A Black Bitter Bloom
Pt. III
Blake's mind was racing. She could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and a hole in her stomach screaming at her to run as fast as she could away from here. She reached out slowly to pull back on Weiss's sleeve and bring Yang back by her shoulder. The person in front of them looked like Ruby but Blake did not know who or what was taking her form.
"Drop her!" shouted the shock trooper, Resdea.
"NO!" Yang shouted as she broke free from Blake to jump at Ruby, but froze when five rifles unloaded at the red woman, only for her to be consumed by a torrent of red rose petals enveloping her. Blake could not see Ruby through the storm surrounding her as the seconds ticked by and the air was silent when the last rifle clicked empty. No one moved, they all just stared at the strange scene in front of them until a sniper round escaped from inside the ball and made the chest of one of the soldiers explode.
Flinching, the soldiers all tried to duck to cover, only for two more shots to kill the others before Ruby herself jumped from the petals. She dove right at them, her weapon singing through the air, forcing Weiss to bring up her rapier and form a glyph to defend herself. Bouncing off the attack, Ruby caught Blake by surprise by jumping back and firing right at her; the bullet shredding a shadow while Yang tried to chase after her sister while calling her name.
Blake watched as Ruby easily avoided her older sister, going so far as bashing her head with her scythe. The only thing saving the blonde was her metal arm cushioning the blow and knocking her away without remorse. With another shot from her weapon, Ruby launched herself across the rooftop towards the remaining shock troopers before they had a chance to finish reloading their weapons. Sailing over one of the rooftop air units, the soldier chose the wrong moment to peek from his cover and the scythe blade caught his neck, shearing his head from his body.
Four soldiers lay dead on the ground in thirty seconds.
Blake understood where the name Red Death came from now.
She could hear Yang yelling out to Ruby, trying to get her to stop, but the young woman saw nothing but blood lust. Leaping towards Blake again, she caught the massive scythe blade with her cleaver sheath. The weight of the weapon and the force of the attack shook her bones, making her new scar ache as her arm was dragged down and a foot caught her chest. Reeling back from the kick, Blake could do nothing when Ruby fired a round behind her to launch herself forward while knocking Blake towards the ledge of the roof.
Yang was the next one to feel Ruby's wraith. Ducking and weaving past her scythe blade, the older sister tried desperately to get through. "Ruby! Please stop fighting and listen to me!" Her voice was cut off by the scythe blade unhooking and a sudden increase in range knocked Yang to the side as Ruby darted towards Weiss once again. Blake could tell Yang was troubled by the idea of hurting Ruby, but this was more than just a spar with her friend. This was a fight for their lives.
Blake helped Yang up onto her feet and ran towards Ruby who was swinging her scythe wildly, keeping Weiss from doing anything meaningful against her. Blake watched as Yang shot forward just as Weiss was tripped up by a sweep of her legs and knocked onto her back. Before she could do anything, Ruby brought Crescent Rose down hard towards Weiss's chest. Before it could make contact, Yang seized the blade with her metal hand, stopping it with a scream of metal. "Ruby! You don't want to fight us, I know you don't want to, Weiss is your friend! We all are!"
"You are my enemy!" Ruby screamed as she fired a shot right into Yang's chest and flew back towards Blake. Blocking another attack, she managed to lock in Ruby's scythe with her own weapons and looked deeply into Ruby's eyes. Blake could see nothing but anger in her silver eyes. Pins of black in an ocean of silver as her face still bled. "She warned you about the next time you try to stop her," she growled in Blake's face.
"We're trying to-" Her voice was cut off when Ruby brought her forehead down on Blake's face and blinded her with pain. She felt her Aura block a direct hit from the scythe and was knocked on the ground. Looking up at Ruby through tears, she saw the blade coming towards her when a flash of yellow and a scream knocked Ruby away, rolling to the other end of the roof. Looking at Yang, her hair was aflame and her eyes were filled with a teary red.
