Thundering steps shook the earth, breaking Blake from her thoughts. That thing was following her. That thing... that had once been her partner. Blake's vision swam as she rounded another corner, not from exhaustion as she shot forward down each turn, sending shadow clones in the wake of each burst in speed, but from tears building in her eyes, threatening to spill down her face.
Yang. Her partner's tortured expression burned in her mind's eye, a thousand times more excruciating than the black flames licking at her heels as she took another corner at full tilt. She had been too late. She had failed. No cheerful smile and stupid joke would be waiting for her when - if - she escaped this place.
Blake bit back a sob as an infuriated roar exploded from the path behind her. She could still hear the essence of her partner's voice buried deep within the inhuman sound. Another roar shook rocks from the ceiling as she rounded the last corner, finally laying eyes on the entrance from which she'd come. She bolted down the long, straight path, turning back to glance at her pursuer just in time to see it opening its mouth wide, sparks flying once more. Blake dropped, flattening herself to the ground seconds before a cone of black flames shot through the tunnel, just grazing the tips of her Faunus ears.
The second the flames dispersed, she shot forward again, not daring to look back. Her ears picked up the distant crackle of sparks. She was nearly out. Heat crept up behind her, backed by the mixed roars of the flames themselves and the beast that expelled them. Blake crossed the threshold, immediately strafing left. She pressed herself to side of the mountain as black flames exploded from the cave's opening, instantly incinerating the shadow clone she'd left in her wake. The Grimm dragon itself emerged seconds later, knocking the exhausted Faunus clear off the mountainside and sending chunks of rock spraying in every direction as it burst forth from the mountain, snaking through the air and up towards the mountain's smoking peak.
One of the larger pipes forcibly broke Blake's fall, knocking the wind straight from her lungs. She laid on her back for a moment, feeling that same gentle pull at her aura as she watched the Grimm dragon wreak havoc on the smaller pipes above, shattering the chaotic latticework with equally chaotic thrashing.
Something about the sight made the Faunus's blood boil.
Not only had that… that thing taken her partner away, now it had the gall to try destroying this strangely beautiful place? This place that was for all intents and purposes, and extension of her partner's very soul?
Unforgivable.
Blake struggled to her feet as broken pieces of the smaller pipes from above rained down around her.
Unforgivable.
Fueled by rage, Blake darted upwards, leaping from pipe to pipe, climbing ever higher, determined to reach the soulless affliction currently writhing through the air of her partner's world. She grabbed one of the larger falling pipes on the way up. It wasn't Gambol Shroud, but it would have to do.
Her movements caught the dragon's attention, just as she'd hoped. It whirled around, belching a line of fire directly into the path of Blake's ascent. She dove to the side, just as the flames shot by, singing the spot where she'd just been standing. Blake growled audibly. She needed to get closer.
No sooner had the thought entered her mind, the Grimm dragon suddenly charged towards her, as if sharing the same line of thinking. Blake crouched - tense, waiting. When she could see the minute ridges on the dragon's nose, she shot sideways, releasing a clone that disappeared into the dragon's gaping maw.
A split-second later, when the bone-plated head passed by her, she shot forward, driving the jagged end of her pipe between two of the Grimm's conjoining bones, pushing it deep into the creature's neck.
Black sludge spewed from the wound, and the Grimm reared back, nearly deafening Blake with a hideous point-blank screech. Her heart nearly stopped when its angry glowing red orbs shifted to a clear, unmistakable amethyst color for one solid second.
In that same instant, the soft glow of the pipes around her suddenly doubled in intensity, sending a wave of light back towards the mountain behind them, where she could hear a distinct rumble beginning. Blake didn't have time to comprehend any of it - the long black tail of the dragon blindsided her, sending her flying upwards into the partially destroyed area above.
A jagged piece of broken pipe caught her shoulder, abruptly halting her ascension. Before she had a chance to right herself, the dragon's tail followed through with another relentless strike, sending her careening back down into yet another broken pipe - this one spearing her through the side.
Blake heaved, trying to push through the shock to her system. She had just enough time to register the Grimm dragon overhead, its eyes once again bright crimson as it barreled straight into her.
Pipe after pipe shattered beneath Blake's back as the Grimm dragon aided gravity in pushing her down through the chaotic metal latticework. It didn't occur to her how strange it actually was for metal to be shattering - she was too focused on the bright red orbs set deep in the bony mask of the snout pressing into her stomach. Amber eyes darted back and forth between them, frantically searching for any sign of the amethyst she'd seen just moments earlier.
