Hey guys, here is the next update in this story.
Enjoy the read.
Chapter Cover: Yang seating down upon a yellow bike with sunglasses upon her face as she smirked up at the camera.
Chapter Eleven
A new Path is Open
Ruby blinked as she came back to consciousness. The young girl recognized the ceiling above her as she realized that she was lying down upon her bed and that she was back at the manor. The girl seated up on her bed noticing the sunlight that was coming through the window beside her head. She noticed that her body was clear of wounds and even the slash she had upon her cheek was gone.
She was surprised, wondering if it was all a dream as she remembered Weiss trying to kill her and then…things became a blur and then she had passed out. The young girl got out of her bed and made her way out of her room and through the familiar hallway. When she had reached the kitchen, she found Qrow there and the man was seating with Weiss, drinking tea. Yang wasn't there which was a little curious considering she hadn't been in the room with her.
The white haired girl looked up at her entrance.
"Hello Ruby," she greeted.
The man turned toward her and Qrow was upon her in a instant.
"How are you feeling?" he asked, "Are you okay?"
"I…I'm okay," Ruby answered him, "I…I'm just surprised that I wasn't…hurting a lot more."
The man turned his gaze toward Weiss.
"How strenuous was your training?" he asked.
"No matter how it was," the girl answered him, "It produced the result necessary. Your nieces are now in possession of their own Soul Weapon. They have learned all that they could from me and as they are now, they should be powerful enough to take on Grimm that attacks your family."
Weiss stood up.
"Now that your house is repaired," she said, "I will have Sebastian get the car for you."
Ruby was now confused.
"Wait…what are you talking about?" she asked, surprised.
Qrow glanced down at her.
"It was the reason I came here," he said, "The repairs crew had finished repairing what had happened to the house, meaning that we can go back home. Our stay here with Weiss is had it's end."
Ruby now realized what her uncle was saying. They were going to leave here and go back to that house. Ruby knew that their stay here in that house was temporary but to actually leave after spending at least a month there…
She turned her gaze toward Weiss noticing how blank the girl's features were.
"A…Are you alright with this?" she asked.
The girl looked confused.
"I let you stay here because it was temporary," Weiss told her, "Now that your home had been fixed, you will go back there."
Ruby wanted to say something but the tone in Weiss's voice caused her to stay quiet. She couldn't understand how the girl could be so…like this. She didn't even seems like she was going to miss them at all. Has it been only in Ruby's mind that Weiss had started to think of them as friends? Was it only in her own mind that she felt like Weiss understood her?
The girl looked down from the empty bleu eyes.
"I…I understand," she said.
Weiss gave a sharp nod.
"I'm sure you'll need the time to pack," she said, "I'll leave you to it."
The girl turned away from the duo in front of her and walked away leaving them standing there together. Ruby didn't like how Weiss sounded to them. It was like she was reverting back to the same person she was when they had first arrived there. She sounded different than the time she had been training them, different than the girl who had been explaining how Aura worked for them and the one that watched over their form as they lied exhausted on the ground by their training.
She turned toward Qrow.
"Do you know where Yang is?" she asked.
"She was here a few minutes ago before you woke up," Qrow told her, "But she said she had something to do before she starts packing."
Ruby was a little confused.
"Did she say?"
Qrow shook his head.
"But enough about that," he said, "So…I heard you finally summoned your weapon."
Ruby nodded.
"So how did it felt?" Qrow asked.
Ruby thought about it. She had never felt so powerful before in all of her training during the month. She couldn't even understand as to how she could have so much hidden power just lying there inside of her. She could still feel the weapon's weight in her hand as she flexed her fingers, thinking about it.
"Powerful," she said simply, "It felt…powerful."
Qrow nodded.
"The first time someone draws out the Soul Weapon from within their heart," he said, "It drains you entirely of your Aura. It also gives you a glimpse of how powerful you can become."
Ruby thought about it remembering what Weiss had told her a few times ago.
"Uncle Qrow...to be a Huntress," she said, "It's not a life that anyone can live is there."
"No," he said, "You are going to have to make decisions that you wish you never would find yourself making. You have made that choice Ruby, both you and Yang. It's time for you to walk it."
The girl let out a sigh.
"I figured you would say something like this."
Yang Xia Long made her way into the Training Grounds as she searched the Aura around her. During her fight against the young man, she had realized that she could sense people Aura. She could feel Ruby's as well and she knew that it was her training that was starting to pay off.
