Chapter 32: Anywhere But Here

Wow, you guys, I am a lucky man. I'm lucky to have such great, responsive fans that read my stories! Since I read everything you people send me, I'm encouraging you to send in more. Feedback is my bread and butter, my coffee and cream, or my Stand and bad-assery. Okay, maybe the last one doesn't exactly apply here. Anyway, before I go on a pointless tangent, I'll just cut to the chase and say that Monty Oum owns RWBY, not I. Now, let's get to this chapter!

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Ruby had only been wallowing in self-hatred as all the incident between Yang and Mr. Brass occurred. She had barely even noticed the passage of time, until a soaking wet Yang and a burnt-out Blake walked back into the room. Instead of trying to talk to her, the pair began to pack up everything of theirs in suitcases or bags. As Yang finished packing Ruby's clothes, she tossed a pair of sweats and a t-shirt over in her direction.

"W-what're you doin-ng?" Ruby asked through her sobs. She had no clue what had happened, so she was even more confused.

"We're leaving this fucking place. Put those on," Yang stated shortly.

"W-wha? Why?" choked out Ruby.

Yang sighed and cast a look at Blake. When Blake nodded in return, Yang walked over to Ruby's side and kneeled down to face her sister directly.

"Ruby…" Yang began to say before looking to Blake for reassurance. Blake urged her to go on with a motion of her hand. "We were spied on… Mr. Brass sent Mr. Schnee info on us," Yang explained.

Ruby was completely shocked. How could someone she trusted so much, who had agreed to hide the music show from Mr. Schnee when they first met, turn heel and work against her and her friends? It was… it wasn't exactly as much as disappointing as much as it was depressing. The idea that someone who she so easily got along with and trusted could just be doing something as low as spying on them just made Ruby hate herself even more. Her job as team leader was to watch out for all threats, no matter who or what they were. Not only did she manage to let down Weiss today, but she felt that she let down the rest of her team too.

The faint light that was left in Ruby's eyes went out at that moment. Yang noticed this, and couldn't help but feel bad. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to tell Ruby that someone she trusted had just sold them out. But regardless, she needed to know eventually. After all, it would help explain why they needed to leave the condo.

Silently, Ruby did what she was told earlier and got up from the bed. She put on the sweats and shirt, and slipped on her boots. Apparently Ruby didn't care about her appearance anymore, as she didn't bother to lace up her boots or adjust her shirt. She had just given up by now.

Without a word, Ruby grabbed her luggage and walked out of the room. There was nothing left for her to say. Bake and Yang shared a quick look, and grabbed their bags. They needed to keep an eye on Ruby, and the cab that Blake called a few minutes ago was going to be arriving soon.

As the pair made their way down the hall, the sight of a partially opened door reminded the pair simultaneously of who was inside. They needed to get Weiss, too.

Weiss didn't notice the commotion earlier, due to being in a similar state to Ruby. Even if she did hear something, she wouldn't have registered in her mind. After all Weiss' world had virtually crumbled around her earlier, so what difference would it make I something horrible was going to happen anyway?

She was still staring into the aether when yang and Blake opened the room and slowly entered. Weiss didn't react to their intrusion in the slightest. All she did was still stare blankly ahead.

"Weiss? Come on, we're leaving," Yang said softly to her as she approached.

That contact snapped Weiss out of her mind enough for her to respond. "What's the point? He'll follow me, no matter where I go," she said pessimistically. The sad part was that instead of being presented as a fear, it was said as if it was fact.

Yang decided to tell the truth to motive Weiss to leave. "Look, Mr. Brass was spying on us. We need to go, so he can't do any more," explained Yang.

That didn't surprise Weiss much, if any at all. She was already paranoid about Mr. Brass' intentions already. All Yang did was confirm her suspicions. Her father's power reached everywhere, even to places the others thought were safe. Nobody was safe with her around. All she did was bring misery to the people around her.

"A person whose only existence is to breed and spread misery. I'm more like a Grimm than I thought," Weiss bitterly thought. Her life had no real meaning to it other than what her father told her, and Weiss believed every word of it.

