it's foot, but Scout was able to use her semblance and the foot just phased right through her.
As Rosario and Scout got the Nuckelavee distracted, Ruby ran over to her cousin and helped her up off of the floor. "What in the world were you thinking!?" Ruby exclaimed, "You can't take this thing on by yourself!"
"I could've handled it!" Melody said to her, picking up her scythe.
"The only way we can beat this thing is together!" Ruby said to her, "You don't have to fight it on your own!"
"I'm just trying to keep you safe!"
"You don't have to keep me safe!"
"Yes I do! Because you don't know that thing like I do and I don't want you to get killed because of me!"
Ruby looked at her with a confused look, as Melody covered her mouth suddenly. Ruby was soon to realize that Melody wasn't talking about the Grimm before them. "Wait, what?" Ruby said.
Right before Melody was about to say something, her whole body had tensed. "LOOK OUT!" Melody yelled shoving Ruby out of the way suddenly. The next thing Ruby knew, Melody's head, snapped to the side roughly as the Nuckelavee's hand ran across her skull. Melody's pupils dilated as she fell on her side roughly; the whole groups eyes widened in horror at this. "MELODY, NOOO!" Ruby, Rosario and Scout exclaimed. Her and her team members ran to her side, and saw that she was struggling to breath as drool was soon coming out of her mouth.
"Holy-MELODY!" Jaune shouted before running over to where she was.
"God damn it!" Roman yelled, before firing at the Nuckelavee, getting its attention towards him. The Nuckelavee charged over at Roman, Neo, Ren and Nora, and they quickly scattered as they started to fight against the giant beast. Ruby, and Rosario were struggling to keep her awake while Scout looked her over; Frosty whimpered seeing his friend in so much pain. Tears were coming out of Ruby's eyes, "Melody! Melody please! Wake up!"
"Damn it Melody! We can't lose you! Not you!" Rosario exclaimed as tears were seen on her eyes as well
"What's wrong with her!?" Jaune yelled.
Scout looked over Melody; she felt her pulse before letting out a gasp, placing her hand over her mouth. "What?" Ruby said, "What is it?"
Scout started to tear up as well as she looked to Ruby and Rosario, "I'm sorry…" She said with her voice cracking, "I'm sorry… There's nothing I can-I'm sorry…"
Scout started to drown herself in sobs, as the three of them put two and two together. "No…" Ruby said her voice cracking, taking Melody in her arms holding her close, "No, no, no, no... I can't lose her… Not her, please not her!"
"Melody… You idiot…" Rosario through her tears.
"Melody I'm sorry…" Scout said burying her face in her hands, "I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"
Jaune lips started to quiver, he fell to his knees as tears started to form, "No… This can't be happening…" He said before yelling, "THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!"
"Melody…" Ruby cried before shouting, "MELODY!" Ruby buried her into her hair, as she continued to cry.
The world seemed to have slowed down around them, as the Nuckelavee batted Roman, Neo, Ren and Nora to the side, turning its attention towards the sound of cries. They didn't realize that Melody's eyes started to move, struggling to look around.
"Wha…" Melody started to think through her head, "No… Am I dying…? I can't… I can't die… Not here… Not while…"
Melody's attention was drawn to sound of sobs; Her eyes moved and saw where the sounds were coming from.
"Jaune…? Rosario…? Scout…?" She saw tears falling from their faces and the Nuckelavee in the distance preparing to charge them.
"No… It's… Please stop crying… You have to run… If you don't you'll all be…"
She soon felt tears run down her face that were not of her own. Her eyes moved up and saw that Ruby was in tears and felt her holding onto her. Ruby's face was drenched with her own tears and though her vision was a blur, she her eyes bloodshot red, and she was letting out horrific wails.
"Ruby…? No… Please don't cry… I'm still here… I'm still here… I can't die… I can't…"
Images soon started to go through her head, as she saw herself once more as a child in front of familiar faces, just laughing at not just her, but at a child younger than her, with big silver eyes, just crying after being pushed. Melody felt her body, her blood run cold as she heard them laugh mockingly at her
"Eat dirt you little babies!"
"Shut up…"
"What are you going to do about it? We're bigger than you!"
