Author's note:

This chapter was pretty long, and I'd say it was pretty eventful. Tell me what you thought about all the action, and the way it ends. You know I like that.

In personal news, I just finished Mirai Nikki...

ouch.

Ruby didn't want to step on the rune in the first place, but seeing as it was the only real way out of the room she now found herself in, there was a good motivation to. She hated this room. It was full of bizarre, creepy things that made her feel uncomfortable. It didn't help at all that Naze's body was just sitting on the bed, not moving at all. She knew that Naze himself was going to be a whole lot creepier, but there was something about the body's glassy, unmoving eyes that made her feel on edge.

With a deep breath, she stepped with Yang into the circle, not sure whether she should squeeze her eyes shut or keep them peeled wide. Yang gave her a playful nudge with her elbow, but Ruby didn't feel like playing.

Yang saw how nervous her sister was, and put a hand on her back. "Hey, come on. Everything's going to be fine. I mean, we're going to have some of the strongest guards on the planet, and be with Naze himself. Basically nothing could touch us." Ruby sighed, and nodded her head. It was all true, she supposed, but she was still uncomfortable. She held Crescent Rose a little tighter, seeking the emotional support of her weapon.

Yang gave her back a rub, and said, "Alright, here we go." Again, Ruby braced herself, and for a brief moment the space around her seemed to stretch, compress, and jolt around all at once. She felt sick for a second, realized that she had closed her eyes, and picked them open carefully, dreading the prospect of what she might find.

Chilled winds brushed the sides of her face, assaulting her clothing, trying to find any breech it could to bite at her skin. She'd known that it would be cold, and prepared her aura to handle it. She felt glad when it appeared to work, keeping the heat of her body raveled inside of her. She looked around, and found herself on a grassy slope that climbed upwards with impressive speed.

Behind her, she heard Yang say, "Hey Naze! Hey guys, how's it going?" As soon as she said this, Ruby felt something creep down her back. She found herself almost paralyzed with fear, unwilling to turn around. She knew roughly what was behind her, but she didn't want to see it. Maybe there was some way to get through the whole mission without looking at them. It would be hard, but if she was careful, she might be able to do it.

Her hand was reaching up shakily towards her hood when she felt Yang's hand grab her shoulder and wheel her around. She did her best to shrink back, but her best was nowhere near good enough. Instead of being able to save herself the terror, she came in full visual contact with the undead.

Somehow, everything looked even worse than she had thought. Naze was a few feet behind Yang, hovering just off the ground, robes brushing the ground lightly with its frayed edges, and piercing blue eyes stabbing into Ruby's brain like daggers. She did her best to look away and, after a second, was able to pry her eyes away. What else she found around him wasn't much better.

Four of some of the most imposing looking warriors she had ever seen stood around Naze, all wearing obsidian black armor, and carrying weapons that seemed to glow with a thirst for blood. Each was almost a head and a half taller than Naze, even when he was floating. She couldn't tell much about the figures under the armor like sex or body type, it was all obscured by their thick plating. The one detail that she could see well was that all their eyes glowed with the same intensity as their weapons.

Ruby's body started to tense up, and she could feel herself start to sweat. Yang bent over, peaking at her sister's face, and growing more worried. "Ruby? Ruby, are you alright? Hey…" she snapped a few times in front of Ruby's face, and started to shake her when she didn't respond. "Ruby, what's wrong? Ruby!"

Ruby's eyes were still refusing to move, so when Naze made a motion with his hands, making a small, translucent field around him and his people, she could see it well. After he did this, Ruby felt the fear that attacked her mind start to fade. Her breathing slowed again, and she blinked a few times. "Y-Yang?" she brushed her sister's hands off and straightened back up, saying, "I think I'm good now, sorry. That was just…" her voice trailed off, and she found that she didn't quite have the words.

Naze spoke from behind them, saying, "Overwhelming. Yes, it is a common effect of excessive amounts of necromantic energy. I have created a ward to suppress it. You shouldn't feel it anymore." His voice was every bit as painful as she remembered it, but it had lost part of its supernatural edge. She nodded, and muttered a quiet thanks under her breath. They weren't outright terrifying now, but that didn't mean she didn't have a problem looking at them. Even with the magic suppressed, they made her every hair stand on edge.

She tried again to draw her hood up, and tried to change her train of thought. Instead of focusing on how intimidating they were, she could look at their weapons. That was always something that she could break the ice with. When she did break the ice, anyways. It had worked with Jaune.

She tried to get a good look at them, but found it difficult to do without looking right at the fighters. After a few second, she threw this concern to the wind, and simply looked. She was far too curious about what kind of weapons the soldiers of the dead used.

When she found out, she was slightly underwhelmed. One of the Knights had a massive bastard sword on its back, both ends sharpened to a razor's edge, and a thick, heavy middle of the blade to give each swing the approximate weight of a truck. That one was simple, but its effectiveness couldn't be denied.

The next one had some kind of spear weapon, but it didn't end in a normal spearhead. Instead, the thing splayed out in a flat, crescent shape, its opening outward facing. The blade was thin, and looked like it lacked weight, but Ruby got the feeling it didn't need to be. Every edge was curved elegantly, and the dark metal was polished to a shine. The more she looked at it, the more the opening of the crescent was about neck-sized. The other end of the long shaft bore a more traditional spearhead, though jagged and spiked. It also looked like it lacked weight. Ruby could imagine the kind of devastation something like that could do, if the wielder was skilled enough.

