The sound of the bullhead was loud enough to drown out the occupants voices.
Not like they were going to talk, though…
The pilot leaned to the back and yelled that they were getting close.
The black haired lady nodded and put a mask over her face; her cat ears visible.
She was going to try and infiltrate the base while the Heiress caused a distraction long enough for her to find where they were holding her.
The white haired lady checked her rapier for the millionth time since boarding the Bullhead. She was praying that what they came to get was going to bring some results; if not for her then for her blonde teammate.
The said blonde was sitting stock still, her jaw locked and her eyes fighting redness.
She had spent two damn years looking for her and she would either bring her back or die trying…no, she would bring her back. No matter what or who got in her way.
Yang stood up and extended Ember Celica. "You know the plan! We came here to get Ruby and we are damn well going to get her!" Yang had to yell, but she didn't care.
Ruby was waiting for her, and she was not going to leave her waiting anymore.
Ruby could hear the soft but terrifying click of her master's heels on the cold stone floor through the bars of her prison.
She should feel scared, but all she felt was this empty hole in her heart where fear used to reside. She was nothing more than a living dummy; someone whom Cinder could torture her to her evil wicked heart's content.
Sure enough the door creaked open and Ruby could make out the dim outline of Cinder staring at her with those burning eyes.
"Come, my pet. We have some fun planned for you today…"
It was always the same. Every day or nearly every other day (unless the last beatings were too much and in that case they left Ruby to heal a bit more) Cinder stopped by and took her to a 'special' room set up for torture.
The same person that had spoken to her first in this cell went in and unlocked the shackles on Ruby's wrists.
Ruby used to rub her wrists, or do something to get the feeling back into her arms, but she just let them fall limply to her sides.
"Now, now; don't be like that. It's so much better if you have some energy in you..." So we can drain it out of your body as we beautify it…
It was no secret that Cinder was heartless, but this man (who had never been called by name, or even really identified because of the dark hood he wore) was probably the sickest man alive.
He would make Ruby scream louder just for fun; and when Cinder would use her powers to burn the girl he would stop and smell the 'beautiful smell'. Cinder liked to hear Ruby scream as well, but as of late Ruby had stopped making sounds of any kind.
Cinder feared that maybe her Rose was starting to wilt…but she was too much in love with the darkness in her heart, and her sick lust for blood, that she continued despite it.
"Let's go." She led the way towards the room while the man dragged her along behind him.
Ruby was tied standing up to the wall in the 'special room' (torture room more like) and she could hear the sounds of clinking metal.
No matter how much she had gone through, the sound of that metal still sent shivers up Ruby's spine; and Cinder saw it.
"Getting excited, my little Rose?" She said in that ever sweet voice she had.
Ruby just grit her teeth and waited for what was coming. She wasn't stupid.
In fact, being in this hell hole had made her mature at a rapid and accelerated rate.
What with the creepy guy always mentioning very…pedophilic…things to her. Granted he never actually acted on what he said, but he liked to see her breath catch and get all nervous whenever he came near her. (Told you he was sick)
While Ruby's brain may have been maturing fast, her body was maturing slowly. With the lack of sun and the constant strain and beatings her body took; she was using her energy and Aura just to keep her alive; not grow as fast as she could.
Ruby Rose knew that she was wilting; it was only a matter of time until she died. Literally.
And then she felt the harsh Aura of Cinder slam into her body, and if she had wanted to talk she would have cursed.
Cinder always filled Ruby with excess amounts of Aura just so that she could go longer on Ruby.
Ruby bit her tongue so hard it bled, but she didn't feel the pain. She was trying her hardest not to hyperventilate, and she knew what was next.
Pain.
A lot of pain…just like always.
Yang, Blake, and Weiss ran through the woods and stopped at the entrance to what looked like a cave.
Yang put her earpiece in, and nodded to Weiss. "You ready, Weiss?"
Weiss nodded back. "I was ready five hours ago. You sure she is even-"
But at the sudden red tint to Yang's usually lilac eyes, Weiss shut up.
Yang had searched everywhere in Beacon, Vale, Vacuo, and Atlas for Ruby. She never stopped; not once.
She was tracking down any lead, even if it meant scaring the crap out of some poor kid that had happened to have a red cape. Yang was frankly obsessed with finding Ruby.
