New Divide
I remembered black skies; the lightning all around me.
I remembered each flash as time began to blur.
Like a startling sign that fate had finally found me.
And your voice was all I heard, 'That I get what I deserve'
-Linkin Park 'New Divide'
Ruby is in the rose garden pacing around, running her hands through her shorter hair trying to force herself to calm down. This was not going the way she planned, "Why the hell did that happen? It was a simple spar!" She yelled at herself, "Against my sister! A simple spar against my own sister damn it!"
She sat on the bench now and hid her face in her hands and rubbed her eyes. Trying to re-acclimate herself as a student was failing miserably. There was just too much damage that was done. Both emotionally and mentally. Something that she was not coming back from, at least not until her main objective was completed.
She sighed, she knew what she had to do. There was no other way around it, lifting her head up, she felt resigned as she took a deep breath. Her backpack was on the ground, with Crescent Rose next to it. She eyed her precious and loyal friend and recalled the vow she had made upon its blade. She couldn't sit ideally by here at the school when she knew what was about to come.
She reached into her bag and pulled out the journal. Turning to a blank page she wrote down three names and tore the page out. Folding it up, she placed it in her bag and gathered her stuff up. She stood in the garden for a moment or two longer and said out loud, "I am going to ask for forgiveness instead of permission." There was just silence that greeted her as she made her way back to the dorm with a new plan in mind. One that she knew that even if she asked for forgiveness, doesn't mean she would receive it.
Meanwhile, anyone that would walk by the Headmaster's office would thank the heavens that they were not him at the moment. In fact he wished that he was someone else, anyone else but him, "You knew something wasn't right, and yet you didn't think to elaborate that you knew something was wrong with Ms. Rose?!" Glynda accused as she turned and looked at him.
Ozpin sighed deeply and rather annoyed, "Well I thought you would have caught the warning. I didn't think you would let her fight in combat class after her ordeal yesterday."
She slammed her riding crop on the table, causing him to flinch as she yelled, "Gods Ozpin! It's combat class! She was cleared for ALL lessons, including mine!"
He got up from behind his desk and turned to look out the large window, "How is Ms. Xiao-Long?"
"Seemed alright, exhausted and perhaps bruised; but otherwise unharmed." Glynda answered, "She is not the topic of discussion here. Do not change the subject."
There was a hesitant knock on the door, and Ozpin turned, "Enter."
The door opened revealing Professors Port, and Oobleck, "Headmaster." Port greeted, "Glynda."
Oobleck nodded his greeting as well, "We had gotten your message, and came as quick as we could."
Ozpin sighs and together with Glynda filled the two in on the events, "How was Ms. Rose during your lesson?" Ozpin asked once explanations were out of the way looking at Port.
Port shook his head, "I am afraid I did not notice too much. She did seem more alert and attentive at times, but I did not notice anything out of the usual."
Ozpin hummed and looked at Oobleck who answered his unspoken question, "I normally have her class after the lunch hour, so I cannot give you anything."
Ozpin lowered his head and then once again faced the window, "What is this about exactly? Something more than what you described during your class surely?" Port asked looking at Glynda.
Goodwitch narrowed her eyes and glared at Ozpin's back, "That's what we were discussing. Care to continue?"
"I wish I could." Ozpin answered solemnly, "I just had a feeling. I cannot quite describe it, but it was as if I was getting a warning." So he began to recount his events of the night before when he received Ruby's medical release and compared it to the medical information when she had first entered Beacon. Then he told them of his discussion with her before the start of classes that morning.
When he was finished, the instructors looked at him deeply troubled, "And why didn't you think to put some kind of limits? You do have that power as headmaster." Oobleck asked curiously.
"Thank you." Glynda commented motioning to Ozpin to answer the question.
"Well now, why didn't you listen to her if she clearly didn't want to fight?" Port countered before Ozpin could reply.