The next weapon was considerably less elegant, but far more simple. It was, as far as she could tell, a gladiolus, neat and plain. It was far larger than what a normal gladiolus would be, but its wielder was far larger than an average person. On its back appeared to be a large rectangular tower shield, which puzzled Ruby. She had never known someone fight with such a cumbersome shield. Jaune's was one of the largest she had seen.

The last warrior had something different than the others. Instead of melee weapons, it had what looked to Ruby like a very, very large bow strung across its back. After some brief size comparisons, Ruby determined that the bow was roughly twice size of her entire body, and probably much more heavy. The Knight that carried it had what seemed to be lighter armor than the others, allowing a wider range of movement and greater mobility. She didn't know how much that would mean, though, if they came into a battle.

A quiver of arrows strapped to its back also caught her attention, and she was surprised at how large they were. About her size in length, and constructed like harpoons. They looked like they'd weigh about the same as a small car, but Ruby was sure that the archer would have no trouble firing them.

When her brief inspection was complete, she noticed that Naze was doing something with his staff, a soft glow starting to emanate from its tip. Ruby felt apprehensive about what he was doing, and was about to ask Yang what was going on, when the ghost of her mother started to emerge from the light. Her heart instantly tried to jump out of her chest, and she would've followed it towards her mother, if she wasn't so close to Naze.

Instead, she simply said, "Mom!" Her voice reflected the excitement she felt well, but her mother didn't look happy in return. She only gave Ruby a sad smile, visibly trying to appear less melancholy, and said, "Hello, Ruby. Hello, Yang."

After she had greeted her children, she turned to Naze and said, "Well, we should get this done. There is no sense in waiting."

Naze nodded, and motioned towards the top of the mountain. The four Knights, Yang, and Summer all started moving almost at once, armor clinking as they did so. Summer tried to hold her head down, not wanting to look at the mountain that held her corpse. She hadn't expected to be overcome by emotions like this, but there was undoubtedly strong feelings connected to this place. Had she come here knowing that she would die? Yes, that sounded right, but she couldn't remember.

Her memory regarding everything that surrounded her death was foggy, and no matter how hard she tried to parse that fog, she came up with nothing. It was frustrating, and made no better by the fact that she knew why it had happened.

She should've remembered her death. It was important, and had a huge impact on her children. She hated to think about what their years had been like without her. She wanted to give her daughters everything she could. More than anything, she wanted to give her daughters a hug. To feel their warmth around her, and know that she was serving them again.

But then again, she might've already failed. Yang had died. She had tried to make Summer feel better about it, joking and insisting that she didn't think much of it, but the guilt Summer felt was unimaginable. Ruby was still alive, though, and that was something that Yang had made sure to drive home. Ruby, Summer's direct offspring, was still alive. She didn't like the way Yang had said it, it seemed to belittle herself for not being of Summer's blood. She didn't want there to be even the shadow of a doubt that she loved both of her children equally, and that who they had come from didn't make a single difference.

But they were barely children now. She could hardly believe that Ruby was fifteen years old. She knew that when people said "they grow up fast", they didn't mean dying, but death certainly didn't made the statement any less true.

She was a fine young girl, and Summer was proud. She should have been there for Ruby, but she wasn't. She only felt embarrassed that she had left her precious little girls without a mother for so long. It was an error that no mother should've ever made. She couldn't remember what brought her to this accursed mountain, or what had ended her here, but she was going to see some revenge. Even if it wasn't by her own hand, she was going to make sure that whatever monster, man or beast, wouldn't make any other mothers feel the same way.

It was several minutes before the grass started to give way to snow, and she heard Ruby start to shiver. She wanted to give her another cloak, but had none to spare. Her ghostly farm didn't really have clothing, which was strange.

The others, of course, bore no mind to the cold, herself included. She couldn't feel it. She dropped back behind the main group, and hovered next to Ruby, while Yang walked on her other side. Ruby looked at her, trying to walk through the trail of the larger footed individuals. "Hey Mom, what's up?"

Summer faltered at her daughter's voice. She had been about to ask her if she really wanted to be here, but she couldn't now. She couldn't ask her daughter to leave her side again. Summer shook her head, and said, "No, never mind. It's nothing important."

Ruby looked at Yang, a puzzled expression on her face, and Yang shrugged. Neither of them knew what was wrong with their mother, but they would do anything to help, if they could. They couldn't help if she didn't tell them what was the matter, though. She didn't seem to have any intention to, though, so they simply kept on walking. Hopefully she would get better once they got to her body.

It was a few more minutes before Yang spoke up, asking, "How long until we get there?" They had made quick progress up the mountain, but were quickly approaching the point where the thick layer of white clouds cut off the top of the mountain, leaving only an unfinished stump for their view.

Naze himself did not answer, but the Death Knight with the bow did, and Ruby found its voice almost as unpleasant as Naze's. "We are nearing the glacier. There is a pass nearby that will allow us to come down on top of the formation, and mine the corpse from the top. It is only ten minutes away." The voice was like a pile of old dry leaves being crushed beneath the treads of a tank, and made goose bumps run up and down Ruby's spine. Even with the barrier Naze held, it made Ruby shudder.

