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Breathe Chapter 32: Something Wicked
🕑 Added 2024-10-28 05:11:15 +0000 UTCSitting at a small table, I looked around the cabin, taking in my surroundings. It was fairly empty, lacking all but the bare necessities for the Rose, Xiao Long, Branwen trio.
Said family sat in front of me, looking as if they had just woken up. Ruby was tiredly rubbing her eyes. Yang’s hair had a noticeable bed head like quality to it while Qrow had slightly bloodshot eyes and was in the middle of his morning whiskey.
“This isn’t a bad time is it?” I asked. “I could always come back a little later when you’re all a bit better rested.”
“Eh,” Qrow shrugged. “I’m already up. The girls on the other hand might need a little more sleep, so you could probably…”
“Nope,” Yang interrupted, elbowing her uncle in the ribs. “We just need a little coffee to get going,” She said, tying her hair into a ponytail as she stood up. “How do you take yours?”
“I’m not that picky. You could just make it like you do for everyone else,” I replied.
“Yeah, that’s not going to help me. Uncle Qrow has his black and half filled with whatever’s in his flask,” Yang explained. “While Ruby’s coffee is as black as her soul, so it’s mostly just cream and sugar.”
“Yaaang,” Ruby whined tiredly.
“So, what’ll it be?” Yang asked, leaning over the table.
“I suppose I’ll have what you’re having then,” I replied.
“Alright then, I’ll be back in a flash, so just Yang around,” She said, winking as she left.
“Ugh, it’s too early for puns,” Ruby muttered, resting her head on the table.
“It’s nearly noon,” I pointed out.
“Don’t care, still tired,” Ruby mumbled into the table.
The cabin went quiet for a few moments, before Yang suddenly walked in and placed a tray down on the table.
“That was fast.”
“It was only four cups of coffee,” Yang replied, placing half a cup of frothy coffee in front of Ruby and one that was only half filled in front of Qrow, who proceeded to empty his flask into it.
“Thanks firecracker,” Qrow said, grabbing his cup.
“Yeah, thanks Yang,” Ruby muttered as she sat up.
“You’re welcome,” Yang hummed, before placing one down in front of me.
“Thank you,” I nodded. I grabbed my cup and noticed that it was ice cold. It seemed that each of them had a specific way they liked their coffee that differed from the norm.
The trio slowly began to look more awake as they got their dose of caffeine. Ruby seemed especially energized as she finished her cup. The atmosphere in the cabin was fairly relaxed.
“Do you know where Raven is right now?” Yang suddenly asked, cutting straight to the heart of the matter.
And suddenly it felt a little tense. Ruby sat a little stiffer in her chair, knowing how much this meant to Yang and Qrow quietly eyed her as he drank his coffee.
“No. Sorry, I don’t know where she is,” I answered.
“Damnit,” Yang cursed, her eyes narrowing in frustration. “But you have met her before. Do you know where she might be heading?”
“She didn’t exactly say when she left. I think she was heading east… or west. It’s hard to tell,” I explained. “Yang, how much do you know about Raven?”
“I know that she’s not exactly a good person, but I need to meet her… I need to know why she left me,” Yang muttered, the last part going unheard to most of the room.
“That’s one way of putting it,” Qrow sighed.
Ruby shifted closer to her sister, offering her a small, comforting smile.
“…Sometimes people don’t have a good reason for doing the things they do,” I said. “I can’t tell you where Raven is, but I can tell you a little bit about her.” Excluding the whole Spring Maiden, bird transformation, former spy of Ozpin, part.
Sitting quietly for a few moments, Yang finally nodded. “I think that I’d like that. So, how’d you end up meeting her?”
“It was some time ago, during a Sanctum camping trip a little after the regional tournament,” I said. “My guardian was hired as extra security and I tagged along. The first night was pretty boring. The second night, however…”
Ruby leaned in with interest while Yang keenly listened in. Qrow, however, didn’t seem that interested in the story. It seemed that Ozpin had already informed him of what had happened.
“I was attacked by a bandit… the leader of the Branwen tribe, Raven,” I explained. “Raven and I were pretty evenly matched at the time, although she had a massive amount of Aura and I… didn’t have as much.”
