Hello fellow authors, I have returned! A few things before getting started with the story. First of all, a huge thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed and/or made my story a favourite. You don't know how much confidence as a writer this gave me, so once again, thank you. Secondly, a bit of embarrassment on my behalf actually. When I wrote the first chapter, line breaks were appearing in between places to signify scene changes yet when I uploaded the story they had disappeared. I understand that it may have been confusing to some so I promise that if I figure out how to make them appear online, I will update the affected chapters. And lastly, RWBY volume 3 hype people! On with the story!
Chapter 2: Where are we?
All Ruby saw was darkness around her. No matter where she looked she was surrounded by layer after layer of shadow. Kinda ironic, she thought to herself. First she and her friends are consumed by a bright light and now nothing but shadow… wait, her friends! Where were they?! She felt a sudden feeling of dread tingle up her spine, colder than Beacon during winter. Was she dead? Were they dead? Or worse, were she dead and had gone straight to hell?! She wasn't a bad person, only bad people went to hell...right? Then it hit her, what if this was the afterlife. No heaven, no hell, just...nothingness. She wanted to cry, or to run as far away as she could, but she couldn't. She couldn't even move! The only movement was her eyes darting left to right. Wait, something moved! She wasn't alone in here! The movement intensified as her spirits lifted. Two amber eyes stared at her longingly through the shadows. Wait, something was wrong...the eyes were too small and lacked pupils. Then red markings appeared, painted on a white skull like mask while a pair of dagger like fangs lay underneath the mask. Her eyes widened as she realised what was before her. She couldn't even lift her arms in defence as the Beowolf lunged at her…
Ruby rose up almost instantly, her heart pounding faster than a rabbits foot. She held her breath for a few seconds, allowing her a brief moment of respite. It was okay, it was merely a nightmare. Everything was going to be okay, she repeated to herself, she was...she was...where was she?
Ruby looked around her, this wasn't the temple! The room was lined with scorched white tiles while a round white light flickered slightly in the centre of the ceiling. Next to her was a number of odd medical tools ranging from syringes to a defibrillator. She looked to see a sliding door with some sort of mechanical locking system while she found Crescent Rose no where to be found. The bed she was currently laid in was covered in a green cover of some sort which had obviously been re-used on multiple occasions. She looked down to see she was still in her combat gear, that was a relief at least. As to where she was, the best guess was a hospital ward of some sort, but there was no hospital like this in Vale, at least not one she had seen.
The door suddenly beeped to life as the mechanical lock switched to inactive. Ruby tensed as the door opened and looked. A soldier of some sort entered the room, paying no attention to Ruby at all. The soldier looked female, judging from their build. They wore tan armour with bits of purple splattered around here and there in a camouflage like pattern. A silver visor covered their face while a large, box like back pack was strung onto their back. In their hand was some sort of data pad that reminded her of a scroll which their eyes were seemingly glued to, while attached to her right thigh was a strange purple device that looked somewhat like a pistol. They glanced over to Ruby before looking once again at the pad, before turning in a surprised fashion as if she had just appeared.
"Oh good! You're finally awake!" the soldier said in an almost cheery voice.
Definitely a woman, Ruby thought to herself. Either that or it was a guy who was a bit too much in touch with their feminine side. The woman returned to fiddling with the data pad before continuing.
"So, how are you feeling?" the woman asked again, not bothering to look as if fixated with the pad.
"Uh, fine I guess..." Ruby managed to say.
"Any nausea? Light headedness? Headaches?" the woman continuously asked without giving Ruby time to answer each question individually.
"I-I don't think so..." Ruby sputtered out, watching the woman carefully as her hand reached for the pistol like device on her hip.
"Hold still please." the woman ordered, aiming the 'pistol' at Ruby. She complied as the end of the device began to glow a bright, fluorescent green. She stayed still until the device stopped glowing and the woman returned to her pad.
"Well, you're all clear. Have a nice day!" the woman said, turning to leave the room.
"Wait!" Ruby shouted, the woman stopping in her tracks and turning to face Ruby again.
"How long was I out?" Ruby asked, the woman pressing a few buttons on the pad in response.
"According to this, around two hours. Anything else I can help you with?" the woman eventually said.
Two hours! That couldn't be right! It was only a minute ago that she was at the temple.
"Where am I?" Ruby asked, this time seemingly catching the woman off guard.
"Armonia General Hospital of course." the woman replied nonchalantly, as if the answer was obvious.
