LJNT

Ruby

"Stay on your toes! We are in enemy territory. A proper Hunter-er...Huntress must be prepared at any time!"

Professor Port was the Hunter designated fo team RWLB, standing for Ruby. While he lectured them in a usual bombastic way, Lyra held her axe tightly, eager to get into the fight. Lyra was replacing Yang here, and while the exercise was meant to test how well the team could work with someone else, Lyra had no intention of working together with them. All she could think about were the voices, and how she had disregarded them...

Coming back on the plane yesterday had been hard. Leaving that forest was the most difficult thing she'd ever done...

"L-Lyra...are you alright...?"

Lyra sat by herself in an unoccupied room while the plane was on it's way back to Beacon. She was curled up in a ball, rocking back and forth with her hands clasped over her ears tightly.

You traitor. You promised us! You promised us...you promised me...how could you? For these people you call a team? For this Grimm mutt? We told you to kill it so long ago, now you're leaving Grimm to protect this mutt!?

Stop. Stop. Please.

No! You made a promise. How could you?

"L-Lyra? Did y-you hear m-me?"

Lyra still didn't respond. She could barely hear Nico over the sound of the voices inside of her head. As Nico crouched down beside her partner, Lyra instinctively flinched away from the sight of Nico's red eyes. Nico did her best to hide her disappointment, but Lyra didn't apologize like she normally would have. She was too stuck in her own head.

"Lyra-"

"Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop," Lyra whispered to herself frantically. The voices didn't listen, not that she was surprised. "Please, stop!"

"L-Lyra, c-calm d-down," Nico tried to get her partner to relax to no avail. Lyra could barely hear Nico. Desperate for some sort of way to help Lyra, Nico cleared her throat and tried to sound assertive for the first time in her life. "L-L-Lyra, come on! Calm d-down. It's g-going to be okay."

"Okay? How can you say it's going to be okay?" Lyra mumbled to herself, still rocking back and forth. She kept her gaze downcast. "I've failed. I've failed. I can't stop them, I can't..."

"L-Lyra-"

"T-They wont stop. They want justice!" Lyra trembled. The voices were chanting louder and louder about her failure, about her butchered promise. "Make them stop, make them stop, make them stop-"

"L-LYRA! L-Look at m-me," Nico interrupted, placing her hands on Lyra's shoulders sternly. The sudden assertiveness got Lyra's attention, and she turned to Nico. The taller girl just stared wide eyed at Nico, her lips parted in surprise. Nico took a shaky breath. She had gotten her partner's attention, now what? "F-F-Focus...on m-me, okay? T-T-The voices a-are j-just in y-your head...f-focus on m-me, and t-try...n-not to t-think about them."

"Try not to think about them?" Lyra let out a maniacal, panicked laugh. We're always here, Lyra. You can't escape us, and you can't escape your failure! "They're always here. There is no escaping! There is no escaping. No one can get rid of them, no one can, no one can-"

"C-Come on," Nico coaxed as gently as she could as Lyra's gaze shifted back downward. She had never been in this sort of situation before. She had no idea what she was actually doing! She could only hope this would work. "L-Look at m-me. F-Focus o-on me, L-Lyra."

"I can't-"

"C-Come on, Lyra! Y-You can do it."

Slowly, Lyra wrenched her gaze away from the floor back to Nico. Lyra took a raggedy breath before shaking her head frantically from side to side.

"I can't do it. I can't do it. I can't do it!"

"Y-Yes, y-you c-can-"

"NO, I CAN'T!" Lyra exclaimed sharply. That's right. Yell at her. She's just a mutt. In fact, let her come closer. Then you can take your axe and bury it in her skull...Make it stop. Make it stop, please... "Nico, please just go! You're making it worse. I can't fight it off, I can't do it, I can't-"

"Lyra-"

"GO AWAY!" Lyra's loud voice echoed throughout the plane. Nico frowned before slowly backing off. She hated the fact that she couldn't do more to help Lyra, but Nico was also worried for her own safety. Lyra was deranged right now, and if Lyra was already having problems fighting off the voice, the voice could turn on Nico. Nico couldn't defend herself right now with her sprained elbow, so she had no other choice but to back off.

Lyra turned her gaze back to the floor
before gripping tighter at her ears. The voices wouldn't shut up. They wouldn't stop...

That was just the plane ride, too. That's what it had been like all night and all morning, up until they had gone on this mission. The voices were louder than ever. Lyra couldn't wait to dig her axe into a Grimm's flesh for some sort of relief, anything to stop hearing these voices...

The rest of the team could tell just how on edge Lyra was, however, this wasn't the time to confront the girl about it. The four girls and Professor Port stood on edge as they walked through the forest.

Lyra's head whipped around as she heard a slight movement behind them. Do it. Kill it now! Kill it now, kill it now! Lyra was all too desperate to oblige. She lifted her axe, slamming it downward just as a Creep lunged forward.

Her blade impaled it's head, slicing through the Grimm's entire body. Yes, that's right. Good to see you haven't forgotten. But we need more. We need extra after your complete failure yesterday! Give us more, more, more...

Lyra swung her axe again as a horde began to surround the team. She could barely hear Professor Port and Ruby issuing out commands. Frankly, Lyra didn't care. She just wanted-no, needed the Grimm dead. The voices would leave her alone if she did. They always left her when she made them happy...

Kill the Grimm. Kill the Grimm!

Lyra's axe split a Beowolf into two with ease as  the voice encouraged her onward.

More!

She whirled around to slam her axe down on another Creep, effectively crushing it to the ground.

More!!

She snarled, her eyes turning red as she blocked an Ursa's paw before swinging her golden axe into it's stomach, ripping the monster in half from her raw strength.

That's it. Keep going. We need more, we need more, we need more...

Lyra was in no shape to argue.

More...

Lyra didn't stop the voice this time. She followed it eagerly.

Anything to get the voice out of her head....