RWBY: MRRN
Volume 6, Chapter 17: A Dark Discovery
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY. All rights go to Rooster Teeth
Ruo and Luna snuck through the forest, keeping their eyes out for prey that could be hunted. While Luna stayed on the ground, Ruo climbed through the trees, almost moving like an actual cat. The Wolf Faunus couldn't help but chuckle at his feline behavior…right before scratching right behind her ear like a canine.
"So…you and Yang are a thing?" Luna asked the White Tiger.
"Ever since Beacon," Ruo answered, leaping to a thick branch that could hold his weight.
"If you don't mind me asking, why weren't you with her when you first came to Mistral?" Luna asked.
"She and I…we fell out for a while," Ruo explained. "We broke up for a while, but got back together." Luna smirked.
"You two must really be in love."
"Definitely," Ruo agreed. "I guess the same goes for you and Silvio, right?" Luna nodded her head with a smile.
"How did you two end up together, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Well, it's a bit interesting: during my second year at Haven, my team was sent to rescue Silvio after he had been ambushed by bandits." Ruo raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Why would he be ambushed by bandits?"
"He was out with some of the Steel Elites, honing his skills as a fighter outside Mistral. He and his escort were ambushed and my team was tasked with bringing him back in one piece. When he and I met, we hit it off, started hanging out and then started dating."
"Was his family ever concerned about him dating a Faunus?" Luna rolled her eyes.
"Oh, his family got quite a bit of criticism for letting him date a Faunus, most of it came from Darren Moss and other racist assholes. Not to mention what started happening at the Academy…the bullies targeted me more until I stopped seeing Silvio. Luckily, I 'convinced' them to back off."
"Oh, boy," Ruo groaned, knowing what it possibly meant. His ear suddenly perked up when he heard noise in the distance; he thought it may be an animal he and Luna could hunt, so he stopped and gestured for Luna to do the same.
"I'll scout ahead," the Tiger said before turning invisible and moving quietly yet quickly across the branches and trees. As he closed on what he heard, he was surprised by what he saw: instead of an animal, he saw a person, most likely a male, with brown hair with gray streaks, a weapon that appeared like a bladed bow, and was on alert from something. What caught Ruo's attention was the mask he was wearing over his eyes.
He could be an Iron Knight or an agent of Salem, so Ruo couldn't take any chances. He moved quickly and quietly across the branches again, but just as he was about to leap onto one, an arrow flew by and shot the branch, causing Ruo to fall to the ground and become visible.
"What?" he gasped. The stranger approached him, an arrow pointed at him, aiming for his heart.
"Who are you?" he questioned. "Are you White Fang?"
"No," Ruo denied. "I'm not with them. I promise."
"Ruo!" Luna called as she rushed to the area. When she saw the stranger, she reached for her kamas, but Ruo held up his hand.
"I don't think he wants to hurt us," he claimed.
"If I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead," the stranger warned. "That was a warning shot; I almost thought you were a Grimm."
"Well, obviously, we're not," Luna pointed out. "So, are we fighting or not?"
"No," Ruo refused. "If he doesn't mean us harm, then we don't need to fight." The masked man lowered his bow and put the arrow back in his quiver.
"I don't see many people out here, other than bandits or such," the masked man responded. "You don't look like raiders or anything."
"Again, we're not," Luna repeated. "We're looking for animals to hunt. Have you seen any?"
"There's several deer and moose to the west of here," the archer answered. "But if you head north, stay away from the manor you may see." Ruo and Luna's eyes glared at the archer in shock after he mentioned the manor.
"Why the manor?" Luna asked.
"It's not safe there," the archer informed. "Anyone who stays there dies."
"What!?" Ruo gasped. "But our friends are there! You mean they're in danger?"
"Yes," the archer confirmed. "Hurry! We must get to them!"
"So you're helping us?" Luna asked, raising an eyebrow. The masked man looked back at the wolf Faunus.
"Do you want to save your friends or not?"
