Okay fair warning ahead right now, if you like my usually fluffy happy stuff, this isn't anything like it. This is dark suspenseful and dark. I know I said dark twice but this is seriously unlike anything I've written before. You might still like it but the warning is out there. So it's rated M for a reason, lots of heartbreak, lots of dark stuff, but satisfying. Reviews are appreciated I've never actually written something like this before so this is a test.
Enjoy!
Innocence
The door flew open unceremoniously and the girls walked in much the same.
"We'll find her Yang," Weiss affirmed.
"I know," Yang said as she shook her head. "I know."
"Perhaps we should reconsider how we search."
"She's alive!" Yang said angrily. "I know she is, she can't be-."
"That's not what I meant," she said. Yang tried her best to calm down. "I was more referring to the fact that she might not be in Vale anymore."
"She wouldn't leave her mother behind. If anything else, she'd stay for her."
"But it's still within the realm of possibility."
Yang just sighed and sat at the desk with her face in her hands. The room was too quiet. All of Beacon was too quiet without her. "All of this," she said softly.
"Yang, don't do this to yourself. None of this was your fault."
"That doesn't change how I feel."
"But it won't get any better if you ceaselessly blame yourself for something that you had no control over."
The argument stopped but the echoes thrived, bitterly circling the room.
"So what do we do?" she asked.
"We'll keep looking, but we need to rest as well. It's Sunday today, we'll take the rest of today to regain our strength and we'll start again tomorrow. Is that a good idea Blake?" Weiss looked toward her teammate and wasn't sure what she was seeing. Blake stood like a statue staring at Ruby's bed. "Blake?" she called out again.
"Blake what's wrong?"
Blake could only slowly lift her finger and point to the slowly moving shape on the bunk above Weiss'. The girls followed her finger and they leapt back, staring with her. None of them dared to move except Yang, who slowly moved to take the covers off the bed. The momentum of the blankets carried them off of the sleeping figure and the girls went from wary to shocked, to confused and beyond.
"She's-?"
"Here?" Yang finished.
There on Ruby's bed laid the girl in question, happily cuddling her spare pillow and snoring softly as she always had. Her tank top she slept in, the same well-worn pair of pajama pants, even the way she drooled on the pillow she cuddled, perfectly preserved.
"R-Ruby?" Yang asked slowly. Ruby snorted in her sleep but fell back asleep shortly after.
"Go get Jaune, tell him she's here," Weiss said. Blake nodded and dashed out of the room as fast as her legs would carry her, knocking the desk chair over as she did. The clatter startled Ruby awake and she swung her head back and forth letting her long hair cascade down her shoulders.
"Wha happen?" she asked sleepily. "What time is it?"
Neither Yang nor Weiss could answer; they only stared at the girl before them.
"You guys okay?"
Still no answer.
"O-kay then, well I'm gonna go shower, I feel pretty skuzzy from that pillow fight." Ruby rummaged around her dresser for a moment or two then disappeared into the bathroom. Yang and Weiss said nothing still, waiting for anything to break there silence, the finally managed to move away from where they stood. Weiss sat on the side of her bed, and Weiss next to her.
"He's here," Blake said as she came back into the room. Jaune followed moments later and met the nodding heads.
"Thank God, and she's okay? She didn't freak out any did she?" he asked.
"Um, about that, I think we may have an issue," Weiss said softly.
"What do you mean?" Just as he asked they could hear Ruby singing to herself in the shower. "Well she sounds fine."
"She said she needed to shower because of the pillow fight," Yang said to the ground.
Blake stared at her in disbelief. "The pillow fight? Really?"
Yang could only nod now.
"She didn't say anything?"
"No."
Jaune sighed and rubbed his hand along the back of his neck. "I'd better go. You want me to call Ozpin?"
"Yes, don't let anyone come down here though; just let us explain it to her."
"You got it, good luck guys."
The rest of the room sat in silence, trying to decide how to break the news to her.
"Any bright ideas, Weiss?" Blake asked.
Weiss shook her head. "I'm just glad she's okay."
"But that just raises even more questions," Blake said. "Where was she? How could she just-?"
"Don't," Yang said sternly. "Don't throw that in my face, she's alive and she's here." Yang gave a big sigh and stood up. "Just let me enjoy this for a little bit."
The shower finally stopped running and the girls just held their breath.
"What the-? Guys?" Ruby called out.
"What's that Rubes?"
"Who drew this thing on my forehead?"
The girls looked around at each other.
"What thing?"
"Not sure, it looks like a scar but I don't remember having this one. Did you guys do something to me last night?"
"Ruby, can we talk to you for a little bit?" Blake asked. Yang whipped her head around and shook her head angrily at Blake.
"Yeah gimme a sec! Man my hair's being weird today! Have you guys ever had day where hair felt longer than it was?"
"Yeah actually," Yang said in a dry laugh. Blake sat on her bed still staring at Yang; tension was quickly building in the room. The door finally opened and Ruby practically skipped out, wearing a pair of sweatpants and a loose t-shirt.
"Sorry for the wait, but my hair was acting weird."
"We get that," Weiss said softly.
"So what's on the agenda for today?"
"Well-."
"We need to talk to you Ruby," Blake said again. Yang's fists clenched but she didn't say anything.
"Sure, what's up? Is this about the thing on my forehead?"
The girls finally did see the jagged line, buried in the skin above her eye.
"No actually, we just had some questions." Weiss led her to the edge of her bed.
"'Bout what?"
