There were a few things that Beo had not expected to happen when he woke up this morning, one was almost getting crushed by a golden haired beauty traveling at almost terminal velocity, their less than enjoyable run in with the giant spider that consumed Beowolves like they were berries from bushes, not to mention the horror show that was the mushroom incident.
But by far one of the last things he had expected to come across today was the funny smelling, black haired outsider currently dangling upside down in one of his snare traps….meant for rabbits and deer. It wasn't uncommon for outsiders to get caught in his traps, but usually when they saw the pitfalls they immediately turned round and headed in the other direction.
Occasionally they would get caught in a snare but they were usually in pairs by then and were more often than not freed within minutes of capture, Or caught in one of the older traps on the fringes of his territory that would almost immediately break upon being triggered.
But the rather annoyed looking upside down girl had somehow managed to wander this far into his territory, honestly he was surprised that she managed to make it this far without falling into one of his pitfalls. Maybe she was travelling by treetops and just dropped down in the wrong place? Whatever the reason was it didn't really matter since the end result ended her upside down and obviously not in a pleasant mood. Still. It didn't stop him from feeling slightly disappointed in the fact that he wouldn't be having rabbit that night. It must have shown on his face given the glare he got from the amber eyed girl.
"Uhhhmmm, hi?" She said her voice unusually calm and smooth as she swayed back and forth. Beo just kept looking at the strange girl. There was something...off about her not with how she looked but with how she smelt. She smelt like a cross between that rabbit eared outsider he had followed last year and the fisher cats that he saw down by the stream during the summer.
As for her appearance, she was attractive in a strange almost feline sort of way, with her skin being a similar fair complexion to Yang's although a bit more pale. She seemed to be a fan of the colors black and white. With every article of her clothing being one or the other, It wasn't as simplistic as Yang's, but was just as strange in terms of design and functionality.
With a strange black, vest like tunic over a white undershirt that, like Yang's showed off her midriff, along with probably the strangest part of the entire out fit, black sleeves that were detached from the rest of her clothing. The rest of her gear was fairly simple black boots and pants, topped of with a similarly colored bow atop her head. As for the weird looking, what was that a block of steel with a hilt? on her back Beo felt it safe to assume that it was another of those crash weapons that outsiders were so fond of. He just hoped it wasn't as destructive as Yang's exploding gauntlets.
"Soooo are you going to help me out or are you just going to stand there?" she asked disrupting his train of thought, her amber eyes rolling when he didn't respond and instead shrugged his shoulders. "Ok I guess we're playing this game then." she continued before clearing her throat.
"Hellloooo…. is anybody out there?! Heeellppp." She shouted and almost immediately afterwards the brush to the left began to frantically stir as Yang came stumbling out looking like she had just seen something unpleasant.
Her lilac eyes darted between him and the hanging girl as if she were trying to process the scene before her. Beo meanwhile had wandered off just as Yang began saying something to the hanging girl. What exactly she was saying didn't really matter to him no matter how curious he was about the strange smelling girl, there were still his other traps that he hopped held something he could use or eat later on.
On the bright side one of his traps past the brush did managed to ensnare a few things. Unfortunately the only thing useful was the small Beowulf that was dancing between life and death, and he was lucky he got there when he did. there was a slight problem however. Almost every bone in the young lycanthrope's body was smashed beyond use. Add to that the fact that it was practically a newborn, it couldn't have been older than a year at the most. Meaning that when he harvested its blood he barely got anything, filling his canteen to not even a quarter full. He actually did a better job covering his hands in blood than actually filling his canteen.
The other traps he didn't even bother checking. He could smell the rotting flesh coming from the pits, its probably what lured the runt away from the rest of its pack. Although, it was strange for the packs to be wandering so close to his grotto. He thought about it for a moment and quickly chalked it up to be a side effect of the outsider's constant barrages of noise and overall mayhem.
