Chapter Forty-Two: Between Breaths.
Yang slowly gazed around the silent infirmary room, it had been several hours since she entered the room and had been joined by several others. Not that had bothered her in fact she welcomed their company, even if they were call currently passed out. Her lilac gaze shifted towards the door and let a small chuckle at the sight of the cot that rested in front of it. Cuddled up on the low bed were Coco and Velvet both snoring lightly.
Once Coco had escorted Yang and Blake to the infirmary she had set off to search for the rabbit Faunus as the doctors took Blake into surgery and started to patch up the blonde. When she had returned dragging the brunette by the collar of jacket she barked out for a cot and then thrown Velvet on the bed ordering her that she was going to get some sleep even if it meant that she'd use her semblance on the rabbit. Velvet had tried to argue and struggle off the bed but her arms gave way and she flopped back down with a heavy sigh. Satisfied that her girlfriend wasn't going anywhere the older girl grabbed two pieces of paper and in big black bold letters she had written 'DO NOT DISTURB' on one and on the other she hung below it 'UNDER PAIN OF DEATH' she had signed it with her symbol. Needless to say no one had disturbed them.
Yang had shook her head at the older girl's antics but Coco just offered a smirk and a shrug before pulling the cot in front of the door, kicked off her shoes and climbed into the cot pulling the sheet over them. The blonde pitied anyone stupid enough to actually try and open the door should they ignore the warning.
As her eyes shifted to the other bed she had to repress a squeal at the cuteness in the other bed. Ruby and Weiss had arrived shortly after the three of them, the Heiress carrying the unconscious wolf in her arms bridal style. Both of them had been covered in blood but Yang couldn't find any signs of what would cause that amount of blood on either of them and when she tried to question Weiss the Heiress had fixed her an icy glare as they were set upon by doctors and nurses. Ruby had remained unconscious as they whipped the blood from their bodies but had whimpered and cried the moment she was taken from Weiss' arms.
It had been Weiss who was first deposited in the other bed hooked up to an Aura boost bag, her eyes vacant as she stared up at the ceiling. Yang was about to start to question her but when she took in the other girl's posture she stopped herself. Weiss' shoulders shagged down and her back wasn't her usual ramrod straight poise, there were dark bags under eyes that spoke to how tired she was.
But that had all changed when Ruby had been brought into the room in a rolling stretcher still whimpering and crying. At the sound of the wolf's cries the Heiress had broken from her stupor and glared at the nurse who had wheeled in the younger girl demanding that Ruby be placed in the same bed, stating that there was plenty of room and it was obvious that Ruby was distressed and she wasn't when she was with the Heiress. The nurse had tried to argue with her that that wasn't procedure but Weiss had berated the nurse so much until he obeyed her and placed the wolf in the same bed as the Heiress. The moment Ruby was in the same bed as the Heiress the wolf latched on to her and cuddled close burying her nose against Weiss' neck and calmed down instantly.
Weiss had made a few cooing noises as Ruby's trembling lessened and as soon as the wolf's tails shifted under the sheets the Heiress let a small smile cross her lips before closing her own eyes and drifted off, leaving Yang alone to sit and watch the silent room. It wasn't like she minded, actually she had grown to enjoy the silence it reminded her of her partner. As the thought of her partner crossed her mind Yang tighten her grip on the hand held in her own.
The nurses had wheeled Blake in shortly before Coco had sealed the room and left after hooking the panther up to a Aura boost drip. Blake was not in good condition; her Aura was critically low, she had lost a lot of blood and the slash had gone down to the bone in some places. In all the doctors said it was a miracle that Blake was still in one piece. What ever Adam had hit her with it was clear that it was extremely powerful and would have killed Yang if Blake hadn't taken the hit.
