Chapter 5: Rose
Now, some of what Djura had to say did not come as a surprise to me; after all, one would have to be blind or mad to not see the similarities between some of the larger beasts and the twisted, mutated villagers that roamed Yharnam's blasted streets.
I'd figured out that most, if not all, of the "beasts", the things that were my "prey", were beings that had once been people, and I mourned their fates. Nobody deserved such a cruel destiny, consumed by what I had believed to be a freak plague.
I wish it had
been nothing more than a plague.
The Healing Church. The seat of the vaunted practice of Blood Ministration, the very thing that spared my life and invigorated my body...they
were the source of this madness. The madness that had taken Gascoigne and Henryk, that Eileen the Crow told me would take every Hunter in time…
It was their doing.
The rest of the page is crumpled and the text upon it is illegible. The next page continues in a rigid, tightly controlled script.
I need to know more. Before, I was simply trying to escape this nightmare, this ceaseless Hunt, but now? I have to see justice done, to reveal the sins the Church has committed, before my
fate becomes that of Gascoigne, of Henryk, of every innocent civilian cajoled into partaking of this fell blood.
I have to know.
Why?!
Journal of Cadfan Lloyd, The Good Hunter, Vol I
Circa 0 M.F.
(10000 Years prior to the Awakening)
-x-x-x-
The return trip to Beacon Academy was uneventful, thankfully. Cadfan had let some of the unearthly power caged within his mortal form radiate out around them, a replica of whatever emanation had shielded the ruins from the attention of even the youngest Grimm.
Ozpin had the presence of mind to call Glynda once they'd left the tomb, the entrance to which Cadfan had collapsed behind them. Thus, the Deputy Headmistress was prepared for their guests...or at least, as prepared as one can be for meeting a living Doll and the next best thing to a God incarnate.
Since Cadfan was making no effort to conceal his power, any amateur could spot that he was something special. Most civilians would probably just assume he was a Huntsman, but to a seasoned Huntress like Glynda Goodwitch? One might as well compare a campfire to a star.
The Hunter's...
Presence (for nobody with any knowledge of the power of the Soul would mistake what Cadfan emanated for
Aura) was
titanic. Indeed, the looming vastness that Goodwitch had been able to perceive long before the party had even arrived on school grounds felt like nothing so much as an oncoming hurricane...if hurricanes could be made of cool starlight and gentle sorrow.
Any doubts the Deputy Headmistress had harbored about the nature of their guest evaporated in the face of this sensation. Whatever he might look like, Cadfan Lloyd was neither human nor Faunus.
'What have
we gotten ourselves into?'
-x-x-x-
Seeing how the blonde was stricken with shock by his power, Cadfan reined it in, compressing the vast storm of his Arcane energy into a pinprick of hyperdense light at his core. As it was now, he
should feel like an exceptionally powerful human, rather than a force of nature made flesh.
Cadfan walked towards the woman, hand extended. "As I believe Ser Ozpin informed you via the use of his...
device, my name is Cadfan Lloyd." The Good Hunter grasped her hand and shook it firmly.
"Glynda Goodwitch," she replied with a blink, shaking off her startlement and returning his handshake. "A pleasure." The wary tone of her words belied her doubts as to Cadfan's trustworthiness.
Cadfan did not take offense; the circumstances were
far from ideal, and more than a fair measure of the blame for that lay at his feet. Even though his mind's structure had been quite altered by his apotheotic metamorphosis into the Lattice, he still could have treated the guests to his sanctum with more decorum.
A desire to make up for his mistake and the debt he owed Ozpin for aiding him in becoming something approaching human once more; this was why he'd offered his aid to the old Sorcerer's cause.
These thoughts and more swirled within Cadfan's mind as the silver-haired man led the way to his tower office. Headmaster and Hunter alike knew that there would be things about this new world Cadfan would need to learn, this 'Remnant' that had formed from the ashes left in the wake of that last, perilous battle against the Moon.
So it was that Cadfan found himself seated at Ozpin's desk, the scent of freshly boiled tea tickling his nose and the ticking of the massive gears hanging overhead lending an odd sort of tranquility to the place. A distinct contrast to the information he received in that office, to be sure. The first thing he learned about was Grimm, of mankind's eternal losing war against the hordes of howling dark.
