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Chapter 36: An Embodiment of Fear

Ruby knew instinctively that something was horribly wrong. Not from the general gloom and doom in the atmosphere, not from the aches of her injuries, not even the cloud and giant whale of death that loomed over Mantle and Atlas in the distance, but from how Oscar refused to look her in the eyes. Maria, Weiss, and Ruby had gone looking for him and (Y/N) in the aftermath of the battle at Atlas Academy. Oscar had been easy enough to track with the Manta since his Scroll hadn't been hidden by Ciel, and they had found him in a refugee camp on the outskirts, but (Y/N) wasn't with him. The farm boy hadn't said anything, but the melancholy look on his face and his inability to face any of the girls made Ruby and Weiss dread asking the question, even as they made it back to the hideout. Johana let them in as she and May were organizing the rescue teams. Everyone else was in the back and shot up when they heard them come in. A look of relief flashed on their faces, but Blake and Yang's faded as they saw their brother wasn't with them. Oscar didn't move, even as Nora hugged him.
Blake was the first to speak. "When we heard you went after Ironwood, we thought..."
"How did you end up down in the slums?" Weiss asked.
"It's a...long story. I have a feeling there's been a few of those tonight."
He glanced around, seeing the downtrodden looks on their faces.
"Oscar, where's (Y/N)?" Yang finally asked. "Wasn't he with you?"
He looked down, ashamed. "I was an idiot. He and Ironwood were fighting when I got down there. They were both tired, and then Ironwood turned his gun on me. (Y/N) jumped in the way to protect me. His Aura broke...and he fell."
Yang's eyes widened, Weiss covered her mouth, biting back a gasp, and Ruby and Blake looked down, trying not to think the worst. (Y/N) was already tired when he went to face Ironwood. If he had fallen from such a height...
"He's still up there." Oscar concluded.
"Are you sure?" Ciel asked, trying to be stable as Team RWBY processed what had happened.
"When I got to the ground, I couldn't find him anywhere. He must have found a notch to hide in when he fell."
A loud crash was heard as Yang punched the wall, a look of fury on her face.
"Yang!" Ruby said as Blake ran up to her.
"I should have grabbed him! The second I realized he was going after Ironwood, I-,"
"Yang, he made up his mind, no one was going to stop him." Blake insisted. "You know how he is when decides something."
"And whose fault is that!?" She blew up. "We keep saying we want to keep him safe, that we're looking out for him, but we keep dragging him into battle after battle!"
"Yang, you're not being fair to yourselves." Jaune tried to calm her down.
"(Y/N) isn't a normal child, he's much stronger than most people, even adults." Ren added.
"We keep saying! But that doesn't change the fact that he shouldn't be fighting! We shouldn't have made him think he could handle himself like the rest of us!"
"He can handle himself!" Nora insisted.
"He's 10! He shouldn't have to!" The girls all blinked at the declaration. "We should have left him where it was safe. For all we know, he could-,"
"Don't!" Weiss snapped, her voice cracking. "Don't even think that."
"That he could be dead?" Yang's voice was cold.
Blake's ears were pinned to her skull as Weiss hugged herself, trying to keep herself together. Ruby looked lost and scared. No one could say anything, or speak up against Yang. Penny, who had been silent this whole time, saw how terrified her friend was. She moved over to Ruby, placing a hand on her shoulder. Ruby seemed to snap out of her daze as Penny looked at her, trying to give some form of reassurance. The silver eyed girl swallowed her dread and stood straight.
"(Y/N) isn't dead."
"I agree." They all turned to see Johana in the door. "I know you're scared for the kid, you've got a right to be, but you have to look at this logically. Your friend here said his Aura broke after he got shot. That means the fall would've had to kill him, but there was no body where your friend landed. That means odds are he found a place to hole up."
Hearing it so bluntly stated somewhat reduced the tension, but there were still high emotions in the air, from Yang especially.