Yang noticed that Weiss wasn't responding to that revelation at all. That wasn't a good sign. Hopefully, she wasn't too far gone. Seeing no other option, Yang grabbed Weiss by the arm and pulled her out of her chair. Weiss offered no resistance whatsoever.

"Grab her stuff," Yang ordered to Blake as she helped Weiss out of the room.

"Right," Blake affirmed before going back to their bedroom. It was pitiable to see Weiss in that state. All the things that made Weiss who she was, like her determination and the fire behind her eyes, were completely gone.

"It's like she's a doll almost… that's probably what Mr. Schnee wants her to be," Blake thought to herself. As if Mr. Schnee wasn't bad enough because of his hands in the violation of Faunus rights, he wasn't above crushing everything that made his daughter a person. Mr. Schnee was a deplorable person, through and through.

Grabbing all of Weiss' luggage (which was significantly more than what the others had brought), Blake mad her way out of the room quickly. As she walked down the hallway and through the living room, she noticed that Mr. Brass hadn't comeback inside yet. Given how close of a brush he had with death, Blake understood that he needed some time to reflect on what the hell had gone so wrong.

Blake opened the front door and went to wait for the cab with the rest of the team. None of them looked very good at all. Weiss and Ruby couldn't even look at each other, let alone sit next to each other. The two of them were sitting a distance away from each other, with Yang roughly in the middle.

Speaking of Yang herself, she was sitting on the step in her drying clothes. She was rubbing her temples, looking as if she was emotional burnt out. Blake couldn't blame her. She was feeling the same way as her girlfriend. Between meeting the most hated man on the planet, finding out the man you trusted stabbed you in the back, and then Yang trying to kill said man, Blake had almost run out of any emotions to give.

Putting down Weiss' luggage, Blake took a seat next to Yang. She joined her in silent contemplation. There was nothing really better to do while they waited for their cab to arrive, and take them away from this horrible place.

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An hour or so later, Team RWBY was dropped off at a rather familiar hotel. Or, it was familiar for Yang and Blake, anyway. This was the usual hotel they used whenever they made weekend dates. The ride over there wasn't a pleasant one. The tension filled the cab so much that the cabbie didn't bother to talk to them other than asking where they were going and how much the ride cost. And still, Weiss and Ruby couldn't stand to look at the other.

As Yang went to the front desk to get her and Blake's normal room, Blake was trying to get Ruby and Weiss to look at each other, if not talk to each other.

"Ruby, please, I'm sure that Weiss doesn't hate you or something like that. Just go talk to her, and see that she still cares for you a lot," Blake tried convincing.

Ruby refused to listen to Blake's logic. "I-I can't! How can she stand someone like me! I can't even follow her suggestions! I don't even deserve to wear her clothes!" she moaned in despair.

"That explains why she was half-naked earlier…" Blake realized in her thoughts.

"I'm sure she still loves you. In fact, Yang and I have gotten into fights before, and we still love each other very much," said Blake.

"But this wasn't some… some nasty fight! I betrayed her trust in me!" Ruby sobbed out.

Blake sighed and ran a hand through her hair. This was way rougher than she thought it would be. Yet again, maybe she wasn't the best person to do this. Seeing a psychologist many times before didn't make you exactly qualified to act like one. She would need to call in the cavalry on this one. Well, Yang could help her once she had the time.

So, giving up on Ruby for the time being, Blake tried to work on Weiss instead. So, giving Ruby a quick "Hang in there," Blake walked over to the corner where Weiss was hiding herself away.

"Hey, um, hi there, friend," Blake greeted. She cringed on the inside on how weird and out of character that sounded. Maybe she had tried too hard to sound casual and helpful. Yep, she certainly wasn't a shrink.

"What do you want?" Weiss mumbled. Her face was pointed towards the floor, so Blake had to listen closely to what the heiress said.

"I just… want to talk to you about today," Blake said in a friendly tone.

