It had been at least two days since Ruby had spoken to the other woman, though she wasn't entirely sure. It wasn't easy to keep track of time when there was no clock or windows in her cell. She didn't really care though, anything was better than being tortured... Though this was close. She could hear the woman's screams from down the hall, knowing they were doing to her whatever they had done to Ruby for refusing to give them their information.

Ruby looked down at her boots sadly as she slowly ate the small amount of brown mush and water she had been served. It was no 5-star meal, but it was better than the nothing she had received over the past few days. She had been given no food, and the only water she got was when they put a cloth over her face and soaked it with water, causing her to feel as if she was drowning. She shuddered at the thought, and tried to turn her attention back to her food.

Neo woke up early that morning in a panic, freezing up and temporarily for getting where she was, and why she was there. As she started to calm down, the door to the bathroom opened, and Blake stepped out, wrapped in a towel.

"Oh, hey. Weiss and Yang already went down to breakfast. The shower's right in there if you want one, and your clothes are on top of Weiss's dresser, along with your umbrella." Blake said with a small smile. "I umm... I heard Weiss talking last night... And I understand why you left... I might not entirely trust you, but I don't hate you. I think you were brave for turning your back on her."

Neo gave the girl a bright smile as she stood up and slipped passed her and into the bathroom. Not more than twenty seconds later, and Neo found herself in the shower, the water pouring down onto her head, letting all her current worries wash away with all of the dirt and grime she had acquired while in the wild. One of her hands carefully traveled to her back, where she gently rubbed the cuts, which were starting to heal now.

She sighed and began to wash herself, rubbing the shampoo through her hair and washing herself from head to toe. After about twenty minutes, she stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around herself. She stepped our into the room and began dressing herself. She only had time to put on her pants before the door was opened, and the three girls stepped in.

Neo looked over at them as Weiss and Blake each gave her a soft smile. Yang's face however was different, it wasn't angry, like Neo expected, more of... Sad. Neo tilted her head curiously, but continued to dress herself nonetheless.

"Ozpin said that we're supposed to leave in twenty minutes, so you might wanna get ready." Blake said, picking up a small backpack and throwing it over her shoulder.

Neo nodded and finished dressing, turning to follow Blake and Weiss, who had just both left the room. She was stopped, however, by a hand on her shoulder, Yang's

"Listen... Weiss told me what happened to you. And I just wanted to say sorry for yesterday. I was over-emotional, and reckless, and I didn't mean to hurt you." She said quietly, looking down.

Neo gave the girl a soft smile and nodded, giving Yang a small thumbs up. Yang gave a small half-smile and removed her hand. "Now let's go and get my sister, and your revenge, huh?"

Ruby gave a small groan of pain as she slowly rose from the floor, limping towards the door of her cell, where Cinder currently stood. "You're becoming quite the obedient pet, aren't you?" Cinder said with a smirk, crossing her arms. She slipped the blindfold back over Ruby's eyes. "We're going to have another chat with Miss... Ari, was it?"

Ruby said nothing but followed the sound of Cinder's footsteps, stepping into the cell where Summer lay, still panting heavily from her latest round of interrogation.

"Well Miss Ari, I've brought Ruby back to try and convince you once more. And I would hope you don't disappoint me again, or the consequences will be quite severe..." Cinder said, glancing at Ruby and causing Summer to give a small whimpering noise.

"H-hello again Ruby..." Summer said, tears forming in her eyes again.

"Hello Ari... You don't sound well... Are you sick?" Ruby said, some slight concern in her voice.

"N-no, I'm fine... Just weak and tired is all... They haven't fed me or let me sleep in days... Since you arrived actually..." Summer said, looking over at the small girl, who was once again sitting on the small stool next to the table, a blindfold over her eyes.

"Why don't you give them what they want? I can hear you when they're doing it... Surely is can't be worth all of this?" Ruby said, her voice sounding more pleading than anything.

"I...I can't... I just can't Ruby... I'm sorry..." Summer said as Mercury and Emerald walked into the room.

"Here's what you wanted, it was a piece of cake." Mercury said, smirking as he handed something to Cinder, who smiled widely and pocketed the item.

"Good job you two. Now, I have another task for you, and I believe you already know what it is." Cinder said, leaving the cell. "And be sure to do it so she can watch..."

Getting back to the compound was far easier than getting out of it, that much was clear to Neo. Though, she supposed it didn't hurt that she had been half starved, tired, and had been whipped rather harshly only an hour previous to her departure. Team RWBY, along with Qrow, Ironwood, and Winter all followed her through the dense jungle trees as she guided them through the foliage, avoiding traps and nests of Grimm that they would have stumbled into had she not been there.