I continued to describe the details of Raven’s attack on the Sanctum students while leaving out the parts about the lightning and the maiden powers.
“In the end I was forced to push myself as hard as I could. We were both low on Aura. I managed to injure her as she stabbed me and then Raven fled,” I continued, not saying how I managed to hurt Raven. If Yang found out, that would lead to a whole bunch of awkward questions.
Yang let out a relieved breath. “So she’s not dead.”
“Hold on, did you say Raven fled after she wounded you?” Qrow asked. “It’s been a long time since I last saw Raven, but that doesn’t sound like her at all.”
“Well, her Aura was taking a while to heal her lungs and I did have her sword,” I added. “I guess she saw that she was at a disadvantage and decided to cut her losses.”
Qrow nodded, accepting my story. Oddly enough, it was Ruby that had questions.
“Um… How does that work?” She asked, looking perplexed. “You said that her Aura was healing her lungs, but that would mean it wasn’t depleted when you injured her.”
“Yeah,” Yang hummed, realizing that Ruby was right.
Even Qrow shot me a questioning look as he slowly finished drinking his coffee.
I never intended on telling anyone how I managed to wound Raven. No one, not even Ozpin knew the exact details of that fight. I could always refuse to answer, but that would only make them more curious. Luckily I did have an answer prepared for just this occasion.
“There are ways to get around Aura,” I began. “All I did was positively influence the air in Raven’s lungs. Her body wasn’t able to handle it, leading to ruptures that her Aura began to heal immediately.”
Ruby blinked.
Yang blinked.
Qrow blinked, realized what I had just said and began to choke on his coffee.
“Uncle Qrow,” Ruby called out worriedly as she began to pat his back in an attempt to get him to breathe again. “…Uncle Qrow?”
Coughing up his coffee, Qrow slammed his hand on the table, his body shook, but it wasn’t in distress.
“You, haha, you…” Qrow failed to find the right words through his laughter.
“Qrow, maybe don’t…” I began.
“You beat Raven with CPR!” Qrow roared with laughter, falling backwards, out of his seat. “Oh… Oh, Raven’s never going to live this down!”
“Wait, CPR,” Yang mumbled as she quickly put the pieces together. “You… YOU KISSED MY MOM?” The look on her face screamed surprise more than anything else.
“What?!” Ruby squeaked.
Well… The cat was out of the bag. The one person that I didn’t want to hear what happened ended up being one of the first to hear it. I was just glad that Pyrrha and Winter were fairly deep in the woods as they continued their training, instead of nearby where they would have no doubt heard Yang’s outburst.
“Only technically,” I defended. “We were both trying to kill each other and it was a last ditch effort on my part to end the fight.”
Yang began to calm down, although the look of surprise hadn’t faded from her face.
“Okay,” She nodded. “I… suppose that I can accept that. It was just a shock to hear that you… I wasn’t expecting to hear that today. If anything, I thought that she might be dea…”
“Did either of you use tongue?” Qrow interrupted, sounding far too amused.
I paused for a moment, caught off guard by Qrow’s question.
“There was, wasn’t there?!” Qrow asked, his laughter starting up again.
“Oh god,” Yang muttered, palming her face.
My eye began to twitch. “No… There was no tongue.”
The cabin quickly descended into an awkward silence with the only sound coming from Qrow who was still snickering.
“So… I never really got to see what kind of weapon you use,” Ruby said, breaking the silence while at the same time changing the subject. “I know it’s a sword, but I don’t know what it can do.”
Latching onto the new topic, I removed my sheathed blade from my belt and placed it on the table. “Well, the blade itself doesn’t actually have any mechashift capabilities,” I explained, unsheathing my sword. “Why don’t you grab the sheath and try twisting the top of it.”
“If it’s okay with you,” Ruby hummed. Her eyes glinted with excitement as the sheath shifted into its scythe form. “So cool! You have a scythe, just like me. What’s its name?”
Name? Crap, that’s right. Everyone named their weapons. Pyrrha called her sword and shield Miló and Akoúo̱ while Ruby’s scythe was named Crescent Rose. I’d completely forgotten to give my weapons a name.
I’d just been dealing with progressively bigger things that I didn’t really ever think about naming my sword and scythe.
