So far Ruby's breathing exercises were going well, but after 12 minutes of sitting on the bottom of the lake she wasn't quite sure she could make it to 22 and minutes. She pushed on though, quieting the complaints that were beginning to come from her lungs, and instead focused on her surroundings instead. The first thing she noticed was that it was quiet, actually a little too quiet. From below the water she couldn't make out any details of what was happening above, but she knew something must be amiss. After all, the forest animals had been causing quite a ruckus just a few minutes ago.
Starting to feel a little concerned, and knowing that she definitely wasn't going to make it past 22 minutes, she lifted the rock off of her lap and started to ascend towards the surface. As she came up she slowly swam towards the shadows cast by one of the trees on the shore. Not knowing what she would find when she reached the surface she took all precautions to stay hidden, especially since she didn't have any weapons with her. She knew it couldn't be anything too big since they had a fence around the perimeter of the estate, but better safe and sorry.
Poking her head out of the water she looked around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but she knew her ears would be able to tell her more. With a quick shake of her head she cleared the remaining water droplets from the fur around her ears. At first she only heard silence, but then she heard something, faint vibrations off in the distance, there was more than one sound though. It seemed to be coming from closer to the border of the property, which didn't make any sense to her, the practice fields were the other direction and everyone was resting for the day. The only ones out here were her and… that's when she hear it, a distressed cry for help.
"Weiss!" screamed Ruby as she frantically stumbled out of the water, and raced towards the sound. The trees flew past her. Her vision was a mix of shadows as she narrowly avoided each obstacle. She blew through whatever was in her path, the branches scratching her skin as she plowed through the thick brush. Ruby didn't know what she was going to do when she got there, but that didn't matter, for now she ran faster than she believed possible.
She had never heard her sister scream like that before, she could feel the pain and anguish in her voice. "Please be okay Weiss, please be okay, please be okay," she just kept repeating those words as she ran what seemed like the longest distance ever.
The closer she got the more clearly she heard the shouting of foreign men, and the rumble of a vehicle. "Hurry up and throw her in the back!" someone commanded, "They're going to be here soon." Ruby cringed as she heard the metallic thud of what had to be her sister's body as it landed on cold metal, whether she was dead or unconscious it was hard to tell.
'Weiss! No. No. No!' Ruby thought, 'She's being kidnapped, this can't be! Where are the guards?' She knew that their security around the estate was strong, after all, the other had tried to break in where all taken away in handcuffs. 'Why weren't they here now?' She wondered, 'Had they already been beat?'
As Ruby approached the clearing she begin to realize how the intruders had gotten through. There were 7 men with camo outfits, all of them in peak physical condition, and armed with a various array of guns, both physical and dust. The odds were definitively against her, but that wasn't going to stop her.
While she ran she reached down and grabbed a sturdy looking stick from the ground. Holding it in her hand like a sword she now considered herself armed and ready to fight. 'No one takes my sister from me!' she thought while a small rage slowly built up in her.
"Sir movement to the left!" one of the men stated just as Ruby rushed in and swung her stick down on his head. With her speed and surprising strength the stick acted more like a club and he immediately fell unconscious as the stick resounded with a satisfying whack. Not wanting to stay in plain sight Ruby quickly darted back behind a tree for cover.
"Sir, do we shoot?" one of the men asked, "It looked like a child."
"Capture her too," said the captain, "Maybe we can get a bigger reward."
Ruby poked her head out from behind the tree to take in the surroundings. The men were mainly in the small clearing where the trees started to thin out. She would have to use her speed, or she knew she was going to get shot.
She started to walk out form behind the tree when she saw Weiss's body, or what looked like her body. The sight of Weiss being kidnapped had been bad to start with, but her once white dress was now stained brown and red, it's once flawless fabric now contained main rips and holes. Her arms and legs were purple with bruises and red with blood. The only part left untouched was her face which bore a sight of total anguish.
Unable to control herself anymore her rage overcame her. She raised her stick and charged toward the rest of the men, dodging a few volleys as she worked her way forward.
