Cabin Fever

Night finally fell on the cottage where our heroes resided. After an awful day of looking for shelter, weathering a storm, and discovering a farm full of corpses, the group wanted nothing more than to rest. The teens and Maria all sat in the study where they kept warm by the fire. RWBY and Oscar stared in astonishment as Peter scarfed down can after can of the canned meat while Maria desperately tried to not pay attention by reading the many journals of the people who lived on the estate. "How?" Blake asked with a disgusted face.

"It's like he's a bottomless pit." Ruby added.

"He may even be able to eat Weiss' cooking." Yang joked.

Weiss nodded before blinking in realization, "HEY!" she crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks in a pout, "I burnt the food one time."

Peter finished the last can and smacked his lips a few times, "Do we have anything to drink?"

"Just alcohol." Weiss groaned.

"Good enough." Weiss nodded to Peter and grabbed him a bottle of one of the wines in the back room.

Ruby gulped, "Um, we don't exactly have a--" she was cut off by a loud pop as Peter pulled the cork out of the bottle with his thumb, "--corkscrew."

Peter chuckled as he tossed the cork in the fire, "Adhesive abilities, remember." he smirked, "I don't know the drinking age on Remnant, but I know we literally have no choice. So, anyone wanna join me?" Peter asked as he twirled the bottle around lightly. The girls shook their head and Peter didn't even bother to ask Oscar, "Welp, can't get drunk." and with that Peter began to chug the wine like it was a gatorade. When he was done Peter stuck his tongue out in disgust, "For a drink that is supposed to have a lot of sugar it sure as hell tastes bitter."

"Ugh, you smell like my uncle." Yang said as she tried to blow Peter's breath away from her.

"In my defense, I was with him for a little bit."

Ruby shook her head as the group sat together and kept warm. She went out into the main room and sat at the foot of the stairs and watched the storm die down, much like Qrow was doing except he was in a wooden chair and propping his feet against the windowsill. Ruby looked down and saw the large bottle of booze that Qrow had acquired. Guess he found the back room. Ruby sighed. Ruby got off the steps and dusted herself off before walking over to Qrow. "The storm's cleared up for now." Qrow stated as he saw Ruby approach from the corner of his eye, "We should be able to leave in the morning."

"T-That's good." Ruby said as she folded her arms nervously. She still wasn't sure how Qrow was taking everything and was afraid if he had given up or not.

Qrow shook his head, "No...I don't have a good feeling about this place. I think he mentioned it earlier." Qrow said, referring to Peter, "Something is wrong."

Ruby gulped as she fidgeted in place, "Um...are you okay?"

"Suuuuure." Qrow replied a little too sarcastically, "Just tell everybody to get some rest. I'll wake 'em up before sunrise." Ruby nodded and turned around to return with the others and the minute she turned around Qrow took a large gulp of the alcohol. Ruby could only look back with a worried expression. She wanted to say something but she just couldn't find the words.

Back in the room, Yang, Blake and Weiss sat in front of the fire, trying to keep warm; Peter, remembering that one time with Neo on the train, took his shot and used Yang's lap as a pillow. He of course was still semi-awake. This is the second greatest feeling in the world. he thought; Maria was still reading the journal and seemed to have made it halfway through the third installment since they first got here. "What is that you're reading, Maria?" Oscar asked as he walked over to the older woman.

"Personal journals about the day-to-day goings on here on the farm." Maria replied as she licked her thumb and turned the page.

"So it's...a diary?" Oscar asked with a confused face.

Maria nodded, "From the head of this household, Bartleby. Apparently, he and several other families founded this settlement to try and live on their own." Oh, I guess it wasn't just one big family then. Peter thought as he listened in. "It sounds like it worked...at least for a spell." Maria added implying that what happened to the people seemed to be fairly recent and almost out of the blue.

"Grimm?" Oscar asked.

Maria shook her head slightly, "That's just...one of the many hardships. It slowed down their farming, made everything harder. It's a shame, really." she frowned, "However, he seemed like quite the ambitious fellow, always thinking of new schemes to overcome the odds."

"Hey guys," Ruby called out as she walked back into the room, "Um...Qrow said we should get some sleep. We're gonna head out early tomorrow."