Johana sighed. "Look, we'll keep your eye out for your brother." She glanced at Ciel. "I'm sure your hacker friend here could guide a tracking team, but we need the rest of you to work. The largest Grimm hoard ever seen is out there on the tundra and we have a city full of people with no heat and from what you told us, no more military protection. And while we're happy to give you a place to lie low for a while, it's time to get those people some help."
"How?" Ren asked. "Ironwood is stopping all evacuations to Atlas and we can't get them out of the city with Salem's forces surrounding us."
"The crater beneath Atlas. It's not safe, but it's warm, and with everyone in one place, we can do a better job of protecting it. May can send you where your needed most, but we have to get everyone down into that crater before nightfall. In the slums, we might have a chance. I'll ask Fiona to keep an eye out for the kid. If he's half as smart as you say he is, he'll head there when he gets cold." She walked off, leaving them to decide.
"We're never going to sleep again, I just know it." Weiss lamented.
"Either you're helping, or you're baggage."
Everyone looked at each other as the older Huntress walked out. The girls all wanted to go find (Y/N), to get him out of the cold, but there were people who needed help out there, their help. Much to Yang's frustration, (Y/N) would have to fend for himself for a while.
"We need to get out there and do what we can for Mantle."
"We need to do what we can for everyone." Ruby corrected. "What about Amity? Telling the world about Salem? We can't do this alone. We need help."
"Ruby's right." Blake agreed. "The Happy Huntresses are handling the evacuation better than we could, and there's a bigger picture."
"But Amity isn't even finished." Yang pointed out. "It was still under construction."
Ruby turned to Pietro. "Doctor, what would you need to launch Amity now?"
He thought for a moment. "We made decent progress on construction and fuel collection, all potentially manageable, but Amity was designed so that it couldn't launch itself without first being granted clearance by General Ironwood's terminal."
"Ruby, there is no way Ironwood would cooperate with us." Her sister argued.
"But he doesn't have to. We just need to get the green light from his terminal, right?"
"You wanna go back to the Academy!?"
"Ugh, actually," Pietro interjected. "There is more than one terminal. The one in his office and one in the main Atlesean military compound at the base of the city. If you got into the compound and somehow get inside the operations room and then, oh boy, I'm gonna need to think about this some more."
"And just to clarify, this is the easy option?" Oscar asked.
"What you're saying is it can't be done." Yang stated. "It's pointless. And even if you got the message out, there's no guarantee help would come."
"It's not pointless!" Ruby snapped. "Atlas is only Salem's current target. She's not hiding anymore and once she's done here, she'll move on to the rest of Remnant. We need to warn them!"
"Ruby, when we came here, we said we'd follow your lead, but...things haven't exactly worked out."
Ruby blinked as everyone subtly looked away from the conflicting sisters. Sides were also being drawn.
Ren stepped up. "There are people here who need us right now. That's something we can actually do."
"But this isn't just about Atlas!" Nora argued. "Ruby's right, it's about all of Remnant. They need to know in Vacuo, in Mistral, and Vale, they need to know what's coming. So they can prepare."
Jaune stepped between the two opposing sides. "Okay, okay, then let's go for both. Get Amity up and running and evacuate Mantle."
"But that's exactly how Salem got this far, by dividing us." Ruby said. "We have to stick together!"
"No." Oscar shot down. "What Salem wants is to turn us against each other. Just like this. Jaune has a point. We can work separately and still be united. Besides, if we split up, we'll have better odds of finding (Y/N)."
"Or..." Penny finally spoke. "Let me take the Relic to Salem, and maybe she will call off the attack on the Kingdom."
Oscar shook his head. "I don't think we can trust Salem to actually do that. The moment she uses the staff to create anything else, Atlas falls onto Mantle."
"Nobody's turning you over to anybody." Yang assured. "I think that's one thing we can all agree on."
"Okay." Ruby agreed, looking at Nora. "Then I guess we're going to Atlas." She then turned to Pietro. "Can you help us get to that terminal?"
Pietro looked hesitant. "I...I suppose someone will need to help you bypass security."
"I'll go." Penny volunteered.
"Penny, we can't risk-,"
"I'll go." She stated firmly, her Maiden powers flaring.
