"We should be arriving soon." Athena stated, leaning gently out of the back of their transport, and watching the sky. Her eyes shifted from cloud to cloud, entranced by their peaceful disposition, and jealous of their pure whiteness, somehow ever more brilliant than the white color of her own hair. At the other end of the transport. Weiss and Blake were absorbed in thoughts all their own. Blake was the first to register Athena's comments, sitting up and looking towards her.
"Good. It'll be great to finally get out of this thing." Blake agreed, placing her hands on the transport bed and arching her back out, stretching. She pushed herself up, and moved herself over so that she was sitting next to Athena.
"It will be a nice change of pace from the last three days." Athena smiled. The three girls had been traveling to Redpond, the sight of the last Oscar sighting, and had spent nearly the entire time in the back of vehicles, whose owners were more than willing to help them get from place to place, especially after payment, or a little convincing.
"An airship would've been faster though." Weiss pointed out, deciding to join the conversation herself.
"Yes well… Blame that on the usual suspects. Ozpin said they needed to 'save money' in the event another 'incident occurred'." Athena responded, rolling her eyes at her boys propensity for causing damage, and not inexpensive damage at that.
"I can't disagree with that. It's always best to prepare for the inevitable." Blake shrugged. The three girls laughed lightly. Athena sighed, and looked back out at forest, reminding Blake of why she moved over in the first place.
"How'd you know we were so close?" Blake asked, genuinely curious. Weiss, slightly raised and eyebrow, and unable to withhold her own curiosity, crawled over herself. Athena gestured for the two girls to come in closer, and she carefully pointed to a point in the sky near the sun, but not directly at it.
"Remember girls, I was raised without scrolls or… any technology really. So I've learned how to measure such things the old fashioned way. The driver said that we would be arriving sometime around evening. You can see that the sky is starting to take on a darker hue, but isn't quite the beautiful orange of the sunset, so assuming that we both are accurate, we must be arrive some time soon." Athena explained. Blake and Weiss couldn't, and felt no need, to hide how impressed they were with Athena's knowledge.
"Amazing." Weiss whispered slightly. Athena gently placed her hand on Weiss's shoulder.
"It's nothing really. Its something yo get used to over- Dammit!" Athena interrupted herself mid sentence, killing the moment, as the transport skidded to stop, sending Athena's head lurching forward, directly into Weiss's. Weiss lay flat on the transport bed, holding her forehead in both hand. Blake chuckled a little, as she moved over to check on her injured teammate.
"You ok? It's not bleeding." Blake stated, looking at the point of impact. Weiss nodded, sitting up.
"Now I see where Allister gets his hard headedness from." Weiss smirked, Blake shook her head lightly, and Athena rolled her eyes again. Athena looked around outside the transport, and scanned the surrounding planes for bandits, or grimm.
"It looks clear out there, come on. Let's see what's going on." Athena ordered, jumping out of the transport bed, her feet hitting the ground unusually softly for a woman of her size. Blake and Weiss quickly followed. The three of them walked up towards the front of the truck. As they approached, they saw that the driver wasn't in the truck, but was rather standing a few feet in front of it.
"Sir, what's the matter?" Athena asked politely, as the three girls walked up to him.
"Somthen wrung. The town ain't usually this dark, especially not this late." He said in his southern accent, checking the time himself.
"Well go ahead and check it out ourselves right." Weiss offered,
"Just stay here with your truck. We'll be right back." Blake said, giving the driver a nod as she followed Athena and Weiss towards the village. The eerie silence was deafening as they reached the village gates. The entrance to the village was guarded with two large stone doors. Unfortunately, one of those doors had broken of one of its hinges and had become jammed between the frame and the other door. In the door frame and the surrounding wall, however, no signs of damage were evident.
"Stay alert." Athena warned, pointing up to what appeared to be the half smashed ruins of an archers tower above the gate. Numerous parts of the tower were also burning. The most grim part of the scene was indubitably the clearly deceased man whos body was half hanging out of the tower. Blake and Weiss gulped audibly and both of them drew their weapons, cautiously. Athena walked up to the door, and managed to hook her hands around either side of it. After a few deep breaths and a heavy pull, Athena managed to unjam the door, it's corners cracking and falling to the floor. She rested the fractured door against the other door, and drew her shield from on her back.