Still, he supposed not all the outsiders were like that...well for the most part anyway. The image of Yang going berserk after the Widow bled on her hair would most definitely be burned into his subconscious for a considerable amount of time.
He shuddered at the thought however in a way he was glad that Yang had that sort of destructive nature, if she was more like the meek rabbit girl from the last Boom Day then at least one if not both of them would be dead, or slowly dying at the moment.
It didn't take him long to get back to where Yang ,and as he drew closer he was slowly regretting wandering away given the first thing he heard when he got within earshot was.
"Where the hell does he keep going!? Honestly Blake do me a favor and remind me to put a bell on him when we get back to Beacon." He heard Yang shout from behind the small thicket a few yards in front of him.
Huh. Well she must have gotten Hanging girl out of the tree then, since he still had a few more minutes of walking until he would have reached where he had left them...wait who was 'Blake'? Hanging Girl perhaps?
"Does this happen often?" He heard the now named Hanging Girl, wait no….Blake respond.
"Less than you'd think, more than I'd like. and considering the last time he did this, we almost died. I think it would be best if a little bit on the cautious side." Yang respond.
"Wait what?"
"Its...a long story" an exasperated Yang said just as he broke through the tree line.
Both girls almost immediately, stopped in the middle of whatever conversation they were having and just stared at him like he had two heads. Was there something in his teeth?
"Ahem, I have several questions…" Blake said finally breaking the silence that seemed to go on for an eternity.
"Possibly starting with why, your oh i dunno, covered in blood." Yang added vigorously. Eyeing his bloodstained fingertips
Beo looked at his hands and frowned slightly. He wouldn't say he was covered in blood really, it was just his hands...maybe a bit on his face and lips from a small mishap when opening up the one of the beast's veins.
"Are you gonna answer me? Or are you gonna zone out again?" Yang said snapping him out of his musings.
Was it really that big a deal? Its just blood. Beo sighed as he pointed towards where his traps were laid while wiping off the excess blood on the Beowulf skin fastened to his waist.
"Wait that's...you saw those weird traps too!" Yang exclaimed while Blake seemed like she was studying him for some reason. And did she just call his traps weird? For whatever reason he took offence to that, as he elected to not answer her and simply puff out his cheeks like a child who had just been denied a piece of candy. As the blonde haired brawler made to stride past him to once again investigate and no doubt unintentionally either break or otherwise set off one of his carefully placed traps. Beo in a slight panic began to quickly step in her way, blocking the path towards the traps.
Each time she tried to move past him he simply blocked her path once again.
Before Yang could push past Beo however, the only seemingly level headed one amongst the three decided to end what could, her her opinion be a pointless endeavour.
"Not to be...rude or anything but, as interesting as all of this is. Don't you two think there are more important things to worry about at the moment? Like say I don't know Initiation?" The black haired girl said, as her amber eyes rolled at the cartoonish scene before her.
Almost immediately after the words left Blake's mouth, the duo stopped their pointless back and forth and looked right at her. Both wearing very different expressions.
"Ohh yea-, I mean of course! duh we were just ummm testing you to make sure you remembered since who knows how long you were just hangin around." Yang said only slightly tripping over her words as she did her best to for her slight lapse in memory concerning why they were even in this dust forsaken forest to begin with.
Whatever expression Yang was making Beo wasn't really able to see seeing that,somehow during the previous run around the busty blonde had managed to trap him in a rather impressive headlock, Beo saw out of the corner of his eye Blake simply rolling her eyes at Yang's remark. While Beo meanwhile was attempting to free himself from Yang's Iron grasp as he began to feel slightly wasn't until Blake pointed to the poor boy as he began to turn blue from lack of oxygen.
"Ah! Sorry bout that Beo. Don't know my own strength sometimes y'know?" Yang said sheepishly while releasing the mop of cobalt colored hair from her iron grasp and simply shrugging her shoulders acting as if nothing was amiss. Beo in the meantime could only manage to give shockingly strong girl an unconvinced nod as his lungs worked to bring oxygen to the rest of his body.