The team sat whole again in their room, but the whole situation was still so volatile.
"Ruby, what do remember about the pillow fight?"
"That thing, really?"
"Yes," Blake said hurriedly. Yang glared again but Blake paid no mind.
"Well Yang started it, and then I retaliated. Eventually you guys joined in. Then I went to bed, and then I woke up." The room stayed silent for a few more minutes. "Seriously what's up with you guys? You guys are acting weird. Are you guys mad 'cause I won the pillow fight?"
"How can you joke like this, Ruby?" Blake asked.
"Huh?"
"All this time and all you can do is joke around like nothing ever happened?!" she asked. Yang backed her down but she paced around the room frantically.
"Nothing did happen, why are you so mad?!" Ruby asked.
"Everyone," Weiss said slowly. "Please, I understand tensions are high, but we need to take a deep breath."
"Why is tension high, why is Blake upset, why are you being so nice and why is Yang looking at me like I died? Seriously, what happened?" she asked. The room was eerily quiet again. Yang moved toward her desk and pulled out a piece of paper, she just stared at it. Ruby couldn't see what was on it but she just saw her sister staring so heavily at it.
"Yang what's wrong?" she asked. Yang quickly crumpled up the paper and threw it in the trash.
"Yang what are you doing?!" Blake asked.
"You two." She pointed to Blake and Weiss. "Outside now."
Blake and Weiss looked at each other skeptically, but Yang didn't budge. They moved towards the door, but Ruby tried to follow.
"No, you stay here."
"Why?"
"Please, trust me, Ruby."
Ruby saw the look in her sister's eye and her nervousness increased. She didn't know what to do except nod and climb back in her bed. Yang shut the door and locked it from the outside.
"Follow me. Now," she said.
XXX
"What is your problem, Yang?" Blake asked, she was beyond frustrated now and was actually angry. She paced frantically around the courtyard as Yang sat on a bench.
"Blake, please, we need to step back." Weiss tried to step in front of her but Blake pushed past her.
"All this time you've wanted answers, you wanted to know what happened! But you're backing down now that we might actually get what we wanted?! What's wrong with you?"
Yang clenched her fists but didn't move, she just stood there staring at the ground. "Blake, you saw her there, you heard her talking and you saw her smiling."
"But what about-?"
"And yes, I want to know what happened. But the most important thing right now, is that she's back." Yang tried to keep her voice from wavering but she failed. "She's back, and she's alive." Weiss ran to comfort her and she accepted it. "I don't care about anything else."
"But she needs to know!"
"She's alive," Yang just kept repeating it, losing herself in her tears more and more each time.
"Blake," Weiss said. "Let's just savor this for a while; it's been hard on all of us."
Blake didn't say anything; she just sat back down on the bench. When Yang finally calmed down they sat solemnly in the empty courtyard.
"Then what do we do?"
"I don't know."
XXX
Ruby paced around the room impatiently. She toyed with her hair as she walked the aimless circles. She could see the others talking in the courtyard, but when she saw Yang in tears it took everything in her not to leave. After a half hour she'd had enough and grabbed the paper from the trash can. She tried to smooth out the paper carefully so she didn't rip it. She saw her own face on the paper; it was her school ID photo. She read around the page but didn't understand what she was reading.
"Missing: Ruby Summer Rose 15 years old
Last seen: 3/15 at Beacon Academy, missing since 3/16
5'6", about 155 pounds, brunette hair with red highlights and silver eyes
If found call Yang Xiao Long, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna or Jaune Arc.
There is a 100,000 lien reward for any information leading to where she is, or the events leading up to the disappearance."
Beneath the text there was a hand scrawled note.
"Any information helps, please Ruby come home we miss you!"
"What the-?" Ruby read and re-read the paper a dozen times but it didn't make any sense. Yesterday was March fifteenth, why put up a missing person's ad for a day? "Is this some stupid prank?" she asked angrily. She grabbed her scroll and looked at the date scrawled on the screen.
6/24
Ruby's hands started shaking and she could feel sweat bead on her forehead. She ran into the bathroom where it was clear to her now. Her hair actually was longer, and that wasn't a drawing. A long jagged scar now existed on her forehead. Now it dawned on her why the girls were so upset about the pillow fight. Ruby sat in the bathroom staring at the paper, trying so desperately to prove it was fake, that it was a practical joke. She wasn't missing, she was just asleep, and it couldn't be June!
This couldn't be real.
The door unlocked and Yang called out for her, when they finally found her staring at the paper in the bathroom they couldn't do anything but stare. Yang knelt beside her and just held her tightly, she went to tears again but now she could hold her.
This couldn't be real.
XXX
"Three months?" she asked slowly.
Yang just nodded. They sat together in the floor of their room, staring at the papers.
"What happened?"
"We woke up the morning after and you weren't in your bed. There was no trace of you. Your scroll was still here, your clothes, your purse, your money, everything was still here. The only thing missing was Crescent Rose," Weiss said.
"And that was here when we came back this morning," Blake added. "You were just lying in your bed as if nothing ever happened."
"B-but, nothing did happen!"
"Ruby, it did, whether you remember or not."
"That doesn't make any sense."
"We've been saying that for three months," Blake said. "We'd though originally that Torchwick had you kidnapped, but shortly after you disappeared he turned up dead."
Ruby's eyes widened even further. "D-de-."
"Yes, his body was found with a few others, the police said it looked like a deal went sour. Adam Taurus was arrested and charged with the murders, after that the White Fang disbanded and with all of that all of our leads ran dry. After that we just scoured Vale for you."
