There was silence in the forest after their laugh ended.

The familiar shade of their eyes put me off and wiped anything I had planned to say from my mind. I fell back a step unconsciously, and my hand instinctively came to rest on the handle of my blade. My face remained expressionless though from no small amount of effort.

Flickering light from the lantern washed over the figure holding it, doing nothing to cut through the shadows hiding their features. The red eyes locked on me were so bright they were nearly shining.

"HeHeHeh…"

My eyes narrowed at the half-pint as it laughed. Its shoulders didn't bounce, and its chest didn't raise. My instincts were screaming at me to fight, but I kept myself in check. Still, the grip on my sword made the leather squeak as it tightened. A gurgle tore me away from my stare-off and towards a stray Snow Lark that bounded in from the side of the clearing. With a tempered sigh I prepared to throw away my suspicions and protect the creepy brat from the Grimm. Something odd hit me as I studied the bird though, and my sword was only half free of the sheath when I thought of what it meant.

The Snow Lark wasn't going after the brat. In fact, it didn't even seem to register the kid's presence in the forest and instead focused on me. It was like they didn't even exist. The bird seemed to be faster than the others, as in the time I refocused it had halved the distance between us and passed the half-pint entirely.

I drew my loaner fully and prepared myself to cut down my opponent without a second thought, but a chime cut me off. In tandem with the noise, the forest shook. The ground beneath my feet quaked sending vibrations up my legs through the snow and ice. I felt the shakes and withstood them as my adversary charged into range. I reeled back and readied a death-dealing slice…

… only for a spike of black to beat me.

It was long and thin as a pike, and burst up from the snow swiftly beneath the Grimm. The pointed tip impaled the bird effortlessly through the bottom of its torso and exited through the back, rising high enough to rival the height of the trees. My face felt cool against the frigid air, as I stared at the sight in complete shock. A series of thoughts ran through my head with a particular few nesting in and standing out.

"KRRRGLrrglreah-!"

The sound from the Grimm was of surprise. Understandable, considering its charge was ended by sudden impalement. It writhed on the spike and its odd feet scraped against the ground while its long neck lanced out, single-mindedly trying to snap at me. A scowl scrawled across my lips and my teeth grit all while I took a step away. All movement paused in the flailing Grimm, as though a switch were flipped, and suddenly the spike engorged in diameter. It doubled, then tripled, quadrupled, quintupled, and even further! My mouth felt dry as I watched the spike impaling the Snow Lark quickly become a sharply tipped pillar that pierced through its center mass. The flesh and bone spikes bowed out and deformed, swelling and creaking as muscles and organs were ripped apart from the inside out. The ground quaked familiarly with each change of the towering black monument.

"Holy shit…" I muttered gruffly under my breath. My eyes were locked and my sword held at the ready, for all the good it would do as I watched. I heard snow crunch, and I knew Jessie was watching the spectacle unfold as I was. Probably shocked into silence…

Black musculature at the edges of the impalement splintered along with the pillar, and I saw every bit of it. The Grimm showed no reaction at all, frozen with its beak open in a silent screech. The splinters shivered, then moved. The splayed flesh waved and wobbled just before digging into anything around it. The pike-turned-pillar, the bone-white armor, the flesh of the Snow Lark, nothing was safe. The appendages wriggled and fought against any surface they could reach, all to worm just beneath the surface.

A tinkling chime rang out, and the bird forced out noises even more strangled than their average screech. It was only a hair away from the sound of vomit. The unmoving eyes went from piercing red to completely fogged-over in the span of a second. Its head shivered, its neck swayed, and its beak snapped wildly all as stringy black erupted from its mouth. My jaw clenched. As the mass coalesced into something identifiable, I already knew in my gut exactly why I had a sense of déjà vu.

The new arm slashed with bleached claws. Splintered bone and flesh writhed against itself. My sword held steady. I remembered the tower in Beacon.

"Hahehehe!"

Laughter. The voice layered over itself unnaturally. I snapped to the child-sized creep, observing how it was completely unbothered by the horrific scene playing out only feet from where it stood.

