When I saw Ruby cresting the hill, my heart stopped for a few seconds. I wanted to sprint over there and wrap her in my arms. I wanted to burst into tears and cry into her shoulder. I wanted to cuff her over the head for being such an idiot. I wanted to apologize to her for failing to protect her.
Instead, I pressed a button and the hill exploded. I sprang forward and raced into the flames. They couldn't hurt me, and somehow I doubted the explosion was powerful enough to down Ruby. When I reached her through the flames, she was on knees. She looked dazed, but there was black armor covering her that seemed to have absorbed much of the blast. I immediately threw a right cross at her face, but Crescent Rose came up to block it.
"That wasn't very nice. Is that any way to greet your sister?" She asked. It hurt my heart to hear her voice. It was so similar to the voice I'd heard a thousand times whenever Ruby was happy but dialed up a hundred times. It was the voice of a madwoman having the time of her life.
"Hey Rubes. Hold still, okay? Trust me, this for your own good." I kicked at her, but she burst into petals and disappeared. The clouds of smoke billowing around me stopped me from seeing wherever she stopped. I clamped down on the brief panic I felt, closed my eyes, and listened for her.
"Trying to kill me is for my own good?" The voice came from somewhere to my right. "You've changed since I left." It was slowly circling around to my back. "I love it. This is going to be so exciting!" Right behind me, now. I fired shots in front of me to speed backwards and twisted in the air to hit her in the throat. She couldn't move quick enough avoid it, but it ended up hitting her in the chest and throwing her out into the smoke again. I had forgotten to account for the fact that Ruby had clearly grown quite a bit since she left.
"Ow!" She said, but she didn't sound hurt. She sounded excited. "I thought you wanted to talk. We both know it's the only reason you agreed to guard a Relic." Ruby knew me well. I had spent every second since she turned searching for her again. I had run every half-heard rumor or flimsy lead into the ground, but I was never fast enough to catch her before she disappeared. Years of chasing her only led to destroyed villages and mutilated bodies. When Qrow asked me to guard a Relic, I leapt at the chance. Not because I cared about gods or magic, but because I knew it would bring her here. Six months of preparation had led my sister right back to me, and I wasn't about to let anything stand in the way of what I needed to do.
"I wanted you here. Talking isn't necessary." The smoke was finally beginning to clear up, and I could see her outline slowly walking towards me.
"Mmmmhhhh. I bet you say that to a lot of girls." I laughed. I just couldn't help myself. Despite everything, I couldn't deny I found it a good joke. Not that I let it stop me. I loaded up one of my special rounds, fired it at her, closed my eyes, and leapt forward. I heard it explode a second later, and even with my eyes closed I saw the incredible flash of bright light. I opened them to see a completely disoriented Ruby flinching back, and my fist came down on her arm. My first follow-up got her in the stomach, but the second sailed through petals as she vanished again. She stopped about ten feet in front of me.
"Seems like you've gotten a new toy." Ruby said. I had, courtesy of Penny Polendina. As soon as she heard what happened to Ruby, she resolved to do everything in her power to help. I discounted it as well-meaning but useless until she showed up with a veritable arsenal of new weapons for me. Turns out that being the beloved daughter of Atlas' greatest inventor came with some incredible perks. Every one of her suggestions was carefully installed into Ember Celica. With these, there was no doubt that I could beat Ruby. Whether I was strong enough to do what was needed after I beat Ruby was still up in the air.
"That's okay." She continued. "My Mistress has given me plenty of new toys too." Black orbs appeared from behind her and raced towards me. I shot at them, and they exploded into a black goo once the shots hit them. I didn't have a clue what the goo was but judging from the way the grass seemed to be dissolving around it I didn't want it anywhere near me. I started retreating while shooting at the orbs. I got most of them, but three of them came too close for me to destroy. I leapt over them, firing as I passed through the air, and landed right in time to catch Crescent Rose's swipe on my gauntlets. She tried to pull back, but I grabbed onto it with both my hands and refused to let go. Even with all her changes, it seemed that she still wasn't stronger than me.
"Yang, let go!" She whined at me. I had heard her say it dozens of times over the years. Given her compete lack of unarmed combat skills, tearing her weapon away from her was an easy way to end a sparring match.
"You first." I said as I activated the electric Dust stored in the side of Ember Celica. Crescent Rose was a masterfully designed weapon, but Ruby hadn't thought to insulate it against such a strong surge of electricity. It arced from my gauntlet to her hands, and she reflexively flinched back and dropped the scythe. I fired two rounds at her, but she was already blurring to the side. I quickly collapsed Crescent Rose and slung it across my back.