"Hey don't gimme that." Yang said almost defensively rubbing the back of her head with one of her hands. Giving a joking smile that Beo could only sigh at.
It still baffled Beo just how carefree Yang could be given everything that has happend today. He supposed that that's a good thing seeing she almost died not even six hours ago. He noticed Blake once again just gazing at him with hints of what he perceived as suspicion.
"So Blake, I know this is going to sound, well strange but ummm do you know how far we are from Beacon Cliff?" Yang asked trying her best to not seem completely lost. As the trio began making their way back towards where blake had been previously hanging.
Blake gave the blonde haired girl a strange look, taken aback slightly by the odd question.
"Uh let's see" Blake said muttered her breath as she closed her eyes trying to recall the paths and steps she had taken before getting caught in the snare. After about thirty seconds of mentally retracing her steps as best she could recall.
"If I'm remembering correctly, maybe five miles southeast? Or was it just East I don't recall which direction I started down as soon as I sme-" She began as she quickly cut herself off, her face flushing a faint pink as she recalled something, what it was Beo didn't have the slightest clue. But It gave Yang the incentive to begin prodding and lightly teasing her about whatever it was she seemed to be embarrassed about. He didn't find much interest in what was being said something about "close encounters of the jungle kind"? whatever that meant, only snapping back into focus when Blake practically shouted.
"I-I don't think that's really important right now! What happend happend so how about you guys? I mean how did you guys get this far out?" she said trying her best to change the subject. And to her relief it worked as Yang relented in her assault on Blake's personal bubble.
"Ask Beo, Only thing I know is that after we partnered up we headed...actually what direction did we go in? North i think?" Yang said with a puzzled look on her face as she looked to Beo for confirmation.
He thought for a moment bringing up his mental landscape of the forest. It didn't take him long before he stopped in his tracks and once again began drawing a crude map on the forest floor with the thinner of his two daggers. Yang chuckled as his eyes and face hardened in a sort of fierce concentration. While the third member of their group looked at him with a expression of clear confusion.
"Does he do that often?" she asked pointing to the now crouched amatur cartographer.
"What the drawing thing or the weird focus thing?" Yang responded.
"...Both?" Blake said after a moment's pause.
"Eh, I guess, last time he got like this we almost died so.." Yang began
"Wait what!" The Black haired girl interrupted.
"Long story." Yang said as Beo finished his sketching in the dirt and rose once again to his full height stretching out his back after spending the last five or so minutes crouched.
He had to give himself credit, as far as dirt maps went this one was probably one of the best he had done. Granted he had only ever really made at most three. One of them being earlier that day. But still it was a damn good map if he could say so himself. He sheathed the dagger on his belt as he dusted off his hands looking down at the five by three map of the forest carved into the rich soil on the forest floor. Each different areas were sectioned off in various sizes depending on forest density, the types of Grimm that inhabited each area as well as a tiny crude outline of the alpha of each zone.
Yang gave an impressed whistle as she looked down at the blue haired boy's 'magnum opus' while their strange smelling plus one stayed silent as she studied the different zones, her eyes darting from the map to the boy who drew it.
Beo pointed to the zone towards the center. A vicious yet surprisingly adorable caricature of a Ursa Major drawn in the center, with small icons representing a stream, a beehive and two tiny stick figures one with long looking squiggles for hair and another with what looked like a kilt that represented himself and Yang when she crashed into him earlier that day.
"Okay so if that's where we met, than that means Beacon Cliff would be here." Yang said pointing at the zone directly left of it drawing in her own tiny mountain or cliff as well as another tiny stick figure holding something in its hand. Who that was supposed to be Beo hadn't the slightest clue but Yang and Blake seemed to snicker at the tiny figure.
Beo shrugged his shoulders in response. And just drew a path from the mini him and Yang in the direction directly to the north and into a section that was drawn a bit thicker than the sections below it. In the center of this zone sat a tiny drawing of the Widow that he and Yang had the pleasure of getting to know oh so well.
