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Darkvampirekisses

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"It looks eerie… I don't like this." Ruby murmured when their little group wandered to the little gate of a moderately large farm.

The snow was thick upon its buildings and the day had begun to grow late, yet no light came from them. And at the blonde brawler's yell, no one emerged from the dark houses, nor did any answer come. In the oppressive silence's wake, and their reasonable hesitation, Qrow shoved forward between them and pushed through the gate. When Ruby called for him to wait he only waved her off and grunted, "Better a creepy roof than freezin' to death in a blizzard."

As though in response, the wind howled and slammed into their backs, shoving the smaller among them forward a bit. Tucking his cloak around him he rumbled an agreement as he stepped over the threshold and into 'Brunswick Farms'. After a moment, his companions followed him in, walking in the drinking Huntsman's wake. As they walked he looked around, keen eyes knowing the look of a farm long since left without care. Loosely hanging fencing, broken gates, missing fence posts and even the uniformity of the snow buildup. Normally, one could see shallowness where snow was routinely cleared from paths, but here there was no such deformities to the snowdrifts and mounds.

Which meant that it had been abandoned since before the fall, at least.

"I see no signs of combat." He observed as they reached a well set into the ground in front of what he took to be the main house, larger and more impressive as it was.

"Yeah… It does, and I don't like that at all." Ruby nodded in front of him, one hand resting on Crescent Rose at her waist. After a second she turned and pointed to Blake and Yang. "You guys check the barn over there. See what you see. Weiss, Uncle Qrow, you take the other house back that way. Oscar can wait here while the Arbiter and I check the main house."

"Why him?" Weiss asked, giving him an apologetic smile when he turned to look at her. "I mean why not me. As in, why not her partner?"

"This is a central location, and this setup means we all have someone good in close quarters." She answered simply, turning and pointing a long finger to her sister first as she started to explain, "She punches people really good, you have a sword, Weiss, and glyphs that work indoor, and the Arbiter has a sword too. Oscar stays out here because, uh… Well, you know. He's not... Not like us."

"I'm the weakest fighter." The boy nodded, smiling sadly at it and shrugging when Ruby panicked a little. "Not saying a lot, being the weakest around you guys, so don't sweat it. I'd rather you call me weak than let me get eaten trying to be nice to my ego."

With her orders given and explained, they broke apart to see their assignments done as they'd been told to. Being larger and more suited to the enclosed environment, as she had so wisely observed, he led the way into the main house. The inside was dark, the house's lights either switched off or lacking power, but simply tugging open the curtains as they went was more than enough to light their path. The white snow saw to that, even with the blizzard slowly worsening outside blocking much of the sun's rays.

Inside, the house was as untouched as the outside had been. The den to their left was dusty but otherwise clean, logs set in a rack beside a nice fireplace waiting to give them warmth once they completed their rounds. Beyond the stairs was a bar of sorts, well stocked with spirits both in the bar proper and beyond, in the storage room they could see directly down from the door. It was even full of candles, sitting all around the bar and melted partially down in the way that well-used candles oft were.

"At least there is food for us to eat after we finish. I doubt whoever it belongs to will have any need of it..." He observed dryly as they turned to leave the storage room.

Ruby only hummed, clearly uneasy and anxious, and he let the matter be. As they ascended the stairs a scent caught his nose and his eyes narrowed, one hand on his blade as the girl rounded the steps ahead of him. Before he could say a word she turned and pushed open a door, eyes widening as a scream tore from her throat and he moved. One hand slammed against her chest and shoved her back as he stepped between her and the door, energy sword snapping up and flaring to life on instinct.

All he found though, lit in blue by his glowing blade, was an empty room. Or rather, a lifeless one, for it was anything but empty. Resting in the bed, laid as though in sleep, were bodies. Ancient, dessicated and withered, but laid in the peace of sleep. As though they had-

"It's like they just went to sleep…" The girl murmured, laying a hand on his forearm to silently ask him to release her from where he'd incidentally pinned her to the wall. He did and she stepped by, tugging her cloak across her mouth warily and stepping by him. While she looked around he held his blade high, to better light her path. Looking at the bodies she asked him, "Why would they have just laid there and died…?"