"I was in Vale?"
"We don't know where you were," Weiss said. "We couldn't find any trace of you, nobody had seen you, nobody could even say they saw you in passing. It was like you didn't exist for three months."
"That doesn't make sense," she echoed.
"Look it doesn't matter," Yang said suddenly. She held Ruby tighter as she said it. "You're here now."
"B-but what about-?"
"It can wait, I'm sure we'll figure it out eventually." Yang smiled as she hugged Ruby tightly. "I'm just happy you're home."
"I'm sorry," Ruby said softly. "I didn't mean to scare you guys like that."
"Ruby as far as we know it wasn't your fault," Weiss said. She too joined Yang in holding Ruby; Blake did after another few moments. "We're just glad you're home."
"Why don't we go grab something to eat, we'll go downtown okay sis?"
"Okay," she said. The girls nodded and went to freshen themselves up. Ruby saw the additional numbers on the page and left the room. Jaune's door never seemed so far away, even as she knocked on it. Jaune opened up the door and the second he saw her he sighed happily. He must have been just as worried.
"Hey, Rubes, how're you feeling?"
"Shaky, but I'm here at least."
"Yeah, glad to see that," he said. Ruby looked past him but the room lay bare behind him. "How's Yang?"
"She's calming down, I didn't think she'd ever let me go."
"Sounds about right, can't imagine what she was going through."
"Mmhmm, where's the rest of your team?"
Jaune's body language changed. "Nora and Ren went to visit family. They won't be back for a while." He lied.
"Oh, cool!" she said with a smile. "What about Pyrrha?"
"She's back in Mistral." He didn't lie that time.
"Well tell them I said hi."
"I will." He smiled and turned to leave.
"J-Jaune, are you okay?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well your name was on the paper, I just wanted to make sure you were doing okay."
"You're here and you're safe," he said simply, with a smile growing. "I'm getting better."
"Good, I'd better get back; the girls and I were going to go to Vale."
"That's good, have fun. Say hi to them for me."
"Will do, bye Jaune!"
"See ya, Rubes."
They parted but Jaune immediately grabbed his scroll and texted Yang.
"Ruby just asked about Pyrrha and the others, does she know anything?"
"No, she doesn't remember anything, she just remembers the night before she disappeared."
"Good, don't tell her, we can tell her that later."
"Wasn't planning on it, but I'll tell the others. How are you doing?"
"It's gets harder to answer that question every time someone asks it."
"Sorry, we're here for you, gotta go, we're heading out."
"Have a good time."
"K, you have fun too."
"I'll try."
XXX
"Who're ya texting?" Ruby asked with a fry in her mouth.
"No one important," she answered.
"So Ruby you really can't remember anything from the last three months?" Weiss asked, not of frustration but curiosity.
"Nope, far as I know the pillow fight was last night."
"Interesting, what could have caused that I wonder? I've heard of traumatic memory loss, but not of months at a time."
"Or maybe I was just asleep, Idon'tknow, I'm just glad I'm back."
"Yeah that's true," Blake said. She'd calmed down after spending more time with Ruby. "Sorry for my-."
"Catty attitude?" Yang asked.
"Oh for the love of-." Blake put her head on the table.
"Well, some thing's never change." Ruby said as the table erupted in giggles. Ruby's attention was grabbed by something she saw.
"What's the matter Blake, cat got your tongue?" she asked again.
"Please stop," she begged.
"Aww don't worry, you can take a cat-nap when we get back!" Yang was reduced to manic laughter as she said it. "Did you like that one Ruby?" Yang looked over, just as Ruby stood up and ran out of the café. "Ruby?!" Weiss stayed back and paid as Blake and Yang gave pursuit.
"Wait!" Ruby called out, seemingly to no one. "Wait, who are you?!" she yelled out again. The woman she was chasing disappeared in the crowd as they turned the corner. "Please! Who are you?!"
"Ruby what's going on?!" Yang asked, she scanned the crowd but no one stood out. "What happened?"
"I knew her," she muttered. Weiss' scroll went off just as they she joined them. "I'd met her before."
"Met who?" Yang asked.
"That woman, I knew her."
"How'd you know her?"
"I don't know, I can't remember meeting her."
"Maybe she knows something!" Blake said quietly, Yang's face fell and she felt conflicted. "We should go to the police; maybe we can get someone who knows who she is."
"We might be able to kill two birds with one stone if that's the case," Weiss said.
"Why's that?"
"My sister just picked up your inebriated uncle, Yang."
XXX
"I'm not apologizing," Qrow said. He was currently handcuffed sitting in his holding cell.
"I don't need you to apologize; I need you to sober up before I let you out to give your statement," Winter said calmly.
"That might take a while, Elsa."
"If you call me that again Qrow, I will find a way to legally remove your tongue and I'll give it my dog as a chew toy."
"Maybe you should just, let it go," he said quietly.
Winter took a deep breath and calmed herself down. "I hate you so much."
"Love you too, Elsa!" he shouted. She could smell the whiskey even after she left the room. The smell made her want to vomit. She looked at the four young girls with a bit of disdain.
"What can ya say, I get it honestly!" Yang said happily.
"What'd he do?" Ruby asked.
"He was at a bar, perhaps unsurprisingly, and according to him someone," she sighed and pulled out a napkin stained with something. "Some backwoods hick mother called my precious little niece a hooker so I knocked out his teeth."
Yang just fell to laughter as the others face palmed.