"I'll go to the crater." Ciel volunteered. "Someone needs to help keep the communication lines open. It'll also let me scan for (Y/N) if he gets into the city."
Yang nodded. "Do what you gotta do. I'm going out there to see what I can do and look for our brother."
She marched to the door, only to be stopped by Pietro.
"Yang." He tossed her a set of keys. "Go by the pharmacy. I was developing some new tools for you all before this happened. You're going to need them."
Ren, following Yang, looked to his partner. "Nora?"
"I'm going with Ruby."
"What about Mantle?"
"Oh I'm saving Mantle, because I actually believe we can do this."
The unsettling tension only increased as the groups stepped outside and began to go their separate ways. Through it all, Ruby prayed that (Y/N) was safe, wherever he was.

(Y/N) slowly came to, his skull pounding. With a groan, he sat up, only to jolt as he heard the pipe beneath him groan loudly. He glanced over and saw the unforgiving abyss beneath him and remembered what had happened. He blew a stray piece of hair from his face.
"The girls are gonna kill for this one."
He weighed his options. He didn't exactly remember how far he had fallen, but he could likely fly up to the Vault chamber. The problem was there was a good chance some Atleseans would be waiting up there to arrest him and he wasn't really keen on getting into another with General Trigger Happy. Mantle was the safer bet by far and likely where his family was hiding. He could hear wind blowing through the chasm, so there was probably a way out. With little thought, he decided to take the leap, literally. Preserving his energy, (Y/N) let gravity do the work for him as he dive-bombed towards the bottom. As he approached, he saw a massive hole at the bottom, leading to the outside.
"Geez, what made that?" He thought as he rushed through it.
Just as he reached the surface, he unfurled his wings, catching himself and landing lightly on the surface. After stretching a bit, he gazed off into the distance. To his horror, he saw a cloud of darkness surround the city, and an army of Grimm at the ready. A massive floating whale was also at the front, seemingly waiting for something. He gulped. Salem had arrived and he was not exactly thrilled by the prospect of being by himself when the full force of the invasion hit. He had to find his family quickly. He took a deep breath and tilted his nose up. It was faint, but could barely pick up Oscar's scent. The farm boy had been here previously, and it couldn't have been too long ago if the scent hadn't been lost to the snow yet. Hopefully, some fast flying would have them reunited before nightfall, and maybe seeing him relatively uninjured would get him out of a stern lecture (it wouldn't, but a boy could dream). With not much to go on, he flew into the city, the streets noticeably barren. In a few of the shops, he could hear the message for the people of Mantle to evacuate to the crater. That was as good a place as any to start. At the very least, the Happy Huntresses were there and would likely be able to put him in contact with his sisters. He glided through the city, occasionally picking off the Grimm leftover from the previous night. It was fairly quiet, thank the brothers...almost too quiet. The deeper he went, the more (Y/N) could feel eyes trained on him. He couldn't hear anyone nearby, but he couldn't shake the feeling. He landed, glancing around.
"Hello?" He called. "Anyone out there?"
No response. Concerned, he drew his blade, only for his Scroll to start vibrating. Honestly, he was surprise it was still on him after the fall. Still keeping watch of his surroundings, he pulled it out and held the device to his ear.
"Hello?"
"(Y/N)!"
He sighed in relief. "Ciel, man am I glad to hear you."
"I should be the one saying that! Are you injured? Oscar said the General shot you down in the Vault Chamber."
"I'm fine. I managed to find a place to curl up in before I fainted. Is Oscar or anyone else with you."
"They're all out on missions right now. I went to the crater to help with communications and to keep a lookout for you. Listen, Yang, Ren, Jaune, and Oscar are in your vicinity. I can guide you to them."
"Apprecia-," He stopped as the wind picked up.He could make out two scents, a Grimm, a big one at that, and a faint human scent. "Ciel, give me a minute. I think someone's being cornered by a Grimm."
"(Y/N), I think you should focus on regrouping."
"Someone could be in trouble. Don't worry, it's only one Grimm, I can handle it."
