The Ghosts Of the Past
Chapter 1
AN: I'm sorry for taking wayyyy too long to post this, work is just killer and the overtime is slowly eating away at me. Personal problems aside this is a new(?) story and I hope you all enjoy, feel free to review and PM if you have ideas/suggestions/ or CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. Blaiseingfire has helped me through every word, every chapter and every emotional spat that went into this so be sure to head over to his page and check out his works. That man is amazing and a delight, happy stories for when your down, angst for when you're just in that kind of mood and smutty for those saucy moments. On to the chapter I hope you all enjoy I look forward to hearing what you all think so dont be afraid to let me know!
She carried her sister's broken and bloodied body in her arms. Never once let it go, despite being told repeatedly that she needed to rest. This was all her fault, she had made every injury, every droplet of blood pour from her young body, every broken bone, every….single….one.
There's no way she was alive, when she fought, she fought to kill. She was seeing an illusion, but the body was her sisters. She couldn't be forgiven, she couldn't go back to the life she had before, even if anyone else was foolish enough to attempt to forgive her. She'd never forgive herself. It was her duty as an older sister to protect her sibling, she failed. Not only did she fail but she was the cause that lead to her demise.
Glynda was gone, Yang saw her body and heard from General Ironwood what had happened just before Jaune and her got there. The general swore that he didn't know what happened but he didn't have her, having heard a similar report from the team who retrieved CRDL, Yang had no doubt that Glynda could be counted among the bodies.
Yang turned to watch as Winter trotted off, her arms held together behind her back in that same 'I'm better than you.' stance that Weiss always had, after recounting the details of how she took care of Emerald and broke the illusion that Yang was under. Apparently Winter had toyed with the girl, using her glyphs and knowledge of the Schnee techniques to overwhelm her and slowly pick her apart. Emerald's body was cut to ribbons, small but numerous gashes littered her body and even now she struggled to breathe, every move the girl made spewed more blood from near every wound on her body yet she still tried to utter a curse only for blood to flood her esophagus. Death by drowning in your own blood. Winter Schnee is an excellent soldier, a brilliant tactician, and kind hearted to a fault, but there are rumors of Winter having a dark and sadistic side that made even the most cold hearted and battle harden veterans freeze up in fear. It sent chills down the brawlers spine.
Jemima Arc had been found, having been separated from the general and her sister she eventually found her way by following the explosions. Jaune was filthy from the fighting and tried to console her as best he could, He couldn't know the loss of a sister but dammit he still tried. Blake and Weiss had shown up just in time to see the aftermath of the battle. They explained that right after Jaune and Yang left they all begged Ozpin and Glynda to let them go but they refused, on the way back to the dorm they hatched a plan to go anyways and tried telling Ruby that she needed to wait. Ruby's stubborn nature and speed semblance proved to much...the rest is now history.
James Ironwood wasn't as distraught as before, perhaps remembering his duty as a general of the Atlesian military he quickly cordoned off the area and had teams scavenging the remains of the crash. He walked over to Jaune and the remnants of team RWBY, informing them that they would be taken back to a properly running military facility and treated. Yang steadfastly refused to leave Ruby to anyone else but her own care.
After getting back to the military facility they tricked her into a medical tent of her own and separated her from her sister. Jaune was there to, he never left her side. No matter how much she wanted to be alone. After they released Yang they tried to imprison her for what she'd done. Attacking a hunter in training is a crime, made worse by the fact that it was done by someone of her own team. So Yang ran, she smashed everything and made a not so clean getaway. She ran as far as she could as fast as she could. Living on the run would be difficult, but it was what she deserved for what happened.
She woke up, gasping for breath and in a thin shean of cold sweat. She'd been thinking of that every day for the past ten years. As far as anyone was concerned she was dead. When she left she dropped everything and vowed to never go back. She killed her sister, failed everyone. The final battle was won due to a crash landing, not her. A wanted criminal on the run, every law enforcement agency in the entirety of all four kingdoms was after her head.
After calming her thoughts down she looked around and noticed it was the dead of night. Checking her scroll she saw it was around midnight on October 3. The moon was hanging at the top of the night sky, the only real indicator it was, in fact, nighttime. She threw the ragged blanket, that she had stolen from an out of the way house, that was her bedding for the night. Packing up her small collection of personal belongings she checked her ammo and food, low on both. She'd have to make a risky trip to try and replenish them both for at least another month. If she were lucky. A sudden rustle of a nearby bush caught her attention. The only sound that pierced the dark veil of the broken house.
