Halo, it's time for the newest chapter. Enjoy the reading.
The RRNJL team continued their journey towards Haven, they had been on the road for quite a few months now, almost every day brought the same thing, walking in the forest, fighting Grimm and sleeping in the woods. Sometimes they stumbled upon some villages where they stayed for the night but there were times when they had to defend villages from Grimm but there were also times when they found completely destroyed villages where the Grimm had already killed everyone.
In the beginning, this lineup was exciting but as each day went by, it became monotonous and boring.
- Another day with another adventure! - Nora was the only one who was still excited.
- What will be the program today? - Ruby, in a slightly more reserved style than Nora but trying to be bright.
- Walking. - Jaune answered as he browsed the map.
- Seasoned with... - Nora tried to lighten the mood but Ren stopped her.
- Walking.
- Plus, some fighting with some Grimm here and there. - Lance added but he didn't throw anyone up.
Ruby also sighed tiredly, she could feel, like everyone else, that boredom and monotony were starting to break the team's willpower.
- Haven is much further away than I thought.
- Ruby, - She walked beside Ren. – how long did you think this trip would take?
- I don't know! - Ruby snapped. - I grew up in a small village! I've never been so far from home!
- Yeah, but, - Jaune just repeated Ren's question. – how long did you think?
- Maybe… - Until now, Ruby hadn't thought about how long they'd been on the road and how much time was left. - two weeks?
- What?! - Jaune angrily lowered the map.
- Fine! Three or more! I don't know! - Ruby couldn't tell the answer.
- Don't worry, Ruby. – Lance kept his smile and walked next to Ruby's other side. - I swore to you and I would follow you anywhere.
- Oh, thanks, Lance. - Ruby appreciated the Red Knight's support.
- Although your organizational skills are zero. - His honesty is less so.
- Couldn't you have stopped at the good part? - Ruby was brought out of her childish sulking by the ruined gate of a village. - What's that?
Nora ran forward and hopped onto a rotten fence post to get a better look.
- Weird, - Jaune looked over the map. – this village isn't on the map. The next one is at least for days.
- Those buildings look pretty damaged. - Nora found out.
- Quick, - Jaune switched immediately, putting the map away and running forward. - let's look for survivors!
The others followed and as soon as they crossed the gate of the village, they saw a lot of ruined buildings but the damages were much older than the villages that had been destroyed so far. Most of the buildings were still under construction, the streets were empty, there were no corpses anywhere and no traces of Grimms or bandits could be seen.
- Do you see something?! - Ruby asked as she roamed the streets.
- Nothing! – Nora scanned the area from the roof of one of the half-finished buildings.
- Not even here! - Jaune didn't find anything either.
- I think this village is older than the previous ones. - Lance stated. - It wasn't even on the map.
- Like it's been abandoned for a very long time. - Ren saw it too.
- Hey, I found something! - Nora came down from the building and ran forward. She walked towards a field overgrown with plants, sweeping away the weeds. - Oniyuri. I've never even heard of that.
- Me neither. - Jaune was at a loss.
- All Mistral village names are the same to me. - Lance just shook his head.
- I heard about it. – Ren had bad memories of this village but everyone looked at him. - Think of it as Mistral's Glenn Mountains. It was never completed. Roughly 20 years ago, the richest of Mistral were very dissatisfied with the way the kingdom was being run and had enough with the activities of the Council, they gathered everything to build their own city with their own laws. It was hoped that one day it might grow into a separate kingdom. A lot of people thought it would represent the future. - He walked away disappointed. - My parents did too.
- What… - Ruby hesitated to ask the question. - happened? - Ren brushed years of dust off one of the stone fences to reveal some Grimm scratch marks.
- What always happens.
- Grimms. - Jaune answered as Ren clenched his fists angrily.
- Not just any Grimm. - Ruby and Nora looked at each other curiously.
- Only one?
Suddenly, from the distance, a group of birds flew off in terror into the distance, causing a kind of icy fear to the members of the group.
- Let's move on, - Jaune was overcome with an uneasy feeling, as was everyone else. – this place gives me the creeps.
The others followed but Ruby stopped and looked a bit back the way they had come.