Armonia, Ruby repeated in her head. She'd never heard of that hospital before. Not in Vale or in any other continent. She would have to ponder it later.
"Am I free to go?" Ruby asked for the final time.
"Of course! I believe your friends are waiting for you at the reception, second door on the left." the woman replied, pointing outside the door.
"Thank you." Ruby said, the woman waving a silent good bye as she turned to leave. Ruby slid off the bed and cautiously exited the room. Outside was a long corridor that was in just as bad disrepair as the room she was just in. Lime green walls had cracks and what appeared to be bullet holes along them while what she was certain was dried blood splattered across the area here and there. Finally she came across the second door on the left and pushed it open. She found herself in a small room with a segregated desk that obviously was used for booking appointments. Currently a man wearing the same armour as the woman from earlier was sat behind the desk while another in front of the desk was wearing white armour with sage stripes dotted around and was clutching a heavily bleeding arm. She didn't pay much attention to the conversation but she heard the name 'Dr. Grey' followed by a whimper from the white armoured soldier.
If she wasn't so pre occupied, she would have asked who this 'Dr. Grey' was or why the man's arm was bleeding, but she was looking for her friends. Nothing else mattered.
"RUBY!" a familiar voice shouted. Ruby turned and was caught in the tightest bear hug she had ever had.
"Yang! Can't! Breath!" Ruby managed to get out before her half-sister let go of her playful death grip.
"Oh thank god your okay, dad would have killed me if anything happened to you! I was so worried!" Yang blurted out at a speed that could rival Ruby.
"WE were worried, you mean." another voice said.
Ruby looked behind her sister to see Weiss standing with her arms crossed and an icy glare directed at her. Ruby sighed in relief and looked at her friends. They were still in combat gear minus their weapons and were slightly bruised from what she assumed was the skirmish with the White Fang. Then something hit her.
"Where's Blake?" Ruby asked, looking around for her faunus friend. The looks on Weiss and Yangs face turned from relief to confusion.
"She wasn't with you?" Weiss managed to say. Ruby shook her head in response. Before either one could inquire further, the door beside them slid open. Standing there were a pair of soldiers with weapons drawn. The first looked like the woman who had checked up on Ruby but instead of purple streaks he had sage ones while the weapon in his hand was long and black with a single scope on top. Judging from the design of the weapon, it was precision based and probably functioned like a mini sniper rifle. The other soldier looked like the one with the bleeding arm though this time, she was able to get a better look at the armour design.
It looked highly advanced in comparison to his compatriots, with sharp angular curves here and there. The helmet had a single, cycloptic orange visor in the centre with a small black respirator of some sort at the bottom. The armour was white with sage stripes every so often, similar to his injured double. Unlike his accomplice who held a sleek precision based weapon, the white soldier held a somewhat bulky weapon that was more likely a frontal assault weapon. The three huntress's didn't know what the two men wanted, a feeling that was only intensified as they turned to walk towards them.
"Ladies, we need you to come with us please." the tan soldier said, bobbing his head up and down whenever he talked.
"Where to?" Weiss challenged, attempting to gain some form of authority.
"You'll find out soon enough." the white soldier replied, giving absolutely no answer what so ever.
The three huntresses merely shrugged and followed the two men out of the reception. Upon exiting, the huntresses were greeted by a sight they didn't expect. A large metropolitan like city surrounded them, with buildings and skyscrapers as far as the eye could see while a long monorail track spanned above them. The city some what reminded her of Vale, if Vale was a lot grubbier and filled with men and women wearing the same armour as their escort. Military cars patrolled the streets while various soldiers chatted with one another, their heads bobbing up and down as they seemingly spoke.
"Through here!" the tan soldier said, gesturing towards a building that was considerably smaller then the others around them. The huntresses entered the building to find themselves in almost complete darkness. The room was small and the only sources of light was through the door which was promptly closed and a dingy light hanging from the ceiling. From what they could see, in front of them directly under the light was a table with a pitcher of water and three cups lined in a row with three chairs neatly lined up with one another. Then, they saw them.
At first they seemed invisible but now they were as clear as day. The first was clearly a man wearing armour almost as dark as the room with yellow stripes here and there while an orange visor covered the majority of his face. The other was a woman who was well built and had a look around that screamed 'no-nonsense woman!'. She wore cyan armour and wore a slightly different helmet, with her visor being more of a thin horizontal strip rather than something that covered her entire face. The woman gestured for them to sit which the huntresses quickly did and helped themselves to some much needed water.
"Ladies, thank you for coming on such short notice." the man said.
