Ch 1: Gear Up

Two Young women made their way in the early hours to the airship station. Their first mission after graduation would take them to frozen forests beyond Laurel, the new rebuilt city standing where Mantle and Atlas once were. Long pink hair in the morning air drifted, its owner pulling it up into a ponytail, "Well, that was quite a vacation Babe. We should thank your aunt. That family of yours was a riot!"

Her companion, a woman with split black and white hair and a resting bitch face expression, rolled her eyes, "Loki, don't start it's too damn early for your nonsense. Let's just get our gear and get on the ship."

Loki chuckled, hot pink eyes watching her lover as they entered the shop. Dove went to the counter to pick up the order Weiss arranged for them. As the shopkeeper went back to grab the items, Loki wandered the shop, hands tucked behind her head. A red eye watched her with a warning, "Loki…"

She was given a smirk and hands held up in display that they were harmlessly kept to herself as response just as the older man was returning, "Here you are Ms. Branwen. The dust and new gear Mrs. Weiss had shipped here for you. Mighty impressive quality I must say."

She gave a kind smile and thanked him, checking inside that everything checked out before tossing Loki her case and taking the two for herself, thanking him before they headed out. The two loaded up on the airship, taking the long ride over to the continent of Solitas.

Dove was sitting by a window, leaning on it while on her scroll, eyes suddenly glancing up at the feeling of Loki watching her, "What?"

Loki shrugged, causing Dove to sigh and set the scroll down, "No we aren't doing that today. What?"

The woman tucked her arms behind her head until Dove gave her an impatient 'out with it' gesture. The woman groaned before resting on her hand, gazing from the side at Dove who was growing agitated with each passing second, "What do ya got against things like marriage anyway? I know you've always been one to tell friends you don't want one. Why, Babe?"

Loki hissed with a deep grin and a sound came from under the table as her knee smacked into the bottom side. The woman usually grinned when in pain or discomfort as a weird uncontrollable reflex and Dove had just shoved her boot into Loki's shin, frowning with narrowed eyes as she sat up, "Don't you dare ask me to marry you."

Loki was rubbing her shin, glancing away, "Well I wasn't gonna I was just curious Babe!"

Dove folded her arms and leaned back, "Uh huh."

Her partner smirked and leaned on the table, "And so what if I did huh? Would you really tell me no? You love me, I know it even if you've never said it."

Her eyes rolled and she looked out the window as Loki baited her. Dove didn't say those three words ever, reserved for family only, it was a hard rule and it was something the two had discussed before. Loki had never seemed bothered so long as she knew where she stood to her girlfriend so it had never really been an issue but clearly Loki was on some hunt to irritate the woman this morning, "You know, you never really told me why that is either. I mean, I know you love me. I don't need you to say it but I am curious. Who hurt ya so badly that you can't tell me huh?"

Sharp eyes glared back over and Dove quickly got up from her seat, "I've had enough of this conversation this morning."

Loki was chuckling, trying to get Dove to come back, "Hey Babe I was just playing come on don't be like that."

But she went ignored as the woman made her way to the front of the ship, her face riddled with her anger. She never minded when Loki wanted to poke the bear with others but when it turned in her direction about things she rather kept where they belonged in her past she had little to no patience for it.

She found a place to sit not far from the captain's bay and sighed, watching the snowy lands of Solitas coming into the far horizon. Soon they would need to put on the new gear and meet with their contact for their first mission. The mission was a bit ambitious but it was the details that had made Dove curious. Something about it felt so familiar though she didn't know why. none of it sounded like anything she had ever heard of and yet she was drawn over and over to it.

Loki would follow Dove to hell and back for fun so Dove was pretty much left to decide their missions without question. She pulled her scroll out, opening the log and reading back over the details.

In the forests off a small quiet village far outside the protections of the city limits of Laurel, some Grimm was picking off the hunters and foragers, leaving only bones behind for anyone able to actually get in to search for them. Meanwhile, the townspeople were slowly starving trying to afford imports and were lucky if Laurel shipments could get through the woods to get to them, with less and less companies willing to make the trips.

They were getting desperate and with Spire unwilling to send students and their own Huntsmen stretched thin, they hired out. Loki strode over and leaned in the doorway watching her read with a grin, "What is it Babe?"

