AN: So, I watched the most recent episode. I know this shouldn't have been my take-away after the big reveal, but this episode totally justifies my hatred for Ironwood.

Chapter 47

The Atlesian soldier escorting Yang removed the leather strip from her mouth and released the cables holding her wrists behind her back, before shoving her into a cell behind Weiss and Blake. For some reason, Ruby had been brought to a separate location. She turned around to try to confront the soldier, but a hard light wall appeared in front of her face.

"Hey, assholes!" she yelled, since she could talk again, her eyes red. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Quiet," the soldier behind the hard light shield ordered.

"No!" Yang yelled. "Why the fuck are we under arrest?! And where's my sister?!"

"General Ironwood ordered your arrest," the soldier said. "Your leader is the prime suspect in an attempted murder investigation."

"What?" Weiss asked. "That's ridiculous! Ruby would never do something like that!"

"Let us out, you jackasses!" Yang yelled, punching the hard light wall.

"Knock it off before I restrain you," the soldier ordered. "Listen, General Ironwood said to arrest all of you, so we did."

"Well then, can we at least talk to the General?" Blake asked.

"Of course not. He's too busy to deal with a couple of kids. When he decides it's time for your interrogation, we'll let you out. Until then sit down and shut up."

"Do you know who I am?" Weiss asked. "I'm Weiss Schnee. Do you really think it's acceptable to hold the Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company prisoner for no reason?"

"I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason, girlie," the man said.

"What reason could there possibly be?" Yang asked.

"Like I said, your leader is the prime suspect of an attempted murder. You're being held as possible accomplices."

"That's stupid!" Yang yelled, punching the wall again. "Where is my sister?!"

"I said knock it off!" the soldier yelled.

"Make me!" Yang yelled back.

"Uh, Yang, maybe you shouldn't taunt the armed guard," Blake said nervously, but she went ignored.

"I warned you!" the soldier said, gesturing for a few more men to come back him up. "Restrain her!" he shouted.

Ruby was escorted down a dimly-lit hallway, armed guards on either side of her. She had been taken to a separate area from the rest of her team, and her restraints had been swapped out. Over her pajamas she wore a white bodysuit. The sleeves of the suit were extra long, and they had strapped her in so her arms were stuck crossed in front of her, as if she was hugging herself. The suit had a large collar with straps on it, and it was tightened over her mouth to stop her from talking. The suit hung down her legs, almost like the dress she wore for the dance. Except this one had zippers that were currently undone, and straps that were currently hanging from her legs.

In short, it was a suit that could easily restrain her entire body and gag her. Honestly, the fact that her hands were stuck in the sleeves was the worst part, since it meant she couldn't even summon her Keyblade.

She was brought to a small cell, and led inside. She was led to the bench along one wall, and she sat down. One of the soldiers escorting her zipped up the lower half of the suit, encasing her legs entirely, and did up the straps. He reached up to the collar and loosened that strap, allowing her to talk.

"Please," she said as soon as the collar was loosened. "Why are you doing this? What did I do?"

"Ruby Rose, you are the primary suspect in a murder investigation," the soldier said.

"What are you talking about?" Ruby asked. "I never murdered anybody."

"General Ironwood seems to think you did."

"But that's insane!" Ruby said. "Why would he think I did something like that?"

"We don't get paid to ask questions, Miss," the soldier said. "We get paid to do what he tells us."

"Well, where's the rest of my team?" she asked. "They got arrested with me. What did you do with them?"

"Your team is being held in a separate location," the soldier informed her. "And it's in their best interest that you cooperate."

"What does that mean?"

"It means their safety depends on how much you choose to cooperate with us." Ruby looked up, but said nothing else. She understood now what he meant. "Now, you're going to stay here and out of trouble. Understood?"

"…Yes," she said.

"Good." The soldier left the cell, closing the door behind him.

She was left by herself in the suffocating silence.

…Until she heard a familiar chuckle from the cell next to hers.

"Well, well, well," Torchwick's voice said. "Isn't this a surprise?"

"T-Torchwick?" Ruby asked.

"Aw, come on, Red," the man said. "We're cellmates now. Call me Roman. I'll even call you Ruby, if it helps. So, what are you in for?"

"I didn't do anything," she asserted.

