AN: And… WE'RE BACK!
I'm going to keep this brief, but I just want to say thanks to all of you for being so understanding about the temporary hiatus. It meant more than you know, it honestly did. So, without any further ado, CH 14!
It was late, the darkness of the house reflecting the early-morning hour. Lights were off and doors were closed as the occupants of the house tried to catch some much needed sleep; in two days they would embark on the long and arduous flight to Atlas.
That is, all but one.
One person remained awake, eyes staring at the glow that was emanating from their laptop – reading the small black-font that was printed across the screen.
"Large Beowolf pack sighted moving north!"
"King Taijitu den found, largest on record!"
"Nevermore migration patterns have changed?"
Ruby sighed as she slumped in her chair, her good hand rubbing at her eyes – irises having become tired after staring at her laptop's screen for countless hours. It had been two-weeks, fourteen days, of near endless searching – most of which was done at night after everyone else had fallen asleep. She refused to let any of the others, even Weiss – especially Weiss – know what she was doing; all they'll do is worry and want to help…I… I have to do this on my own.
She reached out, her hand fumbling in the low light for the coffee mug that rested beside her laptop. A burst of excitement coursed through her veins as her hand brushed up against the smooth surface of the cup. Thin fingers wrapped around the ceramic handle as she raised it up to her mouth, body eagerly awaiting the promise of caffeine. She gulped the bitter-tasting liquid down, not caring that it had cooled off to a temperature that was – at its best – lukewarm.
"Blah," she said as she set the cup aside, having fully drained what remained of its contents. "How does Weiss drink that stuff?"
Ruby, like with other things in her life, preferred her coffee to be sweet. Given the recent late night studies, however, she decided it would be best to forgo her usual cream and three-sugars. Instead drinking coffee that was as black and as bitter as the creatures she was studying.
She sighed again, tired eyes dropping down to look at the screen, back at the countless links that she had spent even more countless hours searching through. A lot of good it's done me; I haven't learned a damned thing yet! Her face turned into a scowl as she continued to stare at the screen, the words and articles taunting her with the promise of useful information. Her hand balled into a fist, knuckles turning white in the pale light.
"There has to be something that I'm missing," she murmured the words under her breath. "But what?"
She had no idea, and it was beginning to frustrate her. She knew that Ozpin was thorough but this was ridiculous.
She had tried everything; the library, old news records, the internet, all of it. Every single source that she could think of she had tried, and not a single one shed a helpful light. It baffled her, someone, somewhere had to know something. All she needed was a thread, just a single thread in the dark shroud that was the Omegas.
Is that so much to ask for?
Tired and bloodshot eyes stared at the screen, the dark circles beneath them clearly visible by the screen's ghostly light. She sat still, silently wishing and willing for the answers to appear on the screen.
They never came.
A quiet thud reverberated through the still night air as Ruby's forehead connected with the hard surface of the dining table, tears born of exhaustion and frustration swelling behind her closed eyelids. She brought her forearm up to her mouth in an attempt to stifle her sobs, the cries pouring out from her throat at an alarming rate.
She was so tired and so lost.
"I…I just wa-want to protect the-them…" The words were muffled against her skin, as the tears finally broke out from her eyes, hot-salty liquid slid down her cheeks where it then pooled around her arm.
She stayed like that for several moments, her body shaking, as she continued to cry – the weight of the situation and her own self-inflicted exhaustion finally becoming too much for the young huntress. She cried until her tired body could no longer manage it, her sobs turning into hiccups as she slowly calmed. She rolled her head, a reddened cheek running through the still warm pool of tears.
Her head felt light, dizziness brought on by exhaustion flowing freely through her. Her vision blurred as her eyes focused in on the wall that was adjacent to her, its features indistinguishable in the dim lighting. She blinked as the darkness that engulfed the wall began to shift, her tired mind projecting an image onto the infinite void.
