Disguised Hearts

Chapter 4

What Happens to Us?

Note: It may be a Monday, but over here, it's a Tuesday and that means that my trip is over. You guys no longer have to wait any more for a one week only update schedule. As I said in my message a few days ago, you'll get one story every day excluding Saturday. I'm really excited to come back and really sit down and write for you all. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this update and I'll be talking more about my trip and my current stories.

"Killed?"

"We are so sorry you have to hear this." Yang dropped to her knees as a tear rolled down her face. At that same moment, she remembered her parents' smile from the night before. They were so happy. She then brought her hands up to her head and started to scream out in pain.

"Nnnoooooo!" She slammed her head against the ground. Everyone else who was watching backed away. It was too hard to see her suffer like that so they went about their business. After a few moments of being by herself, Ruby came up next to her and placed her hand on her shoulder, hoping that that would do something.

"Yang?" At that moment, she jumped at Ruby and hugged her as tight as she could, still with tears rolling down her face. "It's okay." This was a little easier for Ruby since she was still a little too young to understand the full extent of the situation. She did know something bad happened to them and that things would never be the same. However, she tried to stay calm for Yang. This was what being a little sister meant. She had to be there for Yang whenever she needed her and this was definitely that time.

After a few minutes, Ruby managed to bring Yang onto her feet and Qrow guided them back into his car where he took them back to his house. Luckily, his house wasn't too far away so they weren't forced to be inside of a car during such a tough time. When they arrived at his house, Yang ran in and shut herself in some random room of the house. Ruby and Qrow watched her go off on her own and couldn't help but worry about her. They've never seen her like this. She's always been so cheerful and happy, and seeing her like this made it seem as if she wasn't even the same person they knew.

…

The next day came around rather quietly. Nothing really happened. Qrow got a call from Child Services requesting him and the children to report to court the next weekend. This worried him a lot. He knew what this meant and he was afraid that something bad was going to happen. He agreed to their terms and hung up the phone.

Ruby woke up like normal. She hugged Qrow right as she entered the living room. He consoled her as much as he could, but his main concern was Yang. The last time he saw her was last night when they arrived at his house, and ever since then, he hasn't seen or heard from. Since her door was locked, there was no way to get through to her without applying force to the current situation. The only thing he could do was leave her food outside of her door and ask if she was alright. She never answered, but he could hear her soft breathing. He couldn't pry on her right now. She needed her space so it was best to leave her alone for a while.

Before the weekend came to an end, Qrow went back to their house to pick up some of their personal belongings. He gathered everything they would need that was important to them. He grabbed their clothes, school supplies, and a couple of photos of their family just for keep sake. When he came home and brought back their stuff, he had their picture in his hand which Ruby took immediately. This was when she started to lose it. It was a picture of the four of them together. They all had smiles on their faces and they all looked so happy. Tears started to fall from her face as she fell into his body. He carried her to the couch and tried his best to keep her calm.

With the way things were going, Qrow was now put into a difficult situation. Two young girls who just lost their parents; nothing could get any worse than that.

…

When the next week of school came around, that was the first time Qrow saw Yang for the first time in a while. She got ready, grabbed her things, and made her way to school. She ate nothing and said nothing; she was as quiet as quiet could get.

She arrived on campus as the bell rang to get to class. She made her way to her first period where Blake was already there. Out of nowhere, Blake was the one to say hi first. Unfortunately, Yang didn't respond. She just walked passed her with a depressed look. Blake took notice of this strange behavior and watched her as she walked to the back of the room where she dropped her things.

Hm, she's probably just having a bad day. Everybody has at least one of those. There's nothing to worry about. She turned back around as class was about to start.

When lunch started, Yang didn't go to her usual place. She ended up finding solace in a bathroom where she spent the rest of the day. She didn't come out at all. She was too busy thinking about what happened.

Her house was surrounded by emergency workers. The front door was smashed in. Two gurneys were pulled out of the house. She saw her mom lying on one which only made her assume that her dad was on the other one. She had no memories of any injury or damage to their body which was a good thing. Seeing images of those kind of things would have probably made things worse than they already are for her. She did everything in her power to try and forget about what she saw, but they always came back to haunt her. She would see horrible images of her parents murdered in unideal ways that it made her scream in fear. Then, she would see Ruby across the room all by herself. She would reach out for her, but she would constantly get farther until she couldn't see her anymore. The things she feared the most were coming to life: Her parents being taken away from her and Ruby being alone in such a big world. She didn't want to think about these things, but they were happening unconsciously.

