Disclaimer: I own nothing involved with RWBY, that belongs to Rooster Teeth.
Blake stared at her scroll again. Including her teammates in the plan would definitely make things easier for her in the short term. The long term effects of telling them she had been part of the White Fang, or even that she was working with Eurig because he used to be, would not be pretty. Weiss would undoubtedly call for her head at worst and her expulsion at best, or maybe it was the other way around. She doubted Yang would care she was part of the White Fang, but knew she would blow a gasket if she heard anyone for team SLTE was involved. After Carmine's taunts and his punishment of Weiss, even mentioning the armored team was enough to work her partner into a frenzy. Finally there was Ruby. Blake wasn't worried about the redhead, she was worried for her. While she could fight with the best of them and was one of the most accepting people Blake had ever met, the girl was woefully ignorant to the wider world; if Ruby reacted like she knew she would, there was a good chance her sister and partner would turn on her.
The panther stretched and sighed, her scroll slipped into her blazer pocket. There was no point missing breakfast fretting over tomorrow's plan. Her table was easy to find once she arrived in the cafeteria, how many other students wore bright red capes? She flashed a small smile at her teammates before scooping a bit of fruit salad onto her plate. That was a definite perk of being a student over a member of the White Fang, there was always food. Adam had not been above withholding rations if someone got out of line, a week of operations without food generally ended with the dissenter learning their lesson or dead. Adam couldn't have cared less which they ended up as, except her.
"So what took you so long Blakey?" Yang's voice brought her to the present. She smiled and tugged at the edge of her ribbon.
"Had to find this." The blonde nodded and went back to her conversation with Ren and Nora, something about a motorbike. Blake tuned them out and ate her breakfast. It didn't feel right not telling them.
That feeling followed her all through the day, all the way to professor Peach's class.
"Tomorrow you will all be taking a trip to Forever Fall to collect one jar of red sap each, Professor Goodwitch will be accompanying you due to increased sightings of Grimm." Blake sighed, more Grimm in the area meant there was a good chance SLTE's strike on the outpost would draw them towards the students. A horde of Grimm against twelve students and professor would not end well.
"Why are we collecting sap?" Blake jumped at Ruby's question. She scolded herself, now was not the time to zone out. Professor Peach raised a piece of paper off her desk, the guide they had been given on the field trip.
"I can see someone did not read the overview." The young girl blushed and shrank down a bit, Blake thought it was a bit petty to scold a girl two years younger than everyone else for not reading a piece of paper. Yang and Weiss seemed to share her sentiment, they bristled on either side of their leader. "Would anyone like to remind miss Rose of the sap's properties?"
"Forever Fall sap is known for its aura conductivity, which makes it a powerful healing agent." Everyone is the class turned to the door, two black visors stared back. How do they do that? Blake narrowed her eyes at Carmine and Esme, it had to be the quiet girl's semblance. Just what was it though? Active camouflage? Blind spot exploitation? She had been trying to figure it out since Eurig asked to meet her, he had been very specific on which area of the campus they met, no doubt to avoid his ever watching teammates. "Any other questions professor?"
"I wasn't aware your team would be attending mister Slate." Peach was wary of the black armored students, even from her very limited contact with them she could tell there was something deeply wrong with the quartet.
"We will not, that is what I dropped by to inform you. My team will be remaining on school grounds while our peers take part in your field trip. Ozpin wanted to make sure you were informed, in case you required us for anything." Blake held back a snort. That was actually a very astute move; Carmine knew for a fact the professor was disturbed by his group and wouldn't call on them, and he had just given the entire first year class his alibi for if anything happened. Sometimes Blake missed being on the dark side, there were definite perks to being able to guilelessly lie to everyone. Instead she was stuck trying to decide whether or not to tell her new friends she had been a terrorist before holding back got someone hurt. She sighed and leaned back in her chair as Peach dismissed the members of SLTE. She knew she would tell her team. Before or after? That was the real question.
By lunch, Blake was leaning heavily towards telling her team. The threat of a Grimm attack was too high for her to let them go in blind on good conscious, especially if she was likely to be near the flash point. That was another thing, she needed to talk to Eurig on their plan of attack. On Monday they had narrowed it down to either her sneaking in before SLTE arrived or sneaking in and following him. Eurig hadn't contacted her since then and Blake felt it wasn't because he thought their plan was airtight.
