Creeping Thorns

Ladies love it! - Part 2

Yes, this was honestly the best idea I had for a chapter name. S-shut up, what are you working for, Salem!?

May 5th, 2019: So funny story. I was looking through my story to check for errors I might want to fix up before I went ahead and wrote this chapter when I discovered that there was a significant disconnect between the ff dot net preview of my story and the actual story. For whatever reason, the actual chapter I wrote is different to the one I have, because the one I have is an older version that was still incomplete. Really. Also, potentially agonizing to deal with. Anyway, that's why chapter 1 has a different ending now, because I only discovered this issue after I had souped up an ending to chapter 1 in 30 odd seconds. Apologies if you liked the old ending better. If you liked it that much, maybe find it for me? I'd be grateful... (but I won't give you a prize. Hey, at least I'm honest)

May 12th, 2019: Fixed the same issue with chapter 3. Man, this is a weird bug. But, as Todd says...

Anyway, enjoy.

It took a moment, perhaps longer than it should have, for Ruby to finally look at the stump that was her left arm and start freaking out.

She gingerly laid her fingers upon the flesh, conveniently bandaged yet still absent a whole arm. Nausea set in, her movements guided by some delirious, macabre curiosity born from sheer surrealism. Ruby truly thought madness was lingering at the edges of her mind as she touched the empty air, her limb well and truly gone. Her eyes glazed over as her vision unfocused, finer details merging together, unable to process the simple reality in front of her for fear of shattering her psyche. She collapsed, clutching something that was no longer there. Tears came unbidden. She cried for many things, for consciousness to return her to the waking world, for Roman or Cinder, but the nightmare was real, and no one was coming to save her.

Eons passed before Ruby finally moved again. Somehow, she'd ended up in the corner, attempting to make herself as small as possible. Distant thoughts and memories slowly returned to her as she idly brushed the bandages, almost bored enough to unravel them and see what horror lied underneath. Almost.

"Jaune…" she whispered, rasps drawn from an unbearably dry throat. "I'm... sorry..."

Darkness.

It crushed her, utterly oppressive with its weight and totality, obfuscating her mind and senses. Dull noise echoed from far beyond, ringing and ringing. The ever familiar scent of blood drifted easily through the cracks, where scattered beams of light broke through. The ringing continued to get louder and louder, the blood in her nose intensifying, until it reached a roaring crescendo and Ruby's eyes opened wide.

A pale arm burst through the pile of rubble, like a horror movie. A second arm followed, reaching out and grasping solid ground. Then they pushed in unison, and with a groan, Ruby pulled herself from the debris, blood covering half her face. The hellscape met her gaze, countless bodies bled of all moisture littering the boiling concrete and metal. The water fountain only emitted steam, its user's melted form permanently depressing the button. A single word came through amidst the haze of heat and death - Jaune - and suddenly Ruby was frantically prying apart the rubble. A bloodied arm was quickly uncovered, lifeless.

"Jaune!"

She grasped Jaune's arm, trying to pull him free -

Gotta make you see me in that way

His arm came loose.

A booming voice filled the boiling air, taunting and arrogant. "This is what you get for messing with family, kiddo." Ruby ignored him, staring at the limb in her hands. It lasted only a long, dreadful moment until soft groaning emerged from the rubble. Hope renewed, Ruby dug faster, elbow deep in concrete when she finally met cloth, and pulled. Like a man stolen from the grave, Jaune was pulled from the shattered ground, skin almost mummified, head rolling limply in Ruby's grip. She panicked once more, shaking him, only then noticing the faint sizzling from his chest. Horrified, she ripped off the armor, tearing off more than metal at that, and pulled him close despite his horrific appearance.

"This is all my fault," she whispered into his lifeless body, unable to shed tears for someone who had done no wrong besides meeting the wrong person, face buried in what remained of his shirt. Then, unbelievably, she heard him breath. It was faint, but she could feel the slight rise and fall of his chest. She pulled back, uncaring of the agony from the tears of relief. He was alive. He could still be saved. As well as his arm. Where... where did she put it again?

The air whistled in imminent warning. Ruby's eyes hardened. In a blink, she was on her feet, arm raised. Red-black tendrils, normally her worst enemy, formed a protective wall of thorns.

"No."

The shell collided, the thorns curved inward to shape the fiery aftermath away from them. Ruby was pushed back several inches, but she held. She had more than herself to worry about after all.

"I don't care what you do to me..."

She pulled Jaune onto her shoulders, as delicately as she could afford to. Her knees bent as she prepared to run.

"...but you are not messing with my friends!"