"Thank goodness." Blake said as she began getting up, "Sooner we leave, the better." Both she and Weiss looked down to see Yang pick up Peter's head and gently place it on the ground, No! Peter shouted internally, No, my Lap Pillow Paradise! It's gone! The girls began setting down blankets and pillows to sleep on while Oscar seemed to be getting something out of a trunk or putting something away, Ruby wasn't exactly sure.

Maria huffed as she stood up from her spot on the couch and began walking towards the young leader, "The last thing you'll catch me doing is letting some kid tell me what to do." she huffed, "'Go To BeD.'" she mocked before scoffing. At the other side of the room Maria made herself comfy in a lounge chair by a lamp and turned said lamp on so that she could still see what she was reading. Ruby, despite being made fun of, still smiled and shrugged off the old lady's comments before she herself went and grabbed something comfortable to sleep on.

Night almost instantly turned to morning. Sunshine began glowing through the windows and lit up at least a quarter of the room. The fire had gone out many hours prior and was now dead cold. Maria slept in the chair, seems she had gotten through the last of the diary entries of Bartleby, or at least most of them. Weiss, Blake, and Oscar all slept on their own makeshift "beds" (just a couple of blankets thrown on the floor). Ruby and Yang shared a "bed," and Peter in the middle of the night "miraculously" rolled over and rested his head on Yang's chest, The third greatest feeling in the world. Still, the teens slept on the floor, clearly not getting that wake up call Qrow had promised as he was still a little crocked from the alcohol. Even with the sun shining, nothing seemed to wake the huntsman up.

Eventually, the bottle that Qrow was holding by the neck slowly began to slip from his grasp, until he let out a snore that caused it to fall and make a loud clanking sound against the ground. "AGH!" Ruby yelled as the sound woke her from her slumber. She had heard a thump-like sound and looked up to see Peter already in a defensive stance in front of her. Peter let out a shaky breath before turning to Ruby and letting a large toothy smile.

"You scared me, Rubes." Peter whispered. Yawning, and stretching, then finally cracking his back, Peter rubbed his eyes and looked out the window to see how bright it had already become, "Damn, so much for 'before sunrise' huh?" Ruby groaned as she stood up and yanked the makeshift curtains open, letting in the rest of the sunlight much to the chagrin of Weiss who was pelted by most of the light.

Ruby sighed and walked into the other room to see that the one bottle Qrow had by him the night before had magically turned into three! All sarcasm aside, Ruby couldn't help but be disappointed in the older huntsman. Ruby picked up the bottle Qrow had dropped and realized it was empty, "Uncle Qrow," Ruby called out as she walked closer to him, "come ooooon. Get. Up." she reached her hand forward and began to shake her uncle.

Qrow tried batting Ruby's hands away, "L-Leave me alone." he said groggily, followed by more incoherent mumblings. Ruby backed away as a frown pursed her lips. She looked down at the bottle she was holding and then back to her uncle. Her anger began to grow as her frown morphed into a grimace. She gripped the bottle tightly, practically shaking with anger, before spiking it on the ground, causing the glass to shatter and spread across the floor. "Huh? W-What?" Qrow asked as he jumped awake from the sound of the glass shattering. He turned to see Ruby with an upset look on her face, then he looked down to the shattered glass, finally he looked out the window and had to cover his eyes from the sun. "Oh, right...sunrise." he sighed.

Ruby's lip trembled as she saw the expression on her uncle's face, he just looked so out of it. Ruby moved forward and wrapped her arms around her uncle for a hug, "You know...you can talk to me about stuff. Yang too." Ruby assured.

"Let's just get outta here." Qrow groaned as he got up out of his seat. He walked into the study and slammed against doorway waking up those who weren't quite fully awake. "Wake up, we should head out. Firstly we need to attach a tow hitch to the ass-end of Bumblebee, Parker I need you to grab the one off the tractor Yang and Blake found. After it's off we'll have to weld it onto the bike, Weiss can you do that?" the former heiress nodded, albeit only half awake.

After maybe half an hour, Weiss was able to weld the ball of the tow hitch to the back of Bumblebee by using Myrtenaster. The group was just in front of the home by the well, "There." Weiss said proudly with a nod before letting out a heavy yawn.

