Chapter 24
It didn't take long for Yang and Ozpin to reach the infirmary, Yang becoming eager and increasing her pace, along the way. The two entered Raven's room, finding what would be an identical twin for Yang, if not for her hair being a beautiful black, instead of blonde.
"Mom," Yang whispered, walking up to her mother's bedside.
"What happened to her? Yang questioned, noticing her mother's heavily bandaged hand. "I don't fully know, Summer brought her in and I have been unable to speak with her," Ozpin explained, motioning towards a still unconscious Raven.
"Oh," Yang mumbled taking a glance at her headmaster
"Well, since it seems that I will be unable to have a conversation with her, I will leave you two alone for now, but please inform me immediately, if she wakes," Ozpin requested, leaving the room.
Immediately after Ozpin shut the door behind him, Raven's eyes snapped open, surveying the room until they landed on Yang. The two stared at each other, until Yang turned her head to the side, about to call Ozpin.
"Wait!" Raven called, making Yang's eyes snap back to her mother, "Let's just talk, you had some questions for me, right?" Raven questioned, noticing the aura canceling handcuff around her uninjured arm, as she shifted her body to conceal it from Yang.
"Yeah I have questions for you, where have you been all these years? Why did you leave me? What are you doing here? Do you even care about me?" Yang questioned.
"One question at a time," Raven requested
"Fine, why did you leave me?" Yang asked. "The day you were born was the happiest day of my life, I was a newly appointed huntress, I was married to the man of my dreams, and I had a beautiful newborn baby, It was perfect. That was until Ozpin reared his ugly around, he asked me to go on a secret mission, and stupidly I accepted. It was supposed to only last a few weeks but weeks turned into months and eventually months turned into years," Raven said sadly, surprised how much easier it was to lie to Yang, compared to Ruby.
"So you didn't abandon me?" Yang asked
"No, I didn't abandon you," Raven lied, her eyes going wide when Yang stepped in to hug her mother. "Thank you," Yang whispered, getting a few comforting pats from Raven. "So what now? Are you back for good?" Yang asked.
"I don't know, I hope so, I just want to spend some with my baby girl," Raven said. "Where are Qrow and Summer?"
"I don't know, they wouldn't tell me, I think it has to do something with my sister though, I think she might be in trouble," Yang said. "Trouble! What kind of trouble?" Raven asked, shocking Yang with the panic in her mother's voice.
"I don't know but I'm worried, Summer and Qrow seemed really worried too," Yang answered, not taking notice of the sudden panic in her mother's voice. "Where are my things, Yang?" Raven asked, looking around the room.
"Uhhhh," Yang mumbled, looking around the room until she found a long blade sitting against the wall. "Is this it?" Yang asked, walking over to the weapon and picking it up. While Yang's back was turned, Raven unwrapped the bandages around her injured arm. "Here you go," Yang said, as she turned around and handed her mother her sword. "Where's my scroll?" Raven asked. "I don't know, your sword was the only thing there," Yang answered. "Any other questions?" Raven asked, "I'm getting pretty tired." Raven lied, in reality, she was eager to end the conversation with Yang, and find her daughter. "A ton," Yang answered, "but I can wait, you'll still be here tonight, right?"Yang asked.
"Definitely, oh and Yang, don't tell Ozpin that I'm awake yet, don't want him to send me on another mission just yet," Raven requested.
"You got it," Yang winked and exited the room.
As soon as Yang was gone, Raven started working at the handcuff, sawing it off with the blade of her sword. Within only a minute, the handcuff had been completely sawed-off, freeing Raven from the bed.
Once the handcuff was off, Raven could feel her aura flow through her once again. Searching out, Raven became increasingly worried when she could not find Ruby's aura. Taking a deep breath, Raven steeled herself, if what Yang said was true and Ruby had gotten in trouble at Beacon, then she would have gone back to the warehouse
Raven walked up to one of the room's windows. Looking down at her arm, it was mostly healed, which would mean flying would be painful but not impossible. Without taking another look back Raven jumped out of the window and started flying towards Vale.
She was alone, looking around Ruby instantly recognized the room but it was weird, distorted, and she couldn't even remember how she got here.