Summer tried once again to try and recall the events that had left her body frozen in a glacier. The flashback that she had seen gave her some detail, but not nearly enough to rekindle the memories that she knew slept in her head. She closed her eyes to think, tensing every particle of her ethereal body that she could in hopes of drawing it out.

Nothing happened. She simply viewed the flashback again and again in her mind, trying to grasp any new detail. The area around her was unfamiliar, the shadow that had blotted out the sun seemed too large for life, but still, nothing inside of her was stirred by the thought. She remembered being cold, but she could only assume that was because of the harsh mountain weather. She had never liked winter conditions, and high atop a mountain was about as close as one could get.

That might have had something to do with her death. But surely a charging glacier would announce itself in some way? It would rumble, or shake the earth, or do something of that nature. A glacier was supposed to be slow and not dangerous, not capable of killing a professional Huntress and several civilians in the blink of an eye.

Her heart fell as she thought of the civilians who had been lost. She had tried her best to save them, she was sure, but all her efforts had been in vain. Failed again, unfortunately. She had lost people before, she regretted to admit to herself. She shouldn't have. She should have tried harder. Every time, she should have given it her all. She'd always tried to, though, and sometimes things just didn't work out that way. Not every story had a happy ending, she supposed. Her gaze shifted to her side almost involuntarily at her daughter as she considered the kind of story she'd had so far. Not a happy one, to be sure, but her end had not yet come. There was still time for her life to become great. She would become a legend, and spit in the face of everything that had stood in her way. It was the least a girl as pure and sweet as her deserved.

Summer couldn't do anything to help her, though. Not directly, like she wanted. Yang had explained a few things to her on the way up, making clear a few of the ambiguous things that she had agreed to when working for Naze. She would have to perform her duty, then, when it was done, she would be dismissed unless she continued to serve a purpose. It had seemed unfair at first, to give someone their life again, then to take it away when they were done with their task. But Yang had explained it as Naze seemed to think about it, employing people for a job then firing them when the job was done. It made sense, she had to begrudgingly admit. She couldn't find it in herself to be angry about it.

Her thoughts then turned to how she might be able to stay around. What jobs did Naze need done that she could perform? He seemed to have plenty of fighters, and Summer had never been incredibly scholarly. If it was anything, it would be weapon forging, but she had seen the forges that Naze's company kept, and she would likely never be able to hold a candle to such a thing.

The thought had occurred to her that she could serve as an ambassador, in the same way that Yang did, but she didn't want to run the risk of possibly cutting the job out from under her daughter. If she were to replace Yang, and send her to the void in her place, she would never forgive herself.

She would just have to hope something else came up. She didn't want to leave them again. They didn't deserve that.

As the group passed over a hump in the imaginary path they had been following, Ruby, Yang, and Summer all stopped to look down at what was before them. The ground shifted downwards quickly, almost a vertical incline, didn't go all the way down the pass. Instead, the largest block of ice that they had ever seen sat blocking the way, twisted upwards in talon-like formations in some places, and opening up in vast crevices in others. Nothing was visible through the vast amount of deep blue ice. Ruby found the breath stolen from her chest, and the other two found their words stolen from their minds. There was nothing to say.

Naze and his Knights continued moving as if there was nothing out of the ordinary about the wonder they approached. The heavy armors and weapons continued to clink as they walked, reminding the three that they needed to keep moving.

A brutally cold wind whipped down from the clouds, carrying snow and fragments of ice with it. The eight of them looked up, noted the speed with which the wave of cold came, and started to brace for its impact, moving together tightly. Ruby started to worry. She was the only one who was going to be really affected by this, and she wasn't sure that her aura could save her from something like that. It had worked against the breeze and the altitude, but the wind seemed to be in another league.

The wind ran down the side of the mountain, snow and ice following after it, flowing like water across the surface of the mountain. Bare grew rock was exposed in its wake, and all could clearly see that it wasn't just going to cover the glacier, but reach them as well. Ruby started to count the seconds, trying to get a read on how exactly how quickly it was moving. At one, it was about a fourth of the way down from the peak. At two, it was three fourths of the way. At three, it seemed like a solid wall was moving at them, intent on hitting them like a train.

Yang, Summer, and Ruby all shouted out at once for Naze to do something, but he simply stood stock-still, like the ice had already consumed him. It was too cold for Ruby to feel most of her face, but she was sure that a few dribbles of water were coming out of her eyes.

Just as it seemed too late, Naze put his staff in front of him, and a light erupted from the top again. Ruby saw runes all along the side of the wood light up, dancing brilliantly, before the wave hit.

At first Ruby closed her eyes, certain that she was about to die. Then, as the deafening roar around her grew, and the sun was wiped away from the sky, she let them crack open. She was standing, or rather, sitting, just where she had been. She didn't remember falling, but that seemed of little importance now. Naze stood in the center of the small dome of ice that surrounded them, staff providing the brightest source of light other than the blue glow inside of him and the thirst of his Knights

Ruby let out a deep breath, and tried to get back to her feet. Her arms and legs were too shaky though, and she feel back to the ground, roar of the ice being replaced by the painful thumping of her heart. Her sister was quick to try and help her to her feet, putting her arm over her shoulder so that she could prop herself up. "Ruby, are you alright?"

