It was discomforting, the silence; her family had always been loud, they would cheer and holler when they were happy, they would shout and curse when they angry or worked up and they would laugh and jeer at one another when they bantered. They were never quiet, and yet, since she had woken, Ruby had not heard a breath pass from their lips as they gathered in the large, luxury booth they used for gatherings. The loudest thing she had heard since waking had been doors opening and closing, the juddering of chairs and Melanie's heels as she walked.
Nobody seemed to want to break the silence as they sat there in a morbid stupor and dwelled on the news the twins had broken to them just moments ago. Junior was likely to die, soon. For the better part of twenty minutes they had all just sat in uncomfortable muteness, and it pained the young girl's heart to see everybody reduced so low. Yet, she felt the same and made no moves to speak up. Eventually Jax spoke up, deciding it time someone stepped on the delicate glass that was their mental states.
"So, what do we do?" He didn't look up from the table as he spoke, and the words were further apart than his normal 'no-nonsense' tone would allow for. In truth Jax hoped someone would answer him with a glorious plan to help everyone recover, but he knew he was asking for too much. The others would likely look to him for direction and he hated it; he was no leader, that was Jun's job, he was just a bouncer, a damn good one, but nothing more and yet he felt the weight of the building bear down onto his shoulders as they all raised their gazes towards him hopefully. Luckily, Joy had recovered from the slump and managed to slide into her usual mindset, but Ruby could see as her eyes fought to stay open from the struggle created by both her exhaustion and sorrow.
"More like, what can we do? I mean, it's out of our hands. We just have to wait for Hei to wake up and see what he wants to do." She paused for a moment and her eyes lowered again as she spoke, this time a lot less sure of her words. "Even if that is preparing to… continue on without him." The silence was broken by the sharp sound of glass shattering. The room collectively turned to see Nora dropping shards of broken glass out of her palm, scotch dripping out from between her fingers. She looked ready to explode as she stared at Joy who looked a little surprised by the girl's outburst. Nora was part of the family and everyone treated her as such, but she wouldn't often speak in meetings, having no patience for business outside of getting paid for doing as she was told. The only occasions she would reliably voice her opinion on was matters concerning Ruby and herself, or possibly Ilia or the twins, though less often.
"How can you say that?" she practically spat the words at the older woman. Joy pulled back at the venom in her voice but narrowed her eyes as Nora spoke. "He isn't even dead yet and you're just giving up?" The shorter, older woman sat up in her seat as she levelled her own gaze towards the younger girl.
"I'm just saying what has to be said. The truth is that blonde bimbo of a Branwen has all but killed him and his time is limited. We all know what Hei is going to say when he wakes up, I'm just softening the blow now." It was almost inaudible, but Ruby could hear a slight growl build up in Joy's throat as she spoke, anger being lapped up by the rose that shifted on her arm as it prepared to bloom further. Nora abruptly stood and leaned over the table, glaring daggers at Joy.
"We don't know if there is no way to extinguish the flames. You speak as if he is already both feet in the grave." Her voice was raising in volume and slowly gaining an accusing tone. Joy mimicked the action of the younger girl but stood on her chair, so their heights were closer.
"And if there is a way then we will all be happy, but right now we don't know if there is and from what the doctor, the BEST DOCTOR IN VALE, says, there isn't much chance." Joy's voice was no longer tame, and her anger was clearly audible as she stared down the younger girl. "We're dealing with Grimm marks here! We know nothing about these things, even with all the research Bart has been putting into it, WE. STILL. KNOW. NOTHING!" She gestured to the ginger girl as she continued. "Even you, who has a mark, know anything beyond that it lets you fry whole power grids. Not to mention, the girl that did this is third in line for the throne, if we don't include Ruby, and so is leagues stronger than you in terms of your Grimm's raw strength. Do you think we could simply stumble upon a method, that far surpasses the capabilities of modern medicine?" Ruby could sense the thrum of electricity as Nora fought to contain her power spiking with her emotions, the collar waiting to restrain its wearer. Nora actually growled as her irises turned red when she spoke.
"SO, WHAT!? You're just going to give up?! You're just going to watch him die?! You're…" Nora was cut off as she was slapped sharply across the face by the shorter woman. Who openly snarled at her despite the air humming as it heated up around Nora.