"Follow." Athena ordered, quietly as not to disturb who… or whatever would be greeting them inside. The sky had finally begun its shift to a fiery orange as they finally entered the village.
"What happened here?" Weiss couldn't help but to ask, as they took their first look at the desolate remains of what might had been a village. Every other building had its roof caved in to some degree, more than a few fires slowly, but steadily burned, corpses lined the walls of many buildings, splattered with blood, even the air itself tried to oppress its new occupants with a feeling of death.
"Something bad…" Blake agreed, the hair on the back of her standing up.
"Thanks…" Weiss responded, deadpan. Both girls gave a chuckle, easing some of the tension. Athena held her stoic demeanor, not letting anything escape her eye.
"Let's head towards the center of town, There might be someone there." Athena suggested, and the girls followed closely, unaware of the sinister force which had been watching them,blending into the shadow of a decimated building, since they had arrived in this place.
Soon night fell, the formless darkness encroached upon them like devils, whispering sweet madness into their ears. Blake had taken the lead of their little party, her feline night vision giving her a distinct advantage. Poor Athena and Weiss did their best to watch her back, but being unable to see more than a foot before them, limiting their usefulness. Regardless, all their nerves were frayed as the reached the town square, an even more gruesome scene than the one they had encountered at the entrance to the town.
"I think we should set up camp here." Athena suggested, reaching out and gently tapping Blake, silently asking for her opinion.
"Yeah. it's nice and spacious here, no room for anyone to sneak up on us." Blake spoke. Athena sighed and laid her shield down on the ground between them. Blake handed her scroll to Athena, and Athena and Weiss shined their scrolls on the shield, using the reflected light to illuminate their surroundings as much as possible.
"Blake, if you can get me some firewood, I can use a glyph to ignite it. I'm sure it'll provide better light than what we have here." Weiss offered.
"Awesome. Cover me." Blake said, using her night vision to slowly walk into misty darkness. Weiss and Athena did their best to keep the reflections as close to the faunus girl as possible. Despite knowing her friends were right there, and that they were watching her every move, Blake couldn't help but get the feeling that something was constantly arching over her shoulder, enveloping her. As such, she dashed like a blur, grabbing fallen wood from destroyed buildings, pulling branches from dead trees, and ,regrettably, lances from the hands of dead warriors. Blake quickly trotted back towards the others. She stepped into the light, and dropped the pile of wood, panting not from exhaustion but from being at her wits end.
"This place is giving me a terrible feeling." Blake expressed, giving Athena and Weiss a concerned look. Weiss had the same look in her eye, and Athena nodded understandably.
"I don't love it either, but at least we're together right." Athena said, trying to provide some ease to the younger and less experienced girls. "It reminds me of other Dynami folklore. Nights like this were home to a beast much worse than the grimm. They used to call it satv nei cheat. It's was a darkness which made people see and feel like their worst nightmare would come to life. A monster who dwelled within our mind and came out on nights like this to drive people mad." The two girls gave Athena a slightly awkward look.
"That was… pleasant. Still, I do admit the company helps. Now stand back." Weiss warned, drawing Myrtenaster. Blake and Athena stepped away from the pyre as Weiss conjured up a red glyph before her. In a flash a small fireball shot from the glyph into the pile, igniting it. Weiss sheathed her rapier, and sat down next to fire, enjoying its increasing light and warmth. Blake and Athena joined her.
"You know, this is kinda of like camping." Athena smiled. "Oh! We could tell ghost stories." she suggested, pretending to put on a scary voice.
"No thanks, we might as well already be in one." Weiss commented, glancing over her shoulder every couple of minutes, uneasy they would be spending the night in such a dangerous locale.
"You said it." Blake agreed, reaching out and high fiving Weiss.
"You girls are no fun." Athena faux frowned for a moment, before resuming her cheerful attitude and began reaching into her bag.
"Dinner?" Blake asked, more curious than hungry. Athena nodded as she started to pull cooking materials out of her bag.