"... Stop laughing at her…"
"Don't tell us what to do little girl!"
"... I'll make you pay… You'll pay for making her cry…"
Melody's fingers in her makeshift cast, just as the the people around her, turned to finally realizing that the Nuckelavee was going to charge at them, and the others shouted at them as to try to get them to move though, they just stood there as still as statues as it went to attack them.
"NO!" Ren exclaimed. Just as he was about to run over to help them, a blade of some kind suddenly appeared, hitting the knee of the large beast, making Ren stop in his tracks and the others jumped at this. Ruby and the others soon realized that it wasn't a blade, but a narrow claw that had acted like a blade. There eyes followed and saw that it was Melody herself, as more claws started to grow from her good arm, which put them all into the state of shock. When they turned to Melody, they saw her eyes were black and her pupils narrow. She gave a faint growl, as she bared fangs; her shirt started partly tear up as her body started to change; her hands grew larger and claws started to grow, tearing apart her gloves. She ripped up her makeshift cast and the once broken arm just seemingly repaired itself, which left the group stunned.
Her long raven black hair, just sunk into her skin, and just changed into dark gray fur, and white fur appeared underneath her neck. Her face changed to that of a wolf, and a black nose appeared just above her mouth and even ears appeared at the top of her head. A pair of antelope horns suddenly grew out of her head, just near her ears, and a tail started to grow on her lower back. Her legs started to grew as well, ripping apart her leggings and partly her pants as her legs grew longer. Her shoes were ripped apart as her own feet grew bigger slightly. They became gray hind feet and claws developed on two of her toes, and her legs became furry just up her knees where a part of her leggings were still seen and a long reptiles tail grew out of her lower back, and everyone that saw her knew her appearance didn't know what to think. Frosty quickly climbed up onto Ruby and made himself at home in her hood.
They saw parts of her skin was still there on her body, even the fact that her left arm was entirely of skin and her right was covered with dark gray fur, as well as other parts of her body.
"Holy hell…" Rosario just backing up slightly from the girl.
"What in the world is…" Scout said, "... Her arm… Just repaired itself…"
"... What…" Jaune said, "What happened to her…?"
Ruby let go of the teenage girl as she stood up from the ground on her tall legs; Ruby stood up as well just shocked by Melody's sudden change of appearance. "Melody…?" Ruby said, "... Melody is that…?"
As the nail retracted itself into the being's hand, it let out a fearsome roar, before charging at the Nuckelavee attacking it's arms and horse. The Nuckelavee, tried to attack back, but the Creature proved to be to quick on its feet as it moved like the animal the young girl was now. It moved with its hands and feet, and at one point it jumped onto the horse latching onto the Nuckelavee's humanoid body. The group jumped when it sunk its fangs right into the beast's shoulder and neck making it roar with agony.
"HOLY CRAP!" Rosario exclaimed.
"WHAT THE HELL!?" Roman yelled with shock.
"She's- She's biting it!" Scout yelled, "She's actually biting it!"
Ruby was just left stunned at this, as she didn't know what to say exactly; what do you say to this, when you see someone change into someone completely different!? Into a different kind of being?! The Nuckelavee just grabbed ahold of the Creature and threw her off roughly. The Creature managed to stick the landing as she dug her claws into the ground, making her slow herself down, before charging at the Grimm, baring her claws. Though it had stopped in its tracks when Ruby and Scout blocked its way.
"Stop this Melody!" Ruby said through her tears, "You're going to get yourself killed!"
"Please Melody, listen to us…" Scout begged.
The Creature gave an aggressive growl towards the two girls, and gave them a look to kill. With its claws growing longer slightly it went to attack them catching them by surprise and giving them no time to react. They were both shoved to the ground courtesy of Rosario just missing the two of them and leaving behind marks on the ground.
"What are you doing?!" Ruby yelled.
"I'm saving your life!" Rosario said back to her.
Their attention was drawn to the Creature when she suddenly charged at them again but this time they quickly scattered and dodged its attack. "Great, as if we didn't have enough to deal with!" Rosario said, as the Creature went after her. Ruby and Scout quickly went to help Rosario. They were being extremely careful not to hurt it while they attacked it. The Nuckelavee saw them distracted and saw an opening to attack them while they were kept busy.
