-Day one: Hour one –
-Time remaining: 119 hours –
"There, we delivered the video. I still don't see why you didn't have us make any demands in it, though." Mercury was reporting back to Neo, who just nodded.
'Don't worry. I made a plan.' She signed, and he just shrugged.
"Whatever you don't say, Neo."
He seemed slightly proud of himself for that not-so-sly dig at her, and she just deadpanned at him until he left the room.
Whatever, she had more important things to do. The timer had started when she had Mercury and Emerald drop off the scythe and that video, so she didn't have much time to waste vacating the area.
As if the universe had read her mind, Roman chose this time to check in. "Hey, you coming or what? We don't have all day."
She smiled and nodded, walking towards the doorway slowly, deliberately. Roman groaned and headed back where he was needed, convinced she was just trying to be a smart aleck.
He never noticed the notecard she'd dropped behind herself.
-Day one: hour one -
-Time remaining: 119 hours -
"What the hell do you mean we 'can't go on the mission'?!" Yang demanded, slamming her hands down on the desk.
To his credit, Ozpin did a good job appearing unfazed by the angry blonde. He explained again what he had told them when they asked what they should do first. "I understand that you feel it's your duty to look for her, but I just can't let a bunch of first year students charge into a hostage situation. And for that I'm deeply sorry." He took a long sip of his coffee. "I'll send a team of upperclassmen to scout, and if they fail to come back with anything, a fully trained hunter will be sent to retrieve Ruby. That is all I can do for you."
He stood from his desk and motioned to Glynda to do something, probably dismiss the remainder of team RWBY, while he dug around some files.
While Weiss focused on keeping Yang from breaking something, Blake took on a thoughtful expression. "Professor, before we go, I was just curious – what team do you think you'll be sending to scout?"
"Hmm…team CFVY has interacted with your team more than any of the other upperclassmen, so they should be good match. They'll also be instructed to keep you updated on the mission, don't worry. Is that all?" He replied idly, still trying to find some file or other.
Blake nodded. "..Yes, that was all. Thank you."
Glynda was oddly silent as she led them out of the office and back to the hall, as was everyone else, but she spoke up just as they were sent down the elevator. "Oh, and, you three – I'll see you in class tomorrow. Try not to be late." The doors slid closed.
"Pffft. As if anyone would dare be late to her class. They'd get detention until the next ice age rolled around." Weiss scoffed, then looked over to the other occupants of the elevator and noted their expressions.
Yang seemed to be too busy brooding to appreciate the slight humor, and Blake was once again thinking of something else. "Now that you mention it…that is weird." She muttered.
Weiss shrugged. "Not really, she's a pretty strict teacher. Though I was exaggerating for comedic effe-"
"No, not that." Blake cut in. "She never reminds people not to be late, we all know that's a terrible idea. Maybe she wants us to come in early so she can say something?" she mused.
"Or maybe she wants us to cut and go look for Ruby!" Yang said suddenly, startling the other two in the elevator.
Weiss frowned. "I don't think a professor would encourage that, much less professor Goodwitch. Maybe she will have something to say to us before class though. "
"I don't care!" The blonde was shouting again, "We need to find Ruby as soon as possible and since we were the last ones at the warehouse, we're the most familiar with it! They left their video at our door, didn't they?!"
"You need to calm down." Blake said pointedly.
"Well you need to f-" The elevator door slid open, and their argument was abruptly brought to a close as they saw curious students in the hall.
They couldn't argue here, they'd have to carry on some other place. Yang stalked off in front of her teammates, who exchanged helpless shrugs.
On the way back to their dorm room, team JNPR intercepted them.
"Heeey guys!" Nora was chipper as always, rushing up along to Yang's side, since the blonde was usually most willing to put up with her shenanigans.
"Hi."
Nora frowned. That was not the response she typically got. The rest of her team was just catching up as she darted around the three members of team RWBY. "You look sad are you sad why are you sad where's Ruby have you guys seen any-"
"Nora. One question at a time." Ren interrupted, pulling her out of her fervor.