"Damn it, Ruby!" Yang screamed as the young Huntress struggled to her feet. "Just give up! I don't want to fight you! None of us do!" Yang shook as Ruby got up and wiped her face with her sleeve, even more blood was gushing from a wound on the side of her temple now. "Please, I'm begging you, just stop!" Blake could feel the anguish coming from Yang as Weiss stood next to her with a pleading face. The only thing Ruby did was reach into her pouch and placed something in her mouth before stabbing it into her thigh. After a beat, her eyes glowed from the Stimulant she had just injected herself with and her Aura shimmered to life around her.
It was the darkest shade of red Blake had ever seen.
The petals returned to Ruby, floating around her like insects. "Ruby, please..." Yang's whispered pleas fell on deaf ears as the woman tensed her whole body to charge back at them. Looking over at Yang, Blake could see the hope draining from her eyes. Blake had seen Ruby fighting Weiss, coming just seconds from killing her. She knew what Ruby was capable of and now her ire was directed at all three of them. Weiss held her position, her blade at the ready and set to make glyphs.
Blake looked over at Yang, she could see the heartbreak in her eyes. All she wanted to do was find her sister and go back home with the rest of the team, but now they had to fight. "Yang, she will kill us if we don't fight her seriously." Blake lifted her blades and prepared for the next attack. She could feel the freshly healed scar struggling to hold her weapon steady but she did not have any more options. Next to her, she saw Yang lift her hands up, unsure of what to do.
The silence stretched, no one thought about moving, let alone being the first to attack. When the first shot was fired, Blake flinched and left a shadow slip off her body as Ruby came flying through the air at them. Everyone dodged out of the way as the scythe blade cleaved through the shadow like it was not there. The fire Dust of the clone exploded on contact, giving Weiss and Blake the chance to dive in on the offensive.
Kicking Ruby back, Blake made an opening for Weiss to jump over the Faunus and come in with quick slashes at Ruby. Crescent Rose spun in her hands as she blocked trust after slash until Weiss ran out of momentum and Blake moved in to keep the pressure up. Pushing Ruby back was working until she lashed out at Blake with her weapon. Jumping out of the way, she was blindsided by a storm of rose petals that followed in the wake of the scythe. Screaming as each petal cut across her, cutting through her coat and slicing open her skin. Each petal was too small to focus her Aura in one place so Blake had to project it across her whole body, healing the small cuts instantly.
That was all it took for Ruby to get the upper hand. Another burst of petals surrounded Weiss, blocking her view, letting Ruby charge in and knock her to the ground. Mounting her, Ruby pinned Weiss's shoulders to the ground with her knees and pressed the shaft of Crescent Rose to the Specialist's throat, choking her. The pure rage on her face scared Blake as blood dropped from Ruby's face onto Weiss' as she struggled for air. Blake charged forward to save her friend but was beaten when Yang flew past her and delivered an uppercut to Ruby's face, knocking her into the air and away from Weiss.
"That is IT! If you're not going to listen to reason," Yang shouted at Ruby. Angry tears were streaming from red, angry eyes. She flicked her wrists and her gauntlet sprang to life while the barrel came out of her mechanical arm. "Then I'll just have to beat some sense into you." Blake used this distraction to rush to Weiss and help her to her feet. There was an angry red line that crossed Weiss's neck while she struggled to catch her breath. Looking up from her friend, she saw Yang charging towards her blood-covered sister. Blake could see the years of training and teaching come up in their fight.
Yang and Ruby were blurs of yellow and red. Each of them knowing each other's moves and strengths. Steel clashed as Yang blocked and deflected the massive blade while Ruby ducked and spun to force Yang closer to her. Spinning in place, Yang kicked her foot out to block a slice, making Ruby flinch and giving Yang her opening. Grabbing her arm with one hand, she yanked hard and flipped Ruby over her back and onto the ground hard. Blake flinched at the sound of flesh hitting concrete as Ruby cried out in pain.