"So you guys went North?"Blake said "And what's that supposed to be?" She continued pointing to the Widow's symbol. Both Beo and Yang's expressions grew a bit darker albeit in different ways, Beo's in exasperation, with Yang's eyes changing to a familiar red for just a second.
"Just a bug...its been squashed." The Blonde brawler said grimly. As she subconsciously began drawing tiny swaths of fire in the dirt around it. Beo could have sworn he heard her laughing maniacally under her breath as she did so.
Before the black haired girl could continue to inquire as to what could possible garner such a reaction from the pair, Beo continued to draw their path from the large northern section of his dirt map further south and past the center zone that upon further inspection seemed to be divided further into several smaller subsections each with a small doodle of a Grimm in the center, And into another section that seemed to rest between the edges of the Ursa sector and what looked like a section subdivided with Beowolves at the center of each section.
At the center of the in between section was a small drawing of a cave with a happy looking Beo face next to it.
"Wait so you carried the ENTIRE distance from that Widow's den all the way here?! Damn I don't even think I could do that on my best day." Yang said as she realized just how far off course she had led them.
Beo on the other hand was puzzled by her remark, Was it really that impressive? Although he did have to use quite a bit of his emergency reserve of Beowulf blood to be able to move as fast as he did through the rough terrain. But in the end everything seemed to work out as the blue haired boy just smiled back to her as he stood back up dusting the dirt off of his hands and pants. And simply shrugged shoulders.
"Ok well that might answer where you two were. But that still doesn't answer where we are now. Or what direction the relics are." Blake said dryly her amber eyes darting between the two and the map.
Relics? There was that word again, whatever a relic was it must have been important if both Yang and Blake were in search of it. But it still didn't answer what a relic looked like. Beo simply looked to the black haired girl and shrugged his shoulders once more. Before pointing with his ivory dagger to the northern corner of his territory and circling it marking their current location.
"Well in that case If Beacon cliff is west than I say we three go east!"Yang declared as she snatched Beo's dagger out of his hand and pointed east.
Beo couldn't help but feel a bit surprised at how fast her hand moved. As she slowly began walking towards the closest wall of moss and brush. However before she could make her next declaration Blake decided to once again interrupt the blonde's zealous declarations.
"Wait. Why am I coming with you two? I seem to remember the Professor mentioning pairs, not trios." She said slightly confused. While Yang looked at blake as if she had said something that went against what anyone would say is common sense what with strength in numbers and all, Beo meanwhile kept trying to figure out what all of these strange words meant.
First there were the things that Yang mentioned like 'sister' and dad' and then both she and Blake had both mentioned the words 'trial' and 'relic'. And now he had to figure out a professor was! All he could piece together was it was either the alpha of the outsiders or some kind of strange food like the mushrooms.
"Why wouldn't you come with us? I mean sure Beo and I are already paired up but I don't think Ozpin would send an odd number of students for initiation if the goal was to pair up...actually that might sound like something he might do if what Dad told me about him was true." Yang said as she folded her arms across the top of her chest and put a hand on her chin in thought.
" But hey! maybe there's some hapless, fellow initiate out there who is just wandering around looking for a partner." she continued after noticing the somewhat glum expression that had appeared on the bow wearing girls face.
"Hey cheer up I'm sure it will all work out and hey maybe if you're lucky your partner will turn out to be some Adonis like guy!" Yang continued as she bolted over draping her arm around Blake's shoulders. Beo's dagger still in her hand.
Again with the strange words! What's an adonis!? It sounded like a type of fruit. His train of thought however was once again interrupted as Yang boisterously declared what their rag tag party was to do next.
"So in the meantime I say that we follow that trail!" The blonde exclaimed pointing in an eastward direction with the dagger that she had "borrowed" from her partner. Both Beo and Blake both looked at the busty brawler almost unamused.