"Damn, I didn't even notice the lack of sound. They're getting better." She said to herself, why? No clue but it was one way she managed to stay sane, right? Cocking an arm back she fired a round at the nearest wall, it burst into tiny pieces that peppered the three soldiers on the other side. At least that should have happened. Instead she threw her arm forward and the dreadful sound of a mechanical click resounded throughout the area. Pulling her arm back she stared at the gun barrel, empty. Of course she'd forgot to reload it, she wasn't expecting a battle!
"Now boys, I know how that looked but let's not be hasty with those tasers I know you have trained on me." She sounded much more confident than she was at the moment. She downright felt stupid for forgetting to reload her damned gun. Someone dressed in solid black stepped forward with his hands raised, his footsteps reverberating unusually loud against the concrete floor. Looking down she noticed that he had kicked off his boots, before stepping on the floor. He wanted her to see his feet. More accurately that his feet were made of metal. Her muscles clenched and an involuntary shiver ran up and down her spine. Lifting her hands ready for hand to hand she was not ready to face this man, It'd been almost ten full years. They finally got so desperate to send him?
"It's time to come home."
His voice grated on her nerves, it wasn't unpleasant. Expect for the fact she didn't deserve such kindness. Not after all that had happened, she'd caused the death of his sister as well as her own. She was not ready to deal with the bullshit, the heartache, the pain all over again!
"Your team needs you."
Tears stung her eyes at every syllable he uttered. It was all horseshit! No way that they all forgave her for the death of their leader! She couldn't face them anyways.
"Your sister ne-" He went flying through the wall as she landed a straight punch on his jaw. Fire was coming off her in waves and her crimson pupils dared anyone else to approach.
"You shut the hell up, You don't get to talk about her like she's still alive!" She was beyond pissed at this point, she was going to stop him from talking anymore. He raised himself up onto his shoulders and nodded. She felt a sharp pain in her neck and turned to look to see a silver haired middle-aged man and a platinum blonde with dark skin behind her. Of course she hadn't heard them, that's why they're the head of the unit in charge of her capture.
"Please come quietly now, no one has to get hurt." The man said.
He had no idea. She didn't want to go with anyone. She wasn't going to go with anyone!
"Don't do it!" The blonde woman practically screamed as she readied her weapon of choice.
"Too late for that." Cocking her arm back she took a swing at the man with the silver hair, only for him to easily dodge it. As expected though, her true target was the blonde. She was going to smash her smug face! Her fist connected with nothing but air as the blonde had ducked under her fist and swept her legs out from under her. Lying flat on her back was not a position she was used to in battle, feeling the rage burn up her insides she rolled back onto her feet and rush the pair again. They both skilfully dodged each one of her strikes as if she was underwater. The fire was starting to consume the wooden walls of the house the more pissed she got, soon someone would come to investigate the raging inferno.
She planted her right foot to go for another right hook only for her legs to turn to jelly. Her anger subsided right away as she found she couldn't stand, let alone fight or see clearly. Fighting the feeling of weakness that only seemed to grow stronger the more she tried to fight she finally collapsed on the floor. With her vision fading fast she heard a new arrival, a young woman. She sounded downright pissed at her treatment? Who would even care how she was treated? Suddenly a blurry face filled her vision, at least she guessed it was a face. Her vision was all but gone but she could she the woman's lips moving but hear nothing.
((linebreak))
"Her treatment was totally uncalled for!" A sharp female voice filled the room, becoming clearer with each passing second.
"Did you forgot what she did to you?" The same voice from last night, belonging to the man with silver hair. His voice still emotionless as before, was he bored?
"No, I'll never forget. But I have forgiven! Take off those restraints, she's a human being not a deranged psychopath!" The strange woman screeched, her voice was shrill and everywhere, her voice clearly directed at the man.
"With power like hers, and considering how long she's been on the run along with how many people she herself has hospitalized. We're not taking chances." He finished with a sigh, was it exasperation or worry?
"Let her go or I'll get him down here to fix this!" Again, defending her. Like she deserved such treatment.
"It's under his orders that she's restrained."
The sudden quietness of the woman was disturbing. Clearly someone very high up could silence her with just his ideas? Who exactly was she? Why did she try defending her? She had so many questions!
