Hey guys, here begins the new story arc of this fanfic. Hope you enjoy the read.
Chapter Cover: Blake looking back with a blurry background around her.
Chapter Fifty-Three
Bodies of Lies
Blake Belladonna had finished taking a shower and dressing herself up. The young woman pulled her long sleeve shirt on as well as long pants and combat boots. The young Faunus girl had her weapon upon her back as she stood in her room, finally ready to move out. She was worried about Adam and what type of trouble he had pulled himself into. While the guy had her complete trust, Blake had no trust in the man known as Roman Torchwick.
Adam had all but admitted that's who he was going to meet before the assault on Vale and it had been a long while since that battle had taken place and yet, the young man hadn't come back yet. It made Blake worried about him and she was going to find out exactly what was going on with the White Fang leader. She made her way out of the room and find Mirkia was standing right behind the door. The girl glanced at her and her violet eyes seems to shine as she stared at her. She was wearing simple clothing with the short skirt and leggings. Her short hair was falling down upon her features as she looked at Blake approaching toward her. The young woman also had a sword at her waist but it was more like of a katana rather than Blake's short sword.
"You're ready?" she said.
Blake gave a light nod.
"Let's just go," she said.
The Tigress Faunus gave a light nod before making her way forward with Blake walking side by side with her, the tail dancing behind her at every step. Blake herself had stayed silent as they reached the Archway and Mirkia raised her hand toward it and opened the Doorway for them. The young woman gave her a sideway glance for a few moments.
"I've mapped it to the location that Adam had told me to," she said, "I don't know what we will find on the other side."
Blake nodded at her before jumping forward into the Doorway. A tunnel of light appeared around her as she was pulled forward through the space in the between before she was then landed down upon the grassy ground beneath her. The young woman glanced around herself noticing that she had come to land in small clearing.
Sensing for Aura, Blake couldn't pick up anything from around her. The foliage of the trees around her were a complete blood red meaning that they were still in the Four Kingdoms although as to where they were in the Kingdoms, that remains to be seen. Blake turned her attention toward the Doorway behind her as Mirkia landed down upon the ground behind her in a light crouch.
The girl stood up as she glanced around.
"Huh?" she said as her eyes took everything in, "At least we didn't end up somewhere completely foreign."
Blake stared at her, "Are you sure this is where you've send them?"
Mirkia nodded.
"I'm positive," she said, glancing around.
"We're in the middle of nowhere," Blake told her.
"Well this is the place," Mirkia told her, "Unless this was a meeting place only and whoever that Adam was meeting had opened a Doorway of their own and transported them away from here."
Blake frowned.
"That could cause a problem," she said, "If we don't have the Caster, there is no way we can even track that one down."
Blake continued to glance around them, a light frown upon her face. There was no Aura signature as far as she can sense and it was starting to get her a little…unnerved. She could always feel Aura in the air whenever they were at some place but here…it was almost non-existent and it was causing her to be uneasy.
But then something in the distance caught her eyes.
Blake blinked as she instantly focused on what she could see in the sea of the blood red leaves that were around them. She couldn't really tell what it was but whatever it was, it was a different color than the leaves, and she knew that it wasn't something naturally made.
"Mirkia," she said drawing the other girl's attention, "Can you see that?"
The other girl stared at the direction she had indicated, with a light frown upon her face.
"Huh?" she said, "It look…strange."
"Let's investigate," Blake said, "It was probably where Adam and the others went."
Mirkia gave her a light nod and the two girls launched themselves forward. They were moving swiftly through the trees, heading straight for the strange thing that Blake had seen. The young woman was focused forward, a look of concentration upon her features as she moved forward. She didn't know what they were going to find, but Blake hoped that nothing bad had happened to Adam while they had gone out to whatever meeting they had left.
"Blake."
The girl glanced at her companion.
"What is it?" she asked.
Mirkia had a look of complete concentration upon her features and yet…there was something akin to confusion as well.
"Can you sense any Aura in the air around us?" she asked.
Blake stared at her, "So…you noticed it as well."
"But…it's impossible right?" Mirkia said, "I don't think I have ever been to a place where I couldn't feel any Aura in the air around us."
"Just be on your guard Mirkia," Blake told her, "This situation is giving me a bad feeling."
The girl nodded stiffly at her and Blake returned her attention forward. She was also on her guard, waiting for the danger that surely was just around the corner for them. The two continued their treks through the wood until they had reached their locations and Blake came to a stop.
"What…in Divine Mother's name…," she whispered.
