Chapter 28: Descent into Darkness

"Tell us where your base is or I'll… I'll…" Damion couldn't think of anything. Amy watched him and rolled her eyes.

They had brought the creature to a nearby rock and tied it down with some rope that had been given to them by Chasin. The interrogation process was not going well. It basically hadn't spoke at all.

"Has the cat got your tongue?" Damion prowled around it and brought his face up to it's. "You are very aware that you aren't going anywhere until you tell us something, right?"

It still didn't say anything, just lay there sprawled up against the rock. If it hadn't been for the fact that the things eyes were moving side to side, observing each of them, you probably would have thought it was dead.

"Hey" Samantha snapped her fingers in front of its face. "Earth to creepy human Grimm thing, are you there?"

Still nothing.

"Should we hit it or something?" Damion gave it a light smack across the face. It lifted its head up and looked at him. Then, it spat at him, and a black liquid came flying out of it's mouth and hit Damion on the chest.

"Ah! Uh, that's disgusting!" He ran a hand over his jacket and flung it off. "What is that?" The black liquid almost seemed to move across the ground, slithering along like it was alive, before disappearing into the ground.

"This isn't working." Bethany was standing next to Amy. "It won't talk, it won't do anything."

"You don't say."

Samantha walked over to the two of them, and put a hand on her hip. "What are we going to do? It's clearly not going to say anything. And it may be our only lead on what is taking these people."

"Do you not think maybe that's just it?" Bethany suggested. "That's the thing that's been killing those people, it's not a part of anything? Maybe if we just call the authorities and get them to take it in, then that's the mission over?" She looked up at Amy.

"That's possible, but we do need to consider the fact that there might be something bigger going on here. Maybe there's more of them, and if we just call it a day, then they'll just start kidnapping people all over again."

"Well, how do we get it to tell us where it's fellow…" Samantha tried to think of the right word to use. "Grimm humans are?"

Amy began pacing back and forth. "I honestly don't know." She suddenly stopped. "We may have to resort to torturing it."

Amy was not at all surprised at the shocked looks she was just given.

"You can't be serious!" Bethany said. "That thing… whatever it is, may have the markings of a Grimm, but it still looks like a human! It might have even been a human once."

"Guys, look-"

"Exactly!" Samantha cut Amy off. "What your saying we need to do, that's just inhuman. We can't do that."

"Can't do what?" Damion was looking over at them.

"Amy, we can't-"

"Unless you have any better ideas?" Amy cut them both off. She sighed softly. "I know it's wrong. I really do. I don't want to have to do it, but think about it like this. If we can get this thing to talk through this method, we could find out what's really going on, we could potentially save a lot of people's lives. Trust me, I hate the idea of it as much as you two do, but it's clear we aren't getting through to it by just talking. And besides, it may look like a human, but I'm not entirely sure it is a human anymore. It's our only option." She patted them both on the shoulder and began to walk to the creature.

She knew that they were still staring at her when she knelt down in front of it. She took Storm Chaser off her back and looked into the things eyes. They were a bright red, the colour of the Grimm. What Bethany had said could be true, maybe it had been a human once.

But what… how could you transform a human into a Grimm? It was a difficult question, and one Amy didn't have a answer to. She had never seen a Grimm that looked like a human before, most of them looked like animals. And the fact it could speak… No Grimm she had encountered had ever been able to speak.

Maybe it's not a Grimm or a human. Maybe it's something else.

Whatever it was, she had to get information out of it. She took the things hand, and a chill went down her spine, it's skin was freezing cold.

Well, here we go then.

She put the blade of Storm Chaser to it's arm, and just when she was about to slash it along…

"Wait, Amy, stop!"

Amy looked behind her. "Bethany, I've already told you-"

"I have an idea." Amy turned back to the creature, sighed loudly, and then stood up.

"Let's hear it then." She was secretly glad, she had never liked the idea of torturing someone for information.

"So, this is going to sound utterly crazy, but bear with me. I think what we should do is, we should let it go-"

"Your right, this does sound utterly crazy." Amy said. "But please continue."

"If this creature really is a part of some bigger thing, like say there is more than one of them, then it would make sense that they return there straight away, right?"

"Yeah."

