𝗪𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗧𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗿 [ʀᴡʙʏ x ᴍᴀʟᴇ ᴏᴄ]

Chapter 56

KLAUS POV

The snow crunched under our boots as we stepped up onto the porch. Every step felt heavier than the last, the weight of everything—Ozpin's retreat, the crash, the truth—pressing down on all of us like the blizzard still raging behind us.

I glanced at Ruby. She looked determined, but her eyes held that same storm I felt brewing inside me. Weiss was silent, standing close to me, and I didn't say much either. I couldn't. Not after what just happened with Oz. He told me to face my problems, to be better than my past—and yet he ran. Just like I used to. Just like I swore I wouldn't anymore.

Qrow tried the door. Locked.

Qrow: "Hmm. Stay on guard."

Then he kicked it in.

The inside of the house was dark, colder than I expected—like the air was dead. Everything was coated in a fine layer of dust and decay. Furniture left out of place, dishes on the table, as if people got up mid-meal and never returned. It wasn't just eerie. It felt... draining.

Maria: "Close the door already! It's cold enough in here as it is."

She had a point. Blake and Oscar pushed a nearby dresser to block the door. Instinctively, my hand stayed close to my weapon, my senses tingling. There was something wrong about this place. Something quiet. Wrong in a way you couldn't explain. Not Grimm-wrong. Deeper. Older.

I moved through the hallway slowly, my fingers brushing the walls, catching flakes of rotted paint. The lights didn't work. Every creak of the wood sounded like a whisper. And then—

Klaus: "There's something off about this place... like it's sucking the soul out of me."

I didn't mean to say it out loud, but it slipped. Weiss turned to me, brows furrowed, like she felt it too.

It was like I was being pulled deeper in—not just physically. Mentally. Emotionally. As if some part of me needed to see what this place was hiding. Needed to bury the anger, the hurt, the disappointment from earlier... and maybe this haunted silence could smother it.

But then I heard the scream.

Weiss.

I ran. Room to room until I found her, frozen in place. I followed her gaze and my breath hitched.

A pair of corpses. Decomposing. Still in bed. Still... holding hands.

I barely managed to catch Weiss before her knees gave out. I pulled her into me without a word, holding her tight, guiding her away from the scene while Yang quietly stepped in and closed the door behind us.

The fire crackled softly, casting flickering shadows on the walls. Weiss sat close to it, her arms folded tightly across her chest. Her eyes hadn't left the flames since we settled in. She hadn't said much. None of us really had.

I stood near the window, trying not to let the weight of the house settle into my bones. But it was already there. Every step we took inside this place felt like walking deeper into a grave.

Blake, ever calm, gently wrapped a blanket around Weiss and sat beside Yang. It was a small gesture—but it helped. I think we all needed the little things tonight.

Then, the door creaked open again. The wind howled in behind Qrow before he shoved it shut and stomped the snow off his boots.

Qrow: (sighing) "It's the same in every house."

Yang: "What?"

Qrow: (grimly) "Bodies. Every bed in every home. It's like the whole estate just went to sleep and never woke up."