She could hardly muster the air to answer, but she was able to give a weak thumbs up and say, "All good." Her tone made it somewhat clear that she wasn't good, but she was able to keep going. Nothing had done any real damage to her, other than to her nerves, so she would continue to push on.

Naze started to walk, still holding his staff aloft, and spoke as he did so. "This is but a minor setback. He will return to the surface of this avalanche, and I will freeze a path across if it prove necessary." Ruby followed behind, feeling anxious about being surrounded with so much snow. This anxiety was made worse when she noticed that the snow pushed aside by Naze as they walked was falling back down behind them. If Naze's spell stopped, it would mean all of them would be buried. Maybe that was a worse thing for her than it was for the others, though.

In the end, she tried simply not to think about it as she followed the lich, doing her best to stay as far away from him as possible while still staying inside of the bubble he had created. Yang and her mother stayed close to her, trying to keep her comforted, and it worked to a certain point. There was, however, a rumbling that seemed to be shaking the snow they walked on, and a distant sound that was almost a roar. It was high pitched, and pierced the layers of snow like they were nothing. Ruby didn't know of any kind of Grimm that could make a noise like that.

Naze's knights all looked in the general direction of the noise, but none said anything. Instead, Yang was he first to speak. "Another avalanche?" She asked, knowing that it was very unlikely.

Naze gave an awkward shrug and said, "Perhaps. We will only know once we reach the surface. I would suggest having your weapons ready."

The ominous warning was not ignored by his guard, as they all drew them with practiced ease, movements so smooth that Ruby could barely see them. She brought Crescent Rose from her back too, but upon realizing how cramped the conditions were, she decided against unfurling her weapon. The last thing that they needed was her scythe added to the mix when space was so short.

Ruby wanted to do something, but conditions were simply too cramped. She had never considered herself a claustrophobe, but the long shadows that danced along the floor and walls as they walked. Ruby could barely make out the shapes of her companions from the quivering shadows that they cast.

The incline they walked on started to grow, and Ruby hoped that they would reach the surface quickly. She was starting to feel like it was getting hard to breath, like the dome was closing around her. She didn't want to disturb the silence, but she wanted to ask whether or not there was air in the small alcove, or if she was starting to suffocate.

She drew in another sharp breath, feeling her chest grow tighter as another screech made its way through the snow, this time sounding distinctly closer. Her pace involuntarily quickened, which was good, because the others started to do so as well.

It was only about half a minute more of walking before the crackles and snaps of the ice they pushed their way through started to grow louder and sharper. Ruby got the sense that they were getting close to the surface, and desperately hoped that she was right. She didn't want to be buried in snow anymore. She was starting to shiver as well, making her wish that she had worn something a little heavier. Her aura had worked well up until they had been covered, but once they were down there, her focus had slipped from keeping it strong.

Ruby tried to bring her aura back up to full power, but it was difficult to do with her nerves in the state they were in.

"I just need to calm down." She whispered to herself. "Everything's going to be alright."

The cracking reached a new, higher volume, and Naze said without hesitation, "We're almost free. Keep an eye out when we are for anything out of the ordinary. This avalanche seems too convenient to be natural."

Ruby saw the Knights grip their weapons with a new sense of awareness, and Yang curled both her fists tightly, getting ready for battle. The creaking continued to rush up its crescendo, until finally Ruby could see a glimmer of daylight through the roof of the dome.

The ice broke away, and fell to the sides as the party exited the ocean of ice, and returned to its icy surface. Already, the snow along the top had solidified into a thick sheet, almost entirely flat. Ruby breathed a deep breath, and pulsed a small amount of her aura out, causing Crescent Rose to unfold. She immediately set about looking around, doing just as Naze had said and searching for anything that could be hostile.

There was nothing along the new plain that her been created, and the edges of the pass appeared to be clear of anything as well. There was nothing down the pass, towards the base of the mountain, and if there was it would have been covered in snow as well. The only place that she couldn't see was up the mountain. It was still obscured by slowly rolling clouds, but now its steep sides looked grey, most of the snow having been swept away. Ruby thought she could see tracks as well, almost embedded in the side of the mountain, but they stopped abruptly. They looked round and large, large enough to indicate a massive beast, but not deep enough to support that size. She did her best to formulate a mental picture of what such a thing would look like, but at the distance she was at, it was impossible.

It had to be a fluke, some natural phenomena having tricked her over-eager brain. They were little more than slightly discolored spots in the rock anyways. She tried to ignore them, and went back to observing the area around them for danger.

Eventually the group stopped, and Naze directed his attention to the snow and ice below his feet. "This is the place. I will begin removal. Stand guard."

His staff started to glow again, runes blazing in the cold, and a thin beam of what appeared to be pure, dancing light shot out from its tip, striking the snow. At first Ruby thought that he was marking the spot, but then realized that the beam appeared to leave nothing in its path. Where it passed over, a hole was left that Ruby couldn't see the bottom of.

She didn't get to marvel long however, because another scream ripped through the air, and everything started to shake. Yang's voice cried out, "Look!" and Ruby did.

