Breathe Chapter 9: Last Stop (Patreon)

I sat at the edge of the bed, tying my shoelaces while Maria double checked our bags, ensuring that we hadn’t forgotten anything. The weather had been clear for a few days now and our stay on the Pines farm had come to an end.

“Alright, it seems everything’s here,” Maria announced.

Nodding, I stood up and grabbed the bags, flinging them over my shoulder. We slowly made our way outside where June and Oscar were already waiting. I was going to miss this place.  It was here that I got used to talking to other people again, did a little farming of both the stats and plant variety, killed a Death Stalker and mastered Total Concentration Constant.

“So, this is it then,” June said as we stepped outside.

“Yep. The weathers cleared up and the two of us have got to get going..”

June nodded in understanding. “Wait here for a moment, I’ve got something for both of you,” She said, before walking inside, leaving us with Oscar.

“Sooo,” I began.

“Do you have to leave?” Oscar asked suddenly.

“Yeah,” I replied. “We do.”

“But… why? Can’t you just stay here? There is plenty of Grimm in the woods… I mean, there was plenty of Grimm. You’re still training, can’t you do it here?”

“Oscar,” I said calmly while placing a hand on his shoulder. “As much as I want to stay, I can’t. There are these… things that I want to do out there. Powerful Grimm that I have to fight and… people that I want to protect.” Oscar was included in that last point. Once Ozpin dies, Oscar become his host and gets dragged into the clusterfuck of a secret war that pretty much amounted to a messy divorce between two immortals.

Oscar was my last ditch effort of giving Remnant a shot at surviving should I fail. The longer I was able to keep things together and Ozpin alive, the longer Oscar got to live a relatively normal life here on the farm.

“But this isn’t going to be the last time we see each other,” I comforted him. “I mean, we’re probably going to be heading around all of Mistral in the future, so we could come and visit.”

“So you’ll come back then?”

“I don’t see why we wouldn’t,” Maria answered.

Oscar stood more confidently with that. The front door to the farm house swung open and out walked June, carrying a small sack that she quickly handed to Maria.

“For your travels,” June explained.

“Sandwiches,” Maria noted as she looked in the sack. “You didn’t have to do that, but... Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” June smiled.

We all fell silent. We’d all said everything we needed and it was now time for Maria and I to move on. A large part of me really didn’t want to go, but rather stay. It felt safe here, there was plenty to do around the farm and there was a plethora of books in the house.

…Only, it wouldn’t last. Sooner or later, Salem and her minions were going to make a move and fuck the world up. I needed to be out there, growing stronger if I wanted to stop them.

We said our goodbyes and finally left the farm, waving as we did, walking down the long dirt road.

“You know,” Maria began. “We could have stayed if you wanted to. Heck, it might have been better if we did. You could have completed your training here and stayed on as a Huntsman that protected this area. It would have been much safer too.”

“Did you want to stay?”

“I wouldn’t have been opposed to it,” Maria shrugged. “But ultimately, I’m going to go along with whatever decision you make… so long as it’s legal, wait, no that sounds wrong… Let me rephrase that… So long as it’s morally acceptable.”

“I… would have liked to stay,” I admitted. “But, I don’t think that would have been the right thing for me to do.”

“The life of a Huntsman is a dangerous one,” Maria sighed. “And it normally ends in a gruesome death. Very few reach old age and those that do are often crippled in some form.”

Like she had been when she was younger.

“I know, but I’m not backing down,” I replied. “I’ve made up my mind and I’m not going to stop now.”

Maria remained silent for several moments before letting out a long breath. “Youth these day, always so eager to race head first into danger. Well, if that’s the way you feel about it and I can’t dissuade you, then I have no business complaining.”

Launching herself into the air, Maria landed on my back pack once more.

“Again?”

“Well what did you expect?” Maria asked. “Do you really think I was going to walk all the way to Argus when I could just have my apprentice to do that for me?”

I rolled my eyes. I swear, one moment we were having a deep conversation with me and the next she’s all cheery.

