Ruby's eyes were always weirdly luminous in the dark; I remember seeing them in our room when she had woken from a bad nightmare. They were so bright silver that they seemed to cut through the darkness. But they had never as bright as they were when she stared down that terrible creature. They burned so bright; they almost made me want to cover my eyes.
As the creature regained its balance, it started to howl madly, as if cursing in rage, clearly confused by the light. Ruby didn't give it long to regain its focus. She yelled and charged it with the same inhuman speed that she had displayed earlier. She sped towards the monster without hesitation as it began to swing its long clawed arms clumsily, trying to grab her.
As soon as the long clawed hand was an inch from her face, Ruby's body contorted in a majestic shower of rose petals, confusing the beasts aim so that she sailed over its head. Landing softly behind the stunned creature, Ruby grasped the knife firmly in both hands as she drove the blade deep into the monsters back.
It screamed louder that it had screamed all night as it tried to shake her off, she clung tight to that knife and it was too deep to be removed so easily. I had been sitting in terrified silence so I had no idea what she was trying to do; I just thought it had been a fluke, a rush of adrenaline...like I get sometimes.
But how could such a little kid be so tough? Ruby's teeth were bared as she struggled to hold on, but the beast was now down on all fours, shaking its entire warped form in a final attempt to shake the knife loose. Raising its lower body high into the air, it violently shook its entire torso, in a mad cap attempt to dislodge the knife; it was clearly obeying instinct instead of logic at this point. It strained and screamed and snorted, it pounded the ground with its clawed fingers, contorting in pain. And then...
A sharp snap brought both the girls in the dusty room back to their senses. Yang paused again, though this time there was a legitimate reason. The chalk she had been drawing with had snapped in two. She held one half of it in her hand for a few moments, gazing contemplatively at it. After a couple of moments passed, Blake cleared her throat. This prompted Yang to turn around. Blake had stood up, her face seemed a little flushed but otherwise, she looked completely at ease.
She walked over to the desk where Yang stood drawing, climbed onto the desk and crossed her legs. Sitting with her back ramrod straight, she waited for Yang to continue. This wasn't just about being polite anymore, this was study, Blake had always been curious as to why her team leader was considered so special and now it seemed she was going to find out why Ozpin favoured her so much. It was true that she cared for Yang, professionally of course (well...maybe a bit more that professionally). In any case, Blake knew that Yang had never told this story to anyone, she had been bottling up these traumatic close shaves for years, and she needed to let them go. Blake was willing to allow her friend to finally move on from her past...just like yang had helped her move on from hers.
"S-sorry" muttered Yang as she picked up a new piece of chalk and continued.
Then it slumped abruptly to the floor, very still. Silence followed for a few moments after the danger passed, Ruby was panting loudly. I wanted to ask her so much, how she had moved so fast, how she had known to bring that knife and where she found that amazing strength. But she cut across me just as I started to speak.
"Run away, Yang" she whispered.
"What"?! I spluttered, "What are you thinking"?! I wasn't leaving her, this was my fault!
"Please" she panted softly, not meeting my eye, "It's not...it's not safe yet".
Not a moment after she spoke these words, the beast's hand shot up and grabbed Ruby's chest. She and I gasped in unison. The thing was still alive! She struggled and writhed but could not reach the knife. The creature was rising back onto its legs, still holding my struggling sister. It appeared to be so angry, that it didn't even know what it wanted to do to her…yet.
I had no idea how its arm had twisted that far back to grab her, it had seemed incapable of this up until now. But then I saw how its arm was steaming and pulsing. The thing had broken its arm, and now that arm was healing itself.
If I thought that monster had any vestige of humanity left, I would've thought it was enjoying the moment. Its patience finally broke when Ruby raised her leg and kicked it hard in the side of the head. The monster yelled with fresh rage and hurled Ruby's body like a rock straight at me, to avoid further damage. She pelted through the air like a missile, collided with my middle and smacked me back against the tree. The impact was so powerful that it shook the tree to the roots.