That was why when he sent: Meet me on the roof. Now. Blake immediately stood up from the table. Middle of lunch or no, she had to meet with him if something was wrong. Her partner seemed to have a different opinion.
"Where're you going?" Yang looked at her, Weiss and Ruby slowed their conversation.
"It's-I'll meet up with you all before class." She started to hurry away but turned back, "um...we also all need to talk tonight. There's something you all need to know."
She was gone before any of them could stop her or ask what she meant. Her feet pounded against the tiled floor, a shade launched her up the stairwell. She slowed as she neared the door, but just threw it open anyway. Gambol Shroud was in her locker, if the message was a trick and the rest of team SLTE were waiting for her even her weapon wouldn't do her much good. Eurig was alone against the spire.
"Hey kit-kat." Eurig raised a hand and almost immediately lowered it. Blake scowled.
"Why did you text me?" She walked to stand in front of him. The lion looked at his feet.
"There's been a change in Carmine's plan." Eurig took off his helmet, it clattered onto the stone. "His exact words were 'it is time you live up to your namesake'."
"What are you all called?" The lion kept his eyes down. Blake bent to look into his eyes, he jerked his head to the side.
"Rezak lzhets." Blake watched the lion's hands curl into fists.
"What?" She kept her eyes on his hands, they trembled slightly. He didn't seem upset though.
"Rezak Izhets, some Northern gidderish. I think it means honest blade or something."
"Carmine's from Atlas?" The words didn't sound Atlesian, but Blake was far from an expert on the language. Maybe she could discreetly ask Weiss what it meant.
"No, hell no. He's from Hardhome, way up in the wings of Drakon." Blake paled, that kingdom had fallen long before the Great War. There were very few settlements known to the kingdoms and even fewer willing to communicate, how had Carmine gotten this far south? Who had brought him? More important were the rumors Blake had heard, why the White Fang hadn't tried to garner support in the defunct kingdom. It was supposedly a haven cultists and witches, blood orgies and ransacking, coasts stocked with reavers and interior plagued by horrors even a faunus could not avoid. It was hell on Remnant.
"How-"
"No idea. Carmine has never been forthcoming about his past and asking rarely turned out well." Eurig's hand traced the twisted scar on his jaw, "I can't let him tear apart my friends again."
"Then what's our plan? What's his change?" Blake reached out and ran her fingers over it, the flesh was cooler than it should have been and that around it was too hot. Eurig turned away from her, the tips of her fingers lingered on his neck for a moment.
"He wants to kill them all."
"How is that different than before?" Eurig stood and raked his hands over his flattened ears, his anxiety had returned.
"It's not-it's just...just. You need to stay away." Blake was at his throat in a second.
"We need to do this. If I can't look for whatever and warn the outpost, then-"
"Carmine will cut down every one of them and make me help." Eurig met her eyes.
"And if I find whatever it is first th-" His eyes were red rimmed and shrouded by dark circles as he shook his head.
"Carmine will cut down every one of them, make me help, and send Esme to put you in a box." Gold bored into amber. "If you go, you will die."
"Why did you even ask me for help? I've been worrying about this all week." she huffed at him. His fingernails scratched over the back of his neck and jaw, his hand twitched.
"I-I didn't mean for-" his nails dug into his forearms next, "Carmine thinks I'm planning something. I think he has Esme following me and Tera."
Blake grabbed his wrist, he whined against the itch but surrendered his arm. She rubbed away the make up in the crook of his elbow, the flesh was bruised and veins stained but the needle marks were days old. Eurig smirked as she frowned, his eyes lacked their usual playful glint. "He took away your stash."
"Yea...won't give it back until we have whatever he wants from the outpost." She could see the shame in his eyes and in the slight waver in his voice. "I can't go longer than that." He raised her hand to his forehead. The fever was low but noticeable. The panther set her jaw.