- Don't fall behind. - Lance told her but he could sense that Ruby was worried about something. - What's wrong?
- Something or someone is following us. – Ruby looked nervous, Lance also looked back at the road.
- One more reason not to be separated from each other. - He grabbed her shoulder and pushed her forward. - Come.
They continued further into the village and reached the main square, where they passed a dry, moss-covered fountain but Ren raised his hand, signaling the others to stop. There was a long, eerie silence, nothing to be heard but the ominous howl of the wind as it cut through the ruins of the half-finished village, past the team RRNJL who could hear their own hearts pounding in their throats. They all reached for their weapons and readied them.
- From behind! – Ren shouted and everyone immediately looked back.
It was a strange man, tall with long legs, he wore his long black hair in a braid and his yellow eyes reflected madness. He was wearing a brown jacket, a white vest underneath, white pants and long black boots. He ran straight towards the team, who immediately took up a defensive position but the man jumped so much that he easily flew over the team and blocked the exit of the village.
He took out his weapons, two wristbands, each of which had a curved blade coming out of each side and charged at the team again. Ren reacted the fastest and attacked the man from the left but he easily dodged it, staggered him with a strong kick and forced him to retreat with another attack. The man just laughed during that and now charged at Ruby, who he easily pushed back and would have attacked her again if Lance hadn't attacked the man from the side.
The stranger now treated Lance but he successfully parried his attacks with his sword and shield but he was unable to counterattack because the man was so fast and aggressive that he hardly knew where to hit his head.
The man somersaulted away from Lance's blow and got behind his back, then pinned him with something Lance couldn't see and fell to the ground.
Ruby immediately rushed to his aid but the man easily dodged her scythe and knocked Ruby back with a slash. Jaune took her place, who tried to push him up with his shield but he just climbed on top of it and stared at Jaune with his crazy eyes, which scared him almost to death.
Nora was next, he jumped from Jaune's shield to Nora's hammer and from there to the wall of one of the dilapidated buildings but the wall of the dilapidated building gave way and the man smashed a hole in it like a cannonball. As soon as the dust settled, the man propped himself up with both feet on either side of the hole and stared at the team from there.
- We don't want trouble! - Jaune called out.
- Who are you?! - Ren asked.
The man just jumped down in front of them but didn't attack, he just pulled out and answered.
- Who am I is none of your business. - He pointed at Ren. - Or your, - Nora. - - or your, - to Lance. Or… - Finally, Jaune but he stopped a little. - you piqued my interest a bit. - Jaune flinched a little. - Calm down, the only one I'm dealing with is you. - He pointed at Ruby, who was completely shocked.
- Me? - She hardly understood, it was clear that she had never seen this man in her life, which surprised the stranger for a moment, he bent down and started laughing maniacally.
- You... - He could hardly finish laughing. – you have no idea about it, do you?! Oh, how exciting this will be!
- What do you want from me?! – Ruby demanded the answer, to which the man stopped laughing and feigned fear and slight offense and put one hand to his chest.
- Oh, the rose also has thorns. Well, little flower, I came for you to come with me to another place.
- And if she doesn't want to go with you? - Nora and Lance stood defensively in front of Ruby.
- Well... - The man stared at them boredly for a while. - I'll take her.
- We won't let it. - Jaune joined in. The man took a deep breath, smiled and whispered the following in a creepy manner.
- Good.
With lightning fast, that almost no one could react, he got behind Jaune to finish him off but Ren, being the fastest, was able to react in time.
- Jaune! - He immediately opened fire but luckily Jaune was holding up his shield, so it protected him from the friendly fire but luckily, he saved his life.
The man didn't leave Jaune, he jumped at him but he protected his attack with his shield, which he used and fought his two blades to jump on Jaune's shield, which he raised and started spinning on it with his two blades, kicking away Ruby's scythe and Lance's sword, then at Ruby he landed a kick that sent her flying wide.
Lance and Jaune didn't give up, both charging at him with their swords but he was so fast and agile that their strong but slow attacks had nothing against him. Lance's basic, trampling tactics didn't work either, because as soon as Lance started towards him, the man jumped on his shield, stepped on his helmet and pushed away from him.