Winter was walking beside Weiss, her arm around her sister's shoulders, a reassuring smile on her face. "We're gonna get her back, and make sure Cinder pays, I promise."

"But how do we know? Even if Neo is telling the truth and this is where they were, what if they moved? What if they decided Ruby wasn't worth keeping and killed her?" Weiss said, tears welling up in her eyes. "I can't bare the thought of losing her... Not again..."

"I know, but you have to stay positive. If it was you that was captured and her here trying to rescue you, do you think she would be moping like this?" Winter said with a small hug.

"No... She'd be trying to keep everyone's spirits high... And doing everything she could to find me..." Wiess said, her head rising as she gave a small sniff. "And I should do the same."

"That's the spirit kid." Qrow said with a small smile as he passed the sister's, one hand holding his silver flask, the other placing itself on Winter's shoulder, giving her a small wink, to which she rolled her eyes.

"Umm... Winter... Did he just..."

"Yes he did."

"And are you two..."

"I don't see how that is at all relevant to the current situation!" Winter said, her face going bright red.

The rest of the group smirked, all except Ironwood, who simply frowned at Qrow, who gave him a small, confident smirk.

"Are we almost there Neo?" Blake said, jogging for a few meters to catch up to the girl, who already had a note written, holding it up for the Faunus to see.

We'll get there when we get there.

Blake was about to retort when Neo hastily scribbled something on her pad. It was slightly too late however, as Yang bumped into Blake, who stumbled forwards, and tripped over a large metal hatch in the ground, hitting her head against a tree. Neo winced and held up her note:

We're here.

Blake, who had fallen into a bush, could only be partially seen, as only one of her legs and her arms were sticking out. Both of her fists clenched, except for a very distinct finger on each hand, both pointed at Neo, who frowned and scribbled another note as the girl rose to her feet.

Rude

Qrow held up a hand and stepped towards the hatch, bending down and slowly opening it with a loud creeeeeeak.

"So umm... Who's first?" Blake said as they all peered down into the pitch black below.

"I'll go first and make sure it's safe." Winter said, stepping forwards and positioning herself on the think ladder that lead down.

As quietly as she could, Winter made her way down the ladder, and soon vanished from sight. Weiss and Ironwood both looked slightly nervous until they heard her whisper from the bottom. "It's all clear, come down."

The group began decending one by one. Qrow held out his hand however, before Ironwood reached the ladder. "We need someone to stay back here and cover our escape. And we both know which of us is going to get her." Qrow said, Ironwood nodding in agreement.

"Take care of them."

"I always do Jimmy..."

Qrow decended the ladder, Ironwood closing the hatch behind him, but not sealing it. When Qrow finally got to the bottom, the girls were already waiting. The group took off down the hallway, with Neo in the lead. They reached a four way intersection, where Neo had stopped, looking down all three hallways.

Blake had opened her mouth to ask which one they needed to go down when they all heard it. A loud, ear-piercing shriek echoing down the halls from their right. Neo turned and led the group at full speed down the hallway, towards the screams of their teammate...

Ruby screamed again as Cinder dragged a finger up her left sole, leaving a bright red burn from heel to toe. The small girl panted heavily, sweat and tears soaking the black cloth still covering her eyes. Summer was sobbing heavily. She was tied to a small chair facing Ruby; her head had been bound as well, forcing her to look directly at the girl as she was tortured mercilessly by the black haired woman standing before her.

"You can stop the girl's pain at any time you know..." Cinder said, dragging another finger up Ruby's leg, causing the girl to shriek even more. "And I'll have you know, it'll only get worse from here..."

Summer watched wit horror as Cider's finger slowly made it's way up Ruby's leg, leaving a large burn in it's wake. She moved across the girl's ankle, her shin, up her knee, and began on the thigh, with Ruby's screams getting more and more intense the farther up she went.

"Stop! I'll tell you, I'll tell you! Please, just stop..." Summer said, sobbing as Cinder smiles, removing her finger, which had just reached the top of Ruby's thigh.

"Good choice, it would've gotten quite painful after another inch or so..." Cinder said teasingly, giving Ruby a small pat on the cheek. "Now, about that information..."

Neo led the group down several passageways as they heard the screams getting louder and more frequent. By the time they rounded the final corner, they were all completely out of breath, save for Qrow, who had turned into a crow and rested on Winter's shoulder.