"What trail Yang? That's a wall of shrubs." Blake deadpanned.
"The trail! That.. we... blaze!" Yang shouted as she began cutting away at the vines and shrubs behind her. After she finished doing her best woodsman routine the shrubbery fell seemingly all at once to reveal not a path leading east, but a stone wall approximately ten feet high and six feet wide. Blake sighed as Beo walked up to Yang as she looked back and forth between the group and the wall of stone, somewhat dumbfounded.
Beo sighed as he took his dagger back from Yang and motioned both of the girls to follow him as he began to cut toward the already trodden path east.
"That trail that we blaze!" Yang said as she dragged Blake along to follow the blue haired woodsman.
All the while Beo couldn't help but wonder just how was it that he didn't notice a stone wall sitting in the middle of his territory. If there was one thing that he could tell about the recent developments today was certainly not going to be a boring one.
Blake Belladonna couldn't help but feel like there was something off about Yang's partner, Beo. Then again everything about today hadn't been what she had expected. Starting with her not being able to find a partner in the nearly six or seven hours since initiation had begun, not to mention getting lost and thrown off track by that sweet, sweet aroma of cooking fish that seemed to dance across her heightened sense of smell caused her to, embarrassingly stray far, far of the not so beaten path.
She wasn't ashamed to be a Faunes by any means but she wasn't so proud as to not admit that her more...animalistic qualities and features could be slightly...irritating or at the very least slightly annoying seeing how her unnatural love for what smelt like freshly roasting river fish led to her rather humiliating ensnarement in someone's rather impressive and well hidden snare trap.
But Beo seemed...odd even when compared to the others she had seen in the great hall the night before. She couldn't quite put her finger on it at the moment but something about the way he carried himself when he just seemed to appear out of nowhere as soon as she found herself dangling by her foot from a tree. And then disappear as quickly as he came into the nearby brush. That coupled with the fact that since they had been more formally introduced when she and Yang had caught up to the strange boy, in the nearly hour and a half they had been walking he had yet to even say a single word.
It was a bit off putting to say the least especially when in what seemed like a split second his entire demeanor changed from seemingly puzzled yet normal to laser focused when his partner simply asked for a map.
Not only was his lack of well any semblance of social skills outside of body language and an impressive knack for dirt cartography a bit odd for someone attending beacon but his appearance also struck her as...well a little less refined than what she would expected out of a student. Seeing how he appeared to be dressed in roughspun hide jerkins and a well worn leather and steel shoulder guard, along with his long messy cobalt blue hair cascading down his shoulders and resting close to the middle of his back.
He looked like something out of one of her more "detailed" pieces of literature. But what set Blake on edge the most around the seemingly harmless red eyed boy was something that Yang or any non-faunes wouldn't be able to notice.
His scent. At first she thought that based on the slightly pointed ears and exaggerated canines, that he might be at least in some way be part faunes. But all of that went out the window the minute he met up with them after Yang had gotten her down from that trap, which she was undoubtedly grateful for when she did. Although if she had to hear the blonde haired girl make one more "hangin in there" or "how's it hangin" puns she might have simply just have asked to be left in the tree.
But as soon as Beo broke through the treeline her nose was immediately bombarded by the overwhelming stench of blood. But that only made sense right? When he showed up his hand looked covered in the stuff and it was undoubtedly a Beowulf's but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that the scent didn't come from the blood on his hands because even after he wiped away the dark colored ichor from his hands the immediate scent faded greatly.
However there was still a lingering scent waving off of the blue haired boy. But not the Beowulf's it smelt stale, old and worn in. Like a sort of odd mixture of human and grimm. But underneath it all it made her feel. Afraid.
Deep down the most basic of her feline instincts told her to run from this thing. This Grimm in a man suit. But surely that was just her nose overreacting right? Beo from what she had observed over the last hour just seemed like well a human. Albeit with some oddities to his behavior.