"What I do know is that the man he accused of it, did purposely antagonize him because of his work with the military. He was trying to start a fight, and Qrow finished it."
"Well thank you for the call Winter, but we need a favor," Weiss said.
"If you can sober him up, I'll do anything you want."
"Hah! Too easy!" Yang said triumphantly as she carried Ruby towards the holding cell. Qrow sat still until he saw Yang walk up with Ruby, the smug grin he wore disappeared and he bolted up from his seated position and hugged her tightly through the bars.
"How did he get out of his handcuffs?!" she asked angrily.
XXX
"We've got Ruby talking to the sketch artist now," Winter said.
"You're sure she doesn't remember anything?" Qrow asked hesitantly.
Yang shook her head, staring at Ruby's flailing descriptions.
"So what happened?"
"We were eating and she saw someone, someone she knew but she didn't know why she knew them," Blake said.
"So we're back to chasing out tails," Qrow said angrily. "No offense, kid."
"It's okay," Blake said with a sigh.
"At least she's here," Yang said.
"Very true, so she doesn't know anything about what happened at Beacon?"
"No, we haven't told her." Weiss sighed as she thought about it.
"Sounds good, well keep me-." The door opened suddenly and Ruby ran through holding the picture in front of everybody. Both Qrow and Yang's blood ran cold at the sight of the woman staring back at them from the paper.
"Do you guys recognize her?!" she asked.
Blake and Weiss shook their heads. "Not at all," Blake said sadly.
"Unfortunately not, Ruby, I'm sorry."
"Dang it!" she said frustrated. Yang and Qrow just shook their heads, not saying anything else. "I thought for sure this was who was arguing!"
The group stopped everything for a minute. "Arguing?" Blake asked.
"Yeah, I got up to go to the bathroom and someone was out in the hallway arguing. Something about-." Ruby let out another frustrated groan. "I can't remember."
"Who?"
"I wasn't sure, I thought I recognized one voice, but-." Ruby shook her head. "I don't remember after that."
"Who was the one voice?" Weiss asked.
Ruby closed her eyes and took a deep breath, acting out the night. "I got up and went to the bathroom, I didn't hear anything until I came back out to get back in bed. I remember it was pretty fierce so I grabbed Crescent Rose just in case and pulled the door open slightly. I saw-." Ruby's eyes flashed open and her smile reappeared. "PYRRHA!"
Everyone froze again.
"I remember now! Someone was arguing with Pyrrha, I knew I recognized the voice! We'll just ask her! Oh wait, she's in Mistral, but Jaune has to have her scroll number! I'll call and ask him!"
"Ruby," Yang said. Ruby looked back and everyone in the room, Winter included, stared back. Their countenances falling as they looked at her and some of them threatening to go to tears, they left Ruby alone with her smile. "S-something happened, while you were gone."
XXX
Jaune lay on his bed in his room, staring at the ceiling, as he had the last couple of months. He sat back listening to the lectures Pyrrha recorded for him, just her reading the notes and giving little hints. He closed his eye and held his scroll tightly as she closed off the recording with a good luck. He sat in the quiet room again until someone was pounding at his door. He leapt up and hurried to the door, hoping something hadn't happened. He threw the door open and Ruby buried herself in Jaune's chest sobbing heavily. She held him muttering apologies she knew weren't going to do anything, but it was all she could do. Jaune tried to console her even as she tried to help him, all Ruby could do was pray that this wasn't real.
This couldn't be real.
XXX
"What happened?" Jaune asked angrily. "You said you weren't going to tell her!" Ruby lay asleep in her own bed after she'd calmed down and detached herself from Jaune.
"And we weren't planning on it, but she was going to call you asking for Pyrrha's number," Weiss said.
"Why?"
"She remembered hearing Pyrrha arguing with someone in the hall the night before she disappeared, this is just getting worse and worse," Yang groaned and plopped on one of the spare beds.
"And she wanted to know who it was," Jaune followed the reasoning and sat on his bed, holding his head tightly. "Damn it."
"My sentiments exactly," Weiss said. "So what now?"
"Well we already know who killed Pyrrha, but maybe she had someone take Ruby away because Ruby saw what happened," Blake suggested.
"Ruby wouldn't have let them, remember she said she had Crescent Rose, she'd have fought to the death and we'd have heard it," Yang argued.
"Well we didn't hear Pyrrha either, it's still possible," Weiss said.
"You've fought with Ruby, she can't do anything without making random Karate noises, and we'd have heard that."
"Also true," Weiss sighed.
"So what now?" Blake asked. "We're back at square one and we know less than nothing."
"Look I'll talk with Qrow after they let him go, until then keep Ruby in the room. Don't let her leave again."
"I'm going to be talking with Winter, I can't stay with her."
"I'll go talk to Adam," Blake said.
"I'll stay, not like I have anything better to do anyway," Jaune said.
"I appreciate it Jaune." Yang got up and sighed. "Let's meet up back here tonight, we'll compare what we know, and if we can't get anything then we just drop it."
"What?!" Blake asked angrily.
"If we can't figure anything out tonight maybe we weren't meant to. She's here and she's safe, maybe we should quit while we're ahead."
"Blake," Jaune said. "Yang's right, at this point it's not worth it anymore."
"Fine," Blake said angrily as she stormed out.
The rest of them left leaving Yang alone with her scroll.
"We need to talk. Now."
XXX
"Quit lying to me Qrow!" Yang shouted.
"I'm not lying, I was just as shocked to see the damn picture as you were!"