Jaune noticed this, "GUYS IT'S GOING TO CHARGE!" He yelled getting the attention of Ruby, though she was hit across the face by the Creature's tail getting her to stumble, and Rosario and Scout stumbled to when they were hit with her claws. Just as the beast was about to charge, Ren was quick to act on his part. He ran towards the dead tree and started to fire upon the Nuckelavee getting its attention to him. As Ren tried to jump out of the tree, the Nuckelavee launched it's arm grabbing a hold of him, pinning him to a building nearby; Ren struggled to get out of it's grip but it was to no avail.
Roman went to help him, arming his hand blade, but it used it's free arm to hit him away, hitting his wound in the process. He fell on his side leaving a trail of blood in his wake; Neo quickly ran to his side and help him up off the floor.
"RUBY!" Nora yelled over to the silver eyed girl.
Ruby looked to Nora and nodded and got into position. With a running start from a Nora and a spin from Ruby, she launched Nora with the help of her Crescent Rose and she flew towards Ren just as the Nuckelavee went to strike Ren who had already shut his eyes.
A crashing sound soon echoed throughout the area, as Ren felt no pain from the strike. He opened his eyes and saw that it's other arm was holding onto something. Looking to his side he saw Nora dangling from her Magnhild, just a bit higher than from where Ren was stuck. Ren looked up to Nora with concern as Nora looked to him.
"Stop looking!" She said as she pulled on her skirt to cover herself.
"Gah, sorry!" Ren said looking away and covering his eyes, and his face turning red slightly with embarrassment; not even realizing that Nora was grinning to herself.
"SERIOUSLY!?" They heard Roman shout as he once again hit his side to stop the bleeding though there was no such luck doing so. The Nuckelavee suddenly swung Nora around slamming her on the buildings and floor before throwing her to the ground roughly; a light shimmered around her body, indicating that her aura finally broke.
"Oh no, Nora!" Scout yelled. She attempted to make her way over to Nora, though Melody was quick to block her way. Ren suddenly lost it, as he started to hit at it's hand with the blades on his Stormflowers before firing at it. Roman (Despite his wound having opened up) and Jaune quickly went to help as they attacked both sides of its leg, forcing it to drop Ren. As he hit the ground, and got up on his feet he charged at the Nuckelavee with aggressive force and went to attack. He was hit back by the hand of it but didn't stop him from charging at the beast again.
"REN KNOCK IT OFF!" Jaune yelled to his teammate, as he noticed his behavior.
"ARE YOU JUST ASKING FOR A DEATH WISH!?" Roman yelled, "GET OUT OF THERE YOU IDIOT!"
"STOP IT REN!" Neo shouted, "STOP BEFORE YOU DO SOMETHING STUPID!"
Ren had blocked off their words as he let out a battle cry as he charged at the beast firing at it. Though it didn't seemed phased by it, and he was hit back again. This time he armed his blades and went after the beast, but he failed to realize that it's arm had come up from behind Ren; it grabbed ahold of his ankle and he was thrown around like Nora was before, hitting the various buildings and floor forcing him to drop his weapons, and he was roughly thrown to the ground, and rolled right beside Nora; a light was seen shimmering around his body as his aura had broken too.
With effort the two of them sat up, groaning slightly from the pain; Ren's eyes filled with rage was still focused onto the beast. The Nuckelavee kicked it's front foot back, once again preparing to charge but towards Ren as it was drawn to him. Right as Ren stood up, Nora tackled him and they both fell just underneath a building, just as the Nukelavee ran towards them with brutal force. With everyone else scattered about, and with Rosario and Scout dealing with Melody they just watched helpless as the Nuckelavee was going to kill them.
"REN! NORA!" Jaune cried out as he was about to run over to them but was stopped by Roman.
Nora and Ren both shut their eyes, as not want to see it coming towards them, but despite their eyes being closed, there was a sudden flash of light, and no sound of a crash. While the groups jaws just seemingly dropped by who it was, Ren and Nora were left confused as to who had just saved them, since they saw everyone else was where they stood. That's when they saw it, Roman's white cape coat fall to the ground as well as a set of bandages stained with red. Ren went over to see who it was, and he was left surprised as was Nora when she saw their savior.