Dove's face was scrunched in thought at the weird details she noticed in the report, not looking up at the woman, "It's just rather odd isn't it? Grimm feed on negative emotion yet this one's eating flesh? Just doesn't make sense."

Loki walked over and finally dove glanced up at her as Loki stood near, leaning in close to see the report. She reached out, hand going to push Loki's face away from hers, "I still don't want to talk to you right now you menace."

Loki swatted her hand before it touched her face and than grabbed it at the wrist tight enough to bruise, watching Dove's cheeks dust pink and her breath hitch, yanking the woman up so hard she came to her feet and fell against Loki, the other arm pinning Dove at the waist against her, Pink eyes blazing in their stare into Dove's, "God I love you, woman you know that? Don't ever change."

Dove frowned and was about to give some sort of retort when Loki harshly kissed her, dove melting in her captured grasp finally. When Loki pulled away she was very proud of the flustered look on Dove's face but ruined it in true Loki fashion, with words, "But fuck Babe, just marry me ok? That really a bad thing to want?"

Dove's lovestruck face switched to one of frustration in a flash and she shoved free of Loki's arms, groaning annoyedly though she hadn't hid the deep blush fast enough for Loki not to have noticed it, "you bastard! Shut up and let's just get ready. We'll land soon!"

Dove was still livid as she grabbed her case of gear and stormed off to a private place to change in peace from her chaotic girlfriend, grumbling to herself, "god damn nuisance sometimes I swear!"

Though as she got dressed, she did try to ignore the back of her mind that was flattered at such a thought. Would it really be so wrong to want to be committed to someone forever like that? Especially someone who understood her and cared about her like Loki did? She pushed the thought down, slipping her boots off and out of her old gear, mind wandering as she rubbed a place on her neck that was bare of any marks.

How did that work anyway? Didn't she technically belong to someone already even if the proof was long gone and so was the person? They had abandoned her after all but not before marking her as theirs. She didn't know enough about all that to know the nuances but she did know no faunus had ever gotten near her since as if they could tell it was there, healed but not removed.

And if it did have some sort of power, did that make her terrible for even moving on and finding love again? Was it even ok to tell someone else she loved them and mean it? If she said it, would they disappear too? dDove scolded herself mentally and snapped out of it. She hated how these thoughts still plagued her after so many years.

It mostly angered her that she still thought about it and let the thoughts make trouble in her relationship today. How dare Wendie still fuck up her life like this after just leaving like she did without a word and after saying what she had said and biting her like she did. No, she was finally actually loved by someone she could just be with, even if Loki was insane, the woman loved her and it wasn't a love that Dove couldn't tell anyone about, even if she did choose who to tell carefully for totally different reasons.

She pulled on the fleece lined black leggings and her usual white shirts back over them. Her cropped and laced up top was traded for a skin tight black long sleeve with a white cropped fleece lined sleeveless vest, her normal coat with its belts thrown back on over it. She swapped for thicker socks and threw her boots back on before she tucked a white neck wrap over her head and mouth and nose and a black beanie onto her head and ears, black warm gloves on her hands.

She stepped back out to the main cabin and saw Loki there. She had her black combat boots and pants on but she had swapped for a gray skinsuit shirt thermal layer with a black down vest for warmth over it a gray scarf on her neck able to help shield her mouth of wind and the tails tossed behind her back, goggles on her forehead that she could pull down to keep frigid wind out her eyes, black gloves on her fingers with the trigger fingers on the gloves fingerless. Her body didn't come with an inherited predisposition to easily deal with winter weather like Dove.

She turned and grinned at Dove, "Well aren't ya just gorgeous Babe."

Dove just frowned and grumbled as she handed Ragnarok to Loki, being sure to hit her hard in the chest with them, before strapping Reaper to her back as they were landing. Loki took the metal pack case of Dust supply and strapped it to her own back, slipping her weapons into their waist loop straps.

Once they got off the ship, a man was waiting to greet them and help get them to the village. He wasn't much of a talker and was too bundled up to be heard anyway. Dove watched the scenery as they traveled but Loki watched her. When she felt the stare she spoke quietly, "My mother was from Atlas you know. Her whole life was here before it was all gone. I was just trying to imagine what it must have been like to lose so much and have nothing to share when I came around."

