AN: There were some last minute changes to my plot map. Hopefully they're decent ways to create a coherent plot. And a special thanks to Petro Oil, who will be helping with editing from now on. THANKS! And with that, here we go!
(Yang POV during Garnet and Cardin's duel)
Garnet and Cardin took their stances, waiting for the duel to start.
I expected a quick and simple win for Garnet. I wish I'd known how wrong I was. If I had known what was going to happen next, I would've stopped the duel before it started. But I hadn't known.
"Isn't that the guy who was harassing the faunus girl during lunch?" Ruby asked.
"Yup, that's the scum," Blake spat. The rest of team RWBY stared at Blake in surprise. That was a lot more hostility than she usually showed anyone.
"Well, whatever," I said shrugging off Blake's hostility toward Cardin. "Look, the duel's starting."
Cardin was a lot quicker than I expected. Garnet was barely able to block the first overhead strike from Cardin's heavy mace. Their weapons clanged and I noticed their lips moving. What are saying?
Garnet rolled and sloppily slashed at Cardin's legs. Cardin simply lifted his leg and stamped on Garnet's hand.
"Garnet!" Ruby cried.
"Don't worry sis. You should know that G's just getting warmed up," I assured Ruby. Honestly, I was mainly trying to convince myself.
"Can I break his legs after the duel?" Nora asked Ren earnestly.
"No," Ren answered simply.
Cardin was talking again, but I still couldn't hear what he was saying.
"I said SHUT UP!" Garnet yelled, rushing at Cardin, who sidestepped and smashed Garnet on the back as he passed. Garnet hit the floor.
"That dirty cheat!" I complained to Ruby. "He's trying to win by making Garnet act on anger, not skill." I looked at my little sister. She had an extremely worried look on her face and seemed ready to jump in and stop the fight. "Easy there little sister."
Garnet was slowly getting off the ground, but something wasn't right. Dead, black rose petals were swirling around him and the look in his eyes was beyond murderous. It was demonic and bone chilling. Garnet was slowly moving toward Cardin, his swords making sparks against the floor.
"Something's wrong." Ruby said, staring at our brother.
Garnet swung his sword at Cardin's side, which was defended by his mace. Rose petals engulfed Garnet's sword, cutting through Cardin's weapon and slicing open his side. Blood began oozing from the wound Garnet had just inflicted.
Garnet shouldn't be able to do something like that. The rose petals should just be projections. "Stop the match!" I yelled, jumping to my feet. Ruby was still staring at Garnet with fear in her eyes.
Professor Goodwitch nodded at me. "MR. ROSE! That's enough!"
Garnet ignored her, stringing together a combo of slashes at the defenseless Cardin, who was cowering in fear of the terrifying Garnet. The volume of rose petals increased, signaling that Garnet had activated his semblance. The rate of his strikes increased.
"Garnet! Please stop!" Ruby pleaded from her seat, but Garnet didn't respond. He just kept attacking mercilessly.
Both team RWBY and team JGNPR began calling out to Garnet, but to no avail. At this rate, Cardin was going to die.
Professor Goodwitch had begun to launch large fireballs at Garnet, in an attempt to stop his rampage.
"Don't hurt him!" I screamed. Garnet's petals acted as a shield, intercepting the dust spells, causing them to explode. The sound of explosions joined Cardin's screams.
Tears were flowing down Ruby's face. "Garnet stop!" She jumped up and rushed the battlefield, heading for Garnet.
"Ruby!" I cried, chasing after my sister. In this state, no one could predict what Garnet might do. He might even try to kill Ruby if she got in his way.
Ruby slammed into Garnet's back and was almost instantly assailed by Garnet's rose petals, threatening to cut her to ribbons. I was still trying to get through the throng of students. I could do nothing except watch as Garnet hurt Ruby.
"Garnet, please stop. You're going to kill him." Ruby pleaded, her tears soaking into Garnet's back as the rose petals continued cut her.
I could see no other way to protect Ruby than to attack Garnet. "Garnet, I'm sorry." With tears in my eyes I readied a shot and took aim.
I was about to shoot when Garnet sank to his knees, staring at his bloodied blades. Ruby rushed in front of him, wrapping him in a hug. I made my way beside her, shoving people out of the way as I went.