It was Cristal. Looking better than ever, and her appearance was slightly different
Her once short hair, was now longer up to mid back level, though most of was resting on her shoulder revealing her half covered red eye, and on her left shoulder there was a scar where her wound once was. She was holding up the Nuckelavee at its two front feet, with both of her hands changed into hands of a Beowolf.
"Is that…?" Roman said stunned.
"But… It can't be…" Neo said awestruck as well.
"No way…" Jaune said, his jaw dropped.
"Cristal!" Ruby, Scout and Rosario said with relief as to see her standing up again. Rosario and Scout quickly engaging with the Creature once more, when it charged.
Cristal smiled and managed to hit the Nuckelavee back, making the giant stumble; the claws changed back into her hands.
"I'm back bitches!" Cristal said holding her arms out, "And I'm looking to kick some ass!"
The Nuckelavee let out a roar as it went to attack her with it's arms. With a snap of her fingers, Cristal teleported away from where she once stood and suddenly appeared on it's back. "Neat trick!" Cristal said grabbing ahold of it's horns, "Ah, might as well I can use the new addition anyway, technically still in the recovering process in all."
The red eye glowed on her back slightly, and the Nuckelavee cried out slightly and shook her off, though she jumped off anyway and flipped back to stick the landing. Cristal took a deep breath as she felt energy in her body go through her veins.
"Okay." She said, stretching her fingers, "Let's test out this sucker out!"
With her right changing to orange and being coated with black, from her elbows, her arms suddenly became black and slender and long like the Nuckelavee and she used it to attack it. It blocked and countered her with the same moves as her's. She moved herself with the other arm by grabbing onto a building nearby and flew through the air. Cristal looked to the others and saw that, Ruby, Roman, Jaune, and Neo were still just standing there, in a state of shock.
"HEY!" She yelled to them, getting their attention, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR, AN INVITATION!? COME BACK ME UP!"
Jaune, Roman and Neo nodded their heads and quickly jumped into the fight. Right when Ruby was about to as well, Cristal teleported in front of her stopping her in her tracks. "Not you." Cristal said, "Someone else needs your help right now, wouldn't you agree?"
Ruby at first was confused to what she meant until she noticed Rosario and Scout still trying to fight off the Creature, but both looked equally exhausted. Ruby looked back to Cristal and nodded her head to her. Cristal winked, "Get moving, we'll hold it off!" She said.
"Got it!" Ruby said. Both teens went their separate ways, with Cristal going to attack the Nuckelavee and Ruby going to the fight with the Creature, just as Rosario and Scout fell to their knees out of exhaustion. The Creature towered over them bearing its fangs and claws and preparing to strike them. Right when it was about to-
"MELODY! STOP!" Ruby yelled.
The Creature turned over to the red hooded girl, holding onto her Crescent Rose. The Creature looked to her and growled, getting low to the ground, as she prepared herself to charge. Than, Ruby did something that Rosario and Scout least expected; taking one glance at her Crescent Rose, before looking back to the Creature, she stood out of her stance, and just tossed her weapon to the side, leaving Scout and Rosario speechless.
"Ruby, what are you doing!?" Scout yelled.
"Are you crazy!? You're going to get yourself killed!" Rosario yelled.
Ruby looked to them and smiled reassuringly to them, "... She won't hurt me… I promise…"
She stepped forward towards the Creature actually making it back up, though it still growled at her aggressively. Ruby held up her arms, just to show it that she was unarmed. "Melody… I know your in there…" Ruby said to her gently, "I know you can hear me…"
The Creature continued to growl at her but shook its head slightly as if to try to block her out her voice. Ruby stepped closer to it, as she continued to talk to it, "I just want you to know... I'm not afraid of you. I can never be afraid of you." She said to it, as she reached her hand out, "You're my family, my cousin, one of my best friends… Yang and my secret sister."
The Creature backed up again and was going to attack her but surprisingly it actually hesitated doing so. Rosario and Scout looked somewhat shocked, but were thankful at the fact that whatever Ruby was doing seemed to be working.
