CH. 16

"Hey, how is she?" Blake had just walked into the infirmary for the first time since they arrived back at Beacon from Mt. Glenn. They had to return early since Ruby had taken a blow from the unknown Grimm that was meant for her sister. It wasn't fatal…at first, but it wasn't pretty either. Now, Ruby was lying in her hospital still unconscious.

"I don't know," said Yang somberly. She was also injured, sporting a cast for her broken right arm.

After the doctor was done keeping Ruby stable, Yang was allowed in the room and refused to leave her little sisters' side all night. Others like teams KAJE, MNCE, and CFVY came to visit to give their support as well. Now Yang was still beside Ruby in a chair next to the bed with her head laying on the blankets.

"Oh." Blake stood next to Yang and took a good look at Ruby. She had taken a direct hit from one of the Grimm's shadow balls, and it scarred her pretty badly since her aura was low at the time. Her body was darkened on the right side of her face, right arm, and torso. Her breathing was only a little ragged. "Did the doctor or nurses tell you anything?"

Yang nodded. "Yeah, they said that this was something that they've never seen before. The doctor tried several treatments, but none of them worked. Not even a little. What's more, her aura isn't helping to heal her. It's still dangerously low. They said if a solution is not found quickly, then she could…"

Blake didn't really know what to say at first. She wanted to help Yang, to encourage her, but she wasn't very good at things like this. "Don't worry Yang. Ruby's a strong girl, and our leader. We should have faith in her, that she can make it…She will make it."

Yang looked up at her partner with a weak smile. "Thanks Blake, that means a lot," she said. She then stood up and fixed her cast. "Let's go to the lunch room. I haven't eaten at all since we got back."

Blake nodded. Yang gave Ruby one quick kiss on her head before they left. Then, both huntresses walked out of the infirmary door and towards the cafeteria. Once they were there, they bought their lunches and sat at the table where their friends were waiting.

"Hey guys," Yang said.

"Hey. You doin okay?" Mercury asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I'm more concerned about Ruby though," she answered.

"Her condition hasn't changed?" Pyrrha asked.

"I'm afraid not," Blake answered

"I tried to get ahold of another doctor from Atlas, one of the best. He was unavailable though," Weiss said.

"Well shit," Jurano said in frustration. He picked an apple off his plate and threw it in a random direction. He wasn't aiming for anyone, but the apple did bounce off of Cardin's head.

"Hey!" Cardin yelled.

"Chill out dumbass, it was an accident!" Jurano yelled back.

"Hey, aren't two of your teammates still missing?" Ren asked.

"What?! Who?!" Nora exclaimed. "No one tells me these things!"

"Kathleen and Abaddon. Professor Goodwitch should've sent a bullhead to rescue them by now," Emma said.

"She must've done that earlier than you think." Neo pointed towards one of the cafeteria entrances. Everyone looked in that direction and standing there was both Abaddon and Kathleen.

"Yo Abaddon!" Jurano stood up and waved for his friends.

Abaddon caught sight of the boy and he and Kathleen rushed towards them.

"Abby! Kat!" Emma rushed over and hugged both of them as soon as they joined the table.

"Did you miss us that much?" Kathleen asked, somewhat surprised.

"Don't make us worry like that dude," Jurano said, giving Abaddon a fist pump.

"No promises," Abaddon replied with a smirk. He then turned serious and looked towards team RWBY. "Yang, Weiss, Blake, we heard about what happened. Where is Ruby?"

"She's in the infirmary right now," Weiss said.

"Come with me, all of you," Abaddon said, then walked off towards the exit.

"What's he planning to do?" Emma asked.

"Maybe he wants to show us something. Come on." Kathleen followed Abaddon with her teammates and RWBY in tow.

"Come on guys, we're going too," Jaune said.

The huntsmen in training followed Abaddon to the infirmary and into Ruby's infirmary room. When Abaddon saw the state she was in, his brow furrowed. He gently ran his hand over the darkened side of her face.

"Do you have a plan or something?" Yang asked.

"Yes. Ruby's will to live is much stronger than I thought. She's survived longer than several others that I've seen in her condition," Abaddon explained. He held out his hand and a glowing white orb appeared, hovering over his palm. "Luckily, I can help her."