Palming the sword in my hands, I looked up to the two sisters and uncle who was finally standing back up.
“This is… Burny Burny Cut Cut,” I said, immediately regretting my choice of name.
“What?!” Ruby spluttered while Yang began to laugh.
“I haven’t actually come up with a name for them yet,” I admitted.
“But… But, they’re your weapons,” Ruby argued. “Our weapons are an extension of ourselves.”
I didn’t really see it as that big of a necessity, but Ruby did. Pretty much everyone on Remnant named their weapons. Huntsmen, Gangsters, even Ozpin himself.
“Then maybe you could help me come up with a name,” I suggested. “If you want.”
“That’d be awesome,” Ruby grinned. “We could start right now, just let me grab my scroll and I’ll…”
“Hold your horses, Ruby,” Qrow said. “I think you’re forgetting that you’re supposed to be training while we’re out here, besides, I am technically here on a job. This is the perfect time for you and your sister to see what some missions will be like.”
“But…” Ruby began.
“Nope,” Qrow cut her off, ruffling her hair. “Now why don’t you and your sister get ready? We still have half a day of hunting Grimm and guarding this mine. Whatever you want to do now can wait for later.”
“Aw,” She whined. Shifting the scythe back into its sheath form, she placed it on the table. “I’ll come up with a bunch of awesome names during the day,” She promised, before marching off to the bedroom.
“Yeah, I think that’s for the best,” Yang sighed as she stood. “I could use a little time to clear my head. I’ll be seeing you a little later.”
“Thanks for the coffee, it was good,” I called out.
Yang turned and gave a wink before following after her sister.
Waiting for Yang to move out of sight, Qrow turned to me, seeming more serious. “How about the two of us go outside for a short walk?”
“Sure,” I shrugged, grabbing my sheath as I followed Qrow out of the cabin.
We didn’t head that far, only a few feet away from the small cabin out in the open where there was no cover for anyone to hide in order to listen in.
“Ozpin never did mention what it is you’re really doing out here,” Qrow began. “He only said that you’re here to guard a developing dust mine, but that can’t be right. A Huntsman of your caliber should be taking much more difficult missions than something like this.”
“You think this is connected to Salem?” I guessed.
“Isn’t it?” Qrow asked. “If this is dangerous, then I need to know. I need to get my nieces out of here before anything bad happens. They’re not ready for this.”
“This has nothing to do with Salem,” I reassured him. “The real reason I’m here is to make sure that the workers for the mine aren’t treated poorly. This land that we’re standing on is technically mine, the Schnee Dust Company is just renting it for a prolonged period of time.”
“You own this land?” Qrow asked, raising an eyebrow.
“It’s… A whole thing,” I replied. “If you kill an Ancient Grimm, the ownership of the land it occupied belongs to you. It’s some really old law. You could ask Ozpin about it.”
“That sounds nuts,” Qrow sighed. “But also believable. What about little miss ice queen?”
“Winter’s here for another reason,” I answered. “But, again, it’s unrelated to Salem. She’s helping a friend of mine train.”
“Yeah, I’m guessing that there’s more to it than that. Jimmy wouldn’t let his top agent leave Atlas without a good reason,” Qrow said. “But I suppose that doesn’t matter. So long as my nieces are safe, I’m happy.”
Then he’ll be ecstatic when he finds out how few Grimm are out here.
…Breathe…
It was later in the evening when I found myself sitting with everyone around a bonfire just outside of the wall.
Pyrrha was chatting with Ruby. Yang looked bored out of her mind, having experienced a day full of watching the workers without needing to fight a single Grimm while Winter glared at Qrow whenever he drank from his flask.
“Everyone seems to be getting along well,” Maria hummed softly, before glancing at Winter and Qrow. “Except for those two. There seems to be some bad blood there.”
“Yeah,” I nodded.
I wasn’t sure what the story was there. If I had to guess, I’d say Winter didn’t like him because he was everything she strove to not be… It didn’t help that he probably reminded her of her mother due to his constant drinking.
“So, you wanna play some cards?” Maria asked, grabbing her deck. “Or maybe you want to tell another one of your stories?”