The area in front of them was completely trashed. It was like someone had been slicing up at the place leaving large crevasses everywhere. Blake approached the area glancing around herself, and by just looking at this place, she knew what had happened here. This was the sight of a battleground. Someone had been fighting here not too long ago it seems.
"All those marks…," Mirkia said as she inspected one of the trenches that had formed, "A fight definitely happened here but the level of destruction…could it have been…?"
"How long do you think this happened?" Blake asked her.
Mirkia was frowning as she was carefully glancing around them, taking in everything. The violet eyes were calculating as she was staring around them with a light frown upon her features.
"I'd say two weeks ago or more," she said.
Blake tightened her jaws.
Two weeks, she thought, That's about as long as since Adam was gone…could this battle…could it had been him and Common? And if it was…who where they fighting against?
Blake didn't like where these thoughts were leading her so she walked forward glancing around and searching the remains of the battlefield that was around them. If they really did fight there, then they must have been some sign that they left behind or something. The young woman came to a stop by a large debris piles and found blood upon the stone. Blake touched it…
It's dry…someone was bleeding here, she thought, And from how much of it there is...someone lied there for a couple of minutes…before getting back into the fold…whether it was Adam and the guys or the enemy…it's difficult to say.
The young woman frowned to herself as she stood up, feeling disturbed. If Adam did came here before the Vale attack, then this battle must have taken place when their invasion of Vale had been happening but then…
"BLAKE," Mirkia screamed.
The young woman reacted instantly focusing upon Mirkia Aura which was coming a little farther away from where she was. The young woman instantly dashed toward where her friend was, ready to fight whoever had taken Mirkia by surprise but when she reached her, Mirkia was fine.
"What happened?" Blake asked, shocked, "Why did you screamed…?"
It was then Blake smelled it. The smell of a rotting body…the smell of death…
The girl turned her attention toward where Mirkia staring at and found herself staring at the mutilated pieces of a body. It was male no doubt out it, but it's body looked like something with claws had devoured and left there to rot. She could even see the ribcage and even the internal organ as flies were buzzing around it.
She placed a hand upon nose to block out the foul smell before she turned away from it, unable to stare at it any longer. Mirkia's face however was a deathly pale, as they both turned away from the mutilated body.
"It was Arkos," she whispered.
Blake glanced at her.
"What did you say?" she asked.
"I recognize the clothes that he was wearing," Mirkia whispered, "There is no doubt about it…that body…its Arkos."
Blake stared at her shocked.
"A…Arkos?" she whispered, "A…Are you certain it was him?"
Mirkia nodded to her.
"I'm positive," she said, unable to keep the horror out of her voice, "Just what happened to him? Do you think it was the Grimm who did this?"
Blake shook her head.
"If it was Grimm, then there wouldn't even be a body left," she said, "Whatever had done this to him…it isn't human…not by a long shot."
Mirkia turned her gaze toward where the body was lying down, hidden by the piles of rocks that were around him. There was something in the girl's gaze as she stared at the place where their former comrade body was lying.
"Dmitri wasn't with him," she said.
Blake glanced at the girl beside her, realizing what she was saying. Mirkia herself had told her that she had sent both Dmitri and Arkos to look for Adam but all that they had find was Arkos rotting body and Dmitri was nowhere to be found.
"You don't think the same thing had happened to him?" Mirkia asked her, her worry appearing in the violet eyes.
Blake stayed silent still, thinking back to the blood she had seen earlier on the rocks not too far away from where they are now.
"I found some blood on a pile in that direction," she said, "Hard to say if it was Dmitri's blood or not…but considering in the state Arkos is in…I hope that he has better luck…but even so…I don't like this. I don't like any of this and we have someone we know dead and there is no way of knowing what truly happened two weeks ago…so…we track down someone who might have an idea. The person Adam was meeting here."
Mirkia glanced at her.
"Torchwick?" she repeated.
Blake nodded.
"Yes," she said.
She turned away and opened a Doorway in front of her. Then the girl jumped into it and disappeared. Mirkia glanced behind her toward where the body was lying. She raised her hand and launched a blast of Aura toward it completely ensnaring the body into a ball of fire.
"May your Spirit strengthen the roots of the Eldar, Brother of the Forest," she said softly.
With that she jumped into the Doorway which closed up behind her.
Tracking Torchwick down wasn't something that was difficult to do, after all, it wasn't like the man was even trying to hide. As usual, his gang was situated in the Red Diner Bar, the place where Blake first went to a meeting with Adam. The inside of the place hadn't changed much with people seating on the table and drinking thought as she walked into the establishment, Blake could feel every eyes upon her.
"Are you sure that we'll be able to find him here?" Mirkia asked her.
