Larger Issues
AN: Well... this was a fun one to write up. Got the last 4k words done in the past 2 days. But not to spoil anything... on with the show!
Life and Death Again
"Wake up!" Ray shouts as he came running into the living room where everyone but Qrow were at.
"What?! What happened?!" Yang jumped up from the couch, unintentionally creating a domino effect with the other girls as Ruby fell into the vacant hole with Weiss falling on top of her and Blake on Weiss. But at least the jolting helped them wake up faster.
"We need to leave."
"Now?"
"Now!"
Maria closed her book with a snap. "I'm willing to bet that you found the same thing I just did."
Ray turned to the elderly woman. "Apathy?"
"Apathy." She nods.
"What's an Apathy?" Ruby asks now that her friends were off of her.
Maria took the opportunity to explain. "An Apathy is a Grimm. One of the few that have a semblance-like ability."
"Like the Gluttony we beat a few weeks back?"
"What do you mean 'we'?" Weiss grumbled. "Yang and I were stuck hiding in the house."
"Hmm… so that was you on that team who beat it." Maria nods. "But yes, like that."
"What does it do?" Blake had to ask to satisfy her curiosity.
"It makes you not give a damn… about anything." Ray jumps in, his choice of words and cutting off Maria pretty much a live demonstration of exactly that.
"And as you can see, it's hitting us already." Maria gave a wry grin, as if she had expected him to do that.
"Soo…. Should we go kill it?" Ruby suggests. "Where do we look?"
"That's the thing, we're not." Ray interjects. "We're leaving."
"But the people…"
"Are long dead. Maybe we can get Atlas to swing by and bomb this place, give the people here one hell of a funeral pyre." Ray towered over the cloaked girl. As much as his words seemed to match that of Roman's, there was none of the levity, the sarcasm more bitter.
And everyone noticed that.
Ray walked towards the door and stopped in front of it, his head tilted to the floor. "Sorry… it's getting to me… to all of us. Ruby, you and Weiss go look for your uncle. Yang, Blake… go grab a few things to help us stay warm, food and water. Oscar, see if you can get a truck or tractor going."
Maria hopped off the chair and scurried over to the taller man as he went out the door, surprising him. "And I take it that we'll go look for the Grimm ourselves. Hmm?"
"Are you always so meddlesome?" The redhead asks as he marches through the snow.
"Hehehe, sometimes. But hey, I have an advantage here because of my age!"
"And what would that be? Experience?"
"Well… I do. But what I meant was that I really don't give a shit about much anyway! Ha!"
Ray could only shake his head as the elder cackled behind him.
—
"Pyrrha? Nora?" Thetis shook both girls shoulders to wake them.
"Mmmom? What's going on?" The girl asks before yawning and looking at her clock. "It's… only two thirty."
"Yes, I noticed but we have some guests that need to see you immediately."
"Now?"
"Now."
"Nora, wake up!"
"H-huh wha?"
"We need to go downstairs."
The girl rolled over. "Five more minutes."
Thetis and her daughter shared a look before the younger Nikos shrugged and the elder took that as a sign to do whatever it took.
And in a display of strength, Thetis grabbed both the blanket covering Nora and the one she was using to add a little padding to the carpet, and lifted both over her head in a single quick motion. That resulted in the dosing girl being lifted and spun in the air before crashing to the floor with a heavy thud.
"Are you awake now?"
"I'm up! I'm up!"
"Then let's get downstairs."
Downstairs in the living room, a pair of identical looking men. They are tall and broad shouldered, wearing the white coats of Atlas with dark blue pants and tall black boots. Interestingly, the hats they wore are white with black brims, though their hats had two brims as one stood up in the front of the hat while the other was pulled down to hide their eyes like a visor.
"Who are you guys?" Nora didn't waste any time. Not only was she grumpy from being woken up at this hour but seeing that it was soldiers from Atlas… she had a few choice words ready to go.
"We are Sargent Clark and Van Nubock!" They spoke together as one. "We are here to escort you to the base for questioning from Commander Cordovin!"
"Us or our whole team?" Pyrrha questions the twins.