"You can have this back later." I said. Her response was an insane laugh.
"Sorry sis, but that doesn't work as well these days." Her entire body shimmered, and the armor on her arm extended until it formed a sword. She broke it off and grabbed it in her hand.
"Neat trick." I said. "Still won't help you." I twisted my wrists and activated the other Dust stored in Ember Celica. My right hand suddenly froze, and intense pain raced up my arm. Penny hadn't been able to insulate my arm against the cold, but pain was a small price to pay for the advantage it gave me. My left hand burst into flames, but thankfully that only tickled. I rushed at her and caught her downward thrust on my right gauntlet. Everywhere it touched the black substance it froze, and a follow-up with my left shattered the sword into pieces. Her weapon's destruction clearly shocked her still for a second, and I used that to lay into her with my fists. Every right jab froze the black armor, and every left shattered everywhere around it. Before she could even move, the armor on her chest was gone, and my next hit broke her aura as ice appeared on her chest. She screamed in pain, and upon hearing it I instinctively stopped.
Ruby took the chance to somersault backwards out of my reach. Her eyes locked onto mine, and in those pools of blackness I saw fear. She turned and sprinted away into the forest, and I ran after her. Whatever happened, I couldn't let her get away. Not when I was this close. She was faster than me, but she was too weak to use her semblance again, and I had Ember Celica. I fired it behind me to pick up speed, and she didn't get far before I was close enough to grab her. I took one of the cuffs off my side, snapped it onto her wrist, and tossed the magnet onto the nearest tree. It activated as soon as it hit the trunk, and Ruby was jerked backwards as the magnet pulled the cuff onto the tree.
Ruby tried to pull away as I walked up to her, but the magnet was too strong to budge. I wasn't worried that she would succeed. Penny tested these things on me, and even with my fully loaded semblance I couldn't pull them apart. Ruby wasn't moving from that tree until I turned the magnet off.
When Ruby finally stopped and looked up at me, I expected anger or fear on her face. Instead she gave me a twisted smile. "What now, Yang? Are you going to kill me?" Even completely helpless, her tone was still amused. She sounded like she was asking if I wanted to go to the bakery with her, not like she was worried about me killing her. She clearly knew me too well.
"Of course not. I would never hurt you, Rubes. I need to apologize. I'm sorry for not being strong enough to save you at Beacon. And I'm sorry for being selfish now, but I can't leave you like this."
I was terrified of what I had to do next, but I wasn't about to let that stop me. There was only one way to truly save my sister. It was horrible, but Ruby was worth sacrificing myself. I held her arms in place and leaned against her forehead. I felt the parasite inside her head move to the center, burrowing its way out into me. It took me years, but I figured out where the parasite attacked her and guessed that it would prefer new prey to old. "Now you're finally free." I whispered.
Her only response was one of her mad giggles, and horror gripped my heart as I realized I'd just made a terrible mistake. "Oh, my silly little Yang." She said, her voice still clearly insane. "The body eventually becomes immune to the parasite. It stopped working months ago."
"Wha-what are you saying?"
"I'm saying that I loved what my parasitic friend did to me. The insecure little girl with the hero complex was replaced by the confident warrior who thrived in a world of pleasure. When I felt it beginning to fade, I went to my Mistress and begged her to give me new Grimm, ones that would keep me in this state forever. She happily obliged."
"No, you're lying! My sister would never do that!" By this point, my grip on her had vanished. I was backing up, hands clawing at my head to get this thing out before it was too late.
"Of course I did. And you will too, when your time comes. We'll serve our Mistress forever and ever beside our Snowflake and our Kitten. Team RWBY, reunited at last."
My vision was going blurry, and my head was pounding. "Yes. I would do anything for our Mistress." I said without thinking. The words shocked me for half a second before an intense surge of pleasure washed it away. Serving my Mistress was the greatest honor in the world. A part of my mind was screaming in agony, but it was getting quieter all the time. I knew soon it wouldn't matter, and the ecstasy was all I would have left.
Ruby smiled one of her goofy little smiles at me, and my heart leapt in joy. I had missed her so much, although I wasn't quite sure why I hadn't seen her in so long. The important thing now was that I would be with her forever. Ruby blurred into petals for a second, and the restraints fell off her. She held out her hand to me, and I grasped it firmly. "Let's go, my darling sister. Let's go to our destiny."
So it turns out I couldn't get a proper ending into this last chapter. I'll have an epilogue on Monday to wrap the story up right before Halloween.