“I’m up for either,” Yang said, sitting down next to us. “So what will it be? A story or a game of cards? I’ve had a long and boring day and am in need of some entertainment.”
“I don’t think I have enough cards for all of us to play,” Maria muttered, glancing around at everyone that was now watching the interaction. “Looks like you’re up, kid,” She said, patting me on the back.
“I suppose I could tell a short story,” I said.
It couldn’t exactly be a fairy tale as there was a good chance that they could run into the person that was connected to it.
“Which one?” Ruby asked. “Yang used to read to me all the time, so I might know it.”
“It’s a story about a girl named Pandora,” I replied. Much like with when I told Pyrrha about the battle of Thermopylae, I was going to have to tell an abridged version of the story. “Who was given a box by the gods.”
“Don’t think I’ve ever heard that one before,” Qrow mumbled quietly.
I would honestly be surprised if he had.
“She was told to never open the box,” I continued. “But as time went on, she began to grow curious and one day she decided to take a small peak inside, only for the lid to be blown off and all the evils of the world were released.”
“How does that work?” Ruby asked.
“It was a box given by the gods. They can do some crazy things,” I shrugged. “Horrified by her actions, Pandora rushed to close the box, only to find that something had stayed behind. A power far greater and more terrible than any of the other evils.” I paused for a moment as Ruby and Yang leaned in. “H… Shit!”
Standing at the edge of the woods, as clear as it would be in daylight was the shadow, staring out with its blank gaze. Last time it showed itself like this, I ended up fighting an Ancient Grimm.
“Wait, what do you mean by shit?” Yang asked, thrown off.
“I need to go… now,” I said, shooting a glance to Maria before turning back towards the shadow.
“Again?” Maria asked suddenly.
“Yes,” I nodded. “Winter, Pyrrha. Please make sure that the workers are alright and be on the lookout for anything strange. Qrow… I wasn’t looking for anything out here, but something might have found me instead.”
“Fuck,” Qrow muttered, catching on.
“Coal, what’s going on?” Pyrrha asked.
There was a loud screeching sound, similar to nails on a chalkboard, before a deeper groan sounded through the forest.
Hearing something moving through the air, I looked up just as a large object shattered a nearby tree, before rolling to a stop in front of us.
“Is that a piece of the Bullhead?” Pyrrha asked.
“I guess we know where it is then,” I hummed, before turning to Pyrrha. “Long story short, there’s something out there… Something dangerous.”
“And you wanna fight that thing all by yourself?” Yang butted in. “Yeah, not happening.”
“I would also like to help,” Pyrrha added, stepping forward.
“That might not be the best idea,” Qrow said. “It looks like things are about to get dangerous and you don’t even have your weapons.”
“We can get them then,” Yang hummed cheekily. “Besides, we’ve got you here to help us out.”
“Yang, that’s not.”
“I’ll be right, back. Be sure not to start without me,” Yang called out, rushing off to their cabin with Ruby in tow.
“Damnit, she never listens,” Qrow muttered.
Turning back to the woods, I glanced around, unable to catch sight of the shadow. It had simply disappeared, having completed its job of warning me.
“None of the sensors have been tripped for the camp,” Winter stated, looking at her Scroll. “The ones nearest the Bullhead are all offline.”
Hearing the sound of trees cracking as something large pushed them out of the way, I unsheathed my blade and waited, briefly noting that Pyrrha stood at my side with her spear in hand, ready for whatever was heading towards us.
The cracking stopped just before the Grimm came into view. I winced as the smell of something decaying hit my nose.
“PlEaSe HeLp Me,” A distorted voice pleaded from the darkness. “ItS gOt My LeG, HeLp! HeLp!”
“It’s… Talking,” Pyrrha muttered.
“No, it’s mimicking things that it’s heard,” Maria explained.
“CaLaVeRa!” The distorted voice sounded once more, filled with hatred.
That was going to be a little harder to explain.
The creaking in the woods intensified, before suddenly dying down completely. Hearing the sound of footsteps rushing towards us, I spotted the faintest movement in the dark.
“We’re back,” Yang announced as she strode up with Ruby.
“Sun Breathing: Flash, One Step”
-50AP
Launching myself at the sisters, I brought my blade down, slicing a long black tentacle that had lashed out at them.