Ruby was in a large room, with several large metal doors adorning the sides, presumably leading to treasures untold, but the doors looked different from last time, larger and maybe a little rusty. That wasn't the only thing that was different though, the entire room was decaying, giving Ruby an uneasy feeling. A few flickering lights, lit up the room, only adding to the overall creepiness of the room.
A startled shriek filled the air, as the few remaining lights, all shut off at once, plunging Ruby into total darkness.
A small flicker light caught Ruby's attention, turning to the back of the large room, Ruby found a small light emanating from the end. So she slowly stumbled towards the light.
"Hello?" Ruby asked, receiving silence in return.
All of the room's lights suddenly flashed on, temporarily blinding the young girl. Rubbing her eyes, in an attempt to alleviate the pain, Ruby's vision slowly returned looking towards where the light came from, Ruby was surprised to find Rozu, set aflame, its blade sticking into the ground. She cautiously made her way towards her blade towards her weapon, pulling it out, Ruby was horrified to find the blade drenched in blood.
"Murderer," A voice whispered. "Killer,"
"No...I...it was an accident." Ruby choked out, tears brimming in her eyes. "It doesn't matter, your a murder now, and I'm so proud of you," the voice whispered, becoming the voice of her mother. "Mom?" Ruby questioned, turning around to find her mother giving her a proud look. "What are you talking about? You're not a killer mom, you are a good person, I know it " Ruby cried, fidgeting nervously in front of her mother
"Nope, I'm a killer and I enjoy it soooo much," Raven purred, as she stepped closer to Ruby, "I bet you enjoyed it too, the blank look on your victim's face as the life fades from their eyes," Raven giggled.
"No! I don't want that, who are you?" Ruby screamed, taking a step back.
"Your mother sweetie," Raven giggled, "By the way, what were they like?" Raven questioned, tilting her head to the side and tapping her chin. "Who?" Ruby questioned. "Your friends, baby, or at least what's left of them, Raven answered, pointing to something behind Ruby. Turning around, Ruby had to resit the urge to puke, at the sight of her friends. They all laid in a big pile, blood covering their faces, as their cold dead eyes stared at Ruby.
"You killed them, all with a smile in your face," Raven said as she leaned down to whisper something into Ruby's ear, "except for one," she whispered.
"Yang!" Ruby screamed, as Yang appeared out of nowhere, heavily injured. "What happened? Who did this to you?" Ruby asked, seeing Yang struggling to breath. "You know who, just look down at your hands," Raven said, seeming to enjoy watching Yang slowly die. Looking down at her hands, Ruby discovered that, like her blade, they too were drenched in blood.
"Why?" Yang gasped.
"Yang, please don't go, I'm sorry," Ruby cried clutching her older sister tightly. "This is taking too long," Raven said, as she plunged her sword into Yang's chest, finishing her. "Noooo," Ruby cried, hugging Yang's body. "Ohh don't worry baby, you'll join them soon," Raven said, as she swung her blade towards Ruby.
"She's not in there," Qrow said as he exited a warehouse. "To the next one," Summer said as she started walking off towards the next warehouse. "Please slow down," Qrow pleaded, holding his chest in pain, he had seriously underestimated how much a blast from lightning dust would hurt.
"We can't slow down, we don't know how long she'll stay here," Summer argued, continuing on towards the next warehouse. The two silently entered the next warehouse, surprised to find a bunch of men and women working this late at night.
"I don't think she's in here, Sum, let's go," Qrow said, as he started to exit the building.
"Can I help you?" a short heavy-looking man, who obviously was a manager of some sort. "Yes," Summer answered, reaching into her cloak and pulling out her huntress license. "Have you seen a teenage girl, that looks like me?" Summer questioned, praying that the man would know where her daughter was.
"Hmm, I'm sorry but I've never seen her, you're free to take a look around if you don't believe me, so long as you don't disturb my employees," the manager said.
"Thank you, oh do you know of any abandoned factories nearby?" Qrow asked. The man looked at the floor, tapping his foot in thought. "Oh, the Schnees have two abandoned dust factories nearby, other than that I don't know of any," the manager answered.
