The Knights of Grimm - Act 3 - Shattered Memory

Chapter 36 - Luctuosa Dæmoni Agnus Dei

Ruby

Kassius sprints beside Ruby, still possessed by Hyde but his energy is dwindling and soon Hyde will have to retreat back into Kassius and let him take over again. Ruby keeps up with them, her eye focused onto Nora as she lies in the arms of the Architect; they are not far from Beacon Academy at the moment. Ruby begins to count everyone, seeing Ren being helped by Oscar to get them back to the Academy.

Then it hits her.

"Where are Jaune and Pyrrha? You guys did find her, right?" Ruby inquires, looking at them, and Ren coughs as he turns to her, Oscar still holding him upright due to his injuries inflicted upon him in the crash.

"They were thrown the furthest...we didn't see where they landed." Ren answers as he looks around, Nora does the same as well, wanting to go and search for them. Hyde's burning hot eyes stare up to the sky and he roars out.

"Jaune! Pyrrha!" Hyde bellows, his voice reverberates between the trees as he hopes they can hear his voice. They heard his roar earlier when he battled against Kannix, but now they are being hunted down by none other than Vir Nominis Umbra.

But they hear no response.

Ruby feels her hand shaking ever so gently as she holds Crescent Rose – it feels like the Fall of Beacon all over again, the two of them missing out there and in danger. She makes her decision, closing her eye and then turning to them with a sharp exhale. "I'm gonna find them – both of them." She promises as she looks at Ren and Nora, feeling like she failed them last time. Oscar reaches out for her so then he can help her, and Kassius catches Ren before he falls.

"Go! Help her!" Hyde orders, helping Ren to get him to safety. Hyde truly has come a very long way, he is still in control of Kassius' body and he is actually helping them now. It really shows how much he trusts them all now, unlike how he acted in the past whenever Kassius snapped and let him take over.

Oscar dashes after her, the clock slows down around them and he catches up to her as she runs, then lets time resume again, running beside her. Ruby's eye turns and she gazes towards him with a happy smile to see him with her.

"Together." Oscar states, and she nods her head to him.

"I won't fail them...not this time." Ruby promises with stammered breath.

Little do they realise that they are charging head first into Umbra's cruel little game...

Jaune

The whistling continues around them, Pyrrha holds Jaune's hand ever so tightly, recognising the chilling tune so well. Crows caw as they flutter around them, landing in the trees. Jaune stops, his blue eyes focus onto one of them that stares directly at him. It tilts its head, the beak appears to be constructed from some form of diamond or crystal, with glowing red eyes. Unlike Qrow and Raven, the eyes seem to share the same burning hot light that the Grimm seem to have in their eyes. They all look exactly the same as each other, all with feathers formed from black smoke that trails off their bodies.

Pyrrha is shaking with terror, seeing the horrific memories sparking before her eyes, the sights of other poor souls being tortured in the worst possible ways. Either from their very fears or just in other gruesome ways, such as being eaten alive by Beowulves but never dying, in eternal suffering. When he drowned her in a lake of blood, when he fed her to Grimm, when he tore her apart with his bare hands. Vir Nominis Umbra is a force that should be feared, because he does not care who you are...only what you carry.

She closes her eyes, tears of fear stream down her cheeks from her eyes, sharp intakes of breath form in her body as she tries to fight her fears. She cannot get the terrible memories from her head, now she wishes her shattered memory could remember at least all these things. The terrors she saw in the Charred Forest, the screams of billions of tortured souls that never cease.