"Hey, one of us needs to have the stamina to fight." Was his only defense as he turned back, grabbing his weapon and bringing it into full scythe mode. "Wait... Hold on..."

He pressed his ear to the door, his eyes widening as he heard the voices on the other side. One he knew belonged to Cinder, and another to Ruby. The last one was familiar as well, though he had never thought he'd hear it again...

"Summer..." He breathed, the others all giving him a look of confusion.

"What did you say Qrow, we can't hear-" Winter began quietly, but was interrupted as Qrow's scythe collided with the door, wrenching it open with a loud screeching noise.

Qrow stood in the doorway, his scythe at the ready, a scowl on his face as the dust began to clear from the air. He was almost completely incinerated by a fireball, and the only thing that denied it was a large silver glyph symbol that absorbed the attack. Qrow charged forwards, Winter and Yang at his sides. Cinder, however, stayed completely still, smirking as their attacks went completely through her, her body disappearing, practically evaporating into smoke.

"Maybe next time Qrow..." Her voice said, echoing from seemingly everywhere. "Take them, I no longer care... I got what I needed..."

The rest of the group rushed into the room. Weiss and Yang both began hurriedly undoing the straps binding Ruby in the chair, helping her to her feet.

"I knew... You'd come... for me..." She said weakly, a small smile forming before she fell forwards, only to be caught by Yang.

Yang picked Ruby up, carrying her bridal style as the small girl slept soundly in her big sisters arms. Winter told Yang to lay her on the table, where she began examining the girl's many, many, many injuries.

The group was huddled around the table as Winter worked, all except Qrow. Yang turned around, a puzzled look on her face as she looked at her Uncle.

"Umm, Uncle Qrow, is something wrong?" She said, taking a small step towards him.

Qrow said nothing, but continued staring at the woman that was still tied to the other chair. Yang gave a slightly puzzled look, as she could only see the back of her head. The woman's hair looked oddly familiar; it was short and black, with red on the ends, a lot like Ruby's. Yang walked around the chair slowly, looking at the woman's face, who smiled softly at her.

"M-mom?" Yang said, her voice hoarse, tears springing to her eyes.

Summer nodded gently, and gave a small grunt of pain as Yang wrapped her arms tightly around the woman's heavily abused body. Summer smiled softly, despite the pain coursing through her.

"Hey Yang... Long time no see..." She said, her voice quiet and raspy.

Tears spilled out from Yang's eyes as she hugged her tightly. She quickly undid the bindings restraining Summer to her chair, allowing her to stand on somewhat shaky legs. Qrow offered her his cape, and muttered something about 'catching a cold', which she wrapped around herself, giving him a small smile.

A small groan came from the table, and attention was turned back to Ruby, who was sweating heavily. "Her cuts are infected... I don't have any medicine to treat her here, we'd have to take her bak to Beacon." Winter said, taking her jacket and draping it over the girl before picking her up gently. "We need to hurry!"

The group hurried back out into the hallways, where they began the trip back towards the hatch through which they had entered.

"Hey guys, don't you think it's kinda funny how there have been no guards? No White Fang, no Emerald, no Mercury... Nobody but Cinder?" Weiss said nervously as they made their way quickly down the hallway. "It's so unlike her to leave something so easy to get into..."

They reached the small intersection where they had first heard Ruby's screams and all turned left, except Neo, who simply froze.

Blake stopped, turning around to look at the small girl. "Neo, what are you doing, come on!"

Neo seemed not to hear her; she simply took a small step forwards, looking down a dark hallway, where the noise of a single pair of boots was coming. As the sounds go closer, the group readied their weapons, preparing to take on anything that might come out of the hallway. But to their surprise, it wasn't Emerald, or Mercury, or even Cinder coming back. The one that stepped out of the shadows, wore a large white coat with a black feathered hat, a long metal cane, and a cigar in his mouth... Roman.

Neo took another step closer, her eyes wide and shining with tears. He extended both arms outwards, giving the small girl a large smile. She ran towards him, her arms outstretched to embrace the man; then it happened.

Suddenly Neo froze again, her eyes bulging slightly. The group watched in silent horror as blood dripped from the two large stab wounds in the girl's chest. Neo, looked down and coughed, blood shooting out of her mouth as Roman disappeared, leaving Emerald in his place, both of her knives through Neo's chest, a smirk on her face.

"Traitorous bitch..." She said, removing the blades and letting Neo drop to her knees, then quickly to the floor, clutching her wounds, her face still showing her shock as blood pooled around her.

