AN: I'm pleased at the reception the last chapter got, even as messed up as it was.
Once again, thanks to Lord Maximus for the help with this chapter.
Chapter 72
"I just got a text from Ruby," Jaune said, his team sitting around in their dorm room, the boy himself cuddling on his bed with Pyrrha. They had all seen what had happened to Yang, and were at an absolute loss for words. After what had happened, the finals had been postponed until the next day. "Yang's doing about as well as can be expected. She doesn't really want to talk to anyone, so I think we should give her some space right now."
"I can't believe he did that to her," Pyrrha said. "I never could have imagined that he would be so indescribably cruel."
"Can I break his legs?" Nora asked. "I really want to break his legs."
"While normally I would advise against such violence, I think we can make an exception here," Ren said.
"Honestly, I think I want to join you," Jaune said. "I just can't imagine doing something like that to someone that loved you. How could anyone just betray someone like that?"
"I think it says a lot about you that you can't picture something like that," Pyrrha said, hugging him a little tighter. He returned the hug with a smile when his scroll went off again.
"Ruby says her team chose to withdraw from the tournament, so she's asking you to make sure to win one for Beacon," he read. Pyrrha giggled a little.
"I'll make sure to do that," she said, and Jaune conveyed the message to his fellow leader.
"Then let's get you ready!" Nora yelled, suddenly wearing her workout clothes. "We gotta get your butt in shape for the big fight! It could be the most important fight of your entire life!"
"Um, I'm pretty sure Pyrrha is already in fantastic shape," Jaune commented. And he would know exactly how good a shape she was in. And her shape in general.
….And now he was remembering last night.
Was it hot in here?
Nope, it was just Pyrrha.
"Nora's right," Ren said, wearing a pink apron that read "Please do nothing to the cook". "You can't let your concern for Yang hold you back. You need to focus. You'll be the sole remaining representative of Beacon Academy."
"Of course," she said. Ren suddenly held a glass full of green bubbling liquid in front of her face. The smell was, uh… let's go with "interesting".
"This blend of herbs and vegetable is filled with nutrients vital to your body's well-being," he said proudly.
"Um, that's—" Pyrrha said.
"Please, there's no need to thank me," Ren said, interrupting her.
"Thank you?" Nora asked, looking at the drink in disgust. "Ugh, that looks like slime from a lakebed!"
"Algae contains numerous spectacular properties," Ren said defensively. "See for yourself." He held the glass up to her mouth, allowing her to take a reluctant sip. Her face instantly turned as green as the drink, and she dove straight for a waste bin, spitting every last drop of it out.
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" she shouted.
"Me?" Ren asked. "You're the one that wasted perfectly good juice."
"We're supposed to help Pyrrha, not poison her!"
"There was absolutely nothing wrong with that," Ren argued. Nora stared him down, her hands on her hips.
"If it looks the same coming up as it does going down, then there's something wrong!"
As Ren and Nora continued to argue, none of them noticed Pyrrha get up take the glass from Ren, and down the whole drink in one go. Jaune and Nora looked at her in shock, while Ren looked pleased with himself.
"Hm, not bad," she said.
It was very hard for the members of Team RWBY to get any sleep.
Especially Yang.
The humiliation and betrayal she had suffered at the hands of her ex-(likely soon to be dead) boyfriend had left a deep scar in her heart. It left her drained to the point that she couldn't get up from Blake's bed. Luckily Blake didn't mind and took Yang's bed, understanding the blonde girl's pain. Ruby wanted to be near her so she took the bottom bunk closest to her sister, while Weiss took the top. Zwei was lying on the floor in the middle of the room with his ears drooped. Yang was lying down, curled up into a ball, letting out the occasional sob.
A knock at the door drew Ruby's attention, who sighed as she got up to answer it.
"…Mom?" she asked.
Mom was right outside their room, looking over Ruby's shoulder towards where Yang was curled up.
"Is this a bad time?" she asked. Ruby shook her head and allowed her to enter, the blue-haired woman coming over to Yang's side and sitting next to her.
"Yang?" she asked. Yang curled up a bit more.
"I don't want to talk."
Mom had a sad look on her face, but nodded. "All right."
Then Yang felt Mom lie down next to her, wrapping her arms around her shoulders. This made Yang loosen up a bit but she also felt the urge to cry again.
"You don't have to say or do anything. I won't be going anywhere," Mom whispered soothingly into her daughters' ears. "You and Ruby were there for me. I will be here for you."
With a new set of tears Yang turned around and hugged Mom, burying her face into her mother's shoulders. There were a few moments of silence as Mom held her, letting her cry out her pain. It was a familiar comfort to the blonde girl, one she hadn't needed to indulge in since she was a child. Mom would do this whenever one of the sisters had a nightmare, just lie there with them and hold them.