Ruby took off like a bullet, deftly avoiding bodies and metal as much as possible. Her heart and the air roared in her ears, running past the aftermath of a short, violent confrontation for her life. The station had been shaken to its very core, catastrophic explosions warping its walls and metal support bending under the heat. A few well placed shots and the place would collapse.

Ruby went low with a power slide, transitioning Jaune to a bridal carry, shell passing through the air above them and blowing part another wall in a shower of fire and debris. Moments later, the path before her was shattered, something descended rapidly from the heavens, the ensuing shockwave of debris and dust obliterating the ground.

A figure merged from the haze of destruction. He had to be the tallest man Ruby had ever seen, and half as wide. He was unusually well-dressed for the occasion, missing a dress jacket, and bearing an uncanny familiarity. His bearded face twisted in a cocky smirk.

"You're not going anywhere, kiddo." His knuckles and neck cracked menacingly. He reached back, and withdrew the biggest gun Ruby had ever seen. The noise it made as he cocked it sounded like a reloading tank. Her awe intensified when his free arm withdrew a second one, each barrel bigger than her head, and aimed straight at her.

"I can't take back what you took from me." He growled, voice tainted by the faintest hint of sorrow, and overflowing with vengeance. In that moment, everything clicked. "But killing you, and everyone you love? Hell..." Junior's older brother smiled. There was no light in his eyes. "That's a start."

Now it's time to say goodbye

For Cinder, there were only two ways conflict was resolved - violently, and in her favor. In her own words, only struggle brought about truth. That, and in Ruby's personal experience, she loved killing people.

She'd been practically dragged to their training grounds, a loosely defined clearing dwelling deep within the brilliantly colorful forests of Vale, one of the kingdom's most distinguishing features. Blood-red leaves fluttered beneath the dark sky, listless trees swaying like sleepless men. Cinder had something to say, to 'talk' with Ruby about, and the only method by which she could possibly convey the message was pain. Pain and blood and violence.

The battle began wordlessly. Once, Ruby had waited for Cinder to start. It was a mistake she never made ever again.

The student leapt forward like a bullet, going low with a quick strike to the abdomen. The teacher dodged to the side and launched a brutal uppercut, the student avoiding the blow so narrowly the force of it whipped her hair back. Ruby leaned into Cinder's guard and rapidly struck her abdomen, landing three quick blows before Cinder's other arm was brought to bear and forced her back. Cinder followed, practically dancing as she shifted her center of gravity and drowned her student in furious kicks, the child barely managing to block the onslaught. She tried to get some distance, shaking her arms to get some circulation going, only for Cinder to keep pushing. Her knee flew into Ruby's arms, almost breaking them, then shifted again, heaving her other leg into Ruby's shoulder. Bones cracked as Ruby was tossed to the side, left arm barely functioning as Cinder readied her next fearsome attack.

The Witch's Acolyte continued her direct approach, flesh of her arm darkening as it headed straight for her student's skull. Ruby leaned back, and blocked the following blows with deft precision, only for Cinder's knee to catch her in the ribs. A vicious elbow strike pincered her chest between impossibly hard bone, driving the air from her lungs. Moving swiftly, Cinder spun and brutally connected her other knee with Ruby's face, throwing the child back with hurricane force. The combo didn't end, however, as Cinder grasped her student's cloak, briefly chastising the child aloud for her choice of loose attire. Ruby hadn't returned to full consciousness yet, but still felt the barrage of blows from Cinder's unrelenting fist, breaking her face slightly more each time it collided. Finally, needing her student alive, she gracefully finished the assault with a spinning kick, bending her student's spine almost in half from the herculean blow.

Ruby cratered. Dust and earth whipped up a storm, trees toppling as her small form broke through them, leaving only her beaten form vaguely visible within. She was certainly no longer in one piece. Cinder stood idly by, checking her nails. She tsk'ed in displeasure at discovering she had indeed embedded one in Ruby's face.

"I see my advice on situational awareness is slow to set in." She critiqued, clearly bored as she waited for her student to return to consciousness. "Pay attention to your surroundings. Understand what your opponent will do before they do. And what, if you can remember, was the last one?"

The earth beneath her split apart as a pale fist emerged, straight for Cinder's face. Cinder almost rolled her eyes, blocking the blow with one hand easily, internally scolding her student for how much weaker she'd become after such light damage. "Too sl-"

The rest of Ruby emerged separately, arm dangling from Cinder's grip as the child continued to rise, fist rapidly approaching Cinder's face. She smirked.

"Better."

