I don't own anything from RWBY, that honor belongs to Rooster Teeth

Chapter 6

A spark of hope.

A spark of hope was all that she needed from Weiss, but before either of them could even take it in or savor it, Ruby began to feel soo drowsy and tired… Laying her head on Weiss's lap, it was sooo tempting just to fall asleep. But right as she started to give into the temptation… she found herself… nowhere. No stars, no sky, no ground… just the void. Weiss was nowhere to be seen, and now Ruby felt like she had a splitting headache. Right as she began to fall however, she felt a strong push against her chest that brought her back to reality.

Howling in agony, Ruby looked down in horror to find that somehow her most feral side had been released. As the fur and teeth began to form all over her, almost trying to force their way out, Ruby fell to her knees whimpering in pain. The pain… the stress was getting too much. At this rate, she was going to pass out.

Turning around to find Weiss's terrified eyes looking into her with horror, she let out a sob. She had never wanted to put Weiss in this position. If anything, she would've found someplace to leave or somewhere she could lock herself up whenever… this side of her would come out. And now here she was, forcing it atop the one person trying to help her in the world.

Clutching her head in her hands as the pain in her head got even worse, Ruby desperately screamed out at Weiss, begging her to throw her someplace and lock her up and to not leave her alone until the night was over. Howling as the last few pieces of fur grew, Ruby found herself pushed into a room with the door shut. Breathing out slightly, she forcefully restrained herself to not make a single step towards the doors.

But as the animalistic instinct inside of her grew, she was starting to find it harder and harder to ignore her… feral nature.

'Tear out her throat.'

'Destroy this place'

'Roam the wilds free, away from this… cage.'

'Return to me.' The voices spoke, all tempting her as she tried desperately to keep herself from falling into their traps. The last one especially concerned her. Who wanted her to return? Why had they begun to invade her mind? What did… they want with her?

And then… everything hit her at once. The first attack… the one that led to her being shipped into Atlas like some wild animal, the days where all she ran free throughout Atlas begging to find her sister again, the weeks of experimentation with magic at some Cinder Fall's hands… the cuts and scars she got from all of them… all opened up again. She just wanted it all to stop… for all the voices to just quiet down and let her rest.

As she clutched her head, falling further to the floor all she could think about was escape. To run away like she had before. To leave this place behind and… return to Cinder? No! That wasn't what she wanted! Right? She just wanted to escape from here… to find someplace she could… wait for her master to come?!

Whimpering in pain as she fell to the floor, she could only look up at the door, raising her hand up to it, begging for something or someone to help. Praying for someone to come in and rid her of her pain.

She didn't know what was happening, let alone if she was going to survive this whole mess. Her body wasn't hers anymore and her mind had already started to fracture.

"Weiss... help. Pl-please!" She whispered, as her hand fell to the floor and her eyes shut, while her mind spiraled into… the darkness.

Waking up, Ruby found herself… in the void. Nothing but black all around to watch her by as she fell. She didn't know where she was, what was happening to her or what was even going on. Hell, she couldn't even remember how she got here. She was just… falling.

As her mind began to shift away from the void however, she found herself back at the alleyway with Yang but this time she was watching the whole scene unfold. Yang had been drugged to the floor while she had been taken atop the back of one of the men, whose masks stopped her from seeing who they were.

Rushing toward them, she tried desperately to fight only for her to pass right through them and end up hitting her head against the wall.

When her eyes opened again, she found herself in a warehouse of some kind. As she tried to move around she found herself strapped to a table, her arms and legs bound. Struggling against the bonds, she tried desperately to break then only to find herself stuck to the table.

Taking a deep breath, she tried again only to feel a searing sensation of pain as the braces began to burn into her. Tears welling in her eyes from the pain, she looked around to find a figure out in the darkness.

"Oh… you're awake. A pity, what follows next isn't the most comfortable of… procedures." The voice said, with Ruby clearly making out it was a woman.

