Author's notes
Man, I should really stop making schedule promises. So I was writing that one shot and as I got closer and closer to finishing it it just became a slog to write. I might post it one day, I might not. So instead of that, you're getting more incest. Mostly because I'm chomping at the bit to write the next chapter and reckon that if I forced myself to write anything else it'd come out a sludgy mess filled with chunks of god knows what that vaguely resemble a decent story. Also I'm debating how long I'll make this, I might end up posting yet another chapter after this but after that I could probably write Rias's Game. Have fun!
Ruby wheezed on the ground, her lungs clambering for air. "I have to give it to ya kid, you've got a pretty solid aura." Ruby had been enduring a relentless beating that'd seen her kicked in the chest enough times that her ribs should be skewering her lungs and heart, bashed against walls had enough to crack her skull several times, and arms bent in ways they were never meant to bend.
Her aura had kept her from actually receiving any of those injuries, but they still hurt the same and said aura was dwindling. "As fun as this has been," The lieutenant paused only to grab Ruby by the hair and drag her to the wall. "It's just not as fun when you don't see the proper fruits of your labor." Thrusting her head forward, the man would've broken Ruby's neck had she not up up her aura.
With that, Ruby felt the last remnants of her aura shatter like a glass. In pain and on the ground, all her body could bring itself to do was curl up, the man's gaze beaming down on her. "Now we're talkin'! No, pussy ass aura to save you now! Tell me kid, does your head hurt? How 'bout your ribs? Maybe it's your arms that hurt? Or possibly your legs?"
The man's mocking was interrupted by him planting a solid and rough boot on Ruby's ear before grinding it in. The way her sensitive flesh was contorted and pulled made it feel like her ear was being slashed to ribbons before being torn off. Ruby of course let out a shriek painful enough to unnerve a sociopath. Unfortunately, she was dealing with something far worse. With one last push, Ruby's ear was left to unfold as blood ran down her neck.
"Now that's better." Picking her up by the collar, the height difference between the lieutenant and Ruby was great enough for him to easily hold the girl off the ground. Ruby's blank haze was ripped away when a sizeable fist met her stomach. She was allowed to gasp a couple times that brought minimal air to her starving lungs before a similar blow connected.
Ruby's already shriveled lungs clenched to the point where a pain sharper than Crescent Rose filled her chest. It only left her when her lungs finally worked again, only getting in half a breath before she was tossed to the floor. Before she got the chance to look at the beast assaulting her his heavy heel crashed into the side of her right knee. Her heavy breathing gave way to a long cry of pain when the fragile bone and cartilage were violated by the twisting, jagged weight put on them.
Her body was already sore from the beating that broke her aura, but now that her shield was gone, Ruby felt like crying at what was to come. "Why? Why are you doing this?! What did I ever do to you?!" Ruby managed to cry out. The painful words seemed to trouble the lieutenant, making him stop.
"Huntsmen act like they're the perfect answer to any problem." Ruby's heat sank at his tone and she had a pretty good idea where this was heading. "Tell me, where have the huntsmen been all these years we've been rejected. Abused. Enslaved! I'll tell you where they were to free my family from a dust mine!" he pulled open his white vest, showing a series of intricate and large scars.
"THEY WERE BUSY GIVING ME THESE!" The red eyes on the lieutenant's mask may have been the same grimm red as always, but Ruby quivered under the burning hatred that beamed through them. Without any give away, his mighty foot barreled upon the side of Ruby's left knee, his grunt in harmony with the horrifying crack and unnatural movement of her lower leg.
To say Ruby screamed like she'd walked in on Yang being eaten slowly by a grimm would be a severe understatement. Her cry echoed throughout the entire compound, only being cut off by a bony elbow being driven by muscles like a prize bull decimating a couple of ribs. Ruby went to shriek again, but only found a noise comparable to the deep voice of a man trying to reach match a young girl on helium.
Mouth agape and eyes wide enough to fit universes in them, Ruby felt the man forme an iron grip around her throat. He was squeezing hard enough to make it alarming and uncomfortable, but not enough to crush her windpipe. Despite her lungs being shriveled like the world's oldest prune, Ruby kept on giving the same near silent shriek.