"Let's go!" Ruo agreed. The Tiger and Wolf followed the masked archer back the way they came.
"What's at the manor?" Luna questioned.
-0-
"This place gives me the creeps," Math told Nasser as they walked upstairs. "How long has it been since someone's lived here?"
"Years," Nas flatly replied. "I mean, look at the state of this place; no one's touched it for a very long time." When they got up the stairs, Math and Nas started checking out the rooms for danger; luckily, they found none.
Math groaned in frustration at the state they were in. Because of Ozpin's lies, they were separated from their friends and allies, who were safely on their way to Argus. If Ozpin had just told them the truth, they wouldn't be in this mess.
"You okay?" Nas asked Math.
"No, I'm not," the wolf swordsman responded. "If Ozpin had just told us the truth from the start, then he wouldn't have had to relive those memories. He was so afraid of being betrayed that he wouldn't trust people, especially when he demanded trust in return. Bloody hypocrite."
"Oh, yeah," Nasser agreed, feeling his own anger at the former Beacon Headmaster. "He basically did all that crap because he cared more about his secrets than he cared about us. Maybe it would've better if we never got involved in this."
"Maybe," Math reluctantly agreed. "We came to get justice for those we lost at Beacon, not to be…" Math stopped when he saw a door that was locked up tight. The swordsman pressed his ear to it, but heard nothing, giving him the green light to unsheathe his sword and cut the locks off.
Nasser turned on his scroll flashlight while Math slowly opened the door, checking if anything was inside; to their surprise, no one was behind the door. What was shocking was WHAT was inside the room.
"What the…?" Nasser gasped.
There were shackles on the wall, rusting with blood from many years ago. A whip hung on a hook on the wall and was caked in blood…as if used to beat someone. The streaks of red liquid on the wall reinforced this belief.
"This is….this is messed up," Nasser spoke, barely able to contain his disgust. Math took out his own Scroll and turned on the flashlight as he examined more of the room, despite feeling the urge to vomit at this.
"Look at all these drawings," Math gestured, showing pictures drawn with crayon on the wall. "Look at the way they're drawn. Did…a child draw these?"
"Oh, my Oum," Nas groaned. "Who would ever torture kids? This is just wrong."
"It…Holy…" Math gasped as he found a name written in red on the wall. It was sloppily spelt 'C-i-n-D-E-r'.
"Cinder…" Math whispered.
"Cinder?" Nasser asked before looking over at where his team leader was. His eyes widened in shock.
"Cinder…was kept here?"
"Looks that way," Math confirmed. "She must've only been a child when she was locked away in here. Who knows how long." Nasser looked back at the door and noticed an open slot that would allow food to be pushed in, giving him an idea of how long the young Cinder could've been locked in here.
"This is just cruel," Math spoke. He felt his foot step on something, so he looked down to see a red book face down on the floor. He picked it up and read the plain black words on the cover 'Punishment Journal'.
"Punishment Journal?" Math questioned before he opened it and used his flashlight to read the writing.
"Not helping to make breakfast: two days in the Punishment Room and three whips daily."
"What…?" Math groaned before continuing to read.
"Soiling Anastasia's dress with milk: three days in the Punishment Room and five whips daily."
"They tortured Cinder just for not doing these…chores? Just for small things?" He turned the page again, but was unsure if he could keep going.
"Speaking back to me, eating the last of Donna's birthday cake, not finishing the dishes on time and playing before work was done: two weeks in the Punishment Room and ten whips daily."
"I…I can't read this anymore," Math gasped, throwing the book aside. "What kind of monsters would torment a child like that? That's just monstrous."
Math's blood boiled at this horrible revelation. To realize that the devil who nearly killed the woman he loved was a victim of such cruelty and sadism was rage-inducing. Cinder's whole life was nothing but pain, anger and sadness. His fists tightened in rage before punching the wall at this revelation.