"But what was she doing with Ruby?!"
"I don't know! Usually I could keep tabs on her location at the least because she was going after Cinder. After Cinder died, she went off the grid completely. I couldn't get anything. If Ruby was with her, she'd have told me."
The two paced around the room angrily.
"What could my mom have possibly wanted with Ruby?!" she asked herself, pushing herself to near tears.
"I don't know. Cinder was the one killed Pyrrha, it could be that Ruby just saw her, not that she ever really knew Raven."
"But she said she'd met Raven."
"Then I don't know. I've talked with Ruby more in the last day then I have with my sister in the last six months."
They both sighed and leaned against the walls of their room.
"So we know nothing again."
XXX
"We know that Cinder killed Pyrrha, perhaps that's what Ruby witnessed and Cinder did away with her," Weiss suggested.
"I'm not so sure; Cinder would have just killed her I think. Besides, Cinder was killed when Adam turned on her and Torchwick." Winter pointed to the board where they found Cinder's body. Badly mutilated by Adam's lieutenant and his chainsaw weapon, she was barely recognizable as she was.
"But then what did Ruby see?"
"Perhaps she did witness Cinder kill Pyrrha and grew fearful and ran away."
"No."
"But you-."
"No," Weiss said firmly. "She would have come back and told us, or done something. She wouldn't have run, at least not without leaving a message. But there was nothing."
"Perhaps then Adam sought to remove a witness."
"You think he did something to her?"
"It's within the realm of possibility. We know that Cinder and Torchwick were manipulating the White Fang, and if Adam wanted to make a clean break from all that but there was someone that knew something. Even as distant as Cinder then he could have done something."
"But he would have said something about it."
"What makes you so sure?"
"Because he would have done it to hurt Blake."
XXX
Adam and Blake said nothing to each other, separated by a thick pane of glass. Adam's mask was gone now and for the first time in years she finally saw his eyes. Blake finally dug through her backpack and pulled out the picture.
"Do you know this woman?" she asked. Adam looked the picture over for a few minutes and shook his head.
"Why would I?"
"We think she had something to do with Ruby's disappearance, I just wanted to know if you knew her."
"Well then if there's nothing else, I should be getting back to my cell," He said bitterly.
"Why did you do it Adam?" she asked.
"I didn't, as I said in the trial. But the evidence was stacked against me."
"What makes you say that?"
"I wouldn't have let my lieutenant kill Cinder. I would have done it, if I had. But I didn't."
"Then why are you here, you could have broken out ages ago?"
"Because they pinned the murder on me to get me in jail for everything else I'd done that they couldn't prove. They did what they had to, and though I'm not happy with the outcome I can respect their practicality. I was arrested before I ever knew Cinder was dead, so that means none of our circle knew anything about it. That should be your first clue on her real killer."
"I don't care about that Adam, Cinder was," Blake sighed and looked away. "I didn't care for her anymore than you did, but Ruby disappeared the same night that we know she killed another friend of ours. All I want to know is if you know anything about her."
"The little one?" he asked.
"Yes, Ruby."
"One of Cinder's lackeys was upset at her, called her out by name; it was the green haired one."
"Why'd she call her out?"
"Not sure, wasn't listening to it all. But she said something about her little boyfriend. He's been missing since all of this went down. Try her, but if you'll excuse me." Two guards came in and escorted him out of the room. Before he left he scratched the glass three times in three small little lines, just enough for Blake to feel even more nervous.
"How did it go?" the guard asked.
"Don't let your guard down with him. He's more devious than you know."
XXX
Ruby sat in a little ball as Jaune sat across from her. She hadn't stopped crying for a while but Jaune couldn't do anything to comfort her.
"Why didn't they tell me earlier?!" she asked.
"You didn't need to know," he told her.
"Why not?!"
"Because all they cared about was you were safe."
Ruby went back into her ball; though her crying had stopped she still didn't look up. "I'm so sorry, Jaune."
"I know you are Rubes," Jaune said.
"So where are Ren and Nora?"
"They went home, after Pyrrha died JNPR fell apart, I only stayed back to make sure you were safe."
"Thanks, I guess."
"Don't mention it," he said.
"What happened to her?"
"She was attacked, but they found the woman that attacked her. It was all dealt with before you came back."
"I missed the funeral?"
"We didn't have one, her family took her body back home."
"So you didn't say goodbye to her?"
"No, none of us did. It was hard for us."
"I can imagine."
Jaune's scroll dinged and startled them both. "Yang's on her way back, she said she'll be here in about ten minutes."
"What are you going to do?"
"Hmm?"
"I mean, I'm back now, what are you going to do?"
"I don't know, I'm alone now."
"No you're not!" she said. "We're here for you."
"I know you are Ruby," Jaune told her. "Yang and the others have been a big help ever since it happened. But right now I don't know what I'm going to do."
"You can stay here," Ruby hinted. "I don't want to lose another friend."
"Okay Ruby."
XXX
"Is she okay?" Yang asked.
"Yeah she's just asleep, she didn't remember anything else. At least nothing new to me," Jaune said.
"So what have we learned?" Weiss asked. "When I was with Winter she suggested that Adam might had done something to Ruby, did he say anything?"
"No, he said Emerald was mad at Ruby, threatened her for something, but Adam didn't know what."
"If Emerald was mad at her I don't think Cinder did anything to her," Weiss said.
"And even if she did we couldn't ask her."
"Hello Square one, it's nice to see you again," Yang said as she fell on her bed.
