A/N: Wow, I am amazed by the feedback I received for the first chapter, thank you all so much for the follows/faves and reviews :D I wanted to get this chapter out as soon as possible, with what A-Levels would allow, so here it is! Those of you who may also be reading my other RWBY story, Love Falls Forever, the next chapter is about halfway done, so it will be out soon ^.^
Also, in this story I've changed it so Ruby/Shade is actually 16 rather than 15, so the Falling Petals doesn't become... weird for some with the age gap :j thank you to Badger Brandon for reading over and checking this chapter and telling me to post it tonight (thanks dude ;) ) and without further ado, lets begin. I hope you enjoy :j
Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or its characters, they belong to RoosterTeeth and Monty Oum.
"Garh, where is she?! Ruby!"
Yang grit her teeth in frustration when her shout was answered only the echo, fire burned in her veins and her fists clenched.
"She has to be in here!" she growled, marching towards the entrance of the tunnel. Weiss nodded in agreement and walked with a quick pace after her, fear coaxing her to move faster. Blake glanced around them, seeing that all the other teams were busy clearing away Grimm ash, and nodded to herself. She followed her remaining team members inside and ducked away from the view of the outside; she then reached up and pulled off her bow.
'With my ears uncovered I can hear better, then we can find Ruby quicker.'
She once again nodded to herself and stepped further into the tunnel, following after the other two who were quite a ways ahead.
"Where are you?!" she heard Yang yell, and felt her heart stop when it was followed by a colossal smash, the walls shaking from the strength with dust falling from the roof.
"Yang, stop that!" Weiss scolded, the anger covering just how scared she actually was.
"No! I'm not stopping until I find my sister!"
Blake ran to catch up with them, holding in a gasp at the sight of the blonde brawler holding a massive boulder like it weighed nothing. Yang grunted in anger and threw the rock, eyes burning a fiery red.
Blake saw that the rock was heading straight for the wall, and shot her hand out, three brown Dust crystals in her grip.
Three rock shadows burst from her body, making her feel a little woozy, and jumped in the path of the rock, pushing it away from the wall so it fell on the over tipped train.
The three shadow Blakes looked up in acknowledgement, and crumbled to tiny pieces.
"Yang!" the Faunus yelled, finally rearing the red eyed girl's attention, "You have to stop throwing those rocks! I know you are upset but if you keep throwing them the roof will fall in, then we would all be useless to help."
Yang kept her gaze on the feline, and sighed in defeat. Her arms relaxed as she looked down, eyes dimming to the violet they all preferred.
"I- god, I'm so sorry Blake, and you Weiss. I just… I need to find her."
She shot her gaze to the amber orbs, teary, and Blake shook her head.
"There's no need to apologise, you're upset. We are all upset, now we just gotta find her, yeah?"
Yang nodded and soon they were searching again, they knew the teachers would be arriving soon, so they hoped to have found her for immediate medical attention. The blonde was beyond worried after about ten minutes of searching, red starting to flicker back in her lavender as the minutes ticked by.
Weiss wasn't fairing much better, her calm demander started to fade and was quickly replaced with massive anxiety, using her semblance to lift rocks with her glyphs and getting edgier by the second.
And Blake was dreading what was to come, she was correct when she thought she would be able to hear Ruby, yet all she could hear was three heartbeats, her own, Yang's, and Weiss'.
She swallowed down the panic and continued to look, using her shadow clones to lift the rocks.
It was a while later when Blake's ears twitched, telling her the teachers were coming down the tunnel. She quickly brought up the bow and tied it up, ingoing the sad look Yang shot her at the action.
Headmaster Ozpin came into sight first, followed by Headmistress Glynda and Doctor Oobleck.
"Have you girls had any luck yet?" Oobleck asked them. Before anyone could answer, Zweii zoomed past him and jumped to Yang's arms, whimpering in distress and nuzzling her face, Yang sighed and hugged him tight, thankful of the Dust that ran through him giving him the strength to not be crushed by her hug.
"I know boy, we'll find her, don't worry." She whispered to him, Zweii whimpered and moved impossibly closer to Yang.