The young woman found her target kneeling on the ground as with a case beside him. The blonde girl approached toward his back. She noticed that he was still wearing that same hat as before.
"Hello Yang," he said without turning around, "I didn't expect to see you back here so soon."
Yang stared at his turned back, more like toward his hat and what she knew was beneath it. She still could remember when his hat had been knocked from his head. The young woman approached until she was standing beside him.
She noticed that a strange symbol was upon the ground in front of the young man. He was using a brush from what she could see and he was writing some strange glyphs upon the ground humming a little at what she was doing.
"Now," he said, "Was there something you need?"
"What exactly are you doing?" Yang asked.
"I'm reverting this area back to it's original state," the young man answered her, "After all, the only reason I even created that space was for Weiss to train you and your sister. Now that it is done and you girls are returning home, I will return this place back to normal."
He turned toward her with a small smirk visible upon his lips.
"You want to see?"
Yang couldn't hide her curiosity.
"Sure."
The young man nodded before turning toward the strange glyph on the ground and placed his palm right beneath it.
"Wind God Roar, Earth God Strengthen, Fire God Burn, Water God Stream."
The symbol upon the ground started to glow as each glyph that he had drawn had taken a different color of gray, green, red and blue.
"A frightened cry to protect, a dangerous mind to think, the world is created as a shadow of it's former self," the young man continued, "Materialize and deconstruct as the world return."
Suddenly the entire Training Ground had started to glow a bright green color causing Yang to narrow her eyes as the glow grew and then the light was gone. Yang then noticed that the entire training ground was gone and that they were standing in a small shed. It was filled with some brooms and garden equipments and the room was smaller.
"And here is done," the young man said taking hold of the case before turning toward her.
"How exactly can you do that?" Yang asked, "That power…that wasn't Aura was it? I couldn't sense any type of Aura at all during the entire procedure."
The young man chuckled as he raised his hand toward his hat, pushing it down toward his face.
"Now, I wonder," he said.
Yang narrowed her eyes.
"Are you a member of the White Clan like Weiss?"
The young man laughed.
"The White Clan will scorn themselves if they let an animal like me in their midst," he said, "I don't follow that clan, only Weiss."
There was something in his tone that sounded like scorn when he mentioned the White Clan. Yang looked toward him.
"Then you're not human then," she said, "I saw it when your hat got knocked off."
The young man lowered his hand from his hat.
"It wasn't like I was trying to hide it," he said, his eyes shining in the shadow of the hat, "They are more than just the Grimm and the Clans and you Grimm Slayers in this world of yours."
Yang frowned.
"Grimm Slayers?" she repeated.
"It's what my kind calls you humans who have the power to slay the Grimm," the man said, "My kind can use Aura as well, and we even had some of us who became Grimm Slayers…but you should know, now that you have your Soul Weapon, that path is one filled with suffering."
The eyes were now fixed upon her, freezing the blonde where she stood.
"That resolve that you have within yourself to protect your family," the young man said, "The one that you had decided to gain this power for, hang on to it as if your very life depends on it."
The young man walked toward where the blonde stood and walked right past her.
"But you seems to be a good kid with a good head on your shoulder," he said, "So I am going to leave you with only one word of advice. Don't lose your focus."
He made his way toward the door and Yang turned toward him.
"You're not going to tell me your name?" she asked.
The young man opened the door which gave way to the sunlight coming through from outside as the wind caused his hat to dance upon his head but the object stayed there. The young man turned his head to face her.
"Weiss doesn't know my name," he said, "And I have been with her for longer than you. What makes you think I will tell you?"
With that he left the blonde standing the room with her eyes staring at his retreating back.
Later that afternoon, Yang and her sister were now loading their affairs into the trunk of the car with Sebastian there to help them. Uncle Qrow helped as well and the two girls soon find themselves getting ready to go into the car. Yang was surprised that Weiss wasn't here to see them and from how Ruby's expression was, the white haired girl hadn't become her friend as the girl had hoped.
The blonde glanced up toward the Manor that had been their home for the past month, but there was no sign of the white haired girl anywhere she could see. Was the girl really going to let them go without even saying a goodbye at least?
"Well it's time to go," Qrow told them as he turned to face the two girls.
The blonde nodded, giving her little sister a glance. Ruby was quiet but the girl nodded at her consent as well. Then Sebastian approached them, pulling a small box from his suit pocket.