"Evil wretches," Math snarled. "Tormenting a child like this…it's…it's unforgivable. If they're dead, I hope they're rotting in hell's darkest hole."
-0-
"Cinder lived here?" Weiss wondered, examining the pictures. The first few involved Cinder as a young girl with her father and mother, looking like a loving and caring family. The next two pictures Weiss saw suddenly didn't have the mother; instead, it was just Cinder and her father.
"Her mother died?" Weiss spoke softly before continuing to look at the pictures. The next several pictures involved a different woman with two young girls around Cinder's age. After three of those pictures, the next ones only had Cinder and what was presumed to be her foster family.
Weiss started to notice a disturbing change in the process; Cinder started to look more unhappy and solemn in contrast to her former cheerful and innocent image. To make it worse, the young girl was suddenly covered in bruises and cuts and appeared to have been forced into the photos.
"Were they beating her?" Weiss asked herself. "How could they?"
"Weiss," Ruby addressed, picking up a notebook from the table. Ruby immediately noticed that the red and gold colors on it were reminiscent of the she-devil who nearly killed her at Haven. Ruby gently touched the area on her abdomen where she had been stabbed with the glass and fire spear, remembering when she almost died.
"Ruby?" Weiss asked. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Ruby responded angrily before opening the book. The writing on the first few pages was amateur and misspelled, as if written by a young child along with drawings of flowers and hearts.
"Sept. 4th,
Moma and Dady got me a beeyutiful new doll today. I named her 'Patrishia' beecuse that was the name I once gave to a puppie we had. I love them so much."
Ruby was almost shocked at what she was reading. She couldn't believe that this was written by the woman who had destroyed Beacon Academy.
"July. 12th,
Mom, Dad and I went to Mistral for the festival. It was so much fun! There were games and foods and so much fun! But I don't understand why the people hate the Faunus. What did the Faunus do to make people hate them?"
Ruby couldn't drop the angry scowl on her face, even though she was feeling some sympathy for the young woman that had written in this notebook.
"Mom died yesterday. Why did she have to go? Why couldn't she stay with us? Did I not love her enough?"
"Cinder…" Weiss whispered, wondering how the young child must've felt when her mother passed away.
"July 18th,
Dad married another woman with two daughters. They seem very nice and my new mom really loves me. I still miss my real mom; I wish she was still here."
Even though Ruby could understand that pain, having barely known her own mother, the anger in her heart refused to leave…almost as if it was being forced to stay.
"She beat me! She took me to a room and beat me with a whip! Why would she do that to me!? Anastasia started the fight, not me. Why would she only punish me?"
"Hold on," Weiss spoke, taking the book from Ruby. "Her stepmother WAS beating her? How could she?"
"You should know, Weiss," Ruby spoke, taking the book back. "Sounds like something your father would do, right?"
While Weiss was taken back by Ruby's angry attitude, she couldn't agree more about her father. His means of 'discipline' often meant beating his children into submission, often by slapping them; in his worse moods, this would extend to being beaten with a belt.
The next several pages lacked writing of any kind. Instead, there were drawings of a now teenage Cinder…killing her stepfamily in many gruesome ways. Burning alive, cutting them apart with a cleaver, strangling them with chains…the drawings just continued for pages and pages, disturbing the two girls deeply until they found writing again.
"They tortured me. Starved me. Locked me up for weeks in that godforsaken room upstairs. Destroyed or sold my mom and dad's possessions. Yet I remember the last words that came out of each of their mouths.
Anastasia: We're sisters and sisters don't hurt each other!
Donna: You wouldn't kill your loved ones, would you?
Stepmother: Please, have mercy on me! Please don't kill me!
Those evil, wretched monsters! They dare call me family? They dare say they love me? They dare beg for mercy? AFTER EVERYTHING THEY'VE DONE TO ME!?"
Again, the writing was replaced with detailed drawings that depicted how each of the stepfamily members looked when they died. By now, Ruby felt the urge to vomit at this while Weiss hurried over to a dead plant nearby and threw up in the pot.