"Can't we just go back to bed?" Oscar whined.

Blake rubbed her eyes and scratched the inside of her ears, "Since we're all so tired, shouldn't we make breakfast?"

"With what food?" Oscar asked, "Unless cat faunus can lay eggs I think all there is to eat is evaporated milk."

"Mm...good point." Blake groaned in response. The group turned to see Qrow and Ruby walking alongside Peter who carried the trailer over his head as if it weighed as much as a textbook. "Good thing we brought muscle with us. This would have taken a lot longer if we were stuck with...ugh...Deadpool." Blake shivered just at the idea. Peter dropped the trailer down gently being sure not to be too rough, Given my luck, this thing will break if I'm not careful. Peter thought.

"Great." Qrow nodded as he began to put his foot on the side of the trailer to rest, "Now that we have that fixed--" he was cut off by a loud popping sound followed by the sound of air flowing out of a small space. The trailer leaned to one side signaling that a tire had blown out. Qrow and Peter could only stare in disbelief, Oh my God...it wasn't on me this time. Peter thought.

"You folks are just beacons for bad luck, aren't you." Maria yelled out from the house. Qrow growled as he took a look at the damage, he looked as if he was going to blow his lid but instead he walked off and sat against a stack of wood before pulling out his flask.

Yang sighed as she sat and leaned against the walls of the well, "You know, I'm starting to think the universe just doesn't want us getting to Atlas." she said with a said expression. Peter looked around at his friends and saw the distraught expressions on their face. He and Ruby looked at each other and they seemed to have a similar expression.

Ruby sighed, "Look, it's just a flat tire I'm sure there's a spare."

"She's right." Peter chimed in, "Though we're down on our luck, we need to keep persevering. We can get through this, another tire couldn't be that--"

"It's not just a tire!" Yang snapped before sighing and burying her head between her knees before looking up again, "It's everything. Storms, crashes, monsters. I'm just so tired of it all."

"Me too." Blake added, "I mean, it just always feels like we have to fight to get by."

"So?" Peter shrugged, "Sometimes that's life. You get a flat tire thrown at you and what? You guys give up? Since when? Yeah, we may have to fight, but that's normal. Nothing comes easy for us. But that's no reason to stop. It's now that we have to pick ourselves up, regather our bearings. Believe me, I've had to do this dozens of times before."

Weiss frowned and scoffed slightly as she rested her chin in the palm of her hand, "That's fine and all, but you forgot something. We. Aren't. Like you." Peter could only widen his eyes at the response he received.

Ruby looked to Peter and then her friends, "No, he's right. This is what we signed up for."

"We signed up to save the world." Oscar argued, "Not just...delay the inevitable."

"Shut up, Oscar. What do you know?" Peter snapped before shaking his head in realization, "I'm sorry, that was...a little uncharacteristic of me."

Weiss fidgeted in place before walking over to Bumblebee and leaning against the bike, "Last night, I was thinking...why are we going to Atlas?" it became deafly silent and the others began looking at each other, all showing some form of doubt.

Ruby looked down and began having second thoughts before shaking her head, "Weiss, we have to." Ruby said sternly, Peter standing by her side.

"Why?" Yang asked as she stood up, "Ozpin hid the relics underneath the academies behind enormous doors." she shrugged with a disinterested expression, "How long would it take Salem to find one in the middle of nowhere?"

Peter shook his head in surprise, "Wha--? Minutes. Literal minutes. She found us as soon as we reached outside the confines of a densely populated area. Guys, you can't seriously be thinking this." Ruby nodded in agreement.

"They'd find it eventually, sure." Yang continued, "But bury it or throw it down the well it could take years. It may not even happen in our lifetime. But we could be done with it now."

"What the hell are you talking about!?" Peter asked, nearly pulling his hair out, "Again, MINUTES! We throw it somewhere then we are just giving Salem something that could just quicken our destruction! And I do not plan on dying here God dammit!"

"Oh, you'd rather go back home and live a loooong life while we stay back and die, is that it?" Weiss asked.