Though Ruby's eyes seemed to be looking in the right place, her mind was to blank to register the behemoth holding her clench his fists 'til they were whiter than a tan line. His fist crashed into the right side of her abdomen. She was done trying to scream. Her body hurt too much to try, and her lungs felt they'd been stabbed thousands of times.
Then he thrust his fist forward again. And again. And again. And again. To call his arm a jackhammer would be inaccurate. It'd be more accurate to compare it to two Yangs using their semblances' while holding sledgehammers and rhythmically shattering her ribs and most likely displacing a few organs. All the while Ruby's eyes threatened to roll into the back of her head.
She hardly felt anything past the third or fourth punch, her body too sick of being in pain to move on its own. Sensing his new toy was all but broken, the beast of a man let the limp body in his grasp flop to the floor. Five minutes stretched to decades as he just stood there, waiting. At long last Ruby came back around, coughing up blood and clinging to any amount of air no matter how small.
"Good. For a second I thought I'd killed you." The sound of the lieutenant's heavy feet stomping around Ruby progressively came into focus as her wheezing and coughing managed to settle a little. Ruby finally noticed the tears streaming down her face that had started back when her leg was broken. With a dry mouth and lungs bordering on giving out Ruby tried to speak but only managed to faintly mouth the words.
"Don't get your hopes. There's still one more thing to do." Ruby's eyes struggled to track his hand as it reached back behind him, returning with a large knife that looked like something straight out of a Call Of Service game. Every impulse in her body screamed to move but she couldn't. The haze of shock was long gone. Now, she felt everything. The only one she managed to act upon was to widen her eyes from half lidded to just shy of normal.
"If you're not too broken to speak, I'd like to know: where do you want this little fella buried? Shoulder? Maybe you're other knee? Or is there a chance…" He trailed off his sentence before pulling Ruby's hair and bringing her up to kneeling height. "That you'd prefer your eyes?" Ruby forced her eyes wide as can be when the knife thrusted down, stopping what felt like half a millimeter from her eye.
"I told you to fucking leave her!" Roman stood in the open doorway, his tone and posture filled with hate.
"This has nothing to do with you! Now fuck off!" he yelled back.
"She's a fucking kid! The fuck's your problem?!"
"It's huntsmen and huntresses like her that're to blame for the state of this world! I'm sending a message to open their eyes!" Everything he said as insane as it was, he said it with passion. Like he truly believe himself.
"And you question why people look at you like an animal. Get out of my sight before you end up worse off than her." Roman aimed the end of his cane, a sight flipping up from the end and a trigger sprinting free from the hooked handle. The lieutenant gave a low growl but it softened along with his grip on Ruby's hair. A sense of hope foolishly took hold of Ruby. Perhaps her ordeal was finally over.
That hope vanished in an instant when Ruby felt the tip of the blade pierce the skin under her brow and slice it's way over her right eye and cheek. Now being let go, she fell to the ground clutching at the wound that radiated a searing pain through her nerves. Her screams weren't quite as loud as whe her leg broke, but only because her body didn't have it in her to scream that loud.
"Go ahead and shoot. My brothers and sisters will be all over you in a heartbeat. You won't last a minute." Emerald eyes flashed with resentment and hate. It'd be easy. Stupid easy. The halfwits he'd been put in charge of we're just that, halfwits. He'd probably be able to slip away on his own, and if he brought Neo along with then it'd be a cake walk. They weren't why he was hesitant to push the trigger. It was the people above his employer that not only no doubt existed, but also wouldn't like his reasoning for blowing the last 2 months of preparation.
Roman was no stranger to torture. Nor was he to ruffing up and even killing people younger than Ruby. Even still, he'd never have done anything like this. Beating kids rarely exceeded a few swings of his cane. Killing kids was something he'd only done two or three times, when it was do or die ten times over. It was always quick and clean.
"Get out before we put that theory to the test." As much as it disgusted Roman to let this excuse for a living being walk away, there was simply to much on the line to risk over him. Even with a mask on, Roman could practically feel the smirk on the man's face as he walked away. His eyes left him, instead refocusing on Ruby, who'd traded out screaming for sobbing and shivering.
