I do not own RWBY. All rights go to Rooster Teeth.

Daughter of the Gods

Chapter Eleven: Secrets secrets

Yang's POV

The weekend had been the worst I had ever seen Ruby looking. She was paler than normal and her eyes sunken slightly. She wasn't eating right, and her sleeping was intermittent at best and completely non-existent at worst. It was so bad Ozpin had come to the dorm and kicked Weiss and I out while he tried talking to Ruby.

"I feel awful. This is all my fault." Weiss whispered out of the blue. I looked at her with tired eyes.

"It's not. It really isn't. Ruby has always struggled with her past though she doesn't talk about it. I've held her enough times at night to know that. Very rarely does she ever allow those memories to get in the way of present life. You didn't do anything, she's just allowed herself to disconnect and it's messing with her big time. Hopefully Ozpin can talk her out of it." I didn't want Weiss to blame herself.

"Ruby's very special to you, isn't she?" Weiss asked softly. I looked at her and nodded.

"She's my big sister in every way. She has this confidence to her that most people mistake for arrogance, but in actuality, she has the experience. Her mother was an amazing huntress, taught her everything she knew. Ruby was hunting from the time she could walk and hold a weapon." Which was true, from a certain point of view. "When dad took her in, she became part of the family. My badass sister. Slayer of monsters and baker of cookies." I chuckled at the phrase, remembering when she first said it to me. "She came with a lot of baggage. Watching friends die out in the wilds where she and her mom lived, villagers torn apart by grimm. She remembers all of it." A darkness had taken over my tone and Weiss looked hesitant before she finally asked what was on her mind.

"I get that Ruby loved a faunus, but that why does it seem like she's just…forgiven Blake?" I breathed deeply, thinking over the possible answer.

"Because Ruby already knew. She made it a point to know once we became a team. She knew that Blake had been a part of the 'fang. Ruby doesn't support the 'fang, thinks it's the wrong message, but she does understand. Her and Preto were tight before she was kidnapped and died years later because of the sick things those guys did to her." Ruby had told me the state Preto was in when she found her. It was pretty bad.

The General at the time, Blackstone, had tortured her for information on how the uprising had started without the militaries notice. That had been Ruby's doing. An accident with dust here, a few mine overseers dying on 'accident' there, small groups of slaves escaping inexplicably. It had all led to a gorilla campaign in the early days when the uprising was just a thought, but it diverted the militaries of remnants attention long enough for Ruby to organize the faunus into a legitimate fighting force.

Of course, Weiss couldn't know about this, so I had to continue bending the story a bit.

"The white fang originally started as a symbol of peace, did you know that?" Wiess shook her head. "But people still saw them as lesser. So, the White Fang became an organization of protest for equality. All the Faunus want is to stop being treated like animals." I finished. Weiss and I sat in silence, Though I could tell Weiss was getting stuck in her own head. I was about to pull her out when the door opened.

"How is she?" I asked quickly. Ruby stepped out from behind him, a tired and haunted look in her eyes. She likely wouldn't talk about it though.

"I'm fine. We're gonna find Blake." She said quietly as she stormed down the hall. I knew her promise to indigo was important to her, so I would help any way I could. Weiss hesitated though.

"Weiss. Come on. I know you're not exactly friends with Blake but she's our teammate. We have to find her." I said with a bit of force. Weiss swallowed hard before speaking.

"It's not that I don't want to find her, I'm…just afraid of what she'll say when we do…" She admitted quietly. "I know what my father has done to the faunus, what Atlas especially has done. I don't want to be like him, but I just fell back into a more…harmful thought process and I hurt Blake. Yes, I didn't have the best childhood, but it shouldn't have been an excuse for my behavior. And now Ruby and Blake hate me and I just…" I decided to stop her right there.

"I can't speak for Blake, but I know Ruby doesn't hate you. She's frustrated, and tired, and she's our leader. With Blake splitting and being reminded of her best friend it's put her under a lot of stress. She had a team before beacon. You probably wouldn't know that since she never talks about that stuff but it's true." Weiss looked at me in surprise.