Yang was the first to move, leaving Qrow to support Summer. She ran forwards, her eyes glowing red and her hair golden as she began bombarding the green-haired girl with blow after blow from her gauntlets, the shotguns firing with each punch. Her final one sent Emerald clear through a wall, the rest of the wall falling down on top of her.

By the time Yang had caught her breath and turned around, Blake and Weiss were already hoisting Neo up, with Weiss using a small white Dust crystal to freeze Neo's chest, holding the bleeding for the time being.

"That ice is going to melt, so we need to get these guys to Beacon fast!" Weiss said as Blake carefully held Neo in her arms.

The group once again set off down the hallways, thankful that Winter, who was leading the way, remembered the way that they came, as Neo was unconscious.

"Qrow, what took you guys so long, what happened to Ruby and Neo, who is-" Ironwood began as the group made their way out of the hatch.

"Not important, transport, now!" Qrow said, letting Summer lean against a tree as Blake and Winter placed Neo and Ruby side-by-side next to her.

Ironwood took a small radio from one of the inner pockets of his jacket and flipped it on, giving the pilot of the transport the new coordinates for their pickup. After a small argument about missiles and defenses, the pilot finally agreed, and within moments, was landing in a small clearing about thirty yards away. The group made their way to the ship, loading the wounded teammate on first, before embarking themselves, with Ironwood promising that if the ship wasn't at top speed the whole way, he would have them both relieved of duty.

Ruby awoke several hours later, shooting up in her bed and yelling something incomprehensible. Her hair was plastered to her face with sweat, and her eyes were wide and alert as she took deep, heavy breaths.

"Ruby, it's okay, calm down!" Weiss said, placing her hand over Ruby's, which had clenched into a fist. "You're back home, at Beacon. You're in the infirmary."

"The... The infirmary?" Ruby said, holding her free hand up to her head and giving a small groan. "Yeah that's right... You... Rescued me..."

"Yeah, we did." Weiss said, smiling up at the girl, tears in her eyes. "You're gonna be okay now..."

"What about that other girl, the one that was there with me?" Ruby said, looking slightly worried.

"She's okay too... But... Ruby... Did you ever... See her face?" Weiss said, her voice sounding slightly curious.

Ruby shook her head. "Whenever we were allowed to talk, I had to wear a blindfold... But, she said her name was Ari... That's all I really remember about her..."

"Ari... But that isn't..." Weiss began, but was cut short by another voice.

"I had to go by another name... Cinder wouldn't allow her to know who I really was..." Said a weak voice from the other bed."Or else she might start resisting again."

Both Weiss and Ruby looked over at the bed next to Ruby's, Summer's smiling face looking back at them.

"Oh, you're awake! I'm sorry if we woke you ma'am..." Weiss said with a small smile.

"Nonsense, you're happy to see Ruby had woken up, I can't blame you for that. And besides, if I slept any more anyways, I think I'd medically be in a coma..." She said with a soft chuckle.

Weiss rolled her eyes, still smiling slightly. "Well, if you're awake now, I'll let the others know they can visit." She said, pulling out her Scroll and beginning to type.

Summer's eyes left Weiss and turned to Ruby, who had been silently staring at her the whole time. "Y-you... You're... I..." She said weakly, her eyes widening and full of tears, the heart monitor next to her beeping quickly.

"Hi Ruby..." Summer said, her eyes sparkling with tears.

Tears streaked down Ruby's cheeks as she looked at her mother for the first time in thirteen years. The monitor continued beeping faster, Weiss looking up at it, worry striking her face.

"I... I don't... I..." Ruby said, her voice barely audible.

"Ruby... Ruby, calm down..." Weiss said, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder.

Ruby's breathing increased in speed as she looked at the woman laying across from her, who now shared Weiss's concern. "Ruby sweetie, take a deep breath okay, you need to calm down..." She said, trying to sound as soothing as possible. "You've been through a lot, you shouldn't get yourself worked up like this."

"B-but how are you... I thought... We all..." She said, wincing slightly and holding her chest, her eyes bulging slighty.

"Ruby!" Both Weiss and Summer shouted, Summer practically flying out of bed as Ruby fell sideways, gasping for breath.

"I'll go get a nurse!" Weiss said, running out of the room as fast as she could.

"Ruby, please calm down, just breath, okay?" Summer said, placing a hand over Ruby's hands which were still clutching her chest, while her other hand stroked the girl's hair.

End Note: And then there was another bombshell, though not as big as the first bombshell, but still! Tell me how you guys are liking the story so far, and what I can do or take away to make it more enjoyable! Chiao!