The blow connected, Cinder's head whipping back from the force. Ruby was not done, using her one remaining arm to grasp Cinder's shirt, almost tearing it off in her haste to pull her close, and rammed her forehead right into her teacher's nose. Her litheness proved to her advantage as she wrapped her legs around Cinder's body, her inhuman agility facilitating an incredible feat of acrobatics as she bent over backwards. Her teacher was briefly airborne as she flew over her student's body, before forcibly taking a dirtnap. On a normal human, her spine would've shattered, leaving her body stuck out of the dirt like a lawn dart. Cinder only laughed lightly as her student collected her arm, wincing as she reattached it.

"Throwing your severed arm at me as a distraction. Clever, but not clever enough." Cinder's body bent inhumanly as she planted her feet firmly on the dirt. She rose effortlessly, bones audibly cracking as she healed in moments. Despite her praise, her ember-like eyes betrayed nothing. "You do not use your abilities. Why?"

Ruby knew Cinder. She knew this was a distraction. Yet as moments turned to minutes and Cinder continued to do nothing, arms crossed and eyes querying, doubt bloomed. Knowing she'd regret it, Ruby humored her.

"You know why."

"No. Something is different. You're even more reticent than usual." Cinder's stare intensified, as though prying apart Ruby's soul with looks alone. "I do not respond well to secrets, especially childish ones." And wasn't that ironic, considering their line of work? "Does this have to do with your recent... incident?"

Ruby held her stance, a deep cynic on all things Cinder. "You know, I think this is the longest conversation we've ever had. It's kinda sad."

The look Cinder gave her would've killed lesser men. "Your ability to deflect is terrible." That had more to do with her broken arm than anything, but that was clearly missing the point. Preemptively accepting her punishment if she was wrong, Ruby finally dropped her stance and sighed.

"The perks of being socially awkward." Ruby mumbled, unable to meet Cinder's intense eyes. The stare persisted, however, gradually burning a hole into Ruby's cranium. Apparently, Cinder wanted to take a break to play 20 questions. Great.

"This is about your sister," Cinder said, cutting through the hesitancy with as much fervor as she would a limb. "Isn't it?"

Hole in one. Though that was an easy answer, because practically every problem in her life revolved around the search for her sister.

Ruby looked away, expression souring further. "I don't want to talk about it." She'd heard more than enough about her sister from Roman and Emerald. She wasn't sure she could take more doubt. Not now. Not after she'd messed up so royally. Already her feelings of love and warmth were tainted by the distant echoes of Emerald's bitter pragmatism, and Roman's devout cynicism. The more tainted they became, the more doubt-ridden she became, and the less effective they were at holding the Cold at bay.

Cinder, while not a mind reader, had an uncanny ability to decipher how people worked. She'd already figured her student out long ago.

"You acted with irrationality unbecoming of even you. For that, you must've had a good reason." Her gaze pierced her student's very soul. Or whatever was left of it. "What makes you so certain?"

Ruby's teeth grit together. She knew it was coming. She knew she should've been prepared. But that didn't stop the white-hot anger from suddenly bubbling over, her negative emotions seeking any outlet possible, like blood bursting from a vessel. She faced her teacher with eyes that, without the rage, would've had nothing left. "You wanna know?" She practically hissed. "You really wanna know?" Her hands became fists, her body shaking with anger. The same raw emotion that burned bridges with Emerald and Roman was brought to bear, a fiery display that failed to be belittled by her otherwise demure and innocent manner. There was no rage quite like when the well-meant were pushed to their breaking point.

"I'm not." Admitting it felt like plunging a knife into her chest, the final nail in the coffin of her fairy tale-like dreams of summer winds and love. It took incredible effort simply to stay standing. "I've never been certain. I haven't even met her." She stated with a spontaneous laugh of bitterness that surprised even herself. Roman's influence went deeper than she thought. "But I..."

'Better to break your own heart now, before it becomes worse.'

Silver tears of pain, the first of many, flowed down her young, agonized face. "I want to."

'Why would your sister want anything to do with a monster?'

She flinched, hard, throat choking with grief. "I have to. I c-can't... go back. Not there." Silence and emptiness and the perpetual chill of autumn. "Not after what I've done. I have to believe. Because... if I don't..." She let the unspoken words hang in the air, unable to talk when her chest had been perforated by so much sorrow. With that, she finally collapsed to her knees, calves spread either side, a useless bundle of tears and pain.

The child didn't need to see her mentor's expression to know what she thought of such an egregious display of weakness.

"Raise your head, child." She didn't, at first. Normally her disobedience alone would earn Cinder's ire. Yet her usual condemnations were slow to come. For that, Ruby was grateful. Now that she'd been laid bare, caught between the instability of her adolescence and troubled life, all she could feel was vulnerable. Raw. She could do incredible things, talk and act with surprising maturity, but in the end, she was still a little girl. One completely in over her head.