Rows of razor-sharp teeth were the first thing to appear, followed closely by a thrashing – bloodthirsty – tongue. A snout took form next, encasing the drooling maw in black fur – nostrils flaring – as it growled. Next was the mask, a scarred and broken protrusion of bone that covered the entire face, save for two small openings where the eyes would be; an intricate pattern of blood red lines were cut into the mask, traveling from its base all the way to the back of the head where the lines disappeared. The eyes were the final thing to appear, and upon seeing them Ruby felt a cold shiver course through her body.
Eyes that glowed with pure-unfiltered animosity blinked open. Their unholy crimson glow was focused directly, entirely, on Ruby. She stared back, finding something horrifyingly captivating about the disembodied head with pupil-less eyes. The Omega snarled, droll falling from its open maw.
"What are you?" She whimpered, eyelids becoming increasingly heavier by the second.
The beast cackled, the sound coming off as a taunt.
Ruby was positive that she saw it smile as she slipped off to her own darkness.
"Omegas are faster, stronger, and far more intelligent than their counterparts. What sets them apart the most though, and what makes their existence truly concerning is their ability to conjure what we are calling Dark Aura." Ozpin said.
"We have been aware of their existence for close to eight years now, we…"
"Just that Miss Schnee, we've been aware of the Omega's for quite some time."
Ruby jolted awake, a cry of: "That's it!" spilling from her lips.
The girl's hand slapped down on her laptop's keyboard, the action bringing the screen back to life.
"Please let there be time." Please, please, please… She continued the mantra in her head, eyes never leaving the screens bottom right corner. She willed the machine to go faster, her hand impatiently tapping against the table.
After what felt like eons for the young girl the monitor fully awakened, allowing her to read the time that was stamped in the lower corner.
3:33AM, Ruby crunched the numbers in her head; our flight to Atlas is at 7:00PM tomorrow night…If I leave now I should have time to get back before we have to leave for the airfields!
With adrenaline and newly found hope coursing through her veins, Ruby bolted from her chair. She took the stairs two at a time, doing her best to remain quiet, lest she wake the others. Coming to the top of the stairs she quickly made her way to her room, and, thankful that Weiss had left the door cracked, she entered.
Ruby, as stealthily as she could padded over to the closet. Opening the storage space, she quickly grabbed her duffel bag and filled it with a change of clothes. Setting the bag aside she hastily stripped out of her sleepwear and into her standard attire, cursing quite loudly as a jolt of pain radiated from her arm.
She froze as something rustled from behind her, her breath choking off inside her lungs. Shit no, no, no! She turned her head slowly, eyes glancing over her shoulder to the bed that was situated behind her. A body lay curled up upon the bed, sheets and comforters encasing it in a cocoon of warmth.
Ruby found herself staring at the sight of Weiss wrapped up in their bed, the blankets rising and falling with every one of the heiress'shallow breaths. A wave of exhaustion overtook her, her previous burst of energy waning as she continued to gaze. She longed to be able to walk over to that bed and curl up beside her lover, to hold her as they both slept. She couldn't though: I have to go…I have to do this.
She pried her eyes away, the action taking far more effort than she had hoped it would. I have to do this; I'm doing it to protect her. That thought became her mantra as she finished getting dressed, the process impeded by her still recovering arm.
Now fully clothed, Ruby picked up her duffel bag, swinging it over her shoulder as she moved over to the door. Her hand wrapped around the brass doorknob, but then, after pulling it open, she paused.
Her mind told her body to move, to not look back, but her heart held her in place. The muscle screamed at her, telling her to stop – to turn around and go to bed.
"I have to go," she whispered the words, eyes screwing shut. She knew what she was about to put Weiss through. The heiress would wake up the next morning calm and collected, a condition that would evaporate the moment that she realized Ruby was missing.
She could almost picture what her face would look like as she searched the house, no doubt asking Blake and Yang if they had seen her.
Her heart lurched at the thought of her sister and her girlfriend. They would be concerned to, she knew it.