Garnet had his head nestled in Ruby's shoulder, and as I got close I heard him crying.
"I'm sorry," he said between sobs. "I'm sorry."
He crumpled, his breaths weak and shallow. I hurriedly picked him up in a bridal carry and began rushing out of the combat hall with Ruby hot on my tail, tears still streaming down her cheeks.
"Out of the way! Move it!" I commanded.
I sprinted in the direction of the medial ward, my limp brother in my arms.
(Ruby POV)
I sat in the waiting room, my arms wrapped around my sister's torso as I waited for the tears to subside. Sitting with us were my team and Jaune's team. No one spoke. Even Nora sat silently, holding on to Ren's arm.
Images of Garnet during the duel kept flashing in my mind. I'm not even sure if that had been Garnet. The usual cheerful glimmer in his eyes had been replaced by something sinister and dark, and I saw pain painted across his face, like he hadn't wanted to do what he did.
However, I wasn't crying because I was scared. I was crying because I had been powerless to help Garnet. I had only been able to sit and watch in horror as he cut Cardin over and over again.
At that moment the doctor walked into the room. I sat up, praying that Garnet was ok.
"We have good news and rather distressing news," the doctor informed us.
Everyone waited for him to continue.
"The good news is that your friend is fine physically. He only collapsed from exhaustion."
I fell back against Yang in relief. Thank dust he's ok. Everyone in the waiting room had a similar reaction.
"The… troubling news is that, emotionally, your friend is in worse shape," the doctor began, trying to give us the bad news in as gentle a manor as possible. "That is normal considering the magnitude of what happened. We had him describe what he experienced. He was slightly tight lipped, but here's what we know. Your friend became highly enraged by something the other student said. He momentarily lost control of his actions and his aura gained a physical form, acting on its own and attacking possible threats. That's all we know. Professor Ozpin has decided that we should release your friend, but keep a close eye on him. Are any of you related to the patient?"
Yang spoke up. "I'm his older sister."
"It would be best if you kept 24-hour surveillance on him for a day or two. Having a family member with him will hopefully be comforting. You all may go see him if you wish."
I followed behind Yang timidly.
Garnet was sitting up in a bed, hugging his knees with his head down.
"H-hey. How're you doing?" Jaune asked cautiously. Garnet didn't even look up.
"The whole team was worried about you," Pyrrha offered. Garnet's shoulders slumped further.
"Ren will make pancakes!" Nora exclaimed.
Garnet's shoulder began moving up and down as he silently cried. Finally, he looked up at all of us. His face was a mixture of sadness and pain.
"How can you all still treat me like a human being? I tried to brutally murder Cardin." He paused and looked at me before looking down at his hands. "I tried to kill you. I broke my promise… I turned into a monster," Garnet finished quietly.
Ren walked up to Garnet and backhanded him, taking all of us by surprise. "That was for calling yourself a monster. You're you."
A shadow of a smile appeared on Garnet's face.
"C'mon little brother. I'm crashing with you guys for a few days, so let's go. Do you need to lean on me?" Yang asked.
"N-no." Garnet seemed reluctant to meet Yang's eyes. "Jaune can help me."
"Sure thing." Jaune leaned down, giving Garnet his shoulder as Garnet shakily got out of the bed.
Before they left I ran up and hugged Garnet. "Please don't ever do that again. You scared me."
"I'm sorry Ruby. And I'm sorry that I broke my promise."
As he was walking away I realized that I didn't know what promise he was talking about. What promise?
(Garnet POV)
Everyone had gone down to the dining hall for dinner. Only Yang and I stayed behind in my dorm room. We had set up a cot at the foot of my bed for Yang, who was now lying down, trying to relax.
I was in my bed staring at the ceiling. Cardin's words still rang in my head. "Why don't you run to your big sister, if she even is your sister."
"Garnet," Yang called. I flinched.
"Y-yeah big si-" I couldn't say it. I felt too unsure about everything. "-Yang."
Yang looked surprised but continued. "What did Cardin say to you during the fight? It must've been something extreme since I've never seen you like that before."
I closed my eyes and began to speak. "He said," I paused and looked at Yang, "that you might not be my sister. That we might not even be related." I didn't mention the part about Cardin calling my mother a dirty animal.
