#team fall

“Are we getting any closer?” Jaune asked.

“I’ll let you know when we’re almost there.” Ren replied, keeping a steady walking pace.

It was early in the morning, but the sky had gone grey. After figuring out the destroyed city of Kuroyuri was a potential option as to where Ruby was, the group decided to set off for there immediately, with Ren at the front and Nora closely following behind him. Qrow was at the back of the group, Yang was in front of him, and Jaune was in front of her, constantly checking if Ren was going the right way.

“You shouldn’t keep nagging him, blondie.” Qrow said, gesturing to the map he had in his hand. “I’ve been checking, and your friend knows the way for sure.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yup. He’s following the directions to the letter.”

“Whoa.” Jaune was impressed. “Ren, how do you know the way to this city so well?”

Ren didn’t reply, so Nora stepped in.

“It’s kinda a sore subject.” She answered, without missing a beat.

“Oh, right.”

Ren briefly looked over to Nora with a smile, before continuing to lead the group. “Hopefully it won’t be too long until we get there.”

“Yeah.” Jaune seconded. “And hopefully we’ll find Ruby on the way.”

Ren nodded, as him, Jaune, Nora and Yang continued their journey.

Qrow, however, hung back a little, looking at the map.

According to the map, Kuroyuri was close to the city that Jaune had pointed out before; the one that Qrow had said Ruby definitely won’t be in.

The one with it’s name crossed out.

The one that Qrow had lied that Ruby definitely won’t be in.

He sighed, folding up the map and taking out his flask.

He knew that the city was called “Shinigami”.

He knew that Ruby would be there.

But he knew that he couldn’t go back.

Qrow started to unscrew the cap on his flask.

“Qrow Branwen, isn’t it?”

“Ah-!?” The voice shocked him so much that he nearly dropped the flask in his hand. Qrow quickly screwed the cap back on, shoved it into his pocket and turned around to the source of the voice. “Who’s there!?”

He couldn’t see him, but there was a boy underneath the shade of a nearby oak tree, leaning against the trunk with his arms folded. He looked like he was wearing a dark hoodie, but the shade from the tree made any other detail difficult to see.

“Answer the question.” The boy said sternly. “You’re Qrow Branwen, aren’t you?”

“And who the hell are you?” Qrow challenged, reaching for the hilt of the weapon on his back.

“Hey.” The boy reassured. “I don’t want to fight. Just answer my question. Are you Qrow Branwen or not?”

Qrow gave the boy a confused look, before moving his hand away from his weapon and sighing. “Yeah. You happy now?”

Even though Qrow couldn’t see his face from the shade of the tree, it looked like the boy was smiling. “Good.”

Qrow tutted. “It ain’t a good idea to go this way, pipsqueak.”

“Oh, no. I’m not headed for Kuroyuri.” The boy’s smile turned into a smirk. “I just want to ask you something.”

Qrow gave him a bewildered look. “What the hell do you want?”

The boy’s expression went cold, and he held out his hand expectantly.

“I want my cane back.”

A Nevermore slammed to the ground, it’s burning body starting to disintegrate.

Blake flinched back from the blast of heat, still not used to the destructive nature of Scarlet’s semblance.

Scarlet obviously noticed, prompting him to sheepishly put his hand down and turn away. “S-sorry...”

“Oh, n-no! It’s fine!” Blake quickly reassured. “You got rid of that Nevermore, that’s the main thing.”

Scarlet shrugged. “I guess...”

Blake had been trying to spend a lot more time with Scarlet since their talk the night Uranus first arrived in Vale. Despite Neptune’s constant insistence that his teammate was hiding something important from them, Blake didn’t want to force Scarlet to reveal anything.

However, she was admittedly starting to get a little worried about him.

“There’s probably more small Grimm further on.” Blake continued. “Or maybe something bigger, like a King Taijitu or a Deathstalker.”

“You think so?”

“Most likely. But we could head back if you-”

Scarlet raised a hand to stop her. “No. Let’s keep going.” He started walking forward ahead of her.

Blake was about to stop him, but decided to follow him anyway, quickly running over to his side. He didn’t have his jacket on, and his two weapons were sheathed on his belt – as he didn’t need to use them to take out the Nevermore he had defeated earlier.