It was odd at first to see a literal wave of ice approaching them, and even stranger when glimmers of what appeared to be a monster shone through small spots. The wave died as it lost its momentum, crashing into the ground and piling up around where the beast had broken the surface of the icy plain. Everyone turned and readied their weapons.

The ice fell, but a cloud of powdery snow was thrown into the air, obscuring a large amount of what lay before them. This didn't stop Naze's warriors however, who started to charge without a word. The fourth Knight, the one with the bow, stayed right where it was, though, drawing its bow and knocking a massive arrow.

Both Yang and Ruby hesitated, unsure of what to do. Both felt their mother draw closer to them, wanting to protect them, and speaking at the same time.

If Summer still had a brain, it would be on fire. Her memories came back like a knife through the skull, flooding her vision with the pain of the past. "That thing is what killed me! It froze me in the ice!"

She crowded close to her children in hopes that her incorporeal body would offer some resilience to the thing's power, and started to whisper to her kids, racking her brain for anything that would help. "If it rears up, run! That was the last thing I saw before being frozen! It can swim through the ice much faster than it moves on the surface. I don't remember very well, but I think it has an armored belly. You should be safe, and only strike at its vulnerable areas. Ruby, you stay at a distance. Yang, I'm afraid your punches won't do much, so maybe you should stay with Ruby."

Yang nodded, and stepped a little closer to her sister. "Can you hit it from here?"

Ruby gave Crescent Rose a spin, bringing its mighty blade down into the ice, and put her eye to the scope. The cloud was about two hundred yards away, well within her range, but she couldn't see her target yet. Through her scope she could also see Naze's Knights still charging.

As the particle cloud settled, and the Knights continued to get closer, she started to see the top of the thing. The first trait she paid attention to was its height. The distances made this difficult, but she estimated that one of the Knights, about a normal man and a half tall, would be about half a man shorter than the beast. This meant that it wasn't too massive, but she still didn't know the thing's width or length.

The snow settled further, and the top of the creature rose above what was left, examining the Knights. Ruby was slightly taken aback by its appearance. It didn't appear to be any kind of Grimm she had ever seen, with an icy blue outer layer instead of the characteristic black hide and bone plates that all Grimm shared.

A large circular mouth took up the entirety of the creature's wormlike head, with numerous tongues, graspers, and teeth all writhing nonstop at the air. Four uncomfortably large eyes sat on the top rim of the creature's mouth, darting around at everything they could find, swiveling full three hundred sixty degree journeys in their loose sockets. They looked like eggs gone bad, a sickly dark yolk that expanded and contracted inside a mucus colored white. Its attention seemed to be primarily on the approaching Knights, as two of the four eyes were always on them at any time, although those eyes often changed.

Its outermost layer appeared to be a tough sheet of jagged ice, combined with a layer of thick slime that stuck to everything the worm touched. The thing's mouth was about the size of one of the Knights. More than enough to swallow a regular human whole.

Its head was only visible for a few seconds before it seemed to lunge forward like a snake, and its eyes seemed almost to bulge out of its head, before a smoking gas spewed from its mouth, and engulfed the Death Knights. The emission only lasted half a second, so the gas didn't do much to obfuscate her view. When it cleared, though, she found that the Knights had nearly been frozen. They had slowed considerably, with ice breaking and falling off their armor in large chunks. Apparently whatever the beast used wasn't terribly effective on them.

The archer next to Ruby let his arrow fly. The snap of the bowstring sounded like a steel cable breaking, but it was obviously effective. The massive arrow few towards its target, and sailed directly into its mouth. The worm's eyes widened again, and it reeled back, making another series of pained wailing and screeching noises.

Ruby put her focus back into the crosshairs of the scope, wanting to make her hit as accurate as possible. Her mother had said to aim for the thing's vulnerable spots, but all she saw that fit the description was its mouth and eyes. She would have to be very accurate to hit the eyes, but she was sure that if she focused, she could make the shot.

Her fingers tightened around Crescent Rose, and she drew in a deep breath. The worm was still shaking its head too much. If it would stop for just one second…

She had thought that the thing had fully extended itself to breath its gas onto the Death Knights, so when it wriggled forward, and the sound of more ice being torn asunder echoed across the flat, she was surprised.

Her eye came off of the scope, abandoning the possibility of making the shot. Chances weren't good anyways, now it was almost impossible. She wanted to observe the thing's motions, and see if there were any other points she could take advantage of. As it wriggled, she saw that there were numerous lines of small grasper-like hair things poking through the ice that covered it. Each one was about the size of Ruby's head, and it gave her the creeps just to look at. That wouldn't help her much, though. She noted that its body looked segmented, just like a normal worm. She wished she knew whether or not worms actually had heads on either end like she had always heard.

The thing's other end erupted violently out of the hole, and it used its weight to fling itself across the ice. In any other circumstance, Ruby might've laughed at how ridiculous the thing looked. Here it was, a giant worm, sending itself spinning across ice with no control over its direction. For half a second, Ruby thought the thing had given up.

Then she took another notice of the ice spikes that adorned its whole body, and the speed at which it was moving. It would be more than enough to impale someone. Ruby felt the faint hope that the Death Knight's armor was as denser than in looked, because they were going to need it. Her eye went back to the scope, and she tried frantically to line up the shot. If she could cause it pain, maybe it would wind up again, stopping its attack, or maybe even retreat. That was the best case scenario.