"Disease, perhaps." He rumbled, stepping into the room and turning an eye on the bottle beside the table. Dust laden and cobwebbed, but full of water. With a foot, he nudged open a cabinet door and found old boxes of crackers. "Certainly not starvation, though. And I find it difficult, if not impossible, to believe they starved to death. And further, if they were ill, where are the signs of it?"

"No medicine, no tissues…" Ruby sighed and stepped back, towards the door. "We're going downstairs, Arbiter."

"Indeed. This place is… Wrong." He rumbled, bowing his head and looking down on the dessicated bodies. Gently, he moved to them and bent low, tugging their blankets up to cover them and let them rest somewhat more peacefully. "I would bury them, were I able. But alas we have no time, and too much frost in our way."

"Yeah…" The girl answered, her voice quiet in the way of people who sought to respect the dead. "When we get to Argus we can maybe send someone to bury them."

"It is as you say, young one." And it would have to be enough, he supposed, sighing as he felt all of the day's events suddenly slam into him. The battle, the revelations and, of course, the long walk to the farm. Turning to her and rising, he bowed his head and smiled tiredly, "By your order, then, Field Major."

"Pretty sure I told you not to call me that..." She sighed, chuckling quietly and waving for him to follow her out. As he followed her she sighed, shoulders slumping tiredly, "Forget it, Arbiter, it… It doesn't matter. Shut the door, though."

He did so without comment. The dead deserved their peace, after all, even if they kept their secrets either way. Downstairs and outside he found the others, shoulders slumped in fatigue, anxiety or both as they stood around the well. At a wave of his hand, his words snatched away by the howling of the blizzard, they began to bustle into the big house. Better a warm house with corpses in the bedroom than a blizzard that would make you one, he supposed.

"It's the same in the other houses." Qrow confirmed when they were safely sheltered and Ruby had gotten the fire going. Leaning against the doorway and scowling, the man went on, "Most of 'em were laid up in their beds. One was laid up on a couch, like he'd conked out for a nap and just died there."

"Why would they do that, though?" Blake asked from the couch, sitting beside her partner and shaking her head in disbelief. She counted her examples on a hand as she went, "They had food, so they didn't starve. Firs are safe to light and burn and I don't smell any gas, which I would, so it isn't that. And there weren't any signs of medical treatments either, so an illness is rolled out."

"Bandits, maybe?"

"Would'a been bullet holes then, kid. Prolly worse, too." Qrow dismissed, waving a hand around them at the very good looking farmhouse. Then he swung up an arm hidden behind the doorway, a bottle of fine rum in his hand. A half empty bottle, he could tell, but a bottle nonetheless. "And they would'a taken all the loot, too. The booze definitely, even if they had to get in 'n out real quick."

"You're already that far through a bottle...?" Ruby asked, sitting with her partner by the fire. He only shrugged instead of answering, and she sighed, shaking her head tiredly. Sounding resigned to that fact she moved on, "Look, we don't know what happened. But the blizzard is on outside, we have a fire here, and we have space. Let's all just… Get some rest and we can head out in the morning. Is that… A good plan?"

"You kids do whatever you like." Qrow grunted, pushing off the wall and turning his back to the room. Waving a hand over his shoulder he called back, "I'll have you all up at dawn. Get some rest so we can get out of here."

"The plan is a sound one, my young friend." And if her uncle would not praise her for it, he would, sitting on the floor beside the door with his cloak tucked around him. In spite of his steady tone, though, he found it a fight to keep his eyes open. He was tired in a way he hadn't been in years, since the battle of the Ark at the least. But he pushed on regardless, forcing himself to keep his steadiness, "Rest is what we need after such a long day. And the sooner we sleep, the sooner we leave."

"Food maybe, before bed?" Young Ruby tried, holding up a can of beans and smiling tiredly. "Warm tummies for good rest?"

"In the morning. Too tired right now." The girl's partner mumbled, turning around and curling up on the floor with her back to the fire. When Ruby complained the girl only whined, "In the morning or right now, it doesn't matter."

"I just…" The girl sighed, blinked, and pinched her nose in the way he'd seen Humans do when fighting off their own headaches. Only a few times, of course, but he made a point of memorizing Human gestures when he could. Finally, she sat the can down and flopped onto the floor beside her partner. "You're right, it doesn't matter… G'night, guys."

