Blake was beside herself…
After she and Sun had chased down their secret stalker across Menagerie, they had discovered that not only was he right but that it was the first time that Blake had met Ilia ever since she left the White Fang. They had been able to take the chameleon Faunus's Scroll but at a cost to Sun getting severely injured in the process, it was enough for her to address her recent attitude change and shock her into coming to terms with things.
Blake was sitting in a chair near Sun while he woke up to the sunshine and she had every intention of coming clean. "This, Sun…" She said with a low tone of voice as she had her ears lowered from the stress and the bottled up frustrations. "THIS…Is why I chose to run."
Sun was nursing a bandaged wound over his chest where Ilia's lightning Dust infused whip-saber had jabbed him while he tried to sit up. "Blake…Why couldn't you jus-"
"Don't…Don't say it…" Blake snapped as she got up out of her chair and stared at him with an almost broken expression on her face. "You think that I like running away? Having to shut out everyone I care about?!" She asked him with an increasing volume as her feelings came out. "I thought that I was able to get close to everyone…Ruby, Weiss…Yang and Jae…" She admitted as her voice quavered on the last two names she listed and then clenched her fingers into fists. "I love them more than I ever thought I could love anyone else! And I left them…I hope they hate me for it…"
"You're being ridiculous…" Sun said as he could see how much it tore her up to say this, though he also knew for a fact that she was doing what she did when she was outed as a Faunus. "You know that they wouldn't…Not now or ever…You don't really mean this."
"Yes I do!" Blake snapped as she glared at him; "You saw what happened at the school…You know what's waiting for the people who try to stand beside me! You've met Ilia and she wasn't even the worst of them…But that ends here, I'm not running anymore and I'm not going to let anyone else get hurt on my behal-"
Sun then smacked her on the arm like she did to him on the boat, however his was lighter yet shared the same level of seriousness. "No." He simply said and got to his feet. "You think that this is you being selfless? It's not…You're pushing everyone away because it hurts, I get that and if I could…I'd keep you away from the White Fang because you've suffered enough already!"
"Sun! That's not the point…Yang, you and the others helped me more than I can ever hope to pay back! Taking this on my own is the least that I can do for them!"
"That's all this is? Just about paying them back?!" Sun yelled as he was dumbfounded by Blake's stubbornness in this and he wasn't going to let this get ignored. "Yang and Jae jumped into your mind to help free you from a dream Grimm, remember? They didn't do that because they wanted something from you in return, they did it because you're someone they care about and wanted to help you! If you asked them, they would both do it again if they could…Just like I'm willing to do this all over again to help you!" He snapped as he gestured to the bandage.
Blake's rant stopped in it's tracks when Sun got fired up, though the fact that he was right started to change her thoughts in a more open direction. "I…I just don't want to see anyone else get hurt…I want to protect the people I care about…"
"Then let us help…" Sun said with a more quiet tone as he sat back down; "Sure, we might get hurt but we're making the choice to do so on our own…BECAUSE we care." He continued before looking to Blake with a face that could only be described as hurt and stern. "So stop pushing us away and stop shutting us out…I don't need to tell you how much it hurts…"
Blake nodded as she sat down next to him. "I'm sorry…I'm just…So sick of being the one to watch everyone get hurt…Because of me."
Sun nodded and lightly pat her back before pulling her into a gentle hug; "You watched Yang break a Demon's nose and Jae lifted an entire shipping container on his own…Your friends are a lot stronger than you think…And they deserve to have someone as awesome as you." He mentioned and then returned to that bright smile he usually wore. "Plus, if it does come to meeting Lizard Girl again…I'll be doing it for me." He said and gestured to himself before wincing in pain as the lifted arm pulled on his injured muscles.
Blake could only smile as she felt that weight lift a little, it wasn't enough to wash away everything but it was certainly the wakeup that she needed. "My hero." She said as she decided to let herself open up…Then something happened that caused a shiver to go up both of their spines; Whether it was the sudden draft from her mom collapsing on the sliding door while listening in or because it was the fact that her already apprehensive father was watching Sun…
All Blake knew was that something in the air felt wrong.