"It would be wrong of us to starve ourselves. You girls stay together and keep watch. I'll let you know when it's ready." Athena offered, beginning to prep their meal. Weiss, looked over and noticed that Blake was staring out into the darkness, seeming enthralled by it. Weiss couldn't help but notice a shade of melancholy which painted Blake's expression. She scooted right up next to Blake and gently leaned against her. Both girls stared out into the abyssal darkness as Blake gently wrapped her arm around Weiss, the two of them finding comfort in each other.
"So what do you see out there?" Weiss asked, feeling some polite conversation would help them forget how vulnerable they were at this very moment, and put Blake at ease so that she would hopefully reveal what was troubling her.
"Not much. I mean… I can see the buildings, but I don't see any people or animals running around. It's like some wave of death rid this town of everything." Blake explained, secretly wishing she hadn't decided to leave Ninja's of Love back in her dorm room.
"Well… considering what else we've faced, you'd think that we wouldn't be so afraid of the dark." Weiss sarcastically remarked, pushing herself a little closer to the faunus.
"Yeah well… what we've encountered is exactly what you'd expect to see in the dark." Blake pointed out, sounding more serious than she might have intended.
"Are you ok?" Weiss finally asked, looking at her teammate, obviously worried. Blake glanced at Weiss, soon realized what she was talking about, and sighed.
"No… I hate to be this way, but I can't help but worry about Darron." Blake confessed, the darkness seeming to wriggle its way into her soul,. Darkening her thoughts and opening them up to her friend.
"I get what you mean." Weiss responded, hugging Blake.
"I don't want to be a damsel in distress all the time. I don't want to be so worried about him all the time either. I just can't help but think sometimes that one of these time when he does something so heroic and dangerous that he won't come back." Blake explained,biting her lip a little to stop its quivering. Weiss let go of Blake and shot her a nice smile.
"Zade has made me feel that way. When he decided to brazenly defy my father. I thought for sure that he was going to die." Weiss empathized.
"Yeah… but Zade doesn't do this all the time. Darron's been kidnapped, nearly executed, suffered a blood rage, and seems to have no regard for his life or my feelings… and it hurts Weiss." Blake said, feeling more and more inclined to open her heart and her true feelings to her friend. Weiss tried to think of something to say, but despite her best efforts, and wishes, couldn't find any comforting words for her friends.
"I don't know what to say… I would love to say talk to him, but he masks his emotions so well I can see the challenge." Weiss said.
"I just wish I knew what to do. I know he likes to fight, it's his life. I just don't know what benefit he gets from willfully exacerbating his condition just to fight stronger and stronger enemies. It's like he doesn't really care about me. I'm just some tool which he has latched onto so he can have ready access to his semblance, and bait to bring more and more powerful enemies for him to fight, like Adam." Blake added, burying her face into her knees. Weiss struggled to find words that she knew would put her friend at ease, but knew that she needed to say something.
"Have you told him any of this?" Weiss asked, looking for an opening to help her.
"I had planned on it… He was supposed to talk to me about his powers, and his sword when we returned from our mission, but I never got the chance to." Blake explained.
"Then you need to tell him. I'm sure that Darron thinks more of you than just that. He's clearly a dense ass… they all are… but that doesn't mean his feelings aren't real." Weiss said. Blake kept her head down, her kitty ears pushing her bow flatter against her head in sadness.
"I just wish he wouldn't be so fucking distant all the time." Blake seethed, her sorrow turning into anger. "He opens up once in a blue moon, but other than that I'd never even guess that we knew each other." Weiss observed her friend who began to shake under her maelstrom of emotions, and wondered if their relative isolation somehow made Blake feel more alone than she generally did. Weiss knew that now was not the time to dwell on such philosophical ideals, but rather she should find a way to calm down her angry friend before she inevitably made a rash decision she would immediately regret.
"If anyone should know about hiding their emotions, it would be you." Weiss said, giving Blake a quick smirk. "You spent our first few months together hiding your past with White Fang, and trying to be calm and collected at all times. So, if anyone can understand Darron, and be a part of his world. It has to be you." Weiss worried that she was being a little blunt, but she figured that it would be the best of her options to get her message through to a hurt friend. Blake went silent for a moment, before burying her face even deeper.
"I…" Blake stuttered, her voice still a little weak, and choked with tears. "I know…" Blake. Answered.
"Besides… aren't you the only one who he even trusts more than a smidge. Aren't you the one who he trusts with his heart whenever he's distraught, or in agony. I'm pretty sure you're what he thinks about 24/7." Weiss pointed out.
