Chapter Text
Vol. 1 - Arrivals
The sky was a myriad of greys, casting the world into a diluted state, though it wasn’t so bad, the colours stood out more in the dark. No rainfall nor rumble of thunder stretched through the blanket overhead. And on a bridge overlooking a river several dozen meters below, the wind was cold and whispered, the occasional car rushing by as a lone person stood at the railing, staring down at the massive plunge below.
Intrusive thoughts brought up several questions. How would you die falling from this height? The cold-water shock or the impact with the water itself? Would the bottom be layered in trash and debris? Would it be painless? Would anyone care at all if some nobody just vanished off the face of the earth? Looking to either side, no one was running to stop him, to grab him by the waist and tear his hands away from the railing. Was that selfish to think about? To want someone to show that level of care for a stranger? How withdrawn had he become to think this extreme would be the only way to find genuine compassion?
His hands squeezed the railing so tight his knuckles turned white as snow. Leaning forward, his forehead came to rest against the cold, red metal. “God, what am I doing…?” There wasn’t any point to doing this, in the end, no one would feel bad, not a shred of sympathy would be seen. Although, if only for the shock on their faces, it almost seemed worth the price.
Releasing the railing, the boy tucked his hands into his jacket pockets and marched down the path again, he didn’t feel embarrassed by what he was thinking, just tired. His mind was elsewhere while his muscle memory led the way home, or the closest thing to ‘home’.
Strolling through a small, woodland park, the teen looked around, gaze aimless and unfocused. So much so that he stumbled, bumping into something straight ahead. His lips parted to stutter out an apology quickly only to catch himself, staring at… nothing? Then what did he run into or was it just his body having some errant twitch?
Squinting, it wasn’t just empty air, something was in front of him just… distorted, like a barrier made of springy air. His natural instincts lagged, but they were warning him to get away from this strange shimmer in the air, yet morbid curiosity was the Devil’s advocate. His hand reached out, pressing against the barrier that rippled and distorted, but more than that, more of his surroundings began to exhibit similar reactions.
Not a word, neither a scream could escape his throat that felt heavy and compressed, as if he were being squeezed from all angles, leaving him breathless as the unnatural sensations and fear factor made his vision blur. Though, with some semblance of strength left in his bones, he managed to reach out and push against the barrier, even though it was futile, his body refused to let up until he had been completely swallowed whole, not even a shred of material left behind.
This prison in-between... it will shatter.
The world was a mesh of darkness with stray flickers of light within the murky depths. The boy from before felt himself being startled awake, looking around frantically. Where was he? What was this place? Wasn't he just walking home a moment ago... then something... he remembered running into something intangible, rubbery in how his hand had bounced off its surface.
Static buzzed like insects in his ears, forcing his hands up to cover them to adjust, to try and make sense of this place. Then, he felt his body shift painfully, a voice surrounding them, coiling into his flesh like fishhooks.
But I need power...
"W-who said that? What is this!?" He demanded to know, but his breath caught in his throat, coming face-to-face with a visage, bearing a vaguely humanoid form. It's whole body was dripping with a tar-like substance, a claw reaching out to pinch and coil around the young man's own left forearm. He cried out in pain, feeling blood draw as this thing dug its digits in deep.
I am pain....
Out of reflex, the boy swung his arm, only for it to pass through the rest of the entity as another hand lashed out, sealing off his grunts and yells of discomfort from the grip, the thing's hands were as hot as fire.
I am terror...
A pair of sunken eyes aligning in the static as the noise seemed to originate from the figure, the strange distortion growing unbearably heavy and painful to hear.
I am...-!
Quickly as the headache sunk in, everything snapped to black
...
...
...
Among the wild, untamed woods of the Emerald Forest, Ruby was stomping her way through the brush as she swung her arms, mumbling to herself after another... disagreement with her partner, Weiss Schnee, Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, and probably more titles Ruby tuned out of. Both were completely at odds with each other, and now, Ruby was doing everything in her power to avoid the stuck-up girl and rest her mind for a moment.
She kept walking. slowing her pace as she heard the faint sound of growling ahead of her path. With a gleam in her eye, she smiled as she readied her weapon, a large, two-handed crimson scythe, Crescent Rose, to help relieve her pent-up anger, however, when she brushed the foliage from her vision, she noticed the Grimm hadn't noticed her, large, bipedal wolves with parts of their skulls visible, eyes glowing bright red.