Kuroyuri
Jae and Ruby carried Qrow through the dilapidated village; Buildings were collapsed or in decades old disrepair, water turned stagnant and any semblance of life there had withered away. If Ren's snappiness was anything to go by, Ruby could see a number of reasons why and even more when she saw how on edge that Jae was being. "So…Ren really didn't want to come here…"
Jae nodded as he looked around; He knew about Ren's past when the two opened up to each other but seeing all of this in person gave him some uncomfortable feelings. "Yeah…Though I can understand why…"
"You know?" Ruby asked him as she turned her head back to glance at him. Once they were close to the centre of town, they set Qrow down and decided to regroup while they had the chance. "Can you tell me? I just want to understand…"
"It's not my story to tell…" Jae admitted as he looked around cautiously, the entire town set off every one of his nerves and after what happened to Tyrian, he wasn't willing to take chances. "But you shouldn't feel bad, it's not exactly an easy thing to explain."
Ruby nodded glumly; The nugget of guilt that settled in her had her thinking a lot and most of it was starting to circle, pointing out her choices and dwelling on all the negativity, the only thing that stopped her from making it worse was seeing Jae grab his shotgun when a Beowolf howled. "It's far off…"
"Right…Right…" Jae said before reholstering and grabbing a small bundle from his bag and unwrapped it; It was the severed part of Tyrian's tail that he had taken with him after their fight. With the silence returning, he decided to try again at something that he wanted to focus on as a means to avoid the pains in his chest.
"I've been meaning to ask…Why do you carry that thing around? We could just leave it with Ren to have someone look at it if they run into someone." Ruby asked as she walked over to examine it too. At first she was disgusted that Jae was taking Tyrian's tailpiece with him along with Nora but Ren had made a decent point that by having someone look at it and the poison sac, they could make it easier for a doctor to make up an antidote.
"Simple…Because we're carrying Qrow with us, we have the offender with us if it comes to the chance that we can meet someone who can help." Jae explained but then raised an eyebrow as he noticed something odd as he lightly rapped his knuckles on the tip of the tail, the whole thing felt stiff and surprisingly hard for what was supposed to be a severed piece of a limp tail. "Odd…" He thought to himself but then something happened that caused Jae's fingers to grow weak and dropped the tail to the ground, he felt his body starting to ache and burn again, this time however it felt worse as he could feel stronger effects from the poison in his body.
Ruby felt her body grow cold as she watched Jae hunch over and began coughing violently into his hands, his fingers started to tinge with small droplets of red and purple while Ruby's vision blurred out of worry and rushed over to him. "JAE!" She yelled as she caught Jae by his chest and struggled to stop him from collapsing to the ground, her blood ran cold when she felt her hand grow wet with the purple ooze and heard Jae's groan of pain. "You've been poisoned too…How long have you been like this?!"
Jae kept on his feet but gently nudged her away. "It's fine…I've been handling this no problem…" He slurred as he shook his head, staving off the effects that numbed his mind and regaining his focus. "I've taken worse hits than this."
"It is a problem! You got hit by Tyrian's poison and you didn't tell us about it!" Ruby argued back at she felt her worry start to grow, it was one thing for her to have suspicions about what Jae's been doing every night but now that he was following behind Qrow, she wasn't going to keep it down. "Why didn't you tell us?"
Jae grimaced as the throbbing in his shoulder ached but decided to at least make things more calm. "Because everyone's on edge as it is…Especially with you worrying about your uncle, if you guys knew about what happened to me…We'd attract Grimm by the dozens and with things as they are, we do not want that." He said to her as he began to calm himself down.