The figure leaned forward with a giggle and waved their lantern in front of them. A small chime sounded as the metal light source swung, reminding me distantly of church bells. My attention remained focused on something else entirely though. As the 'kid' hunched low, the neck of his shirt wavered just out of the way. Underneath were rows of pearly white teeth, all of which were too long and far too sharp and left exposed by a distinct lack of lips.

My blood chilled as certainty flooded my mind, and my face reflected it grimly. The face-splitting rows of fangs were only visible for a second before leathery cloth fluttered back into place, but I couldn't ignore where all the signs pointed. The person in front of me wasn't human or faunus.

'It's a disguise!' I shouted mentally, keeping my outward appearance in check.

Another swing of the lantern and another chime sounded. The ground quaked again underfoot and my eyes snapped back to the pillar of black. It bloomed and spread, quickly engulfing the body of the Snow Lark it was driven through and expanding wildly without order. The arm slashing from the mouth of the bird stopped in place while more and more black poured up from beneath the ground… then, it grew. Black flesh exploded out around it, wrapping the limb tenfold in large tendrils of musculature and growing even further. An arm fit for a giant soon replaced it, and I could only swallow my spit before it rushed across the terrain towards me. It launched at me with the speed of a rocket, fed mass from the pillar, tearing through snow and ice and frozen ground alike.

As the massive fist of knuckles rushed towards me, I barely had enough time to rip my shield off my back and brace.

It did no good.

Outside of the forest I had the advantage of the hand pressing down from above, where I could brace myself between the palm and the ground below. Here, I had no such thing. I was sent flying like a doll and crashed through numerous frozen trees before I smacked against one that didn't budge.

I laid there in the snow, dazed and surrounded by the shattered pieces of my utterly destroyed shield.

'It… it's all starting to make sense.' My thoughts were unorganized after the impressive hit, but clear enough for gears to turn. I gasped for breath, feverishly trying to regain the air that was knocked out of me. My sword lay in my hand next to me, my grasp never having wavered. 'The weird behavior, the foggy eyes, all the different mutations. It wasn't evolution, it was a parasite! And all of it's connected to that arm, AND that clothed Grimm!'

With a heavy breath I wedged my arm into the snow, propping myself up to look back the way I came. A path of destruction met my gaze. Five trees had been completely destroyed by my body being flung through them. The trunks where I made impact had exploded into splinters and left the rest of the plant to topple. The ice coating each of them had shattered as well, leaving the fresh snow a mess of wood and large shards of ice. I looked beyond all of that, and saw a monster. I only looked for a second, seeing an indistinct collage of limbs and teeth and flailing tendrils of musculature, before something tore my attention away from all that.

"Jessie?"

My partner stood right where she was before on one knee, with her rifle shouldered and aimed at the horror. For all intents and purposes she seemed ready to fight the thing… but even from this distance I could tell.

She was shaking. Her rifle was bouncing in her hands.

The amalgamation moved, and it was like the wind changed. A limb much like the one that struck out at me began to form. A droning buzz started lowly in my ear as I realized what would happen. She wouldn't be able to just tank a hit like I just did. Disproportionate fingers and knuckles started taking form as long tendons of black flesh grew into place, and I threw myself onto my feet and away from the bark I rested against. The forest passed by in a blur with my feet pounding at the snow less and less as my strides grew and dashing became sprinting. I vaulted and leapt over fallen trees with my attention focused purely all the while.

"HHHAAAAAA!" Jessie shouted with everything she had as the grotesque limb lurched at her. Her gun bucked and rang out again and again until her magazine ran dry, drilling her rounds into the approaching fist. Though she'd emptied her gun and the limb still came for her, she was shaking too hard to move.