Instead, the wolves hungered for the motionless person they slowly encircled.
This caused Ruby to gasp in surprise, fearing for the person they approached with crooked fangs. Without a second to consider a plan, Ruby took off on instinct alone, blowing past the Beowolves in a flurry of rose petals. One of them turned its head, only for the arc of the scythe to cleave its head free of its shoulders.
Now focused on the rose petals, Ruby's form shifted around the trees, materializing to fire a high-calibre round above, propelling Crescent Rose, and herself, into a downward slash, cleaving another Grimm in two. Ruby narrowed her eyes in preparation, the others sweeping their arms at the petite girl only to miss as Ruby balanced herself on the spine of her scythe and propelled herself forward with a click of the trigger, impaling the third on a tree with the scythe's blade pointed outward. Then, she back-flipped, slicing the Grimm into ribbons.
Sensing the threat Ruby posed, the last Beowolf snarled at her, then took a few steps away from the boy and ran back to the woods with its tail between its legs. Letting go of the breath she was holding, Ruby quickly collapsed Crescent Rose and rushed to the person's aid, able to gauge his appearance in full.
Nothing of his outfit screamed 'fighter' at all. He wore a plain navy, hooded jacket, a lighter blue shirt below that with white sleeves poking out from the jacket's cuffs, a blank dog-tag hung around his neck. A pair of worn, dirty cargo pants with patches of orange chemical stains, and black and white heavy-duty boots. His hair was messy; a faded black with three patches of white hair, all of it long enough to cover his ears a little and reach down to his nape at the back.
The strangest item on his person however; his left sleeve was tucked up, revealing a black, metal bracer fixed to his left forearm. Carefully, Ruby shook his shoulders. "Are you ok? Please don't be dead!" Ruby begged as she nudged him some more, and after a couple of shoves, he began to stir as his eyes slowly opened, revealing a set of hazel orbs that Ruby stared directly into.
When he woke up, he gazed at the green ceiling above him, its glowing aura almost blinding him. But his attention was quickly shifted to the girl watching over him, briefly fixated on her brillaint, silver eyes. She had fair-skin and neck-length black hair with red highlights. His own expression went from wonder to confusion, then outright shock when he tried to sit up quickly but Ruby pressed a hand to his chest to slow his movements.
"Hey, don't get up so fast, you were just attacked by some mean looking Grimm, but... who are you?" She warned as he glanced at her and tilted his head, then his mouth opened to speak.
"I... Wh-Where... am I?" He asked, sounding lost while giving Ruby a baffled expression, his eyes traveling around the forest in awe. "Same to you, who are you?" Then he eyed his arm, jumping slightly. "And there's also a black... gauntlet? It's the same place that... thing grappled me, did it leave this or did a part of it come with me?" Worst of all, that meant none of it was a dream, or he was within a very detailed, lucid dream. But that pain felt far too real.
"Oh! I'm Ruby, and right now we're in the middle of the Emerald Forest, but what happened to you? You looked like you were hurt pretty bad." Ruby asked as he held his head, shaking it with a clearer vision.
"I honestly c-can't remember, I know I was walking through a forest at the time, but something felt... off, I-I ran into... nothing? And then my whole world began to twist and reshape itself, then next thing I know.... I'm talking t-to you." He explained as Ruby smiled reassuringly, seeing him wiggle his arm with the gauntlet. "A-and this wasn't here before."
"Well, I can help you, but we reeeeally need to get moving, I don't know if there are anymore Grimm in the area." Ruby insisted as he slowly got to his feet, dusting himself off before carefully sticking to Ruby's side wondering what a "Grimm" was.
"Why's that?" He asked as the sound of rustling leaves came from behind them, causing the two to jump back, watching the leaves rustle even more at the entity's approach, he slid behind the girl with the large scythe. "Erm, n-never mind; I'll assume you know what you're doing."
Before Ruby could answer, a girl wearing pure white clothing appeared, the girl's skin pale with pale blue eyes and long white hair that is pulled back into an off-centre ponytail on the right side and pinned with a silver, icicle-shaped tiara. Her expression displayed no sense of kindness compared to Ruby. The girl glared daggers at Ruby as she groaned, the guy just blinked, trying to grab his bearings, and possibly make sense of his dilemma.