The new pain in my abdomen almost made me pass out. When I got the feeling back in my arms, I grabbed Ruby to see if she was alright, and she seemed to have done the same thing for me. "Are you ok"? I gasped. "S…sorry" Ruby murmured, still not meeting my eyes. The thunderous footsteps were what drew our attention back to the creature.
It was charging at us again, but the footfalls were so violent and loud that the noise seemed to be coming from two directions. I was hurt and faint, I just held my sister, closed my eyes and pulled with everything I had left...I heard a slash, felt the wind hit me and felt some blood splash on my face...was I dead...I could still feel Ruby. Confused, I opened my eyes.
I looked at Ruby first to see how she was. She was still staring but now her gaze was raised a bit higher, her mouth was open and some of the colour had returned to her cheeks, when I looked up I saw why. The creature was inches from us huddled at the bottom of that tree, but it was impaled through the chest, impaled on the biggest scythe that I'd ever seen.
The blade was long and black, curved like the fang of a dragon. There was a dark figure holding the scythe, but I couldn't make him out from the other side of the creature. The man holding the scythe grunted and flipped the beast over him and slammed it down on the ground behind him, he then turned to Ruby and me.
I could see him now, like the other weirdo's I had met that night, he wore a black top hat, he had a brown over coat and a black cloak wrapped around his shoulders and a maroon scarf around his neck. He was wearing what looked like a nobleman's suit underneath that. His face was probably the youngest I'd seen that night, no older than my Dad, only this man had an edge to his face that my Dad didn't. His eyes weren't red (thank Monty) they were deep green. I didn't know his intentions, but he saved us so I guessed that meant he was a friend. My grip on Ruby didn't loosen though.
"You ok"? Asked the man with a smile on his face, he had a strong jolly voice that really surprised me, his smile defiantly reminded me of uncle.
"Yeah we're fine" I replied shakily.
"Nothing broken"? He asked, inclining his head towards my injured leg.
"No we're fine, I said a little more firmly; I hurt my leg a little back there but..." I trailed into silence, I was starting to feel faint again. He bent down on one knee and looked at my leg; he stroked his chin like he was considering what to do.
"Hmmmm...This doesn't look like it will cause you any permanent damage, although I think I will have Eileen take a look at you, she's better acquainted with giving medical attention than I am". I wondered who this 'Eileen' was, had that been the woman in the bird mask that saved us from the crowd.
The man smiled and turned his attention to Ruby.
"How about you"? The man asked her "You alright"? Ruby didn't answer; she was staring at the scythe with a lot more colour in her cheeks than the last time I looked at her.
"Hello...earth to red" he said with mingled sarcasm and concern in his voice. Ruby seemed to remain in a world of her own for a few more seconds, then she looked up, squeaked and sneezed. The man looked slightly confused.
"She says hello" I said, smiling for the first time all night. The man laughed and grinned back at me, of all the Horrible smiles I saw that night, I thought I'd ever look at a smiling man the same was again, but something about his face gave me a comforting feeling, he looked so much like my uncle when he smiled.
"You were a little red blur" he said in a very impressed tone, placing the blunt end of his weapon on the ground. "I wouldn't have intervened if that lycanthrope hadn't faked you out like that". Ruby directed her gaze towards her shoes. Her face was almost as red as her cloak and she was smiling modestly.
"What's a lycanthrope?" I inquired, "Why did that guy become a monster?", "and...and."
I froze for a moment, unable to speak. "You were watching?!" I said; completely outraged at this information, "Are you crazy? We almost died, and you could've-
Before he could even utter a response, there was a stirring behind the man, I was gonna scream but he was ready. He then spun around with astonishing speed and punched the creature, which had been getting back up with intent to strike; in the stomach. It yelped and went skidding backwards across the clearing.
"Excuse me" The man said politely to us, he then turned around to face the creature.
It was hauling itself to its feet, snarling resentfully.
