Well… the last chapter was fun! Let's see how this one does.
Thank you to all the kind souls who have reviewed the last chapter, and thank you for your patience for my newer, slower update speed. And thank you, Namitaa776 and LightZephyr, for helping out in this chapter. And, finally, thank you to everybody who followed and/or favorited this story! When I first started this, I never expected it to receive even half of the support that it did.
So I want to thank everybody for everything, and I hope that you enjoy today's chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, nor do I, in any way, shape or form, intend to pretend that I do.
Last time on Field of Tomorrow…
"We interrupt this program to bring you breaking news," a reporter on the television announced, quieting Yang and grabbing both women's attention as the camera focused on a building that Blake knew all too well, "Earlier today, an attempted murder occurred here at the Schnee's manor. The Schnee's are—"
"Yeah yeah, we all know that already!" Blake huffed impatiently, "Get on to the actual news! Is he…"
"Fortunately, Mr. Schnee, the victim of today's attack, survived despite suffering heavy injuries," the reporter continued, and both Blake and Yang heaved a sigh of relief hearing this, "We have received footage of the incident, and will be playing it for you. If any of you know the offenders of today's incident, please contact the officials immediately."
"Wait, are those—?!" Blake exclaimed in shock as the footage was played, not wanting to believe her eyes.
"No…" Yang deflated as she saw it as well.
The footage was showing the unconscious body of Mr. Schnee laying on the floor of what appeared to be his office, heavily bruised and beaten. The camera then focused on the two figures standing by his side with triumphant smirks on their faces.
One of the women was a brunette wearing a light blue long-sleeved T-shirt under a crimson hoodie with a blue skirt to match her shirt while the other woman had long, white hair and was wearing a white collar shirt, black sweater, and pink skirt.
"This can't be happening…" a certain blonde groaned as she rested her forehead on the table, drawing in worried looks from both her friends in the room. Yang either didn't process this or chose to ignore it entirely.
"I don't want to believe it, either, Yang…" Blake muttered carefully, before seeing the look on the third person's face and quickly adding, "I mean we don't want to believe it, either."
"Exactly," Ren said as he pressed several keys on his laptop, his eyes darting between several windows that were on the screen, each one displaying a different timeframe on the footage. Without looking up, Ren asked Yang, "Have you tried calling Ruby?"
"I did, but she didn't answer," Yang replied while opening her phone, showing the twenty calls that she had made to her sister earlier to her friend, "Blake also tried Weiss, but without any luck there, either."
Hearing her name called, Blake looked up before fully processing what had been said. Nodding in confirmation, the raven-haired took out her own phone to show the handful of calls that she made to Weiss.
"I see…" Ren trailed off as he closed one window only to bring up three more, his brow furrowing in concentration.
"But don't you think that it's strange?" Blake asked, having taken a look over Ren's shoulder before turning to Yang again, "I mean, the whole mess aside… wouldn't Ruby be contacting somebody she could go to for comfort if something like this would happen?"
"Either that, or she doesn't know," Ren offered while his gaze lingered on one particular shot of the scene, "That is, assuming that they are innocent."
"Ren!"
"I don't want to believe that they're guilty, either, but let's look at the facts here," Ren argued back, turning his laptop around and showing the image of the two girls towering above the unconscious Schnee, "How would you explain that there are two girls with the exact same hairstyle and color as Ruby and Weiss, who wore the exact same clothes as they wore on that day, and who managed to sneak into the Schnee's house undetected enough to be able to do this if it isn't them?"
Silence filled the room as nobody could answer the programmer. Blake was staring silently at the image while Yang had turned away before Ren could even show what was on his laptop's screen.
"That's…" Blake began but didn't know how she could continue. Rather, she didn't want to admit what she was thinking out loud.
"You know that I'm here to help and that I don't want them to have done this as much as either of you," Ren said, trying to be calm but a slight tremor was still audible in his voice. Taking a deep breath, he continued, "So I'll see if there is something in these videos that can prove their innocence. Until then, Yang, I need you to try to get in contact with them. If they know of this and they are innocent, where would they go?"
Blake and Ren both became silent, neither of them looking away from the blonde as they waited patiently for her to give them her answer.
"There… wouldn't be a lot of places…" Yang finally said after a few seconds, her voice unsteady and her face hidden from the other two, "Apart from here, there's Nora and Neo… our dad is overseas and Ruby knows that, so I doubt that she would go to his place. I don't know where Weiss would go, though."
"That's good." Ren smiled, catching Yang off guard. Ignoring the blonde's reaction, Ren turned to look at Blake before the two nodded simultaneously with a smile.
"We can divide the job and get things done faster," Blake said, trying to ease Yang's worries but only ended up making her more confused.
