Weiss froze, terrified when Ruby moved to all fours and sniffed the air.
A distant crashing alerted her that - hopefully Yang - was coming. But Ruby had other plans than wait for her sister.
In a flash of red, she left - leaving her cloak behind with a single rose petal.
Weiss could only stare.
"Weiss?!" Yang yelled as Blake and her burst into the area.
"Where's Ruby?" The black themed girl asked immediately.
"I… I don't know. She was so irritated, and she broke her jar trying not to eat the sap. I let her have a bit of mine, and then she just left." Weiss said.
"Blake, go get Professor Goodwitch." Yang ordered.
"And you?" Blake asked.
"Looking for Ruby with Weiss." Yang replied.
Weiss wasn't blind to the tremble and hitch in Yang's breathing. The blonde was terrified. But of what?
Ruby ran, she felt great, stretching her legs and flying across the forest floor. She ran towards the homing beacon that was the anger.
She leapt over a fallen tree and landed on a human's chest. It screamed and lashed out. But Ruby was faster, dodging and slashing through its armor like a knife through butter.
Easy prey. She thought, giving a growl and leaping away to find something worth fighting.
It seemed like only a few moments before she found a new target - one that froze and put its hands up. It sparked something in Ruby, but she didn't know what.
She gave a roar and pounced.
Or she was planning to, her body froze as her lip curled. The human was speaking. Saying something. "R...u..b...y? R...u...b...y.. Its… me… Ya...n...g…"
But Ruby didn't understand any of it.
"R...u...b...y… s...t...a...y ...t… h… e… r… e… h… e...l…p… i...s… c...o...m...i...n...g…"
Ruby snarled, snapping her jaws angrily, but couldn't move a step forward. And suddenly, the human spoke again,
"::Ruby, it's Yang. Please, do you remember me?::" the human asked.
Ruby was frozen in place, unable to move and attack the human. Almost as if a force was stopping her.
But the human kept talking. "::Ruby? What's wrong? You ok?::"
Ruby tried snapping her jaws shut around the outreached hand, and failed.
She was so distracted that she never felt the ice creeping up on her - until the prison encased her entire neck and torso and bound her jaws shut.
"Ya...ng! W...e… h...a...v...e h...e...r!" A new voice said.
Ruby thrashed, furious at the freezing prison.
A second human, this one in white walked in, they conversed for a bit, and Ruby gave a snarl at their entrance.
"::Ruby! Don't you remember Weiss?::" The one in yellow growled.
Ruby gave an equal snarl, yet couldn't move against her prison of ice.
A bright light flashed around the clearing, and voices, before Ruby blacked out.
Yang paced outside of the holding cells at Beacon. Qrow was conferring with Ozpin, and Weiss was contacting her sister. Yang, being the only one who could communicate with Ruby - naturally was chosen to speak to the transformed girl.
"::Ruby, can you please calm down?::" Yang requested. Ruby gave a snap at her direction, but couldn't get near.
Thank god for the pledge, or else I would be Grimmkill. Yang thought, knowing that if Ruby's instincts of loyalty were not bound to Yang, than Ruby would have attacked mercilessly.
But why didn't Ruby attack Weiss?
"Miss Xiao Long. Please come in." Ozpin said, sipping from his coffee cup as Ruby gave a primal screech and leapt forward at him. Yang grabbed Ruby by the throat and slammed her into the holding cell.
"::Stop.::" Yang hissed, Ruby's tail bristled and swished as the Grimm girl crouched down. Yang looked away and shut the door, closing Ruby in.
"Yessir." Yang said quietly and entered the room.
"I assume you are aware of your sibling's condition. But from what I have seen, she is unable to attack you and your uncle. Perhaps Miss Rose recognizes you both." Ozpin mused.
Yang inhaled sharply. I think he deserves to at least know why she cannot harm us. She thought, before explaining. "Ruby is unable to attack me and Uncle Qrow because Ruby has pledged her loyalty to both of us. Somehow, when she makes said pledge, she is unable to harm us physically. As you saw before, she tried to attack me on several basis, but all of them failed." She said.
