I do not own RWBY or any of its characters. Otherwise Ren would be able to cast Thundaga.
Chapter 11: Playing The Part
Dry leaves crunched beneath Romulus's boots as he continued through the Emerald Forest. His recent attempts to acquire a partner had proven to be unsuccessful, as the remaining students had already teamed up, leaving the wolf-Faunus to make the trip to the ruins alone.
The distant cries of Grimm had been picked up by his advanced hearing on more than a few occasions, and the few that had crossed his path were hardly worth his time, aside from a brief encounter with an Ursa.
He caught a glimpse of a giant Nevermore a few minutes ago, but had paid it no mind, and kept his current mission first and foremost in his mind: retrieve a relic from the forest temple and return to the cliff in order to be accepted into Beacon.
Pushing aside some loose branches, the forest opened up to reveal a clearing with a set of ruins on the far side. The temple- his goal- appeared in his view.
Scanning the open field, the remains of a battle caught his eye. Several Nevermore feathers littered the area as well as traces of ice and empty shell casings. It seems that a group of students had decided to combat the giant Grimm, a commendable effort to be sure. Romulus smiled- even he was no match for a Grimm of that size.
Keeping his hand on the hilt of his blade, he made his way across the battle-torn field towards the temple. He took his time going over the various chess pieces that made up the relics. There was quite a few left. Understandable, as he had passed by many of the other students who were likely still lost in the forest.
After thinking it over, Romulus chose a relic and began to leave when something caught his eye. Laying nearby in the dirt was a small... whatever it was….
He might've missed the undersized object entirely, had the light not been reflecting off of it. Carefully taking it in his hand, Romulus looked it over once before pocketing it and beginning his journey back.
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I struggled to keep up with Ruby as we ran from the advancing Grimm- a Nevermore, as Weiss had so "kindly" shared with me. I had also been briefly introduced to the newer faces as we ran along. Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie had teamed up together in the forest and Jaune, surprisingly enough, had been paired up with the red-headed girl, Pyrrha Nikos. I had to shake my head in awe; the boy had more luck than brains, let me tell you….
Running for my life wouldn't have been so bad, if only my right leg and ribs weren't hurting so much. How could everyone be so energetic after being smacked around by monsters and falling from the sky? Was I really that weak? I scolded myself for being so reckless and urged my body onward.
After a short while, we eventually took cover behind some ruined buildings as the Nevermore flew over our heads and perched atop a stone tower. The tower also managed to be located over a rather large ravine that stood in our path. I kept my position behind Jaune and Pyrrha as the large Grimm let out a deafening screech that echoed throughout the ruins.
"Well, that's great," I could hear Yang mutter, obviously annoyed at our current "situation."
I sharply turned my head towards the sound of thunderous crashing behind us. The scorpion, a Death Stalker if I recall, smashed its way through the trees and made a beeline for our group.
"Aw man, run!" Jaune cried out. I took his advice and began to run towards the spire. The Nevermore was waiting for us however, and with a flap of its colossal wings, it began launching more sharpened feathers at our location.
I slowed my pace and focused on not being impaled as explosions rang out behind me. Nora had begun firing her weapon at the Nevermore, causing it to leave its perch, giving us all a chance to reach safety.
Looking over my shoulder, I watched as Blake and Ren prevented the Death Stalker from getting the jump on Nora as Weiss created a platform in midair, helping Nora and her leap to safety. In front of me, Pyrrha fired away with her rifle at the enemy in order to allow Blake and Ren a chance to escape. Pivoting around, I fired a few shots from my own weapon trying to be helpful.
"Go, go!" Pyrrha shouted, and in seconds, Ren had caught up to us and fired his own weapons as well. But even with the three of us simultaneously attacking, the Death Stalker seemed to simply shrug off all of our attacks before taking a swing at us, forcing us to retreat.
With the stone bridge as our only option, we began to make our way across the ravine, although from the bridge, it seemed to share a closer resemblance to a chasm. Halfway across, however, the Nevermore returned and smashed it's way through the center of the bridge, shattering it into pieces and sending us into the air.
"Gahk-!" I flinched in pain as I slammed into the bridge, knocking the air out of my lungs. My gun had already fallen well beyond my reach shortly after I landed. Still dazed, I began to slide backwards, my bag weighing me down. I quickly sobered up when I realized what was about to happen.
"Nononononono-" While everyone else had been lucky enough to land on what remained of the bridge, I was unable to get a grip on the smooth stone walkway. 'No, dammit! No!'
Still scrambling in a mad panic, I slipped off of the side and caught the edge with my left hand, my other held tightly to my chest. I didn't have the strength to pull myself up after that last hit: my left side was strong, but I was almost certain I had a broken rib or two now. Then I knew for sure that fate wasn't done with me yet, as I felt the walkway crumble beneath my fingers, and I braced myself for the inevitable end.
"Hrgh!"
My body suddenly jerked to a stop as an arm shot out to grab my own. I dangled helplessly above my demise and, daring to crack open an eye, slowly looked up to the face of my savior.
"...Blake?"
Clenching her teeth at the strain, Blake was finally able to hoist me back up to the safety of the bridge where I collapsed and caught my breath. After a few moments, I made my way to my feet and turned to face her.
"Blake I-"
"This doesn't change anything. I still don't trust you," she interrupted, and turned away from me while pulling out her weapon, ready for battle, and fierce eyes set on the giant Grimm.
I let out a sigh but kept my eyes on her, "Thanks."
She hesitated for a moment, but didn't say anything before charging off to rush the Death Stalker. Stepping over large debris, I shuffled towards my own weapon. Figuring that I stood a better chance attacking from a distance, I lifted my gun and began firing.