"Why? You're only going to tell me things I already know," Weiss said to the ground.

Blake arched her eyebrow. "Like what?" she asked.

"My dad's a bad person, and I'm noting but a worthless, spineless worm!" Weiss declared, her voice growing louder and angrier with each word. Her head snapped up and her eyes locked with Blake's.

"I wasn't going to say tha—" Blake began before being cut off by a ranting Weiss.

"I'm nothing but his doll, his plaything! I can't even love someone without being under his thumb! It was his entire plan!" Weiss cried, mostly to herself. She was sorting out what happened in her mind, and she hated herself for it. She had no free will, no open destiny, only the guiding hand of a man she resented from an early age.

"Weiss, calm down," advised Blake. Weiss didn't listen at all.

"Why can't he just love me for who I am? I want my papa to love me, why can't he love me?!" Weiss desperately asked Blake as she began to shake the cat girl's shoulders. Weiss' eyes didn't reflect the mature, cool young woman she normally was. Instead, Blake saw a scared, sad child in Weiss' gaze.

Blake could only stutter "I… I…" as she tried to search for an answer to that question. The truth was that she had gotten into something way over her head. This was a worse case than Ruby's. At least the issues she had didn't run this deep.

"Why can't he love me…" Weiss began to sob, "Why can't he just love me…". By now, Weiss shaking had turned into a weak hug, hoping for any soothing contact. Blake awkwardly returned the hug. She was willing to do a lot to make someone feel better.

"There, there…" Blake cooed at Weiss as she rubbed Weiss' back. She could feel Weiss bury her head into Blake's shoulder. Then, she felt her shoulder grow damp from Weiss' tears.

Blake looked around to see if Ruby could jump in here. After all, Ruby would probably be better at comforting Weiss than she was. If anything, Ruby probably had a better insight to whatever Weiss' psychological issues were.

But, Ruby was still where Blake had left her. She was cradling her face in her hands, leaning against a wall. Blake could tell that Ruby wasn't feeling that much better than Weiss right then. Well, the only thing she could do now was wait for Yang to bail her out.

Weiss mumbled something into Blake's shoulder, but the Faunus girl couldn't make out what she said. Instead, Blake settled for a standard, "It's going to be okay, it's going to be okay,". She wasn't sure if that really matched to what Weiss had said, but it couldn't hurt to say it anyway.

The metaphorical cavalry rode over the hill, however, as Yang walked towards Blake and Weiss. Maybe she could help out with this amount of emotional dysfunction.

"Okay, I got the keys. Am I… interrupting anything?" Yang asked as she pointed to the hug Blake was currently enveloped in. When Blake mouthed out 'Help', Yang understood that Weiss was probably going through something right now, and that Blake needed some assistance.

Yang hastily thought of an excuse to free Blake. "Uh, Weiss? The room's ready. I'm sure you don't want all of this… thing in public. So, how about we go and take it over here?" suggested Yang.

Logic centers were still working in Weiss' mind, so she let go of Blake and wiped away her bitter, sad tears. She gave a small nod, and picked up her baggage. Weiss tried to walk away with her dignity intact, but Blake and Yang could hear heavy sniffling coming from the girl. When Blake was sure that Weiss was out of hearing range, she turned to Yang.

"Thanks. I think you're better at that stuff than me," Blake noted.

Sighing, Yang replied, "Not as much as you think. Come on, let's get Ruby. We can have the comfort session in the room,".

With that, the duo walked over to the currently sulking Ruby. Instead of trying to talk to her, Blake gently grabbed her wrist and began to lead her towards the elevator. Ruby didn't resist in the slightest. She just didn't care anymore.

As Team RWBY began the trip to their room, the one thing was (mostly) clear in everyone's minds: this trip was nothing but a pure Hell.

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Whenever I write this stuff, I can't help but feel bad for what I'm putting the characters through. However, I can guarantee that this will only make the resolution ll the sweeter. After all, all of this pain has to be worth something, right? You just need to hold out for a happy ending. This is The Draigg, signing off for now.