"What happened to them?" Weiss was hesitant.

"They all died in one way or another. This whole thing, being at Beacon and leading another team? It's hard for her. They had all been together since they were practically kids, learning from Ruby's mom and on their own out in the wilds. This isn't HER team if you know what I mean." I stressed.

"I think so. She's been used to leading her old team, now that we're here and practically falling apart, it's hard on her. She wants us to be that team that she knows how to lead but we're not…" Weiss said softly.

"Exactly. Ruby just needs more time for all this. She'll warm up again because it's who she is. Like I said, she might seem arrogant, but it's experience and loss that drive her decisions."

Ruby POV

I had been listening to Weiss and Yang talk around the corner for the entire time, and I was awed at Yang's perception. While it wasn't the whole thing behind every decision I made, it was most of it. I heard them begin walking and ran out to the courtyard where the statue was. I waited for a few minutes until they got there and wordlessly walked towards the airship docks. Yang followed easily but Weiss was a bit hesitant, which was understandable.

Arriving in Vale Yang and I called out for Blake, with Weiss eventually joining in. I smiled behind my hood when she did it of her own free will.

Seems Yang's words had an impact.

We were almost three hours in when Penny showed up out of literally nowhere.

"Hey Penny." I greeted. Apparently she had become fairly observant since the last time we saw her.

"What's the matter friend Ruby?" It was surprisingly Weiss who answered.

"I had a disagreement with our friend Blake and she ran away. We've been looking for her since this morning."

"Oh, Blake! The faunus girl?" I narrowed my eyes at that. There was no way she should have known that, not unless she could somehow see through the bow or knew beforehand.

"How did you know that?" I asked slowly.

"Um I-Uhh." She stammered. "I just knew it." And then she hiccupped.

"Are you okay Penny?" I asked.

"Yes. I am wonderful thank you for asking!" No hiccup. Interesting, but not worth pursuing right now

"Well it was nice seeing you again, but we should be on our way." Weiss said politely. I had an idea though.

"No. You and Yang should head somewhere else. If Penny knew Blake was a faunus then she might help tracking her down." I explained. Yang nodded, and she and Weiss went off on their own.

Elsewhere in Vale: Blake POV

"So, what's the plan now?" Sun asked. I had met with him earlier at a restaurant where we got to talking about the 'fang and things of that nature.

"I'm still not sure that the White Fang are behind these robberies. They've never needed this much dust before." It was all very confusing, and also quite troubling.

"What if they did? I mean, the only way to prove it wasn't them would be to catch whoever IS doing it in the act. And since I heard some of the crew on the ship talking about a huge offloading of dust, it would be the perfect opportunity to do just that!" Sun shouted in excitement.

"Shh keep it down, the last thing we need is people overhearing anything and calling the police on two faunus who were talking about dust shipments." I scolded him. His tail drooped, and I felt bad for a second before I thought over what he said.

"How huge a shipment did you hear it was?" I whispered. He grinned.

"Huge."

I was about to respond when my scroll went off. It was Ruby again for what had to be the fifteenth time today. I felt bad about ignoring it, especially since her earlier ones where she left messages she sounded so broken…scared.

"Are you gonna answer it, at least let them know you're okay?" Sun asked behind me.

"No. Ruby might not be mad, but the rest probably are. Besides, we have to prove it wasn't the white fang." I was determined to see this through, no matter what.

"Ruby. She's your team leader right?" Sun asked suddenly.

"Yeah."

"She was the one that shot that rock out of the air before it could hit me in the face." It was a statement rather than a question.

"Yeah? Where is this going?"

"What I'm getting at, is that you should at least tell her you're okay. Someone like that, who would shoot off a high impact rifle round and risk getting arrested for illegal use of a weapon outside of combat as a huntress in training, I think deserves to know that her teammate is okay. Besides, we could use her for whatever you're planning in that head of yours." He said seriously. Sun began walking away with a shrug of his shoulders, heading to the docks. I stared at the scroll in my hands, Ruby's contact information already pulled up.