"That doesn't mean he has to ignore me while he does it!" Blake exclaimed, turning her face to look directly at Weiss. Weiss felt a bad, seeing the streaks from Blake's tears running down her cheeks. Weiss crawled over and forced Blake out of her curled up ball, wrapping her arms around her partner.
"I know he's not perfect. He's far from it. I know this is gonna sound stupid from me, who's married, but next time we see him, seriously tell him. Darron's good, but I don't think he can read minds. I would bet my life that he bends over backwards to meet any and all demands that you ask of him. If I'm gonna be totally honest… I'm surprised he's not a dog faunus he's so loyal." Weiss said. A small chuckled from Blake reassured Weiss that Blake was ok. The heiress pulled back and smiled at her faunus friend.
"Thank you Weiss… I don't know what happened there." Blake said, furtively, looking down while grasping one of her arms.
"It's ok. It's good that you've finally got that off your chest. I'm not a superstitious person, but sometime beings surrounded by darkness like this can really mess with people." Weiss shrugged. Blake laughed again.
"I guess, still. Thank you." Blake repeated.
"Your so welcome." Weiss answered, as the two girls sat once again, feeling the warmth of the fire against their backs as they kept watch on the endless darkness, ever seeking to encroach upon them.
Across the fire, Athena continued her work, while casually listening in on their conversation. She couldn't help but smile, as Weiss finally managed to comfort Blake.
"I guess I'm going to need to teach those idiots how to treat a woman huh." Athena joked to herself, enjoying the idea as she continued to cook. As she finally managed to set her pot over the fire, something crackled which gave her pause for thought. Cautiously, Athena looked over her shoulder, and out into the beckoning abyss.
"Must've been the fire." She concluded, in the absence of any other anomaly to arouse her suspicions. Athena turned back towards her task, and continued to gingerly tend to the fire, keeping it burning brightly. Only a moment had passed, when she heard a different sound, almost like the rapping of knuckles on the city's paved streets. Athena felt her heart beat faster, as she turned around yet again to try and track the sound. Yet, as before, only a deathly silence persisted. She took a deep breath to try and calm herself, knowing that she didn't need to cause Blake or Weiss any undue worry.
"It must be just the fire. There's nothing out there, that we wouldn't notice." Athena reasoned, sitting back down by the fire, It's light the only thing providing any sort of safety in this harsh environment. Athena checked on the meal she was preparing for her girls. It was no gourmet, but she was gonna be damned if she served her son's girlfriend and wife anything remotely relating to a M.R.E. Athena allowed herself to be lost in her cooking as a way to distract herself from what she had heard, but whatever it was, it refused to be ignored. The unmistakable sound of metal scratching on stone, riled up fear and panic inside Athena's breast. Already slightly shaken, she grabbed her shield and donned it on her arm as she stood up and faced the direction of the noise. She took a quick glance over her shoulder, and saw that neither Blake, nor Weiss had given any sign of having heard the sound.
"Am I goin-. No. I KNOW I heard that." Athena thought, keeping her shield up, remaining silent.
The darkness which veiled the sound left the potential of its source entirely up to Athena's own imagination. Though she tried to keep herself resolute, it was only a matter of moments before her thoughts began to shape the darkness itself. Creatures of unfathomable horrid and terror lept from her mind and found form in the darkness. Any and every of them just as reasonable and unreasonable a candidate for producing the sound as any other source which might be out there. The conjecture and guessing, slowly took a toll on Athena, her heart continued to race, her breathing quickened, and she felt a strange beckoning towards the darkness. Against her better judgement, and filled with the paranoid fantasies that can only be grown from the unknown, Athena stepped away from the fire. Immediately, and as though it were a living, breathing, pulsing, orgamism, the darkness moved around her. With every step it seemed that eyes from deep within were piercing through here, seeing into every corner of her soul. Athena slowly came to a halt, fearful that if she went any further, the darkness would overtake her completely. She listened intently for the sound again. She waited, and waited, and stood there, and waited. The still night eating away at her patience like an insatiable beast. The adrenaline which coursed through her veins kept her vigilant. Athena quietly reached down, her hand gripping around the hilt of her sword. Time crawled by, and despite the constant pressure she felt, Athena still received nothing but silence from the dark. Soon, Athena could no longer handle being alone in the darkness, and made her quick return to the fire. The warmth of the fire, and the swath of light it shed helped to soothe her stressed mind.