"Blake."
But there were still things about him that she couldn't help but be wary of.
"Blake."
Like why was it she didn't remember seeing him at the orientation the day before, sure a lot of the other initiates aside from a select few didn't really turn any heads or stand out in anyway but given what she had been through she would have remembered noticing someone looking like him, blood red eyes are not exactly common after all.
"Hey! Remnant to Blake are you still in there? Geez both you and Beo both seem to enjoy spacing out in the middle of conversations." Came Yang's voice breaking her current spot analysis of their current trailblazer.
Blake looked to the rather energetic blonde. She must have fallen behind while thinking and Yang simply slowed to match her pace while Beo continued to clear out a path about thirty or so feet ahead of them. Stopping every now and again to look around the surrounding woods to check for something, what it was she hadn't the faintest clue.
"Oh sorry umm what were you saying again."Blake said doing her best to return her attention to the conversation at hand.
The blonde rolled her eyes as she began to repeat her previous observation.
"I was saying how it's weird that we haven't run into much less seen a grimm since we left the stone wall. I mean I dunno bout you but I was under the impression that we would be getting in on some major grimm ass kicking action, I mean Beo and I had a run in with a Widow a few hours ago but that was a...well let's call it a fight or be eaten situation." Yang said struggling to find a way to properly convey just how dire that situation had been.
"Hmm, well when I first landed I had a run in with a few Beowolves and an Ursa. But now that you mention it since I wandered into this section based on Beo's dirt map I haven't seen anything larger than a rabbit. Let alone a Grimm." The Black haired rouge responded.
"I know right its weird. I mean from what the Headmaster said before I thought this place would be crawling with the things." Yang continued keeping pace with the black haired girl. Blake meanwhile out of the corner of her eye caught sight of something slim and black darting between the brush just ahead and to the left of where she and Yang currently were, almost running parallel to Beo, who as soon the shadow reached where he was suddenly stopped once more and snapped his head to where the shadow was.
Beo didn't even seem to notice her and Yang catch up to him as Blake noticed the boy's eyes harden in focus. She did her best to try and follow his line of sight but the best she could, But could only make out even in the daylight, tufts of black fur and one visible seemingly glowing crimson eye. Glaring out at them from the cover of the trees and bushes. And in the instant that she managed to catch that glimpse it, it vanished as quickly as it appeared. Beo's eyes softened a bit as it disappeared as he looked to his sides to see the two girls now standing by him. Yang looking slightly confused yet excited at the possibility of finally seeing something that wasn't a plant.
While Blake just looked at Beo, a sort of odd suspicion in her eye. It was odd normally a Grimm would just charge at a human regardless of whether or not it had been spotted. She didn't know if Yang really noticed or even cared but the only conclusions she could come to at the moment were either, the Beowulf was simply separated from its pack and valued its life, or that there were more than what they spotted...and close.
She really hoped that it wasn't the ladder.
Beo, meanwhile let out a deep sigh as his expression softened once again to what seemed to be his usual seemingly carefree neutral expression. As he looked between his two traveling companions and simply motioned for them to continue as if nothing had happened. Or as if it happened every day.
Yet another thing for Blake to add to her ever growing list of oddities about the blue haired boy. Well on the bright side at least she wasn't still stuck in that damn tree.
How big was this damn forest! These were the thoughts that had been plaguing Yang's mind for the past hour and a half. It seemed like no matter what direction Beo led them all that they saw was more trees. And not a single Grimm in sight either which was EXTREMELY disappointing, sure it was nice to be able to take a leisurely stroll through the woods but when there was action to be had, Yang felt more inclined to the ladder option.
Well that wasn't exactly true they spotted one...ONE! Beowulf of the hundreds possibly thousands of Beowolves that lived in this dust forsaken forest they had to run into the one that Beo could win a staring contest with.