Admittedly, Blake had been worried about Scarlet since what had happened at the tournament, but it only became more obvious recently, after hearing Neptune’s constant claims that he was hiding something. Maybe she had subconsciously started paying more attention to him because of it, and she had started to notice what Neptune was saying, but mainly that something wasn’t quite right with him.

“Are you...” Blake started to ask when she caught up with him. “...Okay?”

Scarlet didn’t respond. He just kept walking.

Blake continued. “It’s...Just that you seem a little...How do I put this…?” She thought for a moment. “You’ve just been a lot more closed-off since that time we talked with Uranus and Lucifer.”

Scarlet froze at the mention of Lucifer’s name.

He still couldn’t let go of what he said that day.

“You and I both know you’re hiding something.”

Those simple words had set him on edge ever since. How could Lucifer even tell that he was hiding something? Did he know what he was hiding? And if he did, how the hell does he even know?

All these questions flooded Scarlet’s mind like a torrential downpour.

It’s only when he noticed that Blake was trying to get his attention that he snapped back to reality.

“Scarlet? Hey, Scarlet?”

“Huh?”

“Oh good, you’re back. Must’ve zoned out for a minute...Are you-”

He waved his hand as if to dismiss her and continued walking. “I’m fine.”

Blake hovered where they had stopped for a minute, started to run over again, but then stopped.

I’ve been in his situation before. She thought. Our situations are probably completely different, but I think I know what it’s like. I should give him some space. It looks like he needs it right now.

She started walking again, but decided to leave a little bit of space between them rather than being next to him.

Blake was worried, but she knew not to press him for answers. Scarlet obviously didn’t seem comfortable with talking about whatever was wrong, so Blake knew the best thing to do was to give him some space for now. He might open up about it later on, she couldn’t force him into saying anything he didn’t want to say at the moment.

After a while of walking in silence, Blake decided to change the subject.

“Do you see any Grimm yet?”

Scarlet shook his head. “No, not yet.”

“O-okay...How do you think it’ll be long until we find one?”

He shrugged. “How am I supposed to know?”

“Oh...” Blake replied meekly, realising she had only made the situation more awkward than it already was. She was just about to say something else when…

“You know what? No.”

“Huh?” Blake said, confused by what Scarlet had just said.

“I’m answering that question you asked earlier.” He continued, without missing a beat. “No. I’m not.”

Blake had to cast her mind back a little before she realised what he was talking about.

“You mean...” She replied. “You’re...NOT okay?”

Scarlet paused, almost nervously, before replying.

“...Yeah. I’m not.”

“W-what!?” Blake stuttered.

“I don’t really want to talk about it, but...” He continued. “A lot has been happening recently. And...I don’t really know how to put this, but...I haven’t really been able to manage things, I guess.”

Blake slowly nodded in understanding. “...I guess I know how that feels...” She looked over to Scarlet supportively. “But I am here if you want to talk about things-”

“But that’s the thing.” He said. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to talk about it.”

“Yeah yeah, been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Heh...”

Scarlet sighed, and muttered “But this is completely different...”

Blake’s ears perked up under her bow. “Huh?”

“N-nothing...” Scarlet replied practically immediately.

Blake was just about to say something when Scarlet suddenly stopped walking.

“Found one.”

The large street they were walking on had been blocked by a Grimm. It was a smaller variation of a usually large one, as it’s golden-stinger-tipped tail barely towered over the tops of nearby buildings.

It was a Deathstalker.

Blake stopped, remembering what had happened the last time that she had seen Scarlet encounter one of these Grimm.

The small Deathstalker stopped clawing at a piece of rubble; it’s orange eyes focusing on the two students and it’s stinger looming towards them.

Scarlet froze and took a step back.

Oh no, Blake thought. It’s happening again...I have to do something!

Without a second thought as to what she was doing, she immediately readied Gambol Shroud and charged towards the Deathstalker.

Scarlet snapped back to reality as soon as she sped off.

“Blake, WAIT-!”

The Deathstalker noticed her speed towards him, and swung it’s tail towards her.

Blake leapt upwards – using her semblance to take the hit – threw Gambol Shroud around the Grimm’s tail and swung around it, before shooting at it once she had retrieved her weapon.

The shots missed completely.