Following the scent, he ran towards an alleyway. It was dark, but (Y/N)'s eyes made out the hunched over form of a Grimm. (Y/N) got into position, trying to draw the creature out in the open.
"Hey ugly, why don't you pick on someone who could hit back!"
The Grimm growled, but didn't charge. That was weird. Grimm were always eager to start swinging. It was just watching him, as if studying him. (Y/N) kept his distance. He knew better than to get into close quarters with a Grimm that bulky. So he kept trying to draw it out.
"What? Scared of little old me? I bet I'd be way more fun to fight than whoever you're messing with."
Ciel was still on the line, though the Scroll was tucked under his belt now. "(Y/N), what's going on?"
"This Grimm's being weird. It doesn't want to charge, and I don't want to get in close."
"I think you should retreat."
"I can't. I can smell someone back there."
The Grimm growled, finally stalking towards the boy methodically.
He huffed. "Oh, Mr Scary finally decides I'm worth the fight."
As it got closer, (Y/N) could make out its canine like features. Pointed ears, dog-like snout, it was very beast-like. The boy looked back, trying to find the person the Grimm had been attacking. Whoever they were, they were a very talented hider. Come to think of it, he hadn't even heard them scream. Not seeing movement or smelling blood, (Y/N) switched to soul sight, hoping for better results.
And oh brothers, he wished he hadn't.
Ironwood's soul had been cracked, the first instant (Y/N) had ever seen a soul damaged. But this made that look tame in comparison. This soul was in fragment, each shard vibrating in fear, pain, and confusion as darkness gripped it in tendril-like claws. But what was most frightening was not its state, but rather that the soul was in the Grimm. (Y/N) muscles tensed as every bit of his training seemed to evaporate. He began to shake, not comprehending what the hell he was looking at. And the Grimm sensed that.
"Ciel, this isn't a Grimm." He shakily said, starting to back up.
"What?"
The creature charged.
"It's not a Grimm!"
(Y/N) rolled out of the way as the beast began the assault. He just kept dodging as it kept trying to grab him. He flew up a light post to get a second to compose himself, but the thing only yanked from the ground. (Y/N) took off into the air, darting down the street.
"(Y/N), what's happening!?"
"Ciel, that thing! I don't know what it is! It had a-!" He was cut off as a Grimm snatched him from the sky.
On Ciel's end, the call cut off as (Y/N)'s Scroll lost signal.
"(Y/N)? (Y/N)!" She tried to get a read on his location, but the signal wouldn't come back. Thinking fast, she began to dial.
Yang's team was busy clearing out Grimm, opening up routes for Mantle citizens to evacuate through. They had just clear out the sector.
"Fiona, I think that's one more problem taken care of." Yang reported.
"Good, cause we're getting reports of more Grimm coming in from the West. The Huntsmen there could really use some backup."
Yang sighed. "Okay. We're on our way."
Suddenly, the line was scrambled as someone entered the call.
"Yang!"
"Ciel?" She asked surprised.
"Yang, listen. I found (Y/N)!"
"You did?" She said, now happy.
"He's near you, but he's in trouble. Before I lost his signal, he was facing an abnormal Grimm. He sounded freaked out."
Yang jumped on the bike. "Ciel, where was his last location?"
"Head south."
"We're on our way."
The team was all prepared to help when a group of Sabyrs ran to block their way.
"Get out of our way!" Yang yelled.
Jaune drew his sword. "Let's get through them quic-," He paused as the Sabyrs suddenly looked up, skidding to a halt before running off in whimpers.
Ren's eyes widened. "What just happened?"
"They ran." Jaune said. "I've never seen Grimm act that way before."
Just then, a small body crashed into the street, Aura flickering. Yang's eyes widened as she recognized (H/N) hair.
"(Y/N)!"
She jumped off the bike to run towards him, but the boy shot up, a wild look in his eyes.
"RUN! RUN!!"
