At the first rays of dawn. Scarlet stirred from her slumber at the first rays of the sun, she must've fallen asleep during her night watch. But when she woke up, Rimuru glanced down at her.
"Oh, you're awake. Good, I wasn't too sure if you were going to fall out of the cave or not, so I brought you further in more. I took over the watch duty." Rimuru spoke as they glanced towards the rising sun. "Yang and Rory went to catch breakfast." Standing up, Rimuru stretched. "You know, it's odd. When we arrived, there was no sign of Tuka, Yoji or Lelei..."
Scarlet shrugged her shoulders as she got up off the cave floor. "I wouldn't worry about it, maybe they got caught up with something else, but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to ask Rory." She glanced around as she grabbed Black Rose off the cave wall. She swung her scythe over her shoulder.
Yang and Rory would soon return with loads of fish and something more, a Minotaur corpse. A fresh kill, it was obvious who it was for.
"We weren't too sure if you were still hungry or not after that feast you had on that dragon, but who am I kidding? You're always hungry." Yang spoke with a smug grin.
Scarlet scoffed as she walked out of the cave, sliding down as she came to a stop. She shot Rory a glare. "Rimuru made a valid point when you two were gone. Where or what happened to Tuka, Yoji and Lelei?"
Rory looked at the Grimm girl as she turned to look at the caught fish, Handing her catch to Yang, Yang took the fish up to the cave to cook them over the fire, Rimuru had re-ignited. Rory let out a soft sigh.
"They got captured." Rory spoke.
Scarlet glared at her, she slammed Black Rose down next to Rory, making the Demi-Goddess flinch. "And you failed to tell us this why?" She got close to Rory, her warm breath washing over her. "You could've mentioned this sooner, like... I don't know....after I killed the dragon!"
"Whoa, what's going on?" Yang asked.
"Goth chick here, failed to tell us that Tuka, Yoji and Lelei got captured." Scarlet spoke with slight hiss in her tone. "Give me one good reason, why I should beat her ass black and blue for that?"
"Um well....maybe she forgot?" Yang asked.
"Forgot? Forgot?! How could she forget something so important!" Scarlet snapped. "We were sent here to take the dragon down, and we did. We were sent here to babysit this fucker." She elbowed Rory in the gut. "But she failed to tell us the main reason why we were sent here!"
Rory gasped as she clutched her stomach. "Yeah....I deserved that...."
"Look, maybe all the action pack frighting with the dragon made her forget, we need to treat her like she's a package...ya know?" Yang asked.
Scarlet crossed her arms as she scoffed. "I'd like to see you forget something crucial, and then remember the next morning."
"Well yeah...I mean....if I'm being honest...the only person that ever kept a secret and something important from us was Ozpin...." Yang muttered. "But....I guess I do see your point. Ozpin lied to us about Salem, about their past and everything. We were being trained not as huntsmen and huntresses for our own future but to fight a war that had been lasting for a long time...."
Scarlet shot Yang a glare. "Secrets, you want to talk about that huh? Okay Goldilocks. Let's talk about your kept secret about your feelings for Blake, or should we talk about her secrets, her secret of being an Ex-White Fang member, her being a Faunus, her feelings for you? I can go on."
Yang gritted her teeth. "Don't you dare....you know nothing about us."
"That's enough!" Rimuru barked, their aura flaring up. The atmosphere had gone still and went cold. The demon lord was pissed at the display of the current situation.
Yang and Scarlet went silent, they looked towards Rimuru as Rory did the same. Rimuru clinched their fists tight. "Look, we do not have the time to bite each other's heads off over one mistake. Once we eat, we can go look for those three and save them."
The silence filled the air still, Rimuru's aura settling and shrinking. The fire crackled as the fish cooked. Rory moved forward up the cliff side to the cave. Yang turned her attention towards the fish cooking, and Scarlet glanced at the dead Minotaur.
Rimuru let out a long sigh. "Good, if I have to show my dominance over you three. I won't hesitate to do so. I don't want to be a mean slime. I'm a kind and gentle slime. I'm a demon lord too, if you piss me off. I'll show you how angry I can get."
The girls stayed quiet, silent even. Scarlet tore her hands into the Minotaur, tearing it apart. Eating away at it slowly.
~~~
Scarlet sniffed the air as they were on the move. She couldn't pick up the scent of Yoji, Tuka or Lelei for that matter. "Nothing, not a single smell."