“NoT AgAiN!” The Grimm roared as its tentacle began to disintegrate. “NeVeR AgAiN!”
The ground rumbled and the trees began to crack and break once more as the Grimm thrashed about. Catching a glimpse of an elongated, almost spider-like Grimm, I launched myself forward and cut through the Grimms body. Feeling my blade hit something solid, I peered through it, only to wish I hadn’t.
Several bodies had been stuffed into the Grimm with their flesh merged together, forming a kind of internal structure. They didn’t appear to be alive, at least not in the natural sense.
It seemed that Salem had gotten to work and created a different version of her hound… although it was wholly different from what it was supposed to be, using more than one body to control it.
I stepped to the side as one of its long spiny limbs lashed out, making the barest of contact with my arm.
-200AP
…
Ping!
Iron Soul has resisted Soul Shear
…
Jumping back, I landed a short distance away while the spider Grimm thrashed around, its body seemingly breaking down. I’ve seen that notification before.
“That’s it?!” Yang muttered, sounding disappointed. “I mean, it was a creepy Grimm, but I expected a longer fight than that.”
“It’s not over,” I said, watching as new limbs sprouted from its body along with a large scorpion tail. “Is it, Tyrian?”
The Grimm let out a distorted laugh as its body finished forming and began to charge towards me. Clenching my blade, I waited for it to come near and prepared to cut into it once more, only for the Grimm to be knocked to the side by a glowing white Goliath.
Summoning a flock of miniature Nevermore, Winter sent them towards the Grimm, slowly tearing it apart, serving mainly as a distraction while Pyrrha attacked from the back where the Grimm had the least mobility.
Qrow rushed forward alongside Yang. The duo tore into the Grimm, removing several limbs and leaving massive holes in its body while Ruby provided long range support, blowing holes through the Grimms bone armor.
“It seems,” Maria began, stepping next to me. “That the sheer number of Huntsmen and Huntresses here are able to overwhelm this Grimm.”
It might seem like that, but they weren’t actually making any progress. The internal shell of flesh hadn’t sustained any damage.
“It has Aura,” I replied.
Sooner or later, that Aura would give out and the Grimm would become vulnerable, but whether that happened before everyone exhausted themselves remained to be seen.
Spotting an Apathy beginning to form on the underside of the Grimm, I gripped my blade tightly, turning it a bright red and launched myself forward.
“Sun Breathing: Thirteenth Form”
-0 AP
Slicing into the Grimm as I passed it by, I stopped next to Pyrrha as its body began to crumble to ash. The meat shell dropped to the floor. Black fluid began to leak from it in an attempt to regenerate the body, but it would be a while before it would be able to move anywhere.
“What is that?” Pyrrha asked, disgusted by what she was seeing.
“A Grimm… A new kind of Grimm,” I explained.
“Grimm don’t have flesh like that inside of them and they can’t talk either… I think I see an arm sticking out,” Pyrrha said, covering her mouth with her hand. “What’ve we been fighting?”
The Grimms' body wriggled, struggling to move. Shrinking down the flesh began to bulge as the fluid inside it began to swell and solidify into bone spikes, fighting to find an exit.
“It’s gonna blow!” Qrow yelled as he retreated alongside Yang.
Jumping out of the way, Pyrrha hid her body behind her shield as the Grimm exploded, showering the area in shards of bone and black fluid.
Deflecting the bone shards, I turned my attention to the remains of the Grimm laying on the forest floor, black Grimm fluid slowly evaporating off the deflated shell. It seemed that what little of Tyrian’s mind that was left, realized it wasn’t going to win, so it decided to detonate itself instead.
“…Coal,” Pyrrha muttered softly.
“Yeah… Crap.”
Pyrrha winced in pain as she fought to stay on her feet. For the most part, her shield had managed to absorb the majority of the bone shards. One however, had gotten through and was deeply imbedded in her torso with part of it sticking out the other side.
Feeling panic begin to bubble its way to the surface, I ruthlessly clamped down on it.
Dropping my sword, I rushed to her side and immediately examined her wound. She was fine for the most part. The shard had missed her organs, but it had pierced through a fair amount of muscle and torn a vein. Worse yet, the bone was slowly evaporating, unplugging the hole it had just punctured through her body.