The idea of leaving a note quickly crossed her mind, but she shot it down. A note meant two things. One; she told them what she was up to, or two; she lied about what she was doing. If she did the former she held no doubts that they would come after her, offering their assistance. The latter option required her to lie to them, which was something that she outright refused to do.
Sighing, Ruby turned her head, eyes instantly falling onto Weiss's face. Tears prickled at the edge of her eyes, "I'm sorry." A stray teardrop slid its way down to her chin where it fell, splashing against the hardwood floor without so much as a sound.
"I love you." She whispered, taking one final look at her lover who was still fast asleep.
Knowing that she would give into her heart's desires if she stayed there for even a second longer, Ruby brought her face back forward – taking a deep breath as she moved through the door and then down the stairs. Reaching the entrance of the house she spared one last glance back up the staircase. A small part of her half-expected Weiss to be standing at their apex, but all she saw was endless black void.
"Forgive me."
Ruby opened the door and strode out into the cool summer night, never once pausing to glance back.
Blake yawned as she rolled over in bed, her mouth opening wide to allow for the excess air to come in and out. Now on her side she blinked open her eyes, pupils instantly landing on the clock that made its home on her nightstand, the red numbers and letters on the tiny devices digital display reading; 7:59AM.
She shifted again, a thin arm snaking its way out from underneath the thin sheet that covered her. Her fingers brushed up against cool plastic, her index finger positioning itself against one of the many buttons that covered the top of the clock. The button was smooth against the calloused tip of her finger; it's once matte-texture having been worn away from a lifetime of use.
She waited, eyes narrowing, as she watched the clock. The muscles in her finger coiled, the tip pressing down on the button with an infinitesimal amount of pressure. She counted the seconds up in her head, body tensing the closer she got to sixty.
It has to be soon…
No sooner had she thought those words did the alarm ring. It's shrill and raucous bell, echoing painfully within her cat ears. Almost as soon as it started, however, it ended. Blake's finger pressed down on the button with practiced ease.
She sighed, rolling over onto her back. She stared up at the ceiling, eyes lazily tracing the paint lines thereupon. As her eyes recommitted the ceiling to memory she allowed her mind to wander, memories from the past week flittering through her thoughts as she lay there.
To say that the past few days had been heavenly for the Faunus would be a gross oversimplification.
For one her ribs, with a final burst of help from her Aura, had finally healed. Along with the bruise that had resided on her face. Despite her ribs being the more painful and taxing of the two injuries, she was most happy about the bruise being gone, if for no other reason than Yang no longer having to see it.
Yang…
Her face broke out into a smile at the thought of her girlfriend's name, a wave of warmth not unlike Yang's calming Aura washing over her. Things had been going exceedingly well for the young couple, ever since their trip to Beacon and their subsequent date. After that night the dating duo had become almost inseparable, only parting ways to sleep and to bathe – of course when Blake wanted to read Yang would happily oblige, either by being quiet or going off to partake in one of her own hobbies.
Despite this though, she couldn't help but feel a doubt in the back of her mind. It was like an itch that she just couldn't reach, always festering and growing in the background and becoming more prominent whenever Yang was near. No matter the situation, if Yang was around the doubt would rear its ugly head, filling the Faunus with an untold amount of anxiety.
She could feel it even now as she lay in bed, the mere thought of her girlfriend enough to trigger the reaction. She sighed, an arm slinging itself across her stomach, while her other hand weaved its fingers through her hair, cradling the back of her head.
It wasn't because of Yang, that much she was certain of. She had thoroughly enjoyed all of the extra time that she had been getting to spend with her fiery partner. She loved it all, all of the talking, laughing, cuddling, and kissing. Especially the kissing.
She could feel her cheeks heat up slightly at the thought.
"Then why?" She pondered aloud to herself, the quiet darkness of the room swallowing the question up as soon as it left her lips.
In truth she knew the answer; she just didn't want to admit it.
It's what I did…what I made her do…
The smile that occupied her face fell away, making way for a frown that was bitter and hateful.