She rarely slept, and rarely ate. She was worried like heck about Ruby, and wouldn't rest until she found her.
A couple days ago someone sent Yang an anonymous message with just these coordinates.
And Yang had gone to get here immediately. She had asked the rest of RWBY to join her, and they accepted; even though both Blake and Weiss weren't even sure that Ruby was even here; that this wasn't some random goose chase.
"I am sure… I got a feeling about this one." Yang said. Not giving Weiss the chance to mention how that had happened in three previous places, but to just sigh and follow.
Without their leader, Weiss was made the stand-in leader. Or basically permanent leader, but Yang never gave up on Ruby. She always said Ruby would be found; and could go back to being leader.
Weiss and Blake both didn't have the heart to tell her that it had been two years since Ruby was seen last. Ruby was probably….no. Weiss didn't want to think about that.
Ruby was going to be found…and she was going to be okay. Right?
But neither Weiss. Blake, nor Yang or anyone in the White Fang knew what Cinder was keeping in her lair. What she was doing to her 'pet'.
But then; how could anyone? Ruby was Cinder's 'special Rose', a secret that if the White Fang found out, there might be some people getting kicked out or killed.
Ruby normally would scream and thrash around from the treatment, but tonight she just hung limply and flinched slightly.
This angered the fire-lobbing monster (a monster in nearly every right) and Cinder growled. "Throw her to the Creeps!"
Cinder knew that this maybe wasn't the best idea; since if Ruby could manage to get out she would have a weapon to use against them; but she also knew that Ruby would be so focused on keeping herself alive to even think about escaping.
The dark clothed man chuckled and roughly grabbed Ruby from the shackles on the wall. "Come along, Rose…we got things planned for you tonight!"
Ruby just let him drag her bruised, scarred, and bloody body along with him; not even offering any resistance.
She had been thrown into this dark room with those Grimm every once in a while.
They had somehow managed to get Crescent Rose, and they gave her a few minutes to clean the blade and other maintenance before opening the locks to the tunnels the Grimm came from.
Now, you might be wondering what kept Ruby from just bringing that blade to her throat and ending it all. It would be easy; the blade was still wicked sharp.
It would also be easy to just let the Grimm kill her.
She had tried both already. The first time she was about to, a girl with an umbrella teleported in front of her and grabbed the blade before Ruby was able to slice deep enough. There was a small scar along her neck, among the various other scars.
And if Ruby tried to just lie there and let the Grimm kill her…well, Cinder didn't like that and had always killed them or drove them off only to punish the poor girl for trying to escape the pain.
But as the gates lowered Ruby was reminded of that mysterious girl with the umbrella. Her hair was colored different on each side, and her eyes sometimes changed color.
Ruby dodged a lunging attack from one of the Creeps, slicing it in half effortlessly.
But what Ruby was focusing on is when umbrella girl had saved Ruby that one time last year or so, she had looked at Ruby with…something in her eyes.
And it wasn't what Ruby had seen in Cinder's eyes. Cinder was cold and heartless, almost manic in her tortures and stuff.
But the umbrella girl was…nice. When she had stopped the blade with her umbrella, she had looked Ruby in the eyes and shook her head softly.
She never spoke, always silent. But that one shake of the head told Ruby all she needed to know.
Someone cared about her. And yes, while it had been her only escape from this hell, she welcomed the feeling.
It was the only thing keeping her alive right now. And when she focused on how much that someone in here cared for her, it gave her renewed hope and certainty that Yang would be searching the seven circles of Hades for Ruby and wouldn't let death stop her.
Ruby swung her scythe in an arc and sliced off the heads of two more Creeps.
But she could only now think about Yang…and that one promise she made to her when Summer died…
"Yangy?" Young Ruby asked as she climbed onto the blonde's lap.
Yang chuckled and rubbed the top of Ruby's head. "Yeah Rubbles?"
Ruby looked up at Yang and spoke softly, saying, "Yangy…if mommy is gone…can you take care of me?"
Her wide silver eyes shone with tears, and Yang felt something come alive in her heart at that very moment. She pulled the red-haired girl into her arms and hugged her softly but tightly. "Rubbles, Yangy will always take care of you."
Ruby smiled into Yang's shoulder. "No matter what?"