"Then maybe we should just let it go. At this point I don't think we'll ever get answers," Jaune said.
"As much as I don't like to admit it, I think Jaune's right. Winter didn't know anything when I talked to her, Adam didn't know anything, and Qrow didn't know anything."
"But we're missing something, we have to be!" Blake argued. "There's got to be something, something that answers at least one of our questions."
"But we've exhausted our options, what do we have left?" Weiss asked.
"There must be something! I'm so sick of not having answers!"
"Blake, we might never get them."
"But-." She sat on the edge of the bed and cradled her head. "Once again something terrible happens to our friend and we can't do anything but watch?!"
A knock at Jaune's door stopped the argument dead and Ruby walked in a couple seconds after, rubbing her eyes sleepily. She handed an envelope to Yang and started to walk back to her room.
"What's this?"
"Idon'tknow," she muttered. "It was under my pillow."
"It's addressed to me."
"That's why I gave it to you." Yang was staring blankly at the envelope and said nothing. "What's wrong?"
Yang said nothing.
"Alright then, I'm goin' back ta bed." Ruby shrugged and opened the door to leave.
"Well what is it Ruby?" Weiss asked.
"Idon'tknow!" she whined again, obviously still tired. "I just said I found it under my pillow, for all I know Yang put it there."
"Well what does it say?" Weiss asked annoyed.
"It's addressed to me," she said quietly.
"So open it, I don't care."
"It's marked the 15th of May."
Ruby froze in her spot as did the rest of them, unsure of what to do, she just slowly closed the door.
"What's in it?" Blake asked hurriedly. Yang slowly opened the parcel and peered in slowly. "Well?"
"I-it's a flash drive."
"Huh?" Ruby asked.
XXX
"Hey there," Ruby said. They stared at the screen as Ruby peered back, nervously shifting as the camera focused on her face. "This is a lot harder than I thought it'd be. Not that I thought it would be easy, but-." The on screen Ruby shook her head and the rest of them saw the scar on her forehead, fresher and less healed than it was now. "I'm recording this for Yang, but I assume she'll show it to everybody. It wasn't supposed to be like this, none of this."
"That can't be Ruby," Yang said.
"It looks just like her," Jaune countered.
"No it doesn't, look at her." They looked over the woman speaking to them, and they had a hard time arguing Yang's point. Ruby was always full of life, loving, and happy, even when she wasn't smiling there was the light in her eyes. But she didn't have that, not in the video. She looked more like Qrow; world-weary, bitter, broken. And it killed Yang.
"When all this stuff happened, I thought I was doing it right, I thought for sure that we'd just shrug it off like we're supposed to. We're supposed to be like this, though right? We're trying so hard to be something we're not, we're these big-." The onscreen Ruby shook her head and looked off screen. "I always thought you shrugged it off, Yang, how did you do it? Cause right now I don't know how. But that's not what this about."
"What is it about sweetie?"
"This is a just-in-case tactic. She doesn't believe this will kill me, but she also said it's good to prepare. If you're watching this then there's a more than likely chance that I'm dead." The onscreen Ruby stayed calm. "That phrase used to scare me so much, but now it doesn't do anything."
The other didn't know what to say, but simply stared in pale horror at the screen.
"I wanted you to know that even through all of this happening to Pyrrha and more importantly to J-Jaune, I never wanted you guys to worry. I've seen the posters and it just makes my stomachs do flips. I thought I'd be back by now, that I could just walk back into my life but I can't. I love you all, and I don't want this to be the end." Onscreen Ruby had started going to tears but calmed herself down. "If you're watching this then I want you all to know that I love, you were the best friends I could have. All of you. And Yang is the best s-." The Ruby onscreen ran out of frame in tears before she could finish the sentence and the static rang in the room.
"That's the end of it," Yang said quietly.
"So what now?" Blake asked.
"No." Yang got up and threw the drive in the trash. "No more."
"No more what?"
"No more of this! No more 'what now' or 'what's next', we're done." Yang slammed the computer shut and put it back on Weiss' bed. "We're done with all of this. Ruby is back and she's-!" Yang looked around the room and her gaze froze on the open door. "Where is she?" The others looked around and Jaune came to a bad conclusion.
"Crescent Rose is gone too," he said.
"Maybe she recognized the building!" Blake said frantically.
"I did." They turned back and Ruby walked back into the room, she was sweaty and panting. She let Crescent Rose fall behind her, and walked back to her bed. "But she was there."
"Who?"
"That woman."
XXX
Ruby stared at the building again, she tried to find something familiar about it, but nothing. It was just a building to her; she nervously fluttered her hands around Crescent Rose as she walked toward the building. The clacking of heels behind her stopped her and she turned to see who was behind her.
"You shouldn't be here, Ruby," she said softly.
"But I've been here before."
The woman only nodded.
"Well then why can't I go back in?"
"Because you told me you didn't want to remember."
Ruby scoffed and tried to leave. "I wouldn't do that, after all that happened I want to-."
"May 15th, six days after your 5th birthday," the woman shouted. Ruby froze and felt her blood freeze with her.
"T-that doesn't m-mean-."
"And I know about Qrow."
Ruby turned around violently and looked back at her. The woman hadn't moved from her position yet but simply stared at her.
"I, I n-never-."
"But you told me," the woman said. "You told me because you knew that eventually you'd think of something. Eventually you'd find your way back here and you didn't want to relive what happened."
"But what did happen?! Why can't I remember anything from the last three months?! Yang and the others deserve that."
