Chapter 36: A House Divided

Weiss yawned tiredly as she oversaw the workers from a raised metal platform. She'd been up since the early morning ensuring that everything ran smoothly and she was proud to say that it had.

With the equipment she'd brought with her, they'd managed to finish constructing the large mechanical drill which was going through its final safety inspection before they could start.

"Everything seems to be in order, miss Schnee," One of the workers… A man by the name of Tanner announced. "We're just about ready to start... Would you like to do the honors and start it up?"

Looking towards where the control panel was and the ground that had grown moist from the rain last night, she sighed. "I appreciate the offer, but I believe it would be better if the proper person did it."

"…Alright then. I'll be sure that the drill operator starts it up," Tanner said, giving one last nod before heading off to talk with the other workers.

Watching as he left, Weiss allowed herself to slouch forward slightly, leaning against the railing. With the majority of her job done, she would have a little more time on her hands… Time that could be spent training with her sister and Coal, he had said that he wouldn't mind helping her after all.

"So…" Yang began. "Tell the truth. the only reason why you didn't want to start that thing up is because the ground's soft and your high heels will sink."

"I… What?" Weiss asked. "When did you get here?"

"We've been here for a while now," Yang said, popping her thumb over her shoulder. "Uncle Qrow doesn't like getting close when people are busy with expensive things."

Looking over Yang's shoulder, Weiss rubbed her eyes and blinked when she caught sight of Ruby and Qrow. The aforementioned sister noticing Weiss staring gave a short wave.

"So, was I right?" Yang asked. "Because I could always lend you mine so you could go down there… Although you do have a similar build to Ruby. Her boots would probably fit a lot better than mine."

"I… No, what are you even saying?" Weiss snapped, regaining some energy. "I'm not going to borrow your sister's boots like some common… common… I don't even know what!"

"Eh, it's your loss," Yang smirked. "Hey, if don't want to do it, do you think I could start that bad boy up?"

Weiss's eye began to twitch. "No!"

"That sucks," Yang said. "Adding a giant drill to the things I've driven would have been pretty sweet. I mean, so far I've only actually driven Bumblebee, my motorbike, but I think I should be able to operate that thing, they're pretty similar after all."

Weiss let out a sigh of relief as the drill hummed to life, the grating sound of it piercing the earth blocked out whatever it was Yang was talking about.

Glancing back, towards Ruby and Qrow, Weiss checked to see if anyone else was there with them, but was disappointed when she didn't see anyone else. Her sister was likely busy with something important and seeing as Coal wasn't here, he was likely with her. They…

Weiss's face flushed red as she thought back to what they'd been doing the other day. How Winter had been laying on that bed, clad only in her bra… And Coal was…

Gripping the railing tightly, she focused her full attention on the drill in front of her, blocking out the embarrassing thoughts.

Yes, that should do it. Drills were fairly mundane after all… There was nothing embarrassing about it… It was only a large piece of metal piercing the earth after all… Repeatedly.

Weiss closed her eyes for a moment. She was just tired, that was it. She just needed to get some sleep. Her bed…

Damnit!

…Breathe…

I sat in the forest with my eyes closed, taking slow deliberate breaths in an attempt to adjust to the sole surviving altitude mask that James had given me. There was a large crack running across the side, but it appeared to still be working.

Hearing a stick snap along with an almost whistle like sound, pushed myself to the side, rolling to my feet as a spear impaled the place I'd once been standing.

A low, familiar growl sounded through the clearing as a large, fully white Death Stalked rapidly scurried towards me. Before I could move, a black Glyph appeared underneath me, freezing me in place.

"Not bad," I muttered under my breath.

Watching the Death Stalker, its feet pierced into the ground as it began to pick up speed. Lashing out, the Grimms pincers encircled my body, aiming to crush me.

Waiting for the last moment, I unsheathed my blade and in one fluid motion, sliced through the Grimm, destroying the construct only for Pyrrha's form to come barreling through it with her shield raised.

It seemed that I'd underestimated how well they could work together.

Not being in any position to dodge, especially with the Glyph under my feet, I instead opted to redirect the attack.

