Breathe Chapter 80: Settlers Hill

“I gotta say, I was kind of expecting this place to be a little more run down. Not, well... This.” Looking around the town, Yang whistled. “Be honest, this was just an excuse to take us on a weeklong vacation, wasn’t it?”

Idly humming as I looked around the town, before sending a quick glance Yang’s way. “If I had, I’d probably have taken you all to the beach.”

Not... Well, this town. Although, given that the beach was one stop from here, that wasn’t exactly helping my case.

There wasn’t anything particularly wrong with it... Well, besides the obvious problem involving several bodies being found. Settlers Hill was a small town that sat on the eastern side of the mountains.

Acting more like a rest stop for sailors and other such people passing through, it hosted a number of motels and even a few bed and breakfasts. Being comparable to Patch, the town itself only had a few thousand people living in it at any given time.

One of the few things it could boast about was that it didn’t have many attacks. There were a few Grimm that roamed the forest, with the stronger ones making their home in the mountains, but none of them ventured down this far.

The problem, however, was that it looked nothing like the pictures I’d seen. If I hadn’t recognized a few of the buildings… Namely, the bell tower, I would have thought we’d made a wrong turn somewhere. Winter was double and triple checking her Scroll to ensure that we’d arrived at the correct place.

In place of the old weathered buildings, everything appeared new and modernized. There were entirely new streets that didn’t show up on any maps.

The wall surrounding the city had been torn down in some sections in order to make room for further construction.

A regular chain link fence acting as the only barrier in place of its regular walls with what looked like a freaking water park was already mostly constructed and set to open within the week… Much to Ruby’s excitement.

“If you want to see me in a bikini, all you have to do is ask.” Looking down at her chest, Yang smirked and leaned closer. “It’s just a pity that I didn’t pack one, I might have to get a new one while we’re here. The old one was starting to get a little tight. Wanna help me pick one?” She winked.

Blake shot Yang a dull look. “We still have a mission to complete. If you want to flirt, do it–“

“Excuse me.” A girl that looked to be a few years younger than Winter, dressed in a white chef outfit walked up to us with a small flat container in hand. Clicking it open, a misty cloud of chilled air poured out. “Could I interest you in trying a sample of our sushi?”

Staring down at the selection in want, Blake’s ears twitched erratically.

“I–“

Swinging an arm over Blake’s shoulders, Yang smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry, Blake. You were right. We really don’t have time to relax... Not even enough for one piece of sushi.”

“Sorry, I didn’t know you were that short on time,” The girl apologized, closing the container and Blake’s dreams.

“Hold on just a second,” Ruby said, involving herself. “As team leader, I say there is enough time for this… In fact, there’s enough time for a lot of things. We could check out some of the other cool stuff they have around here… Like that arcade over there.”

“I hardly think that’s fair,” Weiss interjected. “We should do something that we all like, not just what you want.”

Silently slipping away as the team began to argue about what they should do, I stopped next to Pyrrha who was watching the whole thing with an amused glint in her eye. Winter stood a short distance to the side quietly talking with someone on her Scroll.

“They’re quite lively,” Pyrrha hummed thoughtfully. “I wonder if I would have been on a team like that if I went to Beacon as a student.”

“Maybe,” I replied. “You could have ended up on their sister team alongside Nora, Ren and Jaune… Is that something that you would have wanted?”

Shaking her head, Pyrrha grabbed my hand. “Maybe once before, but I’m happy with how things ended up.” Locking our fingers together, she smiled softly. “After everything that I’ve seen and done, I can’t imagine being stuck sitting in class, watching as the seconds tick by when I could be out here instead… Making a difference.”

I couldn’t fault that. “After we’re done with this Grimm, why don’t we take some time to look around.”

It’s not like this was going to be an especially difficult mission. Compared to the missions we’d been doing for Ozpin, this was pretty basic. The average Huntsman team could handle this.

Squeezing my hand, Pyrrha bumped her shoulder against mine, smiling the whole while.