"Night, 'Rubes." Yang called out amid a chorus of other goonights being tossed around the room, before she turned to him with hard eyes.

His own furrowed but she said nothing, simply turning on the couch and tucking her legs under her to rest. The suspicion and anger was clear enough to see, of course, but he found that he didn't mind it. He was used to such reactions from Humans, and while he had grown equally used to these younglings' lacking of it, he knew better than to complain about it. Such simply wasn't something he had a right to complain about.

"It doesn't matter." He told himself as he closed his eyes and felt sleep reaching for him.

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The sound of smashing glass and Ruby shouting brought him from his rest, the Elite surging to his feet while she snapped, angrier than he'd seen her yet. "You were supposed to get us up at dawn, Uncle Qrow! It's past noon, now, easily! How are we supposed to get to Argus in just a few hours on foot?"

"I-I didn't…" The Elite rounded the corner and sighed, seeing the reason for the girl's agitation. Sitting in his chair, and surrounded by empty bottles, he could smell the reason too. Looking to him and then back to her, he stammered weakly, "I-I don't even remember drinking all this, Ruby. I don't… I don't…"

"Uncle Qrow just…" The girl sighed, hands trembling beside her as she seemed to force herself to calm down and take a breath. Quieter, and conscious of the others in the room next to hers, she shook her head and laid a hand on her uncle's shoulder. Guilt-ridden and shamed, the man avoided her eyes, but she spoke regardless. "Uncle Qrow, if something is wrong, you can talk to me about it. You know that, right? You don't have to carry it all on your own."

"Yeah…" He stood and coughed, clearing his throat and swaying to the side a bit before he caught himself on the wall beside him. To the blonde, who'd been woken up by the noise, he asked, "Kid, think you can check the barn for a wagon or somethin'?"

"Sure." Yang nodded, taking a half-step before her partner was at her side.

"I'll go with her." Blake volunteered instantly, adding when the blonde woman's brow furrowed in agitation, "We don't know what's out there. No one should go anywhere by themselves."

"She is right." His words were unwelcome, judging by the blonde's pursed lips and furrowed brow, but he went on regardless. Better angry with him and breathing than pleased with him and dead, he felt. "We know not what caused the deaths in this place, young Xiao Long. Nor how or when. It would be safest if none of you traveled alone in this place, for fear of such dangerous unknowns."

"...Whatever." She finally sighed, "It doesn't really matter, I guess." In a more friendly tone, and smiling slightly, she turned to her partner. "C'mon, Blake. Let's see what we can find in the barn. Gotta be a cart or something we can hook up to Bumblebee."

"Bumblebee...?" He asked when the two had gone, turning to Ruby and cocking his head.

"Her motorcycle." Ruby answered while her Uncle got to work cleaning up the scattered bottles under her watchful gaze. Blinking slowly, like a thought had occurred to her, she turned to him and raised an eyebrow, "You… Know her motorcycle's name, Arbiter."

"I do?"

"I could swear you've heard us say it more than a few times."

"Ah, I see..." Now that he considered it, he was sure he had as well, though his head ached as he tried to recall when. Or why he had forgotten it, for that matter. Shaking the ache and the confusion both off he shrugged. "I suppose I forgot, with everything that has happened over the last couple days. It matters little, in the end, really."

"Yeah…" She nodded and grimaced, holding out a hand. "Can I have the Relic?" He made to ask why and she cut him off, smiling apologetically. "Sorry, it's not… I wanted to ask you to keep a lookout, maybe walk the farm in case anything tries to come up on us. But the Relic attracts the Grimm, so…"

"So keeping watch and patrolling while attracting the same kinds of attacks I am meant to prevent would be foolish." He surmised, getting a nod from the small woman in return. And though he had suggested they all stay together as best they could, being a far older warrior than any of them, he thus saw himself as the exemption. Retrieving the bauble from his waist he handed it to her and bowed his head simply. "Then by your leave, Field Major Rose."

"Y-Yeah." She nodded, giving him a small and nervous wave. "See you in a bit."