After dodging the two knights, she aimed for Nora but before he could reach her, Ruby stood up and loaded a Lightning Dust bullet into Crescent Rose and fired past the man's head, straight at Nora, who fell backwards from the shot.
Seeing the result of the friendly fire, the man just punched himself on the head and started laughing again, which even made his eyes tears to make his job easier.
- Well... that's ironic! - He turned and wiped a tear from his face.
What he didn't expect was that it wasn't friendly fire but supporting fire. Nora's Semblance, which multiplies her power by absorbing the electricity, stood up behind the man and struck him with her hammer with her newfound strength.
The blow stirred up a huge dust and you could see that Nora was putting all her strength into the blow, pink sparks were showering everywhere.
Although the man was surprised, he wasn't injured, because a scorpion's tail came out from under his coat and parried Nora's hammer with it.
- Surprise! - He giggled as if he had pulled out a secret weapon and with two kicks, which he aimed at Nora's face, pushed the girl back.
He jumped up on a building, took off his jacket and they could see the scorpion tail growing from the bottom of his back as he stood on top of another building.
- Is he a… faunus? - Ren found out.
- Why is this such a big deal? - Lance didn't understand the shock.
- Now what is it about?! - Ruby wanted to know the answers. - About the White Fang? Are you sent by Roman Torchwick?!
- They are no more than plastic soldiers and pawns, though Torchwick sends his regards, little girl. - The scorpion faunus man answered. - He's telling you he's not mad at you. But my heart, - He put his hand to his chest and bowed. - belongs to our mistress. - He raised his hands and looked towards the sky.
- Cinder? - She was the only one Ruby could think of, she probably wanted revenge for beating her in Beacon.
- Hm, - The man just smiled but they could feel the contempt in his voice for Cinder. - in her dreams.
He dashed off the top of the building, so fast that the team was once again unable to react in time as he jumped right into them. As soon as they turned around, the man already slapped the scorpion's tail and knocked the scythe out of Ruby's hand but she counterattacked, which he easily dodged and pushed Ruby back with a blow. He attacked Ren with his stinger, who just managed to dodge the stabs and kicked him aside as soon as he wasn't paying attention.
Lance transformed his sword into a spear and tried to stab him like that but to no avail, he was still too fast and just like before, he tried to jump onto Lance's shield but he transformed the shield into a larger, rectangular shape but that didn't stop him. Just like before, he tried to jump on his shield but it did surprise him when the three, pointed spikes came out of the shield but he dodged them like a shadow, slipped under Lance's legs and lightly kicked him in the back, causing him to drop to one knee, then kicked him in the head, which sent his helmet flying off and fell to the ground.
Nora couldn't achieve much, even with Ren's support, easily outplaying them and beating back the JNR team. He handled Ruby again, knocking her scythe aside, punching her several times, which made her fly up high but before she could hit the ground, he immediately appeared in front of her to kick her in the stomach with all his strength, causing her to fall and fall to the ground while her aura turned off.
He stood over her and pointed the sting of the scorpion's tail straight at her to deliver the coup de grace. No one could help, Nora and Ren were on the ground, Jaune was too far away and Lance was just getting up. They watched helplessly as this crazy stranger executes the girl they all believed in right before their eyes.
With a flash and a metallic clang, Ruby was rescued. Standing over her was another man Lance had met before. Black pants, black shoes, a white jacket, and a dark red cape similar to Ruby's. He had short slicked back black hair, stubble and red eyes. He had a huge, two-handed sword, Harbinger, in his hand, leaning against his back and using it to ward off the stranger's blow.
Ruby looked up, shocked but relieved and smiling at his sight.
- Hey. - The man also just smiled that he managed to save Ruby in time.
The faunus man only took a step back as Ruby's savior turned back, twirling the Harbinger in his hands.
- Are my eyes not deceiving me?! - He stared at what was in front of him in shock and admiration at the same time. - Qrow Branwen. - He bowed to him. - A real Hunter joined the fun.
- I don't know what's wrong with him, - Ruby stood up, leaning on her scythe. – this guy's strange.
- Listen pal, - Qrow stepped forward. - I don't know who you are, but you better leave my niece alone.