She needed help. The sooner she got it, the better her condition would be.
Slinging her arm over my shoulder, I helped her limp back towards the others, doing my best to prevent the bone from moving around too much.
“Maria, I need your help,” I called out. She’d managed to keep me alive when she found me. She should be able to do the same for Pyrrha.
“That looks like a nasty gut wound,” Maria winced.
“It missed her organs, but managed to hit a few veins,” I explained.
Seeing what was happening, Ruby and Yang attempted to head over, but were stopped by Qrow, keeping them clear from the area in order to prevent them from getting in the way.
“We’re going to need bandages, gauze and disinfectant,” Maria began. “We had all of those on the Bullhead. I’ll go check if there’s anything left while you stay here with White over there,” She said, nodding towards Winter who was slowly approaching. “If there isn’t then we might need to close the wound with fire dust. Put pressure on her wound if she begins to bleed.”
I resigned myself to wait for Maria’s return while keeping Pyrrha standing to prevent her wound from worsening. She wasn’t quite yet at the point in her training where she would be able to stop herself from bleeding, but as time went on and the bone shard continued to evaporate, it seemed like it was the only other choice… Besides burning her wound closed.
There was a soft thud as the bone slipped from her wound, hitting the floor. Red began to pool around Pyrrha’s wound. Helping her lay down, I pressed down on her wound, causing her to gasp in pain.
“The blonde girl should have some burn dust on her,” Winter said.
That would stop Pyrrha from bleeding out, but it wouldn’t do anything about any internal bleeding.
“Pyrrha, I need you to focus your breathing,” I said, staring down at her.
Nodding, Pyrrha began taking slow deep breaths.
“Focus on your nerves,” I continued. “Use them to find your wound. You need to look inward and find what’s been damaged.”
Looking for the faintest twitch of her muscles, I directed Pyrrha her wound as best as I could, until finally, she found it.
“You’ve got it,” I announced. “Now, stem the flow of your blood.”
Beads of sweat dripped from Pyrrha’s forehead as she focused on controlling her body on the smallest level. Breathing heavily, she tensed her muscles and clamped down on her wound, stopping her bleeding.
Removing my hand, I let out a relieved sigh when her wound no longer bled. Pyrrha certainly had a talent for Total Concentration Breathing. “You’ve done it. You’re going to have to keep from moving around too much, at least until your Aura starts regenerating, but you’re out of danger now.”
Smiling tiredly, Pyrrha’s bleary eyes met mine. “You never did say how that story ended,” She hummed tiredly, before her tired gaze turned to something behind me.
A single orb like Grimm slowly floated towards the ground. It let out a high pitched screech as the orb cracked, before dropping to the floor, releasing a large amount of black smoke that slowly took the form of a pale woman.
Closing my eyes, I took a slow breath. There would be no hiding it from them, now. Salem just loved to complicate things.
“I’ll tell you the ending later,” I promised. Standing, I turning to face Salem’s Grimm projection.
“It’s about time we met face to face, wouldn’t you say, Coal?”
Comments
SkulduggeryHaven
Thanks, I'm really glad that you enjoyed it. I post a chapter for Breathe every 7 days, generally Monday or as soon as possible if something keeps me from posting, and a chapter for Pushing Through the Limit every Friday. So, a total of 2 chapters a week.
Aeden Emrys
Damn! When's the next chapter!? I really want to know how this conversation goes! Thanks for the chapter! Looking forward to reading much more of this interesting story!
SkulduggeryHaven
Haha, yeah. Salem does have a tendency to arrive at the worst times.
SkulduggeryHaven
I'm glad that you enjoyed it. Yeah, Coal's definitely going to leave an impression on Salem.
James French
‘Ohhh shit, it’s the bitch who interrupted story time!’ -Coal @ Salem
HunterWithPatience
Wow, salem coming in early, she must be a big fan of Coals. And using tyrians body in her experiments. Probably the only person on Remnant that would give consent to be turned into a grimm. Smart. Can't wait to see how this conversation goes, might be a serious conversation, or coal might try to be a jackass to see if he can get a reaction out of her.