It was at this moment that Blake realised that recklessly charging the Grimm was a very bad idea.

The Deathstalker slammed it’s tail into her before she got a chance to react, and sent her flying into the wall of a nearby building.

“AH-!” She slammed into the building’s hard wall and landed on the pavement with a painful thud. “Urgh...”

Blake didn’t know how much of her aura was left, but it likely wasn’t much, as her vision was blurry and a painful ringing noise was echoing through her head.

Because her vision hadn’t cleared up yet, the blurred shape of the Deathstalker only appeared as a vague shadow looming in front of her. It slowly moved closer as if to finish the job, when a painfully bright flash suddenly struck it at breakneck speed.

Blake still couldn’t see or hear what was happening; as her vision was still blurry and the painful ringing was still echoing in her ears, but the next thing she knew after who knows how much time had passed, someone was trying to shake her awake and someone was saying something, even though it felt like it was from far away.

“Blake, can you hear me? Hey!”

After a few seconds, she suddenly snapped back to reality and woke up.

“Ah-!?”

Scarlet was kneeling down in front of her. “Oh, good. I thought I lost you there.”

“Ugh...” Blake rubbed her hand against her head. “What happened? Where’s the-”

Looking behind where Scarlet was answered her second question.

The almost mutilated body of the Deathstalker was disintegrating behind him. And from looking at it for a bit longer, she noticed that there must have been many different attacks inflicted on it; as the Grimm was covered in slashes, burn scars, electrocution burn marks and some areas had even been frozen. Not only that, but one of the nearby buildings had also been badly damaged.

This was likely a result of Scarlet’s powers.

Blake gasped a little and put her hands to her mouth.

Scarlet sighed and started to stand up. “I...May have gone a bit overboard...”

Blake was about to comment on that maybe being an understatement, but since she didn’t see what happened, she decided to keep her mouth shut and pulled herself back onto her feet as her vision started to clear up.

But as it cleared up, she thought she saw something glowing or flashing where Scarlet’s right eye would normally be if his hair wasn’t covering it up, but it suddenly stopped when her vision returned to normal.

Must’ve been my imagination...She thought.

Scarlet must’ve noticed her staring. “...What is it?”

“Huh?”

“I just thought you were...” He started, before trailing off and looking away. “Never mind. Let’s just get back.”

Blake nodded as the two of them started walking. “Good call.”

The sky had turned a dark, almost night-like grey with clouds, and the air felt almost deathly cold.

Blake shivered a little due to the sudden chill, but started to get used to it as the two of them continued walking down the desolate street. She looked over to Scarlet to see how he was doing; he was trying to steady his breathing, but she couldn’t help but notice that he was walking a lot slower than usual and his breathing almost sounded...Strangled.

“Hey,” She said with a tone of slight concern. “Are you okay?”

Scarlet signalled her off with his hand again without even looking at her.

“I’m...Fine...” He replied, almost sounding like he was struggling to talk in order to get his breathing under control. “I just...Used a lot of energy, that’s all.”

Blake nodded, and turned back around to continue focusing on walking before quickly changing the subject.

“I hope we don’t run into any more Grimm on the way back.” She smirked a little to herself. “I’d rather not get slammed into a building again, that’s for sure. Heh...”

Scarlet didn’t reply, only continuing to try and control his breathing.

“I mean,” Blake continued. “We should just head back to the others and get some rest. I think we both need it.” She turned back around to look at him. “Right, Scarlet?”

Scarlet was just about to reply, when suddenly…

Blake had no idea what happened, but it was like some kind of pulse had suddenly jolted through his body.

“GH-!” He let out a strangled gasp before suddenly collapsing down to his knees on the ground.

“Scarlet!?” Blake panicked and immediately rushed over. “Are you-”

Scarlet’s right hand was over the right side of his face, and he raised his left hand as if to ward her off.

“I-i-it’s fine...” He stammered, his left arm shaking a little. “I-I’m okay, I just- AAH-!” Another pulse suddenly jolted through him. His left hand suddenly covered his mouth as his entire body shuddered from the pain of whatever had happened.

Blake knelt down in front of him and reached her hand over, as if about to put her hand on his shoulder.