Which meant two things. One, either Beo was incredibly intimidating or at least in the eyes of the local wildlife, honestly she thought he was more like a edgy looking wild child who had the demeanor of a puppy. Or that there were more Grimm nearby. She wasn't going to lie, but a small part of her was really hoping that they would at least run into a few of the nightmarish creatures. If only to spice things up a bit.
She tried her best to try and make conversation with her traveling companions, well Blake anyway, Beo was his usual quiet self listening to everything she said and then some given how he would react to almost every bit of noise that the forest seemed to produce whether or not it was just the wind or some sort of small animal, with a quick turn of the head or a glance to the side.
And Blake, well Blake talked just about as much as Beo did. Well a bit more, she was nice enough but, she gathered that much when they met the night before.
"Ugg Beo, Hey! Are we there yet?" Yang said impatience and boredom clearly beginning to show in her voice.
Beo simply looked back to her and gave a quizzical look and shrugged his shoulders, continuing to carve a path eastward.
"Right, sorry, how would you know that. Ugh I can't believe that we still haven't seen anyone or anything. How long have we been even been walking anyway!?" She exclaimed.
"Two hours give or take." Blake said in response. Upon hearing this the blonde's form visibly deflated in a petty, despair brought by impatience.
Two hours! Was that all it had really been? To Yang it felt as if four or five hours had passed. Another half hour passed in relative silence until Yang glanced to her right at something that made her giddy with excitement.
"Ha! Finally something that's not a damn tree!" She shouted as she bolted in the direction of what had caught her eye.
"Wait! Hey Yang where are you going!" Yang heard Blake shout from behind her.
As she broke through the small brush her eyes were met with a small cliff face with what looked to be a fifteen foot by ten foot opening that was undeniably the opening to a cave or cavern of some sort. Nothing about the large clay colored cliff face really stood out aside from the small scratches and signs of years of erosion and weathering that seemed to shape the top of the cavern opening into an almost dome like structure of solid stone.
She began cracking her knuckles in excitement. The prospect of discovering whatever could possibly in that cavern peaked her natural sense for adventure and if she was being perfectly honest. She couldn't help but hope that there was nothing short of an Ursa in here.
However, before the intrepid huntress to be could venture into said cavern a blue blur flashed across her vision. Kicking up fallen leaves and dirt as it came to a skidding stop in front of her. She coughed as her vision cleared and saw her partner, standing with his arms stretched out wide and legs shoulder width apart in front of her. Blocking her path. His wine colored eyes wide with a sort of nervousness with from what she could tell, just a general desire to keep her out of the cave or just to be anywhere that wasn't here.
His muscles were tense as she looked him up and down, trying her best to work out in her head why Beo was blocking her path. She couldn't help but feel like they had just done this no more than three hours ago.
"Ok, now I KNOW we've done this song and dance before. What could possibly be in there that's worse than a burrowing widow?"
Beo just continued to stare at her motionless, refusing to budge and inch. The nervousness now clearly showing in the young berserker's expression as his eyes began darting around the area quickly.
Before Yang could question him about it though he gave a frustrated grunt as he very carefully and quickly began pointing out various shallow impressions in the dirt as well as some sort of crude carving on the side of the cave entrance.
She slowly walked up to where her partner was standing, as he impatiently began looking towards the path they had come from and to the cave entrance as well as to the thick brush to the east. She didn't know whether or not to be wary of what she saw etched into the cavern entrance or laugh out loud at how ridiculously Beo's nervouses the blue haired boy was pointing too, was a small crude outline of what looked to be a scorpion-like creature.
"C'mon I know you're cautious but seriously?" Yang said trying to stifle her laughter. To think that Beo could seriously that there was a Deathstalker inside a marked cave. Sure it could be a possibility however what were the odds that she would lead them into yet another near death situation?
"Actually Yang, I don't think he's too far off base here." Blake said from behind them. "I mean these tracks can't be any more than a day old at the most. So whatever made them is either not here right now or nocturnal."
