Rouge had executed her landing strategy with precision.
She used her weapon to fire multiple stakes into the trees, then leaped from each of them till she landed on solid ground, giving her hat a quick lift in salute, but sadly, no one else witnessed it.
She kept her eyes closed as she listened to the various sounds throughout the forest.
She gave a slight whistle and received feedback letting her know where the temple ruins were.
However, there was a more disturbing sound emanating from within the forest, one of conflict.
Her eyes changed into their blood-red color as she used her semblance to give her speed to leap up into the trees and observe from a distance what was happening.
To her shock, when she got closer, she saw that Jacen and Rowan were locked into a fierce battle.
The air around them was filled with the scent of sweat and adrenaline as the two fought.
Jacen's weapon seemed to generate a harmonic sound as it moved to block Rowan's oncoming attacks.
Speaking of Rowan, it seemed like his aura was burning the area around him.
Yet, the most incredible thing was when Jacen, altering his defensive strategies, held up his hands, and as if by unspoken command, huge rocks levitated into the air and then were tossed at Rowan with the speed of bullets fired from a gun which managed to make Rowan stagger back a bit, but his recovery time was incredible.
For a second, she thought Rowan was going to bulldoze into Jacen only for him to throw out his hands, freezing Rowan to the spot; however, it was clear that Jacen was struggling to keep him there before he tossed out his hands, sending a nearly visible wave of telekinetic energy hurling Rowan into ten trees, then right into a mountain wall.
The sound was almost too much for her to hear, even as she covered her ears.
Jacen was practically welded to the spot, breathing heavily with exhaustion.
She'd hoped the fight would end there, but Rowan, once again demonstrating his impossible tenacity, managed to stand up, but rather than go for the attack, he laughed an unsettling and almost maniacal laugh.
Rouge moved to a closer tree, and from her vantage point, she saw Rowan's face.
His eyes were now a feral shade of yellow, and he even had an equally feral grin.
When he spoke, his voice was oozing with a cold feralness, but there was a current of near respect.
"I apologize," Rowan said, aiming his spear at Jacen.
"I'd thought you were another wannabe that didn't have business becoming a huntsman."
His face then took on a more focused look, with Rowan seeming curious rather than feral, "Your name?" He asked.
Jacen seemed puzzled, "Pardon?" He replied.
"I want to know your name; it's disrespectful to continue berating a fellow warrior with something as petty as the word punk," he said, demonstrating his code of honor.
Rouge was surprised, though when she caught sight of the sash Rowan wore, she suddenly understood.
Inwardly, she felt ashamed, though Rowan wasn't exactly being a gentleman when she knocked him out last night.
She heard Jacen say, "I'm Jacen Horne, Jedi Knight," he said confidently.
"Jacen Horne," Rowan said, returning another feral grin.
"Until now, only Pyrrha Nikkos was worth my time in training till the day I fought her, but now Jacen Arkos, you've named yourself the second person on that list."
Rowan gave his weapon a quick flourish, "While I've never heard of a Jedi Knight before, I'll count defeating you as being another step toward achieving my goal as the best huntsman ever," he said, aiming the tip of his spear toward Jacen.
"Gae Bulg has been my faithful companion for many years, given to me by one of the greatest warriors who'd ever lived," he continued with a level of pride.
Rouge watched as Jacen seemed to come up with a clever idea.
Then, as though appealing to Rowan's honor, he said, "My lightsaber has been a traditional weapon of my clan," he replied, quickly flourishing before bringing it to the ready.
Rowan appreciated the gesture, "Well then, let's continue where we left off!" He lunged forward just as Jacen got back into his defensive form, only now he was adopting quick blocks and evasions, with just enough effort not to make it seem like he was retreating.
Rouge couldn't help but be impressed; at their current speed and direction, they'd soon reach the ruins, which she'd detected as closer than her initial check.
She was so engrossed in the oncoming spectacle when suddenly she picked up the sound of throaty growls and the foul stench of spoiled blood.
Jacen and Rowan also seemed to notice as a small pack of beowolves surrounded them.
She would have jumped in to help, but they both synchronized perfectly.
One moment, they'd been practically ready to kill each other, and now they were fighting together.
Soon enough, it seemed that the fight was over, but Rouge felt that it wasn't the case.
