RWBY: Grimm Walker

Chapter 9: Relaps

2 Weeks Later

The stench of death hung in the air like a thick fog, bodies littering the ground. Nix's hands were bloody, the gash on his cheek stinging as tears ran into the wound. He could hear screams around him as the battle raged, the roar of an unknown creature deafening in his ears. He cradled his friend in his arms, her breathing slow and ragged.

"Why Nix? Why didn't you save me?"

Nix looked up and watched as buildings burned around him, the silhouette of the creature standing over him in the smoke, its red eyes burning as hot as the fire around it. His eyes went wide as the creature roared.

Nix awoke with a start, his body covered in sweat. He's breathing slowed once he realized where he was and got out of bed. The room was dark, the clock reading 3 Am. He walked to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face. This was the third nightmare this week, having four more the last. It was the same as all the other times, always waking at the same part. He looked himself over in the mirror, sighing. The scar on his cheek burned slightly as the memory replayed through his mind.

He returned to bed and stared at the ceiling. Why now? Why did the nightmares have to come back now? It had been almost a month since the last one, and things were finally starting to go well. He sighed again, turning to face the wall. It was bound to happen sometime. He knew what he had to do.

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"Hey, anyone seen Nix lately?" Jaune asked as he sat down. Classes were now over for the day and dinner was being served. Pyrrha shook her head to Jaune's dismay. "I haven't seen him."

Ruby put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure he'll come around." That didn't seem to raise his spirits much, giving a small shrug. Jaune and Nix had quickly become best buds, the two boys practically joint at the hip whenever they had free time. Then all of a sudden Nix just stopped coming, always training somewhere or had his face buried in a textbook. At first no one was bothered, but it had been weeks since they last saw him outside of class, always disappearing before they could talk to him. Ruby was worried, and judging by the faces of her friends so were they. Nora folded her arms on the table, her usual cheerful attitude replaced by a saddened one.

"This dosn't seem like him, we usually hang out all the time." The girl had grown quite fond of him, the two playing pranks on each other constantly. She looked to Ren, who smiled warmly at her, which helped lift her mood. Weiss groaned in slight annoyance. "Jeez, can we all loose the downer attitude? I'm sure that wherever Nix is he's fine. How do you even know something is wrong?"

Yang shot her a look, now also annoyed. "Maybe if you would know if you actually made an effort to get to know him."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Oh please, don't act like you know him so well. He's been here for almost a month and you barely know anything about him."

The group fell silent. "Well, am I wrong?"

Ruby sat with her arms folded. Weiss was right. When it came to Nix's past, he had told them very little, usually dodging the question or changing the subject.

Ruby spoke up. "Well, even if that's the case, you could at least be a little nicer to him. Why don't you like him?"

"Its not that I don't like him, I just find it hard to trust someone who wont even open up to you." She stood to leave. "If he wants to be all secretive, that's fine by me. But if he's not willing to trust us, why should we trust him?" Her point made, she turned and left the dinning hall.