"The Melody I know and love…" Ruby continued to say, "The one I grew up with, is funny, smart, and incredible like my big sister, and that of her dad, my Uncle Qrow. You would stand up for me and Yang, and you even stand up for others like the heroes in the stories. We both dreamed of growing up to be Huntresses, like our parents. And I know for a fact that… You're not a monster. Whatever this now, neither animal nor Grimm, I know this isn't you… That's why I'm not afraid of what's in front of me right now. And I never will be."
Finally Ruby was close enough to the Creature, as it still growled. Though it stopped growling and froze when it felt her hand on her furry cheek. Ruby started to pet the Creature as it stayed frozen, just unsure of what to do. This had felt foreign to it, and it wasn't sure how to react all it knew was it just felt nice. After a few short moments it started to lean into Ruby's touch. Rosario and Scout soon approached it, and saw that it was longer going to attack them.
"Wow…" Rosario said, "... I can't believe that worked. She's herself. Sort of."
Frosty came out of Ruby's hood and ran along her arm to the Creature. It flinched slightly at Frosty but sniffed the small fox, as he did the same thing. Soon enough the little fox started to give it an affectionate lick. Scout started to pet the Creature on the head as did Rosario, and it leaned for the touch, "We're right here Melody. We all are." Scout said.
"We're never gonna leave you alone." Rosario added.
Ruby smiled to her as she kneeled right in front of her, "... I love you Melody. And I always will. That will never change."
The Creature started to whimper slightly at Ruby's words as if Melody was actually trying to cry but couldn't. Ruby kneeled in front of it as she put her arms around the Creature. Soon enough Rosario and Scout joined in on the hug, and Frosty nuzzled into its neck as his way to comfort the animal.
From a distance, Ren and Nora watched as Cristal, Roman, Neo, and Jaune engaged the Nuckelavee once more, though his eyes were more focused on the beast they were fighting. He felt all the rage, boil his blood at the beast responsible for destroying his home, his village, and taking the way the people he loved most; his own parents. He wouldn't the Grimm take away his new family, he would make it pay for what it did, he would make sure it would. He would make sure it felt his rage, his anger at what it did, and what it did to Nora.
He was about to join the others in the fight against the Nuckelavee when he felt something grab his wrist. Though he was soon quick to realize that it was Nora.
"Nora, let go!" He said as he did his best to get out of her grip, "They need us!"
Nora didn't say anything, she just kept her head down and tightened her grip on Ren. He tried and tried to get Nora to let go, but she refused.
"Nora!" He yelled turning to her, "They're going to get hurt if we don't-"
SMACK!
Ren felt his head turn to the side suddenly at a sudden burning sensation on his cheek and he froze. He registered that Nora had smacked him across the face. He looked to her in complete and utter shock at what she did since it was unlike her to do that. Her head was still down and she finally let go of his wrist as she put her hands on her lap. Finally she spoke up.
"No." She said, "I won't let you kill yourself like this. After everything we've been through… After all we've faced together… I won't let it end…"
As Nora finally looked up at Ren he was taken back slightly. For a moment he thought he saw the scared dirty little girl. The same little girl he met on the very same day and night where he had lost his home and loved ones, the same one he told, that they had to be brave. When he blinked the real Nora was there in tears like she was back than.
"...Not like this." She said her voice cracking slightly.
Ren's eyes widened slightly as he realized the way he acted, the way he had lashed out. He let all of his anger get in the way and he had lost sight of what was most important to him. His very own life. He was supposed to help Ruby with finding answers, and he wanted to find the little one Destiny as much as everyone else and her father did. If he were to die here and now, he would be dying in vein, and he would leave behind the people important to him behind.
How could he be so blind?
With a sigh, he took out from his back compartment what he held onto ever since he was a child; His father's dagger. He held it in his hands, and Nora placed her hand over the weapon; they both looked into each other's eyes, Nora with a determined look on her face.
"We can do this." She said to him.
Ren looked Nora in the eyes and nodded in agreement. They both moved out from out under the building with Nora picking up her weapon; just as this happened, Cristal, Roman, Neo and Jaune soon stood beside them, each of them catching their breath. They were soon joined by Ruby, Rosario, Scout, and the Creature itself, AKA Melody, Frosty still being on Ruby's shoulder.