Weiss looked away from the scene and towards the teachers.
"No Professors, we have no sign of her." She grits her teeth together to hold back the tears that were building up, gripping her fists and crossing her arms.
Ozpin nodded, his face blank and showing no emotion, but Glynda saw the flash of angst slash across his face before being wiped of all visible feeling.
"In which case we continue to find her. Glynda alert the VPD and request a search and rescue team as well as an ambulance, Hunters and Huntresses as well as civilians were harmed in the attack, see to it that they get the care they need."
Glynda nodded and left to do her assigned job, scroll in hand.
"The rest of you keep searching, we will find Ruby Rose and have her in safe hands once again, this I promise you."
The three girls nodded, and the five Hunters and one dog continued to look through rocks and dust for a further fifteen minutes, joined then by a whole team of search and rescue, who aided them in their hunt for the missing girl.
It was an hour later when Zweii started to whimper, howling in distress at what he had found. Weiss was the first to notice, and ran over to the whining Corgi.
"Zweii, what's- oh my god."
Right there, under a rock Zweii had miraculously thrown out of the way, was a blood stained red fabric.
Weiss fell to her knees and pushed at the rock it was trapped under, groaning when it wouldn't move.
"Urgh, Yang, Blake! Get over here Zweii found something!"
The thuds of quick steps met her ears as others came with her team mates, watching as Yang gasped at the sight of the red and grabbed the rock in her grip, picking it up. She gasped and dropped the boulder with a dull thud.
"… No…"
Yang fell to her knees next to the Heiress, eyes unable to look away from what she saw.
Ruby's cape, it was blooded with large stains of red, several other rocks around it also stained with the dried substance. The hood was charred, burned from the train explosion, and stood on either side of the red burned mass, were two Raptor Grimm footprints.
"No, no, no, no, no…" Yang whimpered, holding her head and shaking it, "No…"
Weiss reached for the cloak and pulled it towards her, small bits of rock crumbling off of it as she dragged the fabric across the ground. Once she had close she leaned towards it and sniffed the cloak.
All hope left her.
"… It's hers. Oh god, its hers." Tears broke her barrier and fell past her eyes, her shoulders shaking as she held the red cloak close to her, inhaling the smell of cookie dough and strawberries as she sobbed.
She would know the smell of her partner and girlfriend from anywhere.
Yang lunged towards the Heiress and wrapped her arms around her shoulders, hugging her as her own tears fell and sobs racked her frame. Blake came from behind them, her own eyes watering but she was managing to keep some composure in front of the solemn looking strangers around them. She knelt behind them and wrapped her arms around her team mates, feeling Yang work an arm around her waist and pulling her close. Blake felt salty tears start to fall, and buried her face in Yang's golden hair. Zweii waddled over and whined at the sight, moving towards them and nestling between Weiss and Yang, trying to give and receive comfort from both of them.
The three fighters and dog stayed like that for a long time, the cape clutched between them, while the saddened search and rescue squad bowed their heads.
Ozpin stepped through the crowd with Glynda and Oobleck, having heard the silence from the workers. They saw the girls, the cape, the blood and the footprints.
Ozpin closed his eyes and sighed through the anger that washed over him, he had failed his students.
"Call off the search, get those girls home."
"Ozpin we can't give up hope, she could still be alive somewhere." Glynda hissed, ignoring the dampness of her own eyes as she glared scathingly at the Headmaster.
"Then we will continue to search, those girls have gone through too much. I want them checked at the Medical Wing and sent to bed. We will continue looking."
Obviously it was quite difficult to move the three girls, Blake was the easiest to convince, as Weiss was frozen in place and wouldn't move, and Yang threatened to attack whoever tried to move them. Her eyes were red and her hair was burning, but when Blake gently took her hand the brawler calmed down enough to be taken back to Beacon, not letting go of Blake or Zweii, who she held in one arm.
Weiss had to be carried out, she was irresponsive and only stared blankly out in front of her. So, a member of the VPD carried her in his arms and walked with Yang and Blake to the Academy in deathly silence.
Back in the tunnel Ozpin was still staring at the blood stained rocks. Glynda appeared behind him and gently touched his elbow.