Peter actually let out a laugh from how ridiculous the girls were being, "What the actual hell is wrong with all of you!?" Peter yelled out, "Firstly, treating me going home like it's a bad thing? Weird hill to die on, but alright. Secondly, I MEANT HERE! I don't want my grave to be some hick house in THE MIDDLE OF GOD DAMNED NOWHERE!!!" he shouted out, an angered expression now adorned on his face, "But nooooooo, I'm the bad guy here. Of course. You know what, if you want to get rid of it so badly, just throw the relic down the well." Peter crossed his arms and turned around in a huff, "You know...together I was under the impression that Goonies never say die."

The girls stood in front of Ruby, pressuring her into getting rid of the relic. Ruby unclamped the relic from her belt and held it in her hand before walking towards the well, "I...am getting tired." she said as she held the relic over the well's opening. Her hand began trembling as she started having second thoughts about getting rid of the relic. She looked back and sighed when she saw Peter turned around still.

Peter himself sighed, "What am I even talking about? Ruby, whatever you do, don't--"

"EEEP!" Ruby yelled out as she looked into the well, watching as the lamp bounced off the walls as it fell, "No, no, nononono! I didn't mean to!" she shouted as she held her head in shame, nearly pulling her hair out.

"What happened?" Peter asked with a worried expression.

"I dropped the lamp!"

"You dropped the lamp!?" Peter echoed, both teens now gripping their hair in both frustration and worry. All the meanwhile the other girls just stared lazily.

Weiss shrugged, "Ruby, it's okay. Really."

"No! No, there's something down there! It was looking at me!" Ruby looked over the edge again and into the well, hoping to see what she saw before, but couldn't see a thing.

Yang walked up to Ruby and pat her on the shoulder, "Hey, c'mon you said you were tired. It's probably nothing, now let's go." Yang said in a very monotone manner.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!?" Ruby shouted as she shook Yang's hand off her, "Peter's right, you guys are being weird. Don't you see, we have to go down there! We have to get the lamp back!" Ruby rubbed her head in frustration as Peter tried to console her, "Ohhhh, what was I thinking."

"All we have to do is fix this trailer." Qrow countered from where he was sitting, "Hey farmboy, check the shed for a spare tire."

"I'M NOT LEAVING WITHOUT THE LAMP!!" Ruby shouted causing Peter to take a few steps back in surprise, he hadn't seen Ruby so pissed off before. Peter immediately placed his hand on her shoulder and gave her the thumbs up, showing he was all for going with her.

Blake sighed, "I'll go down with you."

"We'll go down...together." Weiss suggested causing Yang to roll her eyes and frown at Peter.

Qrow growled in frustration at his niece's stubbornness, "Fine." he got up and began stomping towards the house in frustration and anger, "Get the stupid lamp. Oscar, fix the stupid tire." he then stomped just before the steps and pointed at Peter, "And, Stupid, keep your hands off my niece. It's bad enough you're with one of them."

"I love you too, Uncle Qrow." Peter said with a condescending smile.

Again, Qrow growled and walked up the steps to the house. "Where are you going?" Maria asked.

"Where do you think?" Qrow asked as he flashed his empty flask.

Maria clicked her tongue and shook her head, "Stupid." She then let out a long breath and took a seat on the porch.

"Qrow is gonna shoot you one of these days." Yang warned.

"I'll just dodge it." Peter chuckled, but Yang unfortunately didn't do the same. Shooting a webline to the house, Peter made a rappel for him and the girls to use. "Who knows how deep this hole goes." Peter mentioned as he made a line of at least one hundred feet in length. Ruby went to grab the strand but Peter stopped her, "Best let me go first. Not because I don't think you'll be fine or anything, but because my Spider Sense will give us a good idea of how many of these things are down there."

Ruby nodded and gave Peter a sweet smile, "Thank you, Peter." the two looked at the three other girls who just looked completely out of it and uninterested in anything that was happening, "I'm glad to have you by our side."

"Always, kid." Peter fist pumped before tossing the webline down the well, "Well, tally-ho." Peter rappelled down the well and landed in the middle of a sewer complete with water that...didn't look very drinkable, "Geez, maybe the water did kill them." Peter mumbled, "Okay! You can come down, it's clear for now!" The other girls soon reppelled down, but don't seem to make as big a fuss over the gross water like Peter did.