"Your whole team would be preferred, madam!"
Pyrrha pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. Something like this was at least somewhat anticipated but not only did she expect them to wait longer to when most people would actually be awake, but having them loudly speaking… in unison, was aggravating.
"Weelll… our boys are next door." Nora took the opportunity to explain. "Our leader's sister lives there and they are sleeping there."
"I see." They say as they glance to the wall. "Then they shall be retrieved!"
A minute later…
"H-hello?" Jaune answered the door to stop the knocking, Ren standing nearby. What he found was a tall man on the other side in a white and blue uniform.
"Are you Jaune Arc?"
"Yes?"
"And is Lie Ren with you?"
The young man in question steps over and spoke for himself. "I am Lie Ren."
"Ah, good! Commander Cordovin requests your presence immediately!"
"Wait, what?" The blonde was stupefied.
"Now, let's hurry as Miss Nikos and Miss Valkyrie are getting cold!"
Jaune didn't get a chance to respond to that as the man grabbed him by the shoulders and tossed him to the twin standing on the sidewalk where Pyrrha and Nora stood in their pajamas and slippers.
"Waaa!"
He was caught easily and tossed over the man's shoulder before his girlfriend was slung over the other broad shoulder.
"Good morning Jaune." As cheerful as she tried to be to help alleviate any frustration from the current situation, it came off more as sarcasm.
"Morning Pyrrha."
The front door was closed and the couple found that Ren and Nora were being held the same way.
"Now! Let us hurry before you get cold!" The Nubuck twins shout before taking off in a jog down the street. "Hut! Hut! Hut!"
"Yeah, too late about being cold, pal," Nora grumbled as she reached back and tugged on her pants… unsuccessfully, to cover her exposed flesh. Something that Ren had a clear view of her trying before she gave up, only feeling the bouncing undoing any effort to keep herself dressed as best she could.
Ren was just thankful that his long hair hid his red face from her, not wanting to have been caught looking.
—
Oscar rummaged through the equipment barn. While finding the tractor was easy, any attempts to get it to start had proven impossible as much of the inner workings were rusty and bound from lack of lubricant, and that didn't count that the Dust compartment was empty.
The truck looked to be in better shape, though an older model. Yet the machine had a bed that they could ride in along with their bags with three in the cab.
It would be tight but better than trying to walk through the snow in the dark in an area they know nothing about.
And he realized that the normal feeling of hope or joy at that thought just didn't manifest, clueing him in that he was under the effects of the Apathy.
He just needed to find the Dust needed to get the truck moving as it only had a little left in the tank.
—-
Ruby knew her uncle very well and she simply followed her nose for alcohol.
She had been grateful that he had cut back over the past few weeks, and it's not that he was bad when buzzed but seeing when he'd occasionally go overboard with it and he had let Yang get drunk once- ending with her sick, it had pretty much gotten the young woman to swear off the drinks for life.
But now she and Weiss found him in a bar that the farm has, slumped onto the counter while sitting on a stool, a glass near his hand and an empty bottle on its side not far away.
"Uncle Qrow…" Ruby sagged her shoulders as she whined in disappointment. Her only source of hope was knowing that it wasn't likely entirely his fault, the Apathy were doing a fair amount to drain him.
Weiss covered her mouth as her eyes went wide, briefly seeing her mother instead of the Huntsman in that position. Before she went to Beacon, it wasn't uncommon to find her mother drinking her days away, though she was at least sober during her visit. She could only hope since then that her mother would take better care of her health, if Klein didn't do so already.
"Alright, grab an arm." Ruby says as she marched forward, hefti g one of his arms over her shoulders.
"O-oh, right." Weiss took the other and they lifted the man as best they could, though given he was much taller than both of them his feet were dragging.
"Let's get out of here. Maybe dropping him in the snow will help him sober up faster." How much if Ruby's words were from the effects of the Grimm or from harbored frustration was hard to tell but either way, the girls barely turned towards the door when they heard a long scratching sound from the wooden door set into the stone wall.
"Ruby?"
"I heard it too."
Both girls looked back at the door to see that it looked like it belonged here, just a bit newer, as if it had been a recent addition before things went bad.