"Please… just let me go. I don't want anything to do with-" Ruby pleaded, tears rolling down her cheek as she begged for her life.

"Shhhh… you're not going to die from this. That would be a real shame. After all it's not common for me to find someone with silver eyes." The woman said putting a finger to her mouth, shutting her up. "No, I have… bigger plans for you. You see, your eyes are a rather rare thing amongst weres and humans alike. And well… let's just say I intend to find out every last one of those properties before I finally bring her back."

"Please…" Ruby begged, as the woman merely laughed and delicately rubbed off the tear.

"Don't worry little pet. You won't feel a thing soon enough." She said, before running a knife against Ruby's chest, making her scream in agony.

She just wanted it all to stop. The burning, the pain. She didn't know what she had done to deserve it all. All she wanted was for Yang to be back.As she passed out from the pain again, her last thoughts shifted to Yang as the void took her again.

Waking up again, Ruby found herself at an alleyway, now fully a wolf, the cuts across her chest and her injured leg still searing hot with pain. The rain wasn't doing much to help either, flaring up the wounds all across her body. What even was the point of all of this?

She had nowhere to go, nowhere to run. She was just… stuck there without anything to help her. As she listlessly turned her head around, she was startled by the sound of footsteps. Getting up as quickly as she could, she found herself being stared down by a woman with white hair and blue eyes.

And she was armed with an umbrella. Backing away from her, almost immediately she tried to howl to scare her away only for it to come out as a low whimper. Baring her fangs as the woman got closer, she wondered if this woman was here just to use her like a kicking bag like so many others.

As she ended up unable to move any further, she merely resigned herself to her fate. Surely this woman was here to hurt her like everyone else. Right?

Right?

"Relax, I'm not…. Hurt you." Was all Ruby was able to make out before she felt a warm hand ruffling her hair. After so long of just being punched, kicked or being cut by everyone around her, Ruby had expected much the same from this lady.

But instead of tearing her down, she was just… making her feel happy. Like her sister used to. Letting out a soft whimper, she suddenly felt extremely warm behind her ears. Looking up she found that the woman had begun scratching them instead.

Blinking furiously as she tried to comprehend what was going on, she was starting to wonder if she was dreaming. It had been so long since she had felt this warm… this loved.

But the moment was not to last as Ruby noticed someone behind the lady, raising a bottle against the lady's head. Baring her fangs, she jumped into action, ignoring the searing pain in her leg.

Getting in one bite, she tried to hold on to the person, only to receive a blow to her head as her strength gave out. As once again her mind faded into nothing, she felt oddly content knowing she felt the feeling of warmth and love one last time.

Waking up in the void again, Ruby felt defeated.

There were no hopes, no dreams, just an empty abyss with nothing but nightmares and bad memories. And honestly, given the things that seemed to happen to her, she wasn't too opposed to just let the endless night take her.

Right as she began to close her eyes and accepted the fact that she wasn't escaping, however she heard her… name?

She couldn't make out who said it or from where… but just that little spark. The tiny ounce of recognition was enough to spark the dying embers of hope in her soul. Reaching out into the void, she found a spark. As she held onto it, hoping that she wouldn't forget she could find herself slowing down.

As she got herself back up on something she turned around trying to look for something to give her an escape. Taking a deep breath, she got herself back up on her feet. The pain in her head turned into a distant ringing as she kept on walking aimlessly. Right as she began to panic over where to go, she heard her name again from some direction.

Turning to the voice, she found a path of white among the dark of the night. As she kept on walking, the less things looked like a void and the more it began to look like an endless field. Before long, she found herself running along a meadow of roses. Her favorite. Following the path that had begun to start glowing, she found it led to a garden of roses marked with roses.

Stopping to catch her breath, she found herself taken aback by the smell of roses filling her mind with the sweet memories of old. Walking further along, she found herself looking into memories both old and new. But unlike the ones before… they were… happy ones.

