"Long time, no see, Torchwick."
Ruby nearly flinched at her own words. The silence after she stepped out from behind the crate stretched on until even the young wielder felt uncomfortable. She felt like someone needed to break the quiet, and suddenly she was saying something that she could only ever picture Chloe or Yang saying unironically.
It did work, however, as Torchwick was broken from his surprised stare. "You!?" he aimed the barrel of his repaired cane at her, "what on Remnant are you doing here!?"
I need to buy time, but how!? Uggh… In for penny, I suppose. Might as well channel my inner Chloe some more.
"Well, I heard you busted out," Ruby found herself speaking without putting too much thought into the words. "And I just had to see for myself." She took a few steps onto the rails, trying to take attention away from the crate so Blake could escape. A shadow quickly snuck away in her periphery.
"Let's just say prison wasn't quite my scene," Torchwick spat. "Where are your little friends?"
"Friends?" Ruby tried to think quickly. "I-I didn't come with anyone."
"Right…" Torchwick didn't buy it. "And what, you thought you could take us all on alone?"
Damn it! More Chloe, more Chloe!
"To be fair, there are…" Ruby took a casual glance around the room, pretending to count people. "Two more people here than I expected?"
"A valiant effort, Red," Torchwick smiled, "but don't try and con a conman. Hand over your weapon."
Ruby took another stalling glance around the room. "Would you believe me if I said I don't have it?"
"Not for a second," Torchwick deadpanned, holding out his hand.
"Well, can't blame me for trying," Ruby shrugged.
"Your weapon, Red," Torchwick shook his open hand in emphasis.
"Right," Ruby nodded. "But seriously, I didn't bring it."
Torchwick's face grew red with anger. "You have three seconds! Three! Two! On-"
The sounds of battle erupted from the platform proper. Ruby's backup had arrived. And not a moment too soon…
"Crap!" Torchwick shouted. He gestured to Ruby, "Kill her!"
"Reflaga!"
Bullets and Dust charges bounced off Ruby's magic shield. She wasted no time retaliating, summoning her Keyblade and dashing forward into the fray.
Torchwick didn't plan to stay and fight. He ran alongside the train, meeting up with a small group of White Fang agents on the way.
"What are we going to do, sir?" one asked.
Torchwick frowned. It's still far too early, but… if we've been found it's now or never… "We're starting this train."
"Sir?" the White Fang seemed unsure.
"Move it!" the frustrated criminal screamed.
The sounds of the train starting were nearly drowned by the melee, but Ruby managed to hear. "On the train!" she shouted. The group dashed forward, dodging White Fang agents, and managed to land on the back-most car before the train became too fast to keep up with.
Weiss turned to Yang, shouting so she could be heard over the passing air, "I thought you said the railway was sealed!"
"It is!" Yang insisted. "Have you ever seen a subway station in Vale?"
Before the argument could continue, the car they were standing atop shook and began to slow down. Ruby saw the rest of the train pulling away from them. "Move up!"
The group hopped to the next car and looked back, watching the detached carriage fall behind. "I guess they want us off this train," Yang noted.
Qrow shook his head. "Do they even know we're up here?"
The carriage that had been detached exploded, blasting a hole into the tunnel wall.
"I guess they really want us off this train," Yang reiterated.
A thought occurred to Blake. She opened a roof hatch on their current car, and saw an active bomb surrounded by crates of Dust. "This one is rigged as well!"
Qrow ran ahead to the next car, opening it to check. "Here, too!"
"But what does it mean?" Weiss asked, "what is their plan?"
The car they were now standing on detached as well. The group joined Qrow on the car further up and watched the carriage behind them fall back and explode.
Blake noticed Grimm crawling out of the fresh hole in the wall. "Qrow? Where in Vale was the station?"
"Close to the center," Qrow told them. "That event stage downtown used to be the stairway down."
Weiss saw where Blake was going. "This isn't a transport. It's a battering ram."
"They flood the tunnel with Grimm, then blow a hole leading into Vale," Yang picked up.
Ruby felt something she didn't feel often… anger. People being influenced by darkness was one thing. But this? Attacking a kingdom, killing citizens… this was just people doing bad things. Whether because they thought it was right, or simply because they could. All her training never prepared her for the depths of a heart's natural darknesses. "We're stopping this train," she announced with a hard edge to her voice.