Another long scratch that definitely came from the door, sounding that if something was behind it and trying to get out yet was too lazy to put serious effort into the attempt.
"Do… Do you think that's a survivor?" Weiss didn't sound optimistic.
"Noooope." Qrow muttered as his head lifted a little so he could see the door.
There was silence for a few seconds before there was another long scratch, this time by a trio of claws.
And a knot in the wood fell out from the door.
"We better go." Weiss suggests as she tried to back away, pulling the other two with her. Yet she still made one last glance at the door and saw what they did- a red eye glaring in the darkness.
And that was all of the motivation they needed to get out as fast as they could, with Qrow helping as best he could as the combined effects of the Apathy and alcohol worked their way through his system.
—
Yang dug through a closet to find more blankets, with only an armload to show for her efforts. While she could have gone into any of the rooms and taken them from the beds, she had no desire to disturb the dead nor see them.
Blake had found some coats but none of them were in sizes that would fit the girls, at least aside from Maria. The men could wear them just fine but otherwise the coats would be little more than padding for wherever they had to sit.
"Damn it, this better be enough." The blonde grumbles as she closed the door. It didn't help her mood any knowing that even if they got a truck, she'd be driving her motorcycle in the cold and she had no sleeves beyond what was provided from her weapons.
Together they walked back down to the kitchen where they had gathered whatever was portable for food and drink on the table- three jugs of water, some preserved food that didn't require preparation including what they had started earlier, and a few freeze dried snack bars.
It wasn't much but they should be able to get to Argus before they ran out, if they weren't found first by a search party.
"I got it." Blake tried to take the rucksack filled with the supplies as Yang was reaching for it, only to receive an annoyed glare and the blonde walking outside without a word.
Staring at the retreating back, Blake was reminded of the disappointment in Ruby and Weiss' faces when she had done the same on the train.
This was much different from when Sun was hurt- he had welcomed her assistance but she also recognized that at the time she was still coming around to others wanting her help and she was willing to provide. But with Yang, she had gotten the help she needed long ago and yet Blake's guilt about her arm kept making her try to assist when it wasn't needed. She wanted to make up for her mistakes and actions in the past but every time she tried so far, she had been rebuked.
Taking her load from the table, she followed the girl she hoped that she could remain friends with.
—
Maria and Ray walked around the buildings, searching for signs of Grimm. So far, they had found nothing, not even a Beowolf track as they would have been sure that at least one of those Grimm would have at least checked out the farm.
"Any idea why there are Apathy here?"
Ray glanced down at the elder. "Given the records, the farm has been losing cash and fast and hiring Huntsmen is expensive."
"So they thought that capturing one was a good idea?"
"If there's one thing I've learned in my time in the underworld, it's that people do the stupidest things when they are desperate." The man explains. "Found a small note saying that they wanted to capture one and keep it locked in the basement with the hope that it will help suppress their emotions so other Grimm don't attack them."
"Hmm… sounds like they put a darker twist on the idea that old Mantle had a few decades ago, trying to make everything and everyone as rigid and stoic as those new-fangled robots of theirs. No expression of the true self of those living there all in an attempt to keep Grimm from hunting them."
"Saw how well that worked out for them, they let greed control them and they destroyed Vacuo in the end."
"Indeed, and I'm old enough to have seen some of the carnage while it was still fairly fresh. They may have cleaned up the bodies but the echoes of war still remain." She shook her head as the memories flashed by. "Let's get out of here before the Grimm get a good hold on us."
They walked around a corner to the yard where the well sat open, Blake and Yang just arriving with their loads of supplies.
"I hope this is enough." Yang set her bag down and dropped the blankets on top.
"It will have to do." Ray saw how little there really was given how it sat in the bag as he leaned against the stones.
A door burst open and Ruby and Weiss came running with Qrow hanging onto their shoulders.
"Grimm!" Ruby shouts as she slipped in the snow.
"Grimm in the house!" Weiss adds as she fought to stay upright while Ruby tried to regain her balance.
"Where?!" Ray drew his cane from his belt.
"Back at the bar!" Ruby points back at the house. "It clawed its way through the door!"