"You! Why would you just leave me behind!? Don't you know how hard it is to find the temple without you wandering off!?" She snapped as Ruby's eye twitched, her hand tapping her scythe delicately.
"At least I'm helping! Instead of prancing around, acting like I know where I'm going!?" Ruby countered as the girl was about to blow a fuse whilst the guy present ruffled his hair, trying to gather his bearings and ignore how rampant his heartrate had become.
"Okay-Okay, calm down... calm down and think, you're in a forest, a creepy monster-filled forest... yeah, sure, my day so far hasn't exactly been worth five stars," Clearing his throat he tapped Ruby's shoulder. "S-Sorry, um, so... not to get in the middle of... this, but d-didn't you say this forest was, I-I don't know, filled with monsters?" He spoke sardonically as the snobby girl spoke up.
"And just who are you? I didn't see you at the beginning of this test?" She asked as the boy straightened up a little, feeling anxious under her gaze that cut right through him.
"I-I uh, um..." He muttered out, unsure how to answer that under her cold gaze as Ruby butted in.
"I found him surrounded by Grimm, but when he woke up he said he didn't remember how he got here," Ruby explained as the boy nodded, then Ruby looked at him. "Do you remember your name at least?"
Now it was his turn to think of something, he didn't have amnesia, just a lot of displaced issues, but if he told them that he wasn't from here, then they might throw him down a bigger rabbit hole, people can be misleading if they knew you were different from them. So he weighed his options, then he smiled at his idea, it was stupid, but he was being cautious, I mean, would you trust people you just met? And in a strange world or aspect of your world at that?
"This white chick's... well, has a white aesthetic, this other girl, Ruby, is red like her name. Okay... assuming this is another world, then could names be associated with colour? Even if that wasn't the case, that gives me a good idea for an alias until I'm certain," Nodding to them, the boy gave his polite greeting. "...S-Sky... Zaffre... yeah, th-that was it," He lied. "Nice to meet you, by the way." He introduced with a small smile, before slapping himself mentally. "Okay, not my best work but it'll do, much easier deceiving people who don't know you after all..."
The white-dressed girl saw it only proper to introduce herself. "Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company," She said this with a prideful, almost stuck-up tone. Ruby only rolled her eyes in distaste, 'Sky' stared at Weiss for a good few seconds like she grew a second head.
"Likewise, I, uh... I've never h-heard of that company..." Sky answered nervously when her face certainly soured. But before any more ranting could be shared, Sky noticed the black feather from the corner of his eye, it was massive and was silently drifting towards the ground. "What's this...?"
"-honestly, mind telling me why a girl like you would even attend the academy?" Weiss asked, clearly unimpressed.
Ruby looked to stand up straighter at the question, like it was an insult to her. "To be a Huntress, of course! Like the ones in the stories!" The term 'Huntress' sank into Sky's mind, this would aid in confirming his whereabouts, the weapons make sense now.
But this 'lovely' Heiress only let out an exasperated sigh, turning away. "'Stories'? Unbelievable..." Her heels dug in, shooting a glare over her shoulder to Ruby. "I came here to learn, to grow stronger, I strive for perfection. Unlike you, I'm not here for fun and games; If all you want is to be part of the stories... give up and go home, your mother's waiting to read one to you,"
The hurdle of insults finally stopped, and even if Sky didn't know Ruby well, he did know what that expression on her face was. Grief, and hurt. Sky liked to just avoid conflict, he wasn't good when it came to it, and he was often the center of the beatdowns, and considering Weiss carried a rapier with her, he also didn't want to provoke her. Yet, his legs moved on their own.
"...t-that was uncalled for," Now, the heiress took her eyes off the downtrodden Ruby to the mystery teen. "Even if she's not nearly as experienced as you, she's here trying to become a Huntress like you, hell, she saved me before you showed up," His voice wasn't raised, in fact, he sounded like he strained himself not to let his words stutter. "...so don't insult her, you're partners, right?"
"You don't know anything," Ruby cut in softly, supressing her bitter feelings.
"You're a little girl fascinated by fairy tales, am I wrong?" Weiss crossed her arms with a shrug.
"You think you know everything, huh?" That made Weiss's haughty attitude silent for a moment.
"I... lost someone important to me," Ruby forced out, making Sky's chest tighten hearing her say this just to make Weiss understand. "That's when I realized that reality doesn't always end happily like the stories... no one's going show up in the nick of time, no one's going to save you, so-" But the little girl clenched her fists, eyes burning with a spirited flame. "-instead of being sad, and waiting for help to arrive... I decided I would be the hero. And I will. I'll turn tragedies into happy endings. That's why I'm here!"