"Sure you didn't," Torchwick said, and she could practically hear him roll his eyes. "That's what they all say. Although, Ol' Irondick is about as paranoid as a Dust addict right now, so I'd believe it. But he must think you did something pretty bad if you're in here with little old me."

"As if I'd ever do something as bad as you," she spat. He only chuckled in response.

Ruby knew she shouldn't be talking to someone like Roman Torchwick, but honestly, the silence otherwise was too uncomfortable.

Besides, when else would she get an opportunity like this?

"Why did you do it?" She asked.

"Hm?"

"Why did you do it?" She repeated. "You opened up a breach in Vale and let Grimm into the city. You've been working with the White Fang to steal Dust for months, and you just used it to make bombs. Why? What was it all for?"

"…Chaos," he said.

"Chaos?"

"Yup."

"That's it?"

"What other reason do I need, Ruby? I'm a bad guy. We do bad things. There isn't always a reason for why bad things happen. The sooner you realize that, the easier life will be."

"I don't believe that," Ruby said.

"Oh, for the love of—" Torchwick said. "How naïve can you get?"

"That's not what I mean," she said. "I know bad things just happen for no reason sometimes, but I don't think you did this for no reason. Even you aren't that cruel."

"Oh?" Torchwick asked. "And whatever gives you that impression, Ruby? I've tried to kill you and your friends on several occasions, I kidnapped you, and I unleashed the biggest Grimm horde in recent Vale history on the city. Why would you think-?"

"Because you cared about that girl," Ruby interrupted. "I saw you. You told her to get out before the train crashed. What was her name again?"

"…Neo," he answered. "Her name is Neo."

"Yeah, her," Ruby said. "You even held her and said goodbye. And then she let me and my sister go when she easily could have killed us. I can't believe that someone who cares that much for another person would do something so needlessly cruel for no reason. Or that someone who would show mercy like that would work with someone completely rotten."

"…You're more observant than I gave you credit for," Roman said. "But you're still not getting anything out of me."

"Well, why didn't you kill me when you had the chance?" Ruby asked.

"Are you complaining?" he asked in response.

"No, but I wanna know."

"How old are you?" he asked.

"I'm fifteen," Ruby answered, "But what does that have to do with anything?"

"…You're around her age."

"Who's age? Neo's?" He didn't answer. "She didn't look that much older than me. How did she end up as your partner?"

"That's enough," he said.

"You love her, don't you?"

"She's the most precious thing in the world to me," he said, actually sounding angry for some reason. "I'm done talking. I won't let you ruin this for her."

A pounding on the door woke Aqua up. She stumbled out of bed and walked towards the door when the pounding continued.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" she shouted, and opened the door, only to be greeted by several armed Atlesian soldiers.

"Aqua Branwen?" the soldier asked.

"Yes?" she said uneasily.

"General Ironwood would like to have you brought in for questioning."

"Why?" she asked.

"It's about Ruby Rose and her team."

"What's this about?" Aqua asked, narrowing her eyes.

"It's not my place to say." In other words, he didn't know.

"And the guns?" she asked, gesturing to the soldiers' weapons. "What are they for?"

"For if you resist," the soldier said. "Are you going to?" They stared each other down for a few seconds.

"…No."

"So, what's this about?" Aqua asked, after being escorted to Ironwood's office on his flagship. She was sitting across the desk from him.

"Late last night, I ordered my men to take Ruby Rose and her team into custody," he said calmly.

"You did what?!" Aqua asked, standing up abruptly. "Why?!"

"That's classified."

"The hell it is!" Aqua yelled. "Those are my daughters, you bucket of bolts! I don't know what you think they did, but this is ridiculous! You let them go right now!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Ironwood said, still just as calm as always. "They are part of an ongoing investigation, and Miss Rose is the prime suspect."

"The prime suspect of what?!" she asked. "What could you possibly think she did?"

Instead of answering, Ironwood pressed a button on his desk, displaying footage of Ruby using an Aero spell to catch a large group of people. Her eyes widened.

"…So you knew about this," he said, his voice taking on a hard edge. He pressed another button, and a squad of soldiers poured into the room. They all pointed rifles at her, and when she turned around to look at them, she felt something slam into her back.

She was knocked over, and cables wrapped themselves around her arms, pinning them to her sides.