Accessing the Transparent World, everything slowed down giving me more than enough time to react to Pyrrha and grab her shield. The ground and Winter's Glyph shattered as I took the full force of Pyrrha's strike.

Pulling Pyrrha's body against mine, I spun around, changing the momentum of her attack before releasing her, sending the red head tumbling through a few trees.

Not giving me a single moment to rest, Winter sent a small flock of Nevermore my way, their talons aimed to rip and tear anything they could get a hold of.

Spotting Winter's hiding place high up in one of the trees, I ignored the approaching Nevermore, choosing to focus on the one who was summoning them.

"So, this is where you've been hiding," I hummed, landing on the branch Winter was resting on. "It's not a bad spot."

It gave her a great vantage point, allowing her to send her Grimm constructs to fight while giving her the space to focus on her breathing.

Drawing her blade, Winter stood her ground. Taking a cautious step forward, she lashed out with a slash.

-50AP

"I think that's enough," I said, my hand locked around the blade, tightening my grip when she tried to tug it free. We were fairly high up after all, if Winter exceeded her limit, she could end up passing out again and falling.

Holding onto the handle, Winter attempted to pull her sword free while maintaining her balance. "Just… a little more."

Humming, I fought to maintain my balance as the tree shook. Looking down, I caught sight of a single white Alpha Beowolf, tearing chunks out of the tree trunk.

Releasing her sword, Winter dived off of the tree as it began to fall, she formed a small Nevermore that safely returned her to the ground.

Jumping to a nearby tree, I quickly made my way back down to the clearing where the duo stood. Pyrrha stood with her shield raised and her spear at the ready while Winter stood with a pair of Glyphs glowing on the floor in front of her.

Looking between the duo, I focused my attention on Winter. "This is yours," I said, tossing the blade towards her.

Watching as she caught her blade, I grabbed a hold of my hilt, only to pause when the ground began shaking. Clicking my mask off, I looked off into the distance, where the drill had been set up.

That… Wasn't supposed to happen.

…Breathe…

The drilling location was a chaotic mess. A thick cloud of dust obscured the area from view, only growing denser as the drill kicked up more. The sound of the drill was deafening, drowning out all other sounds. Something had gone seriously wrong.

Dozens of miniature Nevermore constructs flew into the field. Falling to her knees, Winter gritted her teeth as sweat dripped down her face.

There wasn't any time to hesitate.

Heading into the dust cloud, I grabbed the altitude mask and set it to the lowest setting. Stopping I turned towards Pyrrha who had followed me in and held it out towards her. Looking as if she wanted to say something, I shook my head and attached the mask to her face.

Pulling my shirt over my face, I grabbed onto Pyrrha's hand and rushed further into the cloud. Making our way deeper in, the ground started to become uneven as large amounts of ground was flung into the air. Catching sight of the drill, I came to a stop.

It was lying on its side.

Catching sight of some movement, I moved towards it, finding Yang and Ruby in the process of frantically digging something up. Using the Transparent world revealed a person buried a few feet down.

Running over with Pyrrha, I dropped to their side and stabbed my hand into the ground, stopping only when I reached them. Grabbing on, I carefully pulled the person up, only for Weiss's head to pop out of the ground.

Hearing a loud metallic groan, I looked up only to find Pyrrha with her hands outstretched towards it, forcefully stopping the drill with her Semblance, straining to keep it still. The drill quivered and practically vibrated as it fought against Pyrrha's control, before finally burning out.

"Damn… Good work there, Pyrrha," Yang said, walking over to her. "I can finally hear myself think..."

Feeling the ground shudder, I barely had time to look down as it opened beneath us. Grabbing a hold of Weiss, I looked around for something solid to launch myself off of only to reach the bottom a few dozen meters below.

"Ow, my butt," Ruby complained, slowly pushing herself up.

"Gotta work on that landing strategy, sis," Yang called out, a little further up.

I was relieved to see that Pyrrha had managed to land safely as well. Slowly pushing myself up with Weiss still in my arms, I heard Pyrrha let out a gasp before sending Ruby, Weiss and myself flying backwards while she and Yang flew the other way just in time to avoid the massive drill impacting the ground, causing the cave to collapse in on itself.