Blake didn't even answer as she continued forward making her way toward where the backroom was but a large man had stepped in the way drawing Blake's attention toward up. He was an impressive built filled with muscle and his arms were also filled with tattoos. He had crossed both of his arms and Blake stared up at him, unblinking and unimpressed by his size.
"And where do you think you're going little girly?" he said.
"Roman Torchwick," Blake said simply, "I'm here to see him."
The room became deadly silent at what she had said. It was like everyone was now staring at them and from the corner of her eyes, Blake can see that some of them were standing up and holding weapons in their hands.
"How about you walk out of here before you get hurt," the man said.
Blake stared at the man for a few moments.
"I don't have time for this," she said.
With a violent kick, she send the large man flying backward and crashing through the door that he was standing in front of. A group was coming from behind her, but before Blake could move, Mirkia was already baring their way and with sped she had taken them all down before they could even know what had happened.
"What's with the ruckus?" a familiar voice called out.
A man had stepped out of the destroyed door in front of Blake. He was dressed in a white trench coat and long dark pants and boots. A bowler hat was seating upon his head as he walked into the room, a cane in his hand. His face was relatively young and his gray eyes took in the destruction that was inside the bar and the two Faunus that were standing in front of him.
"Blake?" he said, "Well, if I knew you were going to visit, I might have tide up the place a bit."
The girl narrowed her eyes at him as she charged toward the man, taking hold of his coat and slamming him into the wall. The man let out a yelp as Blake's small sword was at his throat the next second.
"I'm not in the mood for your games Torchwick," she growled.
"Okay," the man known as Torchwick said, "I see someone is in a hurry. I'll skip the pleasantries then, so what do the White Fang need of me that you need to trash my place for? The Schnee information that I gave you wasn't good enough?"
Blake narrowed her eyes.
"I did hear something happening in Vale a few days back," Torchwick continued a light smirk on his face.
"Never mind Vale," Blake said, "Adam came to you a few weeks ago…and I need to know where he is."
"Taurus?" he repeated, "Oh…"
"So you know something," Blake said, pressing the sword against his skin.
"Look, as arousing as it can be to have a beautiful woman such as yourself pressed against me," Torchwick said, "Do you mind removing the sword at my throat?"
Blake didn't bother to hide her disgust at the human, but she did remove herself off of him as well as the sword which was still in her hand. Torchwick rearranged his clothes and picked up his fallen cane.
"You're disgusting," she said.
"Hey," he smirked at her, "I'm a man of simple need."
He pulled out a cigar and placed it at his lips. He lit it up and took a drag out of it. Then he breathed the smoke out. He stared at Blake as the cigar hug at his lips.
"So…can't find your boyfriend so you come here to look for him?" he asked.
"Adam seems to think that you had something that could tip the balance in the White Fang favor," Blake said staring at him, "So fess up. Who did Adam meet that day?"
"What makes you think I know where he is?"
"Because it's the only thing that's stopping me from detaching your head from your body," Blake growled at him.
Torchwick raised an eyebrow.
"Sheesh, you seriously need to lighten up," he said letting out a breath of smoke, "All I did is play middle man. Adam wanted power, so all I did was directed him at someone who could give him power. It's as simple as that."
"Who was it?" Blake asked.
Torchwick thought about it for a few moments.
"It wasn't like I was meeting the guy face to face," he said, "If it's even a guy. It's the rumor that's going on around these parts lately. Tell me, do you guys know the island know as Las Hazard."
"It's an island just across the sea," Mirkia said, "It's on the Meredian Bay."
"Yeah that's the place," Torchwick said, "For the past months, they have been shipments going to that island. Shipments of lab equipments worth a couple of millions if you get what I mean, and they have been strange rumors about that island too…strange monsters have been sighted and even disappearances reported."
"How do you know about the shipments?" Blake asked.
"I'm the King of these parts girly," Torchwick smirked, "There is hardly nothing going on that I don't know about."
"As interesting as that sounds, it doesn't tell us what it has to do with Adam?" Mirkia said her arms crossed.
Torchwick chuckled, "Someone approached me a few weeks ago to make contact with the White Fang. Turns out, you have an admirer and they gave Adam an offer. It must have been an exciting one if he had accepted it. That someone, you ask, came from that island but here is the spooky part…"
A small smirk grew upon his face.
"As far as the world knows…that little island has been deserted for over 40 years. It really makes you wonder about what is truly going on behind the scenes right?"
A mysterious island...what would Blake find there waiting for her?
Next Time: Las Hazard
Jacques0 out.
R&R