"Get somewhere safe little guy." Ruby said to the little fox. Frosty understood her words and jumped from her shoulder, and he quickly went to a safe location.
Cristal than turned to the group, "We won't be able to take this guy out the old fashioned way. If we can just pin him than we might have a chance."
They all nodded their heads, except for Ren who still held onto the knife. Ruby turned to him, "Ren." She said getting his attention, "Jaune, Roman and I can take care of its arms."
"Neo and I can take care of the horse." Nora said.
"And I'll take care of the rest." Ren said.
Cristal turned to her team members, "Assist them in anyway you can."
Rosario and Scout both nodded their heads, and all the Creature did was growl as if Melody responded to her. With a plan set, they all went to attack the Nuckelavee once more, with Nora, Neo and Rosario heading to the rooftop of a building nearby. Ruby, Jaune, Roman, and Cristal charged at the Nuckelavee; Ruby and Cristal went to the right, while Roman and Jaune took the left.
Ruby got the Nuckelavee's attention by firing at it, and as it went to attack, she quickly jumped out of the way and Cristal attacked next. With right blind eye changing to orange, a wing of a Nevermore sprouted from her back and she swung her wing hard and fast; blade like feathers flew from the wing hitting the Nuckelavee making it stumble. It threw it's arm at her, and Cristal flapped her single wing to move swiftly avoiding the attack. Cristal quickly retracted her wing and a tail of a Deathstalker soon appeared. Ruby jumped onto her tail and Cristal threw into the air. As it tried to retract its arm Ruby fired a round so that she could fall fast; she lodged her blade through her wrist and into the stone ground and it roared with agony.
Ren threw his father's blade and it hit its side, making the horse act up.
"Hey over here!" Jaune yelled getting its attention.
Jaune stood with his sword in hand and the Nuckelavee turned to him. It launched its other arm towards him, and just before it could hit him, Scout quickly ran to his side and activated her semblance just as her hand touched Jaune's shoulder. The hand went right through the both of them, and they moved out of the way of the hand. Right before it could retract its hand the Creature jumped right onto the arm, sinking its claws into its arm before biting the arm hard. The Nuckelavee struggled to get out of the Creature's grip and right when it was about to Roman's hand blade went right through the Nuckelavee's palm and into the ground keeping it there.
"NOW'S YOUR CHANCE!" Roman yelled to Jaune.
Jaune nodded his head and Scout fell to her knees having exhausted her energy, though she kept herself from passing out. Jaune ran over to Roman and the Creature's side and ran his sword through it's arm to prevent it from moving.
"NOW!" Ren yelled to the ones above.
From high up in the tower, Neo, Nora and Rosario stood ready to strike. While Neo, and Rosario took a leap Nora just let herself fall backwards with a smile on her face. Rosario did a roundhouse kick, Neo armed her blade, and Neo prepare to hit the beast with her hammer. They all hit the horse at the same time, with Rosario and Neo hitting horse's back and Nora slamming her hammer on the horse's head killing it; the humanoid creature was left just roaring in pain. Ren went to retrieve his knife and he went in front of the humanoid.
Despite its ferocious roar Ren stood his ground with the knife in hand.
"For my mother."
Ren swung his knife blade and he sliced left arm of the Nuckelavee and it roared loudly. Ren took hold of its horn so that he would hold it still.
"For my father."
Ren swung his blade again slicing off the Nuckelavee's right arm and it roared again, slumping forward.
"For all those you've slain."
He struck the torso of the Nuckelavee and it once again roared; Ren took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
"For myself."
With one final strike, Ren sliced the head off of the Nuckelavee finally killing it. It's whole body and head disappeared in a puff of black smoke. They all took deep breaths and their silence among the group as they watched the body of the Grimm disappear without a trace.
"We…" Scout said nodding off slightly, "... We did it…?"
Roman went to his knees as he sat down clutching his side feeling dizzy; Neo went to his side, "I think we did…" He said, as he took off his hat and ran his hand through his hair.