She felt Loki's fingers lace into her hand but that was all. They generally kept their affections private after all. It was never a forced secret. Like when they were at the Rose household with the others before they came here, if someone saw or found out then so be it. But they had a dynamic that people tended to judge and it was just easier to be more subtle around others and they were both content with it really.

Loki didn't need anything elaborate to be happy so long as she could be herself and Dove just wanted to be comfortable for once with someone she could be herself with without pretending anymore just to get by and that had worked for them swimmingly even if Winter wasn't a fan of Loki.

And that was another thought that snaked its way into Dove's mind on the quiet ride to the village. She couldn't marry Loki. What would her mother say? How would she even begin to explain why she wanted to marry the wild crazy woman that smiled when she beat into monsters and fought people into misfortune? ' Yes because that conversation would go over so well. Yes Mom i'm in love with this woman you find sociopathic and guess what? I also might be a bit of a psycho too. I mean I let her abuse me to get off but who's keeping track really?' Dove thought, letting out an audible huff without realizing it and moving her hand away from Loki.

The woman glanced at Dove, a bit confused, seeing her face riddled with her thoughts. She would have to do damage control later though because there was no way dove was going to be willing to talk in this car with a stranger here and besides they were pulling up on the village now, "Hey Babe, look at these ice houses huh? Neat yea? Always wanted to check out some igloos."

Dove snapped out of her thoughts and glanced up before frowning and rolling her eyes, getting out of the vehicle, "Loki be serious. Let's go."

Loki grumbled, getting out as well, "I was though…"

The village chief waved them over and invited them into his home built up with ice and packed earth, Loki too busy being nosey and looking around at the structure as Dove rubbed her face, "Don't mind her, she's… Just ignore her. We want to be able to get this resolved for you and your village as soon as we can. We understand your people are starting to get sick with lack of food and medicines. I read the report but if there is anything else you can share with me that would be helpful I would greatly appreciate it."

He moved his eyes away from Loki's peculiar behavior to Dove, smiling at her way of speech but shook his head, "No, that is all we know. Well, we do know one other thing. It has this terrible, horrifying shriek it will let out right before it eats another. We have been treating it like a warning sign that it is on the hunt again and hunkering down anytime we hear it."

Dove glanced at Loki who was now fully interested in the conversation before her brow furrowed, "But… the forest is quite far… is it coming into town? How could you possibly be hearing it from there?"

He seemed afraid recalling the sound alone, tugging his coat tightly to himself, "Oh no, it stays in the trees but the sound is so loud that it can be heard from here. People say if you were to hear it up close it would be so loud you would go deaf."

Dove easily hid her distaste in people already making up tall tales about monsters with no proof but Loki was relishing in it, grinning like a fool, "Wow that's fun! Can't wait to slay this Grimm!"

Dove groaned and shoved her out the seat, "Again, I'm sorry about her really. Well, I know dusk is what the report claims is the best time so if you wouldn't mind showing us where we will be staying while we hunt the Grimm, we will get some rest until later and start our search."

He was very bewildered by Loki but he nodded, leading the two young women to their own hut to stay, "Sorry it isn't much but it will be warm and give you your privacy as you requested. Sorry we can't offer food to spare."

Dove faked a believable smile, "That's fine. We came with our own provisions. This is more than satisfactory as we will only need this to sleep between searches. Thank you."

He stared with a raised brow as she shoved Loki inside before closing the door. Loki grumbled and when they were alone the woman snagged Dove and pinned her to the wall, "You should know better than to be so pushy."

Dove shivered but gripped at Loki's arms, voice a barely believable warning, "Loki… we really should rest. We don't have time for this. Not on missions, we agreed."

Loki bit her own lip, watching this beautiful woman she wouldn't trade for anything try her damnedest not to be turned on right now and chuckled, letting her go, "Right. Just wanted to be sure you remembered who you were pushing around."

Dove visibly shivered and gnawed her lower lip for a moment with a blush before she forced herself to ignore Loki. That was plenty to stroke Loki's ego, Loki warning in a whisper as she leaned close, "So behave or you'll be in so much trouble when we get home slut."