With a well-aimed chop to the wrists, Yang wretched Crescent Rose free of Ruby's hands and threw it across the rooftop. "Are you done yet?!" Yang screamed at the prone Ruby; only to get a face full of razor petals as Ruby threw her hands out and sent a stream of them right at Yang. Being thrown back, Ruby quickly jumped up and went running towards her weapon only to get pulled back sharply by Yang grabbing her cloak and yanking her back.
Without a weapon, Ruby struggled against Yang's expertise in close combat. Every simple block was countered and every attempt to punch was knocked to the side. Blake wished Ruby would just give up, but the red girl showed no signs of slowing down, even when she received a punch to the gut, knocking all the air out of her lungs. Yang took advantage of Ruby's bent over position to grab her head with both hands and drove her knee into her face, breaking her Aura with the first hit, then her nose with the second.
Yang let Ruby stagger backwards, revealing her blood-covered face to them. A wild look in her eyes as more blood stained her teeth, giving her a crimson mouth as Weiss and Blake stood next to Yang. "Give it up, Ruby." Blake could hear the regret in her voice as she yelled. "You can't beat all three of us, please!" Instead of responding, Ruby just pulled out another stimulant and injected it into her leg, refreshing her Aura again and making silver eyes glow, a stark contrast against the blood painted on her face.
"Become a corpse at my feet!" Ruby shouted as her eyes focused on something behind them. Blake had only a moment to see the scythe come flying from behind them and push Yang and Weiss out of the way before it hit them. The weapon flew past them, carried by a storm of petals and right back into Ruby's hand. Without wasting any time, Ruby fired shots at Yang to separate her from Blake and Weiss before attacking the two of them.
Surrounding herself with petals, Ruby fought a two-front assault on Blake and Weiss. Alternating between the two of them, she utilized the petals to keep the other distracted while she attacked them. Firing off rounds to keep Yang from getting close, Ruby could only spread her attention so far before Weiss finally broke through her defence and slapped a glyph at her feet. Launching Ruby into the air, the petals faded away and Blake took her chance to leap into the air and give Ruby a hard downward slash with both her blades, sending her close to the ledge.
With no more bullets to keep her away, Yang charged forward with a scream and connected a wild haymaker right into Ruby, sending her flying off the rooftop towards the ground below. Taking deep breaths, Blake watched as the petals began to form and thicken under Ruby. Her descent was slowed then stopped by the swarm of crimson and Blake watched in horror as Ruby stood up and stared at them. How was she doing this? Before Blake could dwell on this question any longer, she saw Ruby jumping from platform to platform made from her petals, heading right towards them.
They were quickly running out of options. "Blake!" Looking back, she saw Yang had run back and raised her hand up. "We need to get to the ground, use the statues and regroup for a plan!" Yang shouted at her. Blake tossed Gambol shroud to the side and began to swing it towards Yang, who caught it and jumped with the momentum. Using all her strength and with the help of a gravity glyph from Weiss, Blake shot Yang at Ruby and she watched as they both crashed to the ground in the middle of petals scattering around them.
Wasting no time, Blake and Weiss leapt from the rooftop and made their way to the ground, avoiding the Grimm statues that lined the walls of the buildings. Blake weaved through the throng of stone Grimm and made her way to Yang and quickly grabbed her while shedding another shadow, distracting Ruby long enough to regroup with Weiss without drawing her attention. Crouching behind a building, the three of them held their breaths, waiting for Ruby to turn the corner and continue the fight. Blake felt like her heart was going to burst out of her chest as seconds felt like years.
"Damn it" Yang hissed as she fell to the ground with her back against the wall. Her hands shaking as she stared at them. "How is she this strong?"
"She's been killing Atlesian specialists for five years, she's had a lot of training," Weiss breathed as she leaned against the wall as well, taking stock of how much Dust she had left.