Weiss gasped. "Wait, what is-"

Before she could finish, Abaddon pushed the sphere into Ruby's chest. It slowly sank into her body, seemingly combining with her being.

Yang rushed at Abaddon and pushed him aside. She looked at Ruby, then back at him. "What did you do?" she asked, her eyes turning red.

"Calm down Yang. She was stained by darkness and had at most a few hours left to live. It was eating at her aura. I simply cured her," Abaddon told her.

"Yang..?" At the sound of her name, Yang turned to see Ruby with her eyes slowly opening. The darkened areas began to rapidly fade from her body to everyone's astonishment.

"Wow," Jaune whispered.

"Oh my," Pyrrha gasped.

"Ruby!" Yang grabbed her sister into a tight bear hug. "I'm so glad your ok."

"Yang! I can't breathe!" Ruby gasped.

The blonde let go of her sister, allowing the younger girl to breathe again. "Oh, sorry."

"Ruby, do you…feel any different?" Weiss asked.

"No. I remember my entire body being in pain because of that attack from that weird Grimm but now I just feel like…me. What's going on?" Ruby asked.

"Abaddon just healed you with some white orb," Blake said. "He pushed it into your chest and your injuries faded away."

Ruby's eyes widened in surprise. She put her hands on her chest to check for anything weird or out of place, then looked at Abaddon.

"You're welcome," he said, rustling her hair.

"Abby, how did you do that?" Emma asked.

"Oh, right. I've still got some explaining to do." He looked around the room at his friends. "And now there's more witnesses."

"Maybe it's better if we go to a private place first before you start talking," Kathleen suggested.

"Good idea. Ruby, you should be able to walk now. If not, Yang will have to carry you," Abaddon said as he started walking out of the room. "Come on guys."

Most of the group was hesitant at first, but with their curiosity spiked as it is they followed him. Ruby was able to walk and followed everyone with Yang by her side. It took a while, but Abaddon managed to find an empty classroom. He had everyone get in and take a seat, then locked the door behind him.

"Yayyyy, story time!" Nora exclaimed.

"Alright. Now I should start at the beginning," Abaddon said. He sat on the teacher's desk in the front of the classroom. "Emma, come down here with me."

Emma left her seat and went sit next to her brother. "Why do I have to sit here?"

"Because whenever someone mentions the incident we had several years ago, you get uncomfortable. So I wanted you next to me to keep an eye on you," he explained.

"Oh, it'll be ok. I can handle it. I am 17 after all," she said.

"And yet you still act as innocent and childish as Ruby," Abaddon joked.

"Hey!" Both Ruby and Emma yelled in unison.

"Whatever. Hey Yang, do you by chance remember, six years ago, when the people of Marrowshin were evacuated to Patch for a short period of time?" he asked.

"Yeah," Yang answered. "They said the White Fang came and burned their homes to the ground. Huntsmen on Marrowshin and Patch participated in the effort to get everyone to safety, including our parents. Ruby was scared that they would get caught in the fires over there."

"I'll tell you what exactly happened," said Abaddon.

XXXXXXX

Six years ago...

"Come on grandson. I know you can do better than that!" said Heracles Vesuvius.

"I'll beat you this time grandpa!" said a thirteen year old Abaddon.

Both of them wore simple training clothes. Abaddon had on a dark red shirt with black sweats and was bare foot while Heracles wore a tan t-shirt with grey sweats and hiking boots. Both of them made makeshift holes in the back of their pants for their wolf tails. They had been training in hand to hand combat for three hours straight. While Abaddon had been fighting with everything he had, his grandfather wasn't even breaking a sweat.

"Remember, don't use your semblance," Heracles said.

Abaddon charged at the old man and released a fast spinning kick. Heracles easily blocked it with his right arm and grabbed Abaddon's leg. He tossed the boy away from him, then went back to his previous fight stance. Abaddon landed on his feet and charged again, this time on all fours, and was coming in fast. Heracles was ready for the attack, but suddenly Abaddon rushed in with an unexpected burst of speed. He passed his grandfather's guard and head-butt him in the stomach.