“Now,” Maria began. “What do you say we speed this up? I want to be in Argus sometime this week. The earlier the better.”

…Breathe…

Several hours had passed and I’d already made great progress in reaching Argus, having traveled just over half the way there. Mastering Constant hadn’t only increased my base speed, but allowed me to spam Sun Breathing: Flash to a higher degree without fear of exhausting myself.

Four seconds, that’s all it took for me to fully recover the Aura spent using a single Flash step while having my Aura activated. I could have halved the travel time, by simply using it over and over again… Mind you, Maria hadn’t exactly been pleased with the sudden explosion of speed, deceleration and then sudden burst of speed in such rapid succession.

She’d quickly gotten motion sick and told me to pick a speed. Sadly, the only speed that I could maintain was my base speed, which was fast enough on its own, it wasn’t going to be fast enough to reach Argus before night time.

 Maria tapped me on the shoulder, before gesturing to something in the distance and again for me to slow down. She let out a relieved sigh once I came to a stop and jumped down onto shaky legs.

“What’s going on?”

“There’s a town up ahead,” Maria replied. “It’s going to get dark soon, so we’re going to stop there for the night.”

Ah, so she didn’t want to seem like a crazy person that was using me as a mode of transport. She’d done the same thing when we’d first arrived at Gray Bluff, so I was familiar with the process.

“You think that they’ll think we’re bandits too?” I asked.

“Maybe,” Maria shrugged. “But we won’t find out by standing around here.”

We slowed our pace and approached the town… only, this one was different. Back in Gray Bluff, there had been an atmosphere of life. People happily chatted with one another and everyone headed to the local bar.

This town on the other hand… It was silent. There were no people running in the streets, no talking, no nothing. It looked as if people hadn’t been here for quite some time. As we got closer, I found myself looking at a sign above the gate on the town border and felt a cold chill run down my spine.

“Brunswick Farms,” I muttered. I recognized that name. It was a town that team RWBY along with Qrow and Ozpin stopped in before arriving at Argus. A town filled with the bodies of people who had collectively lost the will to go on due to the hoard of Apathy that were living in the tunnels.

“With a name like that, it’s no wonder why there aren’t many people around,” Maria joked as we entered the town.

“Yeah,” I half heartedly agreed, wondering what I should do. On one hand, I should probably warn Maria that there are Apathy around, but then she would wonder how I knew, which may lead to some uncomfortable questions. No, my best option right now was to lead her into realizing what happened here.

Like the last time, we headed towards the bar in order to meet the locals, except there weren’t any here. We continued on to check several more public places, before we came to a stop.

“Maybe we should check the houses,” I suggested.

“That might be a good idea,” Maria nodded, before letting out a loud yawn. “The town seems abandoned, but it doesn’t make sense. There isn’t any damage to suggest a Grimm or bandit attack and everything’s in its proper place, so it’s not like the residents just decided to leave.”

“Does that happen often?” I asked while we made our way towards one of the houses. “Can an entire town just be abandoned?”

“Sometimes,” Maria replied. “But there’s normally more of a mess as people rush to take their things with them.”

We continued onto the house. One of the shutters slammed shut as a breeze blew by. Standing at the door, I took a quick breath before opening it and entered, already knowing what I was going to find inside.

Maria searched the down stairs area, calling out for anyone to respond while I walked up stairs, heading towards the bedroom.

The door creaked open and I peeked in.

There were a pair of bodies resting in the bed, they’d been preserved by the cold climate, but not fully. Their eyes were sunken and skin tight and blackened, but other than the clear signs of death, they seemed… peaceful.

“Maria,” I called out. “I found the owners of this house… They’re dead!”

“What?” Maria yelled back. After several creaking footsteps up the stairs, Maria came to a stop next to me, Seeing the bodies for herself. “Oh.”

“Any idea on what could have done this?”

“It’s… hard to say,” Maria replied, moving closer to examine the bodies. “It could have been anything really. A sickness that claimed them in their sleep… They could have eaten something poisonous… A cold storm could have blown by and they could have frozen to death.”