"What they deserve is to know that you're safe. And you are Ruby, you're back, and you're going to be okay."
"But-."
"We went through a lot to make sure you wouldn't remember, so don't do this to yourself."
The woman left after that. She disappeared into the crowd again leaving Ruby alone staring into darkness.
XXX
Weiss, Jaune and Ruby were sitting alone in the room now. Yang and Blake left to pursue the mystery woman, maybe getting some more answers even though Ruby didn't want them too.
"It's over," Ruby said.
"But Ruby, we still don't-."
"We know enough, when Blake and Yang get back we'll see. It's done."
"What happened?"
"She told me things about me that I've never told anyone. And I know that I don't want to know."
"If you're sure, then we'll go with you Ruby," Jaune said. Weiss looked at him with confusion. "We trust you."
"I'm here and I'm safe. That's all that matters."
"Yes it does," Weiss said. She held Ruby tightly as the room fell quiet again. They sat in the same silence until Yang and Blake returned. Blake's face was red with fatigue and frustration, but Yang looked almost peaceful.
"How did it go?" Jaune asked.
Yang just sighed.
XXX
"This is the place, I know it." Blake looked around at the scenery, the building wasn't abandoned, but it wasn't populated. It was perfect for hiding. The cool night air blew through them almost. "But what goes on here?"
"I don't know. You go around the back see if you can find anyone."
Blake nodded and ran off as Yang walked down the narrow driveway. Her footsteps echoed loudly against the flagstones, even after she stopped. She turned just as the woman stopped.
"What happened to Ruby?"
"She chose not to remember, Yang."
"And I won't tell her, not until she's ready. I understand that. But someone needs to know."
The woman just laughed and crossed her arms. "Are you sure you're ready to know? This isn't very flattering information," she warned.
"I'm ready, Raven."
Raven took a deep breath and walked toward Yang. "What would you give to go back to the time when you thought the world was an innocent place? Worthy of being saved?" she asked. She stared at Yang as she did and Yang saw the same look in Qrow's eyes. "What would you give, and who do you think you'd be?"
"What does this have to do with Ruby?"
Raven was quiet again; she crossed her arms and sighed. "What do you know about Pyrrha's death?"
"That woman Cinder Fall, she was the one who killed her. And don't you dare tell me that Ruby killed her."
"She didn't, in fact Ruby did her absolute best to protect Pyrrha, and in the end she did a service to all of Remnant. But she lost who she was in the process."
Yang took a minute to process what she was hearing.
"She saw Cinder kill Pyrrha and then she killed Cinder," she said quietly.
Raven nodded as Yang looked down towards the ground. "Not just Cinder, Mercury tried to stop her but she killed him too."
"And when she pieced everything together she got scared and ran?"
"Yes, I'd been tracking Cinder and watching her movements for years but when I saw this I couldn't believe it. I found her a day later, hiding in the woods outside of Beacon, still covered in blood."
"So what happened after that?!" she asked forcefully changing the subject. "Why doesn't she remember anything?"
"After we set up Adam Taurus to take the fall, we spent our time hiding here. Ruby agreed to have her memory wiped; we hoped it would be enough to satisfy your questions if she just reappeared. The questions remained but the fact that she was safe-."
"Would get me off your trail, and the things she never told anyone?"
"She told me what really happened to her mother."
Yang sighed and turned away from Raven, and threatened to go to tears again. "She always told me she didn't know, that she couldn't remember."
"But she knew and she told me."
"So what about the thing with Qrow?"
"You must have known that you weren't really sisters," Raven said quietly.
"I knew, but how did Ruby know?"
"From what I gathered, she figured it out herself. She never asked my brother, but I still think she knew. But how did you know?"
"My dad told me, just like told me you weren't dead, and that you did abandon me."
"Trying to send me on a guilt-trip Yang?"
"A little remorse would be nice," she said.
"I did what I had to do, and seeing how you turned out," she said. The haunting smile she had grew softer. "I can take solace in that."
"So Ruby had you wipe her mind because she couldn't deal with the fact she'd killed two people. Why couldn't you tell Qrow?"
"Yes tell my estranged brother that I have his daughter and that I'm going to mess with her head so that she doesn't remember killing the most dangerous woman on the planet, please tell me how that sounds logical."
"Alright I get it, but-." Yang rubbed her eyes wearily. "It doesn't mean I like it."
"Ruby trusts you Yang; she still calls you her sister. And she loves you, so she deserves to keep what innocence she has."
"I know she does."
"I love you Yang, you're still my daughter. I ask you still trust me."
"Then contact me, talk to me, talk to Qrow, but don't leave me in the dark and expect me to trust whatever it is you're doing." The two stared at each other for a few more minutes, silence slowly creeping back in between them.
"I'll do what I can, Yang."
"You owe me far more than that." Yang stormed off not long after. Raven disappeared in the shadows before Yang turned back around. Yang was alone again, but for the first time, she preferred it that way.
XXX
"Did you find anything?" Weiss asked.
"Nah, lost her. Not a trace. The building's locked up tight, couldn't get in," Yang said as she sat down.
"The back way is out too, no way in, no way out," Blake said.
"It's over," Ruby said again. "We're done with this, let's just move on. We're still gonna graduate and we're still gonna be what we wanted to be. Even you Jaune, you'll stay with us."
"Sure, why not?" Jaune said.
"Weiss and I were talking, we could all go see a movie, does that sound good sis?"