Ruby couldn't help but feel her guilt spiral more and more as she realised just what Jae had been hiding from her and the others. "I'm sorry…" She mumbled as she collapsed to her knees. "For dragging you all into this…"
"Ruby…You've got nothing to be sorry for." Jae said as he walked over to her and knelt in front of her. "You didn't make us do anything, we chose to go with you."
"But you didn't know anything!" Ruby yelled sadly as she finally decided to be honest; "You didn't know about Tyrian, the Relics or about….And I hate having to watch you guys get hurt because of it." She ranted as she clenched her fingers into fists. "And I hate it even more that you get the blame for everything!"
"Ruby…"
"Jae! Everyone thinks that I'm just a dumb kid, that Nora and Ren are some weird manipulated puppets and that you're the Demon of Beacon who's some evil mastermind!" Ruby continued as she didn't want to back down. "And I've had to sit there and watch you go out at night…Fighting Grimm and training yourself so relentlessly that I think you're trying to kill yourself!"
"I…It's too much to explain right now, Ruby." Jae said as he felt that guilt settle when he realised he was caught. "But I'm not trying to off myself."
"You go off on those bounty missions alone, that part I get because otherwise we'd just get pushed out if they know who you are…You make yourself watch Pyrrha on repeat even when it hurts you AND you barely sleep…" Ruby felt everything pour out as she then grabbed onto his arms to steady herself, her voice quavering with the threat of tears spilling and then without even thinking about it: She pulled Jae into a hug and squeezed him gently as her fingers gripping onto his top. "I care about you too much to watch you kill yourself like this…"
"Ruby…" Jae mumbled as he rested a hand on her head, if she was going to be honest with him then he would do the same. "We lost Pyrrha…You guys did too." He said but then the heartache returned as the guilt piled higher. "And Penny…And your sister too…I couldn't stop any of it from happening…You heard it from me and Qrow: I was meant to step up and be this strong guy that could help to protect the people I care about…" He rattled as he gripped onto her hood gently, his own voice growing hoarse and emotional as he let it out. "But despite all of that…I'm still here just like you, not because I feel like I can get stronger but because we can both make a difference."
Ruby let a soft sob shake her before she looked up at Jae; "You…You really think that?"
"Despite everything…And despite what is ahead, you chose to keep going because you want to make sure no one else has to suffer." Jae said as he smiled a little at her. "So no…You didn't drag us along…You gave us the courage to follow along with you."
Ruby wasn't sure why those words meant so much but all she knew was this: Jae was with her 100% of the way and that was enough for her to calm down. "Jae…There's something that I wanted to tell you…I'm sorry about before." She said to him as she pulled away from the hug, trying to ignore the dull throb of emotion that she felt now that the embrace ended.
"About…What exactly?" Jae asked as now Ruby had calmed down a little and was finally not as worked up, taking the chance to sit down and take the weight off of him. "You didn't really say anything to apologise for."
"Not recently…I meant back at Beacon…When I said to you that I thought you were getting tired of me." Ruby elaborated as she was messing with one of the corners of her hood anxiously. "Back when you and Yang were dating…"
"Oh…That." Jae said as he remembered; That moment came back to him in waves, Penny's desire to stay at Beacon, the very surprising shock of her kissing his cheek and Ruby's rather upset questioning about thinking he wasn't interested in being around her. "Look, Ruby…I didn't mean to sound like I was shrugging you off back then, I had been thinking about a lot at the time but I promise you that I'd never get sick or tired of you."
"I know…But you started dating Yang and Pyrrha, Weiss was getting closer to you and Blake was your study partner...I just felt like…Like I was intruding…" Ruby said as she continued to admit to him about her feelings.
"You were one of my first friends at Beacon…That's not something I'd throw away, not then or ever." Jae said as he smiled at Ruby, feeling a little more at ease now with knowing that the sniper was opening up.