I shook my head and stepped closer. “I don’t think it’s any of those. These people died peacefully at the exact same time. If it was sickness or poison, then there would have been… vomit… on the pillows and the floor… And if they froze to death, they would have been huddled up together to keep warm.”

“You’re right,” Maria said, before letting out another yawn.

“These people died peacefully in their sleep, so what kind of Grimm could have done something like this?”

“Grimm,” Maria hummed. Lifting the blanket, there were no signs of damage to the body. “I’m not sure. I can’t see any wounds that would have killed these people.”

Alright. Maria was heading in the right direction, but she was still focused on some kind of physical attack.

“Is there any kind of Grimm that doesn’t attack you physically, but mentally. Something that… drained the energy out of these people?” I asked. If Maria didn’t figure it out from that, then I don’t know what I could say outside of just saying it was an Apathy.

Maria let out another yawn and the shutters on her goggles briefly closed, before snapping open. “Apathy!”

She figured it out. That was good. Now all we had to do was for us to go and kill the Apathy hoard under the town.

“Alright, so it was an Apathy Grimm that killed these people. Now, what does it look like and how do we kill it?”

“We don’t,” Maria said gravely. “They drain a person’s will to go on and need to be taken out from a range. We’re not prepared for this type of Grimm. We need to leave, now!”

I followed behind Maria as she rushed down the stairs and quickly exited the building. She looked upward and cursed when she saw how low the sun had become. We didn’t know where the next town was and the climate was colder up here. If we left now, we would likely end up standing in the middle of nowhere in the dark of night without any shelter from the elements.

“The sun will be setting in an hour. We’re going to have to spend the night here,” I noted. “Is there anything that we could do to prevent ourselves from ending up like the couple upstairs?”

“Besides not being here,” Maria muttered. “We’re going to have to stay awake. Apathy drain your will to go on, but it can be somewhat combated if you’re consciously aware of it.”

Good to know. “Then let’s go set up camp in front of the fireplace. It’ll be just like it was back in your cabin.”

“Yeah,” Maria nodded slowly. “Except this time, neither of us will be getting any sleep.”

While not ideal, a little sleep deprivation is far from the worst thing that could be happening.

After searching the house, ensuring that there weren’t any Grimm squirreled away, we barricaded ourselves in the hearth by using a flipped table as a make shift wall and blocking all entry and exit points for the house.

We both sat in front of the fireplace for warmth. The weather had lost its hold on me, but not Maria.

“I’ll go fetch us some blankets,” I said as I attempted to stand up, only to find Maria gripping my shoulder, preventing me.

“That’s not such a good idea,” Maria hummed, before releasing my shoulder. “Apathy are dangerous because of their ability. It gets you while you’re vulnerable and you’re at your most vulnerable when you’re asleep. Right now, comfort is the enemy.”

“Is there any way to… lessen the effect an Apathy has on a person?” I asked. I know they were weak and slow, but surely there were other ways to combat their ability.

“None that I know of,” Maria shook her head. “I’ve only faced an Apathy a few times in the past and each time it was at a range where I didn’t have to worry about their ability. The Apathy drain a person’s will to go on, so I suppose that a person that has the right Semblance could potentially counteract them.”

I wondered what type of semblance that would be. Maybe one like Ren’s that masked his emotions from Grimm or a berserker Semblance that threw a person into a fiery rage.

“So… these Apathy, anything you could tell me about them?” I asked. “What they look like, their weak spots, how they fight.”

The room grew quiet with the exception of the crackling fire and the breeze outside.

“Are you seriously interested in fighting them after seeing what they’ve done to this town?”

“Kind of,” I nodded. I was bound to run into an Apathy sooner or later and while what happened here was horrible, this was a great chance for me to face them in a more or less controlled environment. “I at least want to experience what their ability feels like.”

Maria took a deep breath. “Assuming that there are none around the house in the morning, we can go looking for them, but we’re not going to be fighting them, only looking.”

“Got it,” I replied, trying to keep the enthusiasm out of my tone.