Nora let out a squee and launched herself onto Ren, hugging him; they both fell to the ground and Nora kicked her legs and Ren hugged her back. The Creature fell flat on it's stomach catching the whole group by surprising them. In a few short moments the Creature had changed back to the familiar raven black haired girl. "Melody!" Ruby exclaimed as she went over to her; Cristal and Jaune went over to her as well while Rosario helped Scout up off the floor. Frosty came out from his hiding place, and went over to the young girl, pawing at her slightly. Ruby flipped Melody so that she was laying on her back, and she was breathing softly. Cristal kneeled by her side and checked her over.
"Is she alright?" Scout asked still nodding off.
"She's okay." Cristal reassured the group making everyone sigh with relief, "She's just asleep so don't worry."
"I guess now we know why she looked so scared." Jaune pointed out.
"Yeah, we're going to have a long talk when she wakes up." Rosario said as she let Scout lean on her.
Ruby removed her red cloak from her shoulders and placed it over Melody cover her entire body so that the parts exposed were protected from the cold. "Watch her for me." Ruby said to Jaune. He nodded his head, and Ruby ran off to where Qrow was. Just as she did, Cristal went to stand up, but fell back suddenly landing on the ground again, the whole group noticed this.
"Are you alright?" Ren asked with him and Nora standing up.
"Yeah I'll be fine." Cristal replied, "My body is still in the recovering phase and I really did a number on it. Probably wasn't a good idea to jump into the fight like that but it was worth it."
"Recovering phase?" Neo said questioningly.
"How the hell are you even here?" Rosario asked, "You had a high fever from an infection and were in so much pain that you couldn't even move."
"Actually I was wondering that myself." Jaune said, "Not that we're all happy to see you on your feet, but, just how is that even possible?"
"And how is your hair longer?" Nora asked.
Cristal replied with a shrug, "To be honest… I don't know myself. I mean, usually the only way for my body to recover is if I threw myself into the Abyss, though… Seeing as how we're kind of out in the middle of nowhere, that's impossible. So… I'm just as clueless as you guys are."
It wasn't long before they realized that someone was missing from the group. "Hey uh…" Roman said, "Where's your Griffon friend Senka?"
Just as this was said, they heard the sound of small squawk just nearby. They turned at the sound and their eyes widened again.
"What the-!?" Rosario said with shock.
There they saw a small Grimm griffon standing before the group, letting out a couple of small squawks. Cristal's eyes widened with realization when she put two and two together. The group had put two and two together as well.
"No way is that…" Rosario said.
"Senka…?" Scout shocked.
"Is that really Senka?" Jaune said.
"He shrunk." Ren said surprised.
"... Oh my goodness…" Nora said, before exclaiming, "... He looks so cute!"
Cristal stood up from the ground and went over to the now small Griffon and the group watched. She bent down and picked up the little Grimm Griffon and held him. "I see now…" Cristal said, holding him at arm's length, "... It was you. Your the one that helped me. You risked your own safety, your very own life so that I could live…"
Cristal smiled to the Grimm and pulled him in for a hug, "... I would've died today if it hadn't been for you… Thank you my friend." Senka let out another small squawk as he nuzzled her cheek making her laugh a little, and the group couldn't help but smile at this as the Griffon continued to nuzzle her cheek.
Roman looked in the direction where Ruby ran off to, having a look of worry. "Neo." Roman said, getting her attention, "... Help me up."
Neo nodded, and put his arm around her shoulders and lifted him from off the ground. Together they walked in the direction where Ruby had gone off to. It take them long to find her as they saw her kneeling beside her uncle in the alleyway; she was quiet, a little too quiet for their taste.
"Red?" Roman called out making the young girl flinch.
Ruby turned to Roman with a look of relief on her face, though he still saw the fear in her eyes. "Is he…?"
Ruby shook her head before saying, "He's still with us… But he's still…"
"Poisoned." Roman finished for her, "Yeah, I know."
"Just be glad he held out." Neo said trying to lighten the mood, "He's strong. For a Huntsman." Ruby managed to crack a small smile at this, but it had soon fell from her face. They soon heard a groan coming from the Huntsman himself, Qrow, and they turned to him. They his eyes open slightly, as he turned to face Ruby.
