Akashic

Byakko seeing the three's caution to her gave an annoyed growl before walking to the side, her head nearing the ground as she picked up SilverLight in her mouth and began to walk over towards Arthur, "I am not here to hurt you manspawns… Do not give me a reason to" she said as ignored all three of their weapons and continued walking to Arthur.

"D-did that grimm just speak?" Ruby squeaked out to her to Weiss and Pyrrha who were both as equally as dumbstruck.

"I- Just, how can a grimm speak!?" Weiss retorted to the supposedly illogical action.

Byakko ignoring Ruby and Weiss's bantering continued making more steps towards Arthur, but freezing when she felt two weapons locked on her making her tilt her head slightly to the side where she saw Pyrrha and Ruby pointing their rifles at her while Weiss was had her rapier held up perpendicular to her face in a stance, Byakko's only response being to give them a snort of disdain.

"Girls it's okay…" Arthur said, gently massaging his now throbbing head with his left hand, "She's the same one that saved me during initiation" he said, straining his voice while ignoring the strange feeling of numbness and lack of response from his right arm.

His words caused all three to pause for a moment as they remembered back to the day, familiarity in their eyes when they recognized the unusual grimm for the areas around Vale, albeit with a now half molten mask.

"How's your face doing, I saw you seemed to feel pain when the acid splashed on you?" Arthur weakly asked, his hand grabbing the handle of SilverLight from Byakko's jaw, coming uncomfortably close to her jaws for Ruby, Weiss's comfort as both gave each other a worried look while Pyrrha lowered her rifle to the non-hostile grimm, interest on her face.

"Even if it was the one who saved you then, it is still a grimm! A monster! We should just get rid of it now!" Weiss, growled, her thoughts coming out into the open.

Byakko turned her head to Weiss and gave be the best one eyed grimm glare she could, "I could say the same for you… Schnee…" Byakko growled, obvious distaste in her voice, Weiss turning dumbstruck as she quickly posed Myrtenaster ready to attack at a moment's notice as she felt a shiver run down her spine from the grimms words, but stopping when Ruby pushed her rapier down and shook her head.

"Wait, she-she doesn't seem… dangerous?" She squeaked not quite believing her own words.

"Doesn't seem dangerous!? It's a grimm! And she!? She, is a GRIMM, a monster, a killer of people like you, and me! There's no telling how many people she has murdered!" Weiss retorted causing Ruby to shrink at her words, "Now, how do you know who I am, Grimm" She growled rotating the dust cylinder on her rapier till a bright red flash appeared on it.

Byakko growled even harder, her voice even rougher and menacing as her claws dug into the ground. Arthur would have been worried had he not seen that Byakko's body was lightly shivering as her body swayed slightly from side to side, but most likely not willing to be looked down upon by Weiss.

"Weiss, calm down, please" Arthur asked, attempting to push himself up to better rest his back against the tree, "Let's take this slowly, maybe even another day if possible, I could really use some sleep right about now and my auras practically gone, so if possible, I'd rather not anger her" he said as he grabbed his right arm and held it close to his body, "And she doesn't seem hostile at least for now…" he muttered, groaning as his lifted his right arm and threw it over his l.a.p.

"You can't be serious! Am I the only one that doesn't trust a grimm not to eat us!?" she shouted as she looked between Ruby and Pyrrha, Ruby's expression being one of worry as she quickly moved to Arthur's side along with Pyrrha who kept her eyes on the large tiger grimm.

"No, I share your fears" Pyrrha answered, "But, there is something different about… it? Her?" she said, unsure about how she should refer to Byakko.

"Fine! Don't say I didn't warn you when it eats you!" Weiss threw her hands into the air and began to march away, stopping a few more metres away from the tree, "But I won't be the first one, I've already sent a distress beacon, and once professor Goodwitch gets here she'll end this quickly, and maybe, just maybe, we'll all still be alive" she began to grumble to herself while pacing Myrtenastr gripped tight in her hand as she kept her eyes trained on Byakko.

"Hmph!" Byakko snorted and looked to Arthur once more, "She has a point that you all should follow, never, trust, a grimm… not anymore…" She announced immediately causing Ruby and Pyrrha to raise their weapons ready to fire but stopping when Arthur raised his working hand to stop them.

"Says the grimm that saved me twice" Arthur chuckled, grunting in pain as he felt a twinge of pain in his arm.

"The first… was because you were interesting… this time… I merely used you to rid this forest of a plague… nothing more, nothing less" She answered beginning to take unsteady steps away from Arthur before stopping mid step and collapsing onto her side while panting heavily, growls resounding from her. "Damned body…" she growled trying to raise her head but failing miserably as it quickly fell back to the ground.

Arthur seeing this tried to push himself up but ended up falling onto his side aswell, Ruby quickly ran up to him and sat him back up against the tree, "Help me up will you?" he asked holding his arm out to her to which she looked to Byakko who was miserably panting unable to move as she laid collapsed on the floor.