And then it got even more familiar.
"When you walk away,
You don't hear me say,
'Please, oh baby, don't go."
Mom began singing, much to the surprise of her daughters, who instantly recognized this song from their childhood.
"Simple and clean is the way
That you're making me feel,
Tonight.
It's hard to let it go."
Weiss and Blake couldn't help but look and listen. They didn't know the professor could sing. She was no diva, but her voice was still soothing.
"You're giving me,
Too many things.
Lately, you're all I need.
You smiled at me, and said,
'Don't get me wrong, I love you.
But does that mean I have to meet your father'?
Mom kept on singing to Yang, softly rubbing her hair.
"When we are older you'll understand,
What I meant when I said, 'No,
I don't think life is quite that simple'."
Ruby felt some tears falling down her face now, remembering Mom singing this to her at night.
"When you walk away,
You don't hear me say,
'Please, oh baby, don't go'.
Simple and clean is the way
That you're making me feel tonight.
It's hard to let it go."
Yang's trembling gradually began to grow softer.
"So simple and clean.
The daily things,
Like this and that and what is what,
That keep us all busy,
Are confusing me.
That's when you came to me, and said,
'Wish I could prove I love you.
But does that mean I have to walk on water?'
When we are older you'll understand
It's enough when I say so,
And maybe some things are that simple."
Yang hadn't been like this since she was child. Even though she was a young woman now she found herself craving this comfort her mother was bringing her.
"When you walk away,
You don't hear me say,
'Please, oh baby, don't go.'
Simple and clean is the way
That you're making me feel tonight.
It's hard to let it go.
Yang cuddled up against her Mom.
"Hold me.
Whatever lies beyond this morning
Is a little later on.
Regardless of warnings
The future doesn't scare me at all.
Nothing's like before."
Looking down, Aqua could see Yang had closed her eyes and was on the verge of falling asleep.
"…Do you want me to go?" Yang's arms around her tightened.
"Please… just a little longer." Aqua smiled, relaxing on the bed.
"As long as you want." She looked up at Ruby was gazing tearfully at them and smiled, making a hidden gesture. Ruby immediately walked over and lied down on Aqua's other side, hugging both her and Yang just like before. As Weiss and Blake looked on, both suddenly thought about their own mothers. Weiss remembered how her mother used to be kind and devoted to her, Winter, and their brother once, even standing up to their father and getting angry about missing birthdays she worked so hard to make special for her children.
As for Blake, she remembered how kind and supportive her own mother had been to her, and it made her feel guilty about what she had thought of them when her father had stepped down from the White Fang. She hadn't even spoken to them in a few years but seeing how devoted Aqua was to Ruby and Yang, even though they were not her biological daughters, it invoked deep in both of them.
"This pain will fade in time, but it will remain with you, even as it gets better," Aqua whispered to Yang. "Just give yourself time to try and heal. And remember that you are not alone."
Yang sniffed but relaxed against Aqua, falling into a deep, peaceful slumber.
"So, how are you doing, Firecracker?" Uncle Qrow asked, visiting the dorms the next morning. Apparently he had been out in Vale the night before looking for… him, which was why Mom came alone. Speaking of Mom, she ended up spending the night, the three of them all huddled together on the bed. Weiss and Blake had already left, deciding to go to the festival grounds to get away from everything. Yang couldn't exactly blame them.
"I'm doing better than I was yesterday," she said, cradling Zwei in her lap and petting him.
"That's good at least," he said. "I'm planning on heading back into Vale today, pick the search back up."
"Good luck," Yang said. "When you find him, let me get a few good hits in."
"Will do," he said with a chuckle. "By the way, I spoke to Cinder. She said she and Emerald were going to look for him, too, so they won't be around."
"I'll thank them later."
"I think I'll go with Qrow," Mom said. "I want to help look for him. He needs to learn what happens when you piss off a mother."
"Should I go with you?" Ruby asked.
"Actually, I think you should stay out of this, kiddo," Uncle Qrow said. "At this point, we don't know what he'd be willing to pull with someone like you, and I'd rather you stayed far away from him until we catch him."
"But—"
"No buts," Mom said. "How about you go to the arena and cheer on Pyrrha?"
"But, what about Yang?" Ruby asked. "Are you fine to be left alone?"
"I'll be fine. I've got Zwei," Yang said, holding up the dog, who barked happily. The pure raw emotion of the night before had started to fade, but Yang had no intention of leaving the dorm room that day. After all, everyone she could have possibly run into had seen the video.
"…Well, okay."
Ruby was sitting down in the arena by herself, still finding herself eager to watch the fights despite everything that had happened. She looked around the area around her, only to spot a familiar head of green hair on the other side, staring down intently at the finalists.
