Chapter 23

"Where are we going?" Ruby asked Yang, who just remained silent in response. The two eventually winded up outside in one of Beacon's courtyards, Ruby slowly following her older sister. "Yang, what's going on, why are you helping me? Please talk to me," Ruby begged, pulling on the taller girl's arm.

Looking around, Yang pulled Ruby into a random door, the two of them ending up in Beacon's dining hall. Taking a step back Yang started to twirl, her body completely changing, to reveal a familiar mute.

"Neo!" Ruby shouted, running up to the girl and wrapping her in a hug. "But wait, why were you disguised as Yang?" Ruby questioned, receiving a shrug from Neo, who started signing as a joke, knowing Ruby wouldn't understand.

Cinder's orders Neo signed, getting an, "Oh," from Ruby, which made Neo silently chuckle. You don't have any idea what I'm saying, do you? Neo signed.

"Yeah, my mom taught me, she said it was important for me to know but what does that have to do with Yang?" Ruby questioned. In response, Neo just rolled her eyes playfully.

"Hey Neo, can I ask you an important question?" Ruby asked, earning a nod from the mute.

"My mom, she's a good person right? I mean I know she is but she wouldn't just hurt people for no good reason, right?" Ruby asked quietly, a scared and uncertain edge in her voice.

Neo pulled out her scroll so that Ruby could actually understand her, I really don't know your mother that well, Cinders the one who would know, but if I had to guess I would say she's probably a good person, based off of how wonderful her daughter is. Ruby looked to the ground sadly, "I'm not wonderful, I'm a bad person now." Ruby muttered. Neo was about to ask Ruby what she meant, only for a loud alarm to start blaring over Beacon's speakers. Neo gained an annoyed expression, after years of doing heists with Roman, she was barely affected by the blaring alarm.

We gotta go, Ruby, Cinders expecting us, Neo signed, taking Ruby's hand fragmented glass started surrounding the two until their appearances completely changed. Ruby now had wild orange hair, her eyes now a vibrant yellow. Neo's hair turned dark ebony, her eyes a light green.

Ready? Neo typed.

"Yeah," Ruby answered, following Neo out of the empty dining hall. Along the way Ruby noticed a white-cloaked figure, frantically running towards the detention center but paid it no mind, assuming it was a curious student.

A short while later, Ruby and Neo arrived at Cinder's dorm room, the two being rushed in quickly to avoid suspicion. "Ruby, are you OK?" asked a concerned Cinder, who automatically wrapped Ruby in a tight hug, upon arrival.

"Cinder," Ruby choked out, as she returned Cinder's hug, starting to quietly sob into Cinder's dress. "Shh, shh it'll be OK, you did the right thing," Cinder said soothingly.

"It doesn't feel like I did the right thing," Ruby said.

"I know it doesn't but you did a good thing, with Amber out of the way, I will be able to help a lot more people," Cinder explained, holding out her hand and producing a tiny flame. "Wh-what is that?" Ruby questioned, staring at the tiny fire in Cinder's hand.

"Magic," Cinder answered, "You see, Amber had this power, she used it to terrorize and kill people for years, and she would've only hurt more people but you stopped her," Cinder explained, "But she couldn't even move!" Ruby cried. Neo and Emerald gave Ruby a sympathetic look, both recognizing the girl's inner turmoil.

"I know, it's hard and it's only going to get harder, but guess what?" Cinder questioned.

"Wha-what?" Ruby asked

"Raven's going to be so proud of you," Cinder answered, attempting to help Ruby come to terms with her actions. Ruby didn't respond suddenly, finding the floor to be very interesting. "Ruby, you do understand that you'll have to leave now, I'm certain that you're being searched for this very moment and it's only a matter of time before they start searching rooms. Do you have anywhere to go?" Cinder asked

"I think so, can I see your scroll? They took mine and I need to talk to mom," Ruby said. "Sure," Cinder answered, handing Ruby her scroll. A minute later Ruby handed Cinder back her scroll. "What did you say?" Cinder asked.

"I told mom to meet me at the warehouse, I don't think she'll be able to teleport to me though," Ruby answered

"Why wouldn't she be able to teleport to you?" Emerald asked from across the room.

