Chapter 20
"Come on, where is she?" Yang asked as she paced around the dorm room. She was wearing a beautiful yellow dress, with golden bracelets adorning her arms, she wore matching yellow high heels and golden earrings."Your pacing isn't helping," Weiss commented, holding a red dress in her hands. Weiss wore a beautiful white dress, with matching white high heels, her hair done in an elegant bun.
The restroom door opened, revealing Blake in a black and purple dress, she wore black high heels and a new black bow atop her head. "We ready?" Blake asked, heading over to her bed to pick up a tiny black purse.
"We're waiting for Ruby," Yang answered firmly, the other girls nodding in acceptance. "Are you guys excited for the dance?" Blake asked, moving over to stand by Yang's side.
"I.." Yang started only to be interrupted by Ruby entering the dorm room.
"Ruby, where have you been? the Vytal dance starts in 10 minutes and you're not even dressed!" Yang yelped, noticing Ruby in her combat attire. "Is it?!" Ruby asked, pulling out her scroll to check the time. "Oh, crap it is." Ruby was panicking on the inside, this was it, Ruby walked over to Yang, wrapping the girl in a tight hug. "I love you, Yang," Ruby said, clinging onto her. Yang was confused but accepted the hug nonetheless.
"Love you too, Rubes,"
"You guys go-ahead, I'll meet up with you guys at the dance," Ruby lied, faking a smile."Are you sure, Ruby? We don't mind waiting," Yang asked, looking over to her teammates who nodded in agreement. "Nah, you guys enjoy yourselves," Ruby said, as she watched Blake, Yang, and Weiss exit the room. Once Ruby was sure her teammates were gone, she moved over to the closet, packing up the few things she owned.
Once all of her things were packed, Ruby took one last glance at the room, if the plan went right she would never see the room again, it was a bittersweet sweet moment for her. She would miss Yang and her friends deeply but on the bright side, she would be able to reunite with her mother. So with great resolve, she exited the room, heading to Cinder's meeting spot. Not even noticing the crow watching her from outside.
"Here she is," Cinder called, as Ruby approached the group, they were standing on the side of the dormitory building, partly hidden within the shadows. Cinder and Emerald wore beautiful dresses, red with gold and green with black, respectively. Mercury wore a black tuxedo, with a matching tie.
Ruby stood next to Neo, the two wearing their regular attire."let's go over the plan one more time?" Cinder said. "Mercury and Emerald will act as lookouts, relaying enemy positions and giving updates from the inside."
"Got it, boss," they both answered
"Once I give the signal, Neo will be the one destroying the generator," Cinder continued earning an affirmative nod from the mute. "I will be infiltrating the CCT tower, and implementing a virus and Ruby…"
"Follow Ozpin to this Amber girl, and report her position to you," Ruby interrupted, expecting a confirmation from Cinder but it didn't come. "Actually, there has been a change in plans, Ruby I need you to do something, that you won't be comfortable with."Cinder said softly staring at the silver-eyed girl. "What is it?" Ruby asked nervously, in all honesty, she was a little afraid, Cinder always maintained a stoic expression but now there was a hint of fear in her eyes.
"I need you to kill Amber," Cinder answered softly, making Ruby blink in surprise. All she could do was stare at Cinder blankly, unable to formulate any words. After a full minute of stuttering over her words, Ruby was finally able to respond. "What! I..I can't...why would I" Ruby started.
Cinder placed a finger on top of Ruby's lips, effectively shushing the girl. "Ruby, I know this is a lot to ask, but I need you to do this, you're the only one who can do it, there's been a change of plans and I need you to do this," Cinder said
"But I don't want to hurt anybody," Ruby said, tears filling her eyes. Cinder stepped closer to Ruby, wrapping the girl in a tight hug, in an attempt to calm her down. Ruby felt a hand being placed on her shoulder, looking up she found Neo attempting to comfort her.
"I'm sorry to ask this of you Ruby, but it has to be done. Think about it this way, if you do this you'll be saving lives," Cinder said.
"H-how?" Ruby asked, sniffing a bit.
"Well think about it, this woman has killed a lot of good people and she will continue to do so unless you stop her," Cinder explained, causing Neo to nod in agreement, Mercury was looking at her with an indifferent expression and Emerald was just looking away in shame. "Can't we lock her up, send her to jail or something?" Ruby desperately questioned, praying that the answer was yes. "I'm sorry Ruby, but she's too dangerous," Cinder stated. "Ruby, you know your mother would very proud of you if you were to do this."
"She would?" Ruby asked
"Yeah, unfortunately, it's something she has had to do, do you know why she does it?" Cinder questioned. "To protect people," Ruby answered.