They both were too fixated on Ruby, none of them realized what broke through the treetops, covering them in shadows as two, large black wings expanded behind Ruby, for a moment, she almost looked ethereal. Then it dawned on them both, Sky most of all as his heart sank into his stomach, his blood turned to ice. "W-what the hell is that!?" The massive bird craned its head forward during its sweep behind Ruby, a bone-like mask over its beak and scalp with glowing red eyes.
The Nevermore didn't phase Ruby, Weiss and Sky frozen in place when the redhead spun and drew her weapon on it, dashing straight at its underside. "No!" Weiss winced out, brandishing her rapier while Sky stood beside her, unable to really do much of anything.
With one sharp ring, an explosive round struck the underside of the Nevermore's beak, forcing the maw away from Ruby who left several follow-up shots down the neck to the chest in a chain. The Grimm shrieked in pain, threshing its wings to take flight and escape the barrage, but strangely, Ruby latched her free hand into its feathers tightly.
"What in the world is she doing!?" Sky and Weiss thought, bracing from the gale force winds the Grimm created, yet, Ruby's hand stretched out for them.
"Weiss, Sky!! Take my hand!" Ruby yelled.
Neither had any reason to argue in this hectic moment, Weiss grabbed Ruby with the heiress yanking Sky forward too, both colliding with the Nevermore's body, forced to latch on with every ounce of strength in their muscles when the giant beast took flight over the treetops in seconds, leaving the Emerald Forest looking far less imposing from up high.
"AAAAAAH!! Are you trying to take us down with you!?" Weiss screamed, her face completely and reasonably terrified.
"It'll be faster flying than walking in circles," Ruby smiled giddily over the howling wind and heavy beat of wings. Then she cocked her head to peer over at Sky, a feather atop her head. "You okay?"
"Y-y-yep! Totally, I'm j-j-just not gonna look down or-or-or anywhere in particular that corresponds with the g-ground, thank you!" Sky's voice cracked, burying his face in the creature's feathers. "I'm okay, I'm okay, this is fine - why didn't I just stay on the ground!?" This day was too much for him, but if he fainted from panic now, then today would end quite abruptly. Sky grit his teeth, pushing his forehead against the Nevermore, "This damn girl's insane!!"
However, his endless questions and worries were rather pointless now, he was, for lack of a better phrase, 'along for the ride'.
"Hey, on the bright side, I think I can see the ruins from here, so this actually worked out really well!" Ruby yelled, then she smiled weakly. "Uh, I haven't really thought of what we're gonna do now!"
"Ruby!" Weiss called as they both looked at her. "This was a terrible idea!"
"We're fine!" Ruby responded as Sky just prayed he make it out of this alive somehow. "Stop worrying!"
"That notion left the building over a hundred meters down!" Sky snapped back, with Weiss's ponytail smacking him in the face. "Bleh..."
"I'm so far beyond worrying!" Weiss snapped back in fear.
"In a good way!?" Ruby asked positively, Sky wasn't convinced this girl was on the same wavelength anymore.
"In a bad way! In a very bad way!" Weiss lost it, glaring daggers toward Ruby.
"Well then, why don't we just jump?!" Exasperated, Ruby had spent all her options, seeing they couldn't do this forever, and Sky was likely not in the right state of mind to keep up this endurance for long. An arm then grappled to Sky's shoulder, and his frightened eyes met with the startling calm within Ruby's silver gaze. How could she be calm in this situation?
"I gotcha, trust me!" She smiled sweetly with her eyes closed, leaving Sky without a retort, still shaken by this whole ordeal. "I'll catch ya!"
"What are you, Insane!?" Weiss shook her head but she didn't get a response as she looked back, seeing the lack of colour on the Nevermore's back, and the faint yells coming from Sky below. Now, the Schnee felt the last pigment of colour leave her features. "Oh, you insufferable little red-"
Meanwhile, plummeting towards the earth, Sky gripped Ruby tightly, fearfully looking down. "Okay, we jumped, what's the plan now, genius!?" His anger and terror weren't misplaced, so Ruby quickly held onto him, herself really unsure about this, then, both burst into red and blue rose petals in a jarring stream of turns like an arrow, eventually, colliding with an opposing force to their collective left, disrupting Ruby's semblance and tossing both of them into the side of a large tree, groaning with their new occupant.