Wait, he didn't! Did he? Ruby turned to her friends, they all had the same shocked look on their face. This guy sounded an awful lot like Ozpin, almost too much like him. The two soldiers looked at one another before turning to face the speechless teens.
"Is something wrong?" the woman asked, no hint of worry in her voice at all.
Ruby's jaw dropped even further. No way was this possible! The woman sounded an awful lot like Pyrrha, except a lot older. This had to be a coincidence, surely it must be! It wasn't as if the woman looked exactly like her, hell, Ruby secretly bet the woman didn't even possess a fraction of the skill Pyrrha had! It was just the voice...that's all...no further similarities to take into account…
"Uh no, we're fine." Weiss finally managed to spit out. At least some one is taking charge, Ruby thought.
The two soldiers looked at one another, not entirely believing Weiss what so ever.
"Okay then, we just need to ask a few questions, understood?" the man finally said. The huntresses nodded in unison. "All right then, what are your names?"
"I'm Ruby Rose, this is my friend Weiss Schnee and that's my half-sister Yang Xiao Long." Ruby said without even thinking. She mentally chastised herself for giving out their names so quickly without any knowledge of who she was talking to.
"All right then 'Ruby'," the woman said, leaning forward before continuing. "I take it your in charge here, is that correct?"
Ruby merely nodded in response. This woman may sound a bit like Pyrrha but she didn't have her personality, that was for sure.
The woman merely smirked in response "A bit young to be in charge aren't you?"
Ruby didn't know whether to take that as an insult or a compliment, Yang seemingly took it as the former.
"You take that back you bitch!" Yang shouted, her eyes slightly flaring a shade of red.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realise I was talking to you!" the woman retorted, staring what Ruby assumed was daggers into Yang. The situation was seemingly intensifying with both Yang and the woman sizing each other up.
"That's enough you two!" the man shouted, getting in between the two. The situation seemed to defuse itself as the woman backed away and Yang sat down, her eyes turning back to their natural lilac.
"Why don't you let the people person handle this, okay?" the man whispered to his colleague, who merely grunted in response. The man then turned his full attention to the huntresses. "Ruby I take it?"
Ruby once again nodded, though she didn't feel as intimidated by him as his partner.
"I want you to tell me what happened approximately two hours ago." the man asked.
"I don't remember much." Ruby sheepishly admitted.
"Just try and recall what you can." the man said again.
Ruby took a deep breath before she began to tell her account of the events that led to their current situation, including Torchwick, Blake, the White Fang, the temple and the bright white light that enveloped them which brought her and her friends to this place. When she had finished, she could tell from the two soldiers body language that they were utterly confused.
"Wash, a moment please?" the woman hissed slightly. The man, who must have been 'Wash', turned to the woman who gestured to the entrance and both left the room to discuss their verdict on the teens. What seemed like hours passed with utter silence between the team. Yang was the first to break the silence.
"I miss Ember Cilica, if I had them right now, I would've punched that bitch right in the face for what she said." Yang lowly whispered, in case the room was bugged.
"That would've only made things worse, who knows what these people are like! They could have aura or something far stronger for all we know!" Weiss retorted, earning a shrug from Yang.
"I miss Crescent Rose though, I feel kinda...'naked' without it." Ruby whispered, she was rarely seen without the weapon and it felt like a part of her.
"I wouldn't worry too much, I'm sure our weapons are fine." Weiss replied to reassure her friend.
In Armonia's armoury, four of the New Republic's and Federal Armies scientists were studying the strange hybrid weapons before them. One Republican tech was examining Myrtenaster's Dust storage while the other was trying to figure out how Crescent Rose morphed from a sniper to a scythe and then into an easy to carry box.
Meanwhile, a Fed tech was studying one of the shotgun gauntlets that made up Ember Cilica while the other had the guts to actually equip the other half of the weapon, shaking his hand furiously in an attempt to make it work.
"How does this thing even work?!" the Fed shouted to his partner who merely shrugged in response.
Almost without warning the gauntlet let out a round, sending the unprepared tech flying and screaming into the wall. The impact dented the wall greatly while knocking the Fed out cold. In response, his partner gulped as he quickly dropped Ember Cilica to avoid a similar fate.
"Guys, can I ask you something?" Ruby said, turning to her friends, who merely looked at her in response.
"Do you think Blake is okay?"
Judging from their reaction, the answer was unknown to them. That was exactly what Ruby was afraid of.