Yang was still in there somewhere. She had to be. Blake refused to accept any other possibility. Summoning up the dregs of her strength, Blake gritted her teeth and pushed herself to the side, out from underneath the Grimm dragon's nose. She managed an unsteady landing near the juncture of two pipes, watching those angry red orbs track her as the Grimm circled around, readying for another strike. Maybe she could still do something. Maybe it wasn't too late.
Muscles screaming in protest, Blake set her jaw, gripped the two feet or so of jagged pipe protruding from her side, and pulled. A few agonizing seconds later, it finally came free with a wholly unpleasant squelch. Stars danced behind Blake's eyes and her head started to spin, but she gripped the bloodied piece of pipe like a trophy, grounding herself with the feel of heated metal in her hands.
The Grimm dragon bore down on her, not bothering to snake through the openings in the interlocking pipes. Blake crouched down, listening to the world around her shatter as the dragon simply smashed through everything in its way. She tensed as the pipe beneath her feet began to shake, ready to spring if it gave way.
She didn't have a solid plan - she didn't even know for sure how to bring Yang back, if she could bring her back - but she knew that stabbing the beast had caused the brief flash of amethyst.
So, she was going to stab it, as many times as she needed to, until those eyes stayed amethyst.
Part of her knew the idea was reckless and poorly though out, but the rest of her simply held fast to the raw hope that was slowly taking root within her.
She whispered a quiet promise, as much to herself as to the Grimm dragon speeding towards her, only feet away now.
"You're going to be fine..."
Amber eyes remained locked on the snarling beast as it neared, mere inches away now. The Grimm roared, and snapped down on its target, spluttering in confusion when the thing in its mouth dissolved. A shadow clone.
Blake descended from above, ramming her pipe deep behind its head, right where the bony mask met its neck. That same hideous shriek tore through the air as the Grimm whirled around, snapping its jaws down on another shadow clone. Blake had already moved.
A triumphant smile flickered across Blake's face as she caught sight of that beautiful flicker of amethyst from her position a few feet above. She snatched up one of the myriad pipes falling from the weakened structure overhead, and immediately shot back down, plunging her new weapon deep into the dragon's back. With a bellowing roar, the dragon looped back over itself, biting down on yet another shadow clone.
Another pipe stabbed into its shoulder, another into its haunches. Yet another pierced the back of its knee, followed by a particularly long pipe driving straight into its side. With each blow, the unbroken pipes around them brightened, shooting light back into the golden mountain in the distance, but Blake kept her eyes trained on those two red orbs throughout her assault, tensing as she watched the flashes of amethyst grow in number and duration.
The Grimm dragon writhed in livid agony, its frustration spiking with each pipe embedded in its body and each smoky shadow clone that dissipated between its teeth or disintegrated in a line of fire. A pipe plunging deep into its stomach was the last straw.
New pipe already in hand, Blake's ears flattened mid-turn at the deafening roar that came seconds before the impossibly large solid wall of flames suddenly headed in her direction.
There was no escape.
She caught a glimpse of horrified amethyst as the black flames passed over her - a strange sight to see coming from the usually expressionless eyes of a Grimm.
Smoke filled Blake's lungs, stripping her of breath and burning her from the inside out, violent coughs wracking her body as she plummeted once more, her attacker hot in pursuit. The flames themselves hadn't burned in the way she expected - she found herself coated in a slick black substance that felt closer to acid eating away at her skin, eerily reminiscent of the very same shifting substance she'd seen wrapping around Yang.
Her thoughts halted as she landed with a heavy crunch on a pipe the size of a highway. Pain was the only thing left. Pain drove her to stand. Pain drove her to grip the pipe in her hand. And a very different kind of pain drove her to lock eyes with the flickering amethyst and crimson diving straight at her.
All or nothing.
Now or never.
Do or die.
Blake seemed incapable of forming coherent thoughts longer than three words as she watched the Grimm dragon's mouth open wide, black sparks dancing deep behind rows of jagged white. She crouched down, ready, waiting, counting out the seconds by the drops of slick blackness falling from her fingertips.
The sparks erupted into flames. Blake sprang, leaping straight through them, deep into the mouth eagerly waiting to swallow her whole. Unfortunately for the Grimm dragon, she planned on being incredibly unpalatable.