She glared at him and he wisely shrank back, but still wanted an answer. She deflated a bit and huffed, "I thought her plea was because she didn't want to fight her sister solely because Ms. Xiao-Long is her sister. I didn't see the underlying issue at the time. I didn't notice something was wrong until Ruby didn't let Yang up when I called an end to the match." She then looked away, "I was going to break it up, but her team was already on it. That's when I found out that something similar happened to them the other night I assume from what you said Ozpin."
They nodded when she was done explaining and sat in thought, "Sounds like a mental trauma." Oobleck said thoughtfully, "Most hunters get them after experiencing something very traumatic."
"The girl is fifteen, nearly sixteen." Port argued, "Unless I am missing something, she hasn't experience any real trauma that would account for her behavior."
"I think what is important is that we find her and talk to her. The look on her face…" Goodwitch trailed off. Now that she had said (ok more like yelled) her piece to Ozpin, she was able to fully see the emotions that was on Ruby's face when she 'woke up' from whatever mental trap she was in. The young girl was definitely scared about what she had almost done to her sister.
"Agreed. We will start to plan a search before alerting anyone. I do not think she left the campus, so let's start trying to find her." Ozpin said and he pulled up the security screen and they all turned to it, trying to coordinate a plan.
Yang was leaning on Blake a bit as they walked down the hallway to the room. Yang was considered fine, just a bit of bruising that would heal in a day if she took it easy. Which she was fighting heavily on since she was hell bent on finding Ruby, "We will find her, but you have to rest." Blake said a bit aggravated.
"I will rest when I find Ruby, she has to know I am not upset with her." Yang argued sounding pretty upset at the moment.
"Not helping your case." Weiss pointed out, "You say that but you sound upset."
"Not at her, at you guys for dragging me back to the room when you should be taking me to find Ruby." Yang retorted back as Weiss sighed and opened the door.
"We will find Ruby when-" Weiss started to say as she saw the person who they were talking about, "Ruby!"
Yang pulled herself off of Blake and ran to her sister and gave her a hug, "Ruby!"
"Yang can't breathe!" Ruby gasped out.
"I do not care. I am not letting you go! You have to stop running off on us!" Yang stated, but did ease up on the hug a bit.
This was enough for Ruby to pull away from her sister, "I'm so sorry, are you-"
Yang waved her off, "No harm no foul. Besides that was awesome! When the hell did you get so good?"
Ruby shrugged, "Practice." Still looking at her sister, she then asked Weiss, "What did the nurse really say?"
Weiss was surprised Ruby asked her, but answered anyway, "Really low aura level and bruising that should heal by tomorrow. You did a number on her though, that one hit you gave…" She trailed off when Blake nudged her gently.
"Anyway she is supposed to be resting now. Where were you anyway?" Blake asked ignoring the 'tattle-tail' remark from Yang.
"I was in the garden. I needed to think and calm down before I talked to Ozpin."
It wasn't a full lie, but it wasn't all the truth either. Once she was done in the gardens and had come back to the dorms, she took her stuff (minus the bedding so as to not be too suspicious) to her locker. From there she had quickly overridden Beacon's security code on the locker to make it untraceable and put in coordinates to a little shack in Patch. It was the only place she could think of that was out of sight in her little home island. She had thought about sending it to the house, but didn't quite know her father's schedule this time around, so she didn't want a chance of him finding it and questioning it.
Weiss looked at her partner, "What were you going to tell him?"
"What I can I guess;" This was the truth, she had made her decision as she had been packing, "I just know that I right now I am in major trouble."
Weiss didn't buy it for a minute, but she did believe that Ruby was in trouble. Blake moved forward, "Let us come with you. We could help tell him what happened. Weiss and I were paying close attention."
Ruby was about to protest this, "Ruby really we insist. We'll come with you, it was an honest mistake." Yang insisted not liking how her sister was holding herself, "You were caught up in the moment and so was I. We didn't mean this. Ozpin cannot expel you. We won't let him."