- Well, - The faunus just extended one arm and tilted his head to the side. - my friend, my name is Tyrion and I'm afraid, - He put his palms together and leaned forward. - this isn't possible. My errand, which my mistress entrusted to me, to bring this girl before her. - He looked up at the sky. - I'll do that. He put his hand on his chest. - I don't want to upset my queen.
- Queen? - That was all Ruby could ask in her confusion.
- Salem! - Qrow snapped.
- Who?! – Ruby's mind kept piling up more and more questions.
- I think, - Tyrion prepared to collide with Qrow. - we talked enough.
- You took the word from... - Qrow was ready to make a good remark but Tyrion didn't even wait and charged at him.
Qrow already held his own against him, as he was a much more trained and experienced Hunter but even so, this fight was very even. Tyrion was able to dodge Qrow's blows but it seemed that he was taking him more seriously than the young ones before but Qrow was also having a hard time defending himself against Tyrion's blows.
The blades of the two collided and stirred up a huge windstorm. Tyrion slid to the ground but Qrow didn't want to give him time so he attacked first and hit him fast and hard with Harbinger but Tyrion dodged the blows and did his best to counter attack but Qrow was fast enough to parry them.
Qrow jumped up to strike at Tyrion again but he parried the blow with his two wrist blades but Qrow opened Harbinger, which had a large caliber rifle in it, and opened fire but Tyrion pushed the rifle aside with the scorpion's tail, only damaging another ruined building.
Qrow was still holding Harbinger tightly against Tyrion's blades and it seemed that Qrow was the one dominating now but Tyrion was still grinning, two tiny little turrets came out of his two wrist straps and he opened fire.
Taking advantage of the shock, he managed to break free from Qrow's grip, jump aside, and quickly run around while constantly firing at him. Fortunately, Qrow was able to spin Harbinger fast enough to act as a shield and dodge Tyrion's bullets.
Ren and Nora decided to help Qrow and attack his opponent from two sides but Tyrion quickly spotted them, easily deflected their attacks and pushed them back to the rest of the team. Tyrion prepared to finish off the young ones but Qrow stood in his way, parrying his blow with Harbinger and pushing his opponent back.
- Don't come close! - Qrow warned the others.
- Fine! - Ruby had an idea.
She jumped up onto one of the smaller, half-finished buildings, then another, using a shot from her scythe's rifle to propel herself even higher so that he could get a good view of the battlefield from the top of another building. From there she could aim Tyrion but the problem was that they were too fast and Ruby couldn't aim Tyrion properly and there was a chance that she would accidentally shoot Qrow.
Qrow had to fend for himself since there was no stopping, Tyrion jumped over him, landed behind him and tried to knock Harbinger out of Qrow's hand with the scorpion's tail but failed, Qrow struck again but Tyrion dodged him and delivered a spinning kick at Qrow's head but he bent down in time and tried to cut him from below but Tyrion just jumped aside and opened fire, which Qrow again dodged.
The scorpion aimed its tail at his head again but Qrow dodged it, unfortunately, he didn't expect it to twist its tail back onto his wrist and yank Harbinger out of his hand, sending it flying far and into a wall.
Qrow was disarmed and Tyrion just laughed it off and became overconfident. However, a few gunshots interrupted his celebration as now that they had stopped, Ruby had a chance to shoot the mad faunus but she missed. Firing again, Tyrion focused his aura into the scorpion's tail and dodged Ruby's shots while grinning mischievously.
Qrow noticed this, he realized that Tyrion had channeled all of his aura into his tail, he clenched his fist and punched Tyrion, who was only paying attention to Ruby and the impact sent him completely backwards, he buried his face in his hands and screamed in pain. He managed to punch him in the face twice more and then kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying far away and crashing into a wall.
While he gathered himself, Qrow had time to retake Harbinger, which was embedded in a wall but as soon as he touched the hilt, Tyrion was there to cut him off but Qrow jumped onto Harbinger, pressed a button, causing it to transform into a scythe, the rifle came out of it again, he grabbed the nearest beam and fired, which sent him flying into the air along with the beam, which he just stood up and carefully balanced on with one hand.