“You don’t...O-oh god...” She started, in an almost panicked tone. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s happening to you, I-”

“I-I told you! I-it’s fine…!” He tried to say, attempting to lift his left hand up to ward her off again. It was almost like even talking was painful for him. “You...Don’t need to worry about-”

He suddenly let out a hacking cough, and blood splattered all over his left hand.

“Huh-!?” Blake suddenly recoiled back in shock.

He kept coughing, more blood splattering on his hand and onto the pavement below them, and near desperately struggled to get his strangled breathing back under control.

Blake put her hands to her mouth, as her eyes suddenly widened.

“...Scar...Let?”

Scarlet froze, as if just remembering that Blake was kneeling right in front of him. Still struggling to steady his breathing, he slowly started to look back up at her.

His one uncovered eye was wide, almost with fear, and a stream of blood was dripping from his mouth.

Blake moved her hands down from her mouth.

“What...The...Hell…!?” She started.

His shoulders were still shuddering a little. “...I’m-”

Realising the gravity of the situation, Blake suddenly grabbed Scarlet’s unnaturally thin shoulders and pulled him close.

“Are you okay!? Oh god, I have no idea what just happened...What even WAS that!?”

Blake continued questioning his wellbeing at rapidfire, before Scarlet suddenly came to his senses.

“Blake, I-” He forcefully pulled himself away from her grip.

“I have no idea what that was and-” She stammered in a panic.

“Hey, hey, hold on!”

Blake stopped and looked over to Scarlet. “Huh?”

Scarlet raised both his hands in an almost reassuring gesture, with the trickle of blood still dripping from his mouth.

“Okay, I know this looks bad, but trust me, I’m fi-”

“YOU ARE NOT FINE!!!”

“Yes, I...” Scarlet started, then sighed. “...Okay, I’m not. Just...” He struggled to pull himself back up. “Just don’t tell the others, okay…?”

“Wha-!?” Blake immediately shot back up. “I NEED to tell someone! You need help!”

“The others don’t need to know.” He said coldly, before starting to slowly walk away. “It’ll only make them worried about me. And they don’t need to worry about someone like me anyway...”

“Are you kidding!? It’s no wonder Neptune’s worried about you!”

Scarlet suddenly stopped walking, and turned back around, his wide uncovered eye focused on Blake.

“...What...Did you say…?”

It was at this moment that Blake had realised what she just said.

Oh, no…! She thought, stepping backwards. I wasn’t supposed to tell him about that!

“U-uh...” She stammered. “N-nothing...”

“No,” Scarlet started to walk back over to her. “You said something about Neptune.”

“Um...” Blake started to back up to a nearby building.

Scarlet had gotten closer. “You said, ‘it’s no wonder Neptune’s worried about you’. What was that supposed to mean?”

Blake didn’t reply.

“Well?” Scarlet continued. “Aren’t you going to- AAH-!” Another sudden pulse jolted through him, causing him to suddenly stumble backwards and fall back to the ground.

And in her shock, almost like some kind of automatic reflex, Blake suddenly said:

“NEPTUNE KNOWS THAT YOU’RE NOT HUMAN!”

Scarlet froze.

Blake realised she wasn’t supposed to say that, either. She looked at the ground sheepishly as Scarlet struggled to get back up.

“...What...Did...You...Just…!?”

She had to tell him now.

“I-I’m sorry, I just...” Blake said quickly, not looking up. “Neptune found out that you aren’t human and that you can see auras.”

Scarlet’s eyes widened and he took a step back. “W-what-!?”

“He’s started to get really suspicious and he told me everything, so I-”

Next thing she knew, Scarlet was pinning her to the wall.

“AH-!”

“Is that the only reason you’ve been talking to me, then!?” He said, his voice filled with unnatural rage. “Has he ordered you to so he could get information out of me!? IS THAT IT!?”

“Wh- no!” Blake started. “I was worried about you-!”

“Has he told anyone else? Does anyone else know!? ANSWER ME!!!”

“I DON’T KNOW! I don’t-”

Scarlet let go of her, letting her fall back down to the ground.

Blake didn’t look back up and continued.

“...I don’t know...” She whimpered. “I don’t know...You probably don’t believe me right now, but...I haven’t been spending time with you just to get information out of you...After hearing everything Neptune has been saying, I...I got really worried, and...” She looked back up at him.