Ruby was now spinning her head in confusion, Sky was hanging upside-down from a branch while he stared down at the guy below him, groaning in pain. He wore some white armour over his casual wear, had a thick scabbard for a white and gold broadsword, and had blonde hair and dark blue eyes.
"Ugh... I hate this... I hate it all, can I get one second please?" Sky groaned into his hands, trying to rub the spots from his vision. "This is by far the worst day of my life."
"Hey, Ruby, who's this?" Jaune asked, poking Sky in the side of the head as he swayed.
"Oh, uh, hey Jaune, this is Sky, he's... kinda new?" Ruby gestured with her hands like a scale.
"Huh, neat; Jaune, by the way," The blonde stuck his hand out to Sky who slowly grabbed it to pull Jaune out from the branches onto the large branch they balanced on.
"L-Likewise," Sky answered just as he heard the commotion from afar, spotting... a giant scorpion the size equivalent to that of the Nevermore. It had thick, bone plates over its back, large pincers and a golden stinger with several red eyes along its face. Now, his complexion dwarfed Ruby's. "Is... t-that a giant... Scorpion? Why is there a giant scorpion? Please tell me I've just got brain damage from the fall and whiplash?"
"Woah!" And Ruby left them to leap down to where a small group of people gathered by an opened set of ruins.
"Don't leave me up here...~!" Quickly, Sky followed after Ruby, managing to roll into his fall with a huff. "Okay, still can move, that's good," With all that's been happening lately, Sky's mind was running wild on far too many questions and haphazard guesses to what on earth was going on. His instincts told him one concrete truth; staying by Ruby was a good way to stay alive.
Ruby then ran up to a girl with golden hair and light purple eyes, she had the outfit and figure of a brawling beauty by Sky's standards. The two girls seemed happy to meet each other when another girl jumped up between them, yelling her name, 'Nora', frightening the pair. All of this made Sky rub his temples to his eyes, a shaky sigh leaving his lips. "This is honestly too much for me, please tell me we can go now?"
"Ruby, who's this?" The blonde girl asked as Ruby quickly introduced Sky, he spun at the hand motioned to him.
"Yang. Sky." Ruby quickly gestured back and forth. "Sky. Yang, my sister."
Sky then looked between the two, his head darting back and forth at how vastly different the two appeared. "...H-hi..."
"Uh, yeah, sup," They both quickly shook hands, then they focused back on the massive Scorpion. He contemplated why her hand felt like she took it off a stove, rubbing it.
"So, did that girl just run all the way here with a Deathstalker on her tail?" Another girl pointed out, a stoic girl with raven hair and golden eyes. It appears that finally set Yang off as Sky leapt behind Ruby when the girl's orbs turned crimson and her hair had a shimmering glint to the locks, turning to golden fire in the air.
"I can't take it anymore! Can everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again!?" She yelled as nothing proceeded to happen for two seconds, other than a guy in green stumbling over as he caught his breath, hair shoulder length and black with magenta eyes.
"Flaming hair... s-sure, why not? Oh my god, what the hell is going on...?" Sky had really seen it all today, and decided it was best not to question anything for the time being less he genuinely had an aneurysm or... he shook his head, the other thought quickly supressed. Focusing on what's in front of him, one other issue cropped up. "Wait... Ruby, what happened to Weiss?"
"Weiss she's..." Her head turned to the right. "Uh..." Then to the left as a sheepish smile cropped onto her cheeks. "Eh... hehe... whoops."
High above the forest, the Nevermore continued its circle of the surrounding area, and there, dangling from one of its legs, was the snobby silverette herself. "How could you two just leave me!?" She screamed at them both, even from afar, Sky felt her piercing glare burrow into their heads.
"In my defence, I was pulled with her!!" Sky cupped both hands at the sides of his mouth to amplify his voice.
"I said 'Jump'!!" Ruby copied.
"She gonna fall," A girl in black said simply.
"She'll be fine," Ruby answered calmly with a wave of her hand.
"She's falling," The guy in green added while everyone observed Weiss's rapid descent toward the earth.
