Weiss

I kept my eyes on the stairs in front of me as I followed Yang into the darkness. The light from outside grew fainter as we moved further into the tunnel. I lost sight of Yang, who was only a few metres in front of me, when I reached the bottom of the stairs. The tunnel had a gradual downward slope and curved gently to the right. The curve of the tunnel cut off more of the light as I walked down it and within a minute I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face.

I walked slowly into the darkness, sliding my hand along the wall. I looked around me, trying to make out any shapes at all. But I saw nothing but black. The only sound was the sound of my own footsteps. I pulled up short as I realised I couldn't hear Yang's footsteps anymore.

"Yang," I called out tentatively. "Are you still there?"

"Yeah," a voice whispered from ahead of me. "Where are you?"

"I'm right behind you."

"I can't see anything in here. Walk towards my voice."

I took a slow step forward. My right hand dragged along the wall and my left hand reached out in front of me. I heard my gentle footsteps echoing off the walls around me as I moved forward. Then I felt my hand bump into Yang and came to a halt.

"So do we keep going?" Yang asked. "I don't know how long this goes on, and we can't see a damn thing."

"Well, if there's a tunnel, it has to lead somewhere." I said. I sat down, sliding down the wall and wrapping my arms around my knees. "We should probably keep going. Ruby will be disappointed if we don't find anything."

"Well that is true."

Yang sat down next to me with a thud. I could feel her arm pressing lightly against mine. She let out a heavy sigh.

"I guess you're right. We should probably keep looking." She muttered.

"I've never heard of tunnels being underneath Vale." I said as I shifted Myrtenaster. The hilt was digging into my side. "I'm getting concerned about it myself now. We should find out what it is."

"What do you mean?" Yang asked. "You think this is like some secret evil base or something?"

"It's a possibility." I said with a sigh. "The White Fang has a base in or around Vale somewhere, and that Roman Torchwick character is holed up somewhere as well."

Yang sighed and picked herself up.

"I guess you're right." She said. I felt her grab me by the wrist and hoist me up. "Come on, we should go and check it out." Yang held onto my wrist as she pulled me down the hallway. I opened my mouth to tell her to let go, but I held back. It was probably a good idea. We didn't know what we'd be facing at the end of this tunnel, and we didn't want to get separated.

And so we wandered on in darkness. It was silent but for the sounds of our footsteps and our breathing. We walked for what seemed like hours, but in reality it was probably only a few minutes. The tunnel still curved to the right and was still sloping downwards. I found myself wondering how far below ground we were.

I looked up as I noticed light coming from ahead of us. I could finally make out Yang's silhouette against the light. I could see again! We rushed towards the light, grateful to have finally found the way out. The tunnel straightened out and we saw of the end of the tunnel, an arch of light in the darkness.

I closed my eyes as we ran out of the tunnel. After having spent so long in utter darkness, the light was blinding. I blinked a few times and squinted, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the brightness. I gasped as my eyes focussed on what lay before us.

We'd come out at the top of a massive staircase overlooking a vast, cavernous room. It was probably about the same size as Beacon's main hall. The room was illuminated by dim, orange lights. I took a step forward, peering down at the scene before us.

There were rows upon rows of cages filling the room. Hundreds of them lined the walls of the room and hundreds more were stacked up in rows across the room. The room was filled with the sounds of snarls, growls and vicious roars. I gasped in shock and clapped a hand over my mouth as I realised that each and every one of those cages was filled with a Grimm.

Hundreds of Beowolves, Boarbatusks and Ursa locked in the cages. They were all roaring and beating against their bars. In one corner of the room I saw a gigantic mesh cage holding a King Taijitu. The snake was eyeing the monsters around it hungrily, not moving.

I took a step back in horror, bumping into Yang. I looked up at her as she grabbed onto me to keep me from falling over. Her face was pale, her lilac eyes wide. She was staring down at the room before us with her jaw hanging loosely and her shoulders slack. I felt my knees tremble as I righted myself.

I opened my mouth, trying to force out words, any words. I tried to say something to settle my own nerves as much as Yang's. But I couldn't say a thing. My heart was in my throat, and it seemed to block any speech. So I just stared up at Yang blankly, my mouth moving up and down like a drowning fish.

"What the hell is this?" Yang whispered. She took a step into the room and stopped, looking down the stairs. She turned her head from side to side, looking at all the cages on either side of us. I could hear the horror in her voice. "What the hell is this?"

