Chapter 21 Trials and Training Pt 2
Though Ruby couldn't open her eyes or even attempt to get up she could still hear voices and recognized Raven's voice and the other mysterious soft voice. The pain from Ruby's injuries were burning and the pain wavered causing Ruby to be in incredible discomfort. She was being carried for what seemed like forever and as she moaned in pain the pain increased and so did the volume of Ruby with her moans and cries. She was put down after Raven had loudly yelled to stop even Ruby could make that out in her semi-conscious state from Raven's angry tone. Then as if by magic the pain started to go away like the time before when she had just heard the soft voice for the first time. Ruby, able to slightly open her eyes, looked and saw what she was assumed was a female from her fragile shape. Ruby tried to make out more but all she saw were blurs of color and figures as she was being carried again. The woman had dark green sage colored hair and the woman was walking beside her as she was being carried and the woman looked at Ruby and Ruby could see bright red tinted eyes and before Ruby could say anything she passed out again completely.
Darkness...darkness was all Ruby could see as she hovered in an empty void and then a small light seemed to break the darkness.
As Ruby floated in the void and saw the shining light she thought to herself "Am I dead?"
Just then she could make out a faint voice which she couldn't distinguish in any tone at all of who or what it was but she could make out a small bit of the words.
"Time...it is time. Become one.. of the greats...follow in our...footsteps as those who came before you…"
Ruby tried to communicate with the voice "Who are you? What am I supposed to do?"
The voice replied "Unlock your potential...become...the hero...you have dreamt of…"
In a flash the light blazed blinding Ruby and she sprung up waking up from her dream like state in a cold sweat and her head ached immensely she looked over to see the sage haired girl sleeping in a chair next to her cot that Ruby had been put in from Ruby's assumption. She looked down to see a large bandage wrapped around her stomach. Ruby looked around and saw she was in medium sized looking tent and attempted to get up but moaned in pain as she felt her abdomen burn. Ruby's moan woke the girl up from her sleep and she quickly hopped over to Ruby's side.
She smiled and sad "Oh thank goodness you're awake I was beginning to worry you'd been out for almost a week."
The girl grabbed Ruby's hands and was extremely close to her looking into her eyes and continued saying "How are you feeling, you're not in any pain are you?"
Ruby blushed feeling awkward and was confused by the situation.
The girl blushed back and jumped back and said "Oh crap! I'm sorry haha I should have introduced myself my name's Salie. It's a pleasure to finally meet you Ruby Rose."
Ruby replied "Same to you as well...where...am I exactly? Ruby looked around the tent more and saw Yang in a cot snoring happily unaware of her sister's awakening. "You healed her as well I assume? Ruby inquired.
"I did indeed Salie replied with smile. Ruby got up and shook Yang waking her .
Yang startled yelled "Huh w-whats going on?"
Ruby replied back to Yang who was still half asleep "Yang get up already you're snoring is obnoxious."
Yang fully waking up screamed in joy and hugged her sister tightly causing Ruby to cry out in pain but she still welcomed the hug even so.
Just then Raven walked into the tent saying "I was wondering what the commotion was. Good you're feeling better I hope we've got work to do.
Salie rose her voice and said "They're not fully recovered yet you can't-"
"It is my decision to make not yours I don't care what you think they are they accepted the fact that this training would be rough." Raven said cutting Salie off. Salie slowly walked up to Raven and gave her an angry stare getting extremely close to Raven. Ruby noticed she was only slightly taller than herself but only slightly.
Salie said with a threatening tone "Raven though I owe you my life for saving me it does not mean you can abuse my powers. As spring maiden I use my powers for what I see as good and I know of the horrible things you do and the sins you commit but I overlook them because of what you've done for me. But If I feel like my powers are just a tool to you and if I feel like my powers are being mistreated...then I will leave without a word." Salie stormed out of the tent cursing under her breath.
"Salie's...a maiden?" Ruby asked.