In a final burst of speed, she shot through the back of the dragon's neck, piercing a path for herself with the jagged pipe in her hands. A shower of black blood trailed behind her as she exploded out the other side.
A blinding flash of gold shot through the pipes all around, feeding blazing light into the quaking mountainside, providing a strangely beautiful shimmering backdrop for the writhing Grimm currently choking on a shadow clone and its own oily blood.
Blake barely had time to grab and hoist herself up onto one of the pipes hanging overhead to keep herself from falling when the mountain - volcano? - erupted, spilling light back into the latticework of pipes.
Flames erupted everywhere. Every broken-ended pipe the Grimm dragon had shattered in its careless thrashing exploded into jets of crimson fire.
Within seconds the entire area was roiling and churning, bathing both Blake and her soulless nemesis in an indiscriminate firestorm.
Panic gripped Blake as searing heat engulfed her body, agonized gasps muffled only by her clenched teeth. Seconds from blacking out, the pain suddenly subsided, lessening into a mere ache as the oily black substance coating her began to dissolve.
Dazed yet intrigued, Blake watched the darkened streaks leave her hand, travel up and off her arms, all of it forcefully removed by the bright red flames. She almost smiled at the familiar warmth of the blazing inferno against her newly cleansed skin. There was no doubt in her mind - these were Yang's flames.
A piercing shriek startled her, nearly toppling her from her perch.
Below her, the Grimm dragon twisted and thrashed in sheer agony, snarling and screaming bloody murder as it writhed about like a vile poisonous worm impaled on a hook. The flames burning it from every side were driving it mad.
A sudden jerk of the dragon's head brought its eyes into view, clearly flashing amethyst. Blake tracked her target in silence, eyebrows furrowing as the Grimm's movements became sporadic and choppy. She felt herself tensing up despite the exhaustion creeping up her bones, her grip tightening around the pipe still in her hands as she watched the frantic war between amethyst and crimson.
Adrenaline surged through the once-weary Faunus, washing away her exhaustion with waves of raw energy. Amethyst was winning.
Blake shouted over the chaos, "Yang! Keep fighting!"
The Grimm dragon's head whipped around, its entire body shuddering to a halt midair with one bright amethyst eye trained directly on Blake. Time seemed to stand still as their gazes locked.
Without warning, a fist busted through the Grimm dragon's left eye, exploding outwards all the way up to a shoulder.
A familiar arm reached outwards from the wreckage, bare fingers uncurling and outstretched.
Jaune sat in a folding chair beside his red-haired partner, watching Ren and Nora for any sign of movement. The two seemed peaceful, Nora lying pretty much on top of Ren, her face nuzzled into the crook of his neck. Ren's breathing was deep and even, his eyes closed. His forcefield was still intact.
Professor Port watched over them as well, his axe/gun combo in hand. That didn't sit well with Jaune exactly, but if Ren turned into a Grimm, what else could they do? He fiddled with the cuff of his gloves.
"Hey, Pyrrha, do you think the others are doing okay?" he asked without looking at her.
Pyrrha glanced quickly at her downtrodden team leader before looking back at her teammates. When it came to matters of aura, Ren was second to none in terms of proficiency, and considering how well synced he already was with Nora, she had a good deal of faith that they would be all right despite the severity of his wound. Team RWBY on the other hand... Pyrrha's face reddened slightly as she pushed certain memories to the back of her mind.
There was no doubt they were... close, so being in sync with their partners was likely no problem. Still, Ruby's exposure to the toxin had been the longest by far, and from what she'd seen of Yang during combat practice, when the brawler began expending aura, she did it hard and fast - conditions that did not bode well for either sister. Pyrrha placed a tentative hand on Jaune's knee, trying to catch his eyes.
"Do you want to check on them?"
"Yeah," Jaune ran a hand through his hair, glancing at Ren and Nora. He kept his voice low, so as not to distract Professor Port. "But, I guess I'm worried these guys'll wake up, and I won't be here. I'm the team leader, you know?"
He was also the team strategist. The guy who saw what was going on and came up with a plan to deal with it.
Dark scenarios plagued him. What if Ren and Nora didn't wake up? What if one of them did, but the other didn't? What if the next time Ren opened his eyes, they were red? He didn't want to plan for that. He sighed, cradling his head in his hands, "I wish it had been me instead of Ren."