"I'm sorry kid. There's nothing I can do." Wanting to be rid of the disturbing sight, Roman turned and left despite how sick it made him feel. Thief. Liar. Cheater. Killer. Shit stain. All words that fit the bill for Roman. But heartless wasn't one of them.
(Back in the present)
Yang stared into the seemingly bottomless pit in the road. This was the only answer out of the near endless possible ones that made sense to her. Ruby had seen some grimm, followed them, fought them, and the road gave out in the process. The presence of Weiss, Blake and Glynda seemed so distant. To Yang, it was just her and the pit that swallowed the person she loved more than anything in the world.
Without any thought, Yang jumped into the depths. To her surprise, there was a bottom of dirt. Rolling into a crouch, she pulled her scroll out and turned on the flashlight. She only took a few steps before hearing three bodies drop down behind her. A hand gripped her shoulder and spun her around.
"Yang! What're you doing?!" Weiss exclaimed in a whisper.
"I'm getting Ruby back." Her reply was simple and stern. This was Yang at potentially her most frightening. When the fun loving party animal gets serious, she give Weiss a run for the title of Ice Queen while also packing ruthless efficiency. Knowing that there was no stopping Yang, the other three simply followed.
Coming to an open vent, Yang noticed a turn to her immediate right that would be invisible to anyone without a light. Following it for what seemed like days to the poor three she'd dragged along for the ride, the finally came to a vent over. Peering down, Yang saw two White Fang grunts. Gently gripping the cover, Yang lifted it and sat it down further in the vent as quietly as possible.
After steadying her breath, Yang dropped down before locking onto one man's jaw. A gloved hand sped through the air and made contact, his head riding the momentum into the concrete wall of the hallway. Keeping her body moving, she spun on one heel, planting the other into the other man's ribs before her fist barreled down on his face. A typical impressed whistle came from down the hall where Roman stood.
"Nice work blondie. I'm surprised you went for being a huntress instead of a boxer." Red creeped into the corners of Yang's vision. Every fibre of her being wanted to grip his throat and strangle an answer out of him.
"Where's my sister?" The question came out cold as steel.
"End of the hallway behind you. Go right, keep going before you take the second left. End of the corridor, right turn." Yang's haze of pure focus and determination just had a katana slice right though it.
"Really? You're just, telling me? No snarky remarks? No trying to push my shit in?"
"Not today kid. People like to say 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'. If that's true, we may as well be married." Roman turned to walk away but stopped on his heel. "One more thing. Don't expect favours like this ever again. I'm only doing this cause I have a serious problem with the animals I've got working with me here." With that, Roman started to walk before disappearing around a corner.
"Yang!" The familiar whisper yell of Weiss sounded behind her. She'd been so focused on Roman she didn't even hear her teammates jump down into the concrete hall.
"Come on, we can't waste-" Yang was cut off by a solid slap to her cheek and the loud sound that accompanied it.
"Slow the fuck down and think about what you're doing!" Yang was about ready to clean Weiss's clock before she saw the look of steel dipped in liquid nitrogen behind those blue eyes. The moments hesitation allowed her brain to take in Weiss's advice. She'd led her two closest friends into a compound to which she had no idea of the layout that just so happened to be crawling with terrorists that would have no qualm in killing them all.
Not to mention she had a teacher to witness her stupidit….
"Where's professor Goodwitch?" The eye roll from Weiss was clear enough to Yang that she'd fucked up in a way she didn't realise.
"I take it then you missed the train carrying dozens of atlesian paladins and who knows what else being guarded by a small platoon of armed terrorists?" 'Ohhhhhhhh, fuck me.' "Of course you did. To answer the question, professor Goodwitch said she's making sure it doesn't leave and sent us to get your ass under control." Yang felt a bottomless shame engulf her. She'd been such an idiot. Let her emotions cloud all form of judgment.
"Where even are we?" Yang asked.
"Mt. Glenn was going to have an Underground Railroad system that connected it to the rest of the kingdom. If I had to guess, I'd say the White Fang expanded upon one of the stations to make this place." Blake answered.
"Well that's good. At least now we know there'll be a few exits we can use no matter Ruby's condition." Weiss said. The thought had hardly crossed Yang's mind. Sure she was laser focused on finding Ruby with urgency, but it only just hit her that Ruby could be seriously injured. Feeling the dread and unease grow in her stomach, Yang ran in the direction given to her by Roman although she made sure Weiss and Blake were following.