"Ugh, it's dark." Ruby complained. Her and the rest of the girls pulled out their scrolls and turned on the flashlights. With the lights on they could see wooden rafters that helped support the, honestly well crafted, brick sewers.

"Well, maybe the current carried it away." Yang suggested as she looked at how far the water went. The group began walking through the sewers and took notice of the different tunnels it had...as well as some of the collapsed tunnels. "Probably spreads around the whole estate, huh?" Yang suggested leading the others to nod. "I still don't like having to come down here though over a stupid lamp. Maybe we should've just stayed topside and fixed the trailer. Who knows if Oscar will be able to do it."

"Relax, Yang." Peter stated, trying to cheer her up a little bit, "Look, up there. It's their time. It's their time up there. But here. It's our time. It's our time down here." Peter chuckled causing Blake, Weiss and Yang to give him funny looks.

"So like...are you referencing something? Ooooooor...?" Blake asked.

Peter slumped his shoulders and sighed, "You know, if by some miracle I make it home and you girls can come with me, the first thing we're gonna do is watch The Goonies."

The group continued to move forward, but still couldn't see anything. "Oh, come on, where is it?" Ruby complained.

Blake sighed, "I don't know. Why don't we try turning off our lights and searching for the glow?" she suggested. What the? Peter thought Blake sounded weird, Like, I get she's usually pretty monotone and moody but this...this is a whole new level. And it isn't just her, but Yang and Weiss are acting like this too. Peter gained a worried expression as he looked at the girls in front of him, I hope...I hope they're okay. The girls turned off their flashlights and almost instantly Blake spotted the glow, "Up there." she said, pointing lazily. Sure enough, a faint blue glow was coming from around the next corner that probably led to another sub section of the sewers.

Ruby dashed ahead and turned the corner, cheering internally as she found the relic on the ground next to some rubble. She picked it up excitedly, "GUYS! I--" she was interrupted when she heard a whispering sound. Like hundreds of whispered voices at once. It sounded malicious. Looking up, Ruby was met by the sight of the tunnel being filled with dozens upon dozens of Grimm. But these Grimm were different, they didn't look like animals, they looked like tall, gangly, humanoids. Even their skeletal armor mocked that of a human skeleton. "AH! AAAAGH! HELP!" Ruby yelled out, the fear in her voice able to snap the girl out of their weird funk and Peter's head to throb immensely as his Spider Sense raged harder than it had since coming to the farm.

"RUBY!?" Yang called out. Ruby ran from around the corner with the relic in hand and quickly regrouped with her team, "What is it? What did you see?"

"THAT!" Ruby shouted as she pointed back to the cree pool y humanoid Grimm that began slowly walking around the corner.

"What the hell is that!?" Peter asked. Ruby pulled out Crescent Rose in its gun form and began firing at the creatures, but the bullets seemed to bounce off or have no effect. The creatures then looked at Ruby and let out a loud screech that seemed to mess with everyone's senses; the girls, who had just grabbed their weapons, keeled over in pain while Peter felt like he was going to go into sensory overload.

"What...is this?" Yang asked as she slumped over.

Blake huffed as she had trouble lifting even her arms, "My weapon...feels heavy."

"Quit standing, RUN!" The group turned around to see Maria had followed them down, "Come, come!" the group looked at each other and immediately turned tail and began running to catch up with Maria. Peter, however, stayed back only a bit longer to make a web wall between them and the Grimm.

As the group ran back to the well opening, they were met by another large group of the humanoid Grimm who waited just under the entrance, "Oh, how sweet, they miss us already." Peter joked.

"TIME AND PLACE!" the girls yelled at him. The creatures screamed again, causing the group to lose strength like they did before. Thankfully it wasn't hopeless as Ruby found the hole in the wall that connected the tunnel to another path, "This way." she grunted out. The group dashed through the hole and Peter sealed it up, hoping to gain some distance.

As the group ran through the labyrinthine sewers, they began to take notice to all the alternate tunnels and how they were all connected in some way. "I see me webbing a wall between us and them was worthless, good to know." Peter groaned. The group ran more dodging the seemingly endless hordes of the Grimm that came from all around the tunnels. Eventually they found another hole in the sewers that led to a room that looked completely different from the tunnels they ran through. Looking around, it seemed they made it to the wine cellar that Weiss had mentioned to Ruby earlier.