"You…You really mean that?" Ruby asked as she felt her cheeks flush pink; Whether it was from the praise of because of something else, she didn't know but another question then seeded itself in her mind. "Jae…I-"
However before that question could've been asked or considered: A monstrous howl erupted from the treeline that sent a chill down Ruby's spine, Jae's Fenrir spear formed in his hand out of reflex and a sudden crack formed on his cheek from under his eye down to his upper lip. "Something's coming…"
The only thing that stopped the two from going fully defensive was seeing a very panicked looking Ren sprinting towards them and Nora being not too far behind him. "Guys!"
"What happened up there?!" Ruby asked as she turned to face the two after they had supposedly headed up into the mountains.
"We made it on the path but there was a cave that we found…" Nora started as she recalled everything. "First there was a hoard of weapons in there and a banner for Shion Village, back where we found the Huntsman."
Jae raised an eyebrow as the questions built up; Shion was weeks away from this village and there was no trace of anything else around whether it was Grimm, animal or village…And then he heard the rhythm…
Heavy hooves knocked against the worn stone of the village and signalled the presence of something very large, very dangerous…And when Lie Ren collapsed to the ground in a heap of recollection, despair and horror. It was something that was better off forgotten.
What came towards them from the trees was a Grimm that looked like it had come straight out of someone's nightmare; In the distance, it looked a skinny man on a horse but when it made eye contact with them…They could see it for what it truly was when it got closer…
A horse-like creature with an equine main body and a skinless humanoid creature that was fused with it, its long and emaciated arms hung low to the ground and dragged against the dirt with a sickening twitch. Its forelegs were shaped like claws and hooved hind legs that left its characteristic hoofprint. On the human half's back were several boney spikes protruding from its spine and a variety of weapons from previous battles stuck in it like a morbid display case of it's victims.
"It's…It's here…" Ren mumbled with a soft, almost whispering whimper as he felt like he was a child again…Staring up at this creature that took away his home, his childhood and his family.
"The Nuckalavee…" Jae knew exactly what it was without it even saying a word, the Grimm that kept all of it's own kind living in the forest cowering and shaking under it's footsteps while trying to fight for dominion.
"Ren…Ren, get up…" Nora said in a hushed whisper as she felt her entire body freeze and her mind regressed back to when she first saw the monster that ruined both of their lives. She couldn't think, she could barely even muster up enough nerve to pull Magnhild from it's holster.
Jae felt his body stiffen and his face cracked more under the ever growing Nuckalavee's presence, he was already hanging by a thread as it was but he couldn't let the already struggling negativity get worse. "I'll give you one warning: Leave this place or die…" He warned as he pulled Revenant out of his holster and aimed the shotgun at it's chest.
Silence permeated the air as the horse pawed at the ground irritably.
"Ren…Can you fight?" Jae asked as Ruby tried to bring Nora back to her senses, his own feelings of aggression and the throbbing of his body making it hard for him to stay calm.
"That's the one, Jae…That thing is responsible…" Ren spat out as he got to his feet and drew his pistol and then placed his hand on the ground, shooting his Semblance towards Qrow, masking him and his Semblance from being tracked. "Ruby, you and Jae get him to safety!"
Knowing that despite all of his problems with Qrow from before, getting him away from all of this was probably the best decision that he could make with his mindset at this time. Without so much as a second guess, he hoisted Qrow onto his back and then looked to Ruby, "I'll get your uncle hidden, keep sniper fire on him and move quickly…If all of us attack then it won't know who to target first." Jae ordered as he watched the Nuckalavee start swiping and thrashing at where Nora and Ren were running back and forth to keep the Grimm on it's toes.
"Just stay here, we'll come back when we've taken it down." Jae said to Qrow as he sat him against a wall but then stopped when the poisoned man grabbed his wrists.
"Listen kid…I know you didn't ask for this…But you've got Rebellion grafted into you now." Qrow mumbled as he stared up at Jae. "If you didn't die when it got put into you, then I can believe that you've got something special under the hood."
Jae raised his eyebrow as he kept a hold on his shotgun. "You really believe that?" He asked as he looked to Qrow and then to the purple splotch on his chest; "Because ever since Beacon, I've not had the best luck."
