Hunters of Another Land (Not So Discontinued)

Chapter 44: Shadow Always With You

Willbreaker had used grimm to gain information on the whereabouts of Team RWBY and now he's following them at a distance to try and understand how human emotions work.

Blake: "Why did you pack so little initially Ruby?"

Ruby: "I lived on a small island for most of my life and going to Mistral has always been about a day away by Bullhead, so I just thought..."

Weiss: "You thought this would be a short journey didn't you?"

Ruby: (rubs her arm) "Yeah..."

Yang: "If it were short, it wouldn't be an adventure!"

Weiss: "I wouldn't call multiple months worth of walking an adventure."

Ruby groans as they walk down the path unknowingly being watched by Willbreaker.

Yang: "Who else thought we'd have been attacked by grimm by now?"

Weiss: "It is strange, you would think that all the negativity surrounding Phoenix now would have attracted grimm closer to the city."

Blake: "It is weird, the grimm population around Vale has been up so much that Huntsman and Huntresses have been struggling to keep it down."

Ruby: "I hope we get to fight, I want to test our skills on our trip!"

Yang: "Yeah!"

Willbreaker is making sure to stay quiet to avoid detection by Blake, he knew faunus have better hearing than humans ever could.

Willbreaker: (whisper) "Is this how emotions wash over people?"

Blake stops and looks at the tree after her ears twitch and Willbreaker claps his hand over his mouth.

Yang: (looks back) "Yo, Blake what are you looking at?"

Blake: "I thought I heard a distorted Phoenix."

The group walks back to her.

Weiss: "What do you mean?"

Blake: "It sounded like when you play a sound through an old speaker."

Ruby: "That sounds spooky."

Yang: "Let's get going, hopefully you don't hear it again."

Blake stares at the tree where Willbreaker is for a bit longer before they all walk down the path, Willbreaker takes his hand off his mouth and breathes a sigh of relief.

Willbreaker: I'm going to have to be more careful, another slip up like that and they'll find me out.

Willbreaker jumps from tree to tree and makes little to no noise as he follows Team RWBY commanding grimm to stay away from them if they're in too large of numbers. He enjoys watching them fight, even if they're killing his technical siblings. He feels the urge to go and help them, but resists it.

Willbreaker: I guess this is Phoenix's urge to help, it's almost overwhelming. Maybe Watts should make a dampener for these...feelings? Is that what they were called?

Willbreaker doesn't think much more on it as he continues following the team.

(Branwen Tribe Camp)

Raven finds Phoenix in the tent for weapons organizing and repairing them.

Raven: "Really?"

Phoenix looks up from his work, his hair tied back to stay out of his face.

Phoenix: "What?"