"DON'T YOU DARE!" Joy hollered at the younger girl; breath ragged as she spoke. "Don't you dare say for a second I have given up on him." She spoke in a low warning rumble that had Nora listening to each word along with all the others gathered. "I have saved too many lives, healed too many wounds and suffered enough loses to have you question my devotion to this family. Who are YOU to tell ME whether or not I am giving up? I have been here since the beginning, since the orphanage shut down, since we bought this club, since you arrived on our doorstep with that white suited bastard. I have corrected hundreds of bones, dressed thousands of wounds and saved the lives of most people in this room at some point. I watched as Jax won his first fight and repaired the arm he broke doing so. I watched as Mavis picked her first pocket and begged beside her for the man that caught her to let her go. And most importantly I watched as Junior worked himself into illness to save money to buy a place for us all to live and nursed him each and every night he would pass out." She trembled as she seethed, tears slipping quietly out of the side of her eyes as she spoke and pointed to each person she mentioned. "So, you tell me. Do you have the right to judge me for looking gravely on the situation? My oldest and best friend is going to die, and you would antagonise me for trying to soften the blow for my family?"
Nora's eyes flickered between red and their natural blue as she looked down at the table, ignoring the stinging across her left cheek. The air calmed and Ruby could feel as the rose bloomed several heads from the exchange, the negative energy from the graveyard paled in comparison to the bounty the Grimm flower harvested as her family argued. Ruby slowly walked over and placed her hand or Nora's shoulder, who looked up and saw her sister with a small sad smile and tilting her head towards Joy. After a moment the older sister nodded.
"I… I'm sorry. You're right. It's just don't want to see it end you know. The club won't be the same without him. I may not have known him that long when compared to the rest of you, but he is still important to me. He looked after me, gave me a place to live without Roman and he introduced me to all of you guys. My family." Tears openly fell down the side of her face and she sat again before leaning into Jax wept at the situation. The room fell back into silence as Joy also sat down.
Ruby looked up and caught the gazes of her other sisters who all nodded their various supports as she breathed in preparing to speak. Ruby had rarely spoken in meetings, not for a lack of interest or value input but more because she simply liked to watch her family interact and just show her support when she was needed. This was possibly the first time she would breach a subject on her own and it was a little daunting, especially after the tirade that had just transpired.
"Let's start small." All the heads at the table looked up to her as she spoke, each showing her small smiles as some gestured for her to continue. "Mil, Mel, Ilia and I are supposed to attend Beacon in a week, but we can wait for a while, if need be, we can defer and get guaranteed places for next year so we can spend more time with Jun." She proposed her statement calmly but all in the room could sense the sadness and fear in her voice. It was Jax who replied first.
"No." The sisters looked up at him as he shook his head slowly before meeting Ruby's gaze confidently. "We all know going to Beacon and earning Huntress qualifications has been you dream for years Squirt. Junior wouldn't want to be the reason you waited any longer." He received various grunts and hums of agreement from around the table. Ruby simply looked on in shock.
"But I'm applying two years early, it's no big deal to wait a little longer, this is Jun's life were talking about here. If something happened whilst I was at beacon… I don't think I could forgive myself." She looked forlornly at the floor as she spoke, imagining receiving a call one night that Jun had passed, and she had missed it. She was pulled from her dreaming as a gruff voice interjected.
"The last thing Jun wants is his last memory being a regret of you being held back on account of him." Ruby moved to protest again but was silenced as he raised a hand and continued. "Besides you give the big man too little credit, even that ungodly flame ain't going to have an easy time putting him down. Hell, he could probably still go several rounds with a bear even now." There was a light chuckle that spread around the room as they all imagined him doing so. Jax laughed quietly to himself before speaking. "I may be the so-called 'Man of Steel' but in truth, if Jun had a semblance and a stronger aura, he could probably kick my ass on a bad day." Ruby laughed at the image and moved to speak up once more.
"Thanks guys. I w…" she was abruptly cut off as Doctor peach burst into the room, clearly out of breath and sweating to the point of her pink hair matting to her face and she bent over to catch what little air she could. Noticing the attention on her she spoke up, wheezing between each word.
"He… he's awake. Junior's awake." The room stilled in vapid tension before an audible click happened in all of their heads simultaneously. They all suddenly exploded into hurried movement out of the door as they scrambled to see the man they had just been talking about, all previous conversation forgotten.