I hit the call button.

Almost immediately Ruby answered.

"Blake? Blake are you there?! Are you okay?!" I felt bad that Ruby seemed really panicky.

"I'm okay Ruby. I'm sorry I ran off like that." I did feel bad honestly.

"Where are you now? Are you safe at least?"

"Yeah. Can't say for later. Listen, I'm with Sun and he came up with a crazy idea and I'm gonna go through with it but I could use your help." I expected her to chew me out for even thinking of going along with whatever idea she must have thought I had.

"You're going after proof that the 'fang didn't commit these robberies, aren't you?" She didn't bullshit around issue it hand it seemed.

"Yes."

"I know exactly where you'll be heading then. I'll meet you on the roof overlooking the docks an hour after dark." Then the line went dead and was forced to stare at my phone in surprise. How did she know I would be at the docks?

It was several hours later, and I was laying down on the roof when I felt a presence that wasn't sun on the roof with us. Putting my hand on the hilt of Gamble shroud slowly, I quickly whipped out the blade when the presence was close enough, stopping a few inches from Ruby's neck when I realized it was her.

She hadn't even flinched.

She wasn't wearing her signature red cloak, rather a black one.

"Well we ARE being sneaky, aren't we?" She said with a small laugh. I rolled my eyes. Catching sight of Penny who must have followed her here for some reason, though she stood by awkwardly.

"You should be taking this seriously." I said quietly. Ruby's eyes hardened for a brief second.

"Look Blake, this isn't my first rodeo. The white fang are definitely not the scariest things on remnant, believe me." She said darkly. It made me want to believe her.

"What's the plan." Ruby whispered. She was letting me take control?

"This is your idea, so you make the plan. I can do whatever you need me to do." Ruby said. I nodded.

"We just need to find out if it really is the white fang, and possibly put a stop to it if we can."

"Okay not much of a plan but it is a REALLY good mission statement." Ruby said with a shrug. She looked at me hesitantly. "I called Weiss and Yang just before I got here. They're part of the team so they should be here with us." I could only nod because what was done was done. I wasn't happy about seeing Weiss, but it was going to happen sooner or later.

"One more thing." She said to get my attention again. "If it comes down to it…the choice between saving your life or Yang and Weiss' from some white fang grunt who might get luck…I wont hesitate to do what needs to be done." The tone in her voice was darkness emanating form the body of an eighteen-year-old. Something I hadn't seen since Adam, and I had to admit it scared me. She looked at me sharply.

"Don't ever compare me to that monster. He takes pleasure in the death of innocent people and is quick to label it as collateral. I am not him" I must have said that she reminded me of Adam out loud.

"Yeah you did." Damnit. I was broken out of my thoughts when a bullhead flew over us and Ruby pulled her hood up. A few seconds later the bullhead landed, and a member of the white fang came out. And another. And another. Until there were dozens of them. I hung my head in sadness.

"You really didn't think they did it, did you?" Sun asked.

"Deep down I did, I just didn't want to admit it." I said with shame. My attention was brought back to the situation when a human stepped out.

"Roman." I heard Ruby growl.

"This isn't right. The 'fang would never work with a human, especially not one like that." I said as I heard him giving some racist remarks. I stood from my perch and unsheathed my sword form my back. I was about to jump down when I felt a hand on my wrist. Turning around I saw Ruby, Crescent rose in its compact form in her other hand.

"Don't do anything rash. I'll cover you up here. Sun, head down with her but stay out of sight." She instructed. I nodded and jumped down.

Ruby POV

Watching from my perch, I deployed Crescent rose in slammed the blade down into the roof, silently apologizing for the damage. Peering through the scope, I could see Blake take Roman by the neck with her sword but was unable to hear anything they were saying. Why didn't I take that lipreading lesson all those years ago? I heard a noise off in the distance and looked up to see several bullheads coming in. this operation was much bigger than I had realized.