Scarlet was looking back down at her, his eye wide with a mix of confusion and fear.

Tears were starting to form in the corners of her eyes. “...I’m sorry...”

Neither of them said anything for a while.

Scarlet’s almost cold gaze softened a little. “Blake-”

Blake immediately got back up. “I have to go.” She started to run off.

He stopped and started to reach after her. “WAIT-!”

“I’M SORRY!” She called out, as she ran off and disappeared from view.

Raven was up early. She never really felt she had a need for sleep, so she had a habit of waking up a lot earlier than the other members of the tribe.

She was kneeling outside of Ruby’s tent. She intended to wake her up soon, but she knew she still needed time for her wounds to heal.

“Is she doing okay?”

Raven just noticed Vernal walking over with Cadet in tow.

“She’s fine.” She replied. “I’ve just checked on her. She seems to be sleeping well.”

“That’s good.” Vernal said with a small smile. “She seemed to have taken a pretty bad hit before you found her.”

Raven nodded. “From what I saw, Yang shoved her into a Beowolf’s attack path during an argument.”

Cadet flinched back. “Jeez...”

“Wait, Yang?” Vernal asked. “I thought Yang was her-”

“Half-sister...Yes.” Raven replied.

“But then why would she do that?”

“Ruby said that she had been more quick-triggered ever since the Vytal Festival Tournament. Ruby must’ve said something that Yang took the wrong way, and...” She sighed.

“Hopefully Ruby will be okay...” Vernal said.

Cadet nodded in agreement. “Yeah. Hopefully.”

Raven quickly changed the subject. “Is her new outfit almost done?”

“Almost.” Cadet replied. “I just need to add the finishing touches.”

Raven smiled. “Good.”

“Why, are you planning on giving her a mission or something?”

“I’m not sure-”

“I think it might be a good idea.” A voice suddenly said, prompting the three of them to suddenly turn around.

“Huh!?” Raven readied her sword. “Who’s there!?”

A boy was standing under the shade of some nearby trees, and made a reassuring gesture.

“Whoa! Hey! I don’t want to fight you!”

“Who the hell are you?” Cadet asked, getting into a fighting stance.

“How did you even get in!?” Vernal seconded, putting her hand on the handle of one of her weapons.

“I said I don’t want to fight you!” The boy repeated.

Raven pointed her sword in the boy’s direction. “You’d better give us some answers, intruder.”

“Oh for crying out- I just have a proposition for you, okay!? Put the weapons down!”

The three bandits looked over at each other.

“Should we hear him out?” Vernal asked quietly.

Cadet shrugged.

Raven turned back over to the boy, slightly lowering her sword. “What is your proposition?”

The boy raised his finger. “First of all,” he said calmly. “Is Ruby Rose here?”

Raven raised her sword again. “Why do you need to know?”

The boy’s voice went cold. “Put the weapon down, Raven.”

Raven froze.

“How...Do you know my name?”

“You’re the leader of a notorious bandit tribe.” The boy replied without missing a beat. “I would have to hear about you at some point.”

Cadet folded his arms while giving the boy a suspicious glance. “I wouldn’t say ‘notorious’...”

“You still haven’t answered my question.” The boy continued. “Is Ruby Rose here?”

Raven glared at him. “Why do you need to know?”

“This is mainly a proposition for her. Is she available to talk?”

Raven briefly looked over to Vernal, before lowering her sword and turning back over to their visitor.

“She was injured by a Grimm. She’s trying to rest right now. So yes, she’s here, but no, she can’t talk with you.”

The boy sighed, annoyed. “Of course...”

“Well?” Vernal said, reaching back over to her weapon. “You’ve got what you needed to know. Aren’t you going to leave?”

“Not quite.” The boy replied, before turning back over to Raven.

“Do you mind giving her a message when she wakes up?”

Raven’s gaze narrowed on him. “What message?”

“Tell her that I will be waiting for her at the Rogue Shot in Mistral’s city. I know she’s headed there, and I need to give her some information. Also, if you are wanting to send her on a mission...” He continued with a smirk.

“You might want to send her to Kuroyuri.”

“Wait a sec, Kuroyuri!?” Cadet objected. “But there’s a dangerous Grimm around there!”