She sucked in a deep breath, and exhaled. "..Are you guys okay?" Rather than her usual quick, spitfire questions, Nora asked this one more gently - it had become more obvious to her that the three were not in good moods.
Pyrrha, Ren and Jaune had made their way over to Nora's side by this point, and were all looking at the other three expectantly.
Pyrrha bit her lip upon seeing their expressions. "It wouldn't have anything to do with Ruby's absence, would it?" She asked tentatively.
Once again, Blake and Weiss exchanged glances. They'd been expecting Yang to answer the question, but she was just staring over at them. Blake took that as her cue to explain instead.
"Unfortunately, it has everything to do with that. Here." Blake pulled her scroll out and opened up the saved file of the video and showed it to them.
"Whaaaaaaat?!" Nora was the first to react as the video closed out, grabbing onto the scroll and hitting play again. "Ruby is – what?!"
Ren was watching the video again carefully, like he was trying to figure something out.
"But- but – Ruby's unstoppable!" Jaune sputtered, before Pyrrha brushed past him to stand at the head of their group.
"Can we do anything to help?" She directed the question at Yang.
"Ozpin said first years couldn't go on the mission. They're sending team CFVY instead." She muttered lamely.
Nobody said anything for a moment, but a determined expression came over Nora's face and she hastily whispered some things to Ren. He hummed for a moment after she finished, as if deciding something, before he nodded his agreement to whatever she'd said.
Nora fist pumped. "Alright everyone! You're all in crappy moods and that's a no – go, so may I be the first to propose…" She paused for a second like there was some kind of imaginary drum roll, "A sleepover! Complete with doing stupid things with bottles, closets, and our hair! And I've got rom coms!" She crossed her arms, confident that her suggestion would go over well.
It did not.
"Nora, someone is missing and your response is to throw a party? I thought you'd be more sympathetic than that." Weiss commented disdainfully. Blake nodded.
"That is a weird thing to suggest after we tell you we're all not in the best of spirits.."
Sighing, the redhead dragged Weiss and Blake away from Yang, and proceeded to talk loud enough for everyone to hear her anyways. "Look you guys, you're all really sad but Ozpin told you there's nothing you can do about it! Team CFVY is on the job, and you guys aren't, and I get that you're all upset about it, but you'll just be sitting around your dorm feeling sorry for yourselves all night if you keep this up!"
She crossed her arms again, this time taking on a stern tone. "Soooo, as your friend, it's my job to make sure you don't have such a terrible night! And besides, you've seen team CFVY work – Ruby will be back by tomorrow, I'm sure of it!"
Yang made eye contact with Nora. "You're sure, sure?"
Nora nodded enthusiastically. "Absolutely!"
"Besides," Pyrrha cut in, "Even if they don't find her by tomorrow, we will know where she is by the time day five rolls around. That's for certain."
Yang let out a long, prolonged sigh, before finally responding. "Good, then we'll have it when she gets back."
She turned around and made her way back to the dorm to think.
-Day one: Hour four –
-Time remaining: 116 hours –
Ruby sat up once again, with more urgency.
Last time she'd only been up for a few minutes, and she'd caught what seemed to be the end of some sort of ransom. She was sure it was hers.
But this time, there wasn't any talking. She could only hear the dull thuds created by things slamming into metal, leaving a slight echo.
Putting two and two together, she came to the conclusion that she was in an airship.
They were moving their hideout.
She sucked in a deep breath and tried to think of a way out.
Let's see…she was bound and blindfolded…but not gagged. Maybe she could try and...chew the rope off?
The more she thought about it, the dumber it seemed, but she tried it anyways, steeling herself before trying to tug at the rope around her wrists with her teeth. On her first attempt it tightened, and Ruby let out a short whine, high pitched and sounding more like her dog than a distressed teenager, before she decided to try again.
It hurt her wrists and tasted terrible, but after about fifteen minutes she was sure she was getting somewhere.