"C'mon little brother. Of course I'm your sister."
"But why is my last name Rose, not Xiao Long? And you don't I look like you or dad?"
"But you do look like our mom. Don't you remember? She die-" I snapped to attention as Yang quickly clamped her mouth shut.
"What are you talking about?" I demanded. This was news to me. For as long as I could remember, my family had told me about how our mother suddenly disappeared. Simply gone, poof, into thin air. It always sounded like a reasonable explanation, but the doubt Cardin instilled in me was just too strong. And the fact that Yang was changing the story did nothing to help my confidence in my family.
Yang turned over on her cot, looking away from me.
"So, what's that promise you were talking about?" Yang asked, changing the topic.
"Don't you remember? You must've been there." I was becoming more and more uncertain about my family.
Yang was about to say something, but stopped herself. "No, I don't remember," she said quietly.
I was a little skeptical, but I continued. "When we were all young, Ruby and I found a vial of red dust and decided to play with it. I don't remember much, but I remember accidentally setting of an explosion, a big one. Ruby shielded me and almost died because of that. Once she finally recovered I promised to protect her or die trying, and today I failed."
Yang came next to me and wrapped her arms around me. I couldn't bring myself to return the hug. "Get some rest little brother." Yang returned to her cot.
Soon I heard Yang quietly snoring. I checked my watch. Team RWBY should still be out. I snuck across the hall into their room.
"If I were a clue to what Yang was talking about where would I be?" I muttered.
I stopped in front of a framed picture. Ruby and I were at the center of the picture with two people on either side. One was a woman who looked almost exactly like Ruby. The other was a man with kind, glowing eyes and a long puffy tail.
I pocketed the picture and headed for my favorite spot, the balcony.
I reached the balcony, but didn't walk out into the open. Sitting on a bench were Ruby and Jaune. It looked like they were in the middle of a conversation.
"So," Jaune began. "You've never really told me about your family. I told you about mine, so it's only fair." Jaune elbowed Ruby in the side, and Ruby chuckled lightly.
"Sure thing motion sickness boy." Jaune looked annoyed, but stayed silent. "I live in Vytal with Garnet, Yang, and my dad."
"No mom," Jaune asked.
Ruby shook her head with a pained look. "She died in a house fire along with my step-father."
Step-father? What the hell is she talking about?
Ruby continued. "When Garnet, Yang and I were really young, our parents got divorced. My mom took Garnet and me, and my dad took Yang. Our mom got remarried, but our dad stayed single. That marriage had been his second one after all. My mom married a dog faunus, Leon. Leon was the nicest step-dad a kid could ask for, plus his tail was really soft. Even though we weren't with our dad, everything was great."
Images started rushing in to my head, forcing me to my knees as pain assaulted my brain. I saw images of the man in the photo holding my hand as we walked through the woods, chasing me, and tucking me in at night. Other images flowed in as well. A lot of them were of the woman in the picture, who I now knew as my mom. Why didn't I know any of this? I thought as I gritted my teeth in pain. My hands were holding my head to prevent it from splitting open.
"All of that changed very suddenly." Ruby was talking again, but her voice sounded sad. "Garnet and I found some dust and were playing with it. He accidentally caused a really big explosion. I shielded Garnet, who had been knocked back by the blast, but the force knocked him out. Fire engulfed our house, killing our mom and Leon. When my brother finally woke up his memories of our mother and Leon were gone. That probably happened because of the trauma."
I was still kneeling on the ground holding my head. Darker, more painful images flowed into my head. I saw Ruby lying on top of me, covered in blood. I saw a house reduced to mere rubble. Finally, I saw a charred hand sticking out of the rubble.
It was too much. I couldn't take this anymore. I screamed.
Jaune and Ruby whipped around and saw me. They both went pale, but rushed over to me. I was still screaming, cradling my head in my hands as more horrible images surfaced. The last memory I saw before passing out was an image of my dead mother.
She was nothing more than a charred corpse.
AN: And the plot keeps getting darker, but I like it. Do all you readers feel the same way? And on to reviews!
…There were none, but there's an easy way to fix that! Read, Rate, and Review. Rinse and Repeat.
-Roxasblade
(Revised: 2/19/15) (Revised to remove the pointless step-mom character.)