"Nngh!" The impact from the blow pushed Heracles back by three feet.

Abaddon regained his composure for a bit, then slumped to his knees. He was out of energy and out of breath.

"Look grandpa…I pushed you back…by three feet this time. That's…a new record," Abaddon uttered.

"I see. You're getting faster and stronger every time I see you. You have great potential grandson," Heracles said proudly.

"Hey! That's enough training! Why don't you two come in to eat?" said Xahnara. She came out wearing a blue dress with jeans and black sandals. She had been watching their fight for the last hour through the kitchen window while cooking up a meal.

"Alright dear, we're coming," Heracles replied.

He went inside the back door with Abaddon in tow. In the kitchen, Abaddon grabbed a white towel from off a table chair and used it to wipe the sweat off his face. Both Heracles and Abaddon sat opposite each other at the kitchen table.

"I just finished cooking some lunch. You should be starving after three hours of nonstop training," Xahnara said.

"Sure am," Abaddon said.

"Here you go honey." Xahnara placed a plate of peas, corn, mashed potatoes, and a medium sized steak in front of Abaddon. He instantly began eating his meal.

"Don't hurt yourself Dad." Xahnara placed a plate in front of Heracles with the same contents, but the steak was much bigger.

"I only choked on that piece of steak for only a few seconds because I was distracted. I'm not that old ya'know," Heracles grunted.

"Hahaha, whatever you say old man," Xahnara laughed. "Now eat your food."

Heracles was about to start when a beeping sound came from his pocket. He pulled out his scroll and started reading the message he had just received. Once done, he stood up from the table and put his scroll away.

"Something wrong?" Xahnara asked.

"Yes," he grunted in an annoyed tone. "I'm being summoned for a board meeting along with Ironwood. That damn Jacque Schnee wants to talk about something, probably unimportant but if we ignore it then he's going to keep pestering us." The old man went into the cabinet and found a plastic container. He put his food in it and picked up a brown jacket from the kitchen counter. "Well, I'd best be going. A dropship is waiting to take me to Atlas."

"You come back to visit when you can alright Dad. And thanks for training little Abaddon today, I needed a break." Xahnara gave her father a hug and a small kiss on the cheek.

"See ya later grandpa." Abaddon also gave Heracles a hug.

"You two stay safe. And tell Selmon I said hi," Heracles said as he left out the back door.

After that, Abaddon went back to his seat to eat the rest of his food while Xahnara put Heracles' plate in the sink. Abaddon finished his plate in just a few minutes and put it in the sink as well.

"Mom, I'm going out to see Emma and the others," he told her.

"Ok. Be back before dark. I don't wanna have to go looking for you like last time. And watch out for any beowulves," Xahnara replied.

"Yes ma'am." Abaddon quickly went outside through the front door and ran off towards Emma's house. He followed a well used trail through the woods into the main part of town. Running eastward, he caught sight of a two story house with a tall tree next to it that reached up to the second floor balcony. Sitting on the front porch were three kids: one was a boy with short green hair, a green shirt, burgundy capris, and red shoes, another was a girl with mid length purple hair, a black blouse, purple skirt, and grey shoes, and the last person was a little girl with short magenta hair, a blue green short sleeve hoodie, light brown shorts, and brown shoes. All three of them looked up when they saw Abaddon coming.

"Abby, why're you so late?" Emma said as Abaddon approached them.

"Didn't training end like an hour ago?" Jurano asked.

"Yeah, me and grandpa lost track of time," Abaddon said. "What do you guys wanna do today anyway?"

"I heard Samuel bought three new horses for his barn. We could go check it out and ask if he would let us ride them," Kathleen said.

"Yayyy, horseback riding," Emma cheered.

"Hehe, sounds like fun. Let's go," Abaddon said.

The four of them walked off into town towards Samuel's farm. It was a cool spring day, so the air was filled with fresh air and the laughter of other children. The group decided to cut through the market first since Samuel liked to go there often. As they walked through, they saw many of the townspeople there, some they knew and others they didn't. Although, a small commotion caught Jurano's eye. Off to their left was a large grey tent with a crowd gathered around it.

"What's going on over there?" Jurano said, thinking out loud.

The other three looked towards the tent as well.