She followed Roman's instructions and sure enough, she came to a wide corridor with a section of wall at the end being pure iron bars. Bolting down to the bars she peered through the bars and saw Ruby. Crumpled on the ground, dazed in a small pool of blood, her left leg looking like something off a shock site and her right eye covered in dry blood and a large slash across it.
"RUBY!" Gripping the metal around the lock, Yang gave a mighty tug and snapped the iron lock. Running to Ruby's side she held the broken girl gently in her arms.
"Y...Yang?" Ruby's eye moved slowly in it's half lidded socket, her body feeling the strain of even that little movement. Her words came out as a horse whisper.
"Oh thank god. Ruby, what the hell did they do to you?!" It was an uphill battle for the blonde brawler to fight back the sensation of her throat choking up.
"I-... it was only one guy… He.. broke my leg… and kept going.. until my eye…" Yang could see the tears welling up in the corner of the crimsonettes one good eye.
"Shh shhh shhhh. It's ok. We're going to get you out of here, and then we're getting you to a hospital." A small glimmer of hope beamed at Yang through the one silver eye.
"Promise… you won't leave me… when I'm stuck in a bed." Yang's heart shattered.
"Of course." She said following a sob. Slinging her arm across he back, Yang helped Ruby limp through the hallway. It was far from the fastest method, but it seemed like it put Ruby in the least amount of pain. A firefight was the last thing they needed, much less a firefight with a couple dozen giant mechs thrown in.
After a few minutes of limping around, the girls reached a part of the original underground station where a 'you are here' map was borderline comically still in place. Getting out became a much more daunting task when Yang realised that every possible route out would lead them by the train and all the bullshit that came with it.
Knowing there was nothing they could do, Weiss and Blake led the silent charge until they reached the large opening. Yang's eyes scanned the space from behind a stack of crates. 'Damn it. How many volunteers do these fuckers get to dedicate this much man power even after we keep messing with their plans? Doesn't matter.'
"As far as I can tell, we're fucked. There's no way out of here without a fire fight." Yang said with a scowl.
"Not necessarily. There might be a way for us to get out without a giant fight." Blake said.
"I'm all ears."
"Me and Weiss put on a big show and grab their attention. While they're too busy shooting at us, you get Ruby through that exit." Blake answered, gesturing her head towards the circular entrance that was the only usable exit for Ruby. "Once you're clear, we'll make a break for it, and close it up behind us."
That plan sounded like suicide for her monochromatic teammates to Yang's ears, but she was in no place to argue. "Fine. Just promise to not do anything overly dumb. I didn't charge in her to save Ruby only for you two to get yourselves killed." Weiss and Blake gave Yang quick smiles before she hobbled Ruby to the corner. Weiss looked at Blake, both of their smiles turning playful.
"This is probably the most suicidal thing any of us have done since Ruby tried to solo a Deathstalker." Weiss said jokingly.
"Probably? More like absolutely. At least I've got the Ice Queen to help me see it through." Weiss felt her cheeks warm a little as her stupid grin only grew stronger.
"Likewise kitty cat." Yang reached the corner, plotting out her path for how she'd move. Once she was done mentally picturing it, she nodded at Weiss and Blake who both nodded back. With a final exchange of smiles, Blake hopped onto the crates they were hiding behind while Weiss readied a red glyph against the stack. As Blake let Gambol Shrouds ribbon loose, Weiss let the wooden crates explode forward.
All eyes were effectively fixated on the duo, drawing every spec of attention to the center of the room. With everyone swarming, Yang took full advantage of the opportunity, only stopping when one member with a rifle stopped just in front of her before resuming his charge. Her eyes temporarily flicked to her friends, Weiss dancing around machetes and bullets while Blake whirled Gambol Shroud around like a rope dart.
Moving again, it was a clear shot for Yang straight to the exit. She halted abruptly at the sound of a familiar plasma cannon firing. Four of the White Fang members had grown half a brain and jumped into paladins to deal with the two girls wrecking their shit.