Pyrrha gripped Jaune's knee with a little too much force. "Don't say things like that," she said too quickly to keep the shake from her voice. The image of Jaune lying motionless on one of those beds sent a chill straight through to the normally calm warrior's heart. She shook her head and paused to breathe.
"Jaune," she started again, leaning her shoulder into his, "being a good team leader doesn't mean taking every hit for your teammates."
"I know," Jaune pushed back a little. He gave a half-hearted grin, "But I was just thinking that Ren would be scary as a Grimm. Actually, any of you would be scary as a Grimm. I'd probably be, like, a baby beowulf or something. Plus I still suck at aura usage, so it'd probably be easy for you to do that healing thing on me," He fell silent again. Maybe he shouldn't have been joking about this. Well, half-joking, anyway. He rubbed the back of his neck, "So do you think Weiss is okay? I heard she was crying in the laundry room earlier. She must be really torn up over Ruby, huh?"
Pyrrha's eyebrows rose at the news about Weiss. Poor girl. There was nothing worse than watching a loved one suffer. She opened her mouth to speak when flickering shadows caught her eye. Her gaze snapped to her two teammates, both still lying peacefully on the bed. Nothing seemed out of place. Pyrrha frowned. Perhaps she had only imagined it.
Just as she was about to look away, Ren's protective barrier of aura flickered again, pink this time. Unsure whether this was a good or bad sign, Pyrrha moved her hand from her Jaune's knee to grip his arm, eyes never leaving her teammates. "Jaune..."
"I saw it," Jaune rose, reaching to touch Ren's barrier. He cast Professor Port a glance. "What's going on?"
Silence plagued the room for a spell, broken only by a light static hissing accompanying each colorful flicker of the barrier underneath Jaune's fingers.
Finally, with a twitch of his bushy mustache, the professor replied, "I'm certain it's nothing a fine huntsman like myself cannot handle, dear boy."
Rising from her chair as well, Pyrrha winced internally at Professor Port's tone, lacking its usual warmth and gusto. She didn't miss the way the professor's fingers curled a bit tighter around his weapon, either.
Tearing her eyes away from the discreet promise of violence, Pyrrha's gaze returned to the peaceful faces of her teammates as she went to stand beside Jaune. A brief twitch of her fingers betrayed her nerves as she placed a comforting hand on the equally anxious blonde's shoulder.
Once again she caught those bright blue eyes, pausing as she tried to form words of encouragement through the weight of her own worry.
A distant explosion destroyed her concentration. Frantic cries of warning coming from outside tore her attention to the hall beyond their door.
The shadows of medical technicians fleeing past their room flashed by the small rectangular window above the door handle. Dread pooled in Pyrrha's stomach as she realized they were running away from Blake and Yang's end of the hall.
Weiss gripped her wrist harder and stared back at Ruby, who was straining to push herself up. The lamppost pinning her to the bricks groaned, bending as it turned to rust and sifted away, allowing her to rise.
Her red cloak fluttered around her slender frame, her one eye and the lines in the bone mask growing across her face burned the same shade of scarlet. She observed the heiress, apparently in no hurry.
Weiss stood rooted to the spot. A black stain crept past the edge of her fingers, working its way up her arm from the bite.
Poison. The same poison that was affecting Ruby.
Her wrist burned like it was on fire. Weiss hadn't realized the toxin would be so fast acting. She could have cursed her idiocy, or her bad luck, or any number of things, but Ruby was walking towards her and she needed to move.
Her legs refused to cooperate, though. She stumbled, turning and catching herself on her elbow in one of the sludge-tainted puddles.
Before she could get up, Ruby was shoving her onto her back, straddling her stomach. She planted one hand on Weiss's forehead and forced her to lie flat.
"No," Weiss snarled. She balled her fist and hit Ruby, twisted underneath her, but the other girl paid her no mind. "Get off."
Weiss's struggles were pitiful and she knew it. She'd read about this. About poisons that made you weak and mixed up your thinking. Dust, she'd read about some of them out loud to Ruby that evening back when the younger girl was just a sleepy, childish mess on pain killers and Weiss thought everything was fine. She lay still for a moment beneath her partner's weight, panting from exhaustion. The stark white light of the sunless sky filtered down around them through the shifting leaves.