"To protect you," Cinder corrected. "Do you understand?"
"I do, I'll do my best," Ruby answered, as she transformed into her raven form and flew away.
"What the hell was that!" Emerald questioned, once she was sure Ruby was gone. Cinder took a deep breath trying to reign in her anger. "Watch your tone," Cinder threatened, "I don't like the situation any more than you do, but as I said the plan has changed."
"But Cinder, she's just a kid, I don't think she's ready to take a life," Emerald said. "Neither do I, that's why we have you as backup. If Ruby can't kill the maiden, it will be your job to finish her and then extract her, understood?" Cinder questioned. "I understand ma'am," Emerald answered begrudgingly.
"Hey boss, I thought the plan was to deal with the maiden during the tournament, what changed?" Mercury asked, flicking his hair up arrogantly.
"Insurance, having the full power of the fall maiden, gives me a level of...security, and it's better to have that now, rather than later." Cinder answered vaguely. Feeling a tap on her shoulder, Cinder turned to see Neo holding out her scroll for Cinder to read.
Are you sure Ruby can beat, let alone kill someone as strong as you make this girl out to be?
Cinder laughed a bit at the question, drawing an annoyed pout from Neo. "I have full confidence in Ruby's abilities, I mean the girl is comatose, Ruby will not have any trouble with her" Cinder answered. "Neo get in position," Cinder ordered, walking away with Mercury and Emerald in tow.
It had been Summer's idea to walk back to Raven's camp, her excuse being that she needed time to think things over. Raven was inclined to let her, wanting to sort through everything herself.
The two walked in complete silence, the only exception being the sound of the forest's wildlife. Summer watched as Raven approached a regular looking tree, upon further inspection Summer noticed the small wooden structure hidden within the leaves. "Report," Raven called, being met with silence.
"Report," Raven called again, still met with only silence. Tired of the games, Raven transformed into her Raven form and quickly flew into leaves. A moment later, she reemerged, flying back to Summer's side. "I'm supposed to have a couple of men situated there but it seems the outpost has been abandoned," Raven said with an angry scowl on her face.
"That's not good?" Summer half stated and half questioned. "It's not, we're only a half-hour away from the camp, let's get a move on," Raven ordered as she continued forward.
Summer took one last glance at the empty outpost, before continuing after her friend.
How did professor Ozpin not know about this spot?
A decently sized hole, leading straight into his office would be something the headmaster should have been aware of but apparently not. Professor Ozpin sat, where he always sat, sitting at his desk going over things within his scroll. Ruby was reminded of the restless nights she spent watching the headmaster. Luckily Ruby did not have to wait for long, after about 20 minutes of waiting a loud explosion could be heard from outside. The tower shook violently, the lights flickering on and off until they completely shut off.
"What the?" professor Ozpin questioned, standing up Ruby watched as Ozpin fiddled with his scroll, eventually turning the flashlight app on. Ruby watched as Ozpin slowly approached the elevator, stepping in and disappearing as the elevator descended.
As the elevator descended, Ruby exited the top of the tower, flying down to the tower's lobby and entering through the open doors. Once Ruby entered the lobby she flew to the top of an old bookshelf and patiently waited for the elevator to arrive.
To Ruby's confusion the elevator never arrived, Professor Ozpin surely couldn't have passed her, she came down immediately and would have seen him pass by, so where was he?
Was there a secret floor in between Ozpin's office and the lobby? No, the tower was far too narrow to allow a secret room, to be in between. The only other area a secret room could be, would...be...below...her. Ruby realized a bright light bulb appearing over her head.
Ruby transformed back into her human form, walking over to the elevator door, she grabbed on to one of the sides and pulled with all of her might, only slightly budging the door. With a puff of her cheeks, Ruby tried again pulling with all of her might, too little success. Pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance, Ruby transformed into her raven form, entering the elevator long shaft, looking down Ruby's avian night vision was easily able to identify the elevator, she was right there was a secret room under Ozpin's office.
Ruby flew down to the elevator, transforming back into a human and opening the emergency hatch, Ruby flew through surprised to see the elevator door wide open. The room was absolutely massive giant metal doors adorning the side, stacks of artifacts and treasure littered the floor, almost like a big vault.
On the far side of the room stood Ozpin, standing before a big metal machine. Inside of the machine a woman was held, she had deep scarring and didn't look like she could pose a threat to anybody The lights suddenly flickered back to life, the machine buzzing to life. Ozpin let out a relieved breath, turning back and entering the elevator, leaving Ruby all alone with Amber.