Yang smiled back. "No matter what, little Rubbles. Now let's go get some food. I hear dad made some cookies…"
At the mention of the word cookies, Ruby was up and into the kitchen in .5 seconds. Faint 'yay!'s were heard, and Yang smiled to herself.
"Ruby I promise…nothing will harm you if I have a say in it…"
Ruby suddenly felt a tightness in her chest…
Yang didn't have a say in it…but would still be looking for her no matter what.
Yang didn't know that Ruby had heard her, but her small ears had heard and made her heart smile.
And now, her broken and scarred heart made a sorry attempt at smiling in this hell-hole.
Suddenly a sharp pain was stabbing Ruby's right leg, and she was jerked back to the present: and right into a cave full of Creeps…and one of them had her right leg in its teeth.
Stupid; I need to stay focused!
Ruby grunted and stabbed the long end of Crescent Rose into the beast, making it lose its grip on her.
Ruby flipped around, but sharp pain assaulted her back, and another pair of pointed teeth caught her left arm as she tried to flip the Creep on her back onto the ground.
Her foot caught on a stone that was on the ground, and fell under a wave of Creeps, all biting and clawing with claws on their deformed legs and gruesome fangs…
Until suddenly…there were no Creeps…and only darkness again.
Ruby groaned softly and tried to push herself up off the ground, but her left arm and back screamed with the effort.
She collapsed back onto the stone floor, just lying there and wishing that she hadn't lost focus and let them get her.
Creeps were easily manageable if you stayed out of their jaws and away from their claws, but once they got you…well; their teeth were sharp enough to cut through solid stone.
A mistake that was costing Ruby quite a lot at the moment…
But then soft hands touched her shoulder, and she jerked and curled into a fetal position; hoping Cinder wouldn't hurt her anymore right now.
She waited a tense few moments where nothing happened and the hand gently came back, this time with a voice. "Not…Cinder…"
Ruby, still having a curious streak in her tortured self, unfurled her body and tilted her head up a bit, just enough to see if it was a trick or something.
But she saw the girl with the umbrella there, and she had kind eyes…which shocked Ruby into not replying.
Which made the girl think she was still afraid of her, so she put down her umbrella and retracted her hand. "You…need help…" She pointed at Ruby's back and winced slightly.
Ruby just laughed softly, and the odd sound coming from her bruised vocal cords was surprising; both to her and to the brown and pink haired girl.
"Can…I…help?" The strange girl asked.
Ruby just stared uncomprehendingly at her. Someone…helping? Not hurting?
But then she remembered all those times during her 'punishment', how many times this stranger had reminded Cinder of something she needed to attend to; or that Ruby was unable to take much more. Anything to make Ruby less tortured.
Ruby suddenly remembered, and she felt soft tears make her way down her face. She just nodded slightly. "Y-yess…" Her voice wasn't working right, and didn't sound like the squeaky voice she used to call her own.
The girl smiled and produced something that looked like a medic kit to her. "Helping…now?" It was more a question if she had the go ahead to try and heal Ruby's wounds a bit.
Creeps had the nasty habit of eating rocks that had dust in them, making any bite they made unpredictable. One person had gotten bit and accidentally got too close to a fire source…yeah, that Creep had eaten some red dust. Not pretty.
Ruby nodded again, her face making a…was that a smile on her face? How very…weird feeling…but it was a good weird.
Ruby then felt a very soft and gentle feeling flood her body, and she felt warm and safe for some reason…then she realized that this girl was sharing her Aura with her; helping her heal faster.
When Cinder 'shared' her Aura, it was harsh and sudden; taking over every part of her body and forcing her normal Aura to retreat deep inside to escape getting overrun.
"Neo…my name is Neo." Said that very small and soft voice.
Ruby felt her smile widen, and it felt good.
"Ruby…Ruby Rose…"
And in that instant, Ruby felt herself get a bit of hope. The world was still cruel and evil, but the good people you found in it made it all worth it.
Now if only those good people could ever stay…
A/N: Haha; been forever since I posted an update! I'm so soooo sorry people! Like, so sorry you have no idea. I am the worst author, omg. Anyways, here is the next chapter of this story!
As you can see; some things are happening; but what do you think will happen to Cinder? Or…is Ruby even in the cave Yang is going into? ANOTHER wild goose chase? Or will this time sisters be reunited?
Huehuehue find out when I get around to writing the next chapter! ;) (Yeah I'm gunna apologize in advance)