"So we let it go, but then we follow it from a distance, and see what it does. If it is just working on it's own, it'll probably just hang around in some isolated spot by itself. Then we can get it again. If it's a part of something else, it should lead us straight there."

That's… not a bad idea actually. It was certainly a lot better than the whole torturing idea, because even if she did torture it, there was still no guarantee it would talk. It could have a extremely high pain tolerance for all she knew. Amy thought it was a pretty solid plan.

"Hey, nice job Beth. That's not half bad. I think we might do that." She stared down at the creature. "Anybody else have any other ideas?"

Damion and Samantha didn't say anything.

"Well, in that case then…" Amy began to unwind the rope that was keeping it trapped against the boulder. "Let's do it then."

Criminals and Mentors

"Do you really think is going to work?" Damion asked Samantha. "What if it's smarter than it looks, and it realises what we are going to do?"

Samantha shrugged. "Guess that's a chance we'll have to take."

Amy had practically just grabbed the thing, lifted it up and brought it to the front of the house, setting it down. It hadn't even fought back or tried to get her to put it down.

Now, it was time to wait to see what it would do. They all purposely turned their backs on it, pretending not to pay it any attention. Damion couldn't help but cast a quick glance over his shoulder out of curiosity.

Come on then, do something.

It stood there for a long moment, until suddenly, the red marking on it's hand began to glow brightly, and before he knew it, it was away. Before anybody could give the designated hand signal…

Wait, did we even have a designated hand signal?

He thought about that for a second, until suddenly Samantha slapped him on the shoulder while dashing past him.

"Damion, come on!"

"Oh, right! Sorry!" He ran after her, and he could only hope that Bethany and Amy were being at least somewhat quiet, or else there was a very strong chance that it would either hear or see them. Looking over Samantha's shoulder, he didn't see the creature, but he did see Amy, who was clearly tailing it. She charged headfirst into a forest after it, and they all followed, trying their best not to step on any twigs or anything like that, although with the sound of their pounding feet, it was highly likely that it had already heard them, defeating the whole point of the plan in the first place.

I probably should have spoke out and said this was a bad idea… It wasn't like the creature was going to take a leisurely stroll back. It was running, hard, and there was no chance it didn't know they were after it. The marking was still glowing though, strangely, and it had it's arm stretched out in front of it, like something was guiding it onwards, deeper and deeper into the forest.

They leaped over twigs, ducked underneath stray branches, and narrowly dodged past trees, all in a desperate race to not lose it, wherever it was going. Not that Damion actually paid much attention to it. He was just following the women in front of him, trusting that they would not lose it.

What if they do lose it though?

In that case, he had no idea what they were going to do. He nearly ran headfirst into a bush of spiky thorns, but was just able to leap over them. He continued to race onwards, wondering how in the world Samantha was able to stay ahead of him despite the fact she was wearing heels.

All of a sudden, Samantha came to a stop, but he wasn't able to put his own brakes on quick enough, and went slamming into her, knocking them both over, and they both landed on the ground with a loud thud.

"Damion! Why did you do that?"

"You stopped suddenly! It wasn't my fault!"

"Guys!" Bethany whispered. She was motioning them to come over. Damion inwardly grumbled about how women always blamed men for stuff like what had just happened, and they both gingerly made their way over.

Amy was standing just in front of them, peering through a cluster of leaves into a clearing, where the creature was standing. It still had it's hand out, and was staring at it's surroundings. It almost seemed confused, spinning around in a constant circle. Then it stopped suddenly, and put it's hands to the floor, and slowly trailed it along the ground for a second, before grabbing something. They all watched as it stood up, and pulled whatever it had grabbed up.

A trapdoor seemed to spawn out of nowhere, and it revealed a massive gaping hole. Damion couldn't see what lay beneath it, but it stepped into it, and was gone the next second. The trapdoor slammed shut.

"Uh, what?" Damion helpfully commented.

What was that?

Amy had already stepped out and was looking at the area of the ground it had just jumped into to. Much like it had done, she traced her finger across the floor.

"There's some weird, disguised trapdoor here it would seem. Now, where is it... Oh, there we go!"