While Jacen and Rowan were busy talking about making their way toward the ruins, Rouge caught the flourishing sound of feathers, and the shadow of a bird-like creature caught her attention.
Looking up, she saw a medium-sized Nevermore diving down for the kill.
While it wasn't as large as the more mature or evolved of its kind, it was still enough to be a threat.
She looked at her flask, which still held her supply, though it was dangerously low.
Taking a deep breath, she finished the last of it and then activated her semblance.
As was typical, whenever she used her semblance, Blood Rush, she could feel her muscles becoming more pronounced with some visible veins on her arms, her fangs and claws elongated, and her senses were heightened.
This further increased the amount of adrenaline in her system as she prepared to fight the Nevermore, and her eyes turned blood red.
With a mighty spring leap, she took hold of her weapon and used her momentum to slam the Nevermore backward, then took a quick slash with her claws, which only grazed the Nevermore.
She landed on the ground with her weapon as a shield, defending herself and the others from its incoming feathers.
With a quick flourish, she lifted her weapon, aiming the barrel of the machine gun and firing a barrage of bullets with explosive shells that burst close to the Nevermore, though it managed to dodge the oncoming onslaught.
It came in with its claws bore, only for Rouge to place the weapon back onto her back holster and bring her claws to bear.
With a cracking of her knuckles, she methodically slashed just as the Nevermore's claws came within reach; a dense blade of air swept toward the Nevermore, which would have dodged again had Rouge not used her other hand to grab one of its wings, sending it crashing onto the ground.
She was dangerously close to reaching her limit with the amount of blood in her system.
The Nevermore tried to raise its head, only for Rouge, with her mouth opened wide enough for her fangs to be visible, bit down with force aimed toward the Nevermore's throat.
Black ooze began to gush from the wound, and she felt the Nevermore trying to break free, only for her jaws to close; then she ripped out its throat, which gave a wet gush of black ooze.
It attempted one last attempt at defiance before she aimed her right hand downward, in a spear-like fashion, and plunged it into the Nevermore's back, which went through its chest.
As she wrenched her hand from the wound, the Nevermore finally fell to the ground and dissolved.
Rouge spit the ooze out of her mouth, and she immediately began to feel sick to her stomach.
Normal blood she could stand, but whatever this stuff was that passed for blood in Grimm tasted foul, like she was drinking from a rotting corpse.
She caught a glimpse of Jacen and Rowan looking at her just before she went behind a tree, vomiting out whatever black ooze she'd accidentally swallowed.
"Rouge?" Jacen's voice asked almost cautiously.
She must still look like a monster with the black ooze around her mouth even as it began to dissolve cause she saw him recoil slightly when she met his gaze.
She brought up a handkerchief, which she used to wipe off her mouth, but it was pointless.
Now, he and Rowan had just seen what happened whenever she fought.
"I'm sorry you had to see that," Rouge said as she dusted off her hat before putting it on her head.
"That was amazing," Jacen's voice carried genuine amazement, which she hadn't expected, especially after he'd seen her in action.
"I mean, it was disturbing, but I've seen my share of disturbing things that I'm rather used to."
Even Rowan seemed to be not as taken aback, "Never seen anyone rip out a Nevermore's throat before," Rowan said, giving an almost begrudging respect.
"Anyone who makes that kind of a gutsy move has my respect."
Rouge barely knew how to process this; throughout her life, she always tried not to reveal herself in such a fashion out of fear that she'd be even more ostracized than any Faunus for simply having a taste for blood.
Rouge looked at the sash around Rowan's shoulder, and this time, she wasn't mistaken.
It was the Royal Emerald Sash of Valor, always worn by members of the elite group known as the Cú Warriors, highly skilled and trained to defend the Royal family of Vale until the death of the King of Vale long after the Great War ended.
Those who wore the sash did so by passing a trial that proved themselves worthy of such an honor.
That at least explained why Rowan wasn't squeamish, but she couldn't think of any instances of Jacen or anything like Jacen witnessing such a thing.
Come to think of it, as Rouge began to recall when she'd seen Jacen without a shirt, the numerous scars he bore, the ones on his back came from the claws of a beowolf, but the others came from things she didn't know.