"I'm sure she'll be fine, she's resourceful Ruby." Yang quietly said to reassure her sister.
"Maybe they found her and she's in some sort of intensive care or..." Weiss simply trailed off as she realised she was probably making things worse.
Suddenly, the doors behind them opened letting light into the room once more. The two soldiers from before entered as the door closed as quickly as it had been opened. The huntresses looked at the pair, waiting for their judgement.
"Despite my personal feelings towards you and your story, my partners agree with one another." the woman finally said, a hint of venom in her voice.
Ruby looked around in confusion. There was the 'Wash' guy but no one else is in the room. Perhaps this other person was observing or something from somewhere else.
"You girls are…free to go." she reluctantly said, staring at 'Wash' with a look that said 'anything bad happens, it is on you!'. Relief washed over Ruby and her team-mates, but the soldiers weren't finished yet.
"You can wander around the city, but you will be under close surveillance at all times. Do anything suspicious or out of the ordinary, and there will be consequences!" Wash said, his voice darkening at the last sentence. "Any questions?"
"Yeah, where are our weapons?" Yang asked, looking as if she was about to burst.
"Your weapons are being looked at our technicians for now, you will be able to retrieve them as long as you don't decide to go on a slasher spree in the city!" the woman said, slightly more relaxed than she had been during their interrogation. "Any other questions?"
There was one question that had been gnawing on Ruby's mind ever since she reunited with Weiss and Yang but had never found out the answer to.
"Do you know if our friend Blake will be all right?" Ruby finally managed to say.
The looks of confusion the pair were giving each other confirmed Ruby's fears long before Wash managed to speak.
"Who's Blake?"
Forest Peninsula, 5 miles off Western Armonia border, 1 hour after arrival
Blake groaned in pain, everything hurt whenever she moved. She winced in pain slightly as she moved her head to get a better look around. She was in a forest of some sort, gnarled trees were all there were for miles around. A large, protruding bramble patch was to her left which was littered with White Fang carcasses, Crows and other scavengers already feasting on the still fresh remains of faunus. That was when Blake realised something was up. She was upside down. She looked at her feet to find them snagged on a tree branch while below her were a number of discarded weapons, including Gambol Shroud. She sighed internally, looking to find some way of getting down. Then she heard voices, a pair of voices, getting louder by the second.
"I don't like this." the first voice said, which was deep and croaky.
"Don't be such a baby, we're just checking the perimeter!" the second voice said, which was smoother yet just as deep as the first.
"Exactly, do you know what happened to the others who checked the perimeter?" the first said, his voice getting more exasperated with each word.
"No, what happened?" the second enquired.
"Exactly! We don't know! They just disappeared into thin air!" the first replied. She could see the two owners of the voices now. White Fang, one a cat faunus of some sort like herself while the other was a wolf or other canine hybrid.
Don't look up, please don't look up! Blake whispered to herself. If they ignored her, she could get back to finding a way out of here without drawing any attention to herself. Suddenly, a loud snapping noise was heard. She looked around hastily, before her eyes met her foot, the branch starting to give way to the pressure.
"What was that?" the cat faunus said, who was the owner of the deep croaky voice.
"Lets find out." the wolf said, his footsteps getting louder as he approached the clearing below.
"Oh no..." Blake whispered, before the branch finally gave into the pressure. She began to free fall as time seemingly slowed down around her. She twisted and turned herself upright, making sure her feet hit the ground first rather than her head. As the ground got closer, she braced herself for a hard landing. She hit the ground with a large thud...and an intense pain in her left foot.
She bit her lips to bite back the scream that was soon to follow. She looked at her foot to see her left ankle twisted slightly. That shouldn't have happened, her aura should have taken the brunt of the damage! She quickly grabbed Gambol Shroud and began to limp as fast as she could from the clearing.
"It's the traitor! Get her!" the wolf faunus shouted. She knew it was fruitless to run in her condition but she had little choice. Suddenly she felt some sort of wire wrap around her legs, causing her to fall and Gambol Shroud to slip from her grasp again. She looked at her feet to find a bola wrapped around them. She began to crawl towards Gambol Shroud, hoping to cut the bola and continue her escape.
"Gotcha filth!" the wolf faunus shouted, placing his knee on the small of Blake's back before grabbing her arms and cuffing them behind her back.
It was hopeless, she felt the cat faunus cut the bola as the wolf faunus picked her up and shoved her forward harshly.