"I noticed something: when I killed them…it felt good. I felt no shame, no regret, no fear of the consequences. It felt good to see them suffer. My only regret is that I cannot relive it again and again and again."
Ruby groaned, letting the book slide from her hand before slowly falling down the wall. Reading that book was truly disturbing and disgusting, to see what Cinder had been through. She had started out as a kind, caring and innocent child who only wanted love and happiness, but was cruelly ripped away from her by her abusive stepfamily.
"No wonder she's consumed with hatred," Ruby whispered. "It's all she's ever known." Suddenly, she felt the anger in her heart; she couldn't explain where it was coming from, but all she could do was feel contempt and rage.
Weiss breathed heavily as she recovered from the vomiting; the drawings were far too detailed, showing exactly how Cinder killed each of them and it was very clear that she had poured all of her hatred into doing so.
"Those evil…" Ruby snarled. "How could they do such a thing? How?"
-0-
Oscar, Yang and Blake looked around the house for the kitchen, hoping there'd be some food. When they did find it, they couldn't find a single bit of fresh food; all of it was rotten and crawling with insects.
"Well, that's just great," Yang barked. "Now we have no food."
"Calm down, Yang," Blake spoke. "Don't get mad-"
"Don't get mad!?" Yang growled, her eyes red with anger. "We're in this mess because of Ozpin! I swear…" She then glared over at Oscar, who immediately became frightened by the sight of the blonde fighter.
"I should beat you to a pulp for throwing away my mother's life."
"I am NOT Ozpin," Oscar claimed. "I didn't know about this. I was just as surprised as you were-"
"Don't lie to me!" Yang interrupted, angrily, acting much angrier than usual. Blake stepped in front of her and put her hand on Yang's shoulder.
"Stop it," she demanded. "Ozpin was just as much a victim as we were. Didn't you pay attention to ANYTHING Jinn told us?"
"I saw EVERYTHING," Yang barked, smacking Blake's hand away. "That doesn't change what Ozpin's done either. He's not some tragic victim, he's a manipulator, a liar, a hypocrite-"
"At least he's not some hot-tempered brat like you!" Blake interrupted angrily. "All you do is complain, cry for your mom and bitch when things don't go your way!"
"At least I don't turn my back on those who need me! At least I didn't run away after promising not to do so! You're nothing but a pathetic coward!" Yang then pushed Blake, but instead put her hands on a Shadow Clone while Blake dodged.
"What are you going to do? Injure me like you injured Mercury?"
"Whoa, whoa," Oscar spoke in a rather stern tone, pushing the two girls away from each other. "What's going on here? This isn't like you at all."
"Maybe I'm tired of Blake always running away," Yang accused.
"Or maybe I'm tired of you always losing your temper," Blake shot back. "Maybe what happened to Mercury wasn't an accident."
"You bitch!" Yang shouted, but Oscar stopped her.
"Guys, stop!" Oscar told them, but neither listened. Blake pushed him aside and pounced onto Yang, starting a fight between the two.
"Hey, stop!" Oscar pleaded, scared of how quickly the anger between Yang and Blake had escalated. When he looked out the window past them, the farmhand immediately caught sight of a large, winged humanoid with large bat-like wings. Its piercing red eyes made contact with Oscar, who suddenly started to feel an immense anger in his heart. His attention turned away from the Grimm and back to the two girls fighting.
"I didn't ask for this!" he angrily shouted. "I was forced! I didn't have a say in the matter!"
"Why don't you shut up!?" Yang snarled, pushing Blake away. "You're the reason we're in this mess!" Their infighting continued, completely blind to the three creatures closing in on them.
-0-
"I hope Luna and Ruo are safe," Oren told Safirlas who looked in the basement.
"At least they're not carrying the Relic," Saf pointed out. "Honestly, I'm more worried about Math."
"Because Luna suggested she'd take him for herself if they were both single?" Oren asked, causing Saf's expression to twist with fear.