"You and Blake can go to Nora and Neo to see if they have heard anything of Ruby," Ren elaborated before placing a hand on his own laptop, "And in the meantime, I'll see if I can find anything more from these videos. As bad as they may be, I'm sure that there is something that I missed that may prove to be important. For all we know, they could just have been passing by after Weiss' father got attacked."
"I can check on Nora myself, so go and ask Neo if she's seen or heard from Ruby," Blake picked up right where Ren left off while standing up straight, directing her words at a now smiling Yang, "That way, we can hopefully get an answer faster. I'll contact you if Nora knows anything."
"Ren… Blake…" Yang breathed out, looking at her two friends with a grateful smile. Exhaling audibly, Yang stood up herself and grabbed her keys before turning back to the other two, "Alright, let's do this!"
Not long after that, Blake found herself walking down an unfamiliar road that she hoped would lead to Nora's. Despite having visited her energetic friend several times in the past, Ren had suggested a different route that, according to him, would save her some time.
And they all knew that time was not a luxury that they had a lot of.
Much to Blake's surprise, it only took her five minutes to reach Nora's house after leaving Yang's. All the while pondering as to why she never took this shorter route before, Blake knocked on the door.
"Just a sec!" a familiar voice came from the other end, and Blake grimaced slightly as she heard a crash and a muffled curse a bit later.
Blake did not have long to wait; after five seconds, the door opened to see a slightly disheveled Nora in the opening. The orange-haired girl's face quickly brightened up when she saw who came to visit her.
"Blake! It's been a while!" Nora exclaimed as she grabbed the raven-haired by the wrist and effectively dragged her back inside, "Come in come in! Sorry, things are a bit of a mess inside."
Before she knew what was going on, Blake found herself sitting on a familiar couch in the living room as Nora came back with two cups of tea in hand. After offering Blake one of the two, Nora plopped down on the other end of the couch and eyed her friend.
"Not that I don't appreciate that you came here, but why are you here?" Nora asked, slightly careful with her choice of words from past interactions with Blake, "You never did anything without a really good reason, and I don't think you started now. And, no offense, I don't think you would come visit me just for the sake of visiting me. I'd be happy if you were, though."
"Jumping straight to the point as always, I see," Blake muttered with a small smile. Nora replied with a large grin of her own before motioning for Blake to continue, "I was wondering; have you seen Ruby today?"
The words had barely left Blake's mouth and Nora's expression had already changed. Instead of being radiating with energy and happiness, the usually bubbly girl now wore a frown on her face.
"So it's true, isn't it? I mean, if you came all the way here just to ask me then it has to be true, right?" Nora asked in response, suddenly completely deflated but with a small ounce of hope still left in her voice.
"You knew?" Blake questioned her friend before she fully realized what she was doing. Hastily, she tried to correct her mistake, "I mean, as bad as it may look like, we don't know for sure whether or not they did it. That is why we wanted to ask them ourselves, but we haven't been able to get in touch with them since the report. You were one of the first people who came to mind who we thought she would go to in this situation."
With a sigh and a quiet chuckle, Nora said, "Sorry, but I haven't seen her today. I haven't seen her for a few days now, actually. Sorry, Blake, I wish I could be of more help to—"
"Don't feel bad about it," Blake interjected, trying to ease her worries. Blake knew that, no matter how good of a front she put up, even Nora would be affected by the worries of a friend's safety. In an effort to try and cheer Nora up, Blake added, "I'm sure that they didn't do it, so—"
"Blake, don't lie; I know that you're only saying that to try and make me feel better," Nora said with a frown, this time taking her opportunity to interrupt her friend to the fullest. While Blake stumbled for words to say, Nora smiled, "Thank you, though, I appreciate it. If Ruby comes here, I'll be sure to let you know!"
"Thanks, Nora," Blake smiled in return, and the two friends shared the comfortable silence that followed together. Taking a sip of her now cold tea, Blake tried to think of something to say when her eyes landed on the multiple cardboard boxes in the corner, "Do you need help with cleaning up?"
"Huh? Nononono! You shouldn't be wasting your time with that," Nora scolded lightheartedly before adding with a smile, "You said that I was 'one of the first people to come to mind', right? Then you need to put in the effort and go see the other people. Not just for Ruby's sake, but for theirs as well."
"You're right…" Blake smiled as she placed her cup back on the table, "I'll keep you notified if we find out anything."
"You better!" Nora grinned, before standing up and letting her friend out. Once the two of them were outside, the orange-haired turned to her friend with a serious look on her face, "You don't think that they did it, right?"
"I… don't know… I wish I could say that they didn't," Blake answered honestly after a moment's hesitation, much to Nora's disappointment, "We can only hope that they really are innocent."