Yang ground her teeth as she replayed that moment over and over in her head. She had frozen in fear when she saw Blake's blood spray into the air, she didn't even really remember moving to catch the panther only acting out of instinct. It had been Coco's commanding voice that pulled the blonde from her own thoughts. Coco had taken control and moved quickly to save Blake while Yang could barely think. If it hadn't been for Coco Blake would be dead.
"I won't let that happen again." Yang ground out softly as she gripped the panther's hand slightly harder. "Next time I won't let you get hurt. Next time I'll protect you." Leaning over the blonde placed a gentle kiss onto Blake's forehead, "Next time I'll keep you safe."
Ozpin held is head in is hands as he listened to the arguing in the room. They had been lucky, there was no other way to put it. Luck had been the only thing that kept Beacon from falling. They had been lucky the attack had happened so early and not many civilians were on the campus, they had been lucky that enough students had their weapons handy when the first wave had hit the training area preventing lockers from being launched, they had been lucky that their students hadn't waited for orders from the teachers and organized themselves to help repel the attackers and protect the civilians. They had been lucky that the casualties were as low as they were.
In all twenty civilians and thirteen students were dead from the attack and plenty of injuries between the two groups. The first wave didn't hit any of the dorms so that had kept student casualties down but those in the training areas hadn't been as lucky. The first wave had also hit the landing area, which was where the majority of the civilian deaths came from. It had also prevented Beacon from launching it's own bullheads in order to combat the attackers. It had been the Vale army that had come to their rescue; they had just gotten their new fleet of bullheads ready a few days before.
On the attackers side the numbers where much higher, nearly eighty White Fang members were dead from the attack having either been killed when their bullhead went down or when they had run across a student defending a group of civilians. One such death was particularly nasty, the White Fang member had his head torn off. Though no one was saying who had done it in their reports everyone in the room currently knew who had done it.
"She's dangerous." James pointed out. "If she goes off like that around people then who know how many will be harmed."
"Ruby is not dangerous." Qrow roared back his hand drifting towards his weapon. "What happened was not her fault. She would never act like that without provocation or unless the threat called or it."
"She's a wolf Qrow. We all know how easily they can turn, and with the skills she has it would take a very powerful Hunter to bring her down if she looses it." James ground out.
"And if you touch her you'll have one of the strongest Huntsman after you and her extremely pissed off uncle too." Qrow challenged. "You saw the video of what happened, that Faunus had Ruby and Schnee on the ropes the entire time. He even resisted her Alpha nature, challenged her and but who she considers her mate in danger, of course she's going to get a bit more aggressive."
"Aggressive isn't the word I would use." Glynda muttered, Qrow wiped around and glared at her too causing her to hold up her hands, "What I mean Qrow is that wasn't usual aggression, that was the need to destroy what stood in her way."
"Qrow when we identified the body we found his record." James pressed, "He was a washout of Shade, the file shows he was thrown out because he liked to torture the Grimm he came across and he was suspected of actually killing his team leader in their third year though there was no evidence that could pin it on him. His semblance was a passive one that made him extremely durable when it was just resting and when active it made him nearly impossible to bring down. There was no way he wasn't using it at the end and Ruby still managed to tear his head from his shoulders."
"We don't know if he had an Aura left when that happened." Qrow argued, "If he didn't then he would be just as vulnerable as anyone else."
As the argument circled again Ozpin continued to ignore it. He was too deep in his own thoughts to really pay much attention to it anyways. Right now he felt his age, he felt all the years of his life pressing down him like a great weight. He played the video of the fight over and over again in his head, watching as friendly and kind wolf shifted into a creature that yearned for death and destruction. He watched as claws and fangs dug into flesh and sending blood into the air. But the thing that stood out the most to the old man was the single crimson eye.
Crimson the same color of blood. He had seen the shift in the color the moment the wolf had stood up and started to stumble over. He had watched as a single silver eye darkened and crimson lines began to crack across it like blood seeping from a wound. He watched as the crimson lines grew thicker and spread until the silver was gone and crimson was the only color.
