A Deathly Silence (RWBY/Drakengard 3)

[X] Resisted. The girl would get hurt, but it would be over in a moment. But if she hurt the girl too badly, it wouldn't help her mental state at all.

As the cold metal of the gauntlets tightened around her throat, Yang closed her eyes and focused.

...There was only one way that Yang was getting out of this situation. Even if she didn't really like it, it was too much of a risk to just wait and hope help arrived in time.

With the girl sitting on her back as she was, with her knees either side of Yang to pin down her injured arms, moving them would probably open up a lot of wounds. But by twisting her back muscles slightly, ignoring the stabs of pain that happened as she did that, Yang was able to prepare herself.

With a burst of force, Yang bucked upwards, forcing the girl into the air. Using the opportunity that gave, Yang quickly spun around, getting to her knees, and brought up her better arm above her head to catch the girl as she fell, and stop her from landing full-force on Yang. The weight all hit Yang's arm, and even if it was the less injured one, there was still wounds on it, all of which spiked with pain as more pressure was put on the wounds. Ignoring the pain, Yang stood and swept her arm to the side, throwing the girl down into one of the hospital beds.

The girl gasped as the breath was knocked out of her, and before she could react, Yang took a step towards her.

The leg which stepped forward, her left leg, collapsed as the cuts in it stabbed pain into Yang, and she groaned in pain she she fell to her knee again. Gritting her teeth, Yang looked back up at the girl, and grabbed the arm with the gauntlet on it.

The girl tried to pull away, but even as injured as she was, Yang was being trained to be a hunter, and was dealing with what looked like a severely malnourished girl. They were both in a bad way, so Yang being naturally stronger gave her the advantage. Even if the girl's struggles just made her wounds worse.

Struggling to her feet again, Yang immediately lost her footing again, so just waited on one foot, as she used her other hand to reach over to the gauntlet the girl was wearing. Her hand struggled with it for a moment, trying to pull it off.

"No!" The girl cried, getting up and trying to jump at Yang. The yellow-haired teen quickly let go of the girl's arm with her left hand to hold her back, and gave up removing the gauntlet with her right, instead just focusing on keeping the gauntlet pointed in another direction, so it couldn't shoot.

The girl struggled at Yang, and the smaller figure reached for the Hunter in training with her spare hand. Yang moved her head back as the girl tried to jab at her eyes. Undeterred, the girl reached for where Yang was holding her bak, trying to wrest her arm away.

Yang quickly adjusted her grip, grabbing the girl's spare arm and using her forearm to hold the girl's body at bay. The girl leaned forward as much as she could, which was closer than Yang would have liked with how hard it was to hold her elbow still, and as the girl closed in, she slammed her head into Yang's.

Yang's head flinched back, dazed, but otherwise, Yang didn't move.

The girl continued to struggle, trying to headbutt Yang again, but now that she was expecting it, Yang was able to just hold her head back and twitch to the side when the girl went for it.

"Stop." Yang said. "We don't need t-"

"Shut up!" The girl shouted, jumping up from the hospital bed entirely and putting her entire weight on Yang's arm. Yang grunted as the pain flushed through her again, and she pushed the girl back, forcing her onto the hospital bed again but losing her grip on the gauntlet again.

The girl instantly moved her arm to point the harpoon at Yang, but Yang was fasted, able to grab the arm and point it over her shoulder quick enough. Before the girl could do anything else, Yang slid forward on her knee, holding her arm out to push against the girl's stomach to push her against the wall.

With the girl pinned as she was, she was unable to make further moves against Yang. Desperately, she struggled, trying to pull free from Yang's grip. Yang kept the girl pinned to the wall, pushing harder when the girl tried to slip out of the way.

The girl eventually got an idea, and kicked up into Yang's elbow, just hard enough to make it bend slightly. With that extra bit of space, the girl repositioned herself an rolled off the bed, trying to wrench her arm free of Yang's as she did so.

The gravity dragging the girl down was able to help pull the girl's arm out of Yang's grip, and the girl hit the ground. Gritting her teeth as she landed on her arm and ignoring the cracking sound as her full weight landed on it the wrong way, the girl tried to spin around as Yang reached for her, trying to get that gauntlet out of her way again.