“I know...” The boy continued. “I just know that some people who she might want to see are headed there too.” He put his hands into his hoodie’s pocket. “That’s all.”

Raven, Cadet and Vernal looked over to each other uneasily, not sure what to do.

Raven turned over to the boy again, once again readying her blade.

“And how do we know we can trust you?”

The boy’s smirk faded into a cold expression. He took a small handle out of his pocket in his right hand.

He clicked something on it, and it instantly folded into a long cane.

A cane which Raven instantly recognised.

“So, Raven.” The boy said, flicking the cane to point at her.

“Do we have a deal?”

“We’re here.”

Ren, Nora, Jaune, Yang and Qrow had arrived at a destroyed and desolate city, with a cracked stone sign lying on the ground. It was starting to be covered in moss and had claw marks scathed across it, and had “KUROYURI” printed across it in bold letters.

Jaune flinched back. “Yikes...” He turned over to Qrow. “Reckon we’re gonna find her here?”

Qrow shrugged. “Maybe. And even if we don’t, we’re close enough to Mistral to inform the authorities of her disappearance.”

Yang sighed. “Guess the only thing we can do now is search the city.”

Jaune nodded uneasily. “Uh...Yeah, good call.”

Qrow, Jaune and Yang all started to head into the city, while Ren and Nora hesitated at the entrance.

Ren was still looking uneasily at the sign. He sighed.

Nora looked over to him, worried. “Are you okay?”

“I just...” He started. “...Was it really a good idea to come back?”

Nora didn’t reply, also looking over towards the sign.

Ren continued. “I mean...It still might be here.” He shuddered a little at the thought.

Nora was uneasy at that idea too. “I know, but...” She looked back over to him. “Unfortunately, this is our best shot at finding Ruby right now. And besides, even if it IS still here, we have combat training now!” She smiled a little. “What’s the worst it could do?”

Ren smiled a little too, amused at Nora’s lightheartedness in contrast to the situation. “Guess so. We should start looking.”

Nora nodded, as the two of them headed into the city to catch up with the other three.

The city, if it could even be called a city, was filled with rows of long-abandoned and decaying buildings, some even being partially destroyed.  The atmosphere was bleak and tense, and the city was almost entirely dark, as if one cloud in the sky had been reserved to hang directly above it.

“It’s like some kind of ghost town...” Jaune noted warily, stepping past a rusting bike on their path.

“Mm-hmm.” Ren nodded, as him and Nora slowly started to take the lead of the group again.

“What even happened to this place?”

“Grimm happened.” Qrow replied, taking out his flask.

“Uh, yeah.” Yang said, raising an eyebrow. “No doy.”

“Must’ve been a lot of Grimm to cause this much damage...” Jaune said, uneasily looking around at their surroundings.

Ren shook his head. “No.”

This prompted Jaune to look over to him. “...No…?”

Ren’s reply was unnaturally cold.

“Just one.”

Jaune flinched back, before quickly changing the subject.

“...We should try to find Ruby.”

Ren nodded in agreement.

“Ruuuuuby?” Nora called out, looking around at the derelict buildings. “Are you heeeere? Where aaaare yoooou?”

“I think it’ll take a lot more than calling her name to find her.” Yang said.

“Wow, way to look at the glass half empty.”

“I mean we’re going to have to search some of the buildings ourselves.”

“Yeah, we might,” Jaune replied. “But she might be outside or something. And besides, judging by the condition of some of the buildings, even if she was inside one, she might be able to hear us.”

Qrow took a sip from his flask. “Good deduction, Blondie.”

Jaune raised an eyebrow. “I have a name, you know.”

Nora kept calling out. “Ruuuuubyyyyy! Can you heeeaaaar uuuus? We’re coming to heeeeelp yoooooou!”

Jaune decided to join in. “Ruby! It’s us! Where are you?”

Nora darted over to the door of a nearby house. “Helloooooooo?”

Jaune went over to another house and tapped on the window. “Ruby, are you in there?”

Yang went over to another house, kicked away the debris that was blocking the door and kicked the door down. “Hey! Are you in here?”

Qrow sighed, and took another longer sip from his flask. “This is going nowhere...”

Ren didn’t reply.

Qrow looked over to him. “What, not gonna object?”

Still no response.