"Ruby," Yang reached out, concerned.
The young wielder turned, and her eyes softened. She took a deep breath. "I'm okay, Yang."
"We should split up," Qrow suggested. "Half over the top, half through the cars. We reach the front and stop the train."
"I'm going with my sister," Yang immediately called. Her fingers fiddled with her munny-charm bracelet.
"And I'm staying with my partner," Weiss joined.
"I guess we're up top?" Blake asked Qrow.
"Good luck," Qrow offered the other three and took off ahead with Blake.
Ruby, Weiss and Yang dropped into the train car, weapons at the ready. They heard the clack of the train car behind them detaching, and Weiss noticed Ruby turn to watch it pull away and explode. The heiress turned back ahead, Yang joining her as they took a few steps forward. When the pair were only halfway across the carriage, something strange happened.
Weiss understood that wasn't saying a lot, considering all the weirdness that surrounded their secretive young leader. But a highly skilled if somewhat dodgy young girl wasn't all that much compared to someone literally appearing out of thin air. A physical shadow appeared like a hole in reality itself, fading away to leave behind a thin individual in a heavy black coat with a low hood that concealed all their features.
Weiss and Yang jumped into their fighting poses. "What now?" Weiss thought aloud, "let me guess, you work with Torchwick as well?"
The figure's head cocked as if they had no idea what Weiss was talking about.
Weiss's brow arched. "Of course you do," she reasoned, "why else would you be here?"
The figure continued to say nothing, only raised a finger to point between the heiress and the blonde.
The pair following the point's direction back to Ruby behind them, where Weiss saw something in the young leader she never thought she would. Something that shocked the heiress to the core to witness. Ruby was scared. Not just a little healthy fear, either. No, Ruby was eyes wide, pupils small, weapon shaking in her hands terrified.
Weiss's head snapped back to the cloaked figure. She intuitively stepped in front of her partner to stand between them and Ruby. She didn't know what Ruby saw that made the young leader literally quake in her boots, but just seeing Ruby's fear was enough for Weiss to take this situation very seriously. "And… what do you want with her?"
"She's too bright…" the figure finally spoke in a voice just as androgynous as the rest of them.
"Bright?" Yang questioned. Pieces were coming together in the blonde's mind, and she didn't like the direction her theory was leading.
"It's hurts, and I don't know how to deal with that…" the figure carried on. Their left arm crossed over their chest to grip their right bicep. "I thought that woman could take care of things for me, but she's taking too long… and now I have no choice…" Their right hand raised, palm facing Ruby. "I have to follow my darkness."
Darkness.
That was enough for Yang. She didn't know what she could do, but she wasn't going to let this thing hurt Ruby. "Yeah, well good luck getting anywhere near my sister!" The blonde rushed forward, cocking Ember Celica and throwing a heavy punch at the figure.
One moment Yang was sure to connect. The next she somehow missed and was thrown violently against the carriage wall to fall into an unconscious heap. Weiss didn't even see the figure move to deflect her.
"Yang!" Ruby was finally un-frozen by the sight of her sister tossed aside like a wet paper towel.
A vortex erupted inside the carriage. The winds seemed to emanate from the cloaked figure's hand. Weiss raised her arm to cover her face as her ponytail whipped around but was otherwise unaffected. Ruby tried her best to stand her ground, but her feet started to slide backward toward the open backdoor of the train car. The wielder could only stay stable for a short few seconds before she found herself lifted off the ground and thrown out of the train.
"Ruby!" Weiss called out for her partner. She dashed to the back door and could only see a black dot retreating into the distance. The heiress spun around to face their attacker, but they were already gone. The fading black circle was the only evidence of where they could have possibly gone.
Weiss didn't know what to do. Yang started to stir, prompting Weiss to make sure the blonde had no lasting damage. "Are you okay?" Weiss asked while she helped Yang sit up.
Yang's eyes snapped open. "Where's Ruby?"
"That person blew her off the train," Weiss answered. "Then they vanished."
Yang stood and dashed to the door. Weiss could tell she was readying herself to jump. "Yang, wait!"
"I have to help her!" Yang shouted back.
"That person tossed you aside like you were a thought," Weiss reminded her. "What can you do?"
"I don't know…" Yang admitted. Her fingers found her munny-charm.