"I'll take care of that!" Ray starts toward the house. "And hold onto this." He tossed the Lamp to Blake who fumbled to catch it at first.
The group of women watched as the man carefully went back inside.
"Damn it's cold out here." Qrow mutters as he tries to stand on his own and fails, slipping on some ice and falling onto his back in the snow. "Damn it."
—
Team JNPR found themselves in the Atlas base in record time, though left feeling half frozen and with sore stomachs from being bounced across the twins shoulders as they ran.
At least they were provided with mugs of hot chocolate, with marshmallows, and warm blankets while they waited for the one who sent for them.
A door opened and Tom walked in accompanied by Dudley. "At ease kids, Triple C is on her way." The officer motioned for them to stay seated.
"'Triple C'?" Pyrrha asks, not familiar with anyone by that name.
"Ah, sorry. That's short for Commander Caroline Cordovin."
"Uh-huh…" Nora gave the man a wary look, not particularly too trusting of Atlas soldiers given their treatment at the gate the day before.
The door opened again as the Nubock twins marched through. "Commander Cordovin has arrived!" They announce loudly as they stand at attention on either side of the door.
Commander Caroline Cordovin turned out to be a rather short woman, easily shorter than even Nora. Her greying hair parted in the middle and stopped just above her shoulders. The expected Atlas uniform fit to her small frame well- a white jacket with an off center zipper running down her torso and a belt around her waist to hold the jacket close as the tails framed her legs in their grey pants and brown boots with black cuffs. Her hands are covered by dark blue gloves.
Yet the woman seemed to look down on them, especially since she kept her head tilted back a little so she really did have to look down her nose at the team.
"Now… I've been told that one of your missing companions is Weiss Schnee. Is that true?" Cordovin asks though her tone suggested that she was doing this grudgingly, but it was unclear if it was because of the hour they were meeting or if she just held a bad attitude… or the fact that there were four Huntsmen and Huntresses-in-training in front of her in pajamas, two of which being a few sizes too small and the boys wearing women's clothes.
"Y-yes madam." Jaune answered her, not trusting that Ren would speak much and trusting even less that Nora could say anything that wouldn't contain an insult at the woman.
"Provide proof that you know her and NOT that you are making this up."
That led to the four of them using their scrolls- something that they were glad to have kept on them after being woken- scrolling through their pictures at different times going all the way back to Beacon's first week and up through Ruby's birthday party. Even showing Tom and the twins that they all had the same contact information for Weiss that they were able to cross reference as accurate.
"It seems that you do know her." Cordovin begins to pace, only sounding a touch more hospitable to them. "Very well, given the reports provided by the five of you I will send out a search team for Miss Schnee."
Nora leapt up from her chair and pointed at the elder woman. "Hey! What about the others?!"
Cordovin glanced at the girl from the corner of her eye, not deeming her worthy of her full attention. "I suppose that if the others are with her, they will be brought back by the search party too."
"WHAT?! You're talking about them as if they are luggage or something!"
"Girl… my ONLY duty is to those of the Kingdom of Atlas, NOT to anyone else." Cordovin countered coldly.
That got the upset redhead marching towards the Commander. "You bitch! I'm Nora Valkyrie and I won't stand for you insulting my friends!"
The Nubock twins were quick to stand on either side of their Commander, adopting mirrored stances as they were ready to fight if needed. Even Tom, as laid back as he was, had a hand on his holster.
"Nora, stop!" Ren shouts before any further action could happen.
But for Cordovin, she stood shocked as she stared at Nora glaring at her. For a moment, she saw another young woman, one with similar features, instead of Nora in front of her.
"What… did you say your name was?"
If the tension was tense before, the sudden question changed it slightly and nobody was prepared for that shift.
"My name is Nora Valkyrie."
"Valkyrie… that is a name I haven't heard of for a long time." Cordovin closed her eyes as memories came back to her. "Hmmm… you look much like Gaea did at your age."
That only made Nora snap back to anger. "You knew my mother?"
Caroline was surprised by the hostility returning but took it in stride. "I would certainly hope so, Gaea Valkyrie was my sister."