Ruby met her mentor's eyes. For the faintest moment, Ruby thought she saw something. Then it was gone, a fleeting ember amongst the flames. Cinder sighed and shook her head, even her disapproval displayed with graceful flair.

"Know this, Ruby." Cinder stated with the full weight of her power and station. "Your arduous trials are something to covet. There will never be a victory quite so gratifying as over oneself."

The student slowly nodded, attention still caught between her thoughts and her teacher. Was that Cinder's way of saying she believed in her? That she would find her sister, or that she would overcome her delirium? She looked away for a brief moment, drying her eyes as strength gradually ebbed back into her body. Cinder had a habit of saying things that could interpreted anyway one wanted to. Even so, the mere prospect that Cinder was so uncompromising in her faith in Ruby filled her with a strange sort of determination. Roman's faith in her was shaken, but she could make sure Cinder's wasn't. "But... why-"

"To wonder why these trials are difficult is backwards." She said, reading her student's mind. "Instead, consider how much you stand to gain from conquering them, and you will see the true purpose of being."

Despite herself, Ruby smiled. It was faint, and lacking everything that made it unmistakably hers, but it was something. Only Cinder could give a pep talk that never actually gave direct encouragement.

"What did you gain from beating your 'trials'?" Ruby asked, on a whim. In this strange moment of soul-searching, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to gain insight on how Cinder worked. The look in Cinder's eye made her wish she'd never asked however, until it vanished, replaced by her normal cool veneer of power and beauty in an instant.

It was Cinder's turn to look away, briefly.

"Clarity." She said, after several moments of pensive silence. "The suffering was unbearable, but it made me who I am. Once, I would have given anything to go back." Her visible eye closed, the light of the shattered moon catching her pale features in white, making her look like a ghost. "Now, I know. Only a fool would trade power for peace. Without sacrificing for power, there can be no peace." The moon was subsumed by clouds, and color returned to her face at once, Cinder's solitary eye burning in unshakeable determination. "And my trials are still far from over."

Ruby hoped she too could eventually look that cool when monologuing like a comic book character, one day.

The Witch's Acolyte raised her hand, her semblance called forth in a swirl of brilliant flames. The fire writhed around her hand like a living creature, before coalescing into a sphere of power. The light cast Cinder's face in jagged shadows, accentuating her visible eye, commanding and beautiful among the dancing light. Then it imploded, taking shape like molten metal, before a weapon of fire and glass was drawn as though from a sheathe of flames. A longsword, every bit as beautiful and deadly as its wielder, rang lowly among the roaring heat. The fire quelled, slithering back into Cinder's palm, and the only light of the clearing became the faint glow of the newly made blade. It glowed brighter and brighter, until suddenly it was warped, a second blade emerging from the first. A replica, only... smaller.

Ruby watched in awe. Cinder's mastery over her semblance was truly a sight to behold.

The blades continued to sing faintly, even as Cinder twirled them about expertly. She ended the display of finesse with her weapon thrown. The hilt of the short sword collided solidly with Ruby's skull, causing her to cry out - "ow!" - as Cinder smirked.

"Now, come. It is time you learned to wield a weapon. We'll start with the basics..."

Distantly, in the farthest corner of Ruby's mind as Cinder lectured, she wondered if she should ask her about her blackout. Her musing was cut short, however, when the air was seared a fiery wound by the vicious slash of Cinder's longsword, Ruby losing several strands of hair in the process of ducking, as the spar continued with higher stakes than ever before.

"Wait - this really was our longest conversation ever!" Ruby laughed, already bouncing back.

"Pay attention!"

Now it's time to say goodbye

Without another word, Junior's brother opened fire.

Ruby moved, as fast as she could when being mindful of Jaune's dying body. The twin guns fired like flak cannons, a cacophony of ear-splitting airbursts that eviscerated anything within them. At this range, Ruby had to truly work for it, no amount of cover safe from the powerful detonations or incredible marksmanship of a man wielding two enormous weapons of war. No one was safe, the dead and dying ripped apart by the ensuing hail of fire and metal, bones of man and structure forcibly bared as stone and flesh was flayed. Ruby did what any would - she dived away from the explosions and hid among the tracks, shielding Jaune within a coffin of her tendrils on her back, internally apologetic for how uncomfortable it must be. The barrage continued unabated, Junior's brother blowing apart all semblance of cover in a vicious bid to catch Ruby in the crossfire. He fired at the ends simultaneously then methodically narrowed his angle of fire, obliterating the brightly colored edges and any chances of escape, closing in on Ruby at an ungainly pace. There was no station left. Nowhere to run. Ruby closed her eyes and prayed, hoping against all odds for the one thing that could save her.