Its head was facing away from her as it spiraled across the ice, and she noted dryly that she had right, it did only have one head. As it came back around for what would probably be its final spin before making contact, she let the air flow out of her chest, and her finger tightened around the trigger.

Crescent Rose jumped against her shoulder like it was trying to knock her down, but she had made sure that she was ready for the kick. The Dust-infused round tore through the air, leaving a bright streak in the air behind it. Ruby felt a brief moment of tension as her eyes followed behind the bullet, hoping that her aim had proved true.

The rightmost of the creature's eyes burst like an overfilled water balloon, and it let out another loud wail as it flailed its body again, quickly trying to regain control of its movement. Its flailing removed it from the path of most of the Death Knights, but one was still directly in its path. Ruby tried to get a good look, and found that it was the Knight with the shield. It had it raised in front of them, no longer running and only bracing for the attack.

Ruby watched with bated breath, taking her eye from the scope as the two forces collided. Spines of hardened ice and thick slime slammed into hard metal, splintering on impact and sending shards everywhere. The Knight was likely very heavy, but not enough to absorb all of the kinetic force that the spinning worm had behind its body. As a result it was knocked back, moving a whole twenty feet before its boots dug into the ice enough to stop it.

By the time it did, the worm was already writhing again, but this time was obviously not trying to fling itself again. Ruby watched for a few seconds, bewildered, before she realized what it was doing. The worm's body slammed down on the ice all at once, and it started to push its head against the ice with all the strength. The ice started to crack, and started to penetrate the ground. The rest of its body followed almost faster than Ruby could understand, and before she was entirely sure what she had seen, the worm had disappeared back under the ice.

The ground started to shake again, and Ruby looked over to Naze. She didn't know what he wanted done now. They couldn't fight an enemy they couldn't reach.

Instead of giving some kind of command, Naze simply turned back to his hole and continued to extract the corpse of her mother. Ruby was about to shout out to him, asking for instruction, but before she could, the archer Knight beside her said, "Worry not, child. He will give command when we need it. Simply continue what you have been doing. It was a good shot, and you've definitely angered the beast."

Ruby let out a heavy breath and shook her head slightly, saying, "Yeah, I don't know if that's a good thing, though."

The Knight gave a raspy chuckle. "Perhaps not. I would not worry, though. This beast does not seem particularly intelligent, but do not underestimate it. Stay on guard, like my brothers over there. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that it comes for either me or you now. Best to not allow it any advantage."

Yang spoke sarcastically, "You know, beyond the fact that it can move through the ground like its water. That's no big deal, right?"

The Knight gave a small laugh again, and knocked another massive arrow. "Indeed, young dead. A power that fades in comparison to our mastery and attrition. My friend down there-" he indicated the Death Knight who had been knocked back "-was not harmed at all, in function, by attack he bore. Even if one of us was to be consumed by this creature, it would only give us advantage. From the inside, it would be easy to destroy it."

The ground gave another mighty shake, and the sound of cracking started to ring out in the cold air. All conversation died, and the undead Knight seemed to spread his stance, readying himself for anything. Ruby and Yang did the same, their mother once again coiling closely around them, trying to keep her eyes out for the monster as well.

The three of the corporeal fighters made ready, and waited tensely. One second passed, then two, then ten. Still, nothing happened, and the ground continued to shake. Ruby's eyes darted back to Naze, and she wondered if he was going to offer any help during the fight. Surely he could dispose of the monster in an instant.

But he appeared focused on slicing through the ice. Ruby supposed that she wanted her mother back as soon as possible, but the monster was frightening.

An explosion of ice and force knocked Ruby off of her feet without warning. She was just able to keep ahold on Crescent Rose, but this meant sacrificing her control over her trip through the air. When she hit the ground again, she felt the wind knocked out of her lungs, but her fingers tightened around her weapon.

The cracks and sounds of the ice melded with the beast's scream, and Ruby found that it caused a stabbing pain in her ears. She didn't put her hands to her head, though, or even try to stop the pain. She had felt worse, and she wasn't going to let this keep her down.

Her face lifted off of the ice, and she got back to her feet. She was going to slay this creature. She was going to avenge her mother's death. And she was going to become a hero. It had always been her dream, and now she was going to make it her life.

Ruby's vision flicked to both her sister and the Death Knight that had been with them, and saw that both had been flung back in the same way she had been. Yang had been thrown farther, and was sprinting to regain ground, whereas the Knight's armor had brought him to the ground closer. He had already knocked an arrow to replace the one he had lost, and fired it just as Ruby started to charge.

Her cape flared up behind her, and rose petals filled her trail as she raced towards her target. She heard her mother's voice again in her ears, urging her to turn back, and to retreat to a safer distance, but she wouldn't. She had to do this. She would show everyone what she could do.

Less snow was thrown up from the worm's emergence this time than the last, which was good, because it allowed Ruby to keep a visual on the worm the entire time she approached. She let Crescent Rose hover over her head, tightening her grip around the weapon as she went, readying her body to impact the monster. In her mind, her thoughts came to a climax, ignoring the sensory data that she didn't need.

The monster's foul smell, the loud noises that surrounded its base, and the bitter cold all fell against Ruby's brain, dead. None of it mattered.