"Damn it…" was all Yang could say as she covered her face with her hands. Peering around the corner, Blake saw Ruby moving between the statues; her weapon folded up in the rifle form and checking every corner around her. With all the blood soaking into her clothing, she looked more like a monster to scare children into behaving than a human. Blake saw the door of the building they started the fight on slam open, and the last Atlesian soldier came charging out, firing her weapon at Ruby. Without any effort, Ruby raised her hand and her petals swarmed her, protecting her from the mundane bullets from Resdea's weapon and fired one of her own.
When the bullet connected, Resdea's shoulder exploded; the large caliber weapon rending flesh and bone like paper. The woman screamed as she gripped her stump and fell back into a wall but still stood defiant. Ruby began to walk towards her like a living nightmare, even when Resdea pulled out a sidearm and fired at Ruby, she simply blocked each bullet with another swarm of petals until empty clicks filled the void. Reaching the soldier, Blake watched as Ruby stared into her eyes. "What are you…" she could hear the fear warping her voice.
"I'm a soldier."
Blake could hardly believe it was Ruby speaking, every word just sounded wrong coming from her mouth.
"You're a monster…"
Ruby lashed out and grabbed Resdea's face with her hand, pressing her head against the wall. "I am Death." Resdea could only let out a quick, muffled scream as Blake watched her body bloat and explode from within as thousands of petals ripped their way out from inside of her. Witnessing this, Blake was thrown back by her own revulsion of what she just saw. She managed to make it past Yang and Weiss before falling to her knees and throwing up onto the street. She did her best not to cough or give up their hiding spot to Ruby, but her eyes watered and her nose burned when some came through it. A steadying hand on her back soothed her as they waited for her stomach to finish.
"What the fuck was that?" was the only thing Blake managed to get out before another wave ripped through her stomach, sending even more vomit to the street.
"I don't know," Yang said right next to her, "I know semblances evolve, but this is something completely different."
"We need to get her weapon away from her," Weiss said as she helped Blake to her feet. "We do that and we have her."
"Then what?" Yang demanded. The answer remained silent but Blake knew what Weiss was thinking. After witnessing what she just saw, Blake knew the threat Ruby was now to everyone. She could feel the heat coming off of Yang as she took a step towards Weiss and growled at her. "Weiss?"
"We knock her out," she said quickly, "Maybe that will snap her out of whatever is going on with her." Yang nodded with that plan and took a position at the edge of the building and waited for the others. Blake reached out and gripped Weiss's arm and forced her to look into Blake's eyes.
"Weiss..."
"It won't come to that," she quickly responded, knowing what Blake was going to say.
"We can't do that to Yang. After everything she's lost, I won't take her away too."
Weiss was silent for a moment before speaking. "I know," she whispered back. "I promise."
Blake held her stare for another second before nodding and then stood next to Yang, who was keeping an eye on Ruby from a distance. Looking back at the two of them, she nodded and began to creep towards her sister, using the statues as cover. Blake could feel the pit in her stomach deepen as they all made their way towards Ruby, desperate to subdue her before they had to do something they would all regret.
Getting as close as they could to her, Yang counted them down from three with her fingers. When it was over, Yang was the first to jump out of cover to fire a series of shots at Ruby, buying Weiss and Blake time to situate themselves around the two of them. With the plan in motion, Blake took potshots and Ruby while Yang was inside her reach, giving Weiss the chance to choose the Dust she needed to create a time displacement glyph under Yang to give her the upper hand against Ruby; but it only took a second for it all to go wrong.
With Yang inside of Ruby's reach, Ruby was hit with the speed up as well, making her attacks twice as fast as she yanked Yang's hair with a bloody fist and threw her out of the glyph. Before Weiss could dispel it, Ruby used the back of her scythe to slam Yang into the ground with enough force to bounce her back up and catch her in the curve of the weapon. Spinning around, she built up enough momentum to throw her through a building across the street. A cold chill ran down Blake's spine when Ruby's bloody eyes landed on her as her next target. Before she could get two steps towards Blake, a scream echoed through the battlefield.