"Oh, I almost forgot," he said, "This is for the two of you."
He extended it toward the two girls and they each took one. Yang opened hers and found that it was the little bracelet that Weiss had given them before the start of their training. She can see a symbol had been added upon the flat space. It was the shape of a heart encased in flames. She turned her gaze toward Ruby who was holding one similar to her own except it had a Rose with thorn.
"Weiss wanted to two of you to have them," Sebastian said, "It will help with changing into your Huntress form when you need to."
Yang nodded and she closed the little box and she sworn that Ruby's face looked cheerier with the little present that Weiss had given her. Yang had thought that the girl had gone all recluse on them like she was before, but it seems that she was wrong.
"Tell Weiss we'll see her at school," the blonde grinned.
Sebastian gave a light nod.
"I'll be sure to pass the message Miss Xia Long," he said, "It had been a pleasure to have met you."
The two girls entered inside the car and soon enough, they were driving away from the Manor and then out of the Estate. Yang glanced at the girl beside her, noticing the small smile Ruby was wearing as she observed the small box in her palm.
"Seems you were worried over nothing," Yang told her.
Ruby glanced at her and gave her a grin.
"Yeah."
"Are you sure letting them go like that?" the young man said as he stares down at the car that was leaving the manor behind, "You didn't even teach them about their Soul Weapon."
Weiss Schnee was seating upon an armchair in the painting room, looking up toward the painting of her mother that sat above the fireplace. The white haired girl was drinking some tea. The young woman's eyes turned toward him.
"The only one that could teach them about that is the weapons themselves," she said, "I can't do anything more to teach those two. I made them strong enough to protect their family and each other. They will grow stronger…in time."
Her eyes then become blank again.
"I presume the reason you're here is because you have figured out who was behind the barrier of the school disappearing?" she asked him.
"I did," he said turning toward her, "I didn't want to believe it at first but I did some extra research. You remember the fluctuations I have detected. I went to the place where you went to try to find evidence of what could have caused them."
Weiss stared at him, curious.
"You believed them to be Grimm so you didn't think much of it," the young man said, "When I rechecked the area, I realized what we were facing against. I had find evidence that someone did open a Doorway…but it wasn't a Doorway from the Shadow World…it was a doorway from another part of Remnant."
Weiss stared at him.
"So you mean that someone traveled to Vale?" she said.
The young man nodded.
"Yes," he said, "And I also believe that they were responsible for the destruction of the barrier at school."
"If they were foreign Aura in the city," Weiss said, "I should have been aware of it, I had placed a barrier around the entire city of Vale…"
"I checked it," the young man said, "your barrier isn't there any more…thought, it seems whoever is responsible hasn't made any moves as of late…but with how they have taken down the barrier, I can tell you they are not to be taken lightly, even by you."
Weiss narrowed her eyes.
"I see."
Vale
Unknown Location
A black cat moved through the empty street of the night. The animal made its way into a dark hallway and then the small animal started to shift as it walked until the cat was simply gone until a single young woman was there. The girl was completely in the nude from where she stood as her golden eyes shone in the darkness that surrounded her. Then clothes materialized themselves upon her as well as a sword, which went to her back.
The young woman made her way toward the door that lead into the wall and stepped inside. They were a group of people there, all of them armed with weapons and they looked up toward the young woman's advances.
"Well, you've returned," a man at the end of the room said looking up toward her.
"She doesn't suspect a thing," the young woman said, "Even thought she had sensed our arrivals that night, she doesn't seem to realize anything else is going on."
"Our plan is soon going to come into fruition," the man answered her, a smirk growing upon his lips, "We will make those heartless monsters pay for the brother and sisters they have slaughtered, and they will know our names after all, we will be the ones to kill a Schnee."
The young woman's golden eyes thought back to the white haired girl she had seen that night of their arrival. Just by looking at her, she knew that it was a Schnee, after all, that accursed white hair was a signature mark of the family…thought part of her was curious as to why the girl had been wearing black robes instead of the white and blue the Schnee family Grimm Slayer's usually wore.
"Soon," the man continued, "Brothers of the White Fang, we will rip that accursed Schnee family from the pages of history one by one…starting with their youngest daughter."
The Mysterious organization responsible for the fall of the barrier at the school wait in the shadow...a new threat loom over the horizon...
Next Time: Mysteries in the Shadows
Jacques0 out.
R&R
