Who Are We Anyway?

Chapter 2

The Pain of the Past

Note: Since I'm back, I'm going to try to get these out to you guys more often. Right now, I've been able to plan out every other day. I haven't come across a problem with this yet, but if something happens, don't worry, they'll come eventually. I hope you all are enjoying this.

"Go! Go!" The Huntsmen and Huntresses pushed forward the creature of Grimm were starting their final attack. A pack of ursa managed to breach their defensive wall and now, they were forced to take action. Their plan was to kill off the remaining ursi inside the city and push out until the beasts have no more room to recuperate. The front lines, the ones involved with the main attack, included Yang and Nora. As the plan proceeded, it appeared to go well, but news spread that only the Northern attack squad was making progress. Yang and Nora were leading that one and they were surprised that no one was else was able to push forward. Blake was the watch guard. She was responsible for calling out any strange patterns in the enemy attacks. For her, nothing seemed out of the ordinary except for the fact that the other 3 attack squads were meeting more resistance than the Northern squad. Ruby and Weiss were called over to be the final defenses in case they couldn't hold back the beasts.

When they arrived at the other defenses, the scenes were not pretty. People were in panic and no one seemed to know what they had to do. Thankfully, Ruby and Weiss took command and told everyone to stand their ground no matter what the results. Minutes went by when suddenly the creatures of Grimm broke through the Southern attack squad. Ruby readied her weapon for oncoming Boarbatusk attack. Out of nowhere, Ozpin knocked the beast off balance and killed it with his staff. Ruby was surprised. She had never seen Ozpin in action.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I totally had it."

"I bet you did." Suddenly, the stinger of Death Stalker pierced his chest and he was thrown across the square. Ruby cried out and fell to her knees. She couldn't attack. How could she? Weiss jumped in froze the beast in a block of ice. Then, with her Myternaster, the Death Stalker burst into flames.

"Ruby, fall back. We don't need you. We'll take it from here." Ruby ran to where Ozpin had been thrown. She laid his head on her knees as he grew weaker and weaker.

"Ruby, is that you?" he said weakly.

"Yes. I'm here. Don't worry, I'll find someone to help you." He put his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't. Don't waste your energy. My time has come."

"Don't say that Professor. You're going to make it."

"Ruby, before I go, you need to know something."

"What?!" Tears started to fall from her eyes as he started to become faint.

"You must win."

"I will." His eyes became a blank stare and his hand fell from Ruby's shoulder. There was nothing more she could do. "Nnnnnoooooo!" Then suddenly, she woke up. She sat up as fast as she could causing Yang to wake up as well.

"Ruby, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I...I just had a bad dream."

"Was it the same one?"

"Yeah, I don't know why it's still in there."

"Well, things like war always stay in the minds of those who experience it. There's nothing we can do about it, except to learn from it. I know you want to hear a better answer, but that's all I got."

"It's fine. Thanks Yang."

"Hey, why don't you go out for a bit? I simple walk never hurt anybody."

"Alright."

"Do you want me to go with you?"

"No, I'll be fine."

"Okay, well, you know where I'll be if you need anything." Ruby got ready and walked out. She didn't have a preconceived idea about where she would go or what she would see so she simply walked through the streets of Vale as normal as she could. She left her weapon at home as not avoid trouble with anybody. She always felt incomplete without Crescent Rose in her possession, but in times like this, her safety was more important than how she felt inside.

She honestly had no idea of what she would do so she eventually ended up at the city cemetery. She looked up the entrance sign which read: Dedicated to those we honor love throughout our lives. Cemeteries were never happy places, but the fact that she didn't see anyone she knew on those gravestones gave her a sense of hope. As she walked further into the cemetery, she came across a giant oak tree. She stopped in front of it and spotted a small flat rock lying at the base of tree. She had no idea what it was so she got close and noticed that it had an inscription on it. She knelt on the ground and read it out loud.

"To the beloved Professor Ozpin, you were the only one who saw the true potential in small self. I will never forget you. Ruby Rose." A tear fell from her face. She had forgotten that she did this for him. Ever since the end of the war, this cemetery prohibited the disposal of Huntsmen and Huntresses in the area. Now that her memory was returning, her tears started to become greater. It wasn't the fact that he had died, but it was that humans became so hateful of them that they couldn't even rest in peace together.

"What are you doing here?" Ruby recognized that voice. She wiped her tears from her face and turned around to see Weiss standing there.

"Me? I don't know. I just happened to show up here by chance. What about you? Why are you here?"

"I was visiting my dad. It was a year yesterday, you know?"

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine. We all have to live with things we're not proud of."

"That's for sure."

"So why are you here?"

"It's because of this." Ruby pointed at the stone against the tree. Weiss came up close to read it. She remained quiet a little after she finished reading the message.

"So we lost him too?" Ruby nodded. She couldn't bring herself to say it out loud. She turned around again to face the tree and saw that a rose petal landed on the stone. Her head raised and looked up at the tree where she saw beams of light breaking through the leaves of the tree.

"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten you." Weiss put her hand on Ruby's shoulder.

"Hey, you want to head back to the cafe?"

"Sure." Ruby got up and left the tree.

"So how's your dad?"

"He's good. He doesn't say much to me when I visit. I always try to believe he thought I did the right thing, but all this silence I receive is kind telling me that I was wrong."