Ruby had a second to block a blinding flash of Yang shooting out from the building, her Semblance on full burn. In the blink of an eye, Yang was back with a powerful swing of her metal hand and Ruby managed to block it with her weapon. But in the next instant, red metal shattered under the unrelenting force of Yang. Blake felt her heart freeze seeing Crescent Rose break in Ruby's hands, the weapon she had cared for and loved, smashed in half by her sister. Everyone stopped at the scene, staring at the scene that just happened.
"What have you done?" Ruby's voice cracked as she stared at her broken beloved in her hands.
"Ruby," Yang's soft voice was cut off by Ruby screaming and clutching her head. The entire street filled with rose petals, blinding them by their volume. Like the heart of a storm, they flew from one side to another, shredding everything in their path as Blake did everything she could to close the gap between herself and Yang to get inside the safe zone Ruby had made herself.
"Yang!" Blake watched as Weiss threw a Dust cartridge at Yang, who caught it in her hand and punched Ruby's foot, breaking the cartridge and freezing Ruby's foot to the ground. Blake watched as Ruby's arm was about to lash out at Yang when a glyph appeared around it and froze it in place. Knowing what was happening, Blake threw Gambol Shroud out and wrapped it around Ruby's other arm before pulling as hard as she could, leaving Ruby defenceless. Yang slipped behind Ruby and brought her metal arm under Ruby's chin, getting her into a headlock.
With the hold locked in, Blake saw the strain in Ruby's face as the petal storm began to close in around them. Pulling harder on her ribbon, she closed the gap to avoid the petals and could make out Yang's voice through gritted teeth.
"It's okay, Ruby. I got you. Just let go, big sister is here," Her words continued as Blake felt the petals start to cut into her back. If they reach her ribbon, it would be all over. Wrapping the ribbon around her arm, she began to close the gap even more as the storm grew closer and closer around them. With one final scream of defiance, Ruby collapsed the storm around them, sending razor petals at all of them. She could feel them cut her skin as she felt her Aura fail completely by the onslaught. Just as quickly the storm folded in around them, it disappeared when Ruby's body dropped to the ground.
Instantly, Blake and Weiss released their holds on her arms and Yang followed her down, crying and holding her sister in her arms, cradling her body and crying over her. "Ruby! I'm so sorry, please! I didn't mean it, I'm so sorry!" Blake and Weiss shared a look and Blake stumbled towards the sisters. Falling to her knees, she let her weapons fall to the ground and reach out and pressed her fingers to Ruby's neck, searching for a pulse. Seconds stretched for hours. Blake held her breath, willing her own heart to stop so she could find it in Ruby.
She felt it.
Ruby was still alive.
Every bit of energy left Blake and she collapsed on the ground next to the sisters. Tears were already spilling out of her eyes as she cried in sorrow and relief. Myrtenaster was next to fall to the ground with a clatter as Weiss fell to her knees, tears flowing from her eyes as she struggled to keep her voice even as she put a call out. "This is Specialist Schnee, I need immediate medical transport onto the Mantle of Responsibility." After she got the confirmation, Weiss allowed herself to fall to the ground with the rest of her friends, freely crying with everyone else.
Blake was staring at the sky, the sun had risen an angry, bloody red from the smoke and fires still burning around Mistral. She watched as a Bullhead flew over them and landed nearby. Pulling herself up to her feet, her whole body protested every movement she made. Atlesian soldiers with red markings on their armour came rushing towards them, two of them carrying a stretcher between them. Yang helped load Ruby onto the stretcher, her body limp as they lifted her and rushed her onto the transport as the others helped Blake and Weiss by taking some of their weight.