He learned of the second species of people that now lived upon the world, these Faunus who were oft downtrodden and, in some parts of the world, treated as outcasts or lepers. This sat ill within his heart, not least because he suspected that the Faunus were descendants of the few bearers of the Beast Scourge that had managed to escape the madness of the Dream
and survive the 'Moonfall,' as Doctor Oobleck's books and lectures had titled it.
Of course, Oobleck wasn't the only one offering him information. While Ozpin had left the office, citing a need to contact other members of his circle, Glynda remained there and soon proved herself as knowledgeable as the good Doctor, simply about different, more esoteric subjects than history.
Thus, he was next taught of Aura, the shining aegis of the soul that every Huntsman and Huntress was expected to know the use of, and of Semblances, the very expression of that soul; a blazing comet of an individual's potential hoisted as a torch of hope against the armies of ravenous ruin.
Finally, he was told of Dust, a mysterious crystalline substance containing the very wrath of nature itself, ready to be unleashed at the bidding of any wielder skilled enough to tease it from the raw crystal, or to be refined into ammunition, fuel, and propellant alike for Remnant's technological marvels. Something about that description niggled at the back of his mind, and he made a mental note to ask for a sample of the substance after accommodations had been found for Isolde and himself.
Throughout the lengthy lecture, Isolde was content to sit and listen quietly. Unsurprising, considering how used she'd become to doing precisely that over the ten millennia they'd been buried in the depths of Lost Pthumeru, to say nothing of the indeterminate not-time for which she'd acted as a guide and aid to countless Hunters before Cadfan came along.
For Cadfan's part, he too spoke little, offering only a few questions or requests for clarification, most of which were about Aura and Dust. Though, this was in part due to the blistering pace with which Bartholomew Oobleck managed to speak.
Cadfan would admit that the man's manic pace (both in speech and in motion) was rapid enough to rival the speed of a particular pair of Hunters; one of the two he had called mentor, the other had died a second time on the blades of her own swords. As the bespectacled Doctor wound down from his lecture, the Good Hunter wondered absently if this rapidity was simply part of the man's nature, or perhaps a side effect of his Semblance.
Regardless, such thoughts vanished from his mind upon hearing a sharp tapping noise on the window of the towering, clockwork office the four people were currently occupying. All four turned as one to the source of the noise, which was… a bird made of unnatural dark crimson blood?
While the other three people occupying the room were baffled by the being, Cadfan instantly recognized the particular coloration of the blood bird; after all, it was the very same color as the Vileblood that had flowed through him ever since he pledged himself to his Queen out of desperation. And she
was still his Queen, even if he'd been absent in the cosmic infinity beyond humanity for quite some time.
As these thoughts were running through Cadfan's head, the construct of Vileblood Arcana morphed from a crimson raven into a paper-thin stream, slipping through the small gap between the glass and the sill. Once reaching the inside of the room, the stream shifted once more, this time into a humanoid shape. A scent wafted through the room, a foul stench to Glynda and Oobleck, but a welcoming aroma to Cadfan. Isolde, being made of ceramic, chose not to perceive the smell upon seeing the way the two members of Beacon's staff reacted.
Its limbs were thin and clad in the suggestion of a suit, the outline of its facial features sharp and narrow. Wordlessly, the specter of blood bowed and extended its hand to Cadfan, a letter held in it with care, pristine and unmarred in spite of the nature of the construct that had carried it.
With one hand Cadfan accepted the letter, sealed with the familiar heraldry of Cainhurst, two emaciated beasts rampant and back to back. With his other, he plunged his hand into the torso of the construct, eliciting a sharp inhalation from Oobleck and a gasp from Goodwitch. The Hunter inhaled deeply, the crimson form of the Cainhurst Courier becoming a blood mist and entering his lungs. He shut his eyes as the rich, earthy aroma became pure rapture, as the blood of his Queen mixed with his own once more.
To a Vileblood, these summons were nothing more than a formality – but then, the Vilebloods placed a great deal of weight on their formalities. The message contained within the envelope would tell him the basics of what he needed to know, certainly, but the memories contained within the blood of his monarch gave him
so much more.
His lips curled with the same scorn that hers had upon meeting with the Pretender Queen.
He felt in his grasp the same Arcana his Queen had used to shield Castle Cainhurst from the eyes of the new world.
He witnessed the phantom knights she'd raised from the blood of her deceased subjects, that she would not have to endure the crushing solitude.
His heart swelled with the same wonder she'd felt upon learning that—
Cadfan's eyes snapped open. Lady Maria, and by extension, his liege Queen Annalise had living descendants?! A mother, blinded by the forces of the Witch of Destruction herself, and a daughter who knew nothing of her beloved mother's survival?