The distance between me and her disappeared after a final push that sent loose snow exploding behind me. I stopped behind her smoothly with a cold scowl on my lips. My free hand clasped onto the back collar of her polished armor and I stepped widely to the side, dragging her along with me. The massive fist surged passed us while digging a trench through the frozen ground. Wind blasted from the massive object that passed us, and the forest vibrated. My sword was already held high, and with a growl I slashed down at my side. The blade ate through the surging black flesh of the massive arm, cutting through cords of muscle as thick as a log and rubbery tendons. It was far choppier than Crocea Mors, but it got the job done. The blade was long, but not long enough to sever the arm completely. Only a few ligaments and a thin stretch of skin left the stump attached to the rest of the limb.

I turned away from my work and bolted while dragging my partner with me. When I felt we were out of immediate range, I threw her to the ground.

"What are you, stupid?!" I shouted at her with anger clear across my features. My fist crashed down on the top of her head, knocking her out of her daze.

"OW! What the hell was that for, you jerk?!" She shouted back, the fog leaving her eyes and being replaced with annoyance as her aura subsided from the hit.

"Shut up! This isn't the time to freeze up, it's kill or be killed." I spat passionately, watching her anger disappear at that. "You can't afford to be scared now, so save it for later. If you need to dodge, then don't even think about it. Do anything it takes to stay alive. Remember what we said earlier?"

She was quiet, her words caught in her mouth as she made to respond. She blinked, and I saw assuredness wash over her.

"Dang, I forgot in all the excitement. You're right, I needed this little rally." She huffed, as though admitting that was a chore by itself. She did have a small smile on her lips though. "No backing down now. I'll give it my all, Partner!"

"Together it is." I flashed her a subdued smile before turning to peek at our target. "Got any clues what that thing is?"

"… something about that cloaked Grimm rings a bell, specifically that lantern it had. The pieces don't really fit, though." She muttered quietly, drawing up to her feet. Seeing the writhing mass through the trees spurred me to look back at her blankly.

"I'll take what I can get at this point." My words were bland. She just sighed.

"There was a history assignment from the Academy that this reminds me of. Centuries ago, scouts from the ruling faction here in Solitas recorded a sighting of a Grimm, though these days you'll probably find it in dark fairy tale books. They described it to be cloaked and short, and carried a torch in broad daylight." She explained, sounding for all the world like she didn't want to believe the account. Still, there was a certain inflection that told me she was resigned. "The details are fuzzy, but I'm pretty sure they only saw one of them ever. When they fought, they wrote that-"

Shifting snow cut her off, and just like that we were thrust into silence as our eyes snapped to our side.

A long black wire had been drawn tight, and pulled itself up from under the snow. We looked at it silently, cautioning a quick glance between ourselves to make sure we both were seeing it. It drew tighter still, bouncing with vibrations before pulling. A sizable mass shifted unthreateningly under the snow. Slowly it was pulled along by the wire and the snow shed, displaying what was hidden as it was dragged along the ground. It was a Snow Lark… or what was left of one. It was familiar too, definitely having been killed by us earlier. Experimentally, I cut the cord that was dragging along. The wire made a speedy retreat, while the bird finally began smoking away as Grimm naturally do.

I glared balefully at the sight while Jessie took the initiative to finish.

"… they could take Grimm for their own to rip apart, and use them to fight. They called it a Puppeteer, or sometimes a String-Puller. Seeing it in person, I guess it actually makes sense." She said, sounding halfway between relieved and annoyed.

"That bastard. It wasn't just the arm or the evolving bird. It was behind everything." I grumbled, annoyed at having been thrown for a loop by a monster. One that was working behind the scenes the entire time we were fighting. I frowned. "Guess it's settled. We're killing the short one."

"I won't argue with that!" My partner laughed, lightening my mood.

"Nice. Catch up once you're ready." I told her, stepping around the trees before looking back to her. "And bring out the fire power. I'd like to go in blazing."

She flashed me a thumbs up and a smile before moving to switch out for a different series of magazines. I was dashing away before she was done.


[AN- Have another. We officially crossed the 500 follower mark, and we're close to 400 favorites. Thanks for all that, shout out to everyone that enjoys this! Hopefully you enjoy these next couple chapters too.]