Blake did not take her eyes off Ruby as they began to tear at her clothing to start stitching her wounds closed. Dozens of cuts and bruises lined Ruby's pale skin while Yang simply held her hand, repeating the same apology over and over again. Mechanical screams filled the air, taking Blake's attention away from Ruby and to missiles flying towards the massive Grimm statue, cracking and shattering it under a torrent of explosives. She watched as several of them missed completely or were aimed at something else since the streets were beginning to be washed away by the ocean coming up from broken pieces and entire blocks falling under the surface.
By fire, Grimm, and water, Mistral was gone.
The flight to the Mantle of Responsibility was thankfully short. Blake was drained and was barely holding together when they docked in the main hangar bay. When the doors finally opened, she was shocked at what she saw. Hundreds of people were scattered around the floor. Pained cries and angry shouting was all she heard. Factions all had their separate groups, some were helping others while notably, the Faunus of the White and Black Fang kept to themselves. Following the medical team as they loaded Ruby onto a stretcher with wheels, they all but ran through the mass of people towards the infirmary.
All around her, Blake could see the cost of war. Missing limbs, bandaged eyes and thousand-yard stares on almost everyone she walked past. She could not give them any part of her mind at the moment, the only thing she needed to focus on was Yang and Ruby. Even the halls had people sitting on the ground or laying along the walls. Finally, they got to the infirmary that was just as packed as the rest of the ship. Beds were filled with people that needed serious surgery and screaming from people getting metal pulled from their bodies.
Before she knew it, Ruby was taken to a surgery theatre by order of Weiss. Yang was ready to fight the doctors to let her pass but nearly fell to the floor herself. The medical foam on her back had broken open and blood was leaking again. Before Blake could help her, two more medics grabbed her and took her to a nearby table where they began to help her. Weiss promised Yang that Ruby was going to be taken care of, but was called away when some official-looking soldiers came up to Weiss and told her the General wanted to see her immediately.
With a quick promise that she would return, Weiss left Blake alone in the middle of the infirmary room. Blake was so tired and numb, she did the only thing she could do. She wandered outside the room Ruby was being worked on and slipped down the wall until she was sitting against it. She did not know how long it had been since she sat down but she was approached by a familiar face. Neo stood in front of her, a worried look on a tired face. She did not even have to gesture anything to get the message across.
"She's okay," a whisper was the only thing Blake could manage at the moment, "She's getting patched up. She'll be here soon." Neo just nodded and sat down next to Blake. Blake could see the worry in her mismatched eyes. Something that only someone who cares would have. Neo really did love Yang and there was nothing Blake could do to stop it. She was too tired to stop herself from nodding off, her head jerking away from the feeling of something poking it. Looking around with bleary eyes, she saw Yang crouching next to her, a small smile on her face. "She's going to be alright." Her voice was soft and quiet. Her eyes were bloodshot and tired like the rest of them. "Where's Weiss?"
"Ironwood is talking to her," was all she could manage. Blake became aware of the pressure on her side. Looking over, she saw pink and brown hair filling her vision. She did not know when Neo fell asleep against her, or even when her head fell onto her arm. Yang reached out and grabbed Neo's leg and shook it a bit to wake her up. When she did, she lunged with the grace of a newborn animal and stumbled towards Yang. Yang was quick to embrace her and hold her as tightly as she could before taking her place next to Blake.
Silence gripped them as Yang held Neo in her lap sideways. There were so many things going through Blake's mind, but the only thing she knew was she needed sleep. Moving closer to Yang, she rested her head on her shoulder and lifted Neo's legs so they were resting on top of Blake's so she would not fall. She felt Yang's arm wrap around her shoulder and held her close with her other arm holding Neo to her chest. For as complicated and stressful their talk will be in the future, this simplicity was enough for her for now.
"She's going to be okay," Blake said as she closed her eyes to the warmth coming off of Yang's body.
"I know," Yang replied.
"I love you," the words slipped out of Blake's mouth before she could stop them.
"Love you too," Yang replied, barely a whisper, "The both of you, all of you."
A/N:You guys have no idea how long I've been waiting to write this chapter down.
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