It had been Glynda that had compared the crimson eye of the wolf to her sister's own eyes when her semblance activated but Ozpin could see the difference. When Yang activated her powers her eyes did in fact turn red true but the red of her eyes was more akin to the color of a roaring fire. There where lighter shades of reds, oranges and yellows in the brawlers eyes, had to detect yes but still there. Ruby's had been a solid pool of crimson, like a pool of blood gathering on the ground. And it had sent chills down the old man's spine.
He had seen the color of those eyes before countless times, every Huntsman and Huntress had. It haunted them in their nightmares, hunted them during the day and was lucking in every shadow. The crimson in Ruby's eye had been the same as the very thing that hunted humanity, the Grimm.
"Oz, you're being awfully quiet." Qrow pointed out, after he took a long draw from his flask trying not to pull his weapon on the General. "Anything to add?"
Slowly Ozpin raised his head and looked about the room, Glynda and James were both looking him with curiosity while Qrow just glared at him as if he was daring him to take Ironwoods side. With a sigh the old man leaned back into his chair, "What happened is curious," He allowed. "Ruby has never shown any signs of loosing herself before and the few incidents she has had have been because extreme circumstances. Like when she fought Miss Nikos or when they faced the Chimera. She's reacted a few times to when Miss Schnee is in danger but she has always come back to her senses. I've had someone keeping an eye on them since they arrived in the infirmary and she has been quite docile since Miss Schnee has been with her."
"That's because she's unconscious." James stuck in.
"She might be unconscious but she is still very much aware of her surroundings." Ozpin shook his head, "When they separated the pair to treat them Ruby became very distressed even in her state and didn't calm down until Miss Schnee forced them to place Ruby in the bed with her. It has been Miss Schnee that has always pulled Ruby back from this state of mind so I believe this bares more thought than just our initial reactions."
"So you don't believe she's going feral?" James asked raising an eyebrow.
"I do not." Ozpin nodded, "If she were she would have lashed out and either hurt or killed Miss Schnee but instead she calmed down and was brought back to her senses."
"Isn't Miss Schnee her mate?" Glynda asked with a confused frown, "Why would she have attacked her?"
"When a wolf goes feral they attack indiscriminately." Ozpin explained, "Including their mate. It is impossible for them to be around another living thing without them attacking it. If Ruby had gone feral then I dare say we would have had to make a very uncomfortable call to Augustus."
"Not like we could find him though." Qrow snorted. "Besides not like he'd care if his second choice was dead."
Ozpin ignored the jab at the man but turned his gaze to Ironwood, "Is there any word on his whereabouts?"
"Augustus has gone to ground and abandoned Atlas to its fate." Ironwood shook his head, a hint of rage in his voice. "When General Talon attacked the people and never gave them a chance to surrender General's Grunerbaum and Hissen finally made their choice and sided with the people of Mantle in hopes to restore the Kingdom to a peaceful state. Now it's an all out war between Atlas Armies on one side and the people and so called 'defectors' on the other. With the government declaring it a civil war they have prevented any other Kingdom coming to the aid of the people with out fear of retaliation should they lose. And most of the real power has left in order to save themselves but to where we don't know."
"And you're stuck here while Vale decided whether or not to bring you up on charges for the attack on the city." Qrow added somewhat unhelpfully. "But I'm curious as to what side you'd take."
"My sworn duty has been and always will be to the people of Mantle." Ironwood ground out as he glared at the Huntsman. "Should I be cleared of any charges the council tries to have leveled against me I will return to Mantle to protect the people."
"Well that's all well and good but the question remains; what do we do now?" Qrow looked to Ozpin.
Ozpin sighed and turned to look out his window at the rubble of his school, "For now we rebuild, we plan and we hope to weather the storm that's coming."
Taiyang dusted his hands off as he stood up from tightening the ropes that secured the Faunus hands behind their backs. Why they had attacked him was still a bit lost on him but then again he knew he missed things from time to time. Hell he had missed Summer being gay for nearly two months even when the both commented on a woman's figure or both stared at the same woman as she walked by, it had taken her straight up telling him for him to realize it. After that she had helped him up his game greatly.