However, this would not be the saving grace the group had hoped for, as within the whine cellar laid even more of these Grimm, waiting for their opportunity. "Run!" Maria shouted as the group dashed for the stairs. The creatures screeched again which caused the group to collapse to their knees.

"I...I can't do this." Yang said between breathes.

Maria struggled to get up, but with the help of her cane she was able to make it to the edge of the stairs, "An exit!" Maria shouted. Ruby looked up and saw the cellar doors that Maria was pointing at. She then began crawling forward, trying to urge Weiss to get moving as well.

"C'mon, Weiss!" Ruby yelled as she placed her hand on Weiss' back and tried to help her up. There was a clanking sound and Ruby looked back to see Blake on the ground Peter behind her, trying to get up. "Blake...get up. Peter...move!"

"No..." Peter slowly began standing, "Get Blake, get the door open. I'll buy us time." Peter began to slowly stand up before looking at the Grimm with an angered expression, "Now listen here, I'm not dying here. I'm not sacrificing myself to save everybody's life or something. I am standing up to you, you thin-scrawny lookin'-no leg day doin'-dementor look stealin'-Call of Duty Zombie mode copyin'-Deadite wannabe-she bitch-BASTARDS!" Peter then got in a fighting stance before dashing forward and fighting off the horde to the best of his ability.

"No!" Ruby groaned out. She began crawling towards Blake and tried to pick her up, but it was as if she had lost all reason of trying. Ruby then looked up to Peter, who seemed to be fine on his own, but was still struggling. He punched and kicked, even webbed a couple of the creatures back, but still they advanced towards him and began to overrun him. The creatures screeched once more, causing Peter to fall to one knee. Ruby looked at Peter to see the tears that were on his cheeks. Ruby reached out as if trying to grab him, she felt something build up until: "PETER!" she yelled out, a flash of light blasting out of her eyes and knocking the Grimm back a bit and allowing the others to snap out of their stupor.

"Peter!" Yang yelled out when she realized how much trouble he was in.

"Go! Open the door! I'll deal with this." Peter stood up again, now adorning a smirk on his face as the tears rolled down his face. "I know what you are now. You incite people to think the worst about themselves, to always be negative. And then you devour their life force. You're like the symbiotes back home, only instead of anger you feed off depression. Boy, I bet you guys thought you hit the jackpot when you found me and this group, huh? One depressed vigilante, three girls who can't believe the situation their in, a kid who is struggling with the fact he has to share his body, a mega alcoholic and a girl who has had too many people she loves die in her lifetime." Peter chuckled, "Yeah, I bet we look like a five course dinner to you losers. But guess what? I'm not letting you get to me. I've been through stuff like this before, the loathing, the self doubt. I'm ready this time." one of the creatures approached him as he crossed his arms. Peter could only smirk, "Ero." at that moment his aura manifested itself into an ethereal figure with his body shape and punched the Grimm backward. "Yeah, you didn't think I had a Stand, did you?" The image stood at Peter's side (but was still attached to him as it still was his aura) and began cracking its knuckles similarly to how Peter would.

Dashing forward, Peter began punching the Grimm while Ero did the same. Again, Ero was tied by his aura so it couldn't leave his body, however it worked well as an extender or as something to attack from Peter's blind side. Peter's Spider Sense went off and before he could even react, Ero flew through his body and appeared where the danger was coming from. Ero sent powerful kick that sent the creature backward. "You know, I should tag fight like this more often."

Ruby grabbed Blake and began hobbling forward with one of Blake's arms around her shoulder, "I've got Blake!"

"What just happened?" Maria asked, referring to the flash of light from Ruby's eyes.

Weiss quickly rushed passed Maria and went up the stairs to open the door, only for them to not move. "They're locked!" Weiss yelled out as he eyes widened in fear.