Ten minutes later, she let out a short, victorious 'yes!' and pushed her blindfold up. Next stop a way out of this –
Oh, crap. She heard a door opening, and hurriedly pushed her blindfold back down, putting her arms behind her back and tucking the chewed-off rope under there too as she lay down.
"Ugh, guard duty is so boring. Look at her, she isn't even conscious. We really gotta spend four hours in here?"
"Yup."
Oh come on.
Ruby silently cursed her luck and resigned herself to a lot of waiting.
-Day one: Hour five –
-Time remaining: 115 hours -
Bumbleby pulled into a stop, and Yang hopped off her motorcycle quickly, only barely remembering to put the goggles back down on it before taking off on foot.
She had a warehouse to investigate.
Just as she'd steeled herself to bust a door open for entry, it was kicked open by someone else: the leader of team CFVY, on her way out. The rest of the team followed her.
Coco stopped in front of Yang. "What, a first year wanted to get in on the action? Sorry kid, but we already cleared the place. It's empty. " Velvet hurried up to Coco and whispered a few things, turning her around to speak quietly. Yatsuhashi stood tall behind the two girls, easily discouraging the blonde from even attempting to listen in on them.
Yang saw a few hand gestures and more whispering before Coco turned back around.
"Alright, alright, I don't wanna be that asshole that doesn't let you investigate a personal thing. 'S just not my style." Coco rummaged around in her bag for something, pulling out a few index cards and handing them to Yang. "Here, we didn't find your sister, but we did find these. You can have a look before my team and I go and investigate them ourselves."
Flipping the cards over, Yang found familiar tricolored writing.
"Hey idiots. Since I don't feel like waiting for you to stumble into our new place by sheer dumb luck, I'll give you a hint: The mammoth Grimm smell teeeerrriiible...but the plant life smells worse.
…" Rather than writing in that space, there was a small picture of large flowers with little stink lines coming up from them surrounding a lever.
"See you soon!"
She frowned at the cards before handing them back to Coco. "So, that means what exactly? Is it a trap?"
Velvet answered this one, shrugging. "That's why we're going to investigate and not you guys. Then if we take too long, one of the hunters at the school will go. You and your team can collect evidence here, sure, but anywhere over there? That's classified. And dangerous. "
The team was already starting to move off, Fox trailing behind Yatsuhashi and both of them behind Coco. Velvet addressed Yang one last time before running off to catch up with her team. "But hey, chin up, we'll bring her back in no time!"
"Probably.." Fox muttered under his breath cynically.
And with this, team CFVY was off.
Yang glanced back at the warehouse. Well, they did say she could investigate here, just not over there…yet. After a moment's thoughts, she rushed back over to her motorcycle and made her way off to Beacon's library.
She had some research to do.
AN: And here's chapter two! So...what kind of flowers smell nasty? All lame plot devices and hints aside, I'll have a little Q and A thing set up down in the AN from now on (for now anyways) , so uh, let's get to that! First off thanks for reviewing, it was really nice of you guys! Back to the point.
To answer UNknown123 and theundeadkings: I'll try and update this story as frequently as possible, but the closest thing to an update schedule I can put together is Wednesdays and Friday/Saturdays, because I have the most free time on those days, so uh, yeah, you can probably expect most chapters then.
To answer the Guest: Yeah, I know, not the most original plotline, character has been kidnapped, other people go save her. It's been done before. If it helps, this was just supposed to be a little writing practice, before I decided to post it. Ruby's not going to totally give up or anything, and I'll try to not pull a total distressed damsel story on you guys, but, I'm inevitably already using a lot of cliches in it, so yeah, I'll try to improve on that front.
To respond to Sleep Arypsure, JohnDoe, and rwbybomb : Thank you! I'll try my best to keep it interesting.
So that about wraps up my AN. This way of answering things seems a bit easier than PMing everybody, but, if anyone doesn't like this chunk of bold text at the end, tell me, and I'll try my best to cut back on it, cause uh, sheesh, this is a bit long! Anyway, if anyone's got any comments or criticisms, or noticed that I messed up my grammar somewhere, tell me! I'll try to fix it up for you if it's one of the latter two. Thanks for reading!