She lifted it up, revealing the same black hole they had just seen a moment ago. Amy lowered it down for a brief moment, looking at the back of it. She wiped her hand along it, but the grass that was on the back of it didn't appear to be real, as it didn't come off.

"So, they set up a trapdoor, and put fake grass along the top of it. Clever."

"What do we do now?" Samantha said, staring down into the hole.

"Well, first of all, we need to check how deep it is." Bethany stated. She picked up a nearby rock and chucked it in. It took about seven seconds before it hit the floor.

"Okay, pretty deep then." Damion commented. "So, do we just… jump down it?"

Everybody shared glances with one another.

Is that a yes then?

"I guess so?" Bethany said.

"But we don't know what's down there." Samantha pointed out. "It could be incredibly dangerous."

Amy gave her a withering look. "If you didn't want danger, you shouldn't have become a huntress. Our lives are in danger all the time when we go on missions like these."

"No, I don't mean it like that." Samantha argued. "I mean we have no idea what's down there. Shouldn't we at least try to figure it out first? Have some kind of plan before we just throw ourselves down the hole?"

"And how exactly do you propose we figure out what is down the extremely dark hole?"

"Get ourselves a light source before we go down there?"

"Like a torch?"

"Yeah, there you go."

"Okay everyone, let's make a torch and hopefully not burn ourselves while hurtling through the air. It's not like it's a narrow hole either, no danger of setting the walls on fire either."

"What about our scrolls?" Bethany stated suddenly. "It has a torch on it." Damion looked at her.

Of course! It has a torch on it! Duh! He felt like smacking his forehead. And looking at Amy's expression, she wanted to do that too. Unlike Damion, she actually did smack her forehead.

"How did I forget that? Sorry guys, my brain stopped functioning there for a second. Yeah, we'll do that. I'll go down there first." Amy stepped forward, looked at her three students for a second, gave them a two fingered salute, and hopped down the hole, disappearing within seconds. Bethany went next.

"Don't expect me to catch you." Samantha said simply before jumping in after the two of them.

Damion, after casting a final glance at his surroundings, walked over, but he didn't jump, he tripped over something, and half fell, half collapsed into the hole, and before he knew it, he was racing downwards at a extremely fast pace.

It didn't last long however, as he soon facepalmed into something, breaking his fall. Obviously, they hadn't been holding their scrolls as they were falling, for fear of potentially dropping them, and so no light was available just yet. Damion pulled himself up to his feet, and realised something.

"Since when did the ground feel so… weird?"

"That's my back Damion." Amy stated. "Could you get off me now please?"

"Oh, sorry!" He quickly got off her.

"Ah, Samantha! Your heels are digging into my back! Get off me!" Bethany called out, not too far away.

Damion took his scroll out, and soon, the surrounding area was bathed in a pale blue light. Amy did the same, and they both saw Samantha, who was looking at Bethany sheepishly, while she glared at her.

"Are you serious Sam? You sure took your sweet time realising you were top on me!"

"Look, I'm sorry! Are you okay now?"

"Aside from having permanent back pains, yeah, sure, I'm fine."

"Sam, Beth, let's not do this now." Amy walked over to them. "Now, get your scrolls out, and have a look around."

And so they did. They appeared to be in a cave of some sort. Stretching out in front of them was the way forward. There were also two other alternate routes, to the left and right. Behind them, a wall of stone.

Amy was peering down the three routes, clearly wondering which one they were going to take.

"We can go right, left or forwards." She turned around and looked at them. "Alternatively, we can split up, and two of us go one way, the other two go-"

"No." Bethany said fiercely, cutting Amy off. She stepped forward and put her hands on Damion and Samantha's shoulders. "We aren't splitting up."

Amy cast her gaze over to Bethany, and smiled at her. "I thought you might say that. Well, in that case then…" She turned back around and continued looking at their routes.

Damion looked down at his team leader. "That was a tad dramatic, don't you think?"

She looked up at him. "After what happened with Alan, I would rather not run the risk of losing any more teammates." She took her hands away, and walked towards Amy.

Damion shared a glance with Samantha.

And to think she didn't want to be the team leader…Besides, ever horror movie ever has taught me that splitting up usually doesn't end that well.

Damion watched as Amy did "eeny meeny miny moe" to try and determine where they were heading. Eventually, her finger rested on the path directly in front of them.