I took a step after her. I couldn't let her show me up in the face of something like this. Move it Weiss. You are a Schnee. This is no time to stare and whimper like a coward. I stiffened my shoulders and followed Yang. I forced down my horror at the scene before me and tried to think logically.

"Who would do something like this?" Yang whispered as I stepped up beside her.

"I don't know." I said. I took a deep breath in another attempt to calm myself down. "But we need to find out. We also need to know why they're here." Yang's eyes focussed as my words snapped her out of her terrified reverie. She nodded.

"Yeah, let's go." She said and began the long descent into the room.

I inspected the layout of the room as we made our way down the stairs. The floor of the room was filled with nothing but cages, which we'd already seen. I noticed a platform that was raised up on scaffolding on the far side of the room. From where I was, it looked like it had been set up to act as an office of sorts. Above the platform was a web of steel rafters that I realised was covering the entire ceiling. This place does look manmade, I thought, I guess they need those to hold the ceiling up.

"Yang," I reached out and tapped Yang on the shoulder as I quietly called out her name. She stopped on the steps and looked up at me. "We should investigate over there." I said as pointed out the platform. She nodded and continued to lead the way down the stairs.

We both hesitated as we reached the bottom of the stairs. The only way to reach the platform now was to walk through the rows of cages. A few of the monsters near the stairs had noticed us and were roaring at us, beating at the bars of their cages. I looked up to meet Yang's gaze and she nodded reassuringly and headed down the aisle of cages. I swallowed nervously as I followed close behind her.

Monsters lashed out as we passed, beating on their cages and some squeezing their arms between the bars to lash out at us. We walked exactly in the centre of the aisle, trying to make ourselves as small as possible to avoid the flailing claws.

After far too long a time, we made it to the other side of the room. The din of the monster's cries had only grown louder as we'd crossed the room. I guess that's to be expected, I thought as we emerged from the aisle. I gazed up at the platform in front of us. It looked a lot taller here than from the top of the stairs.

"Over there," Yang said. She was pointing to the left, at another staircase. It led up the side of the scaffolding and onto the platform at the top. I followed Yang up the stairs, trying to block out the cries of the furious monsters. Yang jogged up the stairs with her usual energy. She looked more like her normal self than she had since we'd left the tunnel.

I'd guessed right when I saw the platform from the stairs: it was being used as an office. There were benches and tables around the perimeter of the room, all of them covered with papers. I saw a map of Vale hanging on the wall, covered with arrows, markings and a ring drawn around Beacon.

I crossed to room to inspect the map while Yang began looking over the papers on the tables. The map was a detailed bird's eye view of Vale. There was a cross over an intersection in the streets near the wall with arrows fanning out from it. As I looked closer I realised that the mark was directly across the wall from where Yang and I had entered the tunnel. So that mark is where we are, I thought, and what're the arrows?

"Weiss…" Yang muttered.

"What is it?" I asked. I turned around just in time to see Yang stagger away from the table. Stacks of paper scattered through the air as she backed away.

"All of these monsters…" she said. I could hear the horror in her voice. "They're going to attack Vale."

"What?" I ran towards the table. I grabbed some of the papers and studied them. "My God…" Yang was right.

I looked out at the stacks of cages, imagining them running rampant through Vale. An icy cold hand wrapped its fingers around my heart. Yang stood next to me, looking out at the monsters as well.

"So… what do we do?" she muttered. I had no idea. There were way too many monsters for Yang and I to deal with, too many for the four of us. We'd need all of Beacon to deal with them all.

"Oh no…" I whispered as realisation hit me. That was why Beacon was circled on the map. Were they going to attack the school as well? "Who would do this?" I asked. "Who could?"

"I don't know," Yang replied. "But we need to get out of here. We need to tell Professor Ozpin about this."

"Of course, let's go."

A loud clang echoed through the room as we started down the stairs. We both froze mid-step as the sound bounced off the walls around us. Yang and I shared a panicked look, was someone coming? We both cast our gaze over the room, searching for the source of the noise. Directly in front of us I saw a massive steel portcullis begin to rise. Yang and I had nowhere to run. Anyone behind the portcullis would have a clear view of anywhere we went. I tugged Yang back up the stairs—hoping we wouldn't be seen at the top—to buy myself time to think. We reached the top and dropped to the floor. I crawled slowly towards the edge and peered over at the still rising portcullis.

I watched as a solitary man walked into the room. I ducked my head slightly to hide, but now the edge of the platform obscured my view of him. I couldn't see him clearly enough to make out any details, and I doubted I'd be able to recognise him if he was someone I knew. All I could make out was the colour of his clothes, white shoes and a tailored suit which started white at the bottom and gradually darkened to black at the top; and his hair, a deathly pale white.