Dove's breath hitched and Loki licked her cheek before laughing and pulling away, watching Dove frown at her with flushed cheeks, "Dammit Loki!"

They settled into separate beds, the cots too small to share, and tried to get some rest, Loki listening to Dove on her scroll for a while, "Hey Babe…"

She got a hum in response, staring at the ceiling, "Not that I think we aren't easily capable of killin this thing and all but, forget about the who marry thing kay? You been distracted since I said it and I need you focused so we can trust each other to do this yea?"

Dove blinked and turned her head some in the dark room, staring at Loki's silhouette in the cot on the other end of the room. As if she could forget about it now either. Clearly Loki was just trying her best to help but Loki wouldn't have brought it up on the ship if she didn't want to have that with Dove. That woman might be crazy but she didn't joke about her own future ever. That was something Loki always forged forward on with so much confidence and self assurance it was almost frustrating how much she believed in herself and was always so sure of her choices.

Dove knew deep down it had been a risk Loki knew she was taking to have ever brought the topic up to begin with but she had tried anyway, which told Dove Loki just believed that much in her, in them. That thought was eating her up inside. It was why this was haunting her thoughts so much right now. Because she knew everything that was constantly on her mind and bothering her that she didn't want to talk about that made her aware she wasn't giving nearly as much confidence in them back to the woman she loved laying over there in the dark.

It felt wrong to want to say yes to any sort of proposal right now so it was just easier to say she didn't want to get married. In truth she had never been able to give it thought because of everything in her head but she knew until she got all that cleared up it would never be fair to marry anyone. Right now, here was this poorly timed but great moment to try to explain but she couldn't, wouldn't. Loki would probably not understand or take it very well, at least that was something Dove feared.

She sighed, and turned back to her scroll, "I don't know what you are babbling about Loki, you know I never take any of your jokes seriously. Just go the hell to sleep. We are going to be up all night and I refuse to die because you didn't get enough beauty rest."

Loki smirked, accepting Dove's way of agreeing to the chance to let go of the topic. Loki loved how Dove spoke, how she acted, how she craved the only way Loki knew how to express herself. Loki had been with many people but never found anyone who liked such things and could still be a person you could be with and love too without someone only seeing you as some fetish deep concept and she planned to never lose that if she could help it, "Yea, you got it Babe."

—-

They eventually got rest and as the sun was starting to set, the two headed out, taking a snowmobile over to the treeline. The two got off and Loki gave Dove a massive grin which received an eye roll before they headed in. It was much darker in the thick woods, Loki's goggles having a night mode and Dove sliding on a small pair of glasses with the same feature. They didn't want to use flashlights and risk anything until they knew more about the Grimm.

With Rangnarok out and Reaper in its sickle form, they went about trails they had been given information about, following broken twigs and tracks in the fresh snow, using wordless gestures to communicate. Dove continued to get a terrible gnawing feeling about all of this. There was still something very unsettling that did not sit right about all of this.

In moments, a massive dark form dropped up ahead like a gross slump to the snow, not paying them much mind. They two held back, watching it as it held down a whining deer and ripped at the flesh with its boney maw. Dove felt even more unsettled, whispering to Loki, grabbing her wrist to stop her as she made to advance, "No…this… something isn't right."

Loki turned to look at Dove, "What do you mean? This has got to be the fastest easiest seek and destroy mission let's go."

But the look in Dove's eyes stopped the woman. Was it fear? That didn't happen. Dove shook her head and pulled Loki back into hiding, "No Loki… Grimm don't eat animals. This isn't right. Something isn't right. We don't have all the information."

Loki turned back to watch the massive figure as she skulked around its meal, ripping it with claws and eating large bloody chunks. It was lanky and hunched forward, chest sunken revealing every ragged breath. A massive silhouette of something hard to make out from here was around its head. The mane or hair maybe was long to the waist and messy, black possibly. Its face was some sort of animalistic skull with sunken bright red eyes glowing in the darkness, even the lower jaw seemed to be of bone. Boney spines were poking from the skin along the spine and the claws glistened with the blood showing they were as long as Loki's whole hand, a similar set on the toes.