"She focuses on a person's aura to teleport to them and for some reason, mine seems to be locked away, I can't really explain it, it just feels so…weird," Ruby explained, earning a concerned look from the rest of the room's occupants, except for Mercury of course, who had an indifferent look on his stupid face.

"That's strange, do you have any idea why your aura is doing that?" Cinder questioned, receiving a, "no," from Ruby. The room fell into an awkward silence until Ruby remembered a question she had, "Hey Cinder, why was Neo disgusted as Yang?" Ruby asked.

"A distraction, Beacon's staff will be so busy dealing with Yang, it should relieve some of the pressure off of you," Cinder explained. "But won't that get her in a lot of trouble?" Ruby asked.

"It might does it really matter?" Cinder questioned

"Yes, it does! Yang doesn't deserve that, she a good person, I know she is" Ruby argued, surprising Cinder with the anger in her voice. "Why are you so upset? I'm doing this to help you," Cinder said

"UPSET!" Ruby shouted, "WHY DO YOU THINK I'M UPSET, I'M A MURDER, I KILLED A WOMAN WHO COULDN'T EVEN DEFEND HERSELF. I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO I CAN TRUST!" Ruby screamed, tears, and fury prevalent on her face.

Everyone stared at Ruby in shock, even Mercury, who was now staring at Ruby after her outburst. "You don't trust me?" Cinder asked, genuinely hurt by Ruby's words, sure she had constantly lied to the girl and tricked her into doing illegal things, but she had always to look out for her.

"I..I...I don't know" Ruby said, tears falling from her eyes, she didn't know who to trust, and with the things Qrow and Ozpin showed her, she didn't even know if she could trust her own mother.

Ruby quickly raced over to the window, flinging it open and jumping outside, and like she's done a thousand times, she turned into her avian form, not needing her aura to perform magic.

"Ruby!" Cinder shouted, running to the window. Ruby heard Cinder's shout but paid it no mind, she needed to be alone right now, think things over, so without another thought, Ruby flew off into the night.

It had been 20 minutes since his Summer had left, and they had been incredibly boring for Qrow, groaning in pain, he threw his legs over the side of his bed. With another pain filled groan, Qrow lifted himself up, holding his side in pain as he limped out of the room.

Originally his plan had been to head to Beacon's detention center, meet up with his wife and try to talk some sense into his daughter, but upon exiting the infirmary the caught a glimpse of his sister's wild black mane.

A gruff of annoyance escaped Qrow's lip, as she limped in Raven's room. Raven laid on her bed unconscious, her arm wrapped in heavy bandages, and an aura depleting handcuff on her other hand. A look of disgust appeared on Qrow's face, as his eyes settled on his "sister" if Qrow could even call her that, after all, what kind of sister would steal her brother's daughter?

A sudden buzz caught Qrow's attention, looking over Qrow noticed Raven's scroll buzzing from a message. Curiosity overtaking him, Qrow picked up Raven's scroll, growling in annoyance when the need for a password arose.

Password, Qrow guessed, receiving an error noise from the scroll.

Raven, "err"

Branwen, "err"

Ruby, "Ding," the scroll rang, infuriating Qrow to no end. Opening up Raven's messages, Qrow easily found the new message, opening it to see it was from a Cinder.

Hey mom, Cinders letting me borrow her scroll, things are complicated, to say the least. A lot has happened, stuff that we're going to have to talk about in person. I can't stay at Beacon anymore, I'll have to stay at the warehouse for now. -R

Rereading the message, Qrow became confused, this was just sent but how was that possible? Ruby was in Beacon's detention center, she shouldn't even have access to a scroll. "Crap!" Qrow muttered, rushing out of Raven's room. Without a moment wasted, Qrow rushed to Beacon's detention center, despite his injuries, he arrived fairly quickly. Once inside Qrow found a frantic Summer arguing with one of the security guards.

"What do you mean you don't remember?" Summer shouted angrily, startling the woman. "I'm sorry ma'am, but I can't remember. One moment Tim and I were doing our rounds and the next everything went dark," the woman explained, rubbing a sore spot on her head. "Weren't you paying attention?" Summer shouted. Qrow walked over to his angry wife, wrapping her in a tight hug. Summer fought against the hug at first, trying to push the taller man off of her but in the end accepted it, enjoying her husband's comforting warmth.

