Chapter 22
"She did it," Cinder cheered, feeling the full power of the fall maiden power surge within her. Cinder ignited a flame within her hand, watching as the fire danced around her palm. Neo and Mercury watched in interest, as Cinder shot a burst of fire into the air.
The group was sitting inside their dorm room, waiting for Emerald and Ruby to arrive. A few minutes later, Emerald frantically ran into the room, breathing heavily.
"Emerald, what's wrong?" Cinder asked, noticing the panicked expression on Emerald's face.
"They got her, I saw Goodwitch carry Ruby to Beacon's detention center, she was unconscious and she looked terrible," Emerald commented. "What do you mean, she looked terrible, what happened to her?" Cinder questioned.
"I don't know, she had tear stains all over her face," Emerald explained. A look of realization came across Cinder's face, "I understand," Cinder said with a guilty look on her face. "Ruby was successful in her mission," Cinder explained, snapping her fingers, to create a tiny flame.
"Oh, what are we going to do?" Emerald asked.
"You said she was in Beacon's detention center, we'll have to break her out," Cinder answered, already making a plan to break Ruby out. Cinder gained a devious smirk that sent chills down Mercury, Emerald, and Neo's spines. "I'm guessing you have a plan," Mercury guessed, laying back on his bed, without a care in the world.
"Neo, have you met Ruby's sister?" Cinder questioned. Neo pulled out her scroll, typing a quick text to Cinder.
The dumb blonde? Neo questioned
"The very one," Cinder said.
In response, Neo's body began to change, until she became an exact copy of the blond brawler.
"In that case, I have a job for you, Neo," Cinder said, with an evil smile.
"Stop it," Weiss demanded, as she watched Yang pace around the room. "Where is she? We couldn't find her at the dance, and she wasn't in the dorm room, where could she be?" Yang asked out loud.
"Maybe she's out with a guy," Blake suggested nonchalantly, laying on her bed with a new book. Blake instantly regretted her decision, when Yang's lilac eyes turned red. "If anyone, so much as lays a hand on her, I'll break every bone in their body," Yang threatened, her overprotective big sister instincts kicking in.
"I'm sure Ruby's fine, she's probably training in the gym," Weiss assured, heading over to her and Ruby's shared closet. Team Rwby had their first mission, the next day and in typical team Rwby fashion, the girls had waited last minute to pack.
Opening the closet door, Weiss was surprised to find the few items Ruby owned, missing. "Hey, Yang? Weiss asked. "What's up, Weiss cream?" Yang questioned, annoying Weiss with the nickname.
"Where's all of Ruby's stuff? Weiss asked, picking up a pile of clean clothes, and placing them into her travel bag.
"It should be in the closet," Yang answered, walking over to Weiss, and inspecting the closet. "OK this isn't looking good, Ruby's gone and all of her stuff is missing," Yang panicked.
"There's a bag on Ruby's bed," Blake noted, looking up from the book. Yang rushed over to Ruby's bed, digging through Ruby's bag, Yang found all of Ruby's things, packed and ready to go. "Guess, Rubes is already packed, geez Weiss, she's done before you," Yang observed.
Weiss scoffed in response, "I've been a little busy orchestrating the dance," Weiss responded with an annoyed stare focused towards Yang. "I'm just saying, it's weird that Ruby's already packed, she usually waits till last minute," Yang said.
"I hope Ruby isn't turning into a mini Weiss," Blake mumbled.
"Hey!" Weiss shouted in offense, "There's nothing wrong with Ruby being more like me, it may actually do her some good," Weiss defended. "Oh come on Weiss, lighten up, we're just joking," Yang said. "Well it wasn't very funny," Weiss complained, crossing her arms.
"It was pretty funny," Yang countered.
"Hey guys," Blake called, only to be ignored.
"It wasn't funny," Weiss insisted.
"Oh come on Weiss, grow a sense of humor," Yang chastised
"Hey guys," Blake said a little louder.
"I have a great sense of humor, thank you very much," Weiss argued
"GUYS!" Blake shouted, drawing her teammate's attention. "What?" Both girls shouted angrily, Blake pointed to the corner of the room, where a big red oval stood. The girls immediately jumped up, weapons aimed towards the strange object.
A second later, a familiar figure stepped out from the portal, "Mom!" Yang cheered, rushing over to wrap Summer in a tight hug. "Yang!" Summer said happily, returning her older daughter's hug.
"What are you doing here?" Yang questioned, stepping away from her mother, Yang was about to bombard Summer with more questions, until she noticed an injured figure standing behind Summer.