"Yang that is not the point." Ruby argued, "I was about to use deadly force."
Blake shook her head and repeated what she said, "Weiss and I were watching you, you were fighting something the whole time and you kept insisting you were not willing to fight, even if it was a friendly spar. Hell you saw that one spar I had with Weiss."
"You were not ready to kill her." Ruby deadpanned.
"That is beside the point, it would be much easier if you told us what is really going on." Weiss said with her arms crossed and eyes narrowed at the reaper.
Ruby looked away from her ice blue eyes and shook her head, "Let's just go. Clearly I cannot stop you all from coming, but what I have to say to him you all might as well hear."
"I don't like the sound of this." Yang admitted.
"It's not the only thing you are not going to like." Ruby muttered, but they heard it anyway and followed their leader towards Ozpin's office.
The walk was in a tense silence, each one of the girls eying their leader with apprehension. Approaching the door, Ruby knocked on the door and heard a muffled, "Enter."
Opening the door, Ruby stepped inside and felt all eyes on her as she and her team entered the spacious office, "Ah Ms. Rose, I was about to send out a search party but I see you team found you." Ozpin greeted as the teachers looked at team RWBY.
Ruby just looked at him and then at Glynda as the security screens disappeared, "I am sorry I ran off. I was just really freaked out."
Glynda looked at the young girl and held her riding crop with both her hands, giving it a small twist, "Well under normal circumstances there would have been repercussions for your actions."
"You are not expelling my sister." Yang growled out defending Ruby.
Blake and Weiss stood close to Ruby, "Guys enough." Ruby stated pushing both girls away from her space and then placing a hand on Yang's shoulder, "Yang if there needs to be consequences so be it."
"We're not going to expel her." Glynda commented not at all surprised by Yang's comment, "Besides if you actually listened I said 'under normal circumstances'; as such I was thinking about detention."
Yang backed off and nodded. Ruby sighed and looked at Ozpin, "Sir you asked me in the hallway if there was something I wanted to tell you;" taking a deep breath she says, "I do have something to say."
Ozpin looked at Ruby and he was suddenly on alert. He noticed how she straightened herself, almost looking like a warrior reporting to a high ranking general, "Very well." He waits for her to continue, but notices how her eyes shift and he gets the message, "Glynda, Peter, Bartholomew thank you for your help earlier."
The teachers looked at him and they too caught his meaning and filtered out of the room. Ozpin looks to the girls and was about to tell them to leave, when Ruby says, "No they stay. What I have to say, they need to hear."
This was said in a tone with no room for argument and Ozpin was taken aback by this. In fact noticing the dark look in Ruby's eyes, he didn't really know what to make of this declaration. So he went around his desk and sat down, motioning to the reaper and her team to take a seat, "Very well."
Ruby made no movement to sit, and neither did her team. However that did not stop the girls from feeling the hair on their back of their necks to stand up slightly, somehow they did not like where this conversation was heading. Ruby closed her eyes, resolved in the decisions that she was about to make. This would alter everything that was to come, but she was determined that the future she would come to know would never come to pass. Opening her eyes and taking a deep breath she says, "I know what Professor Goodwitch just said, and I am grateful about not being expelled, but in light of recent events-"
"Ms. Rose if what you are alluding to what I think you are-" Ozpin starts to say.
"I am." Ruby responds cutting him off.
There is a silence and the girls look at one another as Ruby's words are coming together like pieces of a puzzle, "What? No! Ruby-" Yang starts to say as she grabs her sister's arm to make her look at them.
Ruby pulls free and states flatly, "I want to withdraw from Beacon Academy."
"No!" Yang, Weiss, and Blake yell as Ozpin leans forward, head resting on his clasped hands eyeing the reaper critically.
Ruby ignores them as she meets his stare, but she feels herself being forced to face her team, "Are you really that much of an idiot?!" Weiss demands.
"It's your dream to be a huntress and you are going to let this one little incident ruin all of that?!" Yang demanded looking at her sister.