Blake knew he was telling the truth. The stimulant cocktail the White Fang handed out to infiltrators and their clean up crews was potent; it enhanced aura regeneration, strengthened muscles to an extent, could keep the user going for ten days straight with regular doses, and was incredibly addictive. The withdraw was agonizing, as the drug had to purge itself both from the user's body and aura; it would feel like insects were crawling under their skin, fever and nausea would render them unable to move, every nerve would burn as the aura became self sufficient again. Quitting cold turkey was akin to suicide. It took over a week for the symptoms to fully develop and another two for the poison to work its way fully out of the body. Blake had only survived after she ran away because a family of farmers had taken pity on the shivering faunus who collapsed in their barn's loft, even then it had taken over a month for her to fully recover. She doubted Carmine would be as kind to his subordinate. Blake nodded, I understand. She did not like the idea of trading an outpost full of faunus for drugs but also did not like the idea of watching her only co-conspirator die.
The lion collected his helmet and fled across the rooftops. Blake leaned against the spire. It looked like she had some explaining to do. Well, shit.
Ruby Rose was worried about her teammate. Their resident faunus had been acting quite odd lately; she disappeared at random times, always seemed tense, and had ominously informed them that she had to tell them all something yet refused to follow through. Ruby hadn't let it go, she had hounded the panther all the previous day and well into the bullhead ride to Forever Fall. The second they landed though the panther sprinted off, and Ruby knew better than to try and use her semblance in a dense forest.
Still, she couldn't stop wondering what was wrong with Blake as she retreated back to Weiss and Yang. Her sister shrugged and handed her an empty jar, while she wasn't happy about Blake's refusal to speak she had learned to not push her partner.
"Come on, we need to fill our jars fast. Pyrrha wants our help with something." Weiss didn't wait for the sisters to answer before marching over to a tree and attempting to attach the one of the spigots professor Peach had given to them before they left. However, the bark of the tree proved to be much thicker than than she expected; it took her pressing on the spout with both hands and leaning what little weight she could onto it to reach the sapwood. She was forced to immediately hop backwards, as the wine colored liquid flowed through the spigot. A giggle had her looking at her teammates.
Ruby had gone bright red and had both hands clasped over her mouth, obviously smiling at her partner's struggle. Yang didn't even try to hide her enjoyment, she just laughed and effortlessly jabbed her own spigot into the tree. She of course also had the good sense to have her jar ready for the sap. Weiss grinned to herself and turned back to the tree. They filled two jars each before turning their spigots, or letting Yang turn their spigots, and marking the trees for future collection.
"So..what's Pyrrha want?" Ruby apologetically smiled at Weiss as she packed away all of their jars, there were two empty spaces for Blake's jars in the satchel.
"Something about Jaune and Cardin." Yang's eyes lit up at the heiress's statement.
"Let's get going then, no reason to waste time." The white and red pair shared a look but followed the brawler anyway.
From her perch in a nearby tree, Blake tracked them. Her heart ached a bit at the fragments of their conversation she caught. They were having a nice normal day and she was putting them in danger. She shook her head and scanned the treeline to the east. There had been an odd shimmer when she first looked but it faded almost immediately, she sighed and leaned against the unnaturally pale tree trunk. Maybe she was just being paranoid. Maybe her last visit to Forever Fall had warped her perception of the place. A scream had her jumping through the treetops, paranoid or not there was still a horde of Grimm and a death squad prowling about.
What Blake saw however, made Blake slam her palm into her forehead. In the clearing below her, Cardin held Jaune up by his throat. The rest of team CRDL ran in circles with rapier wasps swarming over them. She was tempted to jump down as the bully pulled back his fist but stayed her hand. She could see Pyrrha, Yang, Ruby, and Weiss hidden in the treeline; if things got out of hand they could take care of it. Hell, she bet one of them had planned part of this. Blake settled in to see how this ended.
The entire forest shook as Cardin slammed his fist into Jaune's face, a flash and the boy was released. Everyone Blake could see looked dumbfounded, Cardin was especially puzzled by the fresh bruise on his own cheek. The forest shook again, and Blake instinctively looked to the East. A pillar of black had risen and her stomach dropped. What had Carmine done?
Her wondering was cut short by a roar, an Ursa Major was bounding towards the defenseless Jaune and Cardin. A dozen howls sounded to the West. Blake jumped out of the tree and sprinted towards her team. Red eyes glowed all along the dark edges of the clearing.