"Mom?"
"Yang," Raven greeted, shocking Summer with the coldness in her voice. Yang didn't seem to notice, instead, she started stuttering over her words, attempting to go over the speech she rehearsed when she met her biological mother.
"We'll talk later Yang, I need to go to the infirmary," Raven said, motioning towards her injured arm. "Raven!" Summer shouted. Raven turned towards Summer with an annoyed glare, "We have something to do, don't we Summer?" Raven asked.
Summer gave an apologetic look to Yang, before she sighed, "where too?" Summer questioned.
"Infirmary, I need to patch my arm up," Raven answered. "That better not be the only reason we're here Raven, where Is Ruby?" Summer questioned, making the present members of team RWBY perk up.
"I don't know, I assumed she'd be here," Raven answered.
A slight tap on the shoulder gained Summer's attention, turning to see the elegant Schnee heiress. "I don't believe we've been properly introduced, my name is Weiss Schnee," Weiss introduced bowing respectfully. "Summer Rose," Summer greeted
""It's a pleasure...you said you were looking for Ruby?" Weiss asked, staring at the older version of her team leader. "Ruby?! Where is she?" Summer questioned eagerly, Raven was also listening closely, waiting for any news on her daughter.
"We don't know, Ruby was supposed to meet us at the dance but she never showed up," Yang explained. Causing worried expressions to form in Summer and Raven's faces, both remembering that the SDC were hunting Ruby.
"Wait, Yang, you know that Ruby's here?" Summer asked, a slight edge in her voice.
"Y..yeah," Yang said
"How long have you known?" Summer asked
"Since initiation," Yang mumbled. Taking a deep breath Summer attempted to calm herself, Ruby had been here for months and no one had told her!
"Yang, why wasn't I told?" Summer questioned. At this point Yang didn't have a problem throwing Qrow under the bus. "It was Qrow, he told me not to tell you she was here," Yang answered
"He told you not to tell me….why?" Summer asked
"I don't know, he wouldn't tell me anything, he just kept saying that he had his reasons and blah, blah, blah." Yang answered.
Taking one last deep breath, Summer did her best to collect herself, "Right, so I'm going to take Raven to the infirmary, find Ruby, and beat the s#&t out of Qrow," Summer said as she lead an injured Raven to Beacon's infirmary.
Ozpin sat at his desk, his fingers interlocked with each other, as he patiently waited for all of the council members to connect to the meeting. After Ozpin had dropped Qrow off at the infirmary, he had headed straight to his office, calling an emergency meeting for the council.
The council had originally been created by Ozpin, as a way to deal with things that the brotherhood could not, and unlike the councils of Vale, Mistral, Vaccou, and Atlas, Ozpin's council dealt with things that were out of the public's eye.
Originally Ozpin had been the head of the council, but when his duties as headmaster had begun to interfere, he stepped down, interesting his old friend, Theodore Krause, to serve as the council's head. Unfortunately, Theodore had grown ill, entrusting his son to fulfill his duties, in his absence, someone Ozpin did not trust.
8 faces flashed on Ozpin's screen, as the meeting started.
"What is this about Ozpin?" Theodore's son, Anthony, questioned with a bored expression on his face," Some of us actually have important things to do."
Ozpin struggled to keep a polite face, he was not fond of Anthony, "There has been an unfortunate development, Amber's been murdered," Ozpin answered, drawing shocked gasps from his fellow council members, all except Anthony, who's facial expression had not changed.
'My word, how did this happen? I thought she was hidden in Beacon's vault," a woman Ozpin knew as Kimberly asked. "She was, unfortunately, while in an altercation with one of Beacon's professors, one of my students accidentally finished Amber," Ozpin stated sadly.
"Accidentally?" Anthony asked skeptically, "what happened exactly?"
"One of my students, Ruby Branwen/ Rose broke into Beacon's vault, I will admit we had the chance to stop her from entering the vault but didn't take it.." Ozpin started, only to be interrupted by Anthony. "And why did you do that?" Anthony questioned accusingly, "The girl is...confused, we were hoping to have a peaceful resolution," Ozpin explained, "but she refused to listen to reason and attacked, accidentally hitting Amber in the process,"
"Where is this girl now?" Anthony questioned. "In Beacon's detention center, she had a mental breakdown when it was all over with, as for the professor she'd attacked, he is resting in the infirmary," Ozpin answered.