Tyrion pushed the beam out from under him, but Qrow expected just that and landed easily on the beams of the half-finished, rickety roof. Tyrion charged again but Qrow turned Harbinger back into a sword and parried Tyrion's blade, which caused Tyrion to jump back but quickly charged again but Qrow dodged him this time, causing Tyrion to fall off the edge of the building but he managed to grab a hold with his scorpion's tail, swinging himself over, back to the roof, he found himself in the air and opened fire on Qrow, whose reflexes and weapon didn't let him down and dodged his opponent's bullets.
Harbinger's and Tyrion's blades clashed dozens of times, sparking each time but still unable to swing at each other but eventually it was Qrow who was pinned to the edge of the building and Tyrion was about to push him off but Qrow held on, parried his attack and began push back when he saw a scrap, torn part on the roof. Quickly, he ran towards it but Tyrion jumped up to block his path and jumped right at the one point that broke below him and fell to the bottom of the building.
Qrow tried to jump away but Tyrion caught one of his legs with his tail and pulled him back, sending them both crashing into the building.
She worried about her uncle, Ruby slipped off the eaves of the building using Crescent Rose and landed on the ground. She immediately ran towards the building where Qrow and Tyrion had fallen but she didn't have to wait long because, accompanied by an explosion, the wall of the building collapsed and Qrow fell out of it rolling but he threw Harbinger forward, which dug into the ground and jumped on it and stopped his fall.
A dark red light flashed around Qrow, indicating that his aura was drained, and dark blue around Tyrion.
The draining of their auras didn't stop them from falling for each other again but before the two men clashed again, it was Ruby who dodged Tyrion's blades.
- You wish to die?! - Tyrion chuckled.
- No! - Ruby gripped Crescent Rose firmly. - But I won't let anyone get hurt!
Ruby and Qrow attacked at the same time but Tyrion parried both of them, kicked Qrow aside and dealt with Ruby alone. Qrow had already exhausted him enough that Ruby could keep up but even so Tyrion was dominating the pace and in a defenseless moment, he was about to stab her with the sting of his tail, which Ruby would no longer have been able to defend against.
Fortunately, Qrow returned in time to parry this blow and the next that Tyrion tried to push back.
- Ruby, what did I say?! - He looked at her sternly. - Get back!
- This is my fight too! – Ruby didn't listen to her uncle and tried to attack Tyrion from the side, who just dodged her.
- No! It's not about that, it's just... - He couldn't finish because Tyrion left him there to fight with the girl.
Tyrion knocked Crescent Rose aside and double-kicked Ruby backwards, against the wall of the building. The jolt caused one of the beams to come loose and fall directly on Ruby if Qrow hadn't cut it apart at the last moment.
Ruby looked gratefully at her uncle, who tried to look cool back at her but blood suddenly flowed down her side as Tyrion took advantage of his inattention to stab him with his stinger. Everyone watched in shock and frozen, worried that Qrow had been seriously injured but Ruby was the only one able to act and use Crescent Rose to cut off part of Tyrion's tail.
- AAAAARRRRRRGGGHHHHH! – Instead of blood, some kind of purple liquid began to flow from the severed tail, which steamed when it hit the ground. - You little b*tch! – Although he was in terrible pain and his balance was disturbed, he still tried to move towards Ruby but the rest of the team stood in his way. - She... - Realizing the situation, his aura was depleted and he was severely injured, he would have been unable to defeat the young ones. – she'll forgive me. - He whispered this and immediately ran away.
Once he was far enough, Qrow collapsed and clutched his side.
- Uncle Qrow, - Ruby immediately ran to him. - are you okay?!
- I'm fine. - He panted. - Just a scratch.
- Who was this guy?! - Nora asked.
- How did you get here?! - Then Ren.
- What did he want from Ruby?! - Jaune was worried.
- And who sent him?! - Lance wanted to know too.
- Uncle Qrow, - Ruby gently placed a hand on her uncle's shoulder. - what's going on?
- What… - Qrow was still panting. – is your… favorite… fairy tale?
Thank you for reading. Please sign it to follow and as favourite and don't forget to write reviews.