Blake wasn't one to regret things. If her short existence had taught her one thing it was this; regrets only get in the way of you being happy. That wasn't to say that she approved of everything she had done in her life, because she had most certainly done something's that she disapproved of. Instead of seeing those moments as regrets though, she chose instead to see them as learning experiences.
This time though…this time she just couldn't.
She regretted what she had done and she hated herself for it. She wished that she could go back and change it. Wished that she had listened to the part of her that said it was a bad idea, that it was something that she shouldn't do. But, like all other Faunus and humans, she couldn't. She had to live with the decision that she had made.
Why did I make her promise not to leave?
The promise in and of itself wasn't the issue, no. The issue was how it had changed Yang. The difference had been imperceptible at first, but on the second day after their date Blake had started to notice Yang acting…differently around her.
It was small stuff; Yang holding her hand just the slightest bit tighter, Yang walking a step or two closer, and their kisses lingering just a second or two longer. Anyone of those things alone wouldn't have caught her attention, but put all three of them together and it was a pattern.
One that Blake wasn't sure she liked. On the one hand, Yang could be acting out on a higher level of affection. On the other, and this is where her doubt came in, on the other hand Yang might be doing all of that in order to try and keep that promise.
The thought made her stomach churn.
She hated to think that she had pushed Yang into thinking that she had to do more in order to keep her happy. In truth Blake's needs were very easy to satisfy, all she wanted was to be with and to spend time with Yang.
"I need to talk to her," her words were once again swallowed by the empty room, the sound of her voice echoing slightly off the walls. She sighed, "And now I'm back to this…"
She knew what she needed to do; she just had no idea how to go about doing it. She knew that she needed to talk to Yang about what was going on, whatever the reason for her actions might be. The problem was that she was absolutely terrified to do it.
Questions flew through her mind like a flock of birds.
What if I'm wrong?
What if she isn't doing this because of the promise?
What if I ask her what's happening and she gets offended?
What if I upset her?
There were more, but that was as far as her mind's wandering thoughts managed to get before she shut them down. She knew where that particular questionnaire led – it was an infinite loop of despair that she had been down several times before. It was a place that she held little interest in revisiting, now or ever.
Tiring of her view of the ceiling, she sat up, elbows bracing themselves on her knees as her head lowered into her hands. "I'm over thinking this," she mumbled, palms rubbing gently at her sleep ridden eyes.
She sighed, hands falling away from her face, she looked up and out the window that sat in the wall directly opposite her. She could just barely make out the top of the sun as it rose slowly into the sky, its warm light cascading over the rooftops of Vale's buildings, adding color and life to the still sleepy city.
A flock of birds flew through the sky.
Blake stood up, taking a moment to stretch – allowing for her muscles to shake off the last dredges of sleep. Feeling far looser, she walked over to the window. She opened it, hands expertly sliding the window up.
I really should lock this thing, she thought absently as she pushed it all the way up. Being on the second floor and living in a house full of trained huntresses had lulled Blake into a more trusting state – though she still slept with Gambol Shroud beside her bed.
Some habits just couldn't be broken.
A cool morning breeze washed over her face, causing her ears to flutter back and forth. The wind came from the west, allowing Blake to smell the…unique and various odors of the industrial district as she took a deep breath. The air in Vale wasn't what she would call dirty, but she most certainly wouldn't call it clean either. Having grown up outside of the Kingdoms Blake knew what clean, crisp air smelled like. Vale's air wasn't that.
She leaned against the window sill, content to just gaze out over the city as the world woke up around it. The sounds of birds singing, engines revving, and the occasional cricket chirp reached her ears, her enhanced sense of hearing making it seem as if all of those sounds were coming from right in front of the house.
She sighed, the chorus of sounds from the city having an oddly calming effect over her. She closed her eyes as her head rested back against the hard surface of the sill, her hair providing a small cushion.
She could feel her body becoming more and more lucid the longer she stood there. Her mind also relaxed, the doubts and worries she had been stressing over no more than a minute ago becoming naught but footnotes.