Blake looks at her and says, "You do not have to do this. After everything we've been through, you do not want to do this. I know you don't."
Ruby pulls away from them and says, "I don't, but I have to."
"No," Ozpin answers, "no you do not; and I do not think that is what you really want to tell me."
Ruby takes a deep breath, "I am withdrawing from Beacon, permission or not; I came here out of curtsy rather than just up and leaving."
"What are you not telling us?" Weiss demands sensing there is way more to Ruby's sudden behavior, "Just what the hell happened to you when you were knocked out from that damned Ursa to make you like…this?" Weiss motioned to all of Ruby.
Ruby ignores her and reaches into one of the pouches on her belt. Reaching out, she hands Ozpin a piece of paper, "That is a long story, but I know in the coming months things are going to start happening. Things that will eventually spiral out of control and I now realize I need to move. Sitting here isn't going to fix what I need to fix."
"You are not making any sense." Yang states angrily.
Ozpin and Ruby ignore, which aggravates the brawler even more, "What are these names?" Ozpin asks softly looking at Ruby.
While she was in the garden she had written: Cinder Fall, Mercury Black, and Emerald Sustrai. She was half tempted in tearing it up and staying, but knew that this was the better option. She needed to move while she had the chance and Salem was content with Cinder running the show for now, "The names of people to be on high alert for. If they should come here, DO NOT let them into the school. If you have to let them in, place extra security and move FALL as far away from this place as possible." She warned adding the extra emphasis to the season, giving Ozpin an extra hard look, "Trust no one. Not even your friend in Haven."
The girls have no idea what Ruby is talking about but they see that Ozpin clearly does as they watch his eyes widen and face pale drastically, "How do you-?"
"How doesn't matter. Just take heed with what I just told you."
He keeps looking at her and knows that he is not going to like what he is about to do, "With what you just told me, I cannot let you leave Ms. Rose. If I have to I will force your team to detain you."
Weiss, Yang, and Blake's eyes widen in shock at this and they take a step back away from Ruby, not wanting to do what Ozpin just said. Ruby just smiles lightly, "I am not the same girl you talked to in the police station Headmaster. I know a lot more things than that. I also know that Qrow's intel you received this morning is correct. The Queen has a lot more pawns than you or even he realizes."
"How-?"
Ruby waved him off, "Not too important right now. What is important is that I think you know something that I want to know now." She swallows and gives Yang an apologetic look. Looking back at her Headmaster, she says, "Where can I find Raven Branwen?"
"What do you want with my mother?" Yang demanded to know as she took a step near her sister. When Ruby did not respond, Yang once more made Ruby face her, "What do you want with my mother?" She repeated more harshly.
Ruby looked at Yang and saw a speck of red in Yang's lavender eyes, she could sense that Yang's aura was still weak, and it was taking the brawler every ounce of energy to remain standing right now, "I need her."
"Why?"
Ruby pulled away, "Not your concern right now."
"The hell-"
"Ozpin where can I find her?" Ruby demanded to know.
Ozpin had come out from behind his desk and he too sensed the change in atmosphere, "I am afraid even if I knew the answer to that, I would not tell you. Now Ms. Rose you start telling me how you have come by this information, or-"
"Or you have my team detain me? You detain me?" Ruby asks. There is silence that greeted her and she saw him nod and felt the shift of her team behind her. She knew that her team did not want her to leave, so now they would do what Ozpin was going to tell them to do. She was prepared for this. She had a trick up her sleeve, because she would be damned if she hurt them…not to say that they would only end up hurting themselves in trying just to get to her. Looking at him she said, "Look Raven Branwen is one of the essentials to this mess that you got everyone in."
This made him pause a moment. He could see that Yang was shaking in fury, and that Blake was trying to calm her down, he also noticed how furious Weiss was as well about being ignored, "What do you mean?" He asked sending the girls a silent message.