"Cease your fire, you vagrant!"

Or that.

The explosions stopped. Ruby, in a move that would've cost her life the last time Vale had seen that much gunfire, slowly raised her head above the impromptu barricade. What she saw dropped her jaw through the tracks.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"My name," said the man from the elderly couple of before, that very same wife standing beside him with vigilant poise. "Is Professor Peter Port of Beacon Academy, distinguished Huntsman, head of Grim Detainment and Research, and extremely disgruntled gentleman." He finished gruffly. "This, is my wife, Volkskaya."

"Greetings," she said with a venomous glare, arms crossed behind her back. The grey-furred ears atop her head did little to lessen her dangerous presence.

"So a mutt and a midget," Junior's brother mumbled, rolling his eyes. "I've still got enough ammo to kill you and the girl, so how about you-"

"Here's where I beg to differ, Mister Compensation." Port interrupted, gesturing with a single hand at the man twice his height, the other rigidly behind his back. "I am actually very familiar with that model of weapon. It only holds 120 rounds in reserve. You have fired 239 times." Realization dawned slowly on the gunman's face, only to be quickly overtaken by a vicious snarl. "If your wildest dreams, do you think you could kill a Hunstman-"

The shell roared as it hurtled in Port's direction, the man remaining unflinching even as death came inches away. Then it exploded, enveloping him and his wife in fire, as Junior's brother laughed viciously.

"Oh, that never gets old." He said, wiping away tears of laughter with the back of his hand, his guns now much lighter when out of ammo. "Now, where-"

"I was still talking." From the fire and smoke, a figure emerged, body gleaming with red aura. Volkskaya glowed a dull grey, seemingly blending in with the urban background. Neither of them had so much as flinched. "Now, where was I?" He mocked openly, as Junior's brother trembled with rage. Abruptly Port's face turned, the first sign of concern showing in his features when he shouted straight at Ruby -

"Run!"

She didn't need to be told twice.

Junior's brother roared in anger as he tried to fire at the retreating girl, guns clicking uselessly in his hands. Enraged, he tossed them aside, shouting curses that someone her age should never hear. As she ran, the sounds of their encounter echoed through the destroyed station, reaching her ears even as she neared escape.

"Young people these days," Port grumbled. "Always so emotional. Pick those up. I refuse to battle an unarmed man."

"You think I don't have tricks up my sleeves, old man? Then you're about to fucking bite it."

Ruby leapt over rubble, shattered a fallen piece that blocked her way, and exited the station. Then there was only light.

The name 'Volkskaya' comes from the Russian word for Wolf, with the Slavic suffix of 'skaya', meaning 'belonging to', which initially I wanted to have as a last name so that it could be Portskaya, belonging to Peter Port. But we can't sell slavs anymore, so...

Her full name is Volkskaya Seryy, meaningly loosely 'belonging to wolf grey, or grey wolf'. I could've made it White wolf, but that's Hemingway's thing. Yes, this does mean that when Peter tells his tale about (((capturing a Beowulf))) to (((save his village))) he actually means he smashed and got labelled a total bro. Well, that, and he probably did something really cheesy and romantic and got his wife to accept herself, which is why she travels around without covering up her faunus traits. Then they smashed, 100000%.

Listen, the fact that it's also almost a map in Overwatch is just a huge coincidence. I swear. I'm not Zenimax Online Studios. Oh, contemporary humour, ho!

That said, to get ahead of the smarmy comments of 'is that a REFereNCE to X' -

Yes, Ruby's line to the bad guy of the week is, in fact, a reference to Jaune's line to Cardin in Forever Fall, part 2.

Yes, Junior's brother's line to Ruby was in fact a reference to Handsome Jack's direct message to you after Angel's (((death))) in Borderlands 2.

Yes, Ruby's underground uppercut was in fact a reference to Naruto.

Yes, Ruby's severed arm distraction was based on Joseph's move on Kars at the end of Part 2 in JJBA.

Yes, Ruby flipping Cinder over her body is in fact a reference to the Dirtnap move from Prototype 1.

Yes, Ruby's missing arm being the opposite arm of her sister's in canon was intentional.

Yes, Junior's whole 'selling your body parts' thing to Ruby in Chapter one was in fact a reference to the Alex Rider series. I, too, grew up in the early 2000s.

Stop asking, you dirty orphans.

Also, I hope nobody minds me filling in the blanks with Cinder's character too much. I was examining what was shown in canon and it made me realize I didn't have much to work with, (zing!) so I took some creative liberties and viola, we have the philosophical sadist.