"Aqua Branwen, you are under arrest as an accomplice of Ruby Rose," Ironwood said, walking out of the room with his hands folded behind his back. He had never once shown an ounce of emotion the whole time he was in the room. "Take her to the rest of Miss Rose's teammates."

Weiss was shocked when the cell door opened and Professor Branwen of all people was shoved into the cell with them, her wrists still held behind her back with a Gravity Dust bola.

"Professor?" Weiss and Blake asked. Yang attempted to say something, too, but all she was currently capable of was garbled gibberish. The soldier had made good on his promise to restrain her for acting out, and they had used several bolas to tie her up, and used a leather strap to stop her from talking. She had spent the entire time since thrashing around on the floor, not able to do much else.

"Yang!" The professor yelled at seeing the state the blonde girl was in. She tried to turn on the soldier escorting her, but he pointed his rifle at her face.

"Back up," he ordered, and the professor begrudgingly agreed, backing away to the opposite wall of the cell. "Weiss Schnee, you're free to go," he said.

"What?" she asked.

"General Ironwood said I was to let you out of the cell. You're free to go."

Weiss knew what was going on. It would cause too much of a political problem if he held the heiress of the SDC in prison, especially when she clearly never did anything. She growled.

"No," she said.

"I'm sorry?" the soldier asked.

"If the general thinks I'm going to just abandon my team to save him from having to deal with Father, then he has another thing coming," Weiss said, crossing her arms. "This is my team, and I won't just leave them behind."

"Weiss," Blake said.

"…Very well," the soldier said. "I'll tell the general you declined." He turned around to leave.

"Wait!" Professor Branwen said. "Where's Ruby?"

"I can't tell you that."

"Please, she's my daughter," the professor said. "I just want to know if she's okay." The man sighed.

"She's being held in the maximum security wing of the prison area," he answered. "Last I heard, she's fine."

"Thank you," the professor said.

"Yes, thanks," Weiss said, and summoned a black glyph underneath the soldier. She slammed him up into the ceiling, and back down to the ground, knocking him unconscious. She took the soldier's scroll out of his pocket, and pressed a button, releasing the restraints on Yang and the professor.

"Holy crap, Weiss," Yang said after she was freed and had taken the leather strip out of her mouth.

"Let's go," Weiss said, opening up a map of the ship on the soldier's stolen scroll. "We have a leader to rescue."

The elevator opened up, allowing James to step out into Ozpin's office. Ozpin pinched the bridge of his nose at this unannounced visit, and turned to face him.

He was the last person Ozpin wanted to deal with this early in the morning.

"James," he said. "To what do I owe this visit?"

"I found her," James said.

"Found who?"

"Autumn's attacker."

"…I beg your pardon?" Ozpin asked.

"I found Autumn's attacker and have brought her into custody, along with her accomplices."

"Well, that's fantastic news," Ozpin said, pleasantly surprised at this turn of events. "Who was it?"

"Team RWBY and Aqua." And just like that, Ozpin was back to being frustrated.

"That's ridiculous," Ozpin said. "Team RWBY have been exemplary students, and Aqua has given me no reason to mistrust her." Unlike you went unsaid.

"Then how do you explain this?" James said, and showed him video footage of Ruby using magic to save a group of people.

Oh dear. This was a problem.

"That's not what you think it is," the headmaster said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" James asked. "This is clearly magic."

"I know what it is, James, but I can guarantee you it's not the same."

"How can you be so certain?" James said. "You yourself told me that there were only four people in this world that can use magic. She isn't one of them because you would have told us. Where else could she have possibly gotten magic if not from Autumn?!"

"As it turns out, there is more to the situation than you know," Ozpin said, trying to come up with the best way to tell James about the Keyblade.

"I'm not sure what you think you-!" James started to say, but his scroll ringing interrupted him. "Yes?" There was a pause as he listened to the person calling him. "I'll be right there." He put the scroll away, and fixed a glare on Ozpin. "I just received word that Aqua and the remaining members of Team RWBY have broken out of their cell and have taken out several of my men. I need to contain the situation."

"The situation you caused," Ozpin remarked.

"I don't want to hear it right now," James said. "Come with me so you can hear their guilt straight from them."

"According to the map, if should be right down this hallway," Weiss said, holding the stolen scroll in front of her. They had met with some resistance, but they were no match for Aqua and her Keyblade.