"You know what I mean…Ozma." She said deliberately. She saw him freeze as if he had been struck by lightning and his eyes widening, "Now I can see that you really do not know where she is so consider this a warning. I am cleaning up your mess. Do not get in my way."
"Ruby-" He started to say his tone filled with warning.
Ruby turned her back to him and looked at her team. She sees the anger and confusion in their eyes, "I am sorry. I wish there was another way…"
"There is always another way. You just have to tell us what is going on." Weiss demanded angrily.
"I did." Ruby says.
"Barely!" Yang yells, "That was all cryptic crap! Damn it Ruby what are you doing that you are leaving us?! What the hell is happening?!"
Blake hasn't said much, just being on alert. She had secretly created a shadow clone and had it waiting in the shadows of the office, at the ready. The tension had built up sent her on edge, and she was not liking the look in Ruby's eyes at all, "Ruby whatever you are going to do…"
"It's already been done Blake. I am sorry." Then looking at Weiss she just smiles sadly, "You made a promise to me a long time ago to be the best teammate I ever had. That meant more to me than you'll ever know." She looked at her teammates as a whole and said, "I had made a promise to you all, one that you may or may not have heard. It was to always keep you safe. I intend to fulfill that promise no matter what. I swore it on Crescent Rose."
She sighed now and all the while she was talking, she was slowly shifting away from them. Small movements that they barely noticed a change at all until she was back against the door, "Ruby, I am giving you one more chance to reconsider whatever it is you are planning." Ozpin warned. He was back behind his desk, hand underneath it ready to press an alarm button.
"Trust me sir, if there was another way to do this I would have done it the first time around and I wouldn't be here." Ruby said then softly she added, "None of us would be here right now."
Then things happened quickly: Blake sent a message to her shadow clone and together they lunged as Ozpin pressed the button and Ruby punched the control panel on the door smashing it before vanishing into petals as both Blakes collided with the door, the clone vanishing. Yang and Weiss both lunged as Ruby reformed on the other side, but Ruby was quicker and once again was petals that split in two and the two missed their target.
Ozpin wielded his cane as the petals reformed and lunged at him. He brought his cane up to defend himself, and there was a sudden clash as now Ruby reappeared with Crescent Rose connecting with his cane. No one moves now as they watch the scene, a sinking feeling in the pit of their stomach, "I am sorry." Ruby said earnestly as she pushes against him.
"So am I." Ozpin said pushing back admiring her strength for a brief moment, "For now, you will be considered an enemy of Beacon."
"I've been known for worse. Much worse." Ruby stated, then feeling as if she owed him this much, she adds, "You and I are not so different. We both made the same deal, I just intend to cut off the head of the snake much sooner than you did so that I may prevent what is about to come."
He processes her words and now he sees what she is saying, been saying in between the lines all along, "Ruby-"
"See you soon in what I hope is under better circumstances." She takes his distraction and reaches into a pouch on her belt. Pulling out a dust grenade she looks at Weiss one more time, "I owe you one of these."
Before they could move, she slams it down on the ground and the room is enveloped in black smoke. No one can see a thing, but the next thing they hear is a shatter of glass. With this the smoke is being fumed out the window, leaving them coughing and seeing the destruction. The door is finally broken in and Goodwitch, Port, and Oobleck appear, coughing from the smoke, "What happened?" Goodwitch demanded coughing. They had stood outside the door, trying to listen to the conversation, only catching snips of it. They had jumped when the alarm had sounded and tried to break in the door. However being that it was the Headmaster's door, it was nearly impossible to break through even with their semblances.
There are sirens that are heard in the distance and they go to the shattered window, "Ms. Rose has taken on a heavy and potentially deadly burden." Ozpin answers, "We have to find her. Get Ironwood, Qrow, and Tai here now." He then looked at the remaining members of team RWBY, "Not a word to your classmates. What you heard from Ms. Rose is not to be repeated and you are not to leave the premises."
"I am going to find my sister." Yang said defiantly.