"Eileen, get 'im"! The man shouted casually, sounding slightly agitated at being interrupted.
The beast looked angry and confused, it charged at the man with its eyes on his throat. Before any contact could be made, several silver flashes of light hit the creature in the back and made it slump to the ground, whimpering. As it fell forward, a view of its back revealed at least seven long gleaming silver throwing knives stuck in its back to the hilt.
The creature wasn't moving much, a pool of blood was forming beneath it, and it was whimpering. A moment later, the woman in the mask entered the clearing from the direction where the knives had come from; she also had the grey man Djura with her. Despite how many of those creeps he'd been fighting, I was surprised to see him completely unharmed, despite the regeneration. "Don't worry, I'll finish him off" said the masked lady who I guessed was Eileen. She walked around to the beast's front, bent down to its level, reached into her cloak and drew out a very strange sword.
It looked like two very long thin sickles bound together. With a quick flick of her wrist, the blade became two very long, warped knives...they were so sharp and shiny...until they crimsoned for a moment and then were never seen again. When she turned away from it, the beast was quite still...with a large slit across its throat. The man in the red scarf then folded the handle of his scythe and detached the blade from it so that he was holding a large, curved sword and a folded stick. He then placed the stick on his back and the sword in his belt.
All three stood over the monster, almost as if they were seeing it off. They were speaking in hushed voices and I couldn't hear what they were saying very well. All I caught was "poor bastard…nothing left of 'im…" Then all three turned to us. I struggled to my feet; the pain in my leg was made even worse by the fact that I had to drag Ruby up with me. Djura walked forward and held out his hand to me, I hesitated but then I saw his face up close, he had a very kind smile, the horrible grin from when he got shot had been replaced with a very calm, friendly smile and the red in his eye had disappeared.
Finally getting a good look at his face revealed that he had quite a few very visible scars; the biggest of them only slightly visible because of the rag over is eye. Despite this, the eye he had left had a kindness to it that I had only ever seen in my step Moms eyes. I took his hand and shook it. He was so gentle that it kinda threw me; I'd seen him ripping guys apart not half an hour ago. I felt my knees shudder as the pain in my ankle throbbed and I nearly fell over again, before I keeled over, he supported me with his hand, still holding mine and helped me stay on my feet.
"Thank you...s...so much" I shuddered out.
"Sorry if I scared you earlier" he chuckled and let go of my hand. "My names Djura, that's Gehrman and the short one's Eileen". Eileen's head snapped towards him as he said this.
"Say that again, I didn't catch that last part" she said very quietly, though we caught every word. Djura laughed and winked at her (or he might have just blinked at her, I couldn't see his other eye). A knife slid out of her sleeve and raised it in the air to point it at Djura's face.
"Respect your elders, little boy, or I might just make you symmetrical" She snapped, although I suspected her mask hid a flirtatious smile.
"I…I'm Yang and this is Ruby" I interrupted; I was too tired to be cautious, besides; if they were dangerous, they would have killed us by now. Besides…that was getting obscene.
Yang let out a small laugh that made Blake jump, as she had not laughed for a while.
Suddenly, I heard footsteps in the distance; someone was coming towards us fast. I looked at the people that rescued us and they were standing firmly behind me, their weapons drawn, waiting for whatever was coming to show itself. Ruby gripped my dress and hid behind me, I could feel her shaking.
I was worried that on top of everything that had happened, now we would start seeing Grimm. There was a rustling in the brush; I could make out a large, human like figure proceeding towards us through the tree line. Then, suddenly out of the darkness, Qrow Branwen stepped out of the bushes with a look of terror on his face, his scythe drawn.
The three people that helped us all lowered their weapons, they appeared to realise that he wasn't a threat, despite the weapon. Qrow's eyes darted between all the people in the clearing until they found Ruby and me. He then put away the scythe and began to move forward. He looked absolutely livid, angrier than I had ever seen him.