"Thank you so much," Summer thanked, as she and Qrow exited the warehouse. As soon as the two left, the manager pulled out his scroll and started to call somebody, he was about to be swimming in lein
"I know what warehouses he's talking about, ones next to the docks, and the other one is a bit further down," Qrow explained. "Alright, I'll go and check out the nearest warehouse and you can fly to the one that's further away," Summer ordered, rushing off towards her warehouse. It didn't take Summer long to find the warehouse, the giant Schnee snowflake, being a dead giveaway. Furthermore, Summer could see lights on through the window, which would mean the place wasn't abandoned after all.
Summer sneaked over to the entrance, picking the lock and entering the warehouse without a sound. Looking over the room, Summer's heart leaped with joy, tears brimming in her eyes.
On the far side of the room, laying on a stack of wooden crates, slept her daughter. Summer's first instinct was to yell out in joy, run up to her daughter, and wrap her in a tight hug but decided against that, not wanting to wake the sleeping girl. Summer quickly sent Qrow a message, telling him she found Ruby, and then tucked her scroll into her pocket, focusing on her daughter. Summer silently made her way towards Ruby, sitting down next to her without making a sound.
Summer was content to slowly stroke Ruby's cheek, smiling brightly when Ruby unconsciously started to lean into Ruby.
"Oh, honey," Summer whispered, becoming worried when Ruby's face contorted into a pained expression. "Shhh it's going to be alright, mommy's here now and I'll never leave you again," Summer promised. She hoped that her words would give her daughter some comfort, but unfortunately it seemed to have the opposite effect when Ruby's face contorted even more.
A quite flapping sound caught Summer's attention, looking over to find her husband transforming back into his human form. Summer put a finger over her lips, telling Qrow to not make a sound.
The husband and wife stared at their daughter happily, Summer having to wipe a few stray tears away.
"Ahhhhhh," Ruby screamed, suddenly waking up from her nightmare. In her panic Ruby fell to the floor, landing on the ground with a painful groan, Summer immediately went in to help her daughter up, making Ruby freeze when she placed a hand on her shoulder. Looking up Ruby shrieked when Summer came into view.
"Shh, it's OK, I'm not going to hurt you," Summer said soothingly. "I've been looking for you for so long. Do...do you know who I am?" Summer questioned.
"Your-r...my...m-mother," Ruby stuttered.
"Oh baby," Summer cheered, running up and wrapping her daughter in a tight hug, a hug that made Ruby very uncomfortable. Looking past Summer, Ruby's eyes went wide, when she found the tall lanky man, who claimed to be her father, standing off to the side, watching her.
"No!" Ruby screamed, scrambling away from Summer. "Just leave me alone!" Ruby shouted, running back and transforming into her raven form. Ruby headed straight towards one of the warehouse's windows, hoping to crash through and make her escape, and just like last time, a flying black object intercepted her, making her hurtle towards the floor.
In a last-ditch effort, to spare herself a little pain, Ruby transformed into her human form, knowing her small bird body would be unable to take the fall.
The air was knocked out of Ruby's lungs painfully, gasping for breath, Ruby was unable to make out what Summer and Qrow were saying. "Qrow!" Summer shouted, an angry edge in her voice, "what do you think you're doing?"
"I had to stop her, she was going to get away!" Qrow answered.
"But you hurt her," Summer argued.
"I know and I wish it hadn't come to that, but if she were to have gotten away, I don't think we'd ever be able to see her again," Qrow explained. Summer seemed to freeze at the thought of never being able to see Ruby again but quickly snapped out of it rushing to Ruby's side. "I'm so sorry honey, are you alright?" Summer asked. Ruby didn't respond, instead, she attempted to get up finding that, without aura, falling a couple of feet hurt, a lot. "Leave me alone," Ruby said, starting to drag herself away from Summer and Qrow. Summer got up and placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder, making her stop and look at her, "please don't go, I just want things to be like they used to," Summer begged. The sound of glass crashing against the floor caught everyone's attention, looking over the group saw a very pissed off Raven.
"Get your hands off of my daughter," Raven spat, as red flames started erupting from her eyes.
End of chapter 24
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