What can I do? Is there even anything I can do?

…

The next day started out with the same events. Blake gave her a friendly hi and good morning, but Yang didn't acknowledge her. That was when Blake started to get curious. The past week, Yang was very sprite and happy, but for some reason, she was acting like a totally different person now. Was there something that was bothering her? She wanted to find out more about it, but class started so she was forced to wait until another opportunity presented itself.

Lunch started with something a little different. Instead of going to see Coco or retreating to the bathroom, Yang simply found a nice spot underneath a tree where she could be left alone. She kept her head down so she wouldn't have to deal with other people. She knew that that went against her plan of meeting new people, but it was necessary if she was going to get better. As she started her train of thought, everything from before found its way back into her mind; the good, the bad, but mostly the bad. Instead of trying to hide herself from it, she simply allowed it to come and see where it would take her. Out of nowhere, a hand was placed on her shoulder which caused her to look up.

"Hey Yang, where have you been? You left me all alone yesterday." All of a sudden, tears started to form up in her eyes. "Oh my God, are you okay?" Coco put down her guitar and sat right next to her. "What's wrong?" She looked her right in the eye.

"Coco," she said softly. "Aaaahhhhhhhh!" She busted into tears as she fell into Coco's arms. At first, she was a little taken by surprise by this, but she quickly got over it. There was obviously something wrong and she needed some human comfort. She wrapped her arms around her body and held her close.

"Sshhh. It's okay. It's okay." She couldn't control herself. The tears were falling like a storm and she was completely lost. She didn't know where she was or what she was doing. All she knew was that she was hurting.

Meanwhile, Blake decided to change things up a bit. Instead of eating at her usual spot on campus, she decided to go on a walk to see if she could find Yang and figure out what was going on. She didn't know why she was doing it. She was just curious. She wandered around all over campus, but couldn't find any trace of Yang. She tried not to get too discouraged since she didn't really mind if she found her or not. After a few minutes, she turned the corner and saw Yang. She took a giant step forward, but immediately stopped dead in her tracks for she another person with her. She was in their arms and they had their arms wrapped around her like a blanket. She hid herself and examined the situation.

At first, it seemed a little strange, but once she got a better handle on what was happening, it all started to make sense. She saw that Yang was crying and that other person was doing their best to comfort. Out of nowhere, Blake had the idea of her showing up before that other person to be there for Yang. But she suddenly shook her and threw away that idea like it was nothing to her.

"Yang, are you okay?"

"No," she said with a shaky voice.

"Don't you think you should go home then?"

"I… can't." Her voice was broken due to the weeping and heavy breathing.

"Why not?"

"I have no home to go to."

"What are you talking about?"

"I have… no home anymore." It was hard to listen to. She didn't want to pry on Yang's personal life, but she did know that something awful happened to her. All she could do was be there for during this time of need.

For the rest of the day, the two of them remained in that spot until Yang finally calmed down. When she did, Coco found it best to just walk her home. Although she said she had no home to go, she guided Coco to Qrow's house which was her temporary living place. Before she left her for the day, Coco asked her one last time if she was alright. Out of nowhere, Yang mustered up all of the strength she could to give her that normal smile she always has on. Unfortunately, it was tainted with nothing but pain and suffering.

…

I miss that smile you always gave me.

…

When the weekend came back around, Ruby and Yang got ready to attend their meeting in court. They didn't know what it was going to be about since Qrow wanted to keep them in the dark. On the way there, the car was quiet as everyone looked out the window, hoping to find something that could cheer them up. Unfortunately, nothing was happening. The skies were grey with no ray of sunshine breaching through those heavy clouds.

They blazed through the giant doors to see dozens of people in suits and the judge waiting for them at the stand. The atmosphere was so tense that they could barely breathe.

"Let's begin our order of business." Ruby grabbed Yang's hand as they made their way to their side of the room.

End of Chapter 4