Hearing the panic in his voice, the older kids all prepared for a Grimm to come charging. They were expecting it to leap from the building and knock Oscar from the hover bike. In moments, he was being tossed around like a rag doll. Before anyone could react, he was unconscious as  the dog loomed over him. (Y/N), the only one not dazed, fired two exploding shots that only seemed to annoy the creature. With a sickening sound, the creature began to twist into a bipedal form, grabbing Oscar in a long, bony hand.
"Oscar!" Yang screamed, charging in.
"Yang, don't!" (Y/N) tried to warn.
At the last moment, the creature held up Oscar, causing Yang to slow. It grabbed her in the confusion and threw her into the wall next to it. Ren opened fire to draw its attention. He hooked into it with Storm Flower to go for a kick, only to be swatted away. Jaune drew his sword, only for the creature to hold up Oscar once more.
"Wait!" Yang yelled. "It's using Oscar as a shield!"
"But Grimm aren't that smart."
"This one is." (Y/N) insisted. "When it was chasing me, it somehow knew to break my Scroll. Whatever this thing is, it's smart."
Ren, despite this, still grabbed and trained his weapon on the enemy. "Give him back!"
The sound of bones breaking filled the air as a rumbling filled the creature's throat. "No..."
Everyone froze, blinking in shock.
"Did it just...?" Jaune couldn't even finish the question.
The Grimm turned back to (Y/N), its gaze fixated on the boy. Yang stood up, realizing the creature was still after her brother.
"(Y/N), GET OUT OF HERE!"
Too scared to argue, the boy nearly stumbled as he took off into the sky, flying high above the building so it couldn't jump at him from the rooftops. Yang almost sighed in relief as (Y/N) began to disappear. The Grimm however was undeterred. Slowly it hunched over in pain as its bones began to splinter once more, and a pair of wings sprouted from its back. Picking up Oscar in its mouth, it blitz into the sky, trailing after (Y/N). The older kids could only watch in horror as Ciel's voice was still heard on the lines.
"Guys? What's going on?!"
"We have an emergency." Yang curtly said as they all rode after the monster.
"What kind of emergency?" Fiona said, still on the line.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

(Y/N) could hear wing beats following after him and he didn't need to look back to know what it was. Seriously, this thing was persistent. Still, part of him felt comfortable being in the air. He highly doubted something that bulky that had just sprouted wings could beat him in an aerial fight. Of course, right as he thought this, the beast drastically increased speed, choosing to sacrifice graceful flying. It stretched its arm out to snatch the boy, but (Y/N) rolled away from it, growling.
"All right, ugly, you're on my turf now!"
He dove at the creature, grazing its back as he passed. This thing could speed up as much as it wanted, wasn't gonna make it less of an easy target for a nimble flyer like him. He turned to breathe fire, but the creature held up Oscar in its maw. (Y/N) groaned in frustration.
"If you're smart enough to use him as a shield, you're smart enough to understand me: Put. Him. Down!"
In a cruel act of obedience, the creature obliged, opening its mouth and letting the teen plummet. (Y/N)'s eyes widened.
"OSCAR!!"
He dove for the boy. Just as he was about to reach him, the Grimm grabbed him while also catching Oscar. It slammed him repeatedly into the walls of the building and (Y/N) fought to get free. He eventually used his fire breath to heat the blades on his gauntlets and shoved it into the creature's face. It screeched in agony as the scent of burnt flesh filled the air. In the split second the creature's grip loosen, (Y/N) scrambled through a broken window as the creature tried to grab him again. The interior was dark, and full of endless cases of books. (Y/N) felt like he was running through a maze as he searched for a place to hide. The creature stalked around, hunting the boy. (Y/N) eventually crawled into a cupboard under one of the shelves and waited, trying to will his racing heart to calm down and his ragged breath to steady, forgetting his fear would be enough to alert his hunter. Still he waited, the seconds ticking by like eons. Eventually, the heavy footsteps faded out, and for a moment, he sighed in relief. In the next second, a dark hand shot through the wood and grabbed his throat, dragging him back out. The creature squeezed tightly, as if to straggling as (Y/N) flailed. In his panic, he shot fire again, nicking the monster and causing it to throw him across the room. The impact knocked one of the shelves over, and it crashed on top of him. As his body ached, (Y/N) felt pure terror fill him. Maybe Salem had finally decided he wasn't worth the trouble, maybe she thought it was time to finish the job. Suddenly, anger flared in (Y/N), a fury unmatched. As the Grimm neared to collect its target, (Y/N)'s hand shot out from the pile and crushed its wrist with a snarl.