And with those few words, Nora's anger evaporated. "Wha-what?"
"It seems to me that some clarification is in order." The elder woman smiles. "Tom, get that search party going. Boys, bring some hot drinks and snacks for our guests, I'll escort them to my quarters."
Tom wasted no time in leaving while the twins rushed off to gather the refreshments.
"Umm… what just happened?" Jaune was the first of the team to speak. Ren didn't answer because he was occupied dealing with Nora who seemed to be frozen by her shock and unable to process the recent events well thanks to the emotional back and forth.
"It would seem that Nora just found family in an unexpected way." Pyrrha pats his shoulder as she walks over to her stunned friend.
Together, the three carried their teammate as they followed Cordovin to her quarters and sat her in a chair.
—-
The girls waited outside in the cold for Ray's return with Blake letting the Lamp hover on the stone wall of the well. Qrow had gotten up from his refreshing dip in the snow and is now leaning against a nearby fence with Maria.
"Should you go help him?"
"Who? Ray or the kid?"
"Either one."
"Ugh… put nicely… I can't help the kid or my semblance might break whatever he just fixed. And Ray's a big boy, he can handle himself in a fight."
"And you're drunk."
"What was the first clue?"
"Eh, whatever. I'll go help Oscar." With that, the elderly woman shuffled her way to the barn where she could hear the boy working."
"What the hell is taking so long?" It was well known that Yang has a short temper and this entire situation was pushing it to the limits of her control and more than likely past it already. At least she was trying to work it out by pacing with the side effect of helping to warm her up a little.
"Yang, it's only been a minute since he went in." Weiss told her. The heiress may have the longer fuse but that was still shorter than most and her temper was often focused through her words rather than her fists like Yang.
"Yeah, give him some time." Ruby adds in.
"Sorry, the way you two were acting it was as if it was right behind you."
HONK HONK!
The sudden sound of a truck horn made them all jump but it was the sound of metal impacting stone several times that garnered their attention and directed that to the well.
"Was… that the Lamp?" Weiss asks, not wanting to look and be proven right.
"I'm sorry." Blake apologizes as she holds her right arm with her left and looks down away from everyone as her ears droop.
"Oh great going Blake! Your fat ass knocked the one thing that can end the world down a well!" Yang snapped.
"I-I didn't mean to."
"Sure you didn't." Her sarcasm was dripping g with venom.
Ruby held her hands up. "Yang! Stop this!"
"Why should I? She's had this coming for months!"
"What?"
"Did you think I didn't have time when I was home to think about what happened?" Yang was on a roll now and while two of the girls were practically frozen and had no idea what to do while Blake hugged herself tighter as she took the punishment, Qrow recognized that his niece needed to vent and already had a lot bottled up that needed to be released if she was going to move on, he would just try to keep it from going beyond verbal.
"You came to Beacon trying to hide everything about you from us! Your past! Being a Faunus! We tried to be your friends and when that came out you ran from us! We began going after the White Fang, for you, and you didn't tell us much about them! I lost my ARM because you didn't tell us shit about ADAM!"
Yang paused to catch her breath but her hair had started to glow and eyes turned red midway through her rant and she hadn't noticed.
What did get everyone worried was when she lifted her right arm straight at Blake, but her gauntlets weren't activated- offering a small measure of relief to the others. That still didn't prepare them for Yang's arm to launch itself at the Faunus to catch her in the shoulder before that too fell down the well, nearly taking Blake down with it from the sudden impact.
"Do you think that your mom didn't show us pictures of your home? You live in a tropical paradise with BOTH of your parents and practically a princess with a mansion! Do you really think you'd get my sympathy for running off to join a bunch of terrorists? I opened up my deepest insecurities to you!
I WISHED that my parents were together! But I had to find out later that the woman I called Mom wasn't even my own mother! No, she ran off to be a bandit in the middle of nowhere because she was too scared of everything! And then the woman I knew as Mom died on a mission!
I lost a lot of my childhood trying to take care of my family! Dad was a wreck! Ruby was too young to even understand what was going on! Qrow… was too busy working to keep food on our table!