"It would be so much easier if I had bumblebee, we would be zooming through and then maybe you'd get a stronger scent." Yang muttered.
"Are you sure this is the way they were taken?" Rimuru asked with a raised eyebrow.
Rory nodded lightly. "I'm sure."
"Question, who or what took them?" Scarlet asked. "Was it the empire?"
Rory stopped in her tracks for a moment. She looked unsure and uncertain, Scarlet glared at her, she held the curve of Black Rose up to her neck. "You better think quick, or I'll turn you inside out, ass first."
Rory looked towards Yang and then at Rimuru, then back to Scarlet. "I'm sure...."
"You can't guess on this Rory. Did they or did they not?" Scarlet hissed. The sharp curve of the blade kisses at the skin of Rory's neck.
Yang and Rimuru were silent, as much as they wanted to step in and stop Scarlet. They had to agree with her, they needed to know if it was the empire or not.
Rory felt the sharp cold metal of the scythe kissed against her neck. She held her arms up as she looked between the two and at Scarlet. "Yes, I'm sure! But they had a prisoner carriage!"
Scarlet scoffed as she lowered her scythe. "Is that so?" She glanced down at the ground, searching for hoof prints and wheel tracks. "Search for tracks, if she's telling the truth, we should see them."
Yang crossed her arms but nodded, it made sense. If that is the case. "But what if they covered their tracks?"
"You mean like having someone at the tail end of the kidnapping, clear their tracks with a broom or something similar?" Rimuru asked.
"Right, maybe a birds eye view could help as well." Yang spoke.
Rimuru thinks for a moment, that could work too, if there was smoke in the distance of a camp, that would also come in handy to, a fresh mark for where they could start looking. "Alright." Rimuru sprouted their wings as they took flight into the sky. They took the lead from above and kept their eyes peeled at the horizon.
As Yang kept her own eyes peeled and fixated on the ground for tracks. Scarlet wandered off ahead. Sniffing the air once more, trying to pick up any scent that may help, while this was happening. Rory stayed behind, she put one hand on her hip as her other held her halberd.
~~~
Rory lingered at the rear, unease prickling beneath her usual calm as the forest seemed to close in around them, the wind carrying distant, unfamiliar scents—oil, smoke, iron—faint but real enough to make Scarlet's ears twitch as she froze mid-step. Her crimson eyes narrowing while her Grimm instincts screamed that something was wrong: she lifted a clenched fist, halting the group just as Rimuru circled overhead and caught sight of it too.
A thin smear of dark smoke bleeding into the pale sky far beyond the treeline, and in that same heartbeat Yang knelt down, brushing aside leaves to reveal shallow wheel ruts and the crushed imprint of hooves pressed deep into the soil, hurried and careless, as if whoever fled hadn't expected pursuit, prompting Scarlet's lips to curl into a sharp, predatory grin that promised violence as she dragged her fingers through the dirt and inhaled deeply, finally catching a muddled trace of fear and blood that did not belong to any beast.
"They're alive." Scarlet spoke, straightening as Black Rose unfolded with a metallic whisper. "Hurt, scared, but alive."
The tension that followed was electric, Rory tightening her grip on her halberd in grim confirmation while Rimuru descended, landing before them with eyes hardened by resolve, the unspoken agreement settling between them all. Whatever force had taken Rory's companions had made a fatal mistake—because dawn had broken, the trail was fresh, and they were no longer hunting the empire, not anymore. But something far less deserving of mercy.
Without another word, they moved as one, urgency replacing the earlier friction as Scarlet surged ahead with lethal purpose, her scythe resting easily in her grasp as if it were an extension of her will.
Each step was guided by the faint but growing stench of fear that coiled through the air like a beckoning thread. Yang followed close behind, fists clenched and shoulders tense, anger simmering just beneath her skin as old memories of cages, chains, and helplessness clawed their way to the surface.
While Rimuru paced beside them, aura restrained but present, a quiet promise of overwhelming force should it be needed; Rory brought up the rear, guilt heavy in her chest as prayers murmured under her breath—not for forgiveness, but for strength—because whatever waited ahead was no mere patrol or wandering band. But something organized, confident, and cruel enough to believe they could steal lives and walk away unpunished, and as the smoke grew thicker and the sounds of distant shouting and metal echoed faintly through the trees.
Scarlet's grin faded into something colder, something focused, her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "No more warnings… when we find them, I'm not holding back." And no one disagreed, because the hunt was over, and the reckoning was about to begin. They were hunting something far worse than the imperial army.