But still this was a bit of a mystery. He had figured out they were White Fang members right away by their distinctive masks but that really didn't answer any of his questions. He didn't discriminate against the Faunus race, in fact he had dated a leopard Faunus for some time during his time at Beacon. Sure he wasn't a supporter of their cause but he had never struck out against them either so there was no real reason to target him. So just what had caused them to attack?
Tai thought as he tightened the ropes on another Faunus, could it had been because of Ruby? No, that wasn't likely. Ruby had never dealt with the White Fang or really had much of an opinion of them save for that they were thugs and just making Faunus rights harder to get in some places. Maybe Yang? No again not likely. Though of course Yang really didn't really tell him much anymore. Actually she'd hadn't called in a while about a month ago was the last conversation he had with her. Ruby called at least twice a month to just let him know she was still doing okay which was the only reason he knew Yang was okay.
"So just why did you think attacking the strongest Huntsman alive was a good idea?" Tai asked as he straightened out again. None of the Faunus answered though really only one was left conscious and he couldn't really talk since his jaw was broken. "Sounds like a good way to get killed if you ask me. But hey to each their own." After looking over the group he shook his head, "Well if you'll excuse me I have to call the sheriff so he can come and get you."
"Actually if you don't mind I would like to take them." A voice drifted out from the shadows that made Tai freeze. He knew that voice, except he knew it couldn't be her, she had left in the dead of night twenty years ago never to return. Slowly turning around Taiyang Xiao Long, strongest Huntsman in age, Dragon of Vale nearly collapsed from shock.
Raven Branwen stood by a large oak tree just barely out of the shadow. She looked just has she had when she had left, her black hair falling in waves around her face looking like feather, a figure that could slay a man just by walking by and would make models jealous was clad in her red and black armor, red eyes glared out from behind a white mask that was reminiscent of a Nevermore. "You look like you've seen a ghost Tai."
Tia felt his legs shake as he continued to stare at the woman whom he shared a daughter with, who had left them both, who had left their family. Shock gave way to heat as anger slowly started to burn in his chest. He could feel his muscles tense as he shook. He closed his eyes and drew in a long breath and as he let it out he knew his eyes had turned a burning red just like his daughter's did.
"You have a lot of nerve coming back here Raven." Tai ground out as he advanced on the woman who had disappeared for twenty years. "Do you know what we went through since you left?"
"Tia I-" Raven started.
"Of course you don't!" Tai yelled cutting her off and making Raven flinch back, "You left, you stopped caring about us, you abandoned your family when we needed you!" Sparks of heat emitted from the Huntsman as he advanced, "You left, you ran away, and never let us know you were okay or if you were coming back, we didn't know if you were alive or dead."
"I didn't-" Raven tried again.
"Didn't what?" Tai yelled over her again, "Didn't think that it would effect us like it did? Well it did, Summer was a wreck but kept us together despite wanting to break down, she raised your daughter, our daughter, as her own so that way Yang would have a family. Qrow couldn't understand why and was always blaming himself for not making sure he was here more, he spent five weeks just looking for you. And me? Well I would have understood if our friendship changed because of what we did, we betrayed one of our dearest friends but she came back, you could have raised Yang with her, you could have had a family! So why, why did you leave?"
"Because I was afraid!" Raven screamed, "I was terrified of the future, I was twenty six and had a daughter and it wasn't with the woman I loved but with a friend when we made a mistake. I was already having doubts about the future after we left Beacon and it caused me to drift from Summer and then suddenly we do what we did and I break Summer's heart, I couldn't do it! I felt like I was dying everyday I was pregnant with Yang, like the life was being drained from me because I had betrayed Summer and when she was born I couldn't stop hating myself that I couldn't even stand to look at my own daughter, my beautiful baby girl. I hated myself so much every time I looked at her or held her, I wanted nothing more than to love her as my daughter but I couldn't with so much hatred in my heart. So I did the only thing I could, I left so that way she might feel the love of a family."