"You don't need to do this." Yang said. The girl screamed at her, aiming at Yang once again. Yang dashed in and grabbed the gauntlet again before it fired, and in the corridor, she heard footsteps running.

About time.

"What's going on!" A voice called. Before Yang could reply, the Undine's water snake burst through the door, and made a move on Yang.

Yang let go of the girl and dived to the side, dodging the Undine, and as she did so, Winter dashed in.

With a wave of her hand, a glyph appeared between Yang, the Undine and the girl, which rippled slightly as the girl tried to fire the harpoon gauntlet at Yang.

The projectile bounced off the barrier, as Two rushed into the room. The others followed a moment later, and watched the scene for a moment.

The girl glared at Yang, tears falling out of her space, and the Undine took human form and looked back and forth between the girl and Yang.

"Explain." Winter said. "Now."

"Was nobody watching the girl?" Yang asked. "I feel like nobody was watching the girl."

"She should have been sleeping." The Undine said, in it's monotone.

"Shut up!" The girl shouted, running at the glyph and trying to barge through it. The arm not clad in the gauntlet hit the glyph and snapped further, and she cried out in pain. The Undine immediately dashed to her side and held her back, as everyone else watched.

"Let me go!" The girl shouted, reaching forward with the gauntlet-hand even as he other hand hung uselessly at her side. "She... My dad..."

The girl's gaze shifted to the gauntlet for a moment, and her words died in her throat as she sobbed.

"...You appear mistaken." Winter said, after a moment. Everyone turned to het.

"Let me guess." Winter said, as she looked at the gauntlet on the girl's arm. "You recognised your fathers weapon? Started sneaking around after you were left unattended, entered Yang's room, found them, and leapt to conclusions?"

The girl didn't react, so Winter continued.

"In which case, I should correct your misunderstanding." She stated. "Yang had those gauntlets because they were a gift from me. I was the one who killed the previous wearer."

The girl looked at Winter, her eyes widening. The Schnee turned her back.

"You..." The girl whispered, before struggling against the Undine's grip again, reaching for Winter. "No! I... Argh!"

The girl snarled as she tried to pull free, and the Undine held her still.

"Do you hate me?" Winter asked softly. "Do as you will. I killed your father. It wasn't even anything important to me. I never even knew his name. And I'll never know yours, either."

"Shut up!" The girl screamed. "I hate you!"

"And I care nothing for you." Winter replied. "Undine, take her to her room. Keep an eye on her. If she stays here, she'll just kill herself trying to kill me, now."

The Undine made an odd expression, then moved to drag the girl away.

"No! Stop! Let me- Let me go! Let me... Just..."

The girl's sobs made it harder and harder to understand her, and as the Undine dragged her away, her voice slowly faded away.

"...Harsh." Nora said, looking at Winter.

"But perhaps necessary." Winter replied, as she turned to Yang and brought the glyph down. "The girl shouldn't bother you again, Yang. She'll be too occupied with a new target."

Yang looked at her for a moment. "...What the hell was that?"

Winter made a pained expression. "There was no way that conversation was going to go easily."

"You didn't need to-"

"She was trying to kill you, Yang." Winter replied. "Because of something I did. I don't pretend to be a therapist. She was going to try and kill someone once she found out. It's best that she actually hates the person responsible."

"That's kinda messed up." Piran said.

"Let's talk of happier topics, if you would." Winter interjected. She stepped forward, lifting Yang up from her position on the floor gently, and put her back in a hospital bed.

"Like literally anything?" Cent asked.

"Perhaps." Winter replied. "We're heading back to the village tomorrow. Today is almost over, and in an area like this, with the suffering that the girl would be smelling like, it'd be best to avoid flying over anywhere with heavy Grimm activity until daylight."

"What are we going to do with her?" Yang asked. "It's not like we can take her with us past the village now, but she'd kinda... You know..."

"I'll take care of her." Two said, stepping forward. "She's... Not well. But! Once some time's passed, she'll be less likely to act out like that, and I can start trying to make her feel better! Maybe introduce some friends with the other orphans..."

"I'm sure you could manage it, Two." Cent said. "You're the nicest person in the world. I'm sure you can help her."

Two ignored Cent's statements, and Cent made a somewhat concerned expression like that. "...So you really are feeling bad for her right now..."