Tera adjusted her grip on her light machine gun. Laying in a bramble patch was not the most comfortable position for her to fire from, but gave her an excellent view of Eurig and the center of the outpost. She kept her sights trained on the White Fang members crowded around her squad mate, Eurig stayed still on the ground. For a second Tera wondered if he was alright, but knew he wasn't and that Carmine didn't care. Since Carmine had Esme and her ignorance field and dozens of high explosive daggers, his opinion was the only one that mattered. His current opinion was to take the dozens of daggers, thread them with aura conductive wire, and plant them around the perimeter of the outpost. Her earpiece crackled.
"Everything's rigged, you have the stragglers?" Tera aimed a smidge higher.
"Yes, but they're just standing around Eurig."
"Acceptable, fire on my mark." She pressed herself further into the brush, a shimmer passed over the camp. Her finger depressed the match trigger. The outpost's many tents simultaneously detonated.
The terrorists in the center of camp were mowed down in seconds, Eurig stayed curled up in the dirt. Pillars of ice and balls of fire encircled the faunus as the rest of his team's weapons went off. A few seconds later and it was over, the only sounds in the camp being the low crackle of stubborn fires and the groans of those few unlucky enough to survive. Tera helped the lion up.
He leaned into her as their leader sauntered over, his condition had worsened. It was a wonder Eurig could stand at all. Tera led him to a mostly intact tent before joining Carmine in his hunt for survivors. They lined everyone they found up in front of Esme.
"Ready?" The masked Northerner grabbed one of the younger looking White Fang and made him kneel before his beaten comrades. Tera knelt in front of the boy and activated her semblance.
"When are you moving the package?" Fear glowed in the boy's eyes, Tera smiled at him. It was kind, promising no more pain.
"I-I don't...I don't know." Liar. There was too much green at the edges of his face, too much anxiety and fear for that to be the truth.
"Come on, when is it?" Her smile did not change, his eyes hardened. Tera knew he would lie again and she almost felt bad for the poor bastard.
"I don't know." His voice was steady but the coloring did not fade, Tera blinked. The colors blew away from his face and her smile fell. She didn't need to use her semblance to see pure terror overtake him.
"He's lying to us." Carmine drew his billhook and traded places with Tera.
"Cover his mouth," the terrorist struggled but her gloved hand sealed his jaws, "you will tell me where your little club is keeping all the dust."
The machete's hook traced the restrained boy's ribs, Carmine flicked his wrist. The White Fang member screamed into Tera's glove as a gash opened across his pectoral, he screamed louder as Carmine's thumb dug into the torn flesh. The specialist probed deeper, splitting the skin until he could curl a finger around a rib. The faunus looked ready to pass out, Carmine channeled aura into him to stave off unconsciousness.
"You'll tell me, but first I'm going to teach you a lesson," the specialist leaned forward, resting his knee between the captive's legs and aligning his mask's speaker with his ear. The billhook's hook looped around the boy's hand. "Don't ever, ever, lie to me." Shlick.
Tera held the boy still as the torture continued. She didn't make a sound as her leader systematically tore the boy apart. She just stared dead eyed behind her mask, a sickening mix of black and purple bleeding through the monster's.
By the time he was done, the entire camp was bathed in sickly green wisps of fear. Carmine sighed as the butchered boy told him what he wanted and he slit his throat. A dozen cracks of Esme's rifle and they were the only four living beings in the outpost. Eurig shook, whether from anger, fear, or withdraw Tera could not tell.
"Alright, grab anything that looks valuable." the specialist cocked his head towards the lone faunus. "Get whatever you need Eurig, I'm sure these men won't mind."
A shard of fear settled in Tera's chest as they looted the newly desolate outpost. The wisps of fear had drifted with the wind, an invisible cloud pointing towards the Beacon students. The fear stayed with her as they prepared to leave and she looked over the treetops. A black mist had formed in the west, and it was getting closer. Tera could do nothing but set her jaw and help Eurig stagger back towards their bullhead. She hated her job.
The Ursa Major had only been the beginning of the Grimm onslaught. Pyrrha had managed to regroup with Jaune but Ren and Nora were unaccounted for. Ruby silently prayed they were alright as she reloaded Crescent Rose for the third time, she backed up a bit. A trio of beowolves immediately charged after her, she fired and cleaved through them. A boarbattusk forced her to pivot and a burst of feathers kept her from killing the creature.