"Y-y-yang.." Expecting a look of pain and anguish, Yang was taken aback to see Ruby with a small smile. "T-they need you m-m-more than me." Taking one more glance at her battling comrades who were already in deep water moved Yang to sit Ruby in a corner.
"I'll be back. I promise." With a quick peck, Yang charged into the fray. Weiss and Blake had started strong, fending off their attackers with little trouble. But the paladins flipped the switch and then some. Weiss was struggling to avoid being nailed by a mechanical fist and it seemed like her luck had run out. Then Yang of course spear tackled the heiress out of the titan's path, the ground cratering around the impact.
"Yang! The plan was-"
"The plan falls apart if we have these sons of bitches on our tails!" Yang went into a series of dive rolls to evade the seemingly endless plasma blasts. Yang opened fire on the closest mech, the metal around the cockpit seeming unphased. Using the blast from Ember Celica, Yang leaped atop the steel giant and started pounding its shoulder.
A series of warnings to the pilot proceeded as the blonde pummeled the joint to nothing. With one final blow, the metal limb broke off, clattering to the ground. Yang leapt off the paladins back when its remaining hand tried to snatch her up.
"YANG!" Turning her head fast enough to break the sound barrier, time practically stopped for Yang. She was looking death in the face. The blue glow of two fully charged plasma cannons aimed straight at her, near point blank range shone in her black pupils. The reality that this very well may kill her was ripped from the brawling queen when she felt a force push her fast to the side, even in her slowed perception of time.
'... Ruby?..' the wounded girl was in the middle of a dive, her arms fully extended. Her one silver eye glimmered with a single tear in her eye and her trademark smile. She silently mouthed: 'I love you.' Time returned to its natural speed, the cannons blaring as they unleashed their power. Ruby's body wasn't directly struck, but the shockwaves were created no more than two inches from her body.
Like a rag doll, she flailed through the air before bouncing off the floor and stopping completely lifeless. Yang had landed flat on her ass and watched her sister wide eyed. Her mind shattered. Her breath halted. Her thoughts disappeared. Her heart near forgot to beat. She was lost. She didn't even feel the paladin's fist crash into her abdomen or even when it pounded her deeper into the little crater it'd made with her.
Weiss looked on in disbelief and Blake dropped to her knees. 'How? How could any of this happen? Not even a day ago Ruby had been a laser focused fighter while also enjoying every minute of it. And now she was…' Weiss felt sick to her core, even saying it in her mind was too much. Her brain scrambled for anything to replace her thoughts, settling on the heels approaching behind her.
"Professor. I-.. we-"
"It's quite ok Miss Schnee. I'll take things from here. You just ensure the rest of your team makes it out of here safely. There's not enough of these bastards to make them pay for 2 students…" Pushing her glasses back up her nose, Glynda levitated the dismembered mechanical limb. With a flick of the wrist, the hovering limb shot toward its original paladin, staggering it.
Glynda would've started to barrage the mech with its own limb, except the floor shook beneath her. Out of the corner of her eye, the seasoned huntress watched Yang rise from her crater. Clenching her fist, Yang brought her arms up in the way she always did before activating her semblance. Once her fists met, a sound comparable to a nuke blasted through the compound, as well as a shockwave that almost knocked Glynda over.
The blonde's hair burned brighter than a supernova, the blinding light only being pierced by red eyes that fittingly looked like all they wanted was to stab you in the heart. Weiss and Blake had been snapped out of their shock endured trance by the defining sound, only to seemingly enter another. It wasn't the sound that'd done it. It wasn't the mighty shockwave, or even the way Yang's hair burned hot enough for them to feel it.
It was her eyes. They'd seen Yang's semblance plenty of times, her eyes often going red along with it. But it was always just the iris that gave way to the bloody pigment. This time, the deep crimson was all there was. No black pupil. No white surrounding it all. Just a hateful red. The fire in Yang's hair calmed to about double the usual bond fire which only let the simpleness of her eyes radiate more.
This was a strange feeling. Her body felt like it was chomping at the bit to fight but her mind felt nothing. Looking around her, she found her purpose again. Ruby. Truth be told, she could hardly tell the three mechs that could've done it apart. It doesn't really matter.
She'll just have to punish them all.
Author's notes
Shit's about to hit the fan. I've no idea what I wanna say here apart from Rias's game is next.