Rwby: Child of Grimm: Volume 4

Chapter 6: Haunted

The huge, stone, Grimm creature lashes out at the group of huntsmen, smashing its stone fist into the ground near Ruby and sending the small girl back a few metres with a shockwave of air. Ren takes the chance to leap atop the golems arm, slashing at the stone as he runs and leaping off the shoulder, turning and shooting its back with a storm of bullets yet dealing no visible damage. As the creature is about to swing around to smack Ren, a barrage of pink grenades explode in its face making it stagger for a moment. Below and from behind, Ryu dashes between its legs, slashing its right leg and freezing it in place. The golem aims its left hand at Ryu, attempting to slam it down on the annoying hunter.

[Ruby] "look out!"

Ryu sheathes his blade, disconnecting and reconnecting a different blade, draws it and spins with his red eyes and aura glowing bright. A blade of wind cuts through the golems stone arm, causing it to crumble around the boy.

[Jaune] "show off...huh?!"

In response to its arm being cut from its body, the creature brings forth the trunk of a tree to replace its missing limb. It swings its new limb with ease, creating enough wind to send a few of the hunters back. Ruby and Ryu dig their weapons into the ground to keep themselves standing while Jaune fails to do so and is sent tumbling into a nearby boulder.

[Ryu] "that looked like it hurt."
[Ruby] "Jaune?"
[Jaune] "...I'm good.."

Having embedded her scythe in the ground, Ruby reloads her weapon with fire dust rounds and fires off a collection of bullets in quick succession. A few of the shots hit the stone and deal no damage, however once the shots get closer to its mask, it brings its tree trunk arm around to protect itself, resulting in it catching alight.

[Ruby] "uh oh."
[Ren] "well, at least we know its weakness now."
[Nora] "where?"
[Ryu] "the face!"
[Ren] "right."
[Ruby] "ok, but I think we should SCATTER!"

Everyone leaps out of the way as a large, burning tree slams down to the ground catching alight a section of the grassy plain.

[Ruby] "Nora!"
[Nora] "Yes!"

Ruby replaces her cartridge once more and fires off an electrically charged shot in Nora's direction, hitting her and charging her semblance. Nora then rushes to Ruby's side as the little red huntress uses her semblance, the two of them spiralling through the air surrounded by rose petals and electricity, smash through both the creatures arms and find their way to its mask. Just as they are about to land the hit however, the Geist abandons its creation, leaving it to crumble to the ground as it attempts to flee the scene, only for it to be gunned down by an accurate shot from the little, midair sniper.

Once the group is back in town, they make their way towards a small building.

[Ryu] "I'll...stay here."
[Jaune] "yeah, you should."

While team RNJR move inside to retrieve Jaunes new armour, Ryu waits outside with his back against the wall and arms crossed in front of him. With closed eyes, Ryu's thoughts return once more to the scene at the top of Beacon tower. In his mind, Pyrrha's death, as well as the two from team Z3RO, replays over and over again. The simplicity of ending a life in an instant, how easy it was for him, weighs on his mind like nothing else.

A quiet chittering sound distracts him from his thoughts, bringing his attention to a small spider Grimm at the edge of the nearby brush.

[Ryu] "what?"

Seeing the small creature looking at him with all eight eyes, he decides to walk closer which prompts the spider to scurry away. Ryu motions to follow but stops himself short when he realises he might make the others worried if they left the store to find he was gone. Inside the store, once Ruby has finished laughing at Jaunes rabbit hoodie and Jaune has put on his new armour and sheathed his new sword, he makes a comment that makes the others look at him with a different tone.

[Jaune] "at least that guy's not in here to see this."
[Ren] "Jaune. You need to stop blaming him."
[Jaune] "why should I? He was there, fighting that woman. He...he should have done something."
[Ruby] "I was there too."
[Jaune] "what?"
[Ruby] "I was there too, so shouldn't you also be blaming me then?"
[Jaune] "that's different Ruby!"
[Ruby] "why?"
[Jaune] "why?"
[Ruby] "why is he the only one you're blaming? Why not me as well?"

Jaune seems lost for words so Ren speaks up.

[Ren] "It's because of what he said when they got back to ship."
[Ruby] "huh?"
[Jaune] "Ren!"
[Ren] "it's not like it's some big secret."

Ren begins explaining to Ruby what happened after Sol and Ryu returned with the two sisters in their arms. People on the ship freaking out when they see the two with half their bodies covered in Grimm armour.

[Sol] "Get these girls some help!"

Sol's call brings forth a few of the less injured students, alongside Qrow, who help the pair bring the girls to rest safely on the ship. Jaune sees the damage and rushes over.

[Jaune] "what happened?!"
[Sol] "White fang on my end."
[Ryu] "Cinder and a dragon on mine."

Sol decides to keep the fact that people had come for him a secret for now, believing that it would only cause more of a panic, while Ryu's words strike Jaune like an arrow through the heart.

[Jaune] "where's Pyrrha?"

Ryu looks towards the ground, unwilling to face the first male friend he made at Beacon. This response causes Jaune to start panicking, adrenaline rushing to his head, the blonde boy grabs Ryu by the torn collar.

[Jaune] "Where is she!?"
[Ryu] "I'm sorry..."

Tears welling up in his eyes, the short apology is all Ryu is capable of saying. This only fuels Jaunes anger as tears begin to leak from his eyes as well.

[Jaune] "what did you do!?"
[Ryu] "I...I'm so sorry..."

Jaune pulls his arm back in preparation to punch the crying boy in the face, however a hand reaches out and keeps him from dealing the blow.

[Ren] "That's enough Jaune."
[Qrow] "Alright people, we're all a bit overworked and Stressed out right now so let's just try to calm down and make sure no one else dies tonight."

Back in the store, Ruby is aghast at the tale.

[Ruby] "Jaune, I saw what happened. It wasn't his fault."
[Jaune] "tch."

Jaune clicks his tongue and angrily storms out of the store with the others worriedly walking close behind. As they come out of the store, they find Ryu in the same position they left him in which relieves Ruby. Jaune glares at the boy for a moment before he continues down the path.

[Ruby] "I'm sorry about him. He's...going through a hard time right now."
[Ryu] "I know."

Ryu smiles understandingly at the girl.

[Ryu] "we should follow along before we get left behind though."
[Ruby] "right. Hey guys! Wait for us!"

Ruby calls out to the group from the former team JNPR that consists of an upset Jaune, a sighing Ren, and Nora calling back to the two to hurry up. The two rush to catch up but not without Ryu looking back towards the bushes once more, hoping to get a glance at the strange, spider Grimm he saw earlier to no avail.

Elsewhere, strange Grimm wreak havoc upon a village on the groups path, laying waste to bandits, hunters and civilians alike. The screeching of Banshees fills everyone's ears and stun, or in worse cases, cause inner ear bleeding from burst ear drums. Blemmyes with eyes on their chest or shoulders and carnivorous mouths on their stomachs or chests devour anything in their paths, while large Minotaurs smash down anyone in their paths and anyone who makes it past them is impaled by the explosive hedgehog Grimms now called Mortarquills. Various other unusual Grimm such as a horseless Nuckelavee swaying from side to side with its arms dragging behind it also participate in the carnage. Meanwhile, a boy in torn clothes and pieces of black armour hanging off of him walks menacingly through the massacre, killing humans and Grimm' alike. His black hair sways violently in a nonexistent wind as his green eyes Pierce everything he looks at.