Raven broke down as she whipped the mask off her face, "I ran so that way I wouldn't have to face Summer again and have her seen the hatred that I had for myself. She would have known and would have done everything in her power to try and fix it, but it would have never worked I would have been reminded that I betrayed the only woman. I did the only thing I could do to save Yang from my own hate."
Taiyang stood there in shock as the woman he had never seen show much emotion before break down and cry hanging her head in shame and pain. He had always asked why she had run, why she had left them but had never thought of it like that before. He had seen something was off with Raven when she had become pregnant, that something had changed within the woman but had never known what it was. It had only gotten worse when Yang had been born and then she had ran. And now it made since. She had not ran away from them but from herself. She had run away from herself, from the hatred she felt for herself, from the shame she had from not being able to love her own daughter.
"I know I can never ask for forgiveness and I won't ask for it," Raven continued as she got herself under control, "But right now we don't have time for this, if you what to yell and scream at me so more, fine we can do that later but right now we are running out of time, Beacon was just attacked and these pieces of trash could have the answers to the questions I have and you have a choice to make; you can either come with me or go to Beacon and help them. But no more hiding Tai, no more staying here in the woods. So what will it be?"
Tai paused before he looked at the woman before him, "And what about you? Are you going to go and run off again once this is over or are you going to stay and try and make things right?"
Raven closed her eyes and silence settled around them, "I don't know if we can ever be a family, I've made so many bad decisions and made things worse with each choice." Slowly Raven opened her eyes, "But I'm willing to try and make things right."
In that moment Tai felt something he hadn't felt in many years, the small spark of hope in his chest. With a small smirk Tai looked at the woman who had left and had come back, "Then where do we start?"
Perry hated his job. Actually hated his job wasn't really the right choice of words, more like he hated his bosses. Roman was an ass to the extreme an only treated him like an errand boy when he needed a message sent or something fetched and Adam, well Adam was just as likely to kill him as he was to look at him. But as demeaning as it was to either act like a messenger pigeon for one and walking on eggshells around the other Perry still believed in the cause of the White Fang.
He had tried to be a Huntsman but his Aura levels were too low to meet the minimum standards for training so he had gone into IT instead becoming very good at working with computers and scrolls. The problem was that he was a Faunus and not many companies were willing to hire him. So he had joined the White Fang a few years ago thinking he would make a difference but in reality he was just a lowly lackey doing as he was told. And that was why he had been in a corner of Beacon with other civilians while his breather attacked the campus.
He had been sent in ahead of the attack in order to infiltrate the computer system and find any useful data while the White Fang cause chaos outside. Once he had gotten to a secure terminal he had quickly made is way through the firewalls and security protocols and into the files. At first he had been very disappointed.
All the files were just data on students, grades, injury reports and the like but nothing really juicy. He had found a few that seemed promising, Beacons supplier routes, maybe they could hijack a few of those, a report on a strange Grimm that two teams had run across during a mission. And then he found something that might be his saving grace, a single file with a name he recognized; Leviathan.
He knew Adam had been looking for this project and was just about at his wits end when it came to what it was and if he could decrypt it then maybe just maybe he would finally get some credit for his work in the White Fang. And maybe he just might live to see tomorrow.
A/N: Sorry, for the delay but life got in the way again and I just could not find the motivation for this chapter. So this last arc may take a while for me to get through cause I want to make sure that I hit everything and wrap it up correctly so if there's a delays please bear with me and we'll get through this together. Since this was just a filler/setup chapter there's not much but hey we're now in the final arc and it's thrusters on full from here on.
With that: Many thanks for staying and for your support, please leave comment on how you think I'm doing, and may your day's ahead be filled with laughter.