"... It's quiet…" He managed to say before smiling, "... Good job kiddo…"
Ruby couldn't help but give out a small laugh and gave her uncle a hug. "We'll get you to Mistral. Somehow, someway." Ruby said to him reassuringly though mostly, it was to reassure herself. "It's gonna be a long walk, but we'll manage." Roman said groaning slightly from his wound.
"Yay, more walking…" Neo said sarcastically.
Soon enough they heard something that had caught their ears, which drew their attention towards it; they were left perplexed by it. The rest of the group heard the sounds too, and they listened to the sounds. "What is that noise?" Jaune asked.
"Wait a minute…" Rosario said, "That almost sounds like-"
From out of the clouds they saw what had made the sounds. It was airships, and the whole group was left relieved at this when they saw the logo to where the airships were from. "Mistral…" Nora said with a smile, "They're from Mistral!"
The whole group couldn't help but let out a cheer at this when they saw the airships touch the ground; Ruby, Roman and Neo, heard the group cheering and saw the airships land. Ruby felt relief wash over her as did Roman and Neo's seeing as how they weren't going to have to walk the rest of the way, especially since most of the group was in no condition in doing so. Two men came around the corner of the alleyway and tended to Qrow, getting him onto one of there stretchers. Two others had done the same for Melody and they got them both onto the ship, with Ruby following behind to be with her uncle and cousin. One of the men attended to Roman's injury, and managed to get the bleeding to stop and he had gotten onto the same ship Ruby had gone on, with Neo, Cristal and Jaune; Cristal was able to hide Senka with Roman's white cape coat and she carried him like how a mother would hold a baby. Rosario, Scout, Nora and Ren went onto the other airship and they took to the skies once everyone was onboard.
Ruby sat in between Qrow and Melody, holding onto both of their hands while Frosty laid on Melody's stomach curled up with his ears down. Roman and Neo sat on the bench nearby on the ship while Cristal sat along the ledge of the airship still holding Senka who was now fast asleep having a blanket of her own over her shoulders and Jaune was standing up holding onto a steel bar provided.
"How did you find us?" Jaune asked the Mistral Pilot.
The Mistral Pilot replied, "We were on patrol and saw the smoke. Nobody's been out here for years, thought something might be wrong."
"Well you weren't exactly wrong." Roman said, "I'm not even sure how we made it out of there."
"Not to worry." The Pilot reassured them, "Once we get there we'll have you and your friends treated."
Ruby looked to Qrow still with a worried look as she tightened her grip on his hand. "What if we don't make it time?" She said.
"Ruby it's okay…" Jaune said, "We'll get there… I hope…"
Cristal turned to them with a smile, "Guys… You may wanna see this." Ruby, Jaune, Roman and Neo looked and they were left in awe by the view. There it was before their very eyes was the flourishing city of Mistral, where they saw many house on the cliffside and beautiful waterfalls as far as the eye can see. They were just left speechless by how the scenery looked, how beautiful the city of Mistral was. Ruby looked to Qrow and Melody finally with a warm smile; taking one of Melody's hands she placed it on top of Qrow's and she still kept her hand on top of her cousins. She felt Qrow tighten his grip on her's and his daughter.
"We made it Melody…" Ruby said with a smile, "We made it Uncle Qrow…"
In the other airship Scout slept soundly on the bench recovering her strength, while Rosario, Nora and Ren sat along the edge of the airship just enjoying the breathtaking view of the city. "This is amazing…" Rosario said with a smile, "... I can't believe we're finally here…"
"It took a long time." Nora said, "But we did it…"
"Yeah…" Rosario said, "We did… We're just step closer now, to finding out the truth."
"... And finding Destiny…" Nora added with a smile.
Nora had soon jumped slightly when she felt an odd sensation. She looked and was surprised to see that Ren's hand was over her own. Smiling she took his hand and their finger intertwined with each other, and she looked up to Ren who was smiling as well. Nora scooted over and rested her head on his shoulder and he rested his head on hers.
"Aww, how cute…" Rosario couldn't help but say earning a laugh from the three of them.
In a few short moments the airships landed in the city and they were escorted to where they would be staying during their time in Mistral.
(Ending Theme: I'm Waiting for the Rain TV Sized Performed by Maaya Sakamoto)