Counting the men she realized that one of them was missing, and turned around just in time to receiver the stock of a gun, which suddenly swung out from behind a tree and straight into her head. With a solid whack she tumbled and landed face first in front of what had to be the captain of the invaders.
"Awe," he cooed as he stepped on Ruby's back, forcing her down to the ground from which she was trying to get up. "Looks like the runt of the litter showed up, but a little too late."
"You'll never take Weiss!" She screamed her eyes ablaze with hatred.
He looked over his shoulder. "Looks like we already got her sweetie." He said as he turned back around and leaned down toward Ruby. Seeing an opportunity Ruby swung her arm upward and slashed at him with her nails. The strike landed square on his cheek, ran down his face, and then snagged on the front of his shirt. The captain, now with an anger of his own, reached down and yanked Ruby's arm behind her back, popping off the snagged button in the process. Ruby screamed as her arm bent, twisted, and then finally popped out of place.
With a grin, he kicked dirt into Ruby's face causing her to choke. "A valiant effort little one, but not enough" He paused as a drop of blood fell to the ground. Taking one hand he reached up to his cheek, "Well I'll be darned," His voice getting colder with each word, "You did get me." He reached down and unbuttoned the cover of a holster on the side of his belt. "I wasn't going to hurt you too much, but mutts need to be punished when they act out of line."
"Hold her down!" he yelled at his men. They immediately rushed over and pined Ruby's arms and legs to the ground, another cry emerged from Ruby as her arm was twisted yet again. "Lets see." He said as he grabbed Ruby's head and shoved it into the ground, a sharp yip emerged from her as the crunch of bone signified the breaking of her nose. "Oops." He says sarcastically, "Did I hurt you?" He reached back and slid the knife out of it's holster, the ringing of metal making Ruby's ears twitch.
Seeing the movement he, grabbed her right ear in his hand "You know, these things on your head are pretty visible, how about I leave my mark there." Ruby began to struggle as his grip tightened on her ear. She loved her ears more than anything else, they allowed her to hear the way she does, and they reminded her of Weiss and how she would rub them to comfort her when she was scared or sad.
At this point she began to cry, she could withstand the physical pain, but not the psychological knowledge of knowing her and her sister would never be the same again.
The captain looked down at Ruby seeing the tears beginning to roll down her cheeks. "Sounds like a yes to me." And with that he took the knife and slowly started to slice a triangular chunk out of her ear. The blood began to trickle down her face as her flesh was torn apart by the blade. Ruby kept trying to struggle, but no matter what Ruby did she couldn't break free, she could only lay there and weep as the blood from her ear mixed with her tears.
"I think she likes it." He laughed to his men.
"Just finish it already," One of them said clearly not liking the torture, "Reinforcement will be here soon."
"Reinforcement will be here soon." The captain mimicked, "Toughen up, we're showing this dog who's boss." With as much roughness as he could muster he ripped his knife back out of her ear. The chunk fell to the ground and landed in the newly formed pool of blood. "I'll be taking this as a souvenir." He said as he reached down and picked up the blood stained piece of ear. "You know," He stated looking at Ruby's ear, "That look suits you"
He paused, took a step back, and then spat on Ruby, "You're just a broken.. Little.. Mutt." He laughed as he got up and motion to his men, "Let's go."
As they're getting up one of them asked, "What should we do with her?"
"We'll leave her, she's just a lowly fanus," he laughed, "It would cost us more to transport her than we would get." He brought his leg back for one last kick, "Plus no one is going to care what happens to her."
Those words echoed through Ruby's head as the captain's final kick launched her off the ground, and into the trunk of a tree. She took one final look at her sister and closed her eyes, as her world was flooded with darkness and the overwhelming pain of her wounds and mind.
"Our Job here is done," He turned around and climbed into the open door of the ATV, "Step on it, I hear the guards coming."
Finally starting real life, well college. Hopefully I won't let my classes get ahead of me, and stop me from writing. I'd like to thank one very special person for basically threatening me back into writing. You know how you are, and I appreciate your encouragement! I needed it. Hope you all enjoy this chapter, and the ones to follow.
