F3: Welcome to chapter 18 of Volume 5. We left off where both Star and Ruby's groups had met up and are now on their way toward Mistral. Wonder what's will happen with the other groups? RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth. With that said Let's Get Started.
Volume 5-18: The Path to Mistral.
It took some time to restock their supplies but thanks to Weiss they managed to pay for some of them but they were still quite a bit away from Mistral as it was a long walk from Wind Path. So with that in mind the group stayed the night at small hotel beforer leaving in the morning quickly so they could get a head start on making their way toward Mistral. However it was mainly a rocky path toward the city as they had to be careful as while their is no grimm around, they would have to be careful of the terrain as they're could be random rock slides.
Right now the four of them were standing right in front of the two different cave entrances though in front of it was a wooden sign that had the initials S.D.C. on it.
"What is this place? I don't remember seeing this on any maps?" Oscar asked.
"isn't obvious of what it is. Its a mine entrance... it was owned by the SDC. Had to be closed down due to grimm activity that caused a section of the mine to collapse. I remember hearing about it from father. He wasn't very happy that day either." Weiss replied remembering the lashing she got from that day.
"So which way do we take. Left or right?" Adam asked.
"From what I remember seeing the plans we go left. The other path would take much longer to navigate with all the twists and turns." Weiss replied.
Pepper however only gulped nervously getting weak in the knees.
"I-Is their another route we can take. M-Maybe even go around." Pepper said nervously.
Weiss turned to her friend seeing that her hands were shaking just from looking at the cave entrances.
She grabbed hold of Peppers hands to try and calm her "Just stay close to me and you'll be fine." Weiss replied as she nodded holding Weiss's hand.
"Alright then. Let's get going." Adam said as the four of them took the left path. Pepper almost ran back to the entrance but Weiss held her hand firm and pulled her close to make sure she would be okay.
As they walked into the cave it began adamant that Peppers fear was trying to get the better of her with her tail swishing nervously behind her.
"How deep is this cave?" She asked.
"It seems to go pretty deep in. Not sure how far we're going to be in here." Adam said.
"Great." Pepper mutter not particularly happy about that as Weiss kept her close so that she didn't freak out.
As a hour turned into two Peppers nerves were getting her on edge. Though something was lurking in the shadows as red beady eyes stared at its prey before crawling away.
The group of four suddenly came to a big opening that was more than likely a center point for where all the Dust would be gathered but everything was rather rusty from constant use and everything was empty with discarded pickaxes and shovels around. On the left side was a tunnel but it was currently blocked by rocks which was more than likely a result of a cave-in.
On the side where dirt piles that were about the size of a human with a few rocks on each of them.
"This must've been where the Dust came to when the miners where finished gathering it." Oscar replied.
"Yeah... its a terrible sight if you ask me." Weiss said with a mornful tone in her voice.
"To think your fathers influence can reach all the way out here in Mistral." Adam said.
It made Weiss tighten her hand into a fist as just the sight of the place was sickening to her stomach. Pepper however was staring at the graves that were made as it only reminded her of the mines in Atlas especially where her father was buried after he was put to death right in front of her and her mother.
Adam saw a path that was clear that looked like it could lead to the exit.
"That way looks clear." Adam said as they headed for it but just then the ground beneath them started to shake as then something burst from beneath them getting directly right in front of them. It was a centipede like grimm with a long body and armored shell. It has clawed legs and four small claws in it's jaw. Worse was their was two of them.
"It's a Centinel!" Adam shouted as he drew his weapon. Oscar brought out the cane so he could defend himself.
Weiss let go of Pepper so she could fight the grimm as they charged at one of the Centinels. The grimm lunged at Weiss trying to take a good bite out of her but was stopped when Weiss summoned a black glyph in front of her to stop the grimm in it's track allowing Pepper to attack the grimm's underbelly but her attacks were sluggish which didn't go unnoticed by Weiss.
Oscar and Adam double teamed the first Centinel as it spit acid at them.
"Look out!" Oscar shouted as they dodged the acid. It splattered away from them landing on a rock but the rock was instantly dissolved into nothingness.
"Careful not to get hit by that." Adam warned as the grimm screeched at the two as it's companion was dealing with the two.
Pepper was sent flying into a wall hitting rather hard her aura flashed but it still held strong. The Centinel lunged at Pepper looking for the kill but Weiss immediately intercepted the attack hitting the grimm on its head knocking it away.
"Pepper c'mon! If we can hit it underneath than we should be able to kill it." Weiss shouted.
"R-Right." Pepper said nervously trying to shake off her fear and trying to focus on the grimm in front of them.