"Yang! Pyrrha," Ruby cried. Scrambled to her feet and began to dig through the dirt and rock in a desperate attempt to get to her sister. "Come on, we have to help them!"

"Ruby, stop," I said, standing back up once more. "The more you dig, the more this place caves-in." Seeing that Ruby wasn't listening to me, I looked down at Weiss in my arms. "You think you can stand?"

Attempting to answer, Weiss let out a croaked cough. "Yes… I think I inhaled some dirt."

"On second thought, it might be better for you to rest for a bit instead," I mused, carefully setting her down on the ground. Walking over to Ruby, I placed my hand on her shoulder and gently pulled her away from the collapsed wall of dirt and stone.

Dirt coated Ruby's hands as she stared down at the ground. Sniffling, she a few tears dripped down her face, before she buried it in my chest, mumbling something that I couldn't quite make out.

"We'll find another way," I said, rubbing her back. "There seem to be a few tunnels around here. One of them is bound to lead to Yang and Pyrrha."

"What if they're dead?" Ruby asked, her voice muffled by my chest.

"They're not," I answered immediately. "Pyrrha managed to get Yang and herself out of the way in time."

They'd survived the collapse, I was certain of that. The only thing I didn't know was how much Aura Pyrrha had left. She must have drained a significant portion of it when she stopped that drill, moving us out of the way might have used what little she had left.

She was going to need a little time to recover her Aura.

Getting out of these caves shouldn't be too difficult. I could simply force my way out using Godspeed. The issue was everyone else. That kind of speed would likely collapse the remainder of this cave. Ruby would make it out, but everyone else…

"We should go," I said, pulling back. "The sooner we reach them, the better."

"Yeah," Ruby replied. Rubbing her face with her sleeve, she gave a small smile. "Let's go save them."

Spotting Weiss who was struggling to stand, I glanced towards the tunnels ahead. There was no way that she was going to be able to make it through the tunnels on her own, but it might not be possible to carry her like I had earlier.

"Weiss, it might be better if I carry you on my back."

"What?!" Weiss squawked, her face turning red. "That… That's not necessary. I'm perfectly fine to walk on my own." Taking a step forward, she tripped, landing face down on the ground.

Ruby snorted.

Sighing, I helped Weiss up once more. "So…" I trailed off.

"Alright," Weiss said softly.

Helping Weiss onto my back, I grabbed my Scroll and clicked it open. "Do you think you could light the path?"

"Sure, why not," Weiss hummed, tiredly leaning her head on my shoulder as she grabbed my Scroll. "I'm already stuck doing nothing, I might as well be useful."

Glancing to make sure Ruby was ready, I headed down the tunnel that looked to head in the right direction, curving towards the spot where Pyrrha and Yang had landed.

Passing through the tunnel, I was forced to crouch as it slowly began to become narrower. Glimpsing through it with the Transparent World, I saw that it would eventually begin to grow wider.

"What caused the drill to topple like that?" Ruby asked softly.

Weiss's breath hitched and her grip tightened. "…I don't know. I keep going over what happened, but it just doesn't make sense. By all accounts, it should have worked."

"Could it have been tampered with?" I asked, ducking under a jagged piece of rock.

"No," Weiss shook her head. "There aren't any groups outside of the White Fang that would want to do something like this and besides, there wasn't any time for someone to tamper with the equipment."

"What about a virus?" Ruby pitched in. "Because… You know… That Hazel guy did hack Mistral's CCT."

She unknowingly made a good point. Salem was aware of where I was and Watts was an expert on all things digital. It wasn't too big of a leap for him to attempt to sabotage the new mine through the use of a virus.

"Well… I suppose that might be possible," Weiss conceded. "Who knows what's going through that lunatics mind."

Entering a wider section of the tunnel, I stopped, accidentally causing Ruby to bump into Weiss who was too tired to scold her. Catching sight of something moving on the other side of the wall, I peered closer.

"Heh," I chuckled. "It looks like we might be getting out of here sooner than I thought." Unsheathing my blade, I brought it down, cutting straight through the wall.

…Breathe…

Landing in a heap next to Pyrrha, Yang immediately shot to her feet and rushed towards the still falling debris. "Ruby!" Clawing through the pile, she was briefly knocked to the side by a falling stone, only to get right back to work on removing it, but whenever she moved a stone or some dirt, more would just take its place.