"If I just focus on cooking, and ignore all these noises, we'll be ok." She chided herself, throwing herself into her task with a fake obsession, of one who would very much like to ignore what was around them, as to enjoying the task at hand. Though she had found some relief in the fires orange glow, she soon found herself once again being stressed, fighting her own desire to once again look into the abyss, to stare into that darkness which seems only greets people in death. The effects of all these mental battles, paled in comparison to what really started. Rapid screeched of metal on stone, metal on metal. A scream of Agony echoed out from somewhere in the night, followed by a roar filled with bloody agony. Athena, without even a thought of resistance, turned and stared out into the darkness, an anger forced up from within her.
"WHAT!" She yelled, suddenly grabbing the attention of her companions, who shot to their feet and drew their weapons. Athena barely even registered their reaction as she continued to yell at the monster she perceived to be in the dark.
"Come here and fight. Don't hide in the shadows." Athena demand, swinging her shield around. Blake and Weiss both approached Athena slowly, unsure of what had come over her.
"Athena… are you ok?" Blake asked, " there's nothing out there."
"YES there IS! I can hear it calling and taunting and CALLING me TO IT!" Athena yelled back, keeping here eyes and shield trained on the nothingness before her.
"I thought she was kidding about the folktale." Weiss muttered, summoning a small glyph, incase she needed to attempt to restrain Athena. Blake inched closer, raising her hands.
"Just sit down, and well help, but there's nothing." Blake couldn't even finish her thought, when an invisible force slammed straight into Athena's shield. Athena grit her teeth as she slid back across the ground, unfortunately slamming through their fire, scattering the fire. Each piece of wood burned individually on the ground, spreading the fire out. Blake and Weiss looked at Athena in shock, the sound of the metal on metal collision still ringing in their ears. Athena smirked behind her shield, and drew her sword. As she did, a gleam seemed to travel up the blade.
"Found you," Athena taunted, pointed her blade straight a head as a a beam of white light burst forth from the tip of her blade, and shot through the darkness. The three girls watched as the beam slammed into some invisible wall before them.
"Wha!" Weiss exclaimed, both her and Blake pointing their weapons at the invisible object. As they stared at the open air, they watched, stunned,as it begin to crack. They rapidly multiplied and raced through the air. Suddenly, as though glass were falling, the air itself fell to the ground revealing something that all three of the girls would kill to have never seen at all. The monstrosity which stood before them could only be accurately described by the word, indescribable. It was composed for rotting flesh, and quiet unfortunately smelled as such. Two heads hung from elongated necks, one missing its jaw, while the other missing its eyes. Dangling by its feet was a club like arm with no fingers, and the dual blades of a massive battle axe protruding from it. It's other arm was unusually long and slender, ending in seven bony fingers, each with its own claw. Out from behind it, a long tail snaked towards its front, on the end a massive set of jaws which looked capable of eating humans entirely. It's chest was littered with hole that revealed its rotting entrails, and more blades of various kinds protruded from its back and chest.
"What is that?" Blake asked, her feline instincts telling her to run and run now.
"I don't know." Athena answered honestly, sounding like her normal self. "But now that I've seen it, It'll be my pleasure to remove this thing from existence." Athena raced forward, her shield and sword poised for the strike. The abomination roared at Athena, and blood spilled from its mouth, as the helmet coated in fresh blood, and full of puncture holes, clattered on the ground. Athena ignored its grotesque appearance and leaped into the air, landing and bring her sword down at the monster. The blade ripped across its chest as a beam of white light burst from the monsters wound. The monster roared again, and slammed Athena's shield with its club arm, sending her sliding backwards once again. Meanwhile, its tail shot out, eager to rip a chuck of meat from Blake's side. Blake used her semblance to dash behind the tail's massive teeth, and spun, using both her blade and her sheath to cut into the tail. The tail thrashed violently in pain, slamming against Blake's chest, and knocking her on to her back. As Blake began to push herself to her feet, Weiss used her semblance to create a glyph, entrapping the tail inside a block of solid ice. Lacking all hesitation, the tail began slamming itself on the ground, attempting to break the ice. Weiss tried to run over, and support Blake, but founder her leg being gripped by the monsters seven grotesque figures. Weiss screamed as the monster heaved her into the air, leaving her dangling above its dual heads. The head with jaws but no eyes looked up at her, it's rotting tongue pretending to lick lips which had rotted off some time ago. Weiss looked up at her entrapped ankle, and viciously kicked at the monster's hand, desperate to free herself. Her efforts were to no avail, as Weiss could see the monsters dry, cracked tongue slowly start rising up beyond the monsters mouth towards her.