Yang looked over to Peter and saw him fighting and contemplated helping him, but the moment she took a step towards him she knew he would want her to help everyone else first. Nodding her head with determination, Yang turned and past by Maria before rushing up the stairs, "I'm on my way!" Sadly as Yang got halfway up the steps the creatures screeched out again causing them to collapse again. "No...no..." Yang called out as she tried reaching for Weiss, but it was as if her goal was moving further and further away from her. Soon she was laying on the stairs, her body feeling too heavy to move.

The only person who didn't seem affected by the screech was Peter. He looked back at his friends who were down again and grimaced, "You guys are real class-1 a-holes. You know that?" Peter sent a ferocious punch and, quite literally, knocked the Grimm's jaw off. Peter was doing fine. But he wouldn't be able to hold out forever.

Maria took a few deep breaths as she saw Peter fending off the Grimm the best he could which gave her time to crawl over to Ruby's still body as she lied on the floor. "Ruby." Maria called out, "What color are your eyes?" she asked as she leaned over to look Ruby in the face.

"They're...silver." she replied as best she could.

Maria gasped in realization and gripped the sides of Ruby's head, "Do you have a family? Friends?" Ruby was confused and tried to look up to see how close the Grimm were and if Peter was alright, "Don't think about them." Maria commanded as she kept Ruby's head in place, "Think about the people who love you. Focus on them. Focus on the way they make you feel. Focus..." Ruby began focusing on what she could and she ended up shutting her eyes. "Life is beautiful," Maria continued. As she spoke Weiss was still trying to push open the door and Yang tried to help but she just...lost her will. "It is precious." Peter, while still fending off the Grimm, became noticeably tired as the sheer number of the Grimm, plus their ability, began to truly overwhelm him. "And life. Must. Be. Protected." Maria finished.

Ruby, after hearing Maria's words, shot her eyes open and looked at the Grimm. Her eyes glowed and shot out a bright white light that disintegrated the Grimm in their place and saved the group from being overrun. Peter looked back to Ruby who stared back at him in surprise. Peter had Ero return as his aura and he gave the young leader a thumbs up.

Yang, having a resurgence of energy and relieved that Peter was okay, got up and marched up the stairs before punching open the cellar doors. She and Weiss were the first ones through and that's when she realized that they were in the back room of the house. "We're back in the house?" she asked.

The others followed quickly behind with Ruby taking notice of Qrow unconscious at the bar. "Grr...Uncle Qrow, get up!" she yelled out as she shook the older huntsman.

"Hey! Get off me." Qrow growled as he shook Ruby off his shoulders, "The hell's your problem? What are you doing?"

"We're leaving you idiot!" Maria growled as she Blake and Yang rushed out to the front to where Oscar was at, who was currently airing up the tire with an air compressor he found.

"I don't understand, what's the hurry?" Qrow asked.

"Who cares right now, let's go!" Peter yelled as he tried pushing Qrow through the door. Qrow, unexpectedly pushed back, "What the hell?"

"Oh no, I'm not about to be pushed around by some brat." Qrow slurred. It seems he had gotten a bit more than just 'a little' tipsy like Peter had thought before. "I think we settle this squabble right here and now."

Peter slapped his face in frustration, "What squabble, I literally have no issues with you. What did I do that pissed you off so much!?"

"You know what you did!" Qrow yelled, "Making a girl care for you like that, only to inevitably break her heart. You're nothing but absolute scum. The lowest of the low."

"What the actual hell are talking about, you damned drunkard!?"

"I mean Yang!" Qrow yelled out, "Do you have any idea how much that girl is gonna be hurting after you leave? Huh? I could have accepted it, maybe, if you two were like a serious-but not actually serious-item. But then you had to go and do THAT! I'm sure Tai would do the same thing. I'm gonna kick your ass."

"You have to be shitting me right now." Peter mumbled as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Qrow threw a punch, but he was so drunk and uncoordinated, Peter didn't have to move to dodge it. All Peter had to do was jerk his head forward to land a headbutt on Qrow's nose. Peter then picked Qrow up and slapped him a couple times, "Listen, Tweety Bird, I understand that you're pissed at me for sleeping with Yang. I get that. But we NEED to leave right now. So, two options here. We settle this now in a fist fight, which I undoubtedly win and carry you to the trailer a bloodied mess. Or two, we leave right now and deal with this later because I really don't want to deal with THEM!" Peter pointed to the cellar doors where Weiss had started a fire in order to stop the grimm. From the flames Qrow could see the figures of the Grimm and he seemed to know what the answer was.