This could not stand.
His oath to his Queen notwithstanding, he owed it to the Mistress of the Astral Clocktower to make sure her descendants were safe and alive; he'd not been able to resolve his confrontation with her peacefully, to his shame.
His Queen had forgiven him for slaying her great-granddaughter, saying that what he'd killed was a shade of a memory, not her true family...but the fact remained that he'd taken her life, memory or not.
But even more important than his loyalty to Annalise, more important than his debt to Maria's lineage,
there was a daughter out there who didn't know her mother yet lived, and he had the power to fix that.
A Hunter with hands stained by the blood of countless lives he may be, but even
he wasn't monster enough to sit by and do nothing in the face of that fact.
Cadfan turned to the Doctor and the Deputy Headmistress. "I apologize for the abruptness of this, but there is something I must attend to. Could one of you please retrieve Ser Ozpin? I believe he would be interested in meeting my Queen."
Glynda frowned. "Since Headmaster Ozpin brought you here and into his confidence, I doubt very much that your Queen is Salem. But for the life of me, I can't think of any other individual who that title could be attributed to…"
Cadfan smiled slightly. "The fact that you know nothing of her merely means that Her Majesty's Arcana has done its work well. As for who she is?"
The Good Hunter's very being seemed to become more animated, more
alive. "My liege is none other than the Eternal Monarch of the Vilebloods, Queen Annalise of Forsaken Cainhurst. Her titles may be fearsome, but there is no one I would rather serve; Her Majesty is a truly honorable woman, to whom I owe my life."
Cadfan smiled sheepishly, suddenly embarrassed by his own fervor. "My digression aside, I
do believe that Ser Ozpin would like to meet her. Meeting a fellow immortal isn't precisely a common occurrence, yet here he will have met three others in one day, should he accompany me."
The Deputy Headmistress glanced between Isolde and Cadfan, then let out a sigh, muttering something about 'eccentric immortals' and 'extra work' under her breath. The blonde then adjusted her glasses as she withdrew another device like the one Ozpin had used, presumably to contact him in the same manner as the Headmaster had her.
Sure enough, about a minute after Glynda had tapped out a message on the device, Ser Ozpin returned to his office.
The silver-haired reincarnate regarded Cadfan with a curious and measured stare. "My Deputy has told me something rather interesting – namely, that you neglected to inform me that your fealty was pledged to an
immortal Queen. Now, I won't claim to have told you everything about myself, and I didn't anticipate that you'd shared every about
yourself, but this? This is a fairly significant thing; tell me, will this cause you to come into conflict with the cause I fight for?"
Cadfan inclined his head; this was a reasonable concern. "I assure you, that couldn't be further from the case. Her Majesty is an extremely reclusive monarch, and requires little of her subjects beyond that we follow a few edicts. I can recite them to you, if you like?"
At Ozpin's nod, Cadfan spoke.
"Firstly and most important, we must
never pass on the Vileblood without consent from the receiver. To do so would be as profound and foul a violation as can be conceived, quite literally a rape of the soul.
"Secondly, we must not spill blood without need. As beings who can subsist upon and draw power from the substance, we must revere and respect it, and likewise the lives from which it stems.
"Thirdly, when we
must spill the blood of people, we dedicate that kill to our Queen's honor. Therefore, we must not fight in such a manner that impugns upon that honor. A clean, quick kill is both demonstrative of the skill of a Vileblood and the epitome of the creed that Queen Annalise demanded, which is detailed in the fourth edict.
"Fourthly, and finally: 'Nobility obliges. Whoever claims to be noble must comport themselves nobly.' It is our duty and responsibility as Vilebloods to treat those who bear normal blood not as lessers or as food, but as
people.
"Obeying those edicts is all that Her Majesty required of her subjects, of
me." Cadfan cupped his chin. "Honestly, I think that all my Queen wanted of me beyond that was company. It cannot have been easy, being bound to a throne and imprisoned in an iron mask inscribed with Runes that limited her power and kept her prisoner in her lonely castle. Her only company there was dozens of eroded statues and a massive enchanted corpse serving as both warden and tormentor, after all."
Throughout this explanation, the Headmaster of Beacon remained silent. The silent moments after seemed to stretch into infinity before he spoke. "Vilebloods... Not a particularly pleasant-sounding name, to be sure. However, this Queen Annalise's edicts seem sound, especially for a woman who, by your descriptors, seems to be a vampire Queen in all but name."