"Blake!" The faunus dove out of the way using a shade before sweeping her cleaver under it's hooves, a single stab ended its squealing. Ruby and Blake were quick to return to their previous positions. That was what the box formation depended upon, everyone staying in position and quickly returning to their corner if they were forced to move. If held properly, it allowed a team of huntsmen to effectively deal with threats from all directions and limitedly cover each other. Team RWBY had managed to hold it together for nearly twenty minutes, though the waves of Grimm had steadily grown and the boarbatusk's charge was not the first thing to throw two of them out of formation.
Ruby carved through a few more young Grimm as they rushed her, she could hear fire crackling from Weiss' strike to her left and the steady detonations of Ember Celica's rounds to her right. A line of feathers forced her back again, she tracked a blur to her right. The ten foot tall Nevermore was headed for her sister.
"Yang, Nevermore in the woods." she hoped her sister heard her over the explosions. Ruby didn't have another chance to warn her sister either, the beowolves had gotten bold and were testing her reach with Crescent Rose. Similarly, the Nevermore seemed to be testing just how close it could get without Yang striking it. A dozen jabs, and flare rounds, had the Grimm hopping from tree to tree but its launched feathers kept Yang from getting a clear shot. As one of the dagger like projectiles sailed towards her head, Yang wove under it and fired two rounds into the ground behind her. The best defense was a good offense, a smirk lit up her red eyes. She cocked back her fist as she soared towards the bird.
What the brawler had not expected was for the Nevermore to use the same trick, ducking its beak under her arm and flaring its wings out. The blow barely dropped her aura but managed to knock her back to the earth, she threw a cross at the unbalanced Grimm. A beowolf, claws batting her arm away from the avian. Instead of blasting the targeted Grimm into cinders, Ember Celica's round embedded at her feet and flipped her into a tree. She rebounded off the trunk and caved in a beowolf's chest in retaliation. The flaming haired brawler was kept out of place as an alpha beowolf and a dozen of its pack decided to gang up on the isolated huntress-in-training.
With Yang no longer covering her corner, the young Nevermore launched another barrage of feathers. Turning, Ruby spun Crescent Rose to deflect as many of the dagger sized feathers as she could. A howl behind her divided her attention, more feathers rushed through the gap as the beowolf charged. If she dodged the formation would collapse and divide her team, if she didn't her semblance would burn through what little aura she had left. I'm always faster, she couldn't risk her team by dodging. Ruby fired her scythe and whirled on the looming Grimm, it fell in two pieces; just as she pivoted the scythe wielder faltered. Something hit her back, she stumbled forward a step. A cough forced its way up her throat, flecks of blood spattered over her scythe's raised haft. For a second she was confused, then she tried to take a deep breath. Crescent Rose clattered to the ground.
Ruby fell back gasping and hacking, blood dribbled past her lips. Her lung burned as air flowed into the pierced organ, another cough stained the grass with her blood. She tried to breathe to calm herself. Her mouth filled with coppery liquid as she managed to take a breath and immediately began choking.
Panicked hands clutched at her chest, she looked down. Just below her breasts, jutting a foot out of her, was the quill of a feather. Thin fingers tightened around the spike, the shaking of her hands shifted it slightly. Ruby's vision blurred from the pain, a gurgling scream tore out of her but she did not let go. Her lips had started to turn blue.
Desperate for air, Ruby tightened her grip as much as she could. Get it out and get air. Get it out and get air, that chant was all that kept her concious against the pain. The quill was slick with her blood and perfectly smooth. She yanked on it and only ended up blacking out for a few seconds, she could feel barbs wiggle inside her back. Feel them scrape against her ribs and tear the muscles so close to her spine. A coughing fit kept her from trying again, more blood came up than before.
The thick fluid covered her hands as she pulled again, angling the bards over instead of straight out. Ruby managed to take a tiny gulp of air, still more blood poured from her side. A soft growl flitted over the edge of her mind, Ruby's hands slipped. Her eyes lolled back; a dark shape, a flash of red and gold.
Pyrrha stared down at her. The redhead froze, blood covered Ruby from her mouth to her hips. The champion's eyes locked on the feather speared through her and the fragile hands wrapped around it. Then Ruby tried to pull it through again and Pyrrha was yelling at her.