She hummed happily as she felt the suns warm rays hit her face, adding to her comfort.
This is nice.
She nuzzled her head against the window sill, angling her face outward to better catch the soothing heat being provided by the early morning sun.
It was tranquil. Just Blake alone in her room not a thought or care in the world.
Alas it wasn't meant to last, a series of loud and rapid knocks erupted against her bedroom door, effectively killing the peaceful mood. Blake's eyes snapped open at the racket, face turning away from the outside world and to her door, where the knocks continued to sound from.
Maybe if I act like I'm still asleep, she thought to herself, hoping that the person would leave, allowing her to return to the peaceful atmosphere that had existed just a moment ago. To her delight the knocks did stop, however, it was short lived. Not ten seconds passed before another round of knocking began, this time at a much more frantic pace.
Blake's ears flicked in what was barely veiled annoyance, a frown forming on her face. I guess my alone time is done with. She had just opened her mouth to tell at the person that she was coming when a voice called out through the door.
"Blake! Are you awake?"
The Faunus paused as she recognized the voice. What she didn't recognize, however, was the trepidation and fear that was carried along with the words. The presence of those two emotions could only mean one thing though: something must have been very, very, wrong.
With this new-found revelation coursing through her veins, Blake bounded across her room. Making it to the door in only two strides, she opened it. As soon as the door was through her field of vision her eyes instantly landed on what could only be described as a very disheveled looking Weiss Schnee.
The heiress was garbed in her sleepwear, a simple white nightie accompanied by a pair of baby-blue bottoms. The fact that she was still in her pajamas concerned Blake, She's usually showered and dressed by this time. Another thing that caught her attention was the way that Weiss was currently wringing her hands, a clear sign of discomfort on the part of the heiress.
Perhaps the most telling, and by far the most worrying to Blake, were her eyes.
Eyes that were as blue as the sky and as cold as ice, normally they shone with an almost burning intensity. A warning to anyone who would dare approach her: cross Weiss Schnee and you'll pay for it. Now, however, that raging inferno of ice was gone, in its place was a wide and panicked gaze. Not unlike that of someone who had recently lost something that was incredibly dear to them.
She reached a hand out, the appendage gently latching onto Weiss's shoulder. The shorter girl flinched at the contact, her eyes looking up and into Blake's own. Blake gasped at what she saw in Weiss's eyes; she had never seen the woman appear so lost before.
"Weiss," she said her name softly, not wanting to bring her anymore discomfort. "What's wrong?"
"It's…it's…" she trailed off, her voice as meek as the rest of her appearance.
"It's what, Weiss?" Blake pushed. She hated seeing Weiss like this, the heiress was usually so confident, a far cry from the lost and…broken demeanor she currently gave off.
"…Ruby…" Weiss's voice had quieted into a whisper; tears were brimming in her eyes. "She's gone."
Ruby exited the cab, using her good arm to heft her duffel bag out and onto the curb. She turned back round, handing the driver a wad of Lien.
"Keep the change."
The man counted the bills before hastily stuffing them into a small zipper bag that he kept in a cup-holder. He offered an appreciative wave as he pulled out, his engine rattling as the cab drove away.
Ruby stared after the yellow car until it vanished around a bend in the road, sighing, she picked her duffel back up. Slinging the strap over her good shoulder, she turned around, eyes locking onto the giant wrought-iron gate that stood before her.
It was a massive structure, easily dwarfing the red-cloaked girl. Twin granite pillars rose on either side of the entryway, serving as the fixtures for the gates golden-hinges. She had always wondered about those hinges, curious to know if they were actually made of real gold. Yang had told her they weren't, but seeing them again, she wasn't sure.
Her eyes trailed up the gate, stopping as they reached its curved crest. There embossed in what Ruby knew to be sterling-silver were two words.
Signal Academy.
AN: Damn that felt good!
As always if you liked it let me know what you liked and if you hated it please do the same. Any and all criticism is welcome so long as it's constructive!
That's it for me, as always have a good night!