"You are not to leave. End of story." Ozpin stated firmly, "Go back to your dorms."
The three girls left, but Yang was fuming. She stormed down the hallway and everyone gave her wide birth, "Yang-" Blake started to say.
"Who the hell does he think he is?! I am not staying here while my sister ran off to do who knows what!" Yang threw their door open and started to gather her stuff, "I am going after her."
"No you are not." Weiss said as she watched Yang yank stuff out of her drawers and closet, "You-"
"Try and stop me Ice Queen. I dare you." Yang snarled threateningly.
Blake got in between them and tried to defuse the situation, "Look Weiss is right, right now you cannot leave. For two reasons and before you start accusing me of being on the wrong side;" Blake stated loudly over Yang's protest, "You are not ready to go anywhere. Your fight with Ruby really depleted your aura…and that little stunt in Ozpin's office didn't help it. Also for the second reason, Ruby's stunt. This place is going to be swarmed with cops if you haven't noticed. You will be spotted."
"And what I was going to say, you are not going anywhere without us." Weiss said from around Blake. The two looked at one another and at her, "Ruby is my partner. Yes I am more than angry at her right now, but from what it sounded like, she is taking on something big."
There was a knock on the door, and they looked at one another to see team JNPR standing there awkwardly, "Hey we heard yelling and stuff." Jaune said hesitantly.
"We also wanted to make sure you and Ruby were alright." Ren said smiling easily.
"Where is Ruby?" Nora asked poking her head in uninvited.
Pyrrha noticed the frazzled and disheveled look on Ruby's team and then took stock of Yang's bag on the floor with Yang's stuff scattered about it, "What happened?"
The girls looked to one another and then thought of Ozpin's warning and Ruby's cryptic messages, "Can we trust you?" Weiss asks eventually.
"Yes of course." Jaune said shocked that question would even come out of her mouth.
"Wait right there." Blake says pulling Weiss and Yang aside. Going into the corner of the room, she asks, "What are you doing?"
"This is my sister." Yang states softly, "We can handle this."
Weiss shook her head, "I know, however we are going to need all the help we can get. You saw how Ruby fought." There was a hesitance so she added, "You are also forgetting that Ozpin said that Ruby was just made to be an enemy of Beacon."
Yang relented, "Fine, but then that means we have to tell them everything."
"Everything?" Blake asks as Weiss also looks confused.
"The White Fang in case we run into them. I'm sorry Blake." She said softly grabbing her partner's hand, "We have to let them know what we are up against so they can make a choice."
Blake's eyes are wide, and her first reaction is to say 'no'; but then a flash of Ruby's drawing comes to her mind and she sighs. If she really wants to be that person, then she has to face who she is, no matter what anyone else thinks, "Fine." Turning to face team JNPR, she says, "Close the door."
Ren closes the door, and senses the severe mood change, "What happened?" He asks.
"We will tell you, but a couple of rules;" Weiss says sternly looking every bit like the heiress she was, tone serious and face expressionless, "You are not to interrupt, you are not to tell anyone, and even if you decide to not help us, you cannot tell anyone what we are doing either."
Pyrrha took a step forward, "Help you? Just what the hell happened?"
"Do you agree to these terms first?" Yang asked meeting her in the middle of the room looking the warrior right in the eyes.
"Yes." Jaune said speaking up facing Yang now, "Right?" He looked at his team and they nodded.
Weiss, Blake, and Yang looked at one another, "Alright." Weiss said, "Here is what happened…" And they started to tell them everything that happened from the moment that Ruby woke up in the hospital yesterday, to the events of this morning, what was said in Ozpin's office, and then they back tracked to discovering the White Fang and the dust robberies, and Blake (with much support of Yang and Weiss) told her story of her involvement, before ending with their decision to leave Beacon and find their team leader.
Giving the other team a bit to digest the information, Yang eventually said, "So you in or out?"
"Remember even if you are out, you cannot tell anyone about this." Weiss said reminding them.
