Broken Shield.
Chapter 1
Note: I'm sorry, I forgot to upload this last night after the other chapters went up but this is the new story In hope you like it and I'm always open to suggestions so please review and tell me what you think.
Summer sits in her chair behind the counter in her shop, thinking about her daughter. It had been two weeks since Ruby had gone to visit her uncle in the next city, despite Summer's misgivings about the trip due to Ruby being so young; not to mention that going outside the walls for anyone was dangerous. Thankfully, her contact who runs people as well as items between cities had been able to help her keep tabs on Ruby.
Summer turns the sign to closed in order to take a break, expecting Odell to be home shortly with Yang, their adopted daughter. Her mother -Summer's sister, Kanika- had been killed during the war so she and Odell had taken the girl in as their daughter. Summer begins preparations to start dinner when her scroll lights up with a message.
The scroll reads "Honey you need to leave, now! Somehow they found out about me and before long they'll know about you too. They have already branded me and Yang. If you leave now you can meet Albus outside the wall and get to Crow's place in the next city. I'll see you when I can, I love you."
Summer runs up the stairs to her bedroom "I can't believe they found us, after so long going unnoticed." She says to herself as she throws her clothing and a few other items into a suitcase. She keeps nothing of actual import in the city, so she doesn't worry too much about what goes into the case.
The streets are littered with people of all kinds, some who are like her, hunters and huntresses in hiding, and some who are the reason they are hiding. As she approaches the city gate she receives some sympathetic glances from people who know her well. Even the man at the gate knows that she will never be coming back. "What's your business?"
Summer gives him a thankful smile and walks to the large gate. "Just going to visit some family in the next city, I have a ride so you don't need to worry."
The man closes his scroll and looks at her. "Well everything seems to be in order, please be safe." With that he pushes a button and the gate starts to open, the bars come apart from each other until only a three foot steel door remains in her way, it opens and Summer walks through it. In the distance she can hear the sirens that belong to the cars taking Odell and Yang into holding for the night.
As the gate closes Summer opens her scroll, she had gotten another message when she was walking but didn't dare open it until now. It is from Albus, a good friend of hers. He is what some people call a runner, he spends long periods of time outside cities, taking people and items where ever the person who is paying wants to go, although many cities won't let him past the gate.
Summer reads his message. "I got the news from Odell and I should be there soon just hold out for a bit."
After a short time Albus arrives, still in the same gear that he wore back when they went to Beacon Academy -a gray, long sleeve shirt; black cargo pants; his bone white armor and black cloak along with a black helmet.
"I see you still ride this death trap" Summer says to him.
Albus sits on a large motorcycle with two thin wheels in the front and a small thruster on the back to hold it up, it's armored from front to back with several areas for weapons and other items to be held.
"You know it," he smiles briefly at his friend, despite the desperate situation, "now come on, we need to get you to Crow's city before word of you gets there, you won't have much time but I have a plan in case you can't get out before they find you."
Summer reluctantly jumps on the back seat of the "death trap" and they start down the road.
The ride takes around four hours and the two hope they don't run into any Grimm along the way. They pass the time with idle chat about current events and reminisce about their past. They arrive just before nightfall and Summer enters the city with out any trouble.
Once Summer is in she sends a message to Crow, telling him that she will be there shortly to explain what has happened.
Summer knocks on Crows door as the sun begins to set. "Please don't be sleeping." She says out loud to no one.
The door opens a few moments later. "Summer I'm glad to see you made it here safely." Crow turns around and walks back inside.
Summer follows him and sits across from him on he couch. "Albus got me here but that's not important right now! Where is Ruby?"
"She's asleep upstairs. I assume you will be taking her back home?" Crow seems slightly disappointed, as he always enjoys spending time with his niece.
Summer stands up and heads for the stairs. "No I can't go back there, Ruby and I can only stay for a short while longer before word gets from my old city to here."
Crow gets up and follows summer up to Ruby's room. "I guess around two days until they find you, will you be staying here?"
She sits down next to Ruby who is still sleeping. "No, we will be renting a room until Albus can make it back to pick us up." She shakes Ruby gently. "Ruby, dear, wake up we need to leave."