Pepper charged at the grimm and went to deliver a punch but the grimm was smarter than she originally thought as the grimm actually dodged the punch and using its nimble body wrapped its tail around her body trapping her in place as it began to constrict around her.
"Pepper!" Weiss shouted as she launched herself at the grimm but the grimm responded by spitting acid at Weiss forcing her to back away. It launched a barrage of acid at her while also squeezing ever so tighter around Peppers body. She tried to free herself but the grimm was too strong as her one arm was trapped under it.
It also wasn't helping that it was bringing back bad memories for her as she frantically punched at the grimms underbelly hoping to free herself.
Weiss deflected another acid spit from the grimm with her glyph as she tried to get closer to free her friend but it was rather slow going with the grimm not wanting to relent continued spitting acid at her while she was watching Pepper trying to free herself.
"Damnit. I have to break through or it'll squeeze the life out of her." Weiss thought and then an idea came to her that might just work. Once the grimm spit acid at her she ducked and then charged at the grimm and trigger her time dilation on herself to boost her speed. She was close enough that grimm couldn't risk another acid spit which allow Weiss stab at its underbelly.
It screeched in pain losing it's grip around Peppers body giving her an opportunity to attack the grimm igniting her dust into the spikes on the gauntlets hitting it with a powerful uppercut to its jaw which killed it as it unceremonialy dropped to the ground and turned into dust. Just as they defeated their grimm, Adam and Oscar finished off the own Centinel as well as Adam sheathed his sword.
"Is everyone okay?" Adam asked turning to Weiss and Pepper but mostly how rattled Pepper is.
"Just... I need a moment." Pepper said tyring to calm her breathing.
They waited for Pepper to catch her breath before moving onward though Oscar... Ozpin could tell that she is still rattled by the experience in the cave. It wasn't long till they saw light at the end of the tunnel which most of them were glad about that.
Once they left the cave the light of the sun was shining on them almost blinding them temporary but they adjusted and they were now in front of what looks like an abandoned campsite that was used in front of the mines.
"So... we can in the exit and out through the entrance. This must've been the campsite. Look at the tents." Oscar pointed out the abandoned tents that have been torn from either grimm or bandits.
"Even those look old too." He pointed out some cages that were big enough to fit people inside them that didn't give anyone inside them much room to stand. What was worse on the side of the cages were the initals S.D.C. on them which didn't settle with Weiss at all.
"There faunus cages." Weiss stated.
"And from the looks of them including the rust on them... about a decade old." Adam said.
"C'mon I think we should push onward. It'll get dark soon so we better make much ground as possible then we'll make camp." Oscar stated.
Pepper nodded in agreement leaving the campsite behind but not before glancing back at it one last time.
=SPIR=
Hours went by as nighttime descend on them. They made a small campsite as Weiss started a fire and Adam was currently skinning a few small game that he hunted that would be enough for them for tonight.
Pepper was sitting near the fire Weiss made with her curled up to her chest and her arms around her legs almost like she was trying to make herself small as possible the images of being in the mines fresh in her mind.
"Hey." She looked to her side and saw Oscar standing next to her before sitting down.
"You okay?" He asked.
"Yeah. I'm fine." Pepper said but he could tell that she was lying through her teeth as her hands were still shaking.
"No you're not. I can tell that what happened back their is bothering you. Maybe you want to talk about it." Oscar said.
No one said anything for a few minutes until Pepper cleared her throat and spoke.
"When we were in that mine... it felt like I was seven years old again... working in the mines and scared out of my mind. I was struggling to make it through each day... my father was killed and part of the mine collapsed that I thought killed my mom. I just felt completely powerless their like it was sapping away all the strength I had." Pepper said her hands shaking slightly.
"If I'm not strong for my teammates then how useful can I be." Pepper said.
"Hey not all of us can be strong all the time. We all put on a brave face to hide that weakness but we know that its still there. We just have to accept that fact and build ourselves off that weakness." Oscar replied.
"I just hope that I can get over it." Pepper added. Weiss was nearby listening intensly and she remembered everything about what she said and it still pained her to see her friend dealing with her fear.
Adam walked by with the small game that he skinned and placed them near the fire to cook.
"Those should cook pretty easy." Adam stated as they watched their food cook.
"Wow... I don't think I had wild game before." Oscar stated.
"It was a first for me but after having some hand caught fish it was certainly worth trying out." Weiss replied as they watched the meat cook by the fire.
After about thirty minutes the meat was ready as they all dug into their meals that kept their stomachs full till tomorrow. Adam opted to take first watch for the night as everyone else got some rest for the walk but Oscar still had a lot on his mind as well more importantly what they needed to do once they got to Mistral
=SPIR=
On the ocean a large ferry was making its way toward the outer port of Mistral as the sun had set. Summer, who was standing watch for any grimm sightings had this rather worried yet hopeful look on her face. Her hopeful side was hoping the her daughter would be happy to see her again after being in exile for so long though another part of her feared that she would be angry at her and would want anything to do with her after so long.