"Ozpin, are you alright?"
It was a silly question, they both knew it. How could he be alright? A student who was too young to be in the school, who he had accepted in two years too early, and had gone on a mission she and her team were too young for, was missing, possibly dead.
"I am as expected Glynda. If you would excuse me I need some fresh air."
He turned on his heel and marched out of the tunnel, striding past the exhausted but still searching workers in his step. Two minutes later he was outside, he moved away from the tunnel opening and towards a slightly destroyed coffee shop. Once inside he sat on a seat that was still intact, and stared blankly at the wall opposite him.
Then, after being a living statue in silence for several minutes, his composure broke.
He leant forwards on the table, pulling off his glasses with his hands gripping his hair. His teeth were grit tightly together and he screwed his eyes shut.
He had failed his promise.
A gentle tap was heard as the tears he had restrained for so long finally beat him, and slowly dripped down one at a time.
"I'm sorry Summer, I failed you."
He didn't leave that coffee shop for a long time.
~Ax~
She groaned when a consistent beeping shot through her brain, the sound piercing and painful to listen to. The short haired girl frowned and moved her arm to touch her forehead to try and dull the throb from her headache.
Well, she wanted to, but when she moved her hand nothing happened. no twitch up her arm of feeling of muscles moving.
A cold dread trickled down her spine and filled her stomach. Her eyes snapped open and she sat up.
Again, she tried to sit up, but a sharp pain fired through her back and restrained her from moving.
Still she did not give up, her eyes looked down and she titled her head as much as she could.
Her fears were confirmed.
Her left arm was gone. Cut off a few inches below her shoulder. Bandaged, but gone.
Then she also realised she was only looking with her right eye. She tried to open her left but she had no movement. Only darkness.
"N-no…"
Her heart rate as well as the annoying beeping sped up. Her chest was heaving erratically and she could not tear her eyes away from that stump where her arm once was.
Her… her arm… Gone…
Just before she could die of a heart attack, a woman appeared at the door. Cinder, if she remembered correctly. The sight of the beautiful woman managed to some how distract her from her previous panic, the beeping slowed a little but was still faster than before.
Cinder noticed her conscious state and grinned, approaching in a sly way, like a panther in her step.
"So you're finally awake. I wouldn't move too much if I were you," she came to a stop by her bed and sat on the edge with grace and elegance she could only hope to see again. Cinder took her right hand in her own and started to trace patterns on the back of her hand with her thumb, "you were quite heavily injured in your… accident."
"Wh-at happened?" she asked, her throat cracking. Cinder reached over Shadow's head to pick up a glass of water from the table at the head of her bed, unknowingly giving Shadow a view down her shirt, causing the injured girl to blush bright red, and sat back to bring the glass cup to her lips, knowing smirk on her pale face.
"Drink, you'll feel better."
Shadow did as told and took the cold glass between her lips, Cinder tilting it for some to roll down her sore throat. After a few seconds she removed her lips and Cinder took the message, moving the glass back to the table.
Cinder held Shade's hand in both her own, eyes drifting to the girl's bandage that covered her left eye and most of the left part of her face.
"You want to know your injuries?" she asked, sliding her gaze across to Shade's one good eye, the teen nodded, "You have many deep bruises on your back, four broken ribs, most likely from the Grimm that fell on you. Your head suffered major blows leading to your amnesia, and you left leg was broken, also by the Grimm, your right ankle was broken from your landing from the train. There was some internal bleeding that we solved, and, of course, your left arm. It was snapped."
Shade cringed and kept her eyes locked on Cinder, as to not look at her missing limb and most likely throw up.
"How? Do you know how it was broken?"
Cinder sighed and let her flaming orbs glance to the bandaged stub.
"We think when the Grimm hit the wall it dislodged some rocks, one fell on your arm that seemed to be suspended in the air by your elbow on another rock, and snapped it. It was infected so we had no choice but to remove it, otherwise you would have died. I hope you forgive us."
Shade's eyes fell shut. She fought off her tears and bit her teeth together. The fact her arm was… gone, was a hard blow to swallow. She would probably break down after Cinder had left, but she couldn't cry in front of her.