"Don't know, but it wouldn't hurt to check it out," Kathleen added.

"But what about the horses?" Emma whined. She began tugging on Abaddon's shirt to pull him away. "Come on Abby, you and I can just go."

"Hold on Emm. The horses aren't going anywhere. We'll just see what's going on and then leave," he assured.

"Fine, but I'm not letting you out of my sight." Emma held his left hand to show she meant it.

"Whatever you say kitten," Abaddon replied.

The four of them went to the crowd surrounding the entrance of the tent. There were mainly adults there, but some kids were present too. Amongst the crowd, Jurano recognized one of their teachers from school.

"Hey, Mr. Galamor!" Jurano yelled.

One of the people in the crowd, a man with short groomed white hair, glasses, and ram horns, turned and waved at them. He quickly made his way through the crowd to meet with the young ones. He was wearing a black button vest over a dark blue short sleeve button down shirt, brown khakis, and brown shoes. He smiled widely when he walked up to the kids.

"Why hello children. Nice to see you," he said.

"What's with all the commotion Mr. Galamor?" Kathleen asked.

"Oh, this tent is a recruiting station for the White Fang. Many of the people here either want to join or are wondering why the group is here recruiting in the first place," he informed them. "Although, something seems odd. They will only let faunus in."

Abaddon's brow furrowed. "That's strange. The last time the White Fang were here, they were being commanded by a man named Ghira. He aided those who wanted help and allowed anyone to join their cause."

"I remember him. He was a nice man," Emma added.

"Well turns out he's not here this time. There seems to be a red haired young man in his place, and he doesn't seem to like humans very much. He almost pulled his weapon out on a human citizen who tried to get in the entrance," Galamor told them.

"I'm curious," Abaddon said. "You guys should stay here, I'm going in to check it out."

"Are you sure?" Kathleen asked.

Abaddon nodded. "Yep."

"Be careful in there young man," Galamor told him.

Before the boy could take a step, Emma pulled on his shirt again. "I'm coming with you Abby."

"Fine, but no whining please," Abaddon groaned as Emma continued to hold his hand. "And don't leave my side for anything."

They pushed through the crowd, which wasn't an easy task, until they made it to the entrance. The White Fang symbol was painted on the tent to the right of the entrance. Although, instead of the white calm beast's head surrounded by a circle, the head of the symbol was now red and made in a more savage visage with three claw marks behind it. Taking note of this Abaddon attempted to walk into the tent. A White Fang soldier with a red tail immediately stepped in the way and looked down on him. He was wearing black and white clothing and a white mask that could be similar to a Grimm's bone mask.

"That's weird. Why are they wearing those masks?" Abaddon thought. "Excuse me, I need to get in there. You're in the way."

"Beat it, this is no place for stupid kids," the soldier said.

Emma hid behind Abaddon and hissed at the masked man.

"I'd rather go inside where I can't smell that rancid panda breathe of yours. Do all the White Fang not brush their teeth now, or is it just your dumbass," Abaddon retorted.

Emma laughed along with several members of the crowd behind them.

"Why you!" the White Fang soldier was ready to punch Abaddon in the face when a gloved hand grabbed his shoulder.

"That's enough private. Go inside and take a break, I'll deal with this boy," said a voice from inside the tent. Abaddon guessed that that was the voice of the White Fang's soldier's superior.

The soldier looked like he wanted to decline, but put his fist down anyway. "You're lucky kid. I would've turned you inside out," he grumbled as he went inside.

Meanwhile, his superior came out in his place to meet them. He was a tall man with red hair, bull horns, wearing a long sleeved black trench coat that red on the inside, black long pants, black shoes, and black gloves. He also sported a white mask, but unlike his subordinate's plain design, his had flame-like symbols on the front. On his right hip was a sword sheathed in its scabbard.

Emma hid even further behind Abaddon's back at the sight of him. This man scared her. It wasn't just his appearance, there was something sinister about him.

"Who are you? And where's Ghira?" Abaddon asked.

The man knelt in front of Abaddon. "Ghira stepped down from his position in the White Fang. I have taken his place among the leaders. My name is Adam Taurus, and I will lead the White Fang to true revolution."