“Ms. Schnee, Ms. Nikos and Mr. Calavera,” a portly man called out as he made his way down the sidewalk. “My apologies. It was my belief that you would be arriving via Airship… Well, no matter. I can’t tell you what a relief it was when I heard the three of you would be attending to our little problem. Oh, where are my manners? I’m Mayor Root, the head of this town.”

“We ran into a few issues with our Airship and decided to take the train instead,” Winter answered.

“My apologies for the troubles. I’m mighty grateful that you still managed to find your way here, all things considered,” The mayor murmured. “As you can see the town has been going through a few changes, thanks to the railroad reopening and all of the Dust coming through these parts… Not to mention the Vytal Festival.”

In other words, he was using the Vytal Festival to draw more people to his town… It wasn’t that bad of an idea, Vale was already crowded as is and it was only going to get more packed once the Amity Colosseum arrived and the festival really started.

It wasn’t like we were that far from Vale either. Only a few short hours traveling by train… Even less by Airship.

“Unfortunately, we have run into a few problems, mainly the recently discovered bodies,” The mayor admitted. “Originally, we just thought that they’d skipped town with their pay, finding them like that put those thoughts to rest... Nasty business.” He shook his head sadly. “Especially those teens.”

“About that,” Winter interjected. “The report mentions the state of the bodies, but not their last known location.”

Nodding slowly, the mayor let out a sigh. “My apologies. Stuff like this rarely happens around these parts. I can tell you that a few of the workers were last seen at the bar and mentioned needing to shut off a valve. As for the kids… I hear that they were meeting up in secret outside the walls.”

It wasn’t much to go on, but it was definitely a start.

“In the meantime, I would be happy to show you around and even help you settle in.” The mayor continued. “I’ll have a room made available for the three of you for the duration of your stay.”

Glancing back at team RWBY, I found them eating some sushi rolls, much to Blake’s enjoyment and Ruby’s apparent regret. “We might need a little more room… Say, for seven.” Zwei barked. “Eight if you count dogs.”

Looking at the team, the mayor hummed softly. “I see… Far be it from me to refuse help in such trying times. Eight it is.”

…Breathe…

By the time we made it to the hotel, the outside lights had just come on, lighting up the streets in an effort to stave off the dark, while a few of the larger ones positioned by the walls lit up large chunks of the forest.

Despite his portly appearance, the mayor had a surprising amount of stamina, having showed us around the town on foot for several hours, before promising to help out however he could.

Sitting on the couch in the center of the suite, I pulled up my Inventory, looking through the supplies I’d brought with me. From various types of Dust crystals all the way to a rubber chicken for some reason…

Making sure that no one was watching, I quickly removed it from my Inventory, before discreetly dropping it down the side of the couch… Not that I needed to be especially stealthy, seeing as everyone was focused on doing their own thing.

Both Pyrrha and Blake were absent… One wanted to get a quick look at the rooms, while the other had stomach problems from all the sushi they’d eaten.

Weiss was hanging around Winter who was busy looking over the new layout for the town and Yang had stolen Ruby’s deodorant from her bag … Having forgotten to pack hers before we left.

As for said team leader.

“This place is awesome!” Bouncing on the balls of her feet, Ruby zipped across the suite, stopping by each room before falling into the large couch beside me. “Even the couch is great. Do you think we could stay here for a few extra days... You know, after we kill the Grimm.”

Noticing how she widened her eyes in an attempt to look cuter, I glanced towards Yang who was watching us with a wide grin on her face.

“I was going to bring it up a little later, but I suppose now’s an alright time,” I hummed. “Yeah, we probably could stay–“

“Yes,” Ruby cheered excitedly. “What should we do first then? There were a bunch of fun places we could go and then there’s also the water park. Do you think they would open it early if we asked?”

Leaning in a little too close, Ruby was suddenly pulled back by Weiss who proceeded to sit next to her.

“We do still have a Grimm to slay, you dolt. This is no time to be relaxing.”