"Damnit!" Yang's gauntlet went off as she punched the pile of rocks in front of her. "Why… Won't… You… budge?!"

"Yang!"

"What?" Yang snapped, her eyes burning red as she spun around with her fist raised. Glaring at Pyrrha, her eyes softened and returned to their original colour as she saw how exhausted she looked. "Shit, sorry Pyrrha. I didn't mean anything by it. I'm just a little stressed…"

"It's alright," Pyrrha cut her off. Wincing as she heaved herself into a more comfortable position. "You don't need to explain yourself. For what it's worth, I'm sorry that I didn't react faster. If I had, we might not be in this mess."

"Yeah, I don't think that's something that you need to say sorry for," Yang muttered. Walking over, she sat next to the red head, glancing at the scrap that went across her arm. "So my plan didn't pan out… Any idea on what we should do next?"

Breathing slowly, Pyrrha watched as the dust settled. "I think we should rest here for a short while, before deciding on what to do next."

"Sounds good to me," Yang replied, kicking her feet up on a nearby stone. "…Do you think the others are okay?"

"I'm sure they are," She hummed. "They have Coal with them after all."

"Yeah, I suppose they do." Sighing, Yang leaned back with her hands folded behind her head. "You know, this whole situation feels a little crazy. Magic exists, there's a Grimm woman that's hell-bent on destroying the world, oh, and we're trapped underground."

Taking her mask off, Pyrrha took an experimental breath.

"I will admit, it is… difficult to come to terms with everything," Pyrrha said, placing the mask in her lap. "But it also doesn't seem insurmountable. I was fairly worried about Salem and the threat that she poses, but I think that fear stemmed from how I was looking at the whole situation."

"And how was that?" Yang asked.

"I was looking at everything as a whole and feeling that they needed to be solved instantly. It was quite stressful," Pyrrha acknowledged. "Now, however, I'm beginning to look at it as a series of little goals, something to whittle away at and remind myself that I'm not alone in this. It's not perfect, but it does help me."

"A series of small goals, huh," Yang hummed. "If that's how it is, what would be the first thing we do in order to get out of here?"

"Probably head a little further in to avoid being crushed by any further cave-ins," Pyrrha replied, pushing herself up. "But not too far in."

Until she could regenerate enough Aura to move the drill, waiting for someone else to help them seemed like the best plan. The deeper they entered the cave, the lower the chance of them being found.

"Alright," Yang said, following behind Pyrrha. "Let's get going then."

Making their way through the tunnel system, they soon entered a much larger chamber with enough room to fit a Bullhead, although landing one in it would be a bad idea. A large portion of the stone floor had been replaced by a shimmering black sludge-like substance that pulsated rhythmically.

"Is that…" Yang muttered, shining her Scroll's light on the black fluid, revealing more than a few half formed Grimm. An Ursa Major locked eyes with her and slowly began to drift towards them.

"We should leave," Pyrrha said, tugging on Yang's arm.

"In a sec," Yang replied. "I just gotta do something first."

Watching as the Grimm pulled itself from the black sludge, Yang walked up to it and punched it, her gauntlet blowing a hole clean through its head. The Grimm fell backwards, back into the, splashing some of the black fluid onto Yang as it was reabsorbed back into the shimmering pool.

"Okay, I'm ready to go," Yang hummed, feeling better about herself.

Following Pyrrha back to the collapsed room, Yang nearly tripped as something pulled her back. Turning back, she found a pair of long black tendrils that had attached itself to her gauntlet and boot, preventing her from leaving.

"Shit," She muttered. Despite the awkward angle, Yang attempted to blow the tendrils into pieces but failed as her shells harmlessly impacted the black sludge. "Shit! Shit! Shit!"

Fighting against the pull, Yang found herself slipping towards the shimmering black pool and worse yet, the closer she was dragged, the harder it pulled her.

Slicing through the tendrils, Pyrrha flung Yang behind her, before she was forced to block another one with her shield. Shoving it back, she refocused her breathing and cut through another incoming tentacle.

"Yang, are you alright?"