With a grunt, Yang stepped out of her car and slammed the door shut, a little harder than she had wanted to. After making sure that it was properly locked, the blonde stepped out on the sidewalk and walked up to the house in front of her.
Without wasting another second, Yang started pounding on the door hard enough to wake the entire neighborhood.
"Oi! Half Pint! Open up!"
After an extended period of time of no response from the occupant of the house, and an excessive amount of door knocking on her end, Yang was about to kick the door in herself when the door finally opened.
Standing in the door opening was a very irate-looking Neo, her hair slightly disheveled, and visibly exhausted. Wearing a unicorn onesie.
"You know, Yang," Neo said, the irritation dripping from her voice as she glared at the taller blonde, "Some people are trying to sleep at this hour."
"Oh, I'm sorry for disturbing your little beauty sleep," Yang spat back with sarcasm while placing both hands on her hips, "But isn't letting a friend in whenever they need to be let in the true meaning of being a friend?"
"Yeah, a friend…" Neo muttered softly, looking away from the taller blonde.
"So, am I not your friend?"
Yang's response was getting the door slammed in her face.
"Oh, come on, Neo, let me in," Yang pleaded, now slightly fearful that the shorter girl was going to ignore her completely, "I need to ask you something."
Slowly, as if still contemplating her actions, Neo opened the door while maintaining her glare, "You better not make me regret this."
With a mental fist pump, Yang followed Neo to the living room, after which Neo excused herself for several minutes to let Yang get comfortable.
Taking a quick glance around, Yang noted that not a lot had changed in the room since she last time that she visited her friend. All the furniture looked the same and even located in the same place. The only thing that was new, Yang realized, was the new standing lamp in the corner.
"Do you want something to drink?"
Yang jolted, not hearing Neo re-enter the room. Turning in the direction of her voice, Yang saw that Neo had not only changed her outfit but was holding several bottles of different kinds of juices in her arms as well.
"No thanks, I'm good," Yang replied with a smile, to which Neo shrugged. Despite knowing that her guest didn't want anything, Neo didn't bring the bottles away; instead, deciding that holding them close to her was the best possible action to take.
Yang, knowing that the silence was supposed to be broken eventually, opened her mouth to say something.
"So…"
"What did you want to ask me?" Neo asked, completely disregarding the fact that Yang might have wanted to say something. While waiting for a response, Neo opened one of the bottles that she had brought with her and poured a considerable amount of murky green liquid in a glass that Yang was certain was not there two seconds ago.
"Have you seen or heard from Ruby today?" Yang asked Neo, deciding that the best approach to the situation that she had found herself in was the direct approach.
Neo's reaction wasn't anything like how Yang thought she would react.
"Why would she have come to see me? Wasn't she supposed to be out with another friend today?" Neo asked, slightly uncertain as she eyed Yang carefully, "Yang, what's going on?"
"Neo, don't tell me that you don't follow the news," Yang deadpanned as she eyed Neo before looking at the TV in the corner.
"It would be a lot easier if you told me what happened," Neo huffed, both in annoyance and impatience. Even so, they both knew that Neo was just trying to dodge the accusation, "What happened to Ruby?"
"That's the thing; we don't know," Yang said with a sigh, looking up to see the doubtful and confused eyes of her friend, "She is being accused of attacking someone, but—"
"Ruby would never!" Neo shouted before she fully processed what she was doing. Once the words left her mouth, Neo added sheepishly, "Sorry."
"You're right, though. Ruby would never do that," Yang said with a small smile, and Neo returned it with a smile of her own, "I thought that she might have come here, which is why I came here. Sorry to bother you this late, Neo."
"It's o-o-kay," Neo was barely audible as she let out a big yawn, "I'll keep you updated if I hear anything from her if you do the same for me."
"Of course!"
About an hour later, Yang arrived back home to see the lights in her living room on. Shrugging it off, the blonde opened the door and headed straight to the source of light.
"No dice with Neo…" Yang muttered, exhausted as she practically deflated in her seat, "I went to Jaune as well, but he didn't hear or see anything from Ruby, either."
"Unfortunately, the same is true with Nora and Pyrrha," Blake added with a frown as she offered Yang a glass of water, which the blonde happily accepted, "Are you sure that it's okay for us to be staying over like this?"
"It's fine, Blake…" Yang sighed before mumbling something else under her breath. Yang made sure that nobody could hear what she was saying, and ignored the look that Blake was giving her.
"But back on topic," Blake began, having accepted the fact that Yang wouldn't tell her and turning to the other occupant of the room, "Ruby aside, how difficult is it to find the heiress of the biggest company of the city?"