The man took a few steps into the room and stopped, turning back to face the way he'd come. I cast my gaze back at the portcullis just in time to see a woman emerge from its shadow. She looked like a moving pillar of water, wearing a shimmering dress of vibrant blue. She approached the man and wrapped both of her arms around one of his, pressing herself against him. Even from where I was I could see that there was no fear in the action, she wasn't cowering behind him, it was a gesture of affection. The lack of fear began to seem strange to me when a hulking Death Stalker followed them into the room.

I gaped at the pair as they stood facing it calmly, with no traces of fear between them. The Death Stalker was huge, larger than the one we'd faced during our initiation. I almost leapt up and shouted for the two of them to run, but I froze as the Death Stalker stopped in front of them. It just stood there, facing them. It gazed straight into the man's eyes, and he brazenly met its gaze without even a tremor of fear. He was relaxed and nonchalant. I couldn't believe it, why was it not attacking them?

I watched on in shock as the man pulled himself out of the woman's grasp and patted the Death Stalker on the head. Is he mad? I thought. He'll be killed! But the Death Stalker just stood there, unmoving. The man turned to the woman and kissed her on the cheek.

"Take this one downstairs and put it with the others." A deep voice said. It had to be the man's voice. The woman and began to walk away, the Death Stalker following her calmly. "Then get yourself some rest," the man called to her. "We attack from the forest at dawn."

"Of course Myrka," The woman replied.

I watched the Death Stalker follow the woman for a few seconds before I realised the man was approaching to stairs that led to where Yang and I were hiding. I scooted back, terrified. I had no idea who this man was, but someone with that kind of power over Grimm was a power to be reckoned with. I looked around in a rush, searching for somewhere to hide. Yang grabbed me by the hand and pointed upwards. The web of rafters that supported the ceiling was well within jumping distance from where we were. I nodded to her and, with the help of a glyph cast on the floor, leapt upwards.

We swung into the rafters and began creeping along them. I thought over what the man had said as we made our way slowly towards the door we'd come in from. Attack from the forest at dawn? They couldn't attack Vale from the forest: they'd need to get into the city.

The only place they could attack directly from Forever Fall was Beacon.

We need to get back, I thought, increasing my pace. We need to warn them. I glanced behind me as I vaulted through a V-joint between two rafters. The man was studying the papers on the table intently. A chill shot up my spine as I realised we hadn't put the papers back. Some were still scattered on the floor. I ran even faster. We needed to get out before we were seen. He was bound to realise someone had been in here.

I leapt from the rafters, slowing my descent with a glyph, and rolled into the darkness of the tunnel we'd used to get here. Yang thundered into the ground before rocketing into the tunnel after me, shooting past me with a burst of speed. I heard a shout of rage echo through the room as I followed Yang down the tunnel. He'd seen us. He'd follow us. Or someone—something—would follow us.

Fear gave me speed as Yang and I fled down the tunnel. I couldn't hear any sounds of pursuit, but nor could I see anything. I ran as fast as I could and hoped I wouldn't knock into Yang.

I heard a distant snarl behind us and somehow ran faster. Something was finally coming after us, and it sounded like it was getting closer. All we could do was run, and hope we got out before it caught up.

I saw the light from the trapdoor coming around the corner at the same time as I felt a gust of wind swipe at my hair. Whatever was chasing us was right behind me!

Drawing Myrtenaster, I spun around and slashed wildly. The beast let out a roar as I cut into its hide.

"Run Yang!" I called out.

"Are you sure?" she shouted back.

"Get going!" I screamed as I readied myself to strike. "I'll be right behind you!"

I slowly retreated towards the exit. I kept my eyes on the darkness, but I couldn't see a thing. A claw flashed into the dim light, swiping viciously at my side. Myrtenaster rose to meet it and knocked the blow to the side. As the beast readied itself once more, I spun Myrtenaster's cylinder. I took another step back into the light and caught a glimpse of the monster's foot as it followed me. As soon as the Freeze Dust was loaded into the chamber I lunged forward, my foe swiping at me once again. The blow went over my head, my sudden lunge had been enough to avoid it, and I plunged Myrtenaster into the ground at the monster's feet. The Dust detonated and a thick wall of ice formed around it as I flipped away. The ice blocked off the entire tunnel, blocking all pursuit. I sheathed Myrtenaster as I turned to follow Yang out of the tunnel and into the light of day.