Yang was worried, Ruby should have been here by now, looking over Yang watched as Weiss sat alone holding a cup of punch within her hands, she had a miserable look on her face, obviously from Neptune ditching her at the dance. Blake stood in the middle of the room, her head resting on Sun's shoulder, as the two slowly danced. Yang and her had danced earlier, both enjoying themselves until Sun had requested a dance.
After a few more minutes of waiting Yang grew tired of waiting and walked over to Weiss. "Wanna get some air?" Yang suggested, offering a hand to Weiss.
"Thanks," said Weiss, accepting Yang's hand and following her to the exit. The fractured moon was hanging high in the sky, as a soft breeze filled the air. "Do you want to talk about it?" Yang asked as she walked over to the balcony placing her hands on the railing, staring into the night sky.
"Talk about...oh that, not particularly," Weiss answered referring to being ditched by Neptune. "You know, I'm sure Jaune would kill to get a dance with you," Yang teased.
"He's nice, just not my type," Weiss explained, walking over to stand by Yang's side. "And Neptune was?" Yang questioned. "Apparently not," Weiss answered, her blue eyes going up to stare at the millions of beautiful stars in the sky.
A loud explosion shook the girls out of their sightseeing, the lights inside of the ballroom abruptly shutting off. Yang and Weiss reentered the ballroom, finding most of the students illuminating the room with their scrolls. Yang and Weiss walked over to Blake, "You guys know what's going on?" Blake questioned.
"Nope," Both girls answered, staring at the mass of panicked students.
"What's going on?" a student asked
"Are we under attack?" another student questioned
"Someone spiked the punch!" a third student exclaimed, spitting out the punch.
"Enough!" came Professor Goodwitch's stern voice, "It would seem that we have had a power outage, please proceed to your dorm rooms in a calm and orderly fashion." All of the students groaned in frustration, not wanting their dance to be cut short but complied nonetheless, fearful of Glynda's wrath.
Glynda watched as the students slowly made their way out of the ballroom, all except for the three members of team -WBY. "Miss Goodwitch?" Yang questioned.
"How can I help you, girls?" Glynda asked, readjusting her glasses to stare at the younger girls. "Do you know where Ruby is?" Yang asked, "Have you checked your room?" Glynda questioned, knowing that the younger girl was not in the room.
"No, she said she would meet us at the dance but she didn't show up," Yang explained.
"I'm sure m=Miss Brenton is fine, I would suggest you check your dorm room," Glynda said, waiting for the girls to leave, it's not that she didn't care about her students, she just had very important matters to attend to.
"Thank you Miss Goodwitch," The girls thanked, walking back to their dorm room. Glynda turned on her heel, heading towards Beacon tower, if things were going how Ozpin had predicted, she would need to be on standby.
Raven and Summer had continued walking down the trail, their pace slightly increased. "Look!" Summer said, pointing up to a large cloud of smoke, coming from further down the path. "I can't sense anyone in my camp," Raven said in an unnerved tone.
"I'll take us," Summer offered. Raven placed a hand on Summer's shoulder, the two disappearing in a flurry of white rose petals.
The two arrived in the middle of the camp, fire, and smoke surrounding them. The two could sense the Grimm subtlety surrounding them. "Ha ha ha ha ha," a mad laugh came from behind them, making Raven's skin grow pale.
"Well hello there little birdy, you shouldn't have lied to our goddess. Now you and your daughter will have to pay the price, isn't that wonderful?" Tyrian giggled with a mad smirk.
"What's going on Raven?" Summer asked.
"I don't believe we've met, Tyrian Callows at your service," Tyrian bowed, "and from the description, you must be Raven's daughter, it's so nice to meet you Ruby. You do seem a little too old though," Tyrian commented.
"WHAT!" Summer yelled.
Ruby waited a moment, watching as the elevator closed with a ding, she needed to make sure that Ozpin was truly gone. Once Ruby was sure she was alone, she flew down to the middle of the room, transforming back into her human form.
Ruby immediately pulled out her scroll, texting Cinder where the maiden could be found, with a shaky breath she put her scroll away, and slowly started walking towards Amber, drawing her sword along the way. With Rozu held within her hands, Ruby stood in front of an immobilized Amber. Ruby felt her hands shaking, tears filled her eyes, as she stared sadly at the comatose woman
"I'm so sorry," Ruby whispered, slightly raising her blade until it rested against the glass barrier. Ruby's hands started shaking more violently, tears now falling freely from her eyes.
"Ruby" a voice called from behind, making Ruby shriek in surprise.
Turning around Ruby's blood ran cold, when she saw Professor Ozpin and Qrow, standing behind her.
End of Chapter 20
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