"Ruby, t-tell me she can do what y-you do?" Sky nudged for the crimson-caped girl to act on that ability of hers again, thankfully, another saw to Weiss's aid. Jaune managed to catch her, but while that helped to slow Weiss's own velocity, gravity overtook them both, and brought Jaune flat on the earth, Weiss landing atop his back as a silvery crackle of light ran across Jaune's body. "Ooh..."
Everyone winced as their minds replayed the scene as though they heard several bones crack. Then, a roman gladiator-dressed girl tumbled in front of the group from the Deathstalker's pincer. Yang, voice dripping with sarcasm, smiled brightly, "Great, the gangs' all here, now we can die together!"
Sky rubbed the black gauntlet, "Great, just... great... um, where did Ruby go?" His head swished to the crowd, but found her already charging headfirst toward... his eyes widened. "What is she doing!?"
Sky just looked around for any real way to stop her, and none of them were doing anything. A part of him contemplated why he was so worried for a stranger, while another brought up the fact she saved him and was willing to help him. Was she really that nice? Could that even be a risk he'd take himself? No one's ever risked their own life for his the way Ruby had, it was strange and foreign to him. Even now, Ruby was placing her life on the line to take down a massive beast charging straight towards them.
Looking down at his forearm, Sky fiddled with the few buttons located around the screen attached to the brace around his arm. "Come on, there's gotta be a reason you're here..." All this confusing nonsense had to have some merits, right? Sky kept twiddling with the device until the screen buzzed to life, turning a faint blue as words became visible. "Woah..."
<>Subroutine EC-1101. Status - Reinitialized<>
<>APOTHEOSIS: Status - Active. EC-1101 program. Project Eclipse: Activated<>
|User: Found|
|Combat Subroutine: 0%|
|ERROR: Spiritual Affinity - Null|
System Reboot in Progress…
"...tch, figures," Without much in the way of options, Sky took off in a sprint, keeping his eye on that Nevermore above. "I can't fight them, obviously. Improvise, work with what I can do, I've got my arms and legs, I can still move - oh God, what the hell am I doing!?"
The battle before him was brief; the Deathstalker's armour was too thick to puncture, so Ruby quickly holstered her scythe and attempted a retreat. But not before the Nevermore above fired a volley of its razor-sharp feathers towards her, one pinned her cape as Yang avoided the rest, but they cut her off quickly. Sky wasn't so lucky, one managed to graze his side, easily making work of his clothing and waist as he yelped in pain,.
Tumbling from the impact, Sky grit his teeth while pressing his hand tight against his side, thankfully, it was just a graze so he wasn't too worried, but just a feather alone could do this to him? Stifling his complaints, he managed to push between the feathers to find Ruby trying to pry her cape free from a feather.
"S-Sky!? I can't move!" Panicked, of course, since the Deathstalker was closing in, Ruby's tugging grew frantic. "You should go, you can't be here!"
"I-I-I've been saying that to myself since I got here, th-thanks," Sky ignored her, grabbing her shoulders to unclip her cape. "Right now, your life's more valuable than a cape, you should seriously shorten it later, come on!"
"W-wait, I can't leave it!" Her voice filled with desperation, something that made Sky question where her head was at the moment, but... turning around, he grabbed the base of the feather and pulled while Ruby tugged at it from higher up, eventually dislodging the feather to grab her cape again. Unfortunately, the Deathstalker hissed before them, reeling back its stinger.
"Crap..." He whispered, grabbing Ruby by her collar to push behind him. "Y-you know something? I'm trembling so badly, I'm so scared..." Yet, he wore an equally shaky smile. "...th-this is all so crazy, but I-I couldn't stop my feet from moving for the first time in years."
What he didn't realize was his words rejuvenated confidence in Ruby's eyes, and she gripped his back tightly, pulling him back to force all her aura into one last petal burst. The more mass she transports, alongside the distance travelled, put a greater toll on her semblance, so she'll likely run dry after this. But she had to save him after messing up so badly a second ago. Waiting, the large stinger swung down like a guillotine over their heads.
From out the corner of Sky's eye, a blur of white intercepted the tail, and a massive drop in temperature occurred, erecting a wall of ice to ensnare the stinger and lock the Deathstalker in place. Several black glyphs of an unknown description disappeared below Weiss's feet, herself prying her rapier free from the wall to thresh it to one side, scowling at the pair.
"Huh... guess the power matches the character..." Sky said under his breath to not invoke the girl's wrath.