"You guys do realize that we just made an enemy of Atlas, right?" Blake asked.

"Doesn't matter," Yang snapped. "They have Ruby, and we aren't leaving without her."

"Having second thoughts?" Aqua asked.

"No," Blake said. "I just wanted to make sure we all knew the score. Being a fugitive probably isn't that bad."

"Well, hello, ladies," Torchwick's voice said from one of the cells.

"Torchwick?" Aqua asked.

"Guys?" Ruby's voice called from the cell next to his. "Mom?"

"Ruby!" Yang yelled, running up to the cell door. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Ruby said,

"They put you next to Torchwick?" Weiss asked. "Isn't there some law about cruel and unusual punishment?"

"Hey, I'll have you know I'm a great cellmate, Ice Queen," Torchwick said.

"Hey!"

"In fact, Ruby and I were having a lovely conversation before you butted in."

Aqua held her Keyblade in front of the cell door, and a beam of light shot into it, opening the door, and allowing them to enter Ruby's cell.

Aqua's heart broke.

None of them were prepared to see the young girl, usually so innocent and sweet, strapped into a full-body straitjacket like some deranged lunatic. It almost brought her to tears, especially when Ruby looked up at them with those hopeful eyes of hers.

"Ruby!" Yang yelled, picking her up and carrying her out of the cell. She put her down, and tried to get to work on the numerous straps holding the thing closed.

"What was Ironwood thinking, putting you in this?" Aqua said.

"I was thinking she's a dangerous criminal," Ironwood's voice said behind them. Aqua quickly turned around and launched a wave of fire from her weapon.

It wasn't a moment too soon, either, as several Gravity Dust Bolas had been thrown at them while their backs were turned. The flames burned through them, rendering them useless.

The General himself was pointing his pistol at them, with several Atlesian Knights as backup. Ozpin was next to him, sending the General a disapproving look. Aqua pointed her Keyblade at the general while Yang kept fiddling with Ruby's straitjacket.

"You're going to get Ruby out of that thing, right now!" she said.

"How did you get your weapon back?" Ironwood asked, completely ignoring her demand.

"That's the nature of her weapon," Ozpin explained. "It's also the source of their magic."

"What?" Ironwood asked, looking at the headmaster in shock.

"Ozpin!" Aqua yelled. That wasn't his secret to share!

"I'm sorry Aqua, but James seeing Ruby's magic is what caused all of this," Ozpin explained. "The only way to fix this is to explain to him what the Keyblade is."

"…Fine," she said.

"Don't worry, I'll handle this."

"Ozpin, what are you talking about?" Ironwood demanded.

"Both Aqua and Ruby are wielders of a weapon called 'the Keyblade'. It grants them many fantastic abilities, one of which is the ability to wield magic."

"But that's impossible!" Ironwood yelled. "You said—"

"I know what I said," Ozpin interrupted him. "But the existence and true nature of the Keyblade is a closely-guarded secret. None of the other headmasters know of it. Glynda doesn't even know of it. I know you hate not being told everything, James, but some secrets are kept for a reason."

"Wait," Aqua said. "How did Ruby using magic lead to him assuming that she was a criminal?'

Ozpin sighed deeply. "That's a bit more complicated to explain. I suppose I'll have to start by asking you a question."

"Ozpin…" Ironwood said warningly. The headmaster ignored him.

"What's your favorite fairy tale?"

AN: So, the straitjackets that Ruby and Torchwick are wearing are based off the one C.C. wears from Code Geass (BTW a great anime if you haven't seen it).

Ironwood has screwed up so badly that the Maiden's have to be revealed to Team RWBY. Damn, he sucks. I don't really have much to say except now we have to deal with the fallout of that happened here.

As always, thanks for reading, and I'll see you all next time.

SPOILERS FOR VOLUME 8 EPISODE 8

As I said before, this isn't the biggest reveal, but this episode cemented my hatred for Ironwood. While they were dealing with the Hound, Penny lost control to Watss's hack, and revealed that Ironwood ordered her to open the vault and then kill herself.

What the fuck?!

If there was any remote hope of Ironwood coming to his sense and being redeemed, that went right the fuck out the window with this stunt. I'm just counting the days now until that bastard dies.