"Quite difficult, apparently," Ren replied without looking away from the screen, "Either they are really good at hiding, really good at disguising themselves, or both."
"Yeah, about that…" Yang trailed off uneasily, gaining the attention of both her friends as she swallowed painfully, "Ruby and I may have insisted for Weiss to disguise herself."
"Now you tell us?!" Blake exclaimed in both shock and anger as soon as she fully processed what Yang had said.
"In my defense, there were more important things to worry about than what they were wearing. For example: where is my sister?" Yang responded in a similar tone, causing Blake to flinch and Yang to reel back once she realized that she crossed the line. Meekly, she added, "Sorry."
"It's okay, Yang, we all understand how you feel," Ren said nonchalantly as he kept his attention on his screen, not wanting to look away in fear of losing where he was, "It just might make finding them a bit harder. Do you know where they went?"
"No, I don't. Ruby was adamant about not telling me where she was taking Weiss," Yang said after a moment's thought, and then her face paled considerably, "You don't think—"
"If you're already starting to feel that way then we're all lost," Blake said irritably as she slammed her open palm on the table, shaking the glasses on it and receiving an angry shout from Ren as he held his laptop protectively.
"Right…" Yang said, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself down. Once she regained her breathing, she turned to Ren, "How about you? Did you have any luck today?"
"Well, I don't have… bad… news," Ren said carefully, "I know for a fact that neither of them left the city so that at least limits our options considerably."
"And with none of our friends having seen or heard from them, that tells us even more," Blake thought out loud as Ren nodded in agreement. Blake took a few seconds to think of something and, once deciding that she was comfortable sharing, turned to Ren, "How about trying that?"
"I was thinking of that as well, and I think that it's our best bet at this point," Ren said in response while eyeing his laptop once again, "Though it might not work at this hour."
"What are you two talking about?" Yang inquired as she looked at Blake then Ren then back to Blake.
"We kept thinking to ourselves that Ruby would go to someone, and focused our attention on the possible people that she would seek," Ren began as Yang listened intensively, nodding silently to show that she was paying attention.
"But what if that wasn't the right way to go at all?" Blake continued, picking up where Ren left off as she turned to face Yang, "What if it is a where that Ruby is seeking?"
Yang's eyes slowly widened in realization as she was starting to understand what her two friends were aiming for.
"Yang, you should know this better than anybody. If there is one place in this city that Ruby would go to in order to get comfort, where would it be?"
Yang bit her lower lip, fully understanding what her friends were saying but still hesitant to admit it. In part due to mentally beating herself up for forgetting that place, but also because she was hopeful.
Hopeful that she could find her sister there.
"Mom's grave…"
It was well past midnight, but Neo was still wide awake in her room as she went through file after file, her brows furrowed in concentration. Neo hadn't slept at all despite the state that she was in when Yang had visited the evening before, being completely invested in going through her stacks of papers.
Neo was comfortable muttering profanity after profanity under her breath at the blonde's expense.
Neo, as promised, had looked into the recent attacks that happened in the city and made a full record of every last one of them. She had stored them away to continue at a later date, but when Yang told her the news Neo couldn't help herself. As soon as the blonde had left, Neo went up to her room and took out her research in the hopes of finding something of value.
Unfortunately for Neo, she didn't find anything useful in the last five hours.
"This is infuriating!" Neo almost screamed, messing up her hair in frustration as she dropped the stacks of paper in her hands.
It was then that Neo's gaze fell on a certain framed picture on her desk, and she instantly stopped what she was doing.
Gingerly so as to not damage it in any way, Neo picked up the picture and stared at it longingly. Depicted in the image were the younger versions of Yang, Ruby, and Neo, hugging each other with big grins on their faces. Neo remembered that day all too well.
It was the day before she lost her ability to speak.
"Why?" Neo murmured softly, wiping the corners of her eyes as she realized that her vision was getting blurry, "Why Ruby?"
The pristine serenity of the night was broken when her doorbell rang like an alarm, startling Neo and almost making her fall out of her chair.
"What did I tell Yang?!" Neo huffed angrily as she got back on her feet and stomped in the direction of the door, "Don't come in the middle of the night and wake everybody up like that! But does she listen to anything I say? Nooooooooooooo…"
Murmuring some choice words under her breath, Neo yanked the door open with more force than necessary and yelled, "Yang, for the last time—!"
"It's been a while."
Neo froze. That wasn't Yang's voice. Opening her eyes, Neo took in the figure of the person standing in the door opening. But Neo's attention was mostly directed towards the blade in her hand.
The blade that was pointing straight at her.
And that wraps up this one!
I hope you like today's chapter! Thank you for reading, leave a review if you like, and until next time! Take care!