I heard an explosion in Romans area and saw Blake laying on the ground. He must have used her distraction at the bullheads to use his weapon on her and take her by surprise. He fired at her again and I was just about to take the shot when Blake rounded the corner and a banana impacted Roman in the face right before Sun's feet did the same.

I heard noise behind me and whirled around with crescent rose, seeing Yang and Weiss running up to me. Quickly I directed them to the battle. Penny was still standing off to the side like I had told her too.

"Friend Ruby I can help!" She pleaded.

"No Penny! Stay back!" I shouted as I racked the bolt of my rifle. Roman must have heard us though since he took a shot right at Penny. I managed to speed up from a dead stop and push her out of the way, but the rocket caught the edge of the roof and exploded, sending me flying.

I sat up to see Penny walking to the edge.

"Penny! It's not safe!" I shouted over the sound of battle.

"Don't worry friend Ruby. I am combat ready." She said. As she spoke, a dozen swords came out of her backpack and floated around her, in the moonlight I could faintly make out microwire coming from each sword and leading into her backpack.

What the hell?

Something definitely didn't add up about this girl.

I decided to Jump down since I coulsnt be very effective with everyone engaged with a combatant or two. I couldn't risk hitting anyone.

Three more bullheads were coming though so I decided to focus fire on them for the time being. They began shooting, a line of bullets heading straight for Penny.

"Penny! Get out of the way!" I shouted at her. She looked up in surprise before two more swords shot out of the backpack, this time I could make out the cables far easier.

There was much more to her than met the eye, because there was no way that much cable with her swords resided in her backpack. Launching herself backwards, she planted her feet and the swords began spinning around and a ball of light formed in the center. Before I could even think about whatever the hell it was, an energy beam shot out from the center, hitting all three bullheads, one laser slicing through the fuel compartment causing an explosion that sent shrapnel everywhere.

A large piece was headed for Weiss, who hadn't even noticed.

Turning into a petal burst, I rushed towards her when I realized I wasn't going to make it to her in time.

I could jump in front of her though. It would reveal my biggest secret, but if it saved Weiss it was worth it.

Pushing hard, I rematerialized in front of the metal shard and took it full force in the stomach and lower chest. Everyone around me seemed to stop as I skidded on the soles of my boots before collapsing in pain on my knees. The first to react was Weiss.

"RUBY!" Shouted as she rushed over to me. Roman and the 'fang members used the distraction to escape. Yang rushed over to me with Blake not far behind. Yang slid on her knees as she got close to me.

"Ruby! Ruby answer me!" She shouted desperately.

"Damnit. This happened a lot sooner than I anticipated." I said as I coughed up a piece of a lung. "Just help me up so we can go somewhere private." I coughed again. Yang nodded, knowing what I was talking about. Weiss and Blake protested.

"What do you think you're doing! She needs serious help!" Weiss shouted at the same time as Blake.

"Yang she's seriously hurt and probably delirious! Just let the proffesionals handle it when they arrive!" There were tears in her eyes as well as Weiss'.

"Just trust me okay. Yang, I cant feel my legs right now so you'll just have to carry me. Right over there, if you can manage it." I said weakly. Yang nodded as she picked me up and ran me to an office right on the loading bay. Blake and Weiss followed, protesting the whole way. Yang set me down eventually on my side sine the shrapnel had pierced my back it felt like.

"Yang. There's nothing you can do except pull it out. Don't hesitate, just do it." I grit out, closing my eyes and preparing for the worst pain I would feel in a long time. Weiss and Blake tried to stop her, but Yang just muscled through them, putting a hand on the piece and yanking it out.

It was the loudest I had screamed in a long time. The blood flowing all around me before it stopped. Feeling where the shrapnel had been I could only feel a small scar. I looked up into the confused, scared, and watery eyes of Blake and Weiss as they tried to comprehend what they were seeing.

"Uhh…surprise." I said with a sheepish smile.

Weiss fainted, and Blake threw up.