Even though I was happy that he had found us, I didn't know what his reaction would be, his face looked ready to kill as he walked towards us, when he raised his hands I thought he was gonna smack me around the head, but when he reached us, I saw that the irises of his eyes were red and full of tears. "Uncle Qr-"he crouched down, gave me and Ruby a very tight hug and what was going to be my apology was crushed out of me. I was relieved (My uncle may be a jerk, but I have to admit, he gives amazing hugs), but confused, I had expected him to be furious. I lead both Ruby and I into what seemed like a certain death situation, so why was he hugging us like this-and why was he crying?
"You're ok" he kept saying over and over again under his breath, I could hear his voice was hoarse from sobbing "Thank Monty...you're both ok". He hugged us for a good twenty seconds before he was willing to let us go and even then he wouldn't stand up again, he stayed crouched down checking us both over for any injuries. He ripped a piece of his cape off, pulled out his flask and poured some liquor (He still insisted that it was apple juice but I knew what it was by the smell), on it; he then pressed that cloth against one of my cut up knees. I hadn't expected it to sting as much as it did, I guess it was worse than I thought; I just hadn't had time to notice. "How did you find us"? I asked him quietly.
"I stopped off at the house to check on you two, he explained; but I couldn't find either of you". I could see in his eyes that he was very tired and out of breath.
"Lucky that wagon left a trail for me to follow. I breathed a little slower as I thanked past me for bringing that stupid thing with her.
"When I found the wagon, it was in a clearing...near a barn". I gasped,
"When I saw what was in that barn... thought you were...I thought you'd been..." he trailed off. I looked at my feet and felt the emotion begin rise in my chest, felt the lump come into my throat.
My vision began to blur around the edges as my eyes began to fill with tears too.
"I'm sorry, I whispered; this is my fault" I began to hiccup.
I began to cry, still looking at the floor, I couldn't look at him, I couldn't look at the Hunters who had picked up the slack for my mistake, I couldn't look at Ruby, who had been put in danger just because I was so selfish and dumb, I couldn't face what I had done. Nobody said anything, Qrow did not respond. I knew he was angry really; I knew what was coming to me, he was gonna tell me how stupid I was and that I shouldn't go looking for my Mom and how my dad was gonna kill me when he found out and how I'd never be trusted again to look after myself.
I waited...he didn't say anything; I saw his knees in front of my feet, he gently put his arms around me and embraced me. "You're...you're not mad"? He hugged me tighter
"No" he said softly; "no...I'm not mad...I was just scared, but it's alright now, you're safe...you're both safe and that's all that matters to me". I couldn't talk anymore; I just hugged him back, and sobbed.
After a few more moments of calming down, Qrow straightened up and we both turned to address the three who saved us, they had been waiting patiently while we sorted things out. "Listen" said Qrow with a look of sincerity on his face; "I don't know how to thank you for what you did for my nieces ".
"Actually", said Djura; stepping forward, "I think we should thank them, we've been tracking those bastards for weeks but all we could ever find was butchered villages". He adopted a sickened expression, as if he just tasted something disgusting. "This isn't the first time then" Qrow continued, observing each hunter in turn.
"I found a massacre at that barn", Qrow continued, sternly. "Yes" said Gehrman, rubbing the back of his neck, "that was Djura". Whether it was a response to Qrow's sickened expression or his hand slowly moving towards his weapon, I didn't know but He quickly added "Not the barn, we killed the culprits of that". Qrow relaxed at this. "Those guys dresses like you, so what's the story their".
"Those men you encountered were much like us, said Eileen; but they lost themselves to their thirst for blood a long time ago and since then, they've only gotten hungrier and more barbaric". Her voice had a melancholic tone. "But they've never done anything this…cruel".
"Okay, so you've been tracking them?" Qrow inquired, she nodded slowly. "I see-
what the hell is that thing!?" He blurted out suddenly, his sight falling on the remains of what once was the axe man.
"Oh that" said Gehrman, "That's, well that used to be an old friend of mine; his name was Gascoigne". There was a slight pause as we all processed this information, although it meant more to some than others. I for one now knew the name of than axe wielding maniac.