"You are so childish, and dim-witted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style," Weiss huffed a look at Sky. "And you shouldn't have run in without a weapon, what were you thinking?"
"In my defence, I w-was making all of this up as I went along," Sky wiggled his gauntlet at her, narrowing his eyes while pointing to her bemused expression. "Look, I get it, I shouldn't fight, I only i-intended on grabbing Ruby and making a break for it using the f-feathers as cover, but..." He cut himself off, Ruby seemed to treasure that cape of hers but he doubted Weiss would care for another excuse.
"You had no other plan aside that one!" Weiss fired back while he stood back, clutching his side as it stung. "Listen, I can be a bit... difficult," She forced out with an eyeroll, but relaxed her glare on Ruby. "But if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together. So if you quit trying to show off, and you-" Her eyes glanced to Sky briefly. "-quit copying her recklessness, I'll be... nicer."
"I'm not trying to show off, I want you to know I can do this," The desperate plea in Ruby's tone was evident enough, even before the Nevermore, Ruby wanted to prove she wasn't here for 'fun and games' as Weiss criticized her for.
"You're fine," With that, Weiss walked over to Sky, holding out what looked to be a roll of gauze. "Put this on, we can't have any injuries slowing us down,"
"Uh... thanks, Weiss." Nervously taking the medical roll, the cold teen walked away, leaving Ruby and Sky to smile a bit, knowing the ruthless Schnee had a soft spot.
Once everyone had regrouped, they had to get out of this forest and quickly. Above, Jaune saw the Nevermore making another sweep of the area. "Guys, that thing's circling back, what are we gonna do?" Jaune pointed out as Sky kept his eyes on the Deathstalker, the creature nearly freeing itself from the ice wall.
"Look there's no sense in dilly-dallying, our objective is right in front of us," Weiss added while they all glanced at the pillars.
"She's right, we only need to grab an artefact and make back to the cliffs." Ruby added, Sky was glad she was thinking with her head and not her weapon now.
"Run and live, that's an idea I can get behind," Jaune agreed as he then looked at Sky. "Wait, what about you? There's no other relics?"
Sky put his hand up. "I was never meant to be here, it's fine, let's just grab what you guys need and go," Live to see tomorrow was a reward to him.
"Do you at least have a weapon? It would be easier for you to defend yourself without having to hide all the time," Blake, the girl with long raven hair, inquired.
Recalling what the bracer showed him, Sky held it out for a few of them to stare at, only a single message appearing.
|Reinitializing... 72%|
Sighing at his luck, Sky shook his head to her, "Whatever it's doing, I'm the biggest liability here, s-sorry..." They had could manage without him burdening their plan.
A knuckle brushed off his shoulder from Yang, "Hey, no sweat. So a little escort mission is added on, sounds like a challenge!" She had a funny way of looking at it.
"She's right, so let's go!" Ruby ushered ahead of the crowd. Once over the hill, they saw the massive, foggy chasm ahead, then a tower of broken bridges and pillars circled around a huge, ancient tower shrouded in a thick fog.
The Nevermore flew around it, waiting for the hunters to come. Sky didn't move, hesitant to run toward danger without even a weapon to back him up again. He was a liability and his luck was sure to run dry. He jumped, feeling an elbow nudge him, the arm belonging to Ruby who held a comforting grin.
"You ready?" Ruby asked out of concern for the lost and confused acquaintance of hers. Sky merely patted his chest with a dry huff.
Shaking the bracer, he smiled warily, "Armed and ready, I guess." He responded, hearing Yang laugh at his awful pun while Ruby rolled her eyes, but his slither of confidence fell into a worried stare towards the ruins. "I just want to know why I'm here, what... any of this means."
"Hey, we're in this together now, right?" The raven-red-haired girl's confident smirk kept his morale afloat for the time being. Even so, a world of monsters, hunters, powers akin to magic itself. All of it was beyond anything Sky could've imagined. It left no room for doubt that he wasn't in his world anymore, and that... thing that placed this device on his arm... it was somehow linked to his arrival.
If he wanted answers, he needed to unlock the secrets this gauntlet held, so, he had to keep moving. Letting out an exasperated sigh, he waved her off, "Yeah-yeah, lead the way, leader."
Unbeknownst to them, where a few droplets of Sky's blood remained on the Nevermore's discarded feather, a snout pressed close to sniff, snarling as the gums pulled back to unveil large fangs...