"No, no, no." Unfocused silver eyes jerked to her, not comprehending her panicked warning. Pyrrha unwound Ruby's fingers from the spike, it was sickeningly easy. She was too weak, she'd lost too much blood. She's going to die, Pyrrha didn't know what to do. A gurgle brought her attention to the little girl's face. Blood bubbled and flowed from her mouth, she was trying to talk. "Don't talk. Don't try to talk, just-just stay still." Whether Ruby understood her or didn't have enough air for another attempt, Pyrrha didn't know.
The scythe wielder curled as her body tried to clear her left lung, hacking coughs brought back the agony. If she took tiny breaths, gasps really, she could get a bit of air into her ignored the cold sensation settling in her side. She wasn't drowning in her own blood anymore, though her lips retained their bluish hue.
Ruby reached out to her protector, trying to tell her it was alright. She could breathe a little. Her fingers wouldn't unfold right, just twitch and slightly curl. Her savior took her hand in both of her own, the warmth distracted Ruby. A dull cracking had both of them glancing back.
Suddenly Ren was beside Pyrrha. They whispered something at each other, it was too quiet for Ruby to hear. She blinked, when she opened her eyes Ren was knelt next to her with his hands over the feather. Magenta light poured from his hands into the wound, Ruby couldn't feel it anymore. Ren smiled as he noticed her eyes were open, sweat dripped from his forehead. His lips moved but no sound came out. It was cold on the ground. I should have brought my coat. Ruby tried to shift around, pull her cloak tighter around herself but strong hands stopped her. She looked back at Ren; the hands didn't loosen and she couldn't see Pyrrha
He kept mouthing things to her but she couldn't focus on him enough to figure out what it was. Her attention was set on the shivering feeling all over her, it had gotten colder and she felt like she need to shiver. She couldn't though, her muscles wouldn't move enough; Ren seemed to get paler as her grip loosened and her hand went limp. Ruby's vision blurred, and it didn't fade back into focus like before. Black encroached on the edges.
Am I dying? The thought didn't scare her, she didn't even react to it. The cold was all she could focus on. It and the need to shiver had gotten worse, and only continued to as her vision completely faded. She couldn't hear at all either and even the cold began to recede. Everything was dark and numb and calm, then a tiny voice whispered in the back of her head. One, barely audible phrase. Ruby was suddenly very afraid, very cold and afraid.
"Ruby! Where's my...sister," Yang froze behind Ren. The Vacan didn't even attempt to acknowledge her, all he could to by that point was struggle to channel what little aura he had left. Pyrrha started towards the blonde, trying to stir her stare from Ruby's half open eyes. She shoved her back and sank down beside Ren, her hands settled over his. Golden light spilled over the wound, Yang couldn't tell if her sister was breathing. She forced more of her power through her hands, nothing changed. Someone started sobbing behind her, someone else gasped; Yang ignored them. Ren collapsed but she didn't pay him any mind. Her vision faded but she did not move her hands. The last thing Yang heard before unconsciousness claimed her was a cough, a weak and rattling cough.
Blake stared at her blood soaked leader and the professor keeping her alive as the bullhead lifted off the forest floor. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Yang and Ren propped in their seats, unconscious. Her eyes flickered over the, now snapped, feather through her teammate. Through her friend. Goodwitch hadn't been able to safely extract it and was instead knelt beside her using her semblance to keep her blood flowing around the shard. Cardin and one of his teammates were also laid out on the floor, though neither of them would require surgery when they landed. Blake tightened her arms across her chest and choked back her emotions. A warmth shifted beside her. Blake glanced over.
Weiss was curled into her side, asleep. Exhaustion had thankfully caught up with her, Blake wished she was that lucky. She was tired but refused to close her eyes; no, she kept her eyes on Ruby and her shallow breaths. She had done this. It was her fault. To Blake it was all her fault and she couldn't hurt her team like this again. She wouldn't hurt them again. If she was gone, they wouldn't be hurt. Right?
Right?
Author's Note: Sorry, this was a day late. As always reviews are welcome. If you find any errors, have any questions, or just want to comment on how the story is progressing, please feel free to PM me or write a review. I would really like to hear from anybody reading this, especially if you think I'm doing something wrong; that way I can fix it early.