"What we can do, is stop this train," Weiss told her. "Once we have, all of us can go save her. Trust me, I hate the thought of leaving her behind… but we are no match for that thing. And Ruby's not the only one in danger. The entire city of Vale is at risk."
Yang stood in the doorway, taking in Weiss's words. The heiress saw the blonde bring her hand up to her chest, in the same way Ruby did so often. Yang took a deep breath. "Then stop the train," she told Weiss. "Do what your heart tells you is right. My heart is telling me my sister needs me, so I'm going."
"Damn it, Yang!" Weiss cursed. The heiress brought her hand to her face, regaining control of herself. She looked back up to the blonde still standing in the doorway. Do what my heart tells me is right, huh? Weiss experimentally held her own hand to her chest. Strangely enough, she did find some resolve in that action.
"Yang," Weiss called out. The blonde turned to face her. "Good luck."
Yang's tension visibly relaxed at Weiss's acceptance of her plan. "You, too." Then she jumped.
Ruby could feel it the instant that dark being exited the Dark Corridor. Darkness like the young wielder never dreamed possible. Her own light pushed back feebly against the overwhelming tide of raw power coming from the coated figure. She had raised her weapon instinctively though she had no idea how she was supposed to follow up. She wasn't just unsure whether she could win this fight. She knew if it came to combat, she would lose.
When the dark wind blew her from the carriage, Ruby was somewhat surprised she wasn't already dead. She hit the rails hard, rolling along the tracks for a few feet before falling still. She managed to push herself to one knee in time to see a Dark Corridor appear in front of her, depositing the cloaked figure. "Who… are you…?" Ruby managed to ask.
"Darkness…" the figure seemed to answer. "And I have to follow my darkness."
"'Follow your darkness'?" Ruby questioned. Why word it like that?
The figure hunched forward. Dark aura began rising out of their back and shoulders. They burst forward, rushing toward the wielder with black energy coating their hand. Ruby panicked, jumping to her feet and swinging Crescent Rose desperately.
The wielder had no idea if she connected, but she did feel her enemy's attack tear through her like massive claws. The figure spun back around, placing both hands on Ruby's back and blasting the wielder across the tunnel. Ruby screamed as she felt the darkness punch right through her defenses.
Ruby barely managed to roll onto her feet as she landed. The young wielder gritted her teeth and tried to rein back her fear. I can't just let myself roll over and die, she told herself. Even if I lose… I'm going to go down fighting! Ruby roared again as a battle cry, raising her Keyblade and rushing her foe.
The figure moved like a fabric puppet with loose strings. Intentionally unbalancing themselves, spinning like a top, and alternating between dark blasts and dark claws. Ruby thought she even spotted a dark blade of some variety for a brief moment before being launched across the railway once again. It made them impossible to predict. Ruby took more hits that she dodged and was fairly certain that her own attacks weren't missing but were doing next to nothing regardless.
Each time she fell, it was harder and harder to stand again. As Ruby struggled onto her feet once again, she called out, "Why are you doing this!?"
The figure stopped, contemplating answering. "Because I have to follow my darkness."
"You keep saying that…" Ruby noted. "Why do you have to follow your darkness? Why not follow your heart?"
The figure tilted their head in confusion.
"Darkness can be hard to refuse…" Ruby continued, desperate for some resolution that she could survive, "but your heart doesn't agree, does it? Listen to your heart."
"I am… following my darkness…" the figure replied as though it struggled to get the words out.
"Not your darkness, your heart," Ruby asserted. "Just-"
"Shut up!" The figure suddenly screamed, their hands darting to their head. "You're saying one thing, then saying another! You're contradicting yourself, and I don't know how to deal with that!"
Ruby took a careful step forward, raising an unarmed hand out slowly. I just need to break through… maybe I can show them… "Just take a moment… and listen." Ruby placed her palm against their chest to suss out their heart.
What Ruby saw there was not what she expected to find.
"I see now…" the figure told her. "You didn't know, did you?" They placed their hand over Ruby's on their chest. The wielder felt herself be taken into her opponents Dive. But it was all wrong, corrupted. The images on the stained glass couldn't be made out under pools of darkness. And surrounding the tower was something monstrous, digging its claws into the Dive like a parasite. Massive yellow eyes opened somewhere in the darkness behind the cloaked figure.
"My heart is darkness."