Outside, the world was white but still. Chilly, but bright and without the howling wind that set the cold into one's bones which had plagued them yesterday and howled through the night. The path in front of the house had been cleared, and a puffing young farmhand on the porch gave an easy suggestion as to why. His muddied boots and the shovel beside him settled it, and earned a nod in greeting and thanks from him. He took half a step to leave when the boy returned it and then hesitated.

The boy looked about ready to break down, sitting on the porch and staring a hole into the ground at the end of the steps.

"I am about to go on patrol." He finally sighed and said, grabbing the boy's attention. "If you have the small knife I gave to you, I would be honored to have you beside me, youngling."

"Why?" The boy asked quietly, waving at his head with a single small, gloved hand. "Ozpin is gone. I can barely fight without him there telling me what to do."

"I asked for you to accompany me." The Arbiter pointed out simply, "I did not ask for your… Parasite, young one." He was loathe to use the term, loaded as it was for he and his people, but such was simply the case. Offering him a hand up, he rumbled again, "Now, would you accompany me? I merely wish to walk the perimeter and seek to clear this headache."

"You have a headache too, Oscar?" He asked, earning narrowed eyes but a nod from the young man. Odd… Ruby had shown signs of one and he had one as well. That they all would have an aching head at once was strange indeed. "I wonder what could be… No, it doesn't matter, really. Would you care to accompany me?"

"Sure." The young man smiled, standing with the Elite's help. Dusting himself off he sighed, "A little walk to clear my head sounds nice, actually, so-"

"Oscar!" A voice called, the duo turning to the sound to see Yang down the way, waving a hand for his attention. Beckoning him over, she called, "We found a cart and some chains! Think you can help me fix its tire and hook it to Bumblebee?"

"Sure! Be there in a couple minutes!" He called back, smiling but letting out a tired breath after. Giving him an apologetic look, half-smiling and rubbing the back of his neck anxiously, he started murmuring his apologies.

"Leave it and see to your tasks, youngling. As I will see to mine." Oscar stammered something sounding simultaneously like an apology and a complaint and he laughed, nudging him towards her and turning his back on him. More sober, he turned to the boy and gave him a meaningful nod, "I shall return in a few minutes, youngling. I should like to depart this place, if possible."

"I mean… Yeah." He nodded, smiling tiredly and turning to look at the cart that was just visible through the door the two women were dragging open. Old, rickety even, but with good enough looking wheels and heavy chains slung around Yang's broad shoulders. "I'll, you know, see what I can do. No promises, and Dust am I tired, but..."

"Did you not rest?"

"A bit." He answered, grimacing. "But I had a bad dream, and couldn't really rest properly. You know what I mean?"

"Hmph." He did. His own rest had been interrupted a dozen times by the feeling of being watched, or a chill up his spine. Like someone had walked on his grave, or cursed his bloodline. But then… "It doesn't matter. We just need to get this over with and we can rest again. Properly, this time."

"Yeah…" He sighed, "Yeah that sounds nice."

"Oscar?"

"Coming!" The boy shouted back, giving him a last smile of apology before jogging away heavily.

The sound of their work was swallowed quickly as he wandered away, heavy boots punching deep into the blizzard blown snow of the night prior. The houses, true to expectation, were silent as the graves they were as he passed by, headed for the field that adjoined the farmhouses. Old tools, farming machines and furniture rested where one would have expected them to. Albeit covered in snow and in places rusted from exposure and lack of care over the gods only knew how long, it was readily evident how hard working and invested the Brunswick farmers had been. Even the farmland showed their drive, finely squared and with what would have once been well made fences of wood and stone surrounding it.

Now, it was a ruin. With all the work and drive that had gone into it a waste of time, and its purpose turned to naught but hosting ghosts. Well, ghosts and those who made themselves welcome with them. Like so much of Sanghelios itself, now, after the Great Schism and the Breaking of the Keeps… Both of which he had caused, which often made him wonder if he wasn't the problem's true source. A foolish notion, of course, given the Covenant and Storm Covenant's beliefs and desires. He knew as much.

And yet it was like a weight on his shoulders, dragging him down and setting his head throbbing anew. A strangeness in and of itself, the throbbing ache that had persisted since his waking...