Crescent Rose's blade slammed into the icy shell on the creature's exterior, and she felt mild surprise that it offered more resistance than she had thought it would. Her scythe still penetrated the ice, though, and when Ruby felt her attack start to slow in the thick armor, she pulled the trigger.

Crescent Rose jolted forward with a new life, and broke free of the beast's coating, taking a large chunk of ice with it. Ruby allowed her body to slow again, and shifted the weight of her weapon to keep herself from falling over.

The chunk fell, and shattered on the ground as Ruby slid to a stop, immediately setting herself up to strike at the worm again. Before she could launch into a second attack at its now exposed area of black flesh, her senses returned to her, and she looked up, realizing that its head had tracked with her the whole time.

With a speed that surprised Ruby, the worm's head plummeted towards her, and she saw into the churning mass of teeth and grabbers. It was too dark to see anything further, but she could hear more vile organs churning away at their no doubt revolting tasks. For an instant she had thought she had made a grievous error, and was about to join her sister and mother in death. This proved to be wrong, though, when again she heard the massive twang of the undead Knight's bowstring again, and before she knew it, a massive jerk to the side threw her out of the path of the worm.

She was confused at first, thinking that she had been shot. Her mind slowed to a crawl as her body slammed into the ice again, asking herself softly, "Why did he shoot me?"

It took several seconds for her to look down, and see the huge metal spike embedded into the ice, pinning her hood down. It was a one in a million shot for any living archer, but she didn't know how the odds worked out for a dead one. She likely wanted to keep it that way as well. She pulled against the spike as best she could, trying to free herself, but found that it wasn't going to be easy to get out. It didn't seem that the arrow had actually penetrated the fabric, but rather simply pushed it down into the ice. She chalked that little miracle up to the magic Naze had given the cape, and tried again to pull herself free.

Unfortunately, the worm's attention had not faded from her. It picked its head off of the ice again, and swiveled towards her again, intending not to miss this time. Ruby's eyes widened as she realized that she wouldn't be able to escape this time, and she pulled even harder on the cape than before. She had to give Naze credit, the thing was certainly very durable. She didn't know if it was going to save her life or end it, though.

A roar rang out over the worms sounds, and Yang slammed a fiery metal fist into the worm's exposed flesh, causing its mucus-like covering to boil, and the flesh beneath to spit and hiss as fat was burned off. The worm's body flailed, and it unleashed another screech as Yang pushed her fist deeper into the thing's body, screaming out curses and threats about what she would do if the creature tried to hurt her sister again.

Ruby watched for a moment, a smile working its way across her face, before she returned her efforts to freeing herself as fast as she could. It was possible that she take the hood off, but she hated to do that, even under normal circumstances. It was the only thing that she felt really protected her, and kept her connected with her mother. Though, now that she thought about it, her mother was only a short distance away, and was about to be returned to her body. She tried to convince herself to take the thing off. It wouldn't be damaged anyways. She could come back after the worm was dead, and take the thing back.

Her hands were shaking, but she undid the clasp around her neck, and freed herself, standing up to fight again. The cold bit at her exposed skin more harshly, but she felt like she drew some strength from its absence as well. It made her want to kill the thing even more. It was because of it that she couldn't wear her hood now.

She brought Crescent Rose up, readying herself to attack again. Yang's fists might be good for distractions, but a larger weapon was what was needed to take it down. The blade of Crescent Rose would do a much better job of killing the monster.

She got a good grip on her scythe and fired it again, using the force of the shot to send herself flying towards her target. As she practically flew, she shouted to her sister, "Yang, get out of the way!"

The blonde looked up just a few brief seconds before Ruby was within striking distance, and peeled her fist off of the worm, diving to the side and rolling to catch herself. As she did this, the blade of Crescent Rose whooshed over her head, and would've sliced a large lock of hair off if she had been a few inches higher.

Crescent Rose slammed into the beast's exposed burned and blistered hide, and Ruby could only hope that she had hit something vital as the worm let another harsh screech escape its hideous mouth. Ruby's feet touched the ground again, and she dug them in as best she could, putting all of her somewhat meager weight into pushing the blade deeper in. She wanted to get every bit of damage she could out of the strike. The blade slid a few inches deeper, and the twang of the Death Knight's bow rang out again, followed almost immediately by another Ruby-sized arrow finding its way into the worm's mouth again.

It screeched and squirmed, but Ruby knew that it wouldn't be able to retreat if she kept Crescent Rose in it. If it did, she would be able to split it like a sausage, with one deadly slice. If it didn't, though, she would just continue standing there, and be vulnerable for attack.

The worm reared its head back again, and seemed to try and angle its head at as good of an angle as it could manage to get Ruby into its hole. She looked up at it, her eyes widening. Maybe staying embedded in its side wasn't the best idea. She was sure that she felt more annoying than a simple thorn in the side. And besides, the thing's ooze was starting to leak onto Crescent Rose, and Ruby didn't want it to stain the blade or anything. She would have to do the most damage she could, though. And she knew the perfect way to do it.

She pulled the trigger, and the kickback of the high-powered sniper rifle caused Crescent Rose to do its best to jump out of the worm's flesh. Blood started to fly as both the blade started to mutilate what it could, and the bullets pounded into remaining flesh. It was after about the fourth shot that Ruby broke through some kind of internal membrane, and things started to spill out of the new hole.