"She's gone Qrow," Summer stated in disbelief, "I was too late and now my baby's gone." Qrow tightened his grip on his wife, "We'll find her, I have an idea where she might have gone," Qrow said.

'Where? How?" Summer asked desperately.

"I think she's at Vale's docks, she sent Raven a message saying that she was heading to a warehouse to lay low for a while, and since most of Vale's warehouses are at the docks, I think she's probably there," Qrow explained.

"Well, What are we waiting for? Let's go," Summer said, turning towards the exit and preparing to leave, only to be met by Ozpin, who had been waiting for her. "Summer," Ozpin greeted formally. "Oz," Summer growled out, not forgetting how Ozpin had left her out of the loop.

"It's good to see you, I trust you're here for your daughter," Ozpin said

"Your d #n right I am, how could you keep her a secret from me!?" Summer yelled. "I am very sorry, I truly believed I was doing the right thing but it would seem I have just made another mistake," Ozpin said. "What are you doing here Oz? Where about to go looking for her," Qrow said.

"Ahh yes, if you two would follow me we have an important matter to discuss," the headmaster requested

"But!" Summer protested

"I'm sure Ruby can wait a few minutes and I'm also sure that it must be something really important, right Oz?" Qrow questioned. "It is, if you two would follow me, so that we may settle the whole thing out," Ozpin requested as he started walking towards the exit. Summer and Qrow followed their old headmaster, eventually, the three wound up at team RWBY's dorm room. 'What are we doing here?" Summer asked.

"We have a matter to discuss with your eldest daughter," Ozpin answered, knocking on the door three times before someone answered, "Good evening Professor Ozpin, is there something I can do for you?" Weiss asked politely.

The trio heard faint whispers inside, "I wish to speak with miss Xiao-Long, is she in here?" Ozpin questioned. "Yes sir, she's right here," Weiss answered, opening the door enough, for Ozpin to see Yang.

"You wanted to see me, sir?" Yang asked, looking past Ozpin to see her mother and father staring at her curiously. "I did, have you been in this room, since the ball?" Ozpin asked, stepping in the room followed by Qrow and Summer.

"Yes sir," Yang replied, feeling the nervousness of standing before an authority figure.

"As I thought," Ozpin muttered, pulling out his scroll, "Tonight there was a break out in Beacon's detention center. As I reviewed the security footage I found something...disturbing," Ozpin said presenting Yang with the security footage. "What!" Yang shouted after she finished watching the video, "but I...I've been here the whole time, right guys?" Yang asked, looking back at her teammates who both nodded in response. Re-watching the video, Yang noticed who exactly was being broken out "Ruby!" Yang shouted, "Why was she in the detention center?"

"What's going on?" Summer questioned

"It would seem that someone is trying to frame Yang, most likely an illusionist," Ozpin explained, accepting his scroll from Yang. "Do not worry, Miss Xiao-Long, you are not in any trouble, I know you did not do this, the only thing to do now is to find out who did," Ozpin explained. "I might have an idea Oz," Qrow said, pulling out a scroll and handing it to Ozpin. "Look at the newest message," Qrow instructed. 'Cinder," Ozpin mumbled, reading the message, "are you two heading after her?" Ozpin asked. "Of course! Are you ready Qrow?" Summer asked, receiving a nod from her husband

"What is going on, where is Ruby?" Yang asked.

"We'll talk about it later," Summer yelled before rushing out of the room, followed by Qrow giving her an apologetic look. Yang scoffed, her hands shaking in anger, "Is everything alright miss Xiao long?" Ozpin questioned

"No, no one will talk to me, I finally found my mother, after all these years and she won't even talk to me! and now Summer and Qrow won't tell me what's going on" Yang yelled.

"Your mother is in the infirmary, you are free to visit her if you wish, but you won't be able to stay long, it's already late and you have your first mission tomorrow," Ozpin said before he exited the room, followed by Yang.

End of chapter 23

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