Qrow laughed dryly but then coughed and clasped his hand to his chest in pain. "Well, right now; You can either believe me and use that to help us get out of this alive…Or don't and we lose any advantage."
Jae felt his cheek crack a little more and a full line ran up his eye, past his eyebrow and vanished into his hair; "If we get out of this…You're telling me everything…About that sword, about Salem and more importantly…everything that Professor Ozpin couldn't tell us while he was alive." He affirmed as he headed back into the fight where Ren, Nora and Ruby were trying to push the Nuckalavee back into a corner with a rain of bullets and grenades.
"Jae! You get Qrow to safety?!" Nora asked as she ducked under another whip-like swing of the Grimm's arm. "You got any plans? Because right now we're stuck…"
Jae watched the Nuckalavee at work and tried to think of something as he summoned up Mezzalom in his hands and twirled the knives. "Try to keep moving! Avoid sitting still and move in a circle so you don't get smacked." He yelled to the two as he started using Mezzalom to traverse to the rooftops and navigate in a faster move. "Ruby! Stick to distance and snipe at it where you can!"
"Got it!" Ruby agreed as she dissipated by using her Semblance and began to pepper sniper shots at the Nuckalavee's human body. "Ren and Nora are targeting the horse so make sure you're careful!"
"I'll be fine, I haven't let you guys down yet, have I?" Jae said rhetorically as he hopped down and threw both knives to sink into the Nuckalavee's hind quarters and slingshot himself towards the Grimm like a rocket.
The Grimm screeched out as it felt the sudden double kick by Jae and responded by swiping it's claws at him, narrowly missing him for a dead on hit but managing to crack at his face more by the claw, it noticed that there was something else hiding among the group of it's attackers and it realised that with the more time passed, the more that it could spread. "DIE!"
With that horrific screech that it had repeated endlessly since the start of the fight, the Nuckalavee's spines on it's back grew like weeds, it's stitched together mouth ripped itself open to echo a monstrous sound that forced Team RNJR to it's knees and Jae with an added feeling of new agony through his body…His body that was slowly contorting itself back to how it was when Tyrian pushed him before.
Ren rushed at the Nuckalavee with a more focused glare in his eyes as he shot several burst rounds into the Grimm's eyes to blind it, closing the gap with each step and then spinning himself like a corkscrew to land several quick slices against it's body, only for it to be deep enough to be superficial in his attempts. "No…I won't let it happen again!" He yelled as he rushed back towards the Nuckalavee with renewed anger at being forced to relive his trauma.
The Nuckalavee screeched again at him as it swung both arms at Ren, one missing him completely, though it was only a split second for the second arm to slam itself into his chest and pinned Ren into a solid wall.
Ren groaned out in pain as the sudden weight pressed into him and slowly pushed the air out of his lungs, his blades swiping and digging into the limb and only went faster as he saw the other arm speeding towards his head.
A shot rang out as a pink blur intercepted between that fist and was then smashed into the building next to Ren; Nora made a quick decision to ride one of Ruby's sniper shots for momentum so Ren wouldn't get crushed, as a result…She was now hanging by her hammer which was currently grasped in the Nuckalavee's hand, before it started slamming her around like a child swinging a ragdoll.
Ren watched with a heart gripped by a vice as he saw that pink Aura shield surrounding Nora shatter; With a roar of anger that ripped through his throat, he pulled himself free of the Nuckalavee's grip and sprinted directly for it's main body, only diverting himself to duck under the gunfire coming their way.
Jae was watching and noticed something was off when he saw Ren abandoning his usual calm approach and attacking the Nuckalavee with the force of a man possessed…Though it quickly became clear that something was really wrong when he outright ignored any glancing attacks and dangerous position just to get close. "REN! Knock it off and-GH!" He yelled out to Ren to get him thinking right but then another wave of pain rang through his head, this time it was strong enough to bring him to his knees and drop Revenant.
