The Shadow of Grimm

Chapter 9.5: Separate Ways

(Opening Theme: Let's Just Live Performed by Casey Lee Williams)

The whole group didn't know how long they were walking, it had felt like years to them as they continued along the dirt path. They tried to hurry along as fast as they could, as they carried two of their comrades that had been gravely wounded; this being Cristal and Qrow. They had discovered that morning that Qrow was indeed poisoned by Tyrian but the reason why they didn't know about because Qrow had a slow reaction than Roman did. Without enough materials to make another antidote for him, their only hope was to get him to the next town.

While Cristal was being carried on Ren's back, Ruby and Jaune carried Qrow on a makeshift stretcher. To make matters worse, the map they were carrying had been damaged during the fight against Elise. The only thing they could do was walk along the first path they found.

The rest that were still standing had their weapons ready, and their guard up in case they had encountered any enemies. Melody walked beside her father, and Scout was on the opposite side of Qrow, while Frosty hung out in Ruby's cloak hood, since Melody had to get rid of her hoodie, when they realized it had poison on it. Senka walked alongside Ren, so that he could protect Cristal just in case while on his back he carried her weapons Qrow's weapon and Melody's. Nora, and Rosario lagged behind in case any enemies would try to sneak up on them from behind.

Roman walked in the middle of the group along side Neo; he was using his own cane as leverage to walk, since despite the poison being out of his system, he still felt pain in his wound on his side. His white cape coat had been removed and was on Cristal since he knew she needed it more than he did. They had already explained to Roman, what Qrow had told them last night, and despite him having so many questions on the manner, he decided to put them aside since they had a bigger issue to deal with.

"Come on dad..." Melody said gripping his hand as she walked by his side, "You gotta hang on... Just a little longer..."

"Hold on Uncle Qrow." Ruby soon said turning her head to look to him, "Just hold on..."

Qrow let out a couple of coughs, as he started to mumble words that were incoherent. Most of the words became clear as he said aloud, "Tai... She's not coming back... Tai..."

Scout placed her hand on his forehead, and felt that it was hot to the touch, "It's no good, he's getting worse."

"Hey Ren!" Jaune called out; Ren's head turned slightly to him, "How's Cristal?!"

Ren looked to Cristal, who was breathing hoarsely, and just like Qrow, she was talking in her sleep as well. "... Destiny..." She said groaning, "... Not her... Please... Please don't take her that place... I'm begging you..."

"She's not getting any better." Ren said to him.

"Damn it! We've been walking since this morning!" Rosario said, "We have to be getting close to a town or a village by now!"

"We just gotta be!" Nora said.

"With the map damaged there's no way of knowing for sure." Roman said to them.

"Well have to walk into something eventually." Neo said.

Finally Ren was the first to stop in his tracks, and the group stopped as well. Adjusting his hold on Cristal he ran up ahead of them. "Ren what is it!?" Ruby called out. "What do you see!?" Melody called out after. Ahead of them was a fork in the road, and Ren stopped in front of a total of four signs, one pointing back down the path where they came from which was to Higanbana. The other two signs on the right, read Mistral and Kuchinashi, while sign on the left, read Kuroyuri which had an X over it.