“Relax, Weisscream. She wasn’t saying we have to do it now.” Hopping over the back of the couch, Yang landed beside me and proceeded to swing her legs over my lap despite there being a coffee table in front of us. “Besides, it’s already nighttime… It’s not like we’re going to be hunting this Grimm in the dark.”

About that…

Staring at me with a curious look on her face, Yang blinked. “Wait, we’re not actually going to be fighting this thing in the dark, are we?”

“Whatever it is that’s behind these attacks, it's only come out at night,” I explained. “And even then, it’s only killed a few people.”

In most instances, the deaths seemed to be a simple case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but there was one issue… That being a few people whose bodies hadn’t been found yet.  Those who had disappeared during the day.

In those cases, it seemed almost selective of who it wanted to kill.

“So how do we find it then?” Ruby asked softly. “I mean… This place is pretty big and there are only seven of us…”

“That would be true if we had to search the entire town,” Winter interjected. Placing her Scroll on the coffee table, a small projection appeared, showing a map of the town with three spots circled. “Fortunately, we don’t have to cover the whole town, only those places where the victims were last seen.”

“Alright, so three places.” Yang nodded. “Seems doable. Are we going to be visiting each one or…”

Winter shook her head. “The optimal way would be to form three separate teams. Each of you will be shadowing one of us while we search for the Grimm.”

Looking at Winter and myself, before turning to see Pyrrha slowly approaching, Ruby practically hummed with energy. “This is gonna be awesome.”

…Breathe…

Sneezing, Ruby rubbed her nose with an annoyed groan. “I take it back, this kind of sucks.” Pinching her nose as another sneeze came on, she waited a few moments, before releasing it. “Why’s it so– Atchoo… Ugh.” Groaning, she covered her mouth and nose with her cape. “Is it too late to change teams?”

“A little… Sorry,” I apologized.

If I’d known she would have such bad allergies down here, I would have suggested that she go with Winter and explore the forest outside the walls alongside Blake and Weiss or Pyrrha who was guarding the bell tower with Yang, not down here in the service tunnels where the air was thick and musty making it a little difficult to breathe.

On the upside, there was an extremely faint smell of Grimm in the tunnels that, while difficult for me to track in these conditions, was a walk in the park for Zwei who was leading from the front.

“It’s okay… Actually, I’m feeling a little better now,” Ruby said through her cape. “So, uh… I was totally listening back at the hotel, but… What are we supposed to do when we find this thing?”

“You… Forgot, didn’t you?”

Ruby smiled sheepishly. “I can neither confirm nor deny those allegations… But, yeah. Kinda. I know that there’s supposed to be three places this Grimm could be. The thing I’m not sure about is what everyone else does if we find it.”

Right.

“The same thing we would do if they find it first,” I answered. “Keep it from escaping.”

Stopping a little ahead of us, Zwei looked around curiously as he sniffed the air. Pawing at his nose, he let out a soft whine and sat down.

“What’s the matter, boy?” Ruby asked, crouching down to pat him. “Lost the scent?”

Judging by the smell of things, it was the exact opposite. The scent of Grimm was at its strongest here… Almost overpoweringly so. We’d hit the end of the road.

Looking around, I found myself staring at the numerous pipes that lined the walls of the tunnel and how some of them dipped down in front of a portion of the brick wall… Almost as if there’d been a hallway there before.

Moving towards it, I tapped my finger against the wall, hearing a hollow echo on the other side. Digging my fingers into the cement, I pulled one of the bricks out and was immediately met with a smell of decay… Far too strong for the few that’d gone missing.

Pulling a few more bricks out the way, I found myself staring at an inky void in the wall with a metal pathway that continued on into the darkness.

Zwei, having smelt what was going on, stood in front of Ruby protectively.

“We have to go in there, don’t we?”

Nodding, I pulled a pair of flashlights from my inventory, handing her one. This was starting to feel like a bad idea. I was tempted to ask Ruby to stay here… Or maybe head back, but I didn’t want to leave her on her own.

“Get ready to use your eyes,” I murmured.

“Got it.”

Clicking my flashlight on, I stepped into the darkness, keeping an eye on my surroundings.