Raven sighed and said "Yes, right after the team I formed with Qrow and your parents broke apart I ran into Salie on my way back to my tribe. I still had a weaker heart for people and she was defenseless and being attacked by corrupt huntsmen who were attempting to harm her. After I killed the huntsmen and save I took her with me because she was on the verge of death so I nursed her back to health unaware of her powers...now she serves me even though she disagrees with what my tribe does. Come on let's go."
Ruby and Yang got up and followed Raven not wanting to incite any problems with Raven who was already mad. Upon leaving the tent Ruby and Yang were greeted with the tribe's campground with multiple tents of different sizes and shapes scattered around them. They were situated near a small river that connected towards a small waterfall in a hilly area with cliffsides surrounding them, it was a perfect spot to hide a band of thieves and killers. Ruby looked up to the top of the waterfall and saw a pathway lined with torches leading up to the biggest tent of the camp which Ruby assumed was Raven's. There was a large fire pit in the middle of the camp site next to the river. There were men and women congregating around the fire pit talking, laughing and eating food. Then upon hearing Raven, Ruby and Yang walking nearby they turned and were dead silent staring at the three of them. Ruby and Yang tensed up not trusting any of these people.
Raven turned around and said "Wait here I need to get my sword from my tent for the next part of your training."
As Raven walked away she turned to face her tribe and seemed to make a small motion towards them which Ruby noticed immediately and out of the corner of her eye that the bandits sitting around the campfire got up and pulled out an assortment of weapons. Ruby panicked and expanded crescent rose and it transformed into her scythe and with a dancing spin twirled her scythe and swung backwards cutting down a bandit who attempted to sneak up on Ruby and Yang.
Yang shocked and unaware of the situation turned around and said "Huh? Ruby what the fuck are you doing? Whats going on?"
Just then a large man grabbed Yang's head and quickly proceeded to slam her head into a nearby boulder and then the man slammed his knee into her stomach. Yang gasped for breath as she was taken by surprise and unable to react at all. Yang refused to let something as simple as this beat her and retaliated by pulling out her shotgun gauntlets out and fired a shot sending her flying into the man elbowing him at incredible speeds. Yang then quickly punched the man through the stomach and then uppercutting him blasted his head off spraying Yang with blood and brain matter. Yang furious and too pissed off to be disgusted by this kicked the dead body off of her. Three bandits charged Ruby with dual swords, a greatsword, and a flail. The bandit with the greatsword leapt through the air and the bandit with dual swords engaged Ruby distracting her. The bandit carrying dual swords slashed relentlessly at Ruby but Ruby blocked every blow predicting every move and was so much faster than the bandit and then slashed back knocking the bandits swords out of his hands and was met with sniper rifle shots destroying his aura and killing him. All of this happened within seconds and Ruby quickly turned her focus onto the bandit with the greatsword and blocked the greatsword inches from her face and flipped the bandit over her head and swung her scythe down on top him smashing his skull into the ground killing him as well. However Ruby was hit by the flail carrying bandit and was knocked forward and stumbled falling on the ground. Her aura was already drained and broken from not being fully healed. Ruby unable to stand sat on her hands and knees and coughed up a small amount of blood and looked up, her vision blurry to see Yang fighting off more of Raven's tribe.
Yang punched two bandits in the face sending them flying back, another one she punched in the chest followed up by blasting out his kneecap and then slamming both her fists together over his head smashing his skull open. Yang was in full bloodlust mode and full rage mode taking on everyone that wanted to fight her. Yang engaged two other bandits kicking a male bandit in the nuts and kicked him away in the chest and then dodged a slash from a female bandit and then judo flipped her through the air and shot her in the back with her shotgun gauntlets. Yang checked around her trying to catch her breath but was unaware of the giant hammer brought down over her head. Yang a second too slow put her arms up to block the blow absorbed it all and protected her head but still had her aura broken and was knocked back on her back. Two bandits ran up and grabbed Yang dragging her to her feet but Yang threw punches fighting back but was overpowered by the amount of bandits beating into her. Two of the bandits smacked her across the face waking her from going unconscious.A large muscular bandit ripped Yang's jacket off and started groping Yang's breasts and feeling all over her body. All Yang could do was scream and cry and beg for them to stop. Ruby had to witness this all unfold in front of her and was horrified by what she was seeing with her eyes. Ruby looked up to see Raven overlooking all of this occurring, Raven was wearing her grimm mask and had her arms crossed with a terrified and sickened Salie next to her.