It was like she was playing tug of war with herself and she was losing and winning at the same time that it frustrated her.
"Lien for you thoughts." A voice from behind her spoke and she saw that it was Rieka leaning against the wall.
"Rieka. Sorry... did I wake you?" Summer said.
The wolf faunus shook her head "Nah. I was getting up doing my rounds. Captain said we'll be on final approach to Mistral in the morning but it would seem that something is on your mind isn't." Rieka said.
"What gave that away?" Summer said.
She chuckled "You forget that you aren't the only mother here you know. I got a kid out their too." Rieka stated.
"And your not the bit worried?" Summer asked.
"Of course I'm worried but I know that she's strong and capable to handle herself if she needs to." Rieka said.
"That's a lot of faith to put into someone especially your daughter." Summer said in which Riekas eyebrow rose.
"Ah so that's what this is about huh. Your own daughter right." Rieka added making Summer recoil a bit.
But Summer had to admit that she was right about that and it bothered her.
"I'm... what if Ruby hates me? What if even though I come back... she doesn't want anything to do with me. I've missed so much in her life that I feel like I'll be a stranger to her all because of something I couldn't handle... I failed her as a parent to come back." Summer said.
"But you've realized that now. Better did than never done at all the only thing you can do is to keep going. Believe me that you weren't the only one that thought had failed their child." Rieka said looking away as Summer looked at the wolf faunus.
"When we were captured by bandits we were taken to Atlas and force to work in their mines. When my baby was only five she had to witness her father executed for something he was falsely accused of. It was heartbreaking for the both of us. Then a few years later a dust exploded causing a collapse and I got separated from my daughter Pepper. I was rescued but it was kicking and screaming to go back for my girl but everyone thought the collapse killed her. From their I was alone and was able to escape to Menagerie." Rieka said.
"Though come my surprise ten years later when I discovered that she was alive and going to Beacon Academy. Once I discovered that Ghira and Kali let me go with some student from the academy back to see her. I was so happy to see her and so was she we both basically cried our eyes out till they couldn't anymore. I was even hired as a combat instructor aid." Rieka said.
"What I'm trying to say is... your daughter would never hate you for all you've done just as long as you're with her now." Rieka finished.
Summer looked away a moment taking Riekas words to heart and maybe somewhere deep down she knew that she was right. As long as she was their for Ruby now was all that mattered to her.
"Yeah... you're right. I'm going to make this up to Ruby no matter what." Summer finally said confidently.
"That's the spirit. No matter what you two will be reunited and I'll make sure of that." Rieka declared.
"Thank you Rieka. I kinda needed that." Summer said.
"No problem. Now why don't we head inside and get some rest. It's cold out here." Rieka said as the two headed inside to warm up with Summer thinking happy thoughts of her reuniting with her daughter.
Inside the small room Blake was currently reading one of her books while Sun was asleep and Iona was staring outside the window with Kila already curled up next to Blake.
Blake had enough of her book as she bookmarked her page and was about to turn in before turning to Iona.
"Hey. Let's turn in for the night." Blake said.
"Yeah..." Iona said but she was only stared out the window looking at the waves which kinda worried Blake for a moment.
"You okay?" Blake asked.
"Yeah just a little tired I guess from the trip. It's been a long one really. Just to be glad to be back on solid ground again." Iona said before walking toward the bed.
"Is that all you want to talk about?" Blake asked.
"Blake... I just want to get some sleep okay. Can we talk in the morning." Iona said before crawling into the bed with her back facing Blake. She could only wonder what is on Iona's mind but she didn't want to dwell on it as she placed her book to the side before laying down next to her sister as she fell into a deep sleep.
During the night Blakes ears flicked as something woke her up. She turned to see that her sister was still asleep and so was Sun so that only meant... Iona.
She looked over to the bed where Iona was sleeping and saw that it was empty with the sheets thrown off rather roughly which only meant one thing was that Iona had a nightmare. So she carefully got out of bed and went out to find her. She stepped out onto the deck so that she could look for the teen. Thankfully she didn't have to look far as she spotted Iona near the front of the ship looking out into the ocean ahead of them.
Iona had a blanket over herself to keep warm in as she just stared directly ahead.
"Couldn't sleep." Blake voiced which got her attention as she turned to look Blake in the eyes as bright pink met amber.
"Yeah... you can say that." Iona said before turning away from her.