Yang smiled and hugged Ruby. "Wouldn't miss it for the world sis!" she said. Yang turned back and met Blake's eyes. Blake wasn't buying any of it. "Tell ya what, you guys go down to the airship and once Blake and I get cleaned up we'll join ya, sound good?"
"Sure, we'll be waiting, coming Jaune?"
"Yep, let's go."
The room was quiet again as Blake shook her head at Yang. "I can't believe you."
"You'd better." Yang took her jacket off and moved back towards the bathroom.
"We finally know what happened, what actually went on, where she was and what she was doing, and you give it all up because your mother says you should?!" Blake asked angrily.
"No." Yang looked back as Blake stared her down. "I'm not doing it because Raven told me to. I'm doing it because she's right. Ruby's fifteen for God's sake and she doesn't need to know what happened yet."
"So because Ruby's innocent she gets away with murder?!"
"No, she didn't get away with murder. She defended Pyrrha, Raven saw the whole thing, Ruby did the right thing and it came back to bite her in the ass. And I'm not saying she'll never know. But she doesn't need to know right now."
"She needs to know!"
"You're absolutely right Blake, she does need to know. But not right now."
"Why not?"
"Blake she didn't ask to be thrown into Beacon two years early, she didn't ask to be separated from all she knew, she didn't ask for any of that. But she got it all."
"What does that-?"
"And when she did she was scared, but she made friends, real friends. You, Pyrrha, Weiss, Jaune, Nora, Ren, and after what happened to her mother she clung to us. So when someone threatened that like Cinder did, and let's be honest here Cinder was far more of a threat than any of us knew, she acted out of fear of losing what she had again."
"But Adam is paying for her crime!"
"No Adam is paying for his crimes; they just slapped a fancy title on it to make sure it was going to stick. I'm going to make this clear right now: if you tell Ruby anything, anything about what Raven and I talked about or what Ruby did. I will never speak to you again."
"Really?" Blake asked in a scoff. "You're going to throw that out?"
"I will leave Beacon, I will leave Vale," Yang threatened. "And I will take Ruby with me."
Blake's brow furrowed as she comprehended Yang's threat.
"And I will never speak to you again, Blake."
"You'd uproot her?"
"If I had to yes."
"You'd really abandon us? Like your mother abandoned you?!" she shouted.
"My first concern is that Ruby is safe and protected, so if I see you as a threat to my sister's safety I'll do what I have to!"
"SHE'S NOT EVEN YOUR SISTER!" Blake shouted back, shoving Yang into the wall. "YOU CAN'T SHELTER HER LIKE THIS!"
Yang didn't shove back, she didn't raise her voice. Her eyes didn't even change color. She just stared back at Blake, even as Blake kept up her feeble assault.
"I'm not sheltering her, I'm doing what I need to do. You saw Ruby in that video," she said quietly. She grabbed Blake's wrists and held her still, even as Blake tried to get out of it. "Which Ruby do you prefer?"
"I didn't like any of this!" she said through her tears. "Watching you do this to yourself, how you punished yourself! I found those sleeping pills Yang!" Yang grew uncomfortable at the mention. "I just wanted to help you but you pushed me away! You pushed Weiss away! All I want is the family I had back!"
"And you think telling Ruby about any of this is going to get it back?! All you're gonna do is make it worse! And if you take away the one thing Ruby still has, you're no better than Adam!" Yang shouted.
Blake stepped back from Yang, staring at her in horror. Her bloodshot eyes were wider than they'd ever been.
"All Ruby has in her life is her dream of being a huntress. You saw her in the video, she'd given that up. Beacon, Team RWBY, Crescent Rose, that's all she really has. And I'm going to tell her, I promised Raven. But right now she doesn't need to know. She's just a kid, let her have this." Yang turned to go back into the bathroom.
"Y-Yang," Blake called out, she was on her knees, hugging herself tight enough to carve into her arms. "I'm sorry," she said over and over. She cried into the ground as she kept apologizing. "Don't leave me, please!"
"I'm not going anywhere, Blake. You're my friend." Yang hugged her even as she wept into her shoulders. "You're my family, just as much as Ruby is."
"I'm sorry," she cried again. "I love you."
"I know," she said.
XXX
"Sheesh took ya long enough!" Ruby said. Yang looked back into her eyes and saw that light again, just the sight made Yang smile.
"Blake, are you alright?" Weiss asked. Blake followed Yang wearing one of her big coats, it looked adorable.
"Yeah, I just," Blake sighed. "It finally hit me that this is all over."
"Yeah it is," Ruby said. "H-hey Jaune, can I uh, sit next to you, at the movie?"
Jaune's eyebrows rose in surprise but he nodded. He let Ruby on the airship first and went to Blake and Yang. "Everything alright?"
"Yeah, it's all over," Yang said happily.
"You sure?" he asked.
Blake nodded this time. "Yeah, everything's taken care of."
"Come on slowpokes! Let's go!"
"Yeah, we're on our way. So keep your panties on Ruby!"
"Meanie!" Ruby shouted back.
"I'm here for you guys if you need it," Jaune said as they climbed on.
"And we're here for Ruby, and Ruby's there for you, we've got us a neat little safety net now." Yang looked back at Beacon and smiled, even as she saw the shadows move in the background. "Maybe even bigger than we know."
XXX
So yeah, there ya go. I hope I raised far more questions than I answered. This was a test since I've never really written anything like this before. I'd always focused on the lighter fare, but this was fun and I hoped you enjoyed it.
Thanks again for reading, and I'll see you next time.