Yang turned to see their black and white clad party member kneeling in the dirt, her amber eyes carefully scanning the impressions in the dirt, almost as if she had had years of experience doing so. It wasn't as if she didn't notice the tracks but of all the things she learned at signal, Grimm studies and tracking were never her strongest subjects.
Beo moved to up to Yang's side his face still showing signs of nervousness. But unlike before, his eyes were serious and fixed on the path they had come from. From their previous experiences, she couldn't help but but follow his line of sight past Blake's crouched form and to the edge of the clearing that the cave entrance was situated in.
She had to squint her eyes to try and see what Beo saw. But as she focused she noticed two black shadows, stalking their way towards the edge of the treeline. Her lilac eyes grew wide as she prepared to shout to Blake to warn her. However before any sound left her mouth, Beo dashed forward in a blur of blue and black. His daggers at the ready in an icepick grip as he leapt in the air over Blake. Bringing the blades down in an arc of ivory as each one dug into the slits of the Beowolves bone plating.
Each one of the nightmarish beasts let out a yelp as the razor sharp blades found purchase in their flesh. Almost as quickly as he struck Beo twisted his daggers and tore them out of the wounds. Flesh and sinew parting like a hot knife through butter as each of the creature's' blood began pouring out of the now open wounds. Beo quickly shifted his grip on his now bloodstained blades as he drove them into the eyes of the now very angry and somewhat surprised Beowolves. Each of the large wolf like creatures emitted no sound as the tips of the blades burrowed through the eye sockets and into their skulls with a sickening and wet crunch!
Beo stood as he removed his blades from the now lifeless bodies of their not so welcome followers. He cleared his throat as he sheathed his daggers and motioned for the girls once again follow him eastward.
Yang just stood there her mouth slightly agape after watching Beo dispatch two Beowolves in a matter of seconds. She jogged over to Blake as Beo strolled at a brisk pace.
"First of all, What the hell was that Beo!? I mean i've seen you fight but even I have to admit that was fast." Yang said not trying to hide her surprise.
"Agreed but a little warning next time?" Blake said as she gave a passive glance towards the rather acrobatic berserker.
Beo simply shrugged his shoulders once more as he looked back and glared drawing one of his daggers. Almost as soon as she noticed her partner once again tense and draw his dagger. That she made the connections between the Beowulf they had spotted earlier and the two now very dead wolves, along with why Beo seemed so intent on moving forward.
"Blake. I think we need to leave...now." Yang said slowly.
"I'm not disagreeing but what brought this sudden change in tone on?" Blake inquired.
The blonde gave an almost grim glance to their black haired companion saying what the both of them were thinking almost immediately after they both finished speaking.
They were being hunted.
A/N: AHHHH sorry so sorry that this took soooooo long. I didnt mean for it to take so long. so in the interest of my sanity as well as all of yours I realized that this chapter was going to be almost 12k words in length...and I feel like at the rate I was going it wasn't going to be done until freaking spring. what with my schedule being crazy with work and classes and the need for sleep and an actual social life. So i have decided to post this as part 1(Obviously you're reading this so you probably just read the chapter) But fear not I will see this through and the into arc will end by the end of the next chapter(don't worry that ones got more action in it I promise)
Anyway where was I going with this? Oh yeah! A BIG BIG BIG Thanks and shout out to all the users who left comment and reviews especially to the Users: Jascoe, RRM25100 and Dalia38 (And by extension Izzy and King) my conversations with you guys really do help me organize my thoughts(for the most part I can't help if I get distracted with other things.)
And hey there are some guest reviews I can answer so. AHEM:
Stuka: Who knows?
Guest#1: Well I just updated it so TA DA!
Guest#2:ITS ALIIIIVVEEEE
Guest#3:FINALLY SOMEONE GETS IT!
Anyway im starting to run on empty here cause as I'm writing this its like 1:18 AM so yeah leave a review. enjoy the chapter and ill see you all soon.
This is Amouren signing off