"I am truly sorry about all of this; but do you even know where to start looking?" Pyrrha asked, "This sounds like…"
"Finding a needle in a hay stack." Nora spoke up, showing a rare display of seriousness.
Ren nodded, "Agreed, and this sounds very dangerous. Something that we are in no way prepared to face."
"True, but this is my sister." Yang argued, nothing was going to sway her mind.
"She is our team leader, and if we were in this predicament she would be going after us too." Blake said knowing that was fact, considering that she did come after her after her secret was revealed.
Weiss nodded, "Besides I want answers, but you are correct which is why we are going to need help."
"You will be fugitives as well based on what you told us about what Ozpin said." Jaune spoke up, "And I may not be the brightest huntsman in the class, but from what you said about Ruby's cryptic explanations, it sounds like she has faced something like this before."
"Which can't be, I would know." Yang countered, "I do not know what happened with my sister, but it all started with that Ursa."
Jaune held up his hands, "Not disagreeing, just an observation. Especially watching her this morning at breakfast."
"Look we are wasting time. Are you all in or out?" Blake asked knowing what it was like being on the run and how much harder it will be to track someone that didn't want to be found.
Team JNPR looked at one another and slowly team RWBY saw small smiles forming on them, Jaune looked at them and said, "Well I've always been a hands on learner. I am in."
"Us to." Nora said speaking for Ren as well.
"I can speak for myself." Ren commented lightly, "But she is right. I am in."
Pyrrha nodded, "I did like an adventure."
"So what's the plan?" Jaune asked leaning forward. Together the two teams worked on a plan to leave Beacon without being noticed.
Ruby ducked as another car with flashing lights drove passed her. She was sticking close to the shadows, having grown accustomed to staying hidden. She just didn't think she would have to do it sooner this time around. She had waited until dark to start moving out of Vale. Figuring it would have been easier to leave at night, despite the cracked full moon in the sky. In hindsight, she thought to herself, I really should have just left when I had the chance.
She fixed the mask on her face, it was a red and black Beowolf mask that she had gotten to hide her face. In fact it was similar to the mask she had made when she had went on her solo mission when she had lost her team. No, she shook her head, don't think about that.
She had to make it out of the city to get to Patch. That is where she would begin her search for Raven. She had to find out if Cinder had already made her move on the matriarch of the Branwen tribe; but just the thought of the woman made her instantly remember the look of betrayal on her sister's face.
In every loss in every lie
In every truth that you deny
And each regret and each goodbye
Was a mistake too great to hide
And your voice was all I heard
That I get what I deserve
Taking a risk with airships now flying overhead, Ruby climbed to the roof and with her hood up ran across them. Jumping over the gaps and using her semblance as little as possible to try and remain unnoticed. She was proving Salem's haunting words wrong, she wasn't going to involve them this time. She was not going to give them false hope or empty words about sticking with her and fighting. She was going to let them keep their innocence. She was going to handle this herself once and for all. She meant what she said to Ozpin, she was going to cut off the main head of the snake. However again, she saw their eyes as they looked at her. No, she would not allow herself to think that, she was doing the right thing.
So give me reason
To prove me wrong
To wash this memory clean
Let the floods cross
The distance in your eyes
Ducking near a chimney, Ruby pushed herself into the shadows as an airship hovered for a brief moment with a spotlight on the roof she had just been on. It stayed like that for a minute or two before flying off. She let out a breath, Ozpin was serious it seemed. She recognized the ships and knew that Ironwood must have come in. She didn't think that much time had passed, but then again it was dark. Shaking her head at her stupidity, she moved this time using her semblance to go the rest of the way out of the city. She didn't care what she had to do, she would make sure her loved ones were safe or she would die trying. This thought weighing on her, she sped in a storm of petals out of Vale and away from Beacon and her team.
Give me reason
To fill this hole
Connect this space between
Let it be enough to reach the truth that lies
Across this new divide