The tunnel seemed almost exactly like the one we’d been standing in only a few moments ago, only the pipes were more degraded and the lights that hung above had been broken with some of them ripped out of the ceiling.

Walking further down the tunnel with Ruby following closely behind, it slowly expanded, before finally opening up into a large cavern that definitely shouldn’t have been there.

Noticing something shimmering in the dark, I turned my torch towards the walls, finding a black flesh like substance that quivered and shrunk back under the light, revealing a few dozen small fleshy sacks that began opening.

“Any idea on what the heck we’re looking at?” Ruby asked, shining her light across the walls, before pointing it straight ahead, revealing some kind of wrapped figure hanging over the walkway. “What’s–“

Screeching, the wrapped figure burst open as a vaguely humanoid creature rushed towards us, causing Ruby to nearly drop her torch from its sudden appearance.

Partially unsheathing my sword, I blocked its clawed grab, only for the Grimm to lean in close, hungrily snapping its teeth at me. It was fast, but it wasn’t particularly strong.

Taking a breath, I pressed forward, cutting into the Grimm’s palms, causing it to rear back with a loud shriek as its flesh began to crumble… One that was returned several dozen times over from the ground.

Glancing towards the ground as the Grimm continued to try and bite me, I found hundreds of rat-sized, multi legged winged Grimm with large teeth climbing out of the fleshy sacks on the ground. Flying upward, the cavern was soon filled with the sound of skittering wings.

“Ruby… Now would be a really good time to use your eyes.”

“Give me a second,” Ruby said, scrunching her eyes closed in concentration. “I’m working on it.”

Looking towards Ruby for a moment, the Grimm quickly retreated further down the walkway, a set of veiny wings tore free from its back, before it simply stepped off the platform. Falling into the rapidly rising horde below, it suddenly shot up, flying towards the ceiling.

“Got it.”

Opening her eyes, a blinding flash of silver light flooded the cavern, petrifying the blackened flesh below, along with a large chunk of the skittering Grimm that were flying about.

Blinking as the light died down, Ruby looked towards a small opening in the ceiling. “They got away.”

“Only a few,” I replied. “Don’t worry, Pyrrha and Winter will be able to handle things on their side. We–“

Fully unsheathing my sword, I lashed out towards a figure standing behind Ruby, only to pause when I found myself staring at the Shadow once more.

“Gah, what?” Diving forward, Ruby turned around with Crescent Rose in hand, only to blink when she saw nothing. “What’cha pointing at there… Wait, is it–“

“Yeah.” I nodded, sheathing my sword. “But why is it here, now?”

Pointing upward towards something above ground, it moved its arm, tracking something that rapidly moved across the land… Far faster than the Grimm we’d just fought.

That was a problem. I needed to let the others know about this.

Glancing down at my Scroll, I muttered a short, “crap,” under my breath when I saw that I didn’t have any signal.

…Breathe…

Standing with her arms crossed as a cool breeze blew across the forest, Blake could honestly say that she never thought she’d end up helping two Schnee’s search for a Grimm, but here she was... Watching as Winter had one of her summons dig up what looked to be an intricate network of mole hills.

And here she was, using her inherent trait as a Faunus in order to help those who had once been the bane of her existence.

“Do you see anything?”

“Nothing yet.” Blake sighed, glancing back at the Specialist while her friend helped position the lights. It was strange. Just a year ago, she would have thought of Winter as some kind of terrible enemy, but now she was more akin to that of a mentor. “Do you mind if I ask you something?”

Winter inclined her head. “You may.”

Taking a short breath, Blake looked off into the forest. “You know that I’m a former member of the White Fang… Doesn’t that bother you?”

Humming softly, Winter shot a quick glance her way, before turning back towards her summons. “I did at first, but I quickly got over it. Although it may not seem like it, you, Weiss and I are quite alike, Blake.”

Okay, she couldn’t say she expected that. If anything, she thought it’d be similar to the reason why she didn’t wear her bow anymore... How insignificant it all was when someone like Salem was out there.