And you're back now, trying to act as if you didn't try to abandon us at the hospital last year! Do you realize how pissed off at you I'd be if you had?!
But you keep acting like I can't do anything because I lost my arm! Well guess what? I didn't need my arm to get back to fighting!"
Yang needed to gasp for air from all of her shouting, the cold air helping to calm her rage.
"Did you think that just because you're back that I'd be dripping wet like the people from your smut books? Oh, I'm wet for you alright… like the deserts of Vacuo."
PLAT
A snowball hit Yang in the head and splattered over her hair, though the golden fire did melt it away quickly.
"Alright Yang, that's enough." Qrow held another snowball in his hands as he walked up to the blonde. "Go any further and we can't just blame the Grimm for you losing your temper."
The blonde huffed but her semblance faded as she looked away. Over in the barn, they heard a motor start to run for a few seconds before it shut off.
"Now, I want the four of you to get down there and get the Lamp and your arm. And make it quick because I doubt it will be long until they really get that engine running."
"But…"
"Do as I said, Ruby." Qrow held back on most of the snap in his words but there was enough of an emphasis that there was no room left for arguments.
Ruby and Weiss helped Blake back to her feet before looking down the well with their scrolls serving as their lights.
"See anything?"
"No Weiss…. But at least it's not too deep." Ruby says before hopping onto the lip. She gave her sister a quick glance to see that while she was still angry, she was also looking like she was regretting what she said already. "See you at the bottom!"
Weiss made sure that Blake went down before her after Ruby called up that it was fine.
"Hey." Qrow gently grabbed Yang's shoulder. "Look, I know you had a lot going on and it's probably for the best that you got it out. But… we'll talk about how you did this once we're safe. Got it?"
"Yeah."
"Good, get going." He watched the blonde jump down the well, lacking her usual enthusiasm. Even without the Apathy messing with their heads by simply being nearby, he knew his niece well enough that the baggage she had made her a ticking time bomb and what had been done here was just a small release.
In fact, he was actually surprised that she had held so much back for so long. He had punched plenty of people out over the years for less.
Still, he could see that their mere friendship was on the rocks and it was best that they be made work together to get past their problems until he could get their other friends to help them work things out.
Down at the bottom of the well, the girls found that it was actually quite expensive with large tunnels and archways built of stone. The bottom was wet, as expected, but no more than an inch on top of the stone floor.
"This is… pretty big." Ruby comments as the four lights swept around.
Click
"Got my arm back." Yang had found the limb in a corner of the shaft they dropped from, promptly reattaching it to the base and flexing it to ensure that she had full motor control again.
"See the Lamp anywhere?" Weiss was having trouble seeing in the darkness. "It couldn't have bounced far."
"T-there it is." Blake points towards something that glittered just out of the reach of their lights.
The Faunus walked over through the water but then she noticed something odd- the Lamp would float in the air but it was always just above a solid surface… and unless it somehow bounced onto a rock shoulder high after the fall this far from the entrance…
She lifted her scroll higher and first saw something long and thin and black in the water, resembling a simple pair of stakes that could have been used to measure the depth.
She raised it higher to find that the stakes weren't stakes at all, given the bony white spikes partway up the black shaft the continued higher until more white bones formed a sharp hip. A black hunched back with a white protruding spine rose above her head.
The thing moved, slowly turning to reveal that its long arms were thin, nearly as long as it is tall and reached the ground with its needle-like clawed hands… one of which held the Lamp by the loop on top.
But the head was almost human in appearance, if one was stripped of flesh from the jaw up to reveal the skull. The mouth had black flesh but it hung loose and looked torn from the sockets with holes in the cheeks that gave a view inside the gaping maw. The torso was no less grotesque as the white bones on its chest formed ribs while the part that connected that to the hips looked half rotten.
The red eyes bore into Blake, freezing her in place and making her feel faint and lethargic. Her knees quivered and threatened to give out, unable to help her flee the Grimm.
A flash and loud bang rang through the tunnel as an explosion splashed across the Grimm. And as much as the sound and the resulting echoes hurt her sensitive ears, Blake was snapped out of the effects that kept her rooted in place.