Raven was livid. She was not used to failing, she had always won, the only exception being her annoyingly prodigious brother. Yet here she was pacing around the room letting her mind swim in terrible directions, thinking of worse and worse situations that may arise. She had told Taiyang to take Yang to bed and that she had some business to deal with before she joined them.
Of course, she had known where yang was going that night. Nothing happened in the city without her knowing it. Every royal had their spies and information brokers and each and every one of them answered to her on nothing but a vague promise of reward. Yet she had somehow managed come up surprised upon hearing of the night's events from her daughter and the professor. Qrow's brat had already possessed a mark and she had somehow not known. Not only that but the mark in question was apparently strong enough to bring her daughter to her knees without the girl even understanding it.
From what Yang had described to her, it seemed the girl's mark had the potential to control another Grimm and perhaps even make them. The potential power of such an ability was, quite frankly, terrifying and Raven's head was constantly fearing what the girl may do in redemption should she chose to. For once, being a Branwen didn't seem to protect her from her adversary, in fact it seemed to make her harder to take down as she would be able to turn Raven's own Grimm against her. The thought sent a shudder down her spine and she checked the mental image of her Grimm to make sure it was still within the cage she had forced it into, waiting for its masters call to use its power. It was. She let loose a breath she hadn't realised she had been holding, allowing all her stress to fall away. Only to come rushing back as a snide voice came into the silence, she had found solace in.
"Looks like our future queen can be sent into panic by nought but a little girl. Funny, here I thought you were supposed to be the level-headed one between you and Qrow." Raven spun around to face the white suited man as he mocked her. She fought back a hiss at his words but settled at narrowing her eyes at him as he made himself comfortable in her antique armchair. Roman rolled his eyes at her display and continued. "Yes, yes, I get it, you hate me, well you can get in line, but that's not why I am here now is it." He nonchalantly lit a cigar as she growled at him.
"What the fuck Roman?!" he winced slightly as she shouted at him, luckily the walls were soundproof, and they wouldn't be overheard. "I sent Yang into that club expecting Qrow's bastard to be nothing but a street thug with weak mark and a lot of aura! Yet the next thing I hear about the incident is my brother coming home with my daughter, who looked like she gotten into a fight with meteor, along with some professor from Beacon who then informed my father of her existence! So, what, pray tell, is stopping me from killing you here and now?!" Roman raised his hands in mock surrender but rolled his eyes again at her tirade.
"Forgive me Raven for thinking your daughter would be more capable. From what I heard she had to use her mark just to beat the other club staff, which by the way didn't include either Jax, the best fighter, or Nora, the other marked." There was a long awkward silence as raven allowed her anger to die down. Roman used the opportunity to speak again. "Besides, it doesn't really matter, Yang can't be seen killing people, a fight at a bar under the influence, maybe. Murder though, not so easy to brush off." Raven sighed but nodded. It was true Yang had only been the guinea pig, to see what they were up against in the near future, but it still hurt Raven's pride as a mother to hear of her Daughter's failure in what she assumed would be certain victory.
"You're right. Speaking of which, how is your little martyr coming along. I didn't give the girl a Grimm mark just so you could use her as you see fit. She is here to kill the brat and if she lives, she's all yours, but until then she is to focus on the objective." Roman waved her off as if she was nagging him about something trivial.
"She's coming along fine; everything is going according to plan." She nodded as he spoken and hummed as he supplied her with the correct answer.
"Good, good. That is all, good night." She pointed a glare at him which made it perfectly obvious that was his que to leave and so with more energy then she had thought possible he stood up and made a crude mocking bow before slowly sinking into the flow.
"Good night your highness." She could see the smirk glinting out from beneath his hat but lacked the energy to berate him for having it. She shook her head before walking towards her bedchambers once he had disappeared from sight. As she pondered on the night's events a malicious smirk cracked across her lips as she was greeted with a pleasant thought. At least Yang had caused some lasting damage.
AN: Hey, this was the second part of last chapter that I struggled to write in time. I hope you enjoyed and as always constructive criticism and feedback is appreciated. hopefully we can get more into the story soon as we are finally approaching the part of this story that is within Beacon. I have, as you may have noticed, gone back and split up the original chapters into smaller chapters in order to make the story easier to read for those with less time to read than myself.