Chapter Six: In the eye of the storm
It was a quiet night at Beacon Academy, Ruby was nervous because her first day didn't exactly go how she had pictured it. She met a cute boy who seemed to be nervous around her, he vomited all over her, so Yang dubbed him "Vomit Boy". His real name was Jaune Arc, but Vomit boy seemed fitting. Then there was perhaps the most annoying girl that Ruby had ever met, she was cold as ice, Yang dubbed her the "Ice Queen" Her name was Weiss Schnee, she was supposedly the heiress to some great fortune in Mantle of Atlas. Her step father Jacques Schnee was he head of the Schnee dust corporation, a very big deal. Then there was Blake Belladonna, she was very quiet and seemed like she didn't really belong in an Academy that trained Hunters and Huntresses. Looks can be deceiving though, you know that old saying right? "Never judge a book by it's cover" Yeah that one.
It wasn't surprising that Yang was Ruby's roommate, in fact that made her feel less tense about being in an Academy of Hunters and Huntresses, Ruby wanted to be a Huntress in the worse way it made her feel closer to her mother in away. Something wasn't sitting well with Ruby though it was why she was sitting up in her bed thinking about it. Professor Ozpin had asked her about her eyes and said that to have silver eyes was a very rare trait indeed, that he had met only one other person who had silver eyes, and that was Summer Rose, Ruby's mother.
Back at the Pit, Qrow was face to face with Cinder, Emerald wasn't there, but Qrow didn't mind, it really didn't matter in which order the Hell Fire Club died as long as they died.
"So it's finally just the two of us, Cinder you and I" Qrow said
"Not quit cowboy, someone wants a word with you, hahaha" Cinder said
Qrow turned around and there was Hazel, he had third degree burns all over his body, and the rage burned in his eyes.
"That's new" Qrow said as Hazel grunted and with his giant meat hooks grabbed Qrow by his throat and started to choke the life out of him.
"Now I break the Qrow" Hazel said
Cinder stood there and laughed, it was all going as she had planed, shortly now Emerald would be returning with Ruby and as her bait Ruby would be the deterring factor, what would Qrow do?, he obviously cared for Ruby so this was perfect.
Emerald had made her way to Beacon after all, she had to convince Ruby to come with her, but she always made fun of the drama geeks in school, she had a mission and in order to win over Cinder she had to do this.
All of the students would most likely be sleeping as it was almost midnight, now which dorm was the new recruits. There wasn't a directory or anything but there's more than one way to cry wolf.
Emerald screamed as loud as she possibly could
"Grimm, a lot of Grimm, somebody help please help me"
Success, Emerald saw some lights turn on and even some of the students had left their dorms to see what was going on. Emerald waited until she saw Ruby appear.
"Jackpot!" Emerald said silently
"What's going on, Are you ok?" Ruby said approaching Emerald
"Thank you, there were so many of them, I barely escaped, I was with a group of others but the Grimm were just too powerful, and I'm no Huntress." Emerald lied through her teeth
This girl Ruby was rather gullible, this was going to be a cinch.
Yang, Weiss, and Blake were also among the few students to come out of the dorms, along with Coco and Velvet a couple of second year students, both were seasoned Huntresses and celebrities in Beacon Academy together with their two other friends they formed Team CFVY(Coffee), second only to team STRQ, you don't become a legend over night, it takes practice, a lot of practice.
Like Blake, Velvet too is a Faunus. Velvet is part bunny rabbit, and Blake is part cat. Only Velvet and Ozpin know Blake's secret, she hides it under a bow in her hair, I guess unlike Velvet, Blake can't admit that she is different. Blake grew up in Menagerie the home of the Faunus. We'll get back to that later.
Ruby wasn't sure what to do in this situation, so she approached her older sister.
"What do we do Yang? Should we help her out?" Ruby asked
"Normally I wouldn't bother but there's something fishy going on here, I think that we should help her out" Yang said
"That's what I was thinking sis" Ruby said
"It would give us a good idea of what we are up against here, I've never faced off with a Grimm so I'm kinda excited about it" Yang said slamming her fists together getting pumped for the upcoming fight
Emerald was enjoying her ruse, but she had to continue to play the victim at least for as long it took them to get to the Pit and Cinder. However with Ruby's sister now tagging along there was a new issue. Honestly Emerald didn't really care as long as she could convince the two girls that she was on the level.
A few minutes later after the three "friends" entered the forest of Illusions, this was where Emerald would put the final phase into play, Some people call Emerald the great Illusionist, on a count of her semblance. Ditch the blonde bimbo and take Ruby to Cinder. However the sister was very protective, Yang was no pushover so Emerald would have to be crafty, and Emerald had just the illusion, she smirked some.
While they were in the forest Ruby and Emerald had suddenly vanished then hundreds of Grimm appeared, Beuwolves and Griffins all seemed to attack Yang all at once, she was overwhelmed and it was strange they just kept on coming.
"Ruby? Where in the blazes are you Ruby?" Yang said as she fought off the horde.
Then something even stranger happened a portal opened up and there in the middle of it was her mother, Raven Brawnwen.
Raven stood there and watched her daughter for a few minutes and then spoke
"What's wrong with you, wildly swinging at nothing, and you call yourself a Huntress" Raven said
But was that really Raven or was this all an illusion, they do call this place the forest of Illusions.
"Is that really you Mom?" Yang said
"Ha I can't remember the last time you called that" Raven responded
"Well if you were around more, then I would defiantly call you that" Yang said not wanting to make eye contact with Raven.
"I deserve that, look we'll talk later, right now the reason that I am here darling, is because your sister is in trouble, and I know that you care for her a lot, if we hurry then we can catch up with them" Raven said
"I don't know,how can I trust you?" Yang said
"The truth is you can't, but come with me if you want to live" Raven said
"Ah not funny mom, leave the bad jokes to me ok" Yang said
Raven still standing by the portal she created reached out her hand and offered it to her daughter and with a smile on her face the two both disappeared
Ruby and Emerald arrived at the Pit, But Emerald stopped cold in her tracks once she spotted the headless corpse of her comrade Mercury, she tried to not bring attention to it, but Ruby gasped at the horrific site that lay before them.
"What happened here? This wasn't a Grimm attack?" Ruby said examining the headless body
Emerald was silent, but then she spoke quietly
"Around that corner, there's another door it leads to the back of the club, and once were in there you'll see what did this"
Her demeanor changed and before Ruby could say anything else Emerald spoke again
"Now get moving! We've wasted enough time as it is"
"Emerald? What's going on here, really?" Ruby said standing up
"You'll see soon enough, now move!" Emerald said shoving Ruby to the back door of the Pit, Ruby had a bad feeling about what was about to happen next. Usually her bad feelings came true and she always hated when they did.