Qrow sighed, and screwed his flask’s cap back on as the other three headed back over.

“No luck just yet, unfortunately.” Jaune said, shaking his head.

“Damn...” Qrow muttered.

“Hey, we might be able to find her if we keep searching!” Jaune said, trying to be optimistic.

“Keyword ‘might’...” Yang grumbled, kicking a nearby pebble into a wall.

“Looks like the only thing we can do is press on.” Ren said, already starting to continue walking.

“Looks like it,” Nora seconded, quickly joining Ren at the front of the group.

The group were about to continue through the city when they heard a loud thudding from ahead.

Jaune stopped. “What the hell is that!?”

“Must be some kind of Grimm...” Qrow said, reaching for his weapon.

The thudding started to get closer.

“Sounds like a pretty big Grimm.” Yang added, already readying Ember Celica.

Jaune nodded and reached for his sword.

Ren didn’t say anything, as him and Nora both readied their own weapons.

The thudding started to get closer and closer, until the source of the thudding soon revealed itself; as a massive horse-like Grimm with a humanoid shape seemingly fused to it’s back began to slowly approach the group, it’s legs heavily thudding on the stone ground.

The creature stopped walking, and the humanoid shape suddenly leaned bolt upwards to stare lifelessly at the group.

Ren gave the creature a cold glare.

“It’s here.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, ‘WE HAVE TO LEAVE’!?”

Lillian flinched backwards as Ashe slammed on the mahogany desk.

Professor Lionheart, who was sitting across from the two huntresses, calmly replied “I mean exactly what I just said. An important mission has suddenly opened up, and I need you to leave the city to take it.”

“With all due respect, Professor, you can’t just order us out of the city without any warning.” Lillian objected. “We aren’t exactly your students anymore.”

“I know that this is frustrating for you-”

“Frustrating doesn’t even bEGIN TO DESCRIBE-”

Lillian grabbed Ashe’s arm to stop her from slamming her hands on the desk again.

Ashe sighed and folded her arms. “Frustrating doesn’t even begin to describe it.”

“I can imagine. I know you’ve only started to settle normally since...” He trailed off, before continuing. “But I need you for this mission.”

“Couldn’t you have contacted literally anyone else?” Lillian asked.

Lionheart thought a little before replying. “I’ve tried. A lot of them are out on excursions themselves.”

Ashe muttered something to herself and shook her head.

“And I had already gotten Lazuli to sign,” He continued. “So I thought it would be best for all of you to work together.”

“Of course she signed up...” Ashe said to herself.

“Well you’ve already got Lazuli,” Lillian said. “Wouldn’t she be all you need for this mission?”

Lionheart shook his head. “I doubt that. More than two hands are going to be needed for this.”

“But you can’t exactly drag us out of our lives for this!” Ashe objected.

Lillian nodded. “I agree. Need I remind you that I have a husband and a son to look after? He’ll be too busy with his work to look after him.”

“And I don’t exactly trust Al with the kid.”

“And to be honest, I don’t either.”

“Girls, please-” Lionheart started.

“Professor,” Lillian interrupted. “I know you need our help, but it is unfair for you to be dragging us out of our lives without any notice. We have had a lot to deal with over the past view years since-”

“I know, but I need you two for this-”

“What about Fuchsia?”

Lillian and Professor Lionheart both went silent when Ashe spoke up.

She wasn’t looking at the professor at all.

“I just know Fuchsia wouldn’t be having any of this.” She continued. “Have you ever stopped to think about what she would want?”

Lillian looked over at Ashe sadly.

Lionheart sighed. “I...Know that miss Cerise would want you to help people.” He said calmly. “I know it’s hard for you. But I need you to help.”

Lillian and Ashe looked over to each other uneasily. Both of them nodded.

Ashe turned over to the professor.

“Where do we sign?”

Lionheart nodded, before handing out a piece of paper to them. “I knew you would come around eventually. Thank you.”

The paper was the usual short consent form that huntsmen and huntresses were sometimes given when sent on excursions, to show they had full consent for the mission they were going on and that if they were injured, the professor wouldn’t come under fire for it.

“Lazuli Silver” was already written in small blue handwriting at the bottom of the form.

“You just have to sign below where she signed and you’re good to go.” The professor explained, handing the two huntresses a green pen and a red pen.