"Okay then guys, we are going straight forward." Without waiting for any of them to say anything, she began to stride down the path. They all followed after her.

Criminals and Mentors

This place is so creepy…

Bethany had the constant feeling she was about to get jumped. Her whole body was so tense, expecting an attack at any moment. The light of there scrolls was the only thing that kept her somewhat comforted. It really didn't help that she was reminded of the time that she used to be terrified of the dark. That fear had subsided, thankfully, but it was always present, always lurking in the back of her mind, just waiting for the right moment to pounce, like a wild animal.

No, you can't think about that. You need to stay strong for your teammates.

She glanced at Damion and Samantha, the two people who had been with her every since the start of her Beacon journey, who had been with her to witness what Alan was doing…

She couldn't help but wonder what he was doing now. He had slashed her right along the stomach and left. What was there for him to do? Did he go back home? Did he even have a home? Were his parents dead or alive? What had caused him to be so spiteful of her, despite her attempts to help him?

It was a question she would have to ponder over until she saw him again, if she saw him again.

She could faintly hear Amy humming something to herself, a song of some sorts probably. Bethany was actually quite glad she was doing it, glad for a little bit of white noise. Otherwise, they would have been in silence as well, which would certainly not have helped the tense atmosphere one bit.

All of a sudden though, Amy stopped dead in her tracks and held her hand out behind her.

"What is it?" Damion asked.

"Shh, keep your voice down! Can you not hear that?"

They all stood still for a moment and listened. Bethany then began to hear something, something very faint, but it was definitely there. It almost sounded like footsteps. Then, something rounded the corner ahead of them.

It was treading along the ground, and upon closer inspection, it looked very much like the creature they had encountered. However, this one took on a more feminine appearance, with long dark hair that reached all the way down to her ankles. She was barefoot, and was wearing a very plain long white and black dress.

"What in the world is that?" Samantha whispered.

"Get ready." Amy said. It was a very simple instruction, and one they all followed without question. Taking Honour and Liberty out, Bethany readied herself for something to happen.

Amy slowly and carefully being to make her way towards the female figure. She had her back turned and was slowly running her finger over the wall.

Both Damion and Samantha looked at Bethany. The implication was clear.

Do we follow Amy?

With a very quick nod of her head, they followed behind Amy, who was nearly at the women. Suddenly, the women turned her head, and saw them. It was such a quick movement that no one had any time to react.

Then, she screamed.

A noise so unbelievable high pitched entered everyone's ears, taking any sort of plan or tactic that may have been forming and discarding it like nothing. Bethany, Damion, and Samantha all fell to the ground, there hands clamped over there ears in a desperate attempt to make it stop.

But just as quickly as it started, it ended. The noise faded away, and whenever they all stood up again, they noticed that Amy must have killed it, because it was nowhere to be seen.

"Dear me, what was that? That was awful!" Damion stated, picking up his pistol swords, which he had dropped.

Retrieving their scrolls, they rejoined Amy, who had fallen to one knee, Storm Chaser in one hand, the other still over her ear.

"Hey, are you okay?" Bethany asked. Amy slowly raised her hand and gave them a thumbs up.

"Oh my gosh, that is the worst ringing in my ears I have ever had." She got back up to her feet, and then stumbled to the side suddenly, so much so, that Bethany stepped forward and grabbed her arm to steady her.

"Woah, are you sure your alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, just feeling a bit dizzy, that's all."

"How did you even kill it?" Samantha asked.

"Well, as soon as it started screaming, I just rushed it and stabbed it. The scream was absolutely deafening though. Seems to have left me a bit disoriented. But, I'll be fine. Thanks for the catch, Beth. You can let go of me now."

Bethany took her hand away, unsure if she was just lying so they wouldn't worry. Amy walked away from them, hand on the side of her head, but she didn't stumble again, so that left them with the impression that she was feeling better. Either that or she was just really good at pretending she felt better.

"That thing looked very similar to the one we had tied to the rock not so long ago." Samantha said.

"Do you reckon there's more of them?" Bethany said.

"Well, guess we'll have to find out." Damion put his pistol swords away, and they all followed Amy.

Criminals and Mentors

Thanks for reading and have a good day!