From here, they could hear a very bone chilling, eerie growl that clicked rhythmically. It made Loki grin in her nerves but Dove bit her lip under her neck and face wrap, trying to place the sound. She knew that sound. Where did she know that sound? She had never seen anything that size that looked like this thing before.

When Loki accidentally shifted her weight and snapped a twig, it froze, Loki cursing under her breath as in a flash it rushed over towards them, so fast they almost couldn't make it out, Dove falling backwards into the snow out of its line of sight with the snow that flew up from its feet falling mostly over her as it stared into Loki's eyes.

At this new distance, the giant shape around the head was clearly antlers. A massive tangled mess of sharp antlers covered in the stains of dried blood and the boney animal head resembled some sort of deer, the furry wolf like deer ears where huge and flicked as the creature stood more fully, long thin limbs raising it to half its full height at seven feet still hunched over, looming over Loki with ragged, putrid angry breaths.

The messy braided hair was mangled with dried blood and tiny shards of broken bones and dirt as the maw opened, that growled clicking growing painfully loud before the ear splitting shriek rang out, causing the two to reach to cover their ears quickly. Dove, not being directly in front of the beast, got ringing in her covered ears but was otherwise alright.

Loki, only feet away from the wailing beast, had blood running from bursted ears, no longer able to hear anything as she gripped her weapons tighter and leapt into action, firing off the shotgun shots at the beast's bulging rib cage, drawing blood but seemed to not even cause the creature to flinch and only angered it. Dove was trying to gain her senses back from the wailing, seeing a bit of double and stumbling to her feet in her vertigo as Loki was avoiding a powerful fast swipe of claws, the creature clearly annoyed by Loki's bullets.

Dove shook her head a few times, her hearing dull and muffled before she was able to see clearly, watching Loki sink an ax into its shoulder and swing the other at the neck before getting thrown back, that painful shriek blasting Loki at close range again causing the woman to faint. Dove was faster to cover her ears this time and much future away, eyes squinting to see better, taking in the sight.

The familiarity was flooding back to her faster now. She had not realized it at first because she truly had never seen this beast before but she had seen it before this. That clicking, how could she ever forget how that clicking had made her feel that night? She quickly set Reaper into the larger form and pressed the plate trigger to shot herself closer as the beast grabbed Loki's shoulders in one hand and waist in the other, starting to pull.

dove was panicking, landing several feet away, her face contouring in pain and fear in ways she had never shown anyone as she feared Loki might be torn in two, screaming as loudly as she could as her face watered and her fear seeped in her words, "WENDIE STOP! PLEASE!"

The beast instantly froze, only Loki's shirt having torn so far and a few snapping cracks in her spine having been heard before those red eyes turned to look fully at Dove. The beast tossed Loki away like she was nothing, body sliding through the snow, and turned on all fours to approach dove but stopped when the woman took off over to Loki, frantic, kneeling at Loki's head and trying to figure out how to get her up without hurting her further, "Oh god Loki you big idiot please be ok… please.."

Dove placed her hands on the sides of Loki's face, tears dripping to her skin as she tried to gently slap her awake unsuccessfully. The beast watched closely, the growling returning as it snorted air, the growl growing irritable as it watched Dove flood with so much worry and fear for this woman. Dove, who had belonged to her, who had been marked by her, worrying over some nuisance. That wouldn't do at all. The beast rushed over, sliding to a stop angrily over the two and snorted, grabbing Loki by the feet despite Dove shouting at her until Dove swung the blade of Reaper into Wendie's hand causing her to cry out and let go, staring up at the watery angry blue and red eyes, "Don't you fucking dare!"

The beast grunted and snorted in confusion and anger, stomping into the snow before reaching and throwing Dove with a powerful back handed swipe so quickly Dove didn't have time to get away. Her head hit the tree so hard she felt her brain rattle in her skull and her vision fight to focus, body collapsing into the snow and struggling to remain conscious. The creature approached starting to scoop her out of the snow when painfully bright orange flickering lighting came rushing in, the sounds of yips and hollers in a language she didn't recognize chasing off the creature.

Before she went unconscious, she saw a figure sliding Loki onto a blanket to drag her and felt hands rolling her into one, then everything went dark.