"JAE!" Ruby yelled and poised Crescent Rose to give him cover fire but because the Nuckalavee brought it's arm up to swipe at her, she had to keep moving and avoid whatever came.
However in his blind anger, Ren got caught up in one of the large grimm's arms and ended up getting slammed into the ground next to Nora and started to get crushed into it. "You…Won't…leave here!" Ren growled out hoarsely as he used the knife in his boot to stab it in the hand.
Jae on the other hand was seeing blurs and currently he was looking at a figure that was standing over him that was shrouded in black mist; It was a feminine figure that held it's hand out to him and said something that only he could hear, though it sounded like it was being smothered by a hurricane.
"The Door knocks for you…"
Everyone's voices were drowned out, his head throbbed with pain and his nerve ending screamed at him to do something…But with the hand that was held out to him: It was beckoning him and promising a reprieve should he take it.
"Open it…And reveal the secrets."
Jae felt all the noise fade away into nothingness as his hand touched at the figure's open palm, something strained in the back of his mind like a thread being pulled taut and the noise returned like a crashing wave, leaving his vision to white out.
Ren meanwhile was able to power himself through the pain as he got free of the Nuckalavee's grip; With Ruby shooting it in the back and it's hind legs, Ren was able to slice through the Grimm's arm and managed to land it's final killing blow by ramming his knife through it's throat, pulling it hard to run it from one side of it's neck to the other. "For my mother…My Father….For everyone and myself!" Ren yelled in a final burst of angered energy.
Nora rushed in with her remaining stamina to swing her hammer hard against it's head, The combined effort managed to separate the monster's head from it's shoulders, smash it back down into it's body and turned the Nuckalavee into a collapsed cloud of black smoke. "We…We did it?"
The Horse half of the Nuckalavee collapsed under Nora's smash and quickly perished with the decapitation of it's master, turning the horrific monster into smoke and slowly rising into the sky.
Ruby however could feel something was wrong as the smoke began to stop in mid-air and formed itself into a cloud. "Get away…" She mumbled before realising something that she hadn't expected to see. "NORA! REN! GET AWAY FROM THERE!"
The cloud began taking a new shape, becoming more solid and developing itself.
The others watched as a large armoured figure that was three times the size of a man hit the ground and lumbered to it's feet.
The new figure was a blackened knight clad head to toe in black and white armour that looked like charred bone and the spines that lined it's back were splayed, looking like it had hooked the armour into it's body. One of it's arms looked like it's previous form's spindly arms had coiled around each other to form one larger five fingered claw, the other had an armoured arm holding onto a gnarled and rotten spear.
Nora was horrified as it's burning red eyes focused on her while Ren's anger bubbled over into stronger fury at the fact that the nightmare which ruined his life was still alive. "No…What…What can we do?"
The Blackened Knight's face was the last thing to take form: The bone white helmet had the Nuckalavee's horned mask but it's lower jaw was more formed and held a mouthful of red teeth that dripped with malice and rot.
The beast that had plagued their dreams had not yet perished and instead…Became something worse.
Nora felt her body stiffen under this creature's horrific gaze and could see that if Ren was able to get back up, he would keep throwing himself at the Grimm until he died or it did.
"Die…" A low, scraping voice rumbled from the inside of the armour as it gripped the spear tighter and prepared itself to swing down on both survivors of Kuroyuri's destruction.
Nora had grabbed Ren around the waist and threw them both under a nearby house, saving them from what would have been the end to them, though the next thing she heard was thumping footsteps that inched closer towards them and a quickening pace…Only for it to stop shy of the house to the sound of monstrous growling and grunting.
With a peek through the wooden panels, Nora saw something that would make her both thankful for the reprieve and scared for what was to come.
A black shadow had jumped between the house and the Blackened Knight, it's clawed hands gripping onto the spear and pushing back the Knight in a stalemate of strength before swinging an arm back and punching it in the head, sending the Knight flying and hitting the ground.