The first thing to come free was Crescent Rose, and Ruby was quick to leap back from the wound to avoid the spillage. The second thing to come from the dark hole was a torrent of the same effluvial slime that coated its body. It spilled out onto the ice, and was followed quickly by what looked like some kind of digestive tract. Several long strands of the tract flopped out onto the ice, a gross wet sound accompanying it, like a wet fish hitting a wood block.

Another twang from the bow came, and Ruby took another instinctual step away from the work, not wanting to be hit again. Instead, the arrow slammed into the exposed organs, essentially nailing them to the ice.

Ruby smiled, knowing that her enemy's escape had been cut off. The only way it was running away was if it disemboweled itself.

The worm screeched again and seemed to give up targeting Ruby, looking towards the archer instead. Heavy footsteps approached from behind Ruby, and she turned to find the Death Knights returning, large pieces of ice still falling from their armor as they ran with heavy steps. Their weapons were bared, and their eyes burned with a fury that made Ruby nervous just to see. They charged wordlessly, and when they passed Ruby, they set into the worm like it was nothing but a fleshy punching bag.

The Knight with the bastard sword was the first to hit his target, and the massive edge split the rip wider open, the edges of the cut starting to turn black. A second later, the crescent-bladed spear was rammed in, slicing easily through the exposed organs. Its glow illuminated the inside of the beast, and the sight of the disgusting colors made Ruby sick. Those colors seemed to sour the longer the blade was touching them, though, and organs hit directly started to rot.

The final Death Knight opted to make a new opening, slashing across the opposite side of the worm with his gladiolus. The sound of ice shattering, muscle tendon snapping, and hide splitting drowned out the sound of the worm's screech entirely. With its now damaged musculature, it was impossible for the thing to hold its own weight up, and it collapsed to the ice, breaking a wide dent in the sheet of ice on which they fought.

To Ruby's surprise, the Death Knights did not move in for the kill. Instead, they backed off, seeming to wait for something. Ruby looked around, puzzled, before deciding that if they weren't going to finish it off, she would. She took a few sprinting steps towards the worm, then leaped off of the ground, and on to its side. The worm wasn't totally immobilized, but Ruby started at where it emerged from the ice, working her way towards its head. It shifted weakly under her feet, but she gave a wicked smile, knowing that it couldn't escape.

As she ran, she delivered a series of ferocious strikes with Crescent Rose, knocking ice aside and cleaving the flesh beneath. Her aura gave Crescent Rose the strength to destroy the natural armor, and she did her best to maim the creature.

She struck once about every two steps, and was able to get in around thirty strikes before reaching the thing's head. Sweat started to accumulate on her face, steaming in the frigid air, but she didn't care. When she reached the end of the beast, she jumped off, and turned in midair to face the great gaping hole that was its mouth. From the angle she was at, she could see much further into its innards than before, and noted a large, pulsing organ almost passed the curve that indicated where its body returned to the ice.

Without a second of thought, Ruby brought Crescent Rose up, and fired directly at the organ. The kick of the shot flung her backwards, but she was able to land perfectly.

As if knowing that its life was at an end, the worm gave a sad wail, and its body seemed to loosen as a huge amount of dark blood, the same that all kinds of Grimm had, started to leak from every orifice in its ice.

Ruby breathed a sigh of relief, letting her weapon hand limply at her side, and turning back to face Naze. She was about to ask something about being done, when Yang's voice cut through the silence. "Ruby, watch out!"

She turned back to the worm, and found a huge cloud of the same gas that had frozen the Death Knights rolling towards her, released by the creature's death. She was too close to the mouth to get away, and the gas moved too quickly to allow her time to think.

Before anything else could happen, a deep roiling sound of fire consuming air grew behind her, and what looked like a flaming sphere flew from over Ruby's shoulder, hitting what little room there was between her and the cloud.

The next thing that Ruby was aware of was that she was on her back, and a faint smell of smoke filled the air. She shook her head, deciding that she must've blacked out, and picked herself up.

Ice wasn't flammable. Or at least, ice wasn't supposed to be flammable. That didn't seem to discourage the roaring inferno that had engulfed the worm, though. The flame stuck to the ice like napalm, boiling the armor away and reducing the flesh beneath to ash. The gas was gone, and Ruby turned, finding Yang approaching to help her.

A hand went to Ruby's head involuntarily as a stab of pain penetrated her skull, and she immediately felt dizzy. Yang hurried her last few steps, and caught her sister before she could fall back down. "Whoa Ruby, come on, you can stand up."

Ruby hadn't noticed at first, but Yang had her cape in her hands, and was in the process of returning it to its rightful place. This made Ruby happy, and she said, "Thanks. How long was I out?"

"A few minutes." Yang shrugged, as if to indicate that not much had happened. "There is something that I want you to see, though. Come over here." She put a hand on Ruby's back and started to usher her forwards.

Ruby went along with it, and when she came into view of what Yang wanted her to see, tears filled her eyes, and she moved faster than Yang could stop. Her arms wrapped around the woman, and she nuzzled her head into the crook of their neck, saying weakly, "Mom…"