"I see, and what do you think should be done with the girl, Ozpin?" Anthony asked Ozpin stayed silent for a moment, pretending to think of an answer, "Let her continue her training as a huntress, I'm certain she could do some good, but I'm sure everyone will need to review her file and go over the report, before making a decision," Ozpin said.
"I agree, it's unfair to judge this girl without reviewing a proper report and inspecting her file," one of the female council members commented. "I conquer," another member added, the rest of the council members nodded in agreement. "Fine, we'll pick this up at a later time," Anthony said, as the council members started to exit the meeting, leaving Ozpin and Anthony alone.
"I'm coming to Beacon to meet this girl, ultimately I have the final say in the girl's fate," Anthony threatened, as he disconnected from the meeting, leaving Ozpin completely alone.
The sound of a steady beep filled Beacon's infirmary, Qrow laid in one of the beds, his chest covered in bandages. One of Beacon's nurses had already looked over him, giving him a couple of pills, to help with the pain.
It had been 30 minutes since Ozpin had dropped him off, saying that he had an important meeting to attend.
The door to Qrow's room slowly creaked open, his loving wife stepping inside, except from the look on Summer's face, she wasn't in the loving mood. Summer's face did soften a little, once seeing Qrow's condition but still remained to be an icy glare.
"Qrow, what happened?" Summer questioned, walking over to the side of his bed.
"I got hit by some lightning dust, what are you doing here?" Qrow chuckled nervously. "What am I doing here? Well as you know, I was in Mistral searching for our daughter. To make a long story short, I ran into your sister, guess what I found out," Summer asked rhetorically.
Qrow gulped in fear, "Summer I.." Qrow started, looking for an exit, "Eye's up here Qrow," Summer said, pointing to her silver eyes 'Guess what I found."
"W-what?" Qrow asked
"Oh, I'm glad you asked, you see a little birdy told me that our daughter was at Beacon Academy, so I rush over her, running into Yang along the way, apparently my baby's been her since initiation and the only reason Yang didn't call me right away, was because you told her not to tell me, and why is that sweetie?" Summer asked.
"I...I...I knew you would rush to see her and I was afraid that would scare her off," Qrow explained.
"Scare her off?" Summer questioned."Yeah, you know where she's been these past 12 years, right?" Qrow asked.
"With Raven," Summer spat with hatred.
"Exactly, so you can guess Ruby isn't here for the best of reasons," Qrow said.
"I don't care what she's here for, we could have gotten her to stay, kept her away from Raven together, but no you just had to keep it a secret from me." The look of betrayal in his wife's eyes hurt Qrow, leaning forward he attempted to put a comforting hand on Summer's shoulder, only for her to brush it off."It's not just Raven I'm worried about Sum, Oz thinks Salem's involved," Qrow said. A look of dread/horror appeared on Summer's face.
"Where is she Qrow? Summer asked.
"Beacon's detention center, it's bad Sum," Qrow answered. "She didn't mean to do it, I know she didn't but it still happened."
"What happened?" Summer asked quickly, an uneasy feeling in her stomach. "Amber's dead, Ruby killed her," Qrow answered, unable to meet his wife's gaze as a horrified gasp escaped her lips.
"I have to see her. I have to make sure she's OK," Summer said, as she ran to the door stopping and turning around on the way.
"Were a long ways away from the end of this conversation," Summer threatened, "and Ravens old cold in another room, with handcuffs and an aura depleting wrist band, she won't get away with what she's done to my baby girl," Summer said as she rushed out of the infirmary.
A soft sobbing could faintly be heard in Beacon Academy's detention center, as Ruby sat in the corner of the room, hugging her knees. She had been awake for the past 15 minutes, and no one had been around to talk to her.
Ruby didn't blame them, who would want to talk with a monster. Ruby thought back to Cinder's words, "Ruby, you know your mother would be very proud of you if you were to do this." Ruby didn't feel like her mother would be proud of her.
The things Qrow and Ozpin showed her still lingered in her mind, it couldn't be true her mother was one of the greatest people in Remnant, and no cleverly created lies could change that.
A snapping sound broke Ruby out of her thoughts, looking up Ruby was surprised to see Yang, standing in front of her, behind her laid two unconscious security guards. Wrapping Yang in a tight hug, Ruby began to sob onto the girl's shoulder, apologizing endlessly, while Yang remained quite stroking the girl's hair in an attempt to comfort her.
Eventually, Yang broke from the hug, stepping outside of the cell Yang motioned for Ruby to follow her, which hesitantly she did. Along the way, Yang waved to one of the security cameras and led Ruby out of the detention center, without ever saying a word.
End of chapter 22
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