"Don't just stand there! Get away!" Yang shouts as she fires another explosive round from Hiryu Shoten.
The Faunus scrambled backwards as a white blur darted by and the Lamp was torn from the grasp of the Apathy as Weiss had used Myrtenaster to spear the loop on her way past.
The Grimm turned to her slowly and reached out for the Lamp again but did so with so little speed that Weiss had no problem taking the Relic from her weapon and securing it on her belt before she even had to worry about the claws coming in contact with her.
Still, despite the lethargic and twitchy movements of the Grimm, the Heiress made it a point to get away fast.
Yang fired a pair of shots from Ember Celica and Ruby used Crescent Rose, but they had little effect on the creature, barely causing it to moan and flinch in pain.
"Got it! Let's get out of-EEEKK!" Weiss was cut off as needle-like claws reached out from the darkness of a side tunnel towards her.
"Weiss!" Ruby adjusts her aim towards the red eyes glowing in the shadows and squeezed the trigger. One eye stopped glowing as a result and the owner moaned loudly but that didn't stop the spindly legs from taking another step and grasping at the white-haired girl again.
"There's more?!" Blake backed away as she shot with Gambol Shroud, more than a little creeped out by the sight of the Grimm. It was enough that she almost wished she didn't have the best vision of the team to see in the dark.
"Run!" Ruby shouts as she fires once more at the one reaching for Weiss.
Blake took the lead, holding her scroll for light. Yet as they ran through the tunnels they kept finding more Apathy awaiting around corners. The girls darted in a random direction, neither knowing the layout of the tunnel system or how many Apathy there were. They couldn't even tell if they were running on the same path after a few turns in the dark.
On occasion, the girls would fire a round back behind them, hitting one of the shambling Grimm, but none of them seemed to be dissuaded from continuing the chase.
"Light!" Blake shouts as she slides to a stop and darts down the tunnel.
Said tunnel opened up into a small room, one with shelves filled with bottles and racks with casks. But most importantly, there was an open door and the top of a short flight of stairs.
RRRRrrAAAaaaRrrAAaaGHHH!
The deafening screech swept through the tunnels as at least two dozen Apathy wailed and with the sound came a loss of will to do anything, including standing.
The four girls collapsed and lay on the dry stone floor, unable to do much more than listen as the Grimm shambled their way slowly towards their prey. Ruby was one 'lucky' enough to land in a way to see them coming.
She had no idea how long she lay there watching them coming towards her, time seemed to go slowly because the Grimm did. And thanks to the Grimm, she found it hard to care about the danger of them reaching her.
She could see the body of a Huntsman, his body slumped against a wall with a simple looking firearm nearby but it was his face that caught attention as it was filled with several deep punctures. Given what she had seen of the Apathy's claws, it left little doubt how he was killed.
Blake had fallen the closest to the Grimm and she was targeted first by the nearest Apathy, the creature reaching out with its disturbingly long and emaciated looking limb.
RRAAHH?
That was an unusual cry from one of the Apathy in the back but a blur of motion caught Ruby's interest, just at head level with the Grimm. But then she noticed that she could move again, allowing her to sit up along with Yang and Weiss. Blake rolled over and found the claws reaching towards her face and the disturbing face just beyond that, frozen in fear on the floor.
"No you don't!" A voice echoed through the room before Maria jumped down and smacked the hand away with her walking stick and her free hand reached down to tug at the Faunus' coat. "Come on! Get up!"
Blake struggled to her feet as the Grimm reached for her again, but Maria lashed out with her stick again, though as it swung a blade deployed to form a scythe, one that sliced through the wrist.
Yang and Weiss managed to get partway up the stairs before the injured Apathy let out another draining wail, causing all four of the younger women to drop again while Maria fell to her knees by Ruby.
"Ruby! Use your Eyes!" The elder shook the young reaper and sat her up.
"Wha?"
"Your Silver Eyes!"
"I… I don't know how." While Raven did try to tell her what little she did know about the Silver Eyes and what they can do, Ruby couldn't recall what that was.