Ozpin drummed his fingers on the side of Kaladanda as he thought. "Very well. Today seems to be a day of strange meetings and stranger allies, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious about this Queen of yours – especially how she's remained undetected for all these years…"
The Headmaster nodded decisively to himself, then inquired, "Am I to assume that you have the means to take us there, perhaps in a similar fashion to the way we exited those ruins?"
Cadfan nodded. "The uses of Caryll's Runes are many and varied, particularly when wielded by one such as I. A Vileblood, a Paleblood,
and a Great One, fledgling or no? This will be a trivial task," he replied, though honestly he was trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to assure Ser Ozpin.
Cadfan raised both of his hands before and above him, his index fingers aglow with pale aquamarine fire. With grand, sweeping motions the Hunter inscribed the Vileblood's symbol, the Rune of Corruption upon the world.
First were two curves, meeting at their tops and bottoms, coming together to form an oval-like shape with pinched ends. Then came a pair of upward-sweeping, almost winglike shallow curves, rising from the bottom of the shape to a symmetrical low point on either side of the not-oval.
Beneath this odd shape, Cadfan repeated the inscriptions twice more apiece, albeit at a smaller scale each time. Finally, he made one more looping, pointy not-oval, but instead of adding the 'wings' to the bottom, he twisted the ends of the curves around one another.
Bizarrely, Cadfan grasped the two largest 'wings' and began to push. To Ozpin and Oobleck's minor shock and Glynda's major shock, space itself began to push inward, parting slowly along the center of the Rune, as though the 'wings' the Hunter had taken hold of were the handles of a particularly large and heavy door.
Ozpin could see a bit of landscape through the slowly opening crack in reality, and he abruptly wished he had his
good scarf; the Castle Cainhurst was snowbound.
Cadfan made a sweeping motion toward the open 'door' with one hand, enjoying the opportunity to be a bit dramatic. "Welcome, Ser Ozpin, to the Forsaken Castle, the Seat of Corruption, the House of the Damned. Welcome to Castle Cainhurst, my home away from home. In spite of its titles and rather harsh weather, it's quite the friendly place...to those with a Vileblood escort, that is."
With that, Cadfan walked over to Islode, grasped her ceramic hands tenderly in his, and promised to return soon.
The Good Hunter then strode through the opening, Ozpin running a hand through his hair before following along. Before he crossed the threshold, he turned to Glynda with a plea in his eyes. Without even being asked, his Deputy nodded and walked over to his teapot. He'd be needing a hot drink upon his return, no doubt.
After the Headmaster followed Cadfan through the portal, he made it about a half-dozen steps before he heard a loud
clunk behind him. When he turned back to the portal, it was gone.
Before the Headmaster could even ask, Cadfan spoke up. "If I'd kept it open much longer, it might have jeopardized her Arcana – and from what I understand of your technology level (which is admittedly not as much as I'd like), I'd assume that a massive castle and island literally materializing in the middle of a peninsula would not go unnoticed."
Ozpin let out a dry chuckle, even as he shivered, the cold already biting at his exposed face in spite of his potent Aura. "Indeed not. I'll take it on faith that you have enough sense to be able to get us out of here."
The Good Hunter let out a bark of what might have passed as laughter, if one was exceedingly drunk
and hard of hearing. "If I didn't have at least that much sense, I wouldn't have escaped
Yharnam with my life, never you mind become what I am today. Yes, I have multiple ways for us to leave, though one of them relies on Her Majesty's guest…"
"Guest?" Ozpin queried, perhaps a bit more sharply than intended. "You made no mention of a guest."
Cadfan winced. "My apologies. It has been...
quite the day, but I don't need to tell you that. I am also still acclimating to having such a...
compressed mind again, which is an experience and a half, let me say. I shall do my best to remember these things, but I can make no promises until I have re-adapted to my current state."
Ozpin nodded. The perpetual reincarnate hadn't been through
quite the same sort of thing before, but he could imagine that it was more disorienting than having to retrain a young, untrained body back to his exacting standards through Aura and memory alone.
"You have my sympathies," Ozpin declared quietly as Cadfan led him through a copse of snowbound trees. Any words he might have said afterwards were lost as the Headmaster broke through the trees and caught his first glimpse of Cainhurst Castle.