“Damn crazy kid,” Maria shook her head. Pulling her back to the side, Maria reached in and ruffled around for a few moments before pulling out a small rectangular box, which she opened, revealing a pack of cards. “Now, seeing as we’re going to be sitting here for a while, why don’t we play a game to pass the time?”

“Sure,” I shrugged. It’d been a long while since I played a game of cards. I wasn’t exactly sure of what games they had on Remnant, but I was interested in learning.

“Why don’t you get the sandwiches June packed us out so long? We can warm them by the fire while I teach you one of my favorite games,” Maria said, rapidly shuffling the cards.

…Breathe…

“Bullshit,” Maria smiled as she handed me the pack and placed her final card down.

We’d ended up playing throughout the entire night. Initially, she’d shown me her favorite card game, which had been a variation of poker where we played with a few more cards than usual.

As the night had gone on, we’d played several other card games, some that she had suggested and some that I did. I quickly learned that playing any card game against Maria was a fool’s errand as the number of times I’d actually beaten her could be counted on one hand with fingers to spare.

The only time she’d ever lost was when I taught her a game that she didn’t know, but only the first time. Afterwards, she’d picked up the rules and soundly beaten me… In fact, the only game that I stood any single chance at had been Crazy 8’s, having won a resounding three times out of five games.

“You know, I think this might be my new favorite game. It’s easy, quick, to the point and you need to be skilled at reading people,” Maria hummed. “Who would have known that a game called Bullshit could be fun.”

“Yeah, who knew,” I said, needing to forcefully keep the muscle beneath my eye from twitching.

Daylight began to filter in through the barricade and I felt a sense of relief… not at the fact that we would soon be leaving a town that had a hoard of will draining monsters underneath it, but that I wouldn’t have to be beaten in another card game.

“Well,” Maria stretched and let out a yawn. “I suppose that we should get going. its morning, and we’ve got a lot of distance to travel today.”

“And seeing the Apathy, right?”

“That too,” Maria nodded. “Although, I’m not quite sure that it is an Apathy Grimm. We didn’t really feel its effects last night. If an Apathy did kill these people, then my guess is that it’s long gone.”

“Well, if that’s the case, then there shouldn’t be any issue in taking a look around,” I replied.

“I did say that we could do that,” Maria agreed. “But just because I don’t think it was an Apathy, doesn’t mean that you can be reckless. There are still a number of dangerous things that could have killed this town. We’re still going to be cautious about this.”

…Breathe…

And cautious we were. Once we had finished breakfast, Maria and I had gone to search the rest of the town and what we’d found was equal parts interesting as it was horrifying.

Everyone was dead, that much I already knew, but no one had died violently. It was almost as if they’d all just fallen asleep and it wasn’t just confined to the bedroom.

Some bodies were seated around a table, about to have dinner while others were curled up on their couches, there was even a body slumped in a bath, the water long having run dry. The one thing all the bodies had in common was that it appeared that everyone just decided to go to sleep wherever they were.

It hadn’t been sudden, it hadn’t been violent. Everyone just moved into a comfortable position and dozed off, never to wake again. It was eerie and made me feel on edge.

“One last building to check,” I muttered to myself, glancing to the local bar. We’d saved it for last. This was the place that was directly linked to the well… the place where I would see an Apathy… one of the creatures that killed this entire town simply by existing beneath it.

Heading in, I took a brief look around, before heading towards the cellar door with Maria following closely behind.

“It’s chained up pretty tight… This must be where the owner kept their inventory,” Maria hummed.

“Probably,” I replied, trying to peek through the gaps. Opening the door now would be a monumentally bad idea, especially if I couldn’t close it afterwards.

“You know… you could always just break the lock and open it,” Maria suggested, unfolding her scythe.

“I could,” I nodded. “But what if there actually is an Apathy in here and I’m letting it out?”

“A fair point,” Maria said. “We’ll have to find the key then.”

However, before we could begin a search for the key, we both froze when we heard a creaking noise come from behind the cellar doors. It grew closer and a new sound joined it. The sound of something being dragged against wood, cutting into it.