The realization began to sink in: she and Ruby were going to turn into monsters and die. Ruby was already most of the way there. Weiss gripped her partner's wrist, attempting to remove her hand from her forehead. Black blood dripped on her face. The stain crept further up her arm, insidious.
"Ruby, let me go. Please," Weiss choked the words out. Her thoughts were already growing sluggish and confused, but she still knew that she didn't want this to happen. She didn't want to be a Grimm. She didn't want Ruby to be Grimm, but the bone mask had grown passed the bridge of the girl's nose and was continuing to form, beginning to frame her left eye.
Something warm dripped on Weiss's cheek and into her mouth. It wasn't blood this time. She tasted salt and saw the drops spill over the edge of the half-formed bone. Ruby's eyes flickered crimson as she continued to hold Weiss down, her gaze blank.
But she was crying.
Dust, Ruby was crying.
Something in Weiss rebelled. Not only was her partner turning into a Grimm—she was crying. It was too much. Dust.
Weiss tried to focus.
She couldn't give up.
She couldn't.
Dust, Dust, Dust it was hard to think. She shut her eyes hard. Even if she wasn't weaponless and poisoned and fast losing the ability to see straight, she wasn't sure what she would do.
So she would just have to run with plan B.
Gathering up what small strength she had left, Weiss reached up and took hold of the lip of the mask growing over Ruby's face, getting her fingertips around the edge. The black had spread up to Weiss's knuckles and continued to work its way down her arm, its progress already obscured by her sleeve. How long did she have before she had her own mask? Minutes? An hour? Her aura was probably worthless against this by now.
Ruby didn't seem interested in what Weiss was doing; she only stared down at her, crimson eyes devoid of any expression. Weiss tried to take deep breaths. No rush to take her down now that she was infected- was that it? Time to kick back and watch her succumb to the poison?
"I always knew Grimm were stupid, but Ruby if you turn all the way, you might set a record," Weiss gritted out, her voice broken. With her good hand, she formed the shape of the glyph she thought might work. In any case, if it didn't it might still upset the Grimm in Ruby enough for her partner to kill her outright instead of waiting for her change. That was something at least.
Her hand shook. Everything around them was dying. The trees, the grass. Buildings were beginning to crumble. Maybe all this time, she should have been trying to put Ruby down. Maybe she had been too late from the start. It was no use thinking about that, though. Weiss set her teeth and triggered her glyph.
Her technique was sloppy. Disgraceful, really, but it would serve. She let the gold light fill her, choking on bile as the effects of her semblance reacted with the poison creeping up her arm. Despite that, strength flooded her, and she latched both hands onto Ruby's mask.
Ruby's face contorted in rage. She throttled Weiss in an attempt to stop the light.
The heiress saw stars as her oxygen was cut off, but she didn't need to breathe or see right now. She pushed with one hand and jerked with the other and between that calculated torque and her briefly augmented strength, the bone mask on Ruby's face snapped. Ruby threw herself backwards, howling and clutching her face, and black blood spilled across Weiss, spattering in the puddles of liquid leaves. The mask fell in two pieces, clattering on the brick.
The gold light burned out and Weiss levered herself onto her side. Her ears rang, maybe because of Ruby's agonized shrieks, maybe just because she'd been nearly strangled. She felt sick. She willed herself to not throw up as she lay shaking, coughing, gasping for air.
She could hear Ruby retching somewhere out of her line of sight. A horrible, wet sound in the empty lamppost forest. Had breaking off the mask killed her? It wasn't exactly a mercy-kill if it wasn't quick, but Weiss could still hope. She propped herself up partway with her good arm and saw her partner vomiting black liquid- it pooled among the disintegrating lampposts and tree branches, the darkness bulging, gathering like it was alive. Was it another enemy? Another attack from the Grimm rats they'd left behind so long ago?
If it was, Weiss didn't care. Her entire infected arm seared with pain. Her head felt like it would split in two.
She shut her eyes and lowered herself till her forehead touched the blood-slicked bricks. Let the Grimm rats do whatever they wanted. She was already dying. If something wanted to end the hopeless, poisoned remains of her sorry life a little sooner, all the better.
Worse came to worst, Ozpin was out there somewhere.
The headmaster wouldn't let her live as a Grimm for long.
AN: I guess you could say Weiss and Ruby really faced off in this chapter.
HAHhahAHHA AHHAH
Fiercesomest is going to kill me for putting puns in the author's notes. Ah well. Until next week!
Hugs,
Defenestrator