She remembered her sister Yang, taking care of her. Brushing her fur, scratching her ears, patting her head and supporting Ruby in every way. From the way she hugged her, from the way she helped her sleep at night any time she had a nightmare, Ruby could remember it all now. There were no more clouds in her mind to stop her from remembering her sister.

Carrying on further, she was surprised to find that the memories didn't stop. In fact, if anything they all felt so much more familiar to her, as Weiss was there! From the moment they met in that alleyway, to the way she took care of her and helped her sleep comfortably for the first time in a long time, to her being one of the few people in her life to give her real affection ever since she lost Yang.

The way she took care of her, helping her brush her fur, and just in general making her feel like she wasn't forgotten by the world around her. In many ways, Weiss had become the last line that still connected her to this world, after so many of her previous ones were taken away. Assuming Ruby made it out of this alive, she would have to tell Weiss just how much of an importance she really was to her.

But once the path ended, she was confronted with a rather disturbing vision. A vision of her holding up Weiss by the throat, her werewolf side lacking any emotion as Cinder remained behind her, smiling as she watched the events go down. Rushing forward, the vision faded away to reveal a garden house.

As she frantically looked around, searching for Weiss, she called out for her name only to get… nothing. She was still… all alone. But instead of falling into despair like before, Ruby was getting mad. She was tired of not having any control, she was tired of having her power, her gift taken away from her.Her fangs bared, and a low growl began to form in her throat.

She was done being a pet for someone else, now she was going to take her own life back into her hands. Hearing her name, being called out again, Ruby this time found the source of the voice in the middle of the garden house, which was a white rose surrounded by a patch of roses. Smelling, it she was immediately reminded of Weiss and that vision from before.

As the image flashed in her mind one more time, the sound of Weiss's voice ringing in her ears, Ruby's mind kicked into overdrive. She had to get out of here, anyway possible. She wasn't going to let herself be someone else's tool again.

And that's when she heard a voice, it was much too quiet to make out whose it was, but she could make out what it was saying.

"Aren't the roses pretty? Why don't you pick one up?" The voice said, not forceful in any way. Just giving a suggestion.

"Don't you dare! Leave it where it belongs!" Another voice rang in, its harsh tone oppressive and forceful. Just hearing it was already starting to make her head hurt.

And she was done listening to it.

Howling in rage, she drowned out the voices and took the rose in her mouth as she noticed the path before her reform. Running faster than ever before in her life, she took the chance when she could and bolted along the path. She was going to get back to Weiss and she was going to protect her from whatever Cinder could do to her.

Finding herself back inside her body, Ruby let go of Weiss the first second she could and turned to face Cinder. The feeling of numbness flaring in her legs, Ruby powered through it as she grabbed the crystal in Cinder's hand and threw her to the ground. Crushing the crystal in her grip, she was caught off guard by the witch drawing a knife on her at first but unlike last time, it could barely even cut into her skin before Ruby slashed her all over with her claws.

She might have heard some faint sound coming from Cinder's mouth but honestly in the moment she was too angry to care what she had to say. All that mattered was keeping her away from Weiss. Grabbing her by the back, she slammed Cinder down on the ground before picking her back up and throwing her around like a ragdoll outside the house. Looking outside the house, to find Cinder completely defeated and looking at her with a glare of pure hatred.

Something in her voice told her to go after her, to leave Weiss and get her revenge. But right now, Weiss was too important. Cinder could wait. Howling out into the night, she made her message clear to Cinder. Stay Away.

Turning back around to the house and finding Weiss on the floor clutching her throat as she looked up at Ruby, she tried to give a smile, but only was able to bare her fangs… which probably wasn't the most comforting thing to see after a werewolf held you up by the throat. However right as she went down to maybe comfort Weiss, the pain in her head returned like a splitting headache. Her hands and legs felt numb, and she was finding it difficult to stay awake.

Looking into Weiss's horrified eyes as she tried to stay awake, her strength finally gave out and she fell unconscious.