Ozpin was not a young man. The amalgamation of knowledge, experience and personality that had become a part of him so many years ago was far older still. He'd seen or could remember countless wonders and horrors alike, things of magic that defied reason and things of science that bent the laws of reality over its knee. More recently, he'd met beings of Cosmic might that were as utterly alien as they were terrifying.
Even so, after all he'd seen, there was something viscerally majestic and awe-inspiring about the massive, snow-clad form of Cainhurst Castle that took his breath away, even in its eroded state. Cadfan simply gave him a knowing look, one that conveyed the message 'Beautiful, is it not?'
And it was. Frigid, imposing, and imperious and all the more beautiful for it.
'If this
is the castle,' Ozpin marveled,
'the Queen must be great and terrible indeed.'
And Ozpin would soon learn that to be true, as Cadfan led him into the castle and through a series of hidden passages that he opened by smearing a bit of his blood on certain objects at various points, all of them displaying the same crest with the same two emaciated but otherwise unidentifiable beasts, back-to-back and rampant. He (correctly) presumed this to be the coat of arms for Cainhurst.
After several minutes of climbing spiraling staircases and trekking through cold stone passages, dimly lit and abandoned ateliers, dusty bedchambers, and silent libraries, Cadfan finally opened a passage that let in outside light. Of course, that meant it also let in the frigid northern air, but Ozpin had slowly managed to acclimate to the cold.
…
In other words, he'd pumped his Aura with as much Fire-aligned magic energy as he dared, and was now both pleasantly warm
and exercising his magic in a way he hadn't in several years. It was tiring, but
damn was it worth it.
Cadfan and Ozpin walked out onto a bridge, the ice and snow melting beneath Ozpin's feet. Cadfan stopped before an archway that led into a raised, imposing structure.
"This is the throne room," the Good Hunter declared. "Her Majesty
may seem abrasive at first, but if you give her enough time, you will simply realize that speaking in the way she does is all she knows. Furthermore, she tries her very best to be a good Queen, which to her is indistinguishable from being a good person, because again, that is the only life she knows."
Cadfan pinched his brow, trying to figure out how to phrase what he wanted to say. "What I mean is this, Ser Ozpin: treat Her Majesty with respect and decorum, and you both shall get along fine. I have faith in this much, at least."
The Headmaster nodded. Compared to some of the wretched things he remembered having to do, treating a Queen with respect and not stepping on any proverbial toes was practically child's play.
Of course, Ozpin didn't know the identity of Queen Annalise's guest...
-x-x-x-
A pair of shocked inhalations, followed by the clatter of a cane hitting the floor; a rapid rush of footsteps; and then the rustle of cloth as arms wrapped around her. The incredulous whisper in her ear, her name breathed as though speaking aloud would cause her to disappear.
The thumping of a heartbeat, the gentle pressure of arms around her, the warmth of being embraced by the man who was as a second father to her.
The scent of jasmine and mint, of dust and dirt, and of something old and unfamiliar.
All these things rushed through Summer Rose's senses at once, very nearly overwhelming her, especially considering what she'd felt with her 'soul-nar'.
Two massive signatures, one familiar, one not. One distinctly a mixture of Aura and Magic, one that felt much like the energy that slept within her ancestor (and wasn't
that revelation a kick in the pants) albeit in the same way a bonfire feels like the heat of the sun.
All thoughts of this alien energy were put to the side when Ozpin's eyes fixed upon her, and in the next moment she found herself embraced.
Summer had never known Ozpin to be much for big, physical displays of affection, but considering the circumstances, she could understand his actions. As the Headmaster drew back from the awkward yet heartfelt hug, Summer noticed that the star wearing the shape of a man that had accompanied Ozpin
—the one practically
radiating that strange power
—knelt before Annalise, who'd been looking at Ozpin and her with what seemed like amusement.
"My Queen," came a voice–no, a Voice, for the energy present within those words transcended mere sound waves, "I fear I am long overdue for this reunion. Pray tell, what task can Your Knight complete to earn Your forgiveness?"
The masked Queen tapped her fingers against the arm of her throne. "We have a thought or two, O' Knight of Ours. We know that you have ascended to the godhead, and walked back down that you might live as a man, for a time. We wonder what manner of powers you retain from your apotheosis, and We would ask if you could remove this blasted mask from Our head."
"As you will it, Your Majesty." The star-man's brilliant energy writhed and crawled up one arm. That hand moved fast, faster than even her senses could track, and, in the next moment, eight shards of now-inert iron clattered to the ground around Annalise's throne, seven of identical size and one twice as large.