"Yeah," Yang muttered, struggling to remove the Grimm as it had locked her arm and leg together. "These bastards are really sticky and they don't die easily."

Glancing at the floor covered in dissolving tendrils, Pyrrha looked back to Yang who was still struggling. That couldn't be right. Shifting her sword to its spear mode, Pyrrha slashed through the Grimm attached to Yang's gauntlet, killing it.

Its body seemed to be mostly gelatinous and half formed, blunt force trauma had little effect on it, but her sword seemed to work well enough.

Standing her ground alongside Pyrrha, Yang helped her keep the tendrils at bay, although it quickly became apparent to her that there would be no winning this. Much like with the debris before, every time they killed one, another flooded to take its place.

The longer they fought, the more she felt it. If nothing changed, they were going to die here.

Reloading her gauntlets, Yang felt someone grab onto her from behind before she was harshly tugged backwards. "Hey, wait! Let me go!"

Pyrrha, abandoning her defense, rushed after Yang and her abductor, following them into one of the nearby tunnels. Hearing the sound of stone on metal, Pyrrha picked up her pace, following right behind the duo as Yang's captor collapsed the tunnel's ceiling.

Grabbing a hold of Yang, Pyrrha managed to tug her free just as they entered an antechamber. The formless Grimm had seemingly lost interest now that getting to them was far harder.

"Thanks, Pyrrha," Yang said sincerely, before her eyes flashed red as she turned towards her would-be abductor. "Alright, so who's the dead asshole who tried to use my friend as a diversion?"

Slipping her scroll from her jacket pocket, Yang turned its flashlight on, only to nearly drop it.

"Raven Branwen," Pyrrha muttered, gripping her blade a little tighter as she remembered how their last encounter went.

"Yang… We have a lot to talk about, but first." Slashing her blade downward, a glowing red portal opened in front of them. "Why don't we move this to somewhere more… Pleasant?"

"Yeah, no!" Yang said. "I'm not going to abandon my sister down here just so I can have some… Talk with you."

"I can tell that you're not in the right state of mind to talk right now," Raven hummed, stepping towards her portal. "I'll just leave then. We can talk at a later date… Oh, you can find your own way out, yes?"

"Wait," Yang called out, stopping Raven. "I just want to ask one thing before you leave. Was Salem the reason why you left us?"

Stepping away from the portal, Raven allowed it to close. "I see that Qrow has been filling your head with lies and half truths. Did he tell you how you're joining some righteous secret war for the good of Remnant? How your actions actually make a difference?"

"…So Salem was the reason why you left," Yang noted softly.

"I left because I wanted out of Ozpin's and Salem's never ending war," Raven answered. "I had a duty to my tribe. Yang, come with me and I'll tell you everything that they're hiding… You'll come to see things my way and understand why leaving was… Is necessary," She said, holding her hand out.

"No!"

Taking a step towards Yang, Raven froze when she caught sight of a blade cut through the wall to the side of the antechamber, forming a doorway sized hole with a pile of rubble at its base.

A gust of wind blew through the room as a girl that looked remarkably like Summer raced in, pulling Yang into a tight hug.

"Ruby?!" Yang said, startled by her sister's sudden appearance.

"Yep," Ruby laughed cheerfully, happy to have her sister back.

Turning back towards the hole, Raven took a shaky step back, her pulse quickening as she spotted something shifting in the darkness.

"Raven Branwen… It's been a while since I last saw you. For your sake, I hope you haven't been raiding any towns."

And immediately into some action. The Drill fails and collapses without turning off. The ground caves in and the group is separated by the falling drill...Raven's one save per lifetime rule kicks in only to backfire on her when she realizes who else is in the cave system.

Anyways, I'm up to chapter 41 on the P word website.

P
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I go by the name of ThatKircguy. Just copy the name and paste it in the Patty Rio On search bar. It'd help me out immensely, but don't worry if that's not your style. I will be uploading weekly, so it's not going to be stuck there permanently.

Also, I post my original stuff there as well. It's nothing much, just two short stories for now, but I'll post more as I write them.

The next chapter will be posted on the 6th of January
See you all then, dudes and dudettes.
Have an awesome and safe new year!