Pyrrha, Ren, Blake and I threw everything we had at the opposing Grimm, but due to our location on the bridge, our only choice to attack was from the front. Every shot we fired did next to nothing, and Blake was knocked back every time she moved in to strike.
I heard an explosion go off behind me, and before I could look, Nora soared past my head straight at the creature.
"NORA SMASH!" Nora slammed the business end of her weapon- which once before had appeared to be a small cannon of some sort, but was now apparently a massive hammer- into the face of the Death Stalker. Enraged, the Grimm tried to impale her with its stinger, but with a quick pull of the trigger, Nora zipped away from it, knocking Blake off the bridge in the process.
"Blake!" I raced to the edge as Blake was sent into the abyss, only to watch as she launched her weapon, grappling hook style, and swung her way to safety onto one of the opposing platforms.
Confident that she could handle herself, I returned my attention to my own battle as the bridge began to give way beneath us. The Death Stalker had driven its stinger into the foundation of the bridge, destabilizing it in an attempt to send us to certain death.
"We gotta move!" Jaune called to us. I didn't hesitate to close the distance between me and the giant scorpion.
Together, the five of us did our best to fight back the Grimm. Pyrrha and Jaune did an excellent job deflecting the beast's claws while Nora and I fired from a distance, leaving Ren to leap on top of it and unload his guns into its deadly stinger.
Reaching into my pockets, I fished out a small blue Dust vial and poured its contents into my nearly depleted handgun. Shoving the empty vial away, I returned my attention to the fight and fired a burst of shots at one of the Death Stalkers claws, effectively freezing it in place.
Pyrrha took this opportunity to send her Javelin flying straight into the monsters face, causing it to reel and swerve in pain, and sending Ren directly into a nearby wall.
"Ren!" Nora called out worriedly. I stumbled as the bridge began to tremble again, threatening to take us all down with it.
I reached out my hand to Jaune, helping him to his feet, and checked my remaining Dust. "Dammit…" There wasn't much left. I looked over at Jaune as he stared at the Death Stalker, a peculiar look of focus suddenly flaring up in his eyes.
"Pyrrha!" Jaune called before I could question him. Nearby, Pyrrha followed his gaze and spotted the limp stinger hanging loosely from the Grimm's tail.
"Done!" With a swing of her arm Pyrrha's shield sailed into and severed what remained of the stinger, sending the appendage falling into the Death Stalker's head, penetrating its own armor. The shield rebounded off a nearby pillar before miraculously returning to its owner, but Jaune wasn't quite finished with his plan.
"Nora, nail it!"
Nora grinned, "Heads up!" Using Pyrrha's shield as a springboard, the combined power of Nora's hammer and Pyrrha's strength skyrocketed the pink-skirted warrior high into the air.
"Hiro, give it some more ice!"
"You got it!" I brought my arm back up and emptied my gun into the Grimm, keeping it pinned long enough for Nora to come spiraling back down before smashing her hammer into the stinger. The resulting shockwave upended what remained of this side of the bridge and flung Jaune, Pyrrha and I over the Death Stalker.
Before I hit the ground, however, the tail of the scorpion whipped up and struck me in the chest, sending me plummeting once again into the ravine. Disoriented, I quickly lost track of which way was up as I followed the crumbling bridge down alongside the defeated Death Stalker. Breathless from the hefty blow, I couldn't even scream as the low fog consumed me.
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Jaune couldn't believe it. After everything that happened that day, the thought of losing a friend exceeded the realization that they were victorious.
The blonde knight stared over the side of the chasm on his knees, hoping to see his friend somehow hanging off of the side of it like in a cartoon. To be able to laugh as he helped him back up to celebrate and go home. It was strange, they had barely known each other for a day, but even so…
"Jaune…" He could hear footsteps behind him as his partner, Pyrrha, quietly stepped over and stood behind him. She could feel his aura glowing dim with sadness as she continued.
"I'm… so sorry."
Jaune didn't say anything. After a minute, he finally brought himself to his feet as Nora strolled back to them while supporting Ren on her shoulder. The four of them turned their attention to the fight across the way and watched in awe as Ruby ran up the cliffside and decapitated the Nevermore in one swipe, causing the Grimm's body to fall back down the side and out of sight. Jaune opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by Nora.
"Did. You. SEE THAT?! That was, like, the COOLEST thing ever! Can you BELIEVE that we would have missed that if we hadn't already sent the Death Stalker falling to its death?! I think it's probably still falling right?! RIGHT?! I mean just look how DEEP that thing is-"
"NORA!"
Nora turned, "Yes Ren?"
Ren let out a sigh, knowing full well that his friend didn't mean any harm, but judging by the falling look on Jaune's face, he knew it wasn't helping.
"Let's just get back to the school, okay?"
Nora, oblivious to what had happened, happily began helping her partner off towards an alternate route to the launch pads.
Pyrrha rested a comforting hand on Jaune's shoulder.
"We have to go."
"...yeah."
With one last glance at the edge of the ravine, Jaune turned and began to follow the path back to Beacon.
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I missed my planned upload day by one, but it's a start! At least it was faster than the last one. ^^;
Thank you to SakuraNights01 for helping me go through this, it really needed that overhaul before I put it up. XD
Flamewing98: Thank you for thinking so! I keep having to recheck older chapters and the actual episodes to double check my work, so I'm glad I'm getting it right. :D
(One more chapter BTW~)
The next chapter will be out next week as I try to keep the uploads somewhat consistent. I am also close to finishing the beginning of another story that I plan to upload VERY SOON. I am going to keep the details somewhat vague, but it is another RWBY fiction that will hopefully have a different feel from 'What Once Was Lost.' If it goes well I might make more side-fictions as I complete them, a bit of a variety in plot and characters would be a good way to clear ideas from my mind that I can't use normally.
Have a great week everyone! Stay Gold!