Ruby got up on her feet and screamed out at Raven "How could you do this to your own daughter!"
Raven replied loudly. "I told you the weak die and the strong survive and live on Ruby! If you think you can save her then do it, I know what you're capable of. After all I did have the pleasure to experience what you silver eyed warriors are capable of. Your mother was never the best fighter though I killed her without much effort."
Upon hearing these words Ruby's thoughts raced of the blurred memories of her mother and then everything went white. Yang who had been forced to the ground by several men was fearful of what was about to happen as the men ripped off her pants and underwear. Then out of of nowhere a bright white light shined blinding Yang for a moment. When she could see again she looked up to see Ruby floating in the air with rose petals flying violently in all directions and her eyes were shining brightly. Ruby, with her scythe in hand, flew down and as if by magic her scythe expanded glowing with a white aura and what seemed like a flash she obliterated all of the tribe members around Yang turning them into dust and sending blood all over the area as well. More bandits fired machine guns attempting to take Ruby down but without moving a muscle the bullets disintegrated and Ruby raised her glowing scythe and cut down the rest of the bandits and set fire to everything around them.
Raven burst out screaming. "Yes! This is it! The power I've only dreamed of seeing! This will tip the balance in our favor."
Just then Ruby rushed towards Raven and lashed out in anger and hatred slashing her scythe violently and quickly. Raven blocked her attacks and stabbed Ruby in the chest but it didn't faze Ruby at all and Ruby proceeded to slam her foot into Raven's chest sending her flying into the cliffside. Raven landed on her hands and knees and couldn't get back up. Raven's vision blurred as she coughed up a large pool of blood in front of her and as she looked up she saw the silver eyed warrior bring her scythe down across Raven slashing across Raven's arms and chest as Raven attempted to protect herself.
Raven sat there on her knees and looked up at Ruby and said "You've beaten me Rose."
Ruby put the blade under Raven's neck slightly cutting her and then pulled back the blade up in the air and then slammed it down across Raven's face shattering Raven's grimm mask and slamming the scythe into the ground in front of Raven. Raven looked up to see Ruby's glowing silver eyes calm and go back to normal.
Ruby said " I know you were lying to me about my killing my mother to get me emotional and draw out my powers but why?"
Raven replied as she touched her face feeling a cut across her cheek. "It's the only way to beat Salem. So I wanted you to use your silver eyed powers so you could get used to them more. You didn't pass out this time so you can use this skill better than you have before. In time you should be able to call upon this skill by your power and will alone and not have to rely upon your emotions and not lose control. It's what I learned from your mother about you silver eyes."
Raven got up and picked up a blanket that was lying on the ground and handed it to Yang and with saddened eyes said " I-I'm sorry Yang this was a horrible thing to do to you. It was the only thing I could think of to get Ruby to pull out her power.
Yang replied. "How the fuck could you let your tribe rape me, your daughter do you have any-"
Raven cut her off with a hug and started crying which shocked Yang. "I know I've been such a horrible mother and an even more horrible person. I'm sorry...but...I don't regret any of my actions. Now let me take you two back to your friends seeing there's nothing left here as it is."
Raven got up and turned around to open the portal back to the school but Yang got up and punched Raven across the back. Raven stumbled slightly and turned around ready to retaliate but looked to see Yang crying. Raven sighed and patted her head and kissed it. Ruby smiled watching this happen and cried slightly thinking of her mother. Raven said to Yang.
"Come on Yang." Raven walked with Yang and Ruby followed the two through the portal leading back to their school