Outside, the older kids scanned the sky for some sign of the creature or (Y/N), having lost them in the confusion. Just then, the Grimm, still holding Oscar in its mouth, was sent flying through the walls of a nearby building. (Y/N) was hot on its trail, jumping at it and sinking his claws into his face.
"(Y/N)!" Jaune called, only for Ren to pull him back.
The older boy saw the wild, feral look in the boy's eyes. "He's gone berserk again!"
Yang raced past them, trying to find an opening to help. The Grimm seeing this launched the feral dragon towards her, forcing her to swerve as (Y/N) took no heed and began to charge his fire breath.
"NO!" Jaune yelled, tackling the boy to prevent him from burning Oscar.
(Y/N) snarled, scratching at Jaune. The moment his back was turned, the creature snatched him once more, taking to air and crashing into everything it could. (Y/N) thrashed ferociously to get free, tearing into the creature's flesh. Just as it seemed the hand would snap off, the beast dove to the street and crushed (Y/N) with its full weight. Finally, the boy's Aura broke and he knocked unconscious, allowing the Grimm to fly off, now uninterrupted. The older kids gave chase, following the monster into the canyons in the tundra.
"It's gonna lose us in these mountains!" Jaune yelled. "We can't keep up!"
To add to the problem, the motorbikes began shuddering, beeping in protest as they began freezing over.
"I don't know how much longer these bikes can stand the cold!" Ren yelled.
"We can really use a flyer right now."
Yang glared at Jaune. "IT'S TAKING OUR FLYER!"
Reeling back, Jaune suddenly had an idea, expanding his shield. "Wait, hold on. Ren, I'm going to get you up there."
The boy nodded, leaping from his bike and onto the shield. With the aid of the gravity Dust, Ren was sent flying after the Grimm and managed to hook its back leg. The creature growled, and began aggressive maneuvering to shake the Huntsmen off it. Ren kept up, even as he was smacked around on the cliff side, wondering how the hell (Y/N) took this many hits back in the city. The remaining two Huntsmen closed in from behind.
"You're slowing him down." Jaune assured over coms. "Hold on, Ren!"
"I don't have much of a choice!" He sassed, hooking a boulder to further slow down the monster.
The creature responded by continuously bashing poor Ren into the dirt. Yang, getting more desperate, turned to drive up one of the ledges to level with the creature. She began laying into it with shots, hoping to knock the boys loose. If she could just hit its arm, it and the previous damage (Y/N) had done would knock it off. The creature seemed to know that too, speeding up as it gripped Oscar with its other hand, allowing it to shriek. Suddenly, a hoard of Sentinels burst from the ground, hissing angrily.
"Did it just call for backup!?" Yang yelled as Pterodactyls also joined in.
As she and Jaune carved through the Grimm, Ren caught sight of the two unconscious boys and began clawing his way up Storm Flower's cord. However, just as he was starting to close, he saw Yang and Jaune roll off a cliff. Without thinking, he let go of the Grimm and dove at them, wrapping the cord around Jaune's sword and using the other to grapple Jaune's leg as he grabbed Yang's hand. Just as a Pterodactyl dove at them, he used his Semblance, effectively allowing them to disappear. That didn't help much.
Yang could only watch as the monster raced toward the whale, her brother still unconscious in its claws.

You really thought I wasn't gonna have (Y/N) freak out at the Hound? Anyways, I was half tempted to stop at the cliffhanger from Refuge, but then I realized, wait why would I when String's has a similar cliffhanger which would make the story flow better? So you get a little extra. Next time, little (Y/N) comes face to face with the witch herself.
And he's on his own.