Grabbing Arthur's arm, Ruby began to attempt to pull him up, her face going red from the amount of effort she was putting in, her face only beginning to return to it's usual palor once Pyrrha grabbed Arthurs other arm to help, a strange sense assailed Arthur as he felt the warmth from Pyrrha's hands but not the feeling of her actually touching him.

"Thanks" He said, offering them two smiles as he began to take steps towards Byakko, "Just set me down here" he said beginning to kneel at the head of Byakko.

"Truly strange…" Byakko said, her voice rough tone betraying her intentions of hiding her tiredness.

"Says the talking Grimm" he retorted with a chuckle but soon his expression went serious as he brought out his Scroll to check his aura, seeing that it had slightly risen from its almost non-existent state to now being a fourth the way up the red bar.

Sighing Arthur dropped his Scroll to the ground as he held his hand over the head of Byakko, his aura beginning to surge as he let his black aura take over his hand letting the mist drip onto Byakko's molten mask, his hair and eyes turning dark due to the focus on his black aura.

"What… are you doing…?" Byakko asked, her voice trailing off as she began to feel a very weak pulse of energy acc.u.mulating on her face causing her remaining red eye to widen in surprise as she felt the familiar pulse of energy she was used to, "You… you are the source of the waters?" she muttered in surprise, her eyes locking onto the figure of Arthur before slowly closing them letting the scant amount of dark aura enter her body and give her a modic.u.m of strength back.

"After a short minute of letting his dark aura fall onto Byakko the aura around his hand began to lose its dark l.u.s.tre as it began to change to grey then to bright white at which point he let it return to his body.

Feeling the dark aura dissipating Byakko opened its remaining eyes and looked to Arthur who was just about ready to fall backwards after halving his already meagre amount of remaining aura. "You… are a dangerous man…" Byakko muttered as she pushed herself up, "But… you are different than her… she let the waters consume her… you are the waters… they are what makes you… strange… truly strange… find me in the Emerald Forest… I shall be waiting…" She said and slowly began to exhaustedly trudge herself through the foliage of the forest, but pausing once again as she spotted the bright red eye of the centipede grimm that was slowly dissolving next to her.

Eyeing the eye Byakko slowly lowered her head to it before quickly grabbing what remained of it in her jaws and swallowed it whole, sending a rush of energy through her body, just slightly more than what Arthur's aura had given her.

Arthur starred silently into the distance where Byakko went before turning his gaze to the sky, his teeth gritted as he fully pieced together why Emerald was watching him and the reason as to why she was after him, 'Ow…' he thought another surge of pain running through his limp arm.

"Arthur… what just happened?" Ruby asked, unsure as to what exactly just happened.

"Honestly?" he asked getting a quick nod from both Pyrrha and Ruby, "I have no idea, things just seem to be stacking up around me, and to be honest, I really just want to go collapse on my bed, cuddle up to Fairy and black out…" he said as he began to stand with help from both Ruby and Pyrrha, "I seriously have no idea what I'd without you girls" he said giving Ruby a sloppy one armed hug, "Pyrrha, could you just, push yourself against me like I'm giving you a hug?" he asked, getting a confused squint from Ruby and a confused head tilt from Pyrrha, "I can't actually feel my arm or hand at all…" he quickly explained, "Apparently, having a highly corrosive acid sprayed on your arm makes it really numb… or, I am suddenly paralyzed" he said getting a scared squeak from Ruby.

"I'm joking" he quickly added, "I can still feel Pyrrha's warmth just not any actual pressure or actually get it do anything…" his words trailing off when he noticed the strange glare he was getting from Ruby that turned into an analysing squint when she looked to Pyrrha.

Seeing that the grimm had left Weiss walked up to the three of them, an angry scowl on her face, "We are hunters! We do not side with the enemy!" she berated, "That is a grimm! We are obligated to kill it to save the lives of possibly hundreds of people! Not befriend it like some crazed circus entertainer!" she lectured getting a tired sigh from Arthur.

"Weiss, calm down please" he begged, "There is more going on than just 'the grimm are evil'" he said.

"And what! Just what is that!?" Weiss retorted.

Arthur opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something but only stutters came out, "I-I…"

"Shall we take a short break before professor Goodwitch gets here?" Pyrrha said interrupting Arthur, while also giving a slight nod to one of the less destroyed areas of the field, far enough away from the bent and molten rails of the train track which were still releasing clouds of steam into the sky.

"I… I think I need to sort some stuff out now…" Arthur muttered, "I'm dealing with too much…" he g.r.o.a.n.e.d once again leaning against a tree for who knows how many times now, the sound of engines breaking through the ominously silent forest after the fight that had just taken place.

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Alternate Chapter names: [A short conversation] [Healing the enemy]

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