"Oh, no, THEN I'd be scared."
"Don't think anything of it; she's just joking. She wouldn't make a move on a man who's taken." Saf shook her head.
"I mean, after everything Ozpin did, Math hasn't trusted him at all; you saw how he treated him back in Mistral. But after all this…whatever chances Ozpin had to gain Math's trust is gone."
"I can't help but feel sorry for him," Oren claimed. "I mean, I'm not condoning what he did, but…man. I can't imagine what he's been through."
"So what?" Saf suddenly snapped angrily. "He brought this on himself. He chose to come back. He chose to lie, tell half-truths and treat everyone as expendable. He did this to himself…this is all his fault!"
"Saf, where is this coming from?" Oren asked, shocked by Saf's sudden outburst.
"My teammates are gone because of him! They died because he knew there was a threat in Beacon and he did nothing about it! Medeia, Rong, Imamu…all of them gone and it's all his fault."
Oren couldn't understand what was going on with Safirlas. Where did this sudden anger come from? Why was she suddenly so filled with hate towards Ozpin? The Lynx simply had no idea what to make of this.
"Saf, please calm down," Oren pleaded. "We'll just attract…" He looked out the window to see a winged humanoid, possibly a Grimm standing outside in the snow. When it opened its piercing red eyes, Oren accidentally made eye contact with it before feeling himself become consumed by a strange rage.
"Maybe your teammates wouldn't be dead if you had done something to protect them," Oren berated.
"What did you…?" Saf growled. "How dare you! You weren't there when they died. I tried to save them-"
"And all you did was sulk and be a bitch about it!" Oren interrupted. "You basically sat for months and did nothing while everyone else was risking their lives to protect their loved ones, their kingdoms!"
-0-
"What's going on?" Forest wondered as he heard fighting from the kitchen and basement. "What are they doing? They'll attract the Grimm."
"We're already attracting Grimm," Qrow dismissed. "That stupid Relic just-"
"Will you stop?" Forest demanded. "Something's wrong here and we need to find out what."
"Fine, fine," Qrow spoke. "Let's…what's that?" Both veterans looked outside the window to see a winged humanoid with its wings spread out. Judging by the long claws, irregular body portions and dark appearance, there was no doubt it was Grimm.
"Oh, no," Forest gasped as he recognized the Grimm. Just as it opened its eyes, Forest pulled Qrow away from the window and hid.
"Don't make eye contact with it," Forest warned.
"What are those?" Qrow questioned, breaking away from Forest's grasp.
"Furies," Forest answered. "I've only seen them in Grimm dictionaries; I almost didn't think they existed."
"Wait…THOSE Grimm?" Qrow gasped. "If they're here…"
"We need to get everyone out of here now!" Forest stated. The sound of dishes crashing in the kitchen could be heard along with feminine shouting and name calling.
"We need to snap them out of it!" Forest instructed. "Slap them if you have to, but do not make eye contact with those Grimm! Stay away from the windows!" A deafening screech was heard from outside, followed by the sounds of footsteps in the snow.
"Hurry!" Forest and Qrow went off in different directions to find everyone before the Furies could reach the house, all while fighting the urge to give into anger.
-0-
"What's going on at the manor?" Luna questioned the archer. "Why's it dangerous there?"
"The Furies," he answered. "These Grimm…they can instill anger in others; slowly by being near them and immediate through eye contact."
"So don't look them in the eye?" Luna guessed.
AAAAARRRRRRRREEEEEHHHHHH!
"What was that?" Ruo gasped.
"Oh, no," the archer spoke with immense concern. "That was one of them. They're about to attack, meaning everyone is too filled with rage to notice them!"
"We need to hurry!" Ruo insisted as they rushed back to the manor.
Author's Notes: The Furies are based off the Erinyes from Greek Mythology (both Kurt50Alien and Darth Stigma helped me with this). I hope you enjoyed this hopefully frightening chapter.