Up until now, Summer's senses hadn't been able to let her see her ancestor's features, probably due to whatever magic had been holding that mask together. Now, though...now she could see Annalise's face.
…
It was frankly absurd how alike they looked. If Annalise's hair were black and red rather than pale-grey, and her irides silver rather than crimson, Summer would've sworn she was looking at her mother in her prime. The same soft cheeks, slim nose, and raptor gaze...it seemed that the Queen had been right: the Vileblood ran true, no matter how diluted.
So lost in contemplation was she, the blinded Huntress missed most of the star-man and her ancestor's conversation, only jerking back to the real world when Ozpin shook her shoulder.
"The Vileblood Queen has decided that any further conversation with her Knight or myself can wait until you've been reunited with your family, I sentiment a fully share, Miss Rose. They...I think they
really do need you back." Summer could tell by the tension in his frame that Ozpin was doing everything in his power to keep himself together.
She was grateful; if he broke down, she doubted she'd be able to keep it together, and she
really didn't need to have another crying fit today. Crying without eyes could get
incredibly gross and messy if you weren't careful.
Pushing
that unpleasant thought to one side, Summer approached the star-man, who had gotten to his feet sometime between her musings about Annalise's appearance and her thoughts about Ozpin and tears filling up her eye sockets.
He turned towards her, the cloth mask he wore doing nothing to obscure his face to her senses. His face was narrow and his gaze hawklike and inquisitive. Between those piercing ice-blue eyes, his pale skin, and his head of snow-white hair, he could've passed for a Schnee with ease...were it not for the tentacles she could sense that were wrapped around his arms, legs, and chest.
The fact that a person who looked so much like a member of one of the
least Faunus-friendly companies possessed such a useful Faunus trait was darkly amusing to her, though none of this explained what her ancestor had meant by her statement that he'd 'ascended to the godhead.'
Summer sighed internally. She had a feeling she'd find out soon enough, whether she liked it or not. She was wrapped up too tightly in this 'Vileblood' business for it to go any other way, due both to circumstance and to blood ties.
One thing was for certain in her mind, however.
It was high time that she went home.
-x-x-x-
Ruby Rose was usually an early riser; between the inordinate amount of cookies she consumed, her own hyperactive nature, and a Semblance that actively encouraged being energetic, this was no surprise.
However, not even
she made a habit of waking up at
one in the morning. This past week, her sleep had been fitful, something her well-meaning but overly-protective sister Yang had mentioned a couple of times, but waking up like this was a first.
Just as the silver-eyed girl was about to roll over and try to fall back asleep, she heard a noise outside her house, a sort of faint
thump, like a door shutting. There weren't any other houses around for quite a distance, so naturally she was concerned.
Ruby got out of bed, shook her red-tipped, brown hair out of her eyes, and reached under her bed for her baby. Taking her weapon in hand, Crescent Rose's default form of a close range bolt-action rifle being the best choice for inside her house, she crept from her room on silent feet.
Since she was still in combat school, all her ammo was training rounds. They could probably kill a squirrel or a particularly anemic dog, but the most they'd do to a person would be to hurt them. Granted, these
were training rounds from a weapon designed to fire rounds that could reliably tear a Grimm in half, propel her around the battlefield, or change her direction mid-Semblance, so they'd still hurt
quite a lot, which was perfect for her purposes.
Maybe it was the sleep deprivation, maybe it was confidence in her own skill, or maybe it was some connection between mother and daughter. Whatever the case, instead of waking her father or sister, Ruby made a silent beeline to the door of their quaint little house, arriving just in time for the rap of knuckles on the doorframe to cause her to leap a full foot in the air and almost drop her baby.
To her credit, the young Huntress-in-training recovered at a remarkable speed, and trained Crescent Rose's barrel on the door with one hand, bracing it against her abdomen. The other hand slowly opened the door…
Crescent Rose hit the floor with a
bang that could've woken the dead...and
did wake the house's other occupants. Ruby wasn't thinking about any of that, though.
No, the only thing going through her mind at that moment was the very word that came out her her mouth in a small, hopeful voice.
"...Mom?"
AN: Well. It took me longer than I'd have liked to have finished this, but here's the next chapter. The ball is finally starting to roll, and soon our favorite ancient, crystalline, tentacled eldritch horror will face his greatest foe yet: human interaction! :3
That aside, as always I must thank both Teninshigen and Slavok for their hard work making this look all purdy. I hope you enjoy!