"Start walking traitor! Torchwick wants a few words with you!" the cat faunus sneered, grabbing Gambol Shroud off the floor jabbing the blade into her flesh. Blake limped forward, being guided harshly by her two captives until she found herself in a crater of some sort. Within was all the White Fang that had been present at the temple, some carrying minor injuries such as cuts and bruises while others laid in pain, their entrails nearly spilling out of their slashed stomachs. Up ahead on the highest mound in the crater was the man himself, Torchwick. His hair was slightly ruffled while his bowler hat had a small hole in it. Melodic Cudgel was still in his hand while his once pristine white coat was now smudged with dirt and blood, which she was confident wasn't his own. He turned to face Blake, his neutral gaze becoming a sinister smile upon seeing her.
"Well well, look what the cat dragged in." Torchwick said as the two grunts pushed her forward before leaving.
"I've been waiting for you to arrive my dear, I was worried you had died in the landing like so many of your kind did." Torchwick said, fake sympathy in his voice.
Blake merely spat at Torchwick who only laughed in response.
"You think I'm lying, don't you? Because I really am happy you survived, I was worried that a tree or one of those overgrown lizards our scouts keep finding had gotten to you first!" Torchwick continued, ignoring Blake's hateful gaze. "You see, I didn't want something like that to get the pleasure of killing you first." he finished, the sinister smile growing as he spoke.
"Ladies and Gentlemen! May I have you attention!" Torchwick shouted. All the White Fang present turned to look at the man, looking at their commanding officer. "Before you stands one of your own, a traitor to your people!" Torchwick rapidly grabbed Blake by the back of her neck and shoved her forward slightly. The crowd immediately turned from passive to aggressive at the sight of her, many shouting insults and throwing rocks and lord knows what else at her.
"She betrayed your trust and now she stands before you as a prisoner!" Torchwick continued, "Your not going to let her get away with her crimes are you?"
"NO!" the crowd shouted in unison.
"What are you going to do then?" Torchwick asked again.
"KILL HER!" the crowd replied in unison yet again.
Blake hated to admit it, but Torchwick had a way with words. She had seen it before at the rally when she and Sun went to spy on him a few months ago. The crowd were reacting to his speech like fire on dry wood. However, all of a sudden the crowd died down and looked at a single grunt in the centre of the crowd. Blake narrowed her eyes and saw what they were fixated on, a small red blob on the soldiers head.
"What is it?" the soldier asked, fear in his voice.
"Rodney, theirs something on your head..." Torchwick replied, confusion obvious in his own voice.
"What, like a spider? Get it off!" the soldier, who she assumed was Rodney, shouted, his body tensing slightly.
"No, it's red and glowing." Torchwick replied, placing his face in his palm before sighing in disbelief.
"What, like a red glowing spider? Get it off!" Rodney replied, his body tensing further.
"For goodness sake Rodney, it's not a spider!" Torchwick shouted.
"Well, what is-" Rodney never finished the sentence as a hole the size of a fist entered his head, his body disintegrating into orange flakes as he hit the floor. Panic began to enter the White Fang as more and more White Fang began to get picked off by the same beams that had killed poor Rodney. I took the deaths of around twenty of the White Fang before the panic died down. Their had been around fifty White Fang in the temple, forty five had survived the arrival, now there were only twenty five left. Torchwick placed Melodic Cudgel on the ground and held his hands up in surrender. The other White Fang followed suite.
Blake kept her eyes open, looking for any sign of their attackers when she saw a shimmer on the edge of the crater, and another, and another. She counted at least ten shimmers surrounding the crater. Then they began to appear from thin air. Around ten soldiers, six men and four women, surrounding them. The women wore steel grey armour unlike anything Blake had ever seen, thin silver visors covering their helmets while they aimed long rifles of some form on the White Fang. The men wore armour that was more bulky in appearance but was the same colour, large silver visors covering their helmets while they too aimed the strange rifles at the White Fang.
What she assumed was their leader stepped forward, flanked by a male and female soldier on either side. His armour was similar to the men's armour yet it had a white border at multiple joints, the same rifle as the others carried leaning on his shoulder.
"Well well, what do we have here?" he said, his voice deep and threatening. He turned towards the woman on his right before continuing. "Contact HQ, tell them we found something very interesting..."
Dun, dun, duuuuun! What will happen next! Will Ruby and friends find out the fate of their friend? Will Blake survive her encounter? Will the Fed technician be all right after his encounter with Ember Cilica? Find out the answer to most of these questions in the next chapter! Don't forget to leave a review and constructive criticism is always welcome!
Raging Archon out!