Ashe went first, taking the red pen and quickly writing “Ashe Driftwood” below where Lazuli had signed the form before putting the pen back down on the desk.

Lillian picked up the green pen, put it near the paper and hesitated.

She sighed, and slowly and neatly wrote her name below where Ashe wrote hers.

“Lillian Ayana”.

Blake was standing outside of the hospital room door.

She had been standing there for the past few minutes.

She had gone to the front desk earlier, and the lady at the front had said she can go inside.

But she wasn’t sure if she really wanted to go inside or not.

Her hand was hovering uneasily near the door handle, shivering a little. She knew that if she opened the door, her emotions would all come flooding back.

Should I...REALLY go inside?

Eventually, Blake sighed and started to turn the door handle.

She had felt terrible after what had happened with Scarlet earlier, and honestly didn’t know what to do.

And there was only one person who she could talk to.

Blake slowly opened the door and smiled a little.

“Hey, Sun.”

There was no response.

Blake’s face fell a little. Of course there wasn’t going to be a response. There hadn’t been a response for a long time.

“Sorry to bother you,” She gently shut the door. “But a lot has happened just now, and frankly...” She slowly walked over to a chair next to the hospital bed in the room and sat down. “You’re the only person I can talk to about this.”

Sun’s body was lying on the hospital bed. The area where Adam had impaled him had been bandaged up, and his shirt and been taken off and was hanging on a peg at the side of the room. His eyes were closed and he looked...Unusually peaceful.

Blake turned away for a minute, still finding it hard to look at him in that state, but eventually turned back around and continued.

“I’ve...Already told you about Neptune, right?” She said. “I don’t think it’s good for him to be getting so suspicious about his teammate, but...I think I may have added more fuel to the fire.”

Silence. Blake fidgeted a little uncomfortably.

“I’ve been trying to talk to Scarlet for the past few days. I’ve been getting worried at him, so I thought he might need someone to talk to...Other than Sage, of course.” She laughed a little to herself. “But...I’ve also been starting to see why Neptune has been so suspicious of him recently. And...” She looked down at the floor. “I accidentally told him that I knew. That Neptune knew. That we both knew that he wasn’t human and he can see auras, and...” She sighed. “It didn’t end well...”

No response.

“He’s probably really mad at me at the moment. And I feel terrible about it, and...” She looked back over to him. “...Well...It feels like you’re the only one I can talk to. So...” She took a deep breath.

“What am I supposed to do?”

Still no response.

“Of course...What was I even thinking?” Blake sighed and shook her head, angry at herself. “You probably can’t even hear me right now, can you?”

She started to get up off of the chair.

“I keep coming back, day after day, as if you can actually hear me, but...” She smiled bitterly. “I’m just a naive idiot for thinking that, aren’t I?”

She walked over to the hospital bed for a brief second, as if still hopeful for a response,  before shaking her head and starting to walk away.

“I shouldn’t keep coming back here, it always ends the same way...”

Instead of heading to the door, she dropped down and curled up next to the chair, facing away from the hospital bed.

“I know I shouldn’t keep coming back, but...” She trailed off. “I don’t know why, but...I have to. I have to keep coming back. I know you’re not going to answer me, but...I need to keep coming back...”

Before she knew it, there were tears running down her eyes.

“I don’t even think you’re listening to me. I don’t know if you even CAN listen to me. But...I need you.”

Blake started sobbing.

“I’m hopeless...I don’t know what to do anymore...”

“You...Shouldn’t talk about yourself like that.”

Blake froze.

Was that…!? No, it couldn’t possibly…

Blake slowly started to turn back around. Her eyes widened in shock and surprise when she saw.

Sun had started to ease himself back up, and was looking over to her with a smile.

Characters from left to right (a lot of them are Y.v.S so bear with me here XD)

Cadet Reseda (RWBY: Y.v.S)

Uranus Vasilias (RWBY: Y.v.S)

Ashe Driftwood (RWBY: Y.v.S)

Fuchsia Cerise (RWBY: Y.v.S)

Beochi (DanganRWBY)

Lillian Ayana (RWBY: Y.v.S)

Lazuli Silver (RWBY: Y.v.S)

Fake Rantaro (Mastermind!Rantaro AU)