After several minutes of silence filling the room she tugging her arms ever so slightly she confirmed that they were, in fact, restrained. Her eyes remained closed and her breathing even, though she suspected they knew by now she was awake. After another ten minutes of silence she peeked an eye open to see an empty room. Shifting her head around she didn't find a single camera, recording device or anything else that might even look like it was monitoring her. The room was stark white with no windows, no visible door line, no vents, and no cracks from the building material. Very impressive that they'd go this far just for her.
Whirring and a mechanical click later and the restraints on her wrists and ankles were undone. Pulling her arms back she sat up and rubbing the sore skin, noticing that she was dressed in plain white t-shirt and loose pants with a drawstring. Swinging her legs off the side of the table she tested her legs out. Whatever drug they put into her seemed to wear off in her sleep. She paced around, looking for anything. A flaw in the seamless corners, a mistake in the design, something overlooked due to budget constraints. Nothing, it was more than irritating.
Suddenly the door opened with a loud hiss. Before her, clad in the same black uniform as last night(or whenever it was) was a tall but lean masculine(man?) figure.
"Hurry up, we don't have much time before they send someone." She stood stock still and crossed her arms. He heaved a heavy sigh. "Come on, I can't force you but believe me when I say some very important people want you out of here."
At least he knew she couldn't be forced to do anything. Not seeing much in the way of other choices she wordlessly relented.
"Can you answer anything?" She asked, not in the least bit hopeful.
"Barely, go for it though." He said as they briskly walked through the hall.
"Who wants me free so badly after the powers that be went to such lengths to capture me?"
"See, that's one of the questions that I have no clue how to answer."
"Figured as much, where's my weapons?" She asked suddenly.
"Gott'm tucked away safely, we'll be there shortly if this goes well and fast enough." Continuing the journey in silence they made several impromptu stops to avoid the "random" patrols. A feeling of familiarity was creeping up on her, something just felt...right. The look of the halls, the smell of the air, the only thing that was off was the general vibe of the people. Namely the person in front of her, he was nervous as a tick. Couldn't blame him, she could take down every wall of this building if she felt like it. She occasionally looked behind her and saw a glimpse of dark red hair.
"That's strange, did you see that?" She asked a bit louder than necessary.
"Shhhh, keep your voice down. We're nowhere near where we need to be." He turned back around and quickened his pace, forcing her to follow or be left behind. Several more unanswered questions and half a dozen twists and turns later they face a vehicle garage.
"Okay, no more dodging me, where are we going?" Slightly irritated and more than ready for a fight at this point she stood her ground.
He turned his head, thankfully she couldn't see how much he was sweating from this simple mission. "I've been told-"
"Bullshit, I don't go a step further until you tell me what I wanna know."
He swallowed nervously, she'd be more than capable enough, even in her state, to take him in a fight. "Will you be happy with me telling you that it's someone who wants what's best for you?"
Not exactly happy with the answer, it seemed that was all she was getting this time. " Fine, hurry up though. I'm getting cranky."
Back to the uneasy nonaggression between the two they made there way to the far end of the garage. The lights were broken, as evidenced by the glass on the ground, and it was filled with a darkness that couldn't be pierced with eyesight at such a distance.
"This is where I let you go, there's instructions on where to go in the vehicle. I was told once you see it that you'll know who sent me."
Raising an eyebrow at all the cloak and dagger BS, the mysterious man shrugged his shoulders and hastily retreated. Shaking her head she proceeded forward, groping her way through the darkness.
POV Change
"Sir, I did as I was instructed, she's in the garage right now. You should be able to pull up the feed on the CCTV cameras."
"Very good, thank you for your service, however. Did you feel the need to betray that last bit of information to her?"
Suddenly nervous that he heard, he scrambled to remove his gear.
"Struggle all you like, you're dead either way, your feelings towards her led you to this."
An odorless gas had been released into his suit but no sounds could be heard as his body thrashed from lack of oxygen. Growing still, a group of five men came to clean up the body and erase any evidence of his presence.
Back to our woman stranger
As she got to the far corner her foot struck hard metal. Grabbing her foot and kissing it tenderly she looked at the offending piece that dared to try and hurt her, only to gasp in surprise. It was a motorcycle, but not any motorcycle. It was bulky yet gentle with its curves, built for speed over comfort, the shocks were covered by the yellow and orange body. The whole bike had been professionally cared for and kept in top condition. She knew it well, tracing her hand over it as one would an old friend from times long ago. She swung her leg over the side and found the keys in the ignition, turning the massive engine over her old friend roared to life and the peaceful quiet that permeated the garage was broken.
"Welcome back baby, I missed you Bumblebee."