"You've done something special with them before, right?" Maria asks, though she was splitting her attention between Ruby and the Apathy who were closing in. Thankfully, Blake had gotten enough wits back to crawl away to the stairs, but not fast enough as the Grimm reached for her again, and it wasn't just one hand this time.
"Y-yes."
"Then focus on protecting them!" Her scythe swept towards the other three girls, and there were more hands held outstretched towards them.
Ruby squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to think of her sister and friends meeting the same fate as that Huntsman, a slow, painful, and gruesome death that they would only wish would come faster to end the torture.
Her breathing quickened as her adrenaline spiked, and then something happened- a quick drain on her remaining aura and a slight burning sensation in her eyes that she had at first assumed to be tears.
And everything for her went white.
For the others, they saw the red cloaked girl begin to hyperventilate and hug herself tightly, unaware of the clawed hands reaching towards her face until she suddenly convulsed, her head snapping back with her eyes wide open as white light poured from her Silver orbs.
And everything went white for a few seconds.
When they could see again, Ruby slumped and swayed where she sat, but what was most notable was that the oppressive feeling of lethargy had been lifted. Yang was quick to react, catching her sister before she fell over completely and lifting her to her feet where she was unable to walk without her help. At the same time, Weiss made sure Blake was pulled to her feet and pushed towards the stairs. Maria though, despite the danger that had been present just seconds ago, smirked at what she could see- the closest of the Apathy, those that could reach into the room, had all been petrified where they stood while the others retreated around the nearest corner for the safety of the darkness faster than they ever moved before.
"This way!" Yang shouts as she neared the top of the stairs, only to pull up short as a black spindly leg and extraordinarily long arm crossed the exit.
Another Apathy blocking their path to freedom.
"No you don't" Ray's voice shouted as he leapt onto the front of the Grimm, pushing it fully into view of the doorway as he drove the tip of his Melodic Cudgel into its mouth and pulled the trigger, making its head explode.
"I never thought that I'd be glad to see you!" Weiss says as she helps Blake up and through the door, the man is surprised to see them coming from downstairs.
"What's going on? What were you doing down there?"
"Short version, we had an accident and the Lamp fell. Grimm in tunnels everywhere down there."
"Damn! I was wondering where they kept coming from!"
"Well now you know!" Yang retorts as she all but drags Ruby with her out the door.
An idea quickly came to the former thief. "Yo! Ice Queen!"
"What?"
"You have Fire in the sword of yours?"
"Yes, why?"
"Then we're burning this place down and letting it take those bastards."
With the cat girl able to stand on her own and Yang ensuring that she left the building, that left the master thief and Heiress alone inside.
"Do it." Ray orders, immediately blasting a few holes in the walls. While they did little to nothing to start fires on their own, they did make fires much easier to catch as a wave of searing heat swept across the room, igniting the debris and the airflow from other rooms ensured that the growing flames were well fed. In seconds, the majority of the room was engulfed in flames, including an Apathy that had just wandered up the stairs.
"Time to go!" Ray smirks as he shoots the Grimm in the chest, doing little actual damage but the blast did push it back down the stairs where it set the racks on fire.
Outside by the well, Oscar sat behind the wheel of a large truck with a large bed with high walls. Qrow was leaning against the running vehicle with Bumblebee waiting nearby, the bags and supplies already loaded onto the truck.
"We're getting out of here!" Yang shouts as she pushes Ruby into the cab with Maria hopping inside as well. The others jumped into the back of the truck while Yang started her bike.
Seconds later, the pair of vehicles were fleeing the site of a burning farmhouse on what looked to be a road.
AN: And there we have it! We are done with the Brunswick Farm... mostly, as well as the Apathy. Probably one of the scariest things about them is just how they take hits and just keep coming, all while moving incredibly slowly.
But as far as the other things, regarding the unexpected early wake up of Team JNPR by the certain pair of twins, who do have names -Van and Clark. Then there was that other little surprise with Cordovin... being Nora's aunt! Hehe, further explanation of that relationship will come next time!
Until then, Reviews are welcome and feel free to check out the rest of the Issues series if you haven't already. I'll be bouncing back to Small to get that done by the end of the month at the very least.