"Let's go." Qrow nodded.

Qrow, Ruby, Weiss and Peter ran out of the home and jumped in the trailer. Peter also threw some blankets in the back so that the group could deal the cold before he himself jumped inside. Without hesitating, Yang fired up the bike and hightailed it out of the settlement. As they were leaving, the group looked back at the massive fire that was started. "Well, it's a good thing the winter snow pretty much negates that from turning into a massive forest fire." Peter joked.

As the motor of the bike roared down the path as the group now continued on their journey there was only one question on most of the group's minds. "Yo, Maria, what were those creepy depression monsters?" Peter asked.

Maria sighed, "The Apathy." she stated. That's a self explanatory name. Peter nodded. "They aren't terribly strong or ferocious, but they just...drain your will to go on." The group all looked down as they realized that the whole time they were on the estate they had fallen victim to the Apathy and their power. Maria pulled out a book, it was one of the journals she was reading earlier, "Near the end, Bartleby's estate was hemorrhaging money." Maria explained, "He wanted to cut costs on huntsman protection, but to do that he needed everyone calm...always"

Oscar gulped as he read an entry from the diary, "'...managed to get two away from their pack. Hike back was miserable, but managed to get the bastards in the cellar.'" the group seemed horrified that someone went through so much trouble to put his people in danger, "'Wife was thinking I was sealing the waterway entrance,'" Oscar continued, "'I'll do it tomorrow, tell her the truth once these things take the edge off everyone. I'm tired.'"

"The next page proves that he did, but not before the rest of the pack followed their missing pair all the way home." Maria added, "My...guess is that they made their way through the water tunnels...that Bartleby sealed up the next morning."

"Guess his plan worked." Peter said as he webbed himself up a pillow. Maria nodded and tossed the journal out into the wilderness.

Weiss looked at Peter who leaned against the railing of the trailer, trying to get some rest. She then looked at Ruby and felt an intense pang of guilt build up in her chest, "I'm sorry...about what I said." she sighed, "About giving up.

The bike slowed to a stop and Yang looked back to the others, "Me too. And...I'm sorry for snapping at you, Peter.

Peter opened one eye and smirked at Yang, "Yeah well, you can make it up to me either by getting us to Argus or getting us to a village where we can rest for the night. We didn't exactly plan our time well."

Maria mentally was slapping herself, "I should have known what the issue was from the beginning. The signs were all there but..." she sighed, "I had never seen an entire settlement withered away like that. I guess my mind just isn't what it used to be."

Ruby looked over to Maria with a curious look, "Ms. Calavera," she started, "How do you know so much about the Grimm? A-And in the tunnels you knew what to say to make me...to make my eyes do that."

Maria smiled, "Well, isn't it obvious girl? I had silver eyes."

Peter looked up with a smile on his face, "More like HAD silver--Wait..."

"That's what I said deary." Maria replied.

"Daaaaaaaaang iiiiiiiit."

"Reeeeeally wanted that one, huh?" Blake asked. Peter's response was just him sighing and laying back down on his web pillow.

To be continued...

A/N: And there it is folks another chapter with a little bit more action. Again, I really like the Apathy, I think they are a really interesting Grimm species. Also I think that the literal monster that gives you depression is a human looking figure is a pretty funny meta commentary.

But yeah, I had a bit of fun writing this chapter. I don't know why, I just felt much more free. Which is weird because I don't really change a whole lot, if anything at all. Also, Qrow being a drunk uncle that still cares for his nieces' well beings is wholesome and I think needed to be shown more at some point.

About Peter's speech, taunt, whatever you want to call it to the apathy, my thought process was that he believed they would survive, no matter what. Which leads him to saying 'Oh, I'm not sacrificing myself' and all that. Like, Peter in both comics and film, has been shown to be a character with an intense amount of willpower, and considering what he's been through I feel like the depression the apathy would bring upon him wouldn't feel that different than what he already has to deal with you know? But yeah, that's all I really have to say about this chapter. I'll probably do one more and then get back to the other story for a few chapters before coming back.

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