“Maybe we should…” I was interrupted by a guttural scream that sounded throughout the bar. My attention was brought to Maria who had collapsed to her knees.

…

Ping!
Iron Mind has successfully resisted the Apathy’s scream.

…

Now really wasn’t the time!

Rushing forward, I slung Maria’s arm over my shoulder and quickly walked her out of the building, ignoring another scream.

“You still with me, Maria?” I asked worriedly as I set her down, out of earshot from the Apathy.

“Yeah,” She muttered, still looking dazed. “Just… give me a minute.”

I shot a glance towards the bar, wondering if the cellar door would hold out. The Apathy weren’t that strong, that much I already knew, but the cellar door was made of wood. Given enough time, the Apathy would probably just claw their way through it.

“…Lost my weapon.”

I turned my attention back to Maria. “Sorry, what did you just say?”

“I said that I lost my weapon,” Maria repeated a bit louder this time, regaining some of her vigor. “I dropped it back at the bar.”

“Ah,” I hummed. “You think you could wait here while I go get it then?”

Maria let out a humorless laugh. “I don’t think I could stop you right now if I wanted to… Just… be careful, alright.”

“Got it,” I nodded.

“Don’t spend more time than you need in that building. You may have somehow resisted its first few screams, but that doesn’t mean that you can act recklessly. All it will take is one scream that works in order to trap you there.”

I already knew that. The only reason why I hadn’t been affected was due to the effects of Iron Mind which resisted the Apathy’s scream, not negated. I could seemingly handle a single Apathy’s scream, but I wasn’t sure if I could handle multiple at the same time.

Heading back into the bar, my ears were once more assaulted with the Apathy’s scream. Wasting no time, I headed back into the room Maria and I had been standing in and found her scythe laying on the floor, unfolded.

However, there was a problem. It seemed the thing I’d been worried about had come to pass. The Apathy, having a target was slowly clawing its way through the cellar doors and had already scratched a hole large enough to peer through.

A gaunt head stuck through the hole, red eyes peering at me while its mouth hung lower than it should, seemingly dislocated. The Apathy let out a piercing scream, this time not being muffled by the door and I winced.

Snatching Maria’s scythe off the floor, I rapidly brought it towards the Grimm, cleaving its head off in one single sweep, cutting off the scream.

The Apathy’s body fell to the ground and rolled down the stairs.

“Huh, that was a lot easier than I thought it would be,” I mumbled. Apathy were noted to have weak bodies, but then again, Maria’s scythe was of much higher quality than my sword, so it made sense that I’d be able to cut through it as easily as I did.

As I turned to leave, another piercing scream sounded through the building. Peering through the newly made hole, I found that the entire hoard of Apathy were slowly making their way up the stairs.

“Damnit,” I cursed. I had a decision to make. On one hand, I could fetch Maria and we could simply leave the town, but the Grimm would likely break out of the cellar, now that I’d given them direction and reason. On the other hand…

I swiftly brought Maria’s scythe down, cutting through the chains that held the broken cellar door together.

Kicking the door in, I glanced down at the Grimm and held the scythe behind myself. A pair of Apathy let out a scream while the rest were taking in a deep breath.

“Sun Breathing: Flash, One Step”
-50AP

I darted forward, faster than the Grimm could react and stopped at the bottom of the stairs. Maria’s scythe did its job wonderfully, having trailed behind me, cutting through the Apathy on my way down.

Turning around, I was greeted to the sight of the Apathy’s bodies falling apart, having all been bisected near from their chests.

Hearing the sound of a puddle splashing, I found myself staring down one last Apathy.

“A straggler, huh?” I hummed. Before the Apathy could let out a scream, I swung Maria’s scythe, cleaving its head from its body. “Alright, that takes care of that. Now, let’s get you back to Maria.”

Stepping over the evaporating bodies, I’d made my way upstairs at the same time as Maria entered to bar.

“I… can explain.”

Maria gave me an exasperated look, before slumping down into one of the bar seats. “I’ve got a feeling that I’m going to need a drink for this.”