The heavy thud of wood slamming against wood pulled him out of his musings and around, back to the house he'd passed only a moment before. He didn't see anything in the windows, but the door was ajar. As though it had been blown open by the wind, or opened by someone inside the building. One of their number, maybe, looking for supplies or tending to the bodies. As limited as they were in how they could handle-

A flash of brown and green in an upstairs window caught his eye and he flinched, mottled like rotten wood and leaves. A familiar color that set his stomach spinning and his legs moving, carrying him to the door before he could think. His leg snapped out and his arm snapped back, kicking in the door in the same moment the Bane roared to life. Inside, the house was sparse and homey in the way he'd expect of a quaint little Human settlement. In a far corner, rather morbidly, a small wooden rocking horse sat for the young who had lived here to enjoy.

The dust, cobwebs, snow and ice from a window long ago left open to what would have been a nice breeze, and hellish red and orange light the Bane cast the room in somewhat dampened the hominess of the dwelling, though.

When nothing attacked him in the entryway he stepped forward and slammed the door shut, all the better to hear a Floodling approach if he'd seen what he thought. Something which was impossible to be sure, but he'd learned to trust his eyes and instincts long ago. As he moved forward he heard and smelled nothing save the death that had long since steeped the small house. Alcohol and size had protected the main one, but here there were no such protections.

He didn't smell the corruption to the death that the Flood brought, though, and began to relax.

Before he heard the door behind him slam open and a voice cry, "Arbiter, there you are!"

He rounded on it on instinct, sword back to thrust up and into it, but was met with wide silver eyes instead of warped, mottled grey and brown flesh. The girl stayed still in the door, and he blinked, flicking his sword off and sighing. "Forgive me. I thought I saw something… Troubling, and you startled me."

"Are you okay…?"

"My head aches and I feel wrong somehow, though I do not think I am ill..."Still, he felt wrong enough that he felt a need to report on the fact, at least. Pressing a hand against his forehead he shook it off and waved the girl's concern away. "What did you need, child? Is it time to leave?"

"Yes, but I need your help first." She nodded, "I saw something down the well and… And I dropped the lamp."

"You dropped the-" He cut himself off, mandibles pinching shut, and took a breath. Gentler, he asked, "What, exactly, happened while I was gone?"

"I think it's some kinda Grimm, it had the red eyes. I saw them, down the well, when I..." She trailed off, brows furrowing in thought and lips pressing into a thin line. Quietly, almost unsurely as though she doubted her memory or herself, she explained, "We were arguing and they suggested dumping the lamp down there to hide it. Then going to Argus and sending someone back, or just leaving it there where Salem wouldn't find it for a long, long time."

"And?"

"I dunno what happened but I- I was arguing with them and I was just so tired, so I gave in and…" She grimaced, and shrugged. "I was about to drop it, but I changed my mind and the eyes… Scared me. I jumped and dropped it, and now Maria and the others are waiting to go get it."

"And you came to me for help."

"Uncle Qrow is…" She grimaced, "Oscar is replacing the tire while we get it. So will you…?"

"Lead the way." He grunted simply, even if he did feel the urge to simply leave. He didn't know that a Grimm existed which could play with minds but one would explain much, and so he turned his attention on the menace below solely. "We must retrieve the Relic and purge these creatures. Especially if they are responsible for what befell the Farmstead."

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Apologies for the late post. Like Couer, been dealing with a bit of illness - merely the allergies of the season - and a troll. Annoying but eh, such is life sometimes. Stay safe out there, all of you.

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Seanklovett :

I would say - barring supernatural buffs like Nora's electrical augmentation or Hare's speed - that they are comparable. Their strengths are different, as are how they use them, but I would roughly say they are comparable.

Boonie :

Glad you enjoyed it! It was hard to write, I felt, but I hope everyone feels as you do about whether I did it justice.

CT7567Rules :

Human? Definitely. But there won't be many, if any, Covenant weapons aboard the Black Sun. It is a UNSC ship, after all. I have other plans for expanding his armaments, though, don't fret. And if I do a Rex story his gear would largely be set by the set-up for the story. I like both armor generations, though, so Iunno what design choices I would choose.

Dr Killinger :

Yeah, hopefully Ruby never faces anything like the Flood~

Smokey Panda :

Glad you like it!