"Weiss! Get ready!" Athena yelled. Weiss looked over at the older woman, and watched her, seamlessly dodging the monsters club arm, while Blake continued to dodge the frozen tail. Athena spun around, causing the monstrosity arm to fly past behind her, and threw her shield straight at the monster's arm. Weiss instinctively closed her eyes and braced for impact. She bit her cheek to stifle her cries at the shield crushed the monster's finger, but caught her ankle as collateral. The monster seemed to be indifferent, as it released Weiss from its grasp. Weiss gasp, as she found herself helplessly falling right on top of the monstrosity. Weiss raised Myrtenaster, and spun into its fire position. She swung her feet under her and jammed her rapier into the monster back, activating the dust to burn through its rotted skin. The monster seemed unaware of the pain it was receiving. Weiss tried to push Myrtenaster deeper into its back, but the smell of its burning flesh soon overwhelmed her. Weiss ripped out her blade and hopped down from the monster.
Back on the ground, Blake was still using her semblance to dodge the wildly swinging tail. She glanced to her right, and saw Athena, pinned down by the massive arm of the monstrosity. Also noting Weiss's descent from the monster, Blake made the bold decision to try and help Athena. Blake waited, crouched, for the tail to make it's next strike. She didn't have to wait long before the tail, struck out towards her again. Blake, once again, used her shadow dash to launch herself into the air above the tail. Sadly, despite her best efforts, she hadn't noticed the cracks slowly forming across the ice which kept the tails mouth contained. As she reached the apex of her jump, the tail surprisingly thrust its jaws open, sending ice shards bouncing in all directions. The tail turned on a dime, and shot straight into the air, chomping against Blake's side. Blake cried out as her semblance desperately tried to prevent the monster from cleaving her in two, but a number of the teeth managed to leave puncture wounds in her side. The tail slammed Blake on the ground, and continued digging into her side.
"Blake!" Blake jerked her head over to watch a concerned Weiss, running towards her. Blake shifted her view, and saw Athena, barely managing to hold her ground, against the sheer muscle power of the monster.
"Weiss, go help Athena! I can manage here." Blake commanded, shifting Gambol shroud into its pistol form.
"Are you serious?!" Weiss demanded, not stopping his advance.
"Look!" Blake yelled, using her head to gesture. Weiss looked over at Athena and noticed that she really was starting to struggle.
"But…" Weiss started to protest, Blake was her friend, but in her mind she knew that helping Athena would give the three of them the highest overall chance to survive. Weiss growled at the unfortunate nature of her decision and turned to start running towards Athena. Blake smiled, happy with the decision her friend had made. She promptly turned her attention back towards the tail jaw which was still trying to chew her, Blake used one hand to hold the top jaw down, intentionally allowing it to pierce her further. She took her pistol in the other, and began firing directly into the top of the jaw. It's toughened skin providing it some protection, but soon Blake's bullets began to pierce through. The jaws opened up to protest the damage she was doing to it, and in that instant, she pulled herself off of its teeth and rolled just out of its grasp. Blake lay on the paves streets, clutching her sides as blood continued to run down her side, staining her clothes. Instinctively, she tried to sit up, but the immense pain that followed advised her than any movement was impossible. Despite her own egregious injury, she couldn't help but feel worried for her two companions that were still fighting the monster.
Darron and Adam sat in a truck from the compound they had raided the night before. Darron, eager to get to the next destination so that he may find the next clue as to where Minerva had sent his sword, had taken the wheel and refused to take his foot off the gas pedal the entire time. The radio was turned off, forcing the two of them to sit together in absolute silence, aside from the hum of the engine as they rode along. The tension in the air was so thick that it could be cut with a knife. The two men's animosity towards one another still prevalent. Though, as they traveled, a feeling came over Darron that lead him to think he was forgetting something.