"Wait…" Ruby said, looking closer at the person. "Emerald?" What was she doing here? Wasn't she supposed to be out looking for Mercury? Ruby quickly got up from her seat, looked around to make sure no one was watching, and entered a door labeled as a maintenance corridor. As she walked into the hallway, she could hear Doctor Oobleck's voice over the loudspeakers, though he was a bit muffled.
"All right, it's now time to begin the randomization process for our next fight!" As she continued walking, someone stepped out of a nearby room, standing directly in her path.
It was a boy with a very familiar head of grey hair.
"Mercury?" she asked reluctantly. She was shocked to see a marking on his face. He had a patch of angry red, blistered skin in the shape of handprint on the left side of his face. How had that happened?
It was almost like someone had lit their hand on fire and pressed it against his face, but the only person she knew who could do that was… Cinder.
Had she found him? If so, why hadn't she turned him in?
And why hadn't she told them?
"It looks like our first contender is… Penny Polendina from Atlas…" Professor Port announced.
"What are you doing?" she asked Mercury, preparing to summon her Keyblade.
"And her opponent will be… Pyrrha Nikos from Beacon!" Mercury smirked as much as his damaged facial muscles would allow, and Ruby's eyes widened as she realized what was going on.
"No…" she said.
"Oh, polarity versus metal," he said. "That could be bad."
"What's going on?' Ruby demanded. Instead of answering, his smirk only grew and he adopted a combat stance. "Fine. If you're not going to tell me…" she summoned Crescent Rose and dashed towards him with her Semblance, readying a strike.
To her surprise, he was fast enough to intercept her, kicking her twice in the chest. She fell backwards, before hearing another announcement.
"3, 2, 1, begin!"
"Showtime," Mercury said.
She ran towards him again, kicking off the wall to gain a height advantage, but he caught her by the throat and slammed her into the floor. She quickly used her Semblance to back up, trying to put some distance between them, pulling out her scroll at the same time to call for help.
But the second she landed, a shot rang out, knocking the device out of her hand.
"Let's just keep this between us friends," he said before approaching her. She pointed her Keyblade at him.
"Petalra!" she shouted, sending a stream of razor-sharp rose petals at him. To her surprise, he just jumped into the stream, placing his legs in front of him to absorb the attack. She barely ducked out of the way as he emerged from the other end, tears appearing on his pant legs to reveal metal underneath.
He has prosthetic legs?
She didn't waste time thinking about it, instead bolting past him with her Semblance, running further down the hall, leaving him behind. She burst through the doors, arriving at the other side of the arena and looked down at the fight…
…Just in time to see Pyrrha use her Semblance to force the wires controlling Penny's swords to wrap around the mechanical girl's body. She watched as her arms and waist crumpled under the strain, and right before her eyes, Penny Polendina, the sweet, naïve girl who was ecstatic to have a friend, was ripped in half.
"Penny…" Ruby said, tears flooding her eyes as she fell to her knees.
A black queen chess piece appeared on the big screen.
"This is not a tragedy." That voice. Cinder?! "This was not an accident. This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, your children, to men who claim to be our guardians, but are, in reality, nothing more than men. Our Academies' Headmasters wield more power than most armies, and one was audacious enough to control both.
"They cling to this power in the name of peace, and yet, what do we have here? One nation's attempt at a synthetic army, mercilessly torn apart by another's star pupil. What need would Atlas have for a soldier disguised as an innocent little girl? I don't think the Grimm can tell the difference.
"And what, I ask you, are Lionheart and Ozpin teaching their students? First a public humiliation, and now this? Huntsmen and Huntresses should carry themselves with honor and mercy, yet I have witnessed neither.
"Perhaps Ozpin felt as though defeating Atlas in the Tournament would help people forget his colossal failure to protect Vale when the Grimm invaded its streets. Or perhaps this was his message to the tyrannical dictator that has occupied an unsuspecting kingdom with armed forces. Honestly, I haven't the slightest clue as to who is right and who is wrong. But I know the existence of peace is fragile, and the leaders of our kingdoms conduct their business with iron gloves.
"As someone who hails from Mistral, I can assure you the situation there is… equally undesirable. Our Kingdoms are on the brink of war, yet we, the citizens, are left in the dark. So I ask you: When the first shots are fired… who do you think you can trust?"
The broadcast ended, the screen turning black…
And then all hell broke loose.
AN: Lord Maximus was the one who suggested having Aqua sing Simple and Clean as a lullaby, and I loved it. Plus, it gave us a nice moment before everything went to shit.
Not much else to say about this chapter. Also, I'm surprised people didn't seem to notice, but the flashback last chapter contained a pretty big hint as to what exactly's been going on with Cinder.
As always, thank you very much for reading, and I'll see you all next time!