RWBY: Malefic Rising

Chapter Five: What Now?

Weiss walked towards the scene. To her this is nothing new, for the sight of her family's blood was all too inescapable.
The smell of decaying flesh, rotting blood and the stench of feces assaulted her nose. Uyyhh gross...

Ruby stilled before the horizon.
Over that edge is the thing I'll have to be able to withstand, a nightmare that I'll witnesses every day as a huntress. I have to be ready for it. Wait, what's wrong with my vision? She looked down at her hands, they shook madly. Her whole body was was practically convulsing. Am I really so afraid? She clenched her fists quickly looking up to the edge of her known world.

No! I'm stronger than this! I have to be ready for what is to come. She strode to it's edge. What horror she gazed upon. "I think I'm going to be sick."

Yang looked back to her sister in time to see Ruby deposit a new smell to parallel with the rest. Poor girl, she didn't stand a chance.
Yang walked down the hill to the brief case. She picked up the thing only to set it back down, she knelt down to examine the silver container. There were claw marks on the bottom, big ones.
"Hey, Weiss, you'd better take a look at this."
"I'll be right there." Weiss replied as she began to step around the corpses. "This might take a few moments." She stepped in a puddle of... water?
oh please be water... She slowly looked at her feet. her shoulders slumped. With a dismayed sigh she spoke,"Perfect, just perfect, my three hundred lien shoes are now completely ruined!"

Blake turned to Weiss. "What is wrong with you? At least a dozen are dead and you only care about your shoes?"

"They are the enemy Blake. you know as well as I do that this could have very easily been our own doing. It's not like they were going to just hand us back a super weapon. Be glad we didn't have to hurt them at all. Besides-" Weiss looked down to a corpse near her her feet,"- I don't think they have the capacity to be offended anymore."

"You have no respect for the dead."

"And they had no respect for the lives that they were about to take."
Yang strode quickly in between the two arguing girls and gave them both a soft smack. "Give it up you two, we've got no time for this crap. Weiss get over here".

Weiss followed Yang to the scarred case. She bent down and examined it carefully.
"This isn't good. We can't take Final Breath with us. It's possible that any more movement could trigger this thing to activate."

Ruby walked to her team, though she had been shaken by what she had just seen she had made it through her first trial. Her friends looked to her for orders.
"Yang, Weiss, go tell the Schnee Dust Company we have their missing weapon. Blake and I will stay here."
Weiss's face turned to worry. "I don't think I should leave Ruby." She looked at the case on the ground. "I should stay." Her voice was low and delicate. "If something goes wrong and I'm not here to fix it..." She looked back to her team. "I-I just don't want you guys to die for my family's mistakes."
Ruby nodded solemnly. "Blake go with Yang. I'll be staying here with Weiss."
"What?! You can't stay here. What if something happens?"
"That's precisely why I have to stay, what kind of a leader would I be to abandon my friend and make her fight alone?"
They all remained silent. Then Yang spoke, "Well we'll get going now." she pulled her sister into a hug. "Love you Sis." She said with a small smile. After letting go Ruby turned to Blake.
"You guys gunna be okay getting back to Vale?"
Blake nodded.
"We'll be back soon. I'm sure the Company can lend us an airship."
She and Yang climbed back up the hill. Yang grinned giving Ruby and Weiss a thumbs up.
The sun nestled between the sky and Remnant, casting a golden flare upon Yang. She truly is an awesome sister. Ruby waved one last time and the two girls on the gradient walked away.

Weiss and Ruby were alone. Ruby looking around began to speak, "We should probably set up camp here so..." "We can't do that." Weiss said. "These people didn't rip themselves apart Ruby. Something did this to them. And I for one do not want to stick around to find out what did."
Ruby shivered as she peered around. There was nothing even close to a decent place to hide. Her stomach turned as she tried to ignore the crazy idea she was about to come up with.
"There's no way I'm ever going to do that..."
"Do what Ruby?" Weiss's face was taut with curiosity. Ruby said nothing, her eyes dashed back and forth.
"Well what is it?"
Ruby finally spoke.
"I had thought we could.. stack up the bodies and play dead along with them..." Oh god I'm so messed up now.

Weiss's face told Ruby all she needed to know, for it was half gaping and half terrified.
What will we become by the end of this mission, thought Ruby. She didn't know, but she sure as hell wasn't ready to find out.