Ruby watched as the dust cleared and prepared to fire, though she stopped once she saw the new creature standing over the monstrous Knight, it was only when she saw it's face when she had to stop herself from firing. "Is…Is that…An actual Demon?"
This Creature was very reptilian in nature but it still shared a build that resembled a human and it's eyes glowed like a blue fire; It's arms and legs were scaled and cracked like a lizard's skin with purple energy flowing through the cracks, it's head having grown spiky edges like a twisted crown. There were cracks formed on it's chest and the spiraled purple chest wound was on full display, a pair of curled up semi-chiropteran wings around his chest like a zipped up coat…One that resembled a hoody
The two stood off against each other with the Knight pointing it's spear at the figuee and let out a screech that forced Ruby to her knees and made Ren and Nora both hold on to the pillars of the house for dear life. "What manner of foul imitator dares to usurp my domain?"
The figure remained silent as it raised it's arm out to it's side and then a cloud of black smoke fizzed around their arms, turning from it's lean look to a more muscular set of arms…A set of arms that looked very similar to the Grendel that would adorn Jae's arms, earning a brief moment of awe from the others in Team RNJR before turning to horror as it vanished from their sight, slamming it's foot in the Knight's stomach to send it hitting the ground again.
The Knight roared as it lost it's dignified words from earlier and tried to swing it's fist up into the monster's head, only to be caught and punched in the head….Then again and again and again.
The creature roared as it continued to punch and pummel the knight with everything it had, the slowly building light on it's arms glowing stronger and stronger with each new swing down…A single word repeated itself on the Blackened Knight's lips. "Monster…"
After hearing that name, The Creature let out a furious roar and brought both arms down, causing the square to become bathed in a blinding light to the sound of an explosion.
The only that could be heard after this was the sound of pounding and demonic grunting; The creature was pummeling the slowly dissipating body of the Blackened Knight who had just been reduced to a limply squirming pile of unconscious Grimm essence.
Ren's feelings of rage had slowly dwindled down to some form of relief when he saw that the Nuckalavee who had revived itself had died once more, though that quickly changed to fear as he saw this new creature rain violence down.
Nora was speechless as she felt herself clinging to Ren out of worry that this new figure would turn on them next and Jae was not around to help.
Ruby however knew exactly what was going on; In a moment that she would have normally turned her sights on this threat, she instead used her Semblance to warp her way down and started to inch towards the figure who was viciously mashing the Nuckalavee down into the dirt. "Jae…Stop…"
The creature that Ruby thought was Jae simply kept smashing and grinding the Knight down in a fury without so much as a word.
Ruby could feel a myriad of emotions whirling inside of her; The feeling of inadequacy of being able to help Ren and Nora as much as she wanted to, the fear that this might spell something wrong if it kept going…And the feeling that this was not an animal going out of control…That it was the man that she had grown to care for spiralling downward faster and faster. "Stop...JAE STOP!" She finally yelled as she got close enough to touch him.
The sounds of pummeling stopped and was replaced by heavy breathing as the Creature turned to face Ruby, it's body was the same size that Jae was and even then, he towered over her.
Ruby felt her heart ache as she gazed into the Creature's eyes and saw everything bearing down on her: It's anger, it's pain…A sense of long built up pain and anguish. "Please…Just for today…don't be our team's protector. Don't be the Demon…No more masking." She said quietly as her hands reached up to gently rest on his cheeks, he felt hot against her palms and then he began to shake.
The Creature began to crack apart like mud dried in the sun and soon enough, Jae was standing in the creature's place with his hands gently clasping her's, his body collapsed to it's knees and felt Ruby gently pulling him into her embrace.
"It's okay. Let it out. Just for today." Ruby whispered in his ear as she held on to him tighter, the faint relief at seeing he was not gone from her reach washed over her but right now, all she wanted to do was be there for him even if she couldn't say the words she wanted directly.
"It's okay to fall apart as many times as you have to…Because I'll hold you together…As many times as you'll need."