One such scar was across his chest that went down to his right arm, which seemed to have been the result of a weapon that cut, but at the same time, it appeared to cauterize as it did so.
Her eyes went to Jacen's weapon, which had a meter-long bar of violet-hued energy.
However, the most intriguing thing about him was how his blood smelt.
She could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she remembered how his blood had such an enticing scent.
It often happened whenever she encountered someone with O-positive blood, but Jacen's blood seemed unique.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she failed to notice how close she was to Jacen with her fangs out, just like last night.
"Um, Rouge," he said, making her recoil.
"I'm so sorry," she said, then tried reaching for her flask only to stop when she remembered it was empty.
Placing her weapon on the ground, she opened a small compartment on one of its arms, which typically held her blood samples, only to discover that it was empty.
She'd used the last of her A blood during her fight with the Nevermore.
Off to her side, she saw Jacen with a thoughtful look on his face.
"I take it your semblance requires you to imbibe blood?" He asked.
Rouge took a moment before answering, "It does, but sometimes it provides me with nourishment whenever I go long periods without any food," she said.
"That comes from me being a bat Faunus," she added reluctantly.
Jacen at least looked surprised, "You're not quite what I'd expect; I mean, I know Faunus typically have their typical features," he pointed toward Rowan, whose tail was moving back and forth.
"I'm a special case," Rouge finally said.
"I'm one of those who can pass as a human, but I still have certain features that identify me as a Faunus," she elongated her claws and pointed at her fangs.
"Like Tukson," Jacen said but immediately seemed to recoil.
Did Jacen know about Tukson?
Old memories came back to her as she remembered meeting him back when the White Fang wasn't the violent, borderline cult that it had become.
She'd hoped to be able to meet with Tukson again at some point, but she knew his work was significant.
It dawned on Rouge that Jacen had picked up her flask and then filled it with his blood from a cut he'd made in the palm of his right hand.
"Y-you shouldn't have to do that," Rouge said, only for Jacen to hold his hand up.
"I've seen several kinds of animals and other life forms that survived through imbibing blood," he explained, filling up her flask halfway.
"Just promise me you won't go for my throat if you need more," he added wryly.
"I never do anything that would cause harm to anyone," she replied.
"I want to be able to help people who need medical attention," she said, opening her other compartment in her weapon, which held a variety of first aid medical supplies.
She came toward Jacen with a sterile dressing, which she wrapped around the wound after applying an antiseptic solution.
"I want to be able to save lives, not take lives."
Once she finished, Rowan let out a "feh" noise.
"You can't save everyone, Fangs," he said in his gruff tone, though it resonated with an air of truth.
A noise from behind made all three turn to see Gray Tuman holding up his hands.
"It's just me," he said with his timid voice.
Rouge immediately went up to him and noticed that he was in rough shape with a bruise forming around the area where it looked like a huge claw had taken a sweep at him.
"How'd you end up like that?" Rouge asked as she continued to examine him for additional injuries.
"I don't know if Professor Ozpin was lying about the anti-Grimm defenses or -"
"If they've been damaged somehow," Jacen finished with a hint of concern.
"I hope Yang and the others are alright," he added.
"If they're strong, they'll make it; if not, they die," Rowan said rather bluntly.
Something in the way he'd said that made Jacen turn his attention toward Rowan, "Yang's tough; she'll make it," he said with confidence.
Rowan grunted but then turned his gaze on Gray, "You looked as timid as a lamb; how exactly did you manage to make it through whatever you were fighting?" He asked.
Rouge detected a faint change in Gray's scent, which might have indicated anything from nervousness or something else.
Speaking of which, she could smell the lingering stench of Grimm ooze on Gray's weapons and his hand.
"We need to get out of the forest so we aren't exposed," Jacen said, only for Rowan to grab his arm.
"Who made you the leader?" Rowan asked.
"We already discussed that we need to be in the open rather than staying where the Grimm can take advantage of the forest," Jacen explained.
"How does that make you the one calling the shots?" Rowan asked, sounding gruff.
"How about we all get down there now, or the Grimm will make a nice meal out of us," Rouge said, passing by Rowan and Jacen, who seemed shocked by her forthrightness.
Without any further debate, the group made their way toward the ruins.
END