Chapter 9: Brooding

"Yang." Her team leader spoke.

Yang didn't look up from her mashed potatoes, and simply muttered a halfhearted "Yeah".

Yang's partner nudged her. "Yang." She said.

"What is it." Yang asked flatly.

"You." Weiss stated. "You're being so... unlike you. Ever since two days ago you've been sulking, reclusive and antisocial. Barely in the dorm, and not even listening to the conversation."

"I've been listening!" Yang protested. A snowy eyebrow rose.

"Really? What was our conversation about?" Weiss challenged.

"Uhh... team attacks?" Yang guessed. She had heard Blake and Ilia speaking of it.

"That was fifteen minutes ago, Yang." Weiss said. Yang deflated.

"Sure, you've got me." She muttered.

"What's going on, Yang? You can talk to us, we're your teammates." Weiss said.

Yang stiffened when Weiss touched her shoulder. "You wouldn't understand." She stated.

"Try me." Weiss said simply.

Yang hesitated, but under the relentless gazes of her teammates, she sighed. "What if you just found out earth shattering news that you didn't know how to feel about?" She asked.

"Well I'd talk with my team about it." Weiss replied confidently.

"Really? Well I'm not you." Yang let out a slightly bitter laugh.

"You can tell us. We won't judge you." Blake stated.

"Well its a family matter. Between my dad, uncle and I." Yang replied.

"It becomes a team matter when it impacts your grades and our team standing." Weiss pointed out. "Just tell us, we can help you — even if that's just by lending an ear." She waited for Yang's response, which came in the form of her standing up.

"No. I can't. I've been told it stays between our family." Yang replied.

"We're teammates. We should be able to help you, Yang." Blake stated, standing up.

"Really?" Yang laughed bitterly. "I'm good." She waved the raven haired girl off and turned away from the table, heading towards one of the training rooms. She really had no intention of training, her fists didn't feel like punching anything and her emotions were a tornado of conflicting feelings.

Her baby sister was a criminal.

A criminal was her baby sister.

Ruby was Red

Red was Ruby

She should tell her team, they'd help.

She shouldn't tell her team, they'd never believe her.

But one thought was as clear as a bell.

She failed as a big sister.

Ruby threw Howling At The Moon down to her bedroom floor. Laying low sucked. Neo was busy enforcing Roman's tributes, Roman was robbing places for Cinder. Drei accompanied Neo most of the time — leaving her alone.

She stalked out of her bedroom and turned on the television, wondering if the news was still going insane about her.

"A link has been found connecting Red to a real name. Posters of a missing child in Patch from several years prior, striking a stunning resemblance to Red so uncanny it cannot be pure coincidence." To her horror, one of the missing posters that featured Ruby was put on the screen's display. "Police have made a distinct link between the two. Red becoming active about four and a half years ago, her name surfacing three years ago. The missing child's name is Ruby Rose, who had vanished nearly six years ago."

Ruby couldn't help but chuckle. The news had certainly taken her story to new heights. She was a bit surprised with how fast they found the link. She watched in idle interest as Lisa Lavender went into greater detail about Summer, Tai, Qrow and even a bit about Yang.

Well this publicity for them will be interesting. Ruby's chuckles continued as she shut off the television.

The silver eyed thief walked to the kitchen and grabbed her mug from the dishwasher that had finished running about an hour ago. Ruby walked to the pot of coffee and poured herself a cup before putting in the microwave. While her coffee heated up, she got out the creamer and sugar before mixing it into her drink.

She exhaled as she took a sip while walking to the dining room table where she set the mug down.

Grabbing her scroll, Ruby let her mind drift onto nearly autopilot. It was like a movie as her fingers unlocked her Scroll before opening up her contacts app. She blinked, and was snapped back into reality with her hand hovering indecisively over Yang's contact information. Ruby reached her other hand and guided said hand away from the device as if it would act on its own.

She knows who I am. What's the use of holding off the inevitable? I could just call her and be done with it. She told herself. But... she probably hates me. Ruby thought and once more found her hand hovering over her Scroll. But this time it hovered over a different button that read Delete Contact.

She inhaled deeply through her nose and held it for a moment before exhaling slowly. I shouldn't have ever even entertained the thought that Yang would still want me around. Ruby thought.

Her finger pressed down onto the screen.

Unnamed contact deleted successfully. The blue screen displayed the message. Ruby took another sip from her coffee.

Roman sat in the driver's seat of the car.

"You really think that?" He asked at last. Neo nodded, face serious.

'There's not really a better explanation.' She signed to him.

Roman scratched the side of his jaw, "But its stupid. Cinder knows how valuable Ruby is!" He told Neo.

'Yes. But it seems too convenient. Have a White Fang member give us suicide pills "just in case" something happens. Cue shit hitting the fan and that Evergreen bitch singling out Ruby. Its almost like someone had told Evergreen that she'd be there.' Neo momentarily averted Roman's gaze before continuing to sign 'I don't know what Cinder has against Ruby. But i'd say the most damning evidence is how she reacted to Ruby getting captured. What does she do? Immediately just call Sable to her office and showed no real emotions of regret when I came back and told her my side of the story.' She met his hard green eyes. 'Something isn't right here.' Neo signed.

Roman exhaled and resisted the urge to plant his face onto the steering wheel."I guess." He murmured. "It could be a possibility, Neo." He added. "Can you try and look into it?" He asked.

Neo smiled. 'Do you really think you had to ask? I've been doing that every free second I've had.' She signed, face turning serious once again.

"And?" Roman prompted "What did you find?"

The mute's face became a mix between resignation and defeat. 'You won't like what I found...' she produced her Scroll and after a few minutes of tapping, showed the screen to Roman.

A/N: Yes another short chapter and cliffhanger. I wanted this to be here mainly because next chapter I'll be wrapping up Volume 1 events with Black and White/The Stray's events occurring. What did Neo find? It'll be revealed later in the story but I'm not that good at giant twists, so its kinda predictable to guess what it is. Ah well.

Hope you enjoyed!