"Someone should probably check on the girl." Piran interrupted. "Her arm didn't look too good at the time. Is there anything portable to fix that?"

"She didn't seem like she had Aura." Yang said. "So that arm of hers won't heal right. And it sounded like it broke or something earlier. We... Should probably have left her here, and have everyone else leave."

"In hindsight." Winter noted. "Perhaps. But there's medical kits here which come with... Well, not Scrolls, but the technology is the same. Portable X-Rays, and a brief guide on how to set bones so they heal properly. And hopefully find any other possible injuries. She wasn't in a good state, so if there was a struggle-"

"Sorry." Yang said, as Piran and Two went off to look for the medical kits. "She surprised me. Took out my Aura. Was choking me. I... Didn't know how to resist without being rough."

"It's not your fault, Yang." Winter said. "Though, I do have to wonder. Are you sure your Semblance is the power to make your Aura stronger when you take damage?"

"What else would it be?" Yang asked.

"You remind me of someone who frustrates me to no end." Winter noted. "Except instead of everyone around you having terrible luck, it's all centred on you."

Yang frowned for a moment. "I feel like I've heard that story before..."

"Well, nevermind." Winter said, noticing Two pull out the kit in the corner. "You should rest."

"I'd really like to leave this bed." Yang noted. "I heard legend of an airship outside of this room, but it remains unconfirmed."

"Finished!" A voice said from outside. Turning, Yang looked in to see Blast poking his head through.

"...What have you done?"

"I ran out for a moment to find Yang's room." Blast said. "Took down the nameplate above her door, and put it up here. More accurate, I believe."

Yang sighed. "Can we just move the medical equipment to my room?"

"This is where you belong now, Yang." Blast said. "This is where you live."

Yang sighed. "I'm going to spend this entire month injured, and Dad's never going to let me outside ever. I better start looking for a fun desk job..."

The paper shuffled, and the young woman put the paper on the desk.

"Yang Xiao Long." She mused. "An interesting person, isn't she?"

"If you need a break." The old man said. "You could just ask. I like to think I'm not too bossy."

The young woman smiled. "Oh, good. Don't take this the wrong way, but Yang's story so far is..."

"It's relevant." The old man said. "Two is there, and-"

"I know, I know." The woman said. "But she hasn't interacted with Two as much as I had hoped. I know that will change soon, and it'd be a waste to change our person of interest at some point. It's just..."

"We can't forget our others." The old man admitted. "While Miss Xiao Long will be meeting with Miss Rose again sometime soon, the circumstances surrounding Miss Nikos and Miss Belladonna should be at least noted."

"Exactly." The young woman replied, cheerfully. "It'd be really confusing if we didn't know how they were resolving their struggles, and then they turned up and behaved outside of expected parameters because they dealt with them in an unexpected way."

"Well, Miss Xiao Long will not be doing much of relevance for a while." The old man noted. "Perhaps we have time, to observe one of the others. Do you have any preference?"

The young woman mused on that.

"Pyrrha's going into that final round of the tournament soon." She mused. "If we dug into it now, we could use the broadcast to assist in our investigation. On the other hand, considering what is coming Blake's way, it might be wiser to investigate that now, before we lose track of her..."

"Or we could prepare to look into both and continue with Miss Xiao Long." The old man noted. "Delay both recordings and focus on your current person of interest, and record both of the others at once the next time an opening becomes available?"

The young woman mused on it for a moment.

GM Note: We are now entering out first Gaiden arc. Potentially. There are two prepared right now, and either can be done, but if you would prefer it, both Gaiden arcs can be put off until after Yang goes through another major arc. This would allow for more Yang time, but also means both Gaiden arcs have to be done in a row.

Gaiden arcs differ from usual in that they're a tad more... Railroaded. They're not focusing on the Protagonist, and the main purpose of their existence is that you guys get to know what's going on elsewhere and I'm not forced to frantically explain things that blindside you later. The main point of the Gaiden arc is going to happen no matter what, but your input can make a few minor differences.

I could just write Interludes, but I feel like those would be a few thousand words and I don't want to have to write too much at once, in case I blank out on where to go and stall out.

With that said, pick your path:

[X] Blake Gaiden: How Is This Justice?
[X] Pyrrha Gaiden: Toy Soldiers Playing War.
[X] I'm boring and change is scary, keep playing as Yang.