“I’m not sure I see the similarities… Especially since I’m a Faunus and you’re a Schnee.”

“Yes, that is quite dissimilar,” Winter chuckled. “But the circumstances are still the same. You were born into the White Fang while Weiss and I were born into the Schnee Dust Company. All of us fought for what we believed and when we saw what those beliefs truly held, we left.”

When she put it like that, it did seem like they had a lot in common, but that’s where the similarities ended. As a Faunus, Blake had to deal with discrimination, but all they had to deal with was… Assassination attempts by the White Fang for being born into the wrong family.

Oh.

Palming her face, Blake sighed. “I never thought about it like that.” Their lives almost seemed to mirror each other. It was eerie how similar they were. “It’s almost embarrassing.”

“There’s nothing that can be done about it now,” Winter shrugged. “We’ve all chosen our current paths and for better or for worse, we must walk them. All we can do is hope that the destination is worth it.”

That did make her feel somewhat better.

Hearing a skittering noise, Blake turned towards the trench Winter’s summoned Grimm were digging just in time to see a bunch of insect-like Grimm crawl out. “They’re here.”

…Breathe…

Sitting with her legs dangling over the edge of the bell tower, Yang let out a bored sigh as Pyrrha searched for any sign of Grimm with her rifle in hand… Despite the fact that it didn’t have a scope.

“Everything seems to be clear… I’ll check again in a few minutes just to be safe,” Pyrrha hummed, lowering her rifle. “Is everything alright, Yang?”

“Hmmm?” Yang hummed, looking up at her. “Yeah, just a little bored. I thought there’d be a little more action, but I guess I was wrong.”

Sitting down beside her, Pyrrha smiled. “It’s only the first night. I’m sure there’ll be far more action in the next few days… And if there isn’t, I’m always up for a spar.”

Fighting a Grimm was one thing, but sparring with Pyrrha…

“Alright, I’ll hold you to it.” Tapping a finger to her chin, she smirked. “How about we make this interesting… If I win, then I get to–“

Pausing when she heard a thud come from down stairs. Yang shared a look with Pyrrha, before they both made their way over to the staircase.

Looking over the ledge Yang found herself staring at a hatch on the bottom floor that’s been opened… Only for a horrifying Grimm that looked like some unholy combination of a bat and a human to come crawling out.

“Oh, hell yeah.”

Cocking her gauntlets, Yang hopped over the railing, plummeting towards the Grimm at high speed. Bringing her leg down in a kick, the Grimm shifted out of the way just as she passed by.

Smirking as she shattered the concrete, Yang looked up as the Grimm came screaming towards her with its mouth open, ready to take a bite.

Bringing her arms up to defend herself, the Grimms head was suddenly knocked to the side as a red and golden spear made contact with its face. Turning its gaze upwards, it let out a screech as Pyrrha slowly descended the stairs.

“Sorry for the intrusion,” Pyrrha apologized playfully while using her Semblance to retrieve her spear. “You looked like you could use some help.”

“Just give me a second to catch up,” Yang muttered. “This thing’s a lot faster than it looks.”

Building up speed in her legs, Yang launched herself towards the Grimm, only managing to land a glancing blow as it moved out of the way.

Bounding up the side of the staircase, the Grimm let out a pained shriek as Pyrrha clipped one of its wings.

Chasing after it, Yang managed to score several more hits on the Grimm before they made their way to the top of the tower. Down a wing and nowhere to go, the Grimm clung to the main bell, hissing and snapping at them.

Seeing this, Yang cocked her arm back. “Looks like your bell’s just about ready to toll.” Firing her gauntlet at the Grimm with a smirk on her face, she blinked when her round hit the bell instead.

Hearing a scream come from the rafters, there was a sudden snap as the Grimm’s lower half hit the ground in front of them, parts of it already disintegrating.

Standing at her side with her shield raised, Pyrrha looked far more serious than usual. A bead of sweat dripped down her forehead as she stared up at the rafters.

Watching as an oozing Grimm body slowly lowered itself from the ceiling, Yang felt her blood freeze.

“…Mom.”