"Is there a reason behind that?" Ozpin questioned.
"Well, Uncle Qrow reckons that it may be a chemical reaction in her brain caused by recognition of those who she is pledged to." Yang explained.
"Interesting." Ozpin mused, pausing to sip his coffee again.
"Yeah. It really is." Yang agreed.
"But. I wonder why she seemed able to attack Miss Schnee. I believe that she hasn't "pledged herself", as you put it, to her yet." Ozpin said.
"No. She offered last night to Blake and Weiss, they declined." Yang said.
"Then it would be wise for them to accept her pledge - as for any other event like this with Miss Rose reduced to a more primal state, could end catastrophically." Ozpin said.
"I'll let them know, Professor." Yang replied.
"Good. And just out of curiosity, how does Miss Rose choose who to pledge to?" He asked, a gleam of curiosity in his eyes.
Yang smiled gently, remembering the day Ruby pledged for the first time to Yang. "It requires a emotional connection from Ruby to that person. She has to have a large amount of trust in them, and respect. She won't do it for anybody, unless they meet that criteria." Yang explained.
"But how do they meet it?" Ozpin questioned.
Yang looked thoughtful. "I honestly don't know. Weiss saved Ruby from an ancient Deathstalker during initiation - so I guess that counts. It's Blake that's the mystery. Ruby gives her an awful lot of trust, although I don't know why."
"It is strange, isn't it? How those we love can hide so much." Ozpin mused quietly, so much so, that Yang almost missed it.
"Excuse me?" Yang said, a hint of red in her eyes.
"It seems that Misses Rose and Belladonna have known each other previously." Ozpin explained.
"What?" Yang growled.
"Think about it, why would your sister take a liking to her so fast, and vise versa? They may have known each other for an amount of time, but perhaps just a very brief encounter." Ozpin noted.
"How do you know this?" Yang spat.
"Just a wild guess, Miss Xiao Long. I could be completely wrong." Ozpin corrected.
"What if you're right, Oz?" Qrow asked, walking into the room.
"Then it would just be luck." Ozpin said, peering over his glasses as Qrow drank from his flask.
"Yeah, yeah. You goddamn genius." Qrow sighed.
"I am no genius." Ozpin said softly, with a hint of steel.
"Suuuure…" Qrow muttered.
"Ahem. Miss Xiao Long, you are dismissed." Ozpin said.
Yang reached for the door, but Professor Goodwitch beat her too it, riding crop swinging. "Ruby Rose has escaped. We're on lockdown to find the culprit." The woman said, chest heaving.
"What?!" Yang yelled, turning to Uncle Qrow.
"We have to get to her! And we're the only ones who can stop her!" Yang exclaimed, eyes turning red.
"Got it, kiddo. Let's go." Qrow affirmed, stowing his flask away and the two exited at a run.
Yang cocked her gauntlets, looking at the broken cell that had once attempted to hold Ruby inside.
"Ok… this is bad." Qrow said, looking at his scroll. "Who was the dumbass who invited Jimmy over here?"
"Who?" Yang asked as they kept going, following the trail of destruction that Ruby had caused.
"Ah, General Ironwood." Qrow corrected, pausing to rub his fingers on one particularly deep gorge.
"Fresh. Very much so." A new voice said, and Blake stepped out from behind Qrow.
"Blake!" Yang exclaimed. "Where's Weiss?" She asked.
"She's meeting her sister as we speak, to find Ruby." Blake said.
"Ok." Yang said, but Qrow freaked out.
"YANG! Weiss's sister is one of Atlas's Special Operatives! If she gets a hold of Ruby…" Qrow said.
Yang blanched, and her eyes smoldered red. "If she gets a hold of Ruby, I'll tear her apart before she can lay a finger on her!" She roared.
Spinning around to Blake, Yang sighed. "Blake, please find Weiss and stay together. Ruby is dangerous enough, and I don't want anyone getting hurt or killed." She said.
Blake looked like she was about to protest, but Yang had already turned around and took off at a sprint.