"Another nightmare huh? Want to talk about it?" Blake asked.
The girl only shook her head "Not really but... I probably need to anyway." Iona stated as Blake walked over to her leaning against the railing as Iona began.
"We... were at Haven Academy... it was burning, everything was burning, the White Fang were their killing innocent people. Your team was their trying to fight them off but... you were all killed. I was their too not sure what to do, then I heard this evil laugh and then a large shadow came over us and then a hand came out of nowhere and grabbed hold of me like it was trying to squeeze the life out of me. That was when I woke up." Iona replied.
"Are these nightmares... getting worse for you?" Blake asked.
"Little by little. It's getting harder not to think of them but... I just can't get it out of my mind. I know you said that I should come to you when these things happen but I feel like that's taking advantage of you when you have your own problems as well. It's just..." Iona said trying to fight back the tears.
Blake sighed before wrapping Iona in an embrace holding her close to her.
"Now listen. I don't care if I have so many things on my plate you can always come to me whenever you need to and we can talk it out. You should never face your fears on your own or even doubt yourself in the like. Whenever you want to talk just come to me and we'll talk okay." Blake said wiping away any tears that appeared on Ionas face.
Iona sniffed in some air before speaking again "Thank you Blake... I guess I just needed to hear that." Iona said.
"Anytime. Don't be afraid to lean on me sometimes okay. Now let's get inside and go to sleep it's freezing out here." Blake added as the two returned to their beds and slept the rest of the night as they were reaching the final approach to Mistral.
=SPIR=
Meanwhile in a camp Ilia was overlooking the preparations for the assault on Haven Academy making sure her men... no her sisters and brothers of the White Fang were ready to continue their rein of terror on the humans and any faunus that oppose them. Though what was worse she figured was that somehow her old friend turned her enemy Blake escaped death using her clones but then again that's what Blake always does was to run away from a fight.
She gripped her weapon tightly as she lashed at a target dummy it tip embedding itself into the head of the target.
"This time Blake you will not escape me. Once I'm done with Haven I'll kill you personally." Ilia thought.
"Blowing off some steam are we." A seductive female voice said behind her as she turned to face her supposed new ally Coco Adel but she wasn't wearing her sunglasses as her eyes were now in full view as Ilia stared into the blackness of her right eye while her left was covered by a patch.
"Shouldn't you be getting ready." Ilia retorted.
"Oh fiesty today aren't we. Some pent up agression toward an old friend. That could lead to... disasterious results." Coco said licking her lips slightly.
"Who I direct my anger at is none of your business. Now it's obvious you came to talk to me about something so out with it." Ilia said.
"Killjoy but since you insist. There are a few people that I want kept alive if we are to encounter them." Coco started.
"Oh... and just who are these people if I may ask?" Ilia questioned.
"The first is a young girl by the name of Ruby Rose. She's the reason why I can no longer see out of my left eye. I want a little payback against that little bitch." Coco stated angrily.
"And the other?" Ilia asked again.
"I'm sure you know of her. Iona Basil. She carries something that should be mine. I want her brought to me so I can kill her myself and take back what's mine." Coco said.
Ilia hummed in thought a moment before she answered "Very well. I think that's rather reasonable. You sure that she would approve of what your doing." Ilia said well knowing who she was talking about.
"My mistresses is well aware of my vengence but she also knows that we are to acquire what is in Haven Academy. The Lamp of Knowledge. Once we have that you can do whatever you wish." Coco stated.
"Just make sure that your people are ready to invade. It's a four day walk from here to Mistral. Let's not squander any chances." Ilia said.
"Of course they'll be ready. You just make sure you hold up your end of the deal as well." Coco said before walking away from her.
Ilia gripped her weapon tighter in her hands and swung her weapon with all its might as the whip wrapped itself around the neck of the dummy and with a hard pull Ilia ripped the head off the dummy as it landed with a thud on the ground. No matter what Blake and everyone that she loves will fall and so will Haven Academy.
Off to the side the hidden spy in the White Fang saw the exchange between the two woman and decided she needed to get a message out to not only Blake but to the former leader Adam. She scurried back to her tent and began to write like her life depended on it. She wrote two messages and tied them to two of her most trusted birds.
"Okay Huginn I need to you take this letter and find Adam. Muninn the same but find Blake. Find them and quickly they must know." She said to the birds and the two birds took off into the skies above their black feathers encasing them in the darkness so they weren't spotted as the spy prayed that her birds would make it to them in time.
F3: And that's chapter 18 of this story. Everyone is inching closer and closer to Mistral now but now a much more dangerous threat approaches. Please leave behind a comment and don't forget to follow and/or favorite this story. With that said this is Fireuser3 and I'm Out.