"Hey… is there a settlement nearby?" Darron asked, hoping to satiate his curiosity. Adam, taking up the impromptu role of navigator, scrolled around on the map on his scroll.
"Yeah, there is. Redpond is just under a mile that way." Adam answered, pointing into the night off towards Darron's left. Darron rolled down his window, and tried to glare out through the dark, hoping to catch a glimpse of the city.
"I wouldn't have much hope in spending the night there. It says most of the inhabitant were either killed, or declared missing in the last few weeks. It's practically abandoned." Adam warned. Darron still couldn't help but feel something calling him from that direction, but he shook it off, knowing that taking a detour on nothing but a feeling would cost them time. Time they did not have when someone with the global resources and connections like Minerva was hunting you.
"Well I feel bad for any poor travelers who do end up staying there." Darron responded, rolling up his window, and sitting back in his seat, prepared for the continuation of their never ending drive.
Back inside the city, the three girls weren't in a much better predicament. Blake had managed to rise to her feet, despite her many injuries, and used her feline vision to hide herself in the darkness surrounding the scattered flames, and the monster. Weiss was panting heavily, as she used her glyphs to try and keep as many of the monsters many assaults from reaching her, while she did her best to provide support for a rather worn down looking Athena. The Queen was panting heavily, and had blood running down her face from a gash in her forehead. Most worrying to Athena was the cut just below her right arm, which threatened to increase in severity with every movement.
"This is bad." Athena groaned to herself, trying to brainstorm a way to fight this monster. It was clear by now that she was much stronger than it, which was a key advantage. It's incomprehensible life force and infinite stamina, on the other hand, proved to be the factors which kept the girls constantly on the defensive Athena raised her shield again, deflecting another smite from the monster club hand, requiring her to stumble back a few steps. From the spot where Athena was standing, a glyph from Weiss forced a large icicle to break through the ground, impaling the enemy. That followed with a number of shot from the dark by Blake, seeming to keep the monster pinned.
"Is THAT enough?" Weiss painted, the constant use of her semblance giving her a painful migraine. The monster was more than willing to answer her question, by breaking out of the icicle with almost no hesitation.
"Crap." Weiss painted, raising myrtenaster once again.
"Step back." Athena commanded, earning her immediate obedience from Weiss.
"What's the matter?" Weiss asked, stepping back enough so that she was standing right next to Athena, among the remains of their fire, which was beginning to burn out.
"We need a plan, we're losing too much energy just fighting it like normal." Athena stated, her normal resolve seeming cracked.
"I don't think any plan is enough against this." Weiss state, herself sounding a little dejected.
"Then what do we do?" Blake asked, walking up behind the two girls. The three of them stared down the monster, which stared at them with both of its heads, eyes or not. The monster started stalking towards them, sensing their fear, and its instincts telling it to destroy them. As the monster walked, it crossed the field of small fires which it had scattered, smothering a number of flames with each step, and washing it in more darkness. About halfway across the remains of the pyre, the three girls got a miracle. The unmistakable sound of a hammer falling, filled the square which was subsequently bathed in a sudden burst of bright light. All three raised their arms to shield them from the light, and were startled by a tap on their shoulders.
"Come with me. I can take you somewhere safe, and get you some medicine." a small masked girl explained to the three, before immediately taking off into the darkness. The three girls glanced at each other, before immediately taking off after the new comer. They followed the mysterious girls through the citys back alleys, until they were quite far from the town square. Blake tried her best to keep up, but her injuries, the worst of the group, were starting to take a toll on her. As they turned into yet another alley, Blake felt her legs give out below her, and she stumbled, falling against the wall, and sliding down it.
"Not yet." Blake chastised herself, her vision blurred. She felt her vision blur, and the main thing which overtook her mind was fear.
"Darron. Please help." Blake asked in her mind, reaching out to the only person who she knew would always be there, and wanted to always be there. Her vision slowly faded to Black as she felt herself being lifted into someones arm.
"You're ok Blake. I've got you." A voice she could barely perceive reassured her as consciousness finally slipped from her grasp.