And unknown voice whispered in her ear.
"Remember, when you feel like you're about to break, fall apart in front of those who you don't want to see in such a state, think of something that makes you happy. Something you love more than anything in the world, and focus all your energies on that one thing."
And then, before she could even decide on what she could possibly distract herself with, ice blue eyes snapped across her vision, white hair and a slight gentle laugh.
"Oh, you loveable dunce…"
Her eyes snapped open and locked with Cinder, a little out of breath.
Cinder frowned, seeing Shade's heart monitor increase while her eyes were closed. She had been half expecting the young girl to explode into a mad rage, but that had not happened, instead she had sucked in gasps of air and jolted in shock and surprise.
Silver eye was calm and certainly less pain filled as it had been before as it met burning flame.
"… I forgive you. It was needed, thank you Cinder."
She squeezed Cinder's hand back in thanks, and the raven haired woman felt her body betray her when her own heart rate sped up.
She coughed and moved her gaze to the bandaged eye.
"That's not all your injuries, I'm afraid."
Shade sighed and nodded, indicating she wanted to know.
"The left side of your face was completely burnt and because of this your eye was blinded beyond healing. The healers managed to reconstruct below your cheek to your chin a little, but it will always be paler than the rest of your skin. They could do nothing for the rest of the burns, again we are sorry."
Shade sighed, remembering the flash of blue eyes, and nodded.
"Okay, I understand…"
"Also, I had some of my members break into the Schnee Company Medical Research Lab, they found the formula we used to heal you, it increases the speed of bone healing by triple the normal time it would have taken. Your bones will be fixed within roughly two weeks."
Shade smiled a half smile, and nodded.
"At least that's something, I guess."
"Indeed, then we will start your training."
With that Cinder smirked and stood, leaving the confused girl in her bed.
"Wait, training for what?"
Cinder was at the door; hand on the frame as she looked over her shoulder.
"For your revenge of course."
"R-revenge?"
"Yes, my Shadow, revenge on the ones who threw you off the train."
Shade's eye widened, and her mouth dropped.
Someone… someone threw me?
"All will be revealed soon, my little Shadow, do not worry."
With another smirk Cinder left the room, leaving Shade to stare at her lap with a frown.
Someone threw me… off the train.
She slowly moved her eye to face the bandaged stump. She grit her teeth and swallowed. Finally her tears started to fall.
But these were not sad tears. They were angry.
Someone did this to me! They… they ruined me! I will find them, and when I do, I will break them for what they have done!
Her mind was clouded with dark thoughts wanting to burst out from her, not realising they were not like her old self, how could she?
Ruby Rose was a forgotten past.
~Ax~
Cinder entered the camera room and saw Neo at the chair, watching their patient yell in uncontrollable anger through the muted screen.
"She's impressive, isn't she? To show this much anger, and I haven't even begun to sway her yet."
Neo shoe her dark and scary smirk, and nodded.
'It won't be tricky to convince her. Soon she will be all yours, Mistress.'
"You're right Neo, this will be very convenient. Hmm, I can't wait to get more acquainted with my little Shade…"
Cinder was so focused on the screen she did not notice the sidelong glance Neo cast at her. The mute girl frowned for a second, and then grinned when she figured it out. The grin, however, Cinder did not miss.
"What are you smiling about?"
'Nothing.' Neo signed.
"Hm, well it's weird, stop it."
Neo smirked and shook her head.
Just then Cinder's scroll vibrated, and she looked at it with a sigh of annoyance.
"It's Roman, I wonder what the imbecile wants now. Keep and eye on her."
With that Cinder left.
Neo returned her mismatched eyes to the screen, smirk growing.
Looks like Mistress has taken a fancy. She thought, watching as the girl continued to curse her throat sore.
Well, at least she has decent taste.
With that Neo leant back, eyes never straying from the darkening brown and red haired girl on the screen.
A/N: What did you think? Like? Please let me know in a PM or a review! I love hearing from you guys, it motivates me to write faster and makes producing writing easier :j
Thank you for reading. Until next time, I hope you enjoyed :)