Hearts Disguised

Chapter 5

Separate Ways

They walked down the aisle and to their side of the room. The whole place felt like a massive arena. There was nowhere to hide and nowhere to feel safe. All that was there was each other's hands as they silently took their seat and awaited the news of this tragedy.

"Alright, let's begin. First, we'll go over the terms of Mr. and Mrs. Rose's will, being that they left one." The attorneys and other official people in the room started to rummage through their things to find anything like a will. Unfortunately, they found out that no such will was left so now things would become even worse for the two of them. "Well, in that case, we'll resort to other plans. Is there a guardian here for these two girls?"

"Yes, that's me." Qrow rose to his feet with his hand in the air.

"Perfect. Do you have any plans for these two girls?"

"I do. With their loss, I sought it best to take them in as my own since their father was my brother." At the same time, the attorneys were busy scouring through their papers. This caused the judge to remain silent until they gave him a go-ahead. "Is there a problem with that?" Suddenly, one attorney pulled out a paper and walked it over to the stand. "What's that?" It took a second for the judge to respond since he was too busy reading the paper.

"You said you'd take both of these girls in?" He nodded his head. "Well, this is what the law states. You are allowed to take in a Ms. Ruby Rose as she was your brother's child. The two of you are related by blood so there is no problem with that. Unfortunately, a Ms. Yang Xiao Long cannot be in your care." Qrow slammed his fists on the table.

"What are you talking about? That's absurd. She's my niece."

"I'm sorry. The law clearly states that in the event of a family tragedy where no will is left and children are in play, their care is left up to the closest blood-relative. Yang was her mother's daughter. There is no blood relationship between the two of you." He wanted to fight for her, but he was gradually losing ground. There wasn't much he could do except return to his seat. "With that being said, Yang's care must be established." There was another pause. They were looking through the papers again to help them resolve this problem. After a few minutes, one of the attorneys walked to the stand and handed the judge another piece of paper. "Hm. Judging by the information we have, Yang no longer has any blood relation. If this is true, we have no choice but to take custody of her and deliver to an orphanage home. I'm sincerely sorry." He hit the gavel against the stand. "Case dismissed." Out of nowhere, security guards came into the room and snatched Yang away. When Qrow saw this, he did everything he could to get her back, but everyone else in the room held him back.

"Yang! No!"

"Uncle Qrow!" The two of them stuck their hands out towards each other, but it was no use. They were too far when they took her into the back room. Inside of the room, they placed Yang on a chair and told her to remain there until further instructions were given.

It seemed like an eternity before something happened. Her eyes constantly wandered the room, hoping there would be something in there that could make her feel better. Unfortunately, the whole room smelt like sadness and loss. She was finally starting to realize what was happening and she knew that there wasn't nothing she could do. Her age was a huge hindrance in that she couldn't stand up for herself. All she could do was stand by and be told what to do and when to do it. After a few minutes, the door quickly swung open and in came Ruby full of tears. She ran into Yang's body and wrapped her arms around her.

"Yang, you can't leave me. I need you."

"I know. I can't stand the thought of living without you."

"Can't you just live with us? There's no problem with it, is there?"

"I'm pretty sure there is. If there wasn't, we wouldn't even be having this conversation. It's gonna be okay Ruby. I promise."

"Yang, I know you're lying. Why are you lying?" All of a sudden, Yang felt a jolt in her chest. It was true. She was lying. She didn't know why though. She's never lied to Ruby in her entire life so why was she doing it now? Out of nowhere, tears started to form in her eyes as she wrapped her arms around Ruby and squeezed her tight.

"Ruby, I love you so much. Whatever you do, stay who you are. Don't let anyone change who you are. You're incredible, you're sweet, and anyone would be lucky to encounter you."

"Why are you saying this?" Yang was too busy sniffling, but she tried her best to regain her composure. She took a deep breath and looked Ruby in the eye.

"This is goodbye." Ruby eye's shot wide open as a couple of security guards came in the room and pulled Yang away.

"Yang, don't go!" Ruby tried to chase after her, but the guards were too big for her. She tried to reach for Yang, but it was no use. The longer she tried, the more Yang grew further and further away from her. "Yang… I love you," she said quietly as she finally disappeared from sight.

They didn't know it, but that would probably be the last time they would ever see other… ever.

…

The security guards guided her to a van where it took her to a nearby orphanage thankfully, it was still in the same town so Yang thought about it easy it would be to see Ruby during the school week. When she arrived, she slowly got out of the car and examined the building. Immediately, she could tell that this place wasn't going to be a friendly place. She's heard rumors about places like this, but now, she was going to get an on-hands experience. The guards escorted her inside where there was a lady waiting for her inside.

"Hello young lady, you must Yang. We've been expecting you. Please, come in." From behind, the guard finally took their leave which meant that she was all alone now. She looked around, but there was nothing there for her. She slowly took a step forward and made her way to the lady. "My name is Cathy. I take care of all of the kids here. I'm sure you'll love it here. Come on, let's give you a grand tour of the place."

She guided Yang through the building. Immediately, she knew that this place was going to be horrible. The first place she showed her was the living room. There, everyone was able to hang out and do whatever they wanted. After that were a couple of bedrooms that were decent sizes. Next was the study hall, lunch room, bathrooms, and the rest of the bedrooms.

"So what do you think?" Yang couldn't respond. Nothing about this place made her want to say anything so she remained quiet. "Well, you'll be staying in this room. I also received your paperwork and noticed that you're going to school with a lot of the girls who are staying here. That should make it easier for you to make friends." She looked at Yang who silently walked into the bedroom. "You're stuff should be here soon so make yourself at home. She closed the door behind her and left her alone.

While in the room, Yang looked around and felt out of place. There was no sense of joy in that room. All that was in there was a window that had a view a building right next to it. They were three sets of bunk beds lined up against the wall. She walked over to the beds and tested them out. The first thing that came to her head was that they were cold. The pillows were uncomfortable and it absolutely did not feel like a home. It was more a prison for her. She couldn't believe this was happening.

Once she was sick of being in that room, she decided to wander around on her own. As she looked around, she saw that the whole place was girl's house. Her tour guide forgot to mention that. She made her way to the living room when her head really start to become active. It turned towards the entrance where Cathy was there talking to a scaring looking woman. She was standing as if she was the ruler of the world. Behind her were a couple of bodyguards that looked just as menacing. As she continued to stare, the woman took noticed and removed her sunglasses.

"Did you lose something over here?" Yang was stunned. She quickly ran away in fear. Once she was gone, she put her shades back on and cleared her throat. "So do you have anyone for me?"

"I'm sorry, but we can't keep doing this." She slowly walked up to Cathy and placed her hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, but you will keep doing this. I keep this place running and you make sure that nothing stupid goes on around here. Just remember that." She turned around as her bodyguards opened up the door for her. "I'll be back soon. Pray you have someone for me." Yang poked her head out just in time to her last sentence.

Who was that woman? Why was she here?

End of Chapter 5