"Don't think Weiss. You were responsible for protecting the city. You were the one who held the breaching beasts. No one else could have done it alone. You're fine." Ruby patted Weiss' shoulder which brought a small smile out of her. It was still a touchy topic for her, but Ruby made it really easy for her to always feel better.

The two finally made it back into the city and were immediately interrupted by commotion. Sun ran by them as he was being chased by the authorities. They were lead by Penny, the one they met the day before, and followed by two others that were in red and blue suits. They didn't catch their names for one of them knocked down Ruby and didn't stop for her. Stuff like that made them think something was definitely going on in the capital. They got to the cafe and were greeted by most of the group. Ruby noticed someone was missing.

"Where's Yang?"

"Ruby, sit down," Blake insisted.

"No, tell me where she is!"

"She was arrested, but Ruby..." She didn't stay any longer. She ran out as fast as she could and went to the police station. She slammed open the door and ran to the office window. "Where's my sister?!"

"Miss, if you could back up..."

"No, tell me where my sister is." The guy at the window looked back at some of the others and they had annoyed looks on their face.

"What's her name?"

"Yang Xiao Long." He checked the roster and found her name.

"She's here. Would you like to see her?"

"Yes." He buzzed open the door and she ran through. She ran to the first available table opening and waited for Yang. A few seconds later, she saw that the door open and Yang came through. Ruby stood up and banged on the glass.

"Hey, chill out little girl!" She turned to face the guy who yelled at her and gave him a dirty look. Yang made it to the chair in front of Ruby and picked up the phone.

"What the hell Yang? What did you tell me last night?"

She sighed, "I'm sorry Ruby..."

"No, I don't want your apology. I want to know what you said to me last night!"

"I said try your best to stay strong and I'll support you as best I can."

"Exactly, so why are you behind that glass?!" Yang was speechless. She knew that anything she wanted to say wasn't good enough for Ruby.

"I'm sorry." Ruby started to cry.

"Yang, I need you here...with me. Don't you see that?"

"I do...and I'm trying. It's just that this world is changing."

"You can't blame this on the world. You're supposed to be there for your sister."

"Ruby, please..."

"No, you can find your own way out of here." She stood up and stormed off. She said nothing else; not even a goodbye.

"You heard her sweetheart. Let's go." The guard pulled her out of her chair and Yang yelled out in despair.

"Ruby! Please forgive me!" Ruby made it out of the station right as she said that. Tears started to fall from her eyes. She walked around to the back of the building and began to grow angry. She toppled garbage cans and punched the walls as hard as she could. When her voice gave out and her fists lost their strength, she leaned against a wall and slid down onto her butt and cried. She couldn't believe what was happening. Everything seemed to be getting worse and she did not know why. Was this how she was suppose to live the rest of her life? She looked up to the sky and yelled,

"What do you want from me?!" Her voice echoed through the alley and finally dissipated.

"Ruby?" She looked down the street to see Blake walking towards her. "Is that you?" She didn't respond. Her intention were to be silent and hope that she would leave. "Ruby, just because I'm not a Huntress anymore, doesn't mean I can't see you in the dark."

"Hi Blake," she said quietly.

"Are you alright?"

"Mmm, not really."

"Why? What's up?"

"You don't know?"

"Know what?"

"Yang's in jail."

"What? What happened?"

"I don't know. I'm just as clueless as you."

"How about I take you home? You can tell all about it on the way there." Blake brought up Ruby from the ground and walked her home. Ruby told her everything she knew which, unfortunately, wasn't a lot. They got to her house and Ruby thanked Blake for the escort. Blake walked back into the city and went to the cafe where everyone was waiting.

"So how'd it go?"

"Not well. Yang's arrest really took a beating on her. I don't think it was the best thing for me to fake all of this."

"Blake, she needs someone to be with her when Yang can't."

"I know, it just doesn't feel right trying to make her feel good when reality is right outside." Blake was interrupted by a message coming from her touchpad. It was from Ruby. "Sorry guys, but I have to go. We'll talk about this later." She ran to Ruby's house and knocked on the door. She waited, but no one answered. "Ruby, are you okay?!"

"I'm up here." Blake looked up and saw that Ruby was laying on the roof of the house. Blake teleported up to her and laid down next to her.

"What's up? I got your message and it kind of seemed desperate."

"No, nothing's wrong. I just wanted to talk to you. Look up. What do you see?"

"Um, the moon and a lot of stars. Why?"

"I see that there will be another day ahead of us."

"How?"

"The light from the moon actually comes from the sun right?"

"Of course."

"Well, as long as that light continues to shine us, I know there is hope somewhere out there."

"Ruby, I..." Ruby hugged Blake as tight as she could.

"I know what's going on here. You're trying to hide the fact that you don't know what happened to Yang just to make me feel better. Why?" Blake brought her off of her chest.

"I just want to see you happy. Nowadays, it's rare to see a smile like yours. I speak on behalf of your sister and everyone else that we just want to see the old Ruby again. We don't want to see you suffer. If you can see it, we're trying to bear all of the pain for you, but it keeps failing. I'm sorry Ruby. I know life is hard right now, but we need to continue believing in ourselves." Ruby teared up and slipped back into Blake's chest. For some reason, Blake felt vulnerable. She petted Ruby's hair and tried to hold back the tears.

"Blake, can you stay here for the night? It's weird not having Yang with me."

"Of course. I'll always be here for you."Ruby closed her eyes and fell asleep. Blake stayed by her side all night and stared at the moon.

End of Chapter 2