"We knew he was starting to show his age" Eileen explained.
"But I never thought that he would be running around with that lot" Said Gehrman, looking down at Gascoigne mournfully. Eileen put her gloved hand on his shoulder to console him.
"He was falling apart, I'm sure it had to be done". Seeing that his friends weren't going to explain anything, Djura stepped forward.
"They've been running around the country for months, butchering entire households as they went" he said briskly. "The issue was that they never moved together, they were always scattered and mostly travelled in small packs. "We could never have hoped that they would all coagulate in a single location for a single barn". Djura reached into his pocket and pulled out a dirty, stained cloth, he then began to clean his weapon, which was covered in blood. "These two kept them distracted while we got them surrounded".
So absorbed by this explanation, I just noticed then that Ruby wasn't next to me anymore; she was over by Eileen, staring at her. Eileen must have only just noticed her too because she was staring at Ruby, almost like they were trying to read each other's minds. Finally Eileen broke the silence and said something,
"Are you feeling alright, little one"? Ruby didn't answer, she just stared, as if hypnotised. Eileen seemed taken aback; I guessed she wasn't the best at keeping a conversation going.
"Uh... sorry about the kick by the way, split second decisions and all that".
Ruby didn't answer immediately, stared for a few more seconds and then said in a small voice
"...I...I like your cape...it's like...my mom's was..." she went quiet again, she sounded very out of it. I was worried about her, she had been acting very strange since that monster had us cornered, I thought maybe she was in shock or had PTSD or something. Qrow must have had the same concern because he walked up to her and picked her up.
"Hey...you feeling ok, kid"? He said, so softly it was almost hard to hear. She still looked kinda distant but after a few seconds, she turned to Qrow and silently nodded her head. "Good", he said bringing her in for a hug too; "you've been through a lot...you both have".
"Alright" said the Gehrman; "I think it's time for us to take care of those poor people in that barn, I think we should burn it". I was shocked,
"What? Your just gonna burn it? What about the bodies? What will their families sa-
You didn't see inside that barn...did you?" said Gehrman, suddenly serious.
"Well...no" I said, after all; I hadn't-I thought it would be too horrible to see.
"Those bodies...are little more than paste; said Gehrman very slowly, there is no way we could ever identify them.
"It's honestly the kindest thing for them", chimed in Djura;
"I agree" said Eileen.
I hesitated for a moment, but I knew they were right. I nodded. After Qrow nodded and took Ruby's hand, we set off towards the clearing where the barn was. I wasn't looking forward to seeing the aftermath of what had transpired there half an hour ago. I also realised that I had no idea how to get back to that clearing. However, the Hunters seemed to k now their way, and then Qrow's hand clapped on my shoulder.
"Alright, he said wearily; I think it's time I got you two back to your dad's house".
I looked up at him with in surprise. "But why"?
"I've seen that clearing and that barn; I don't want you to see that, not at your age".
I opened my mouth to protest but before I could say anything, I felt something tug at by sleeve. Looking down, I saw that Ruby was tugging my clothes and looking at me with a very upset expression.
"Yang…can we go home now…please?"
I couldn't say no to that face, I was too tired to anyway so I squeezed her hand and simply said "yeah".
"That okay with you guys?" Qrow asked the hunters that saved us.
""Yeah, that sounds good" said Djura.
"I think it would be a good idea for those two to go with you", said the Gehrman; "more of them could still be about, and I'll take care of the barn". Qrow looked very impatient; I could tell he just wanted to get home so he could sleep.
"That's kind of ya, really but I don't think-
"Someone has to carry those two" interjected the Gehrman, chuckling. As he said that, I felt myself give in, all of my strength had been used up, my legs finally gave way, and I blacked out.
Hi there, Johnathan here, thank you for reading. the next chapter will be coming in about 3 days from the day this goes up, thank for being patient and I hope you enjoy what i write in future.