Ruby sleepily opens her eyes. "Mom? What are you doing here?" She sits up on her bed.
"We can talk more later, dear, but hurry and get your things." Summer gives her a quick hug before she starts to gather Ruby's clothing, putting it in the suitcase she had given her.
Shortly after, they arrive at a hotel. It is small but they only need one bed and Summer has no plans to stay for very long.
Ruby falls back asleep before she can even get in the bed, Summer lays her down then continues with what she needs to do before she can go to sleep. From her suitcase she pulls out a red dress with a slit on the hip covered by black lacing, it is very short except for the back which reaches down to her ankles and has lines of red from the sleeves to the chest that are hardly visible. "I didn't think I would be wearing this anytime soon," She sighs, puts down the dress, and pulls her black hair out of it's bun. It falls just past her shoulders. She then grabs one last thing from her suitcase, a red cloak, slightly worn but still in good condition. She sighs with relief that she has not forgotten it, then returns it to the suitcase before going to sleep.
A loud banging on the door wakes Summer early in the morning. "Who is it?" Summer mumbles, still mostly asleep.
The banging continues until Summer is forced out of bed, she is careful not to wake Ruby. "What do you want!" As she opens the door three men in uniform come in. One grabs her and pins her to the ground while one grabs Ruby and puts her next to Summer, the third does nothing but look at Summer.
"Give me the mark so we can get these two out of the city." The men holding Summer yells at the others as one hands him something that looks like a handle to a sword. One end is rounded while the other is flat, the flat side if pressed to your skin burns the mark of a broken shield onto your body.
As the man pushes the marker onto her shoulder Summer screams in pain, she tries to fight back but can't use her semblance while the mark is still being burned onto her. She starts to struggle and the second man comes and pushes her down once more.
When they finish the first man looks at Ruby, as he is about to reach for her the third man grabs his hand. "Sir she's just a little girl you don't need to do this." The first man yanks his hand away.
He stops to think for a moment. "Then you do it! And I want to hear her scream, got it!?" With that he shoves the marker into the third man's chest, walks out the door, and calls for the other man to follow.
Summer looks at him in disgust until he removes his helmet, "Bayard? What are you doing with them?" Bayard is a good friend from her time at Beacon, his hair is black and his eyes rust colored, only now he is wearing the city police uniform.
"Shhh, do you want them to hear you, Albus got me into the city to help you out." Bayard then takes the marker and puts it in his bag only to take out another. "This one will go away in a few days and it won't hurt as much." Her leans down to Ruby. "Ruby, you've grown since I saw you last, now when I put this on you, I need you to scream as loud as you can OK, you can stop when I take it off." Ruby nods at him.
Bayard takes the fake marker and presses it to Ruby's shoulder, Ruby lets out an ear-shattering scream and even goes as far as to whimper in pain after the marker is removed. Bayard puts his helmet back on and grabs Summer and Ruby leading them out of the room in handcuffs.
The other two men grab what's in the room and then set out for the gate. This gate is the same as the one in the last city except for it's size -only large enough for a large truck. When it opens Summer and Ruby are thrown out and their bags follow soon after. Once it closes, Summer's scroll lights up with another message from Albus. "I heard from Bayard that they got you, I should be there soon. I had something to do at home so just hang tight."
Summer closes her scroll and sits next to Ruby on the wall. "Are you OK, Ruby?" She grabs her daughter's trembling hand.
"I'm OK mom, but what will we do now if we can't go home?" Ruby looks at the ground sadly.
Summer wraps her arms around Ruby and hugs her. "Albus is coming to pick us up and he will take us to a new city."
Ruby looks up to see her mother softly crying but trying to hold a smile. "But...but they won't let you in now that you have that mark, right?"
"Don't worry this city has nothing against hunters or huntresses, the mark means nothing to them." Summer pulls Ruby in tighter as she hears the sound of Albus' death trap nearing them.
End.
Note: So I wrote this on the thought of what would the world be like if the opposite of what happened in Mother's Wish happened, as in the Grimm war being won where here it was lost. Different people died and so on so tell me what you think and any ideas you may have for this or Mother's Wish. Thanks for reading.