Author's Notes: Turns out the author of the original story has noticed our fair fanfic. Glad he's enjoying it, and all the more reason to go check out his story on AO3.
*White text, with black veins crawling over it, appears over a ruined skyline.
TO UNDO THE THINGS I'VE DONE*
"Another part of the sentence," Ironwood commented, "And the title card…it's…"
"Almost like it's being corrupted." Pietro finished.
"Much like Ruby." Jaune added.
"But the words themselves," Ilia said, "It's almost like, the one saying them is…"
"Yang," Blake said solemnly, "But, depending on how this story ends, it could also still be Ruby."
Meanwhile, the Rose/Xiao Long siblings were still trying to wrap their heads around the possibility that, not only does Salem have more of these…hybrids, but that their own mom might be one of them.
*The texts burst into black and red petals.
Team YIBW descend into Mountain Glenn's subway system in silence, speaking only when necessary, knowing full well their enemies could be around any corner.
The air is thick with dust and soot, which mixes with the stench of death to make every breath difficult; not the acrid perfume of new death, of blood spilled and corpses rotting, but of old death, of bones long-since picked clean, of sweat and blood and bowels staining the floor, never to be washed away by rain, trapped in this repugnant catacomb.
Blake and Ilia in particular have worn tight grimaces since the moment they stepped foot in the tunnels. Despite everything, Yang can at least take solace in the fact that she lacks their enhanced faunus senses.*
Nora flinched, "Yeah, yikes. As bad as me and Ren had seen things in our childhood, I can't even imagine how bad it would've been if I had your super senses, Blake."
Blake's cat ears lowered, while the dullest green was on Ilia's freckles.
*Thankfully, they find some relief once they reach the main cavern, high-ceilinged and wide enough to contain several collapsed buildings around the train tracks in the center with plenty of room to spare.
They also find Torchwick. Or his voice, at least; Blake pulls them into some ruins before Yang can catch sight of him. She and the rest of her team all lean against different spots on the wall, Blake's being right beside what used to be a window.*
"You should be extra careful, Weiss," Winter exclaimed, a hint of authority in her voice, "If you are close enough to hear Torchwick, then you're likely close enough for the Hou-Ruby to smell you."
"You don't need to be gentle about it, Miss Schnee," Ruby replied, "It's…not really me, so calling me what the bad guys do isn't so wrong."
*Yang can't make out a word he says, despite how hard she concentrates. Once his voice fades away, they all turn to Blake. Even Ilia, she notes.
"I couldn't understand all of what he was saying," Blake says, not whispering, exactly, but keeping her voice low. "But he mentioned explosives. I think he's loading them onto a train?"
Yang frowns. "A train? That doesn't make any sense, the tracks here don't lead anywhere. They just run below the city, you couldn't use them to transport anything."
"They don't just run below Glenn," Ilia says, pointing to a sign near the train tracks, chipped and just beginning to rust. If she squints, Yang thinks she can see the word 'Vale' prominently displayed. "A train ran from here to Vale, didn't it?"
"Yeah, but it's sealed up," Yang says. "Once Mountain Glenn was overrun, Vale sealed everything off to protect the main city. It's a dead end."
Blake stills. "They sealed it off. But with what?"
Yang shrugs. "I don't know, concrete? I was just a kid when it happened, I wasn't paying much attention."
Blake flicks an ear, but that's all. "Whatever they used, it's meant to keep Grimm out, so it has to be pretty strong: but how strong? Strong enough that it will stay standing if a train crashes into it at full speed? If that train's packed to the brim with explosives?"
Ah. Yang isn't exactly a physicist, but just picturing it in her head, even the strongest of Grimm wouldn't be capable of exerting as much force as a speeding train, much less one primed to blow.
"Then there would be a hole in the middle of the city's defences," Yang says, "and all the Grimm here would have an open path to a bunch of terrified civilians."
"It might not be that bad," Weiss interjects, voice unnaturally cheery. "Maybe the council went above and beyond when funding the city's infrastructure, out of care for the lives of citizens years after their terms were up?"
They all stare at her. Ilia snorts.*
Everyone in the room turned to Weiss, who merely blushed.
"Weiss, did you forget who our father-" Winter started.
"Okay, I get it!"
That got several people chuckling.
*"Weiss," Yang begins, but Weiss barrels on.
"What? I'm just trying to inject some levity into the situation."
Yang rolls her eyes. "Still, that means there's two things we have to deal with, this and the Hound."
"So what's the plan?" Ilia asks.
Yang takes a moment to think before saying, "We try to get the drop on Torchwick. We take him out, he can't give the Hound any orders and his sidekick's not as tough on her own. That sound good?"*
"The first step is good," Ironwood stated, "But the rest…"
"Completely asinine," Qrow finished, "That Hound still sees you as intruders, so it's still going to attack you, and, like the girls said, Neopolitan kicked your butt. Together you could beat her, but with the Hound…yeano."
"Thanks for the motivational support, Uncle. It's not like I'm trying to save my baby sister." Yang growled through clenched teeth.
*Everyone nods, though Blake's attention is focused elsewhere.
"And what about—" Whatever Weiss was about to say gets cut off when Blake turns around and shushes her, finger pressed tightly against her lip.
This time, Torchwick ambles close enough that Yang can just barely tell what he's saying. "She's going to be pissed, yeah, but we can't risk those kids finding us and fucking everything up."
The response he gets is a grunt so low that it jumbles her insides.
Yang can feel her blood chill, at the realization of who (or rather, what ) he's talking to, but also because it knows her scent and she can't afford to be found out, not now. She hopes, nearly prays, that the stench of death pervading the tunnels overwhelms her own.
She can almost hear the Hound, if she strains her ears; so she does.*
Nora gives a nervous chuckle, "Hehe, roll credits."
*"Understand," it says. "Orders?"
"Patrol the entrances," Torchwick says. "Stay in the tunnels. Don't let anyone see you. Kill intruders, if you can, retreat and warn us if you can't."
From the corner of her eye, she sees Blake gesturing to her weapon, inclining her head towards the voices. Asking if they should attack? Yang shakes her head. Not now. They're not close enough.
Torchwick's voice grows further and further away and Yang lets the air slip from her lungs, tension leaking out of her shoulders. "Let's get inside the train while he's distracted," she says, "ambush him in there."
She moves to do just that, sneak across the gap between their cover and the train, but a hand on her shoulder stops her.
"Before we do that," Weiss says, "I have a question. What exactly is our plan for dealing with the Hound?"
"Just leave it to me," Yang shrugs her off. "I'll handle it."
Ilia scoffs. "Really? Cause, no offense, but the last time you tried that we had to save your ass."
"That won't happen again," Yang says more confidently than she feels. "I wasn't ready, then. I didn't know what I was dealing with, didn't know who I was dealing with. I'm not going to just shut down, this time. I can handle it."*
Weiss's eye twitched. "Yang, if you even think about trying to talk to it, in an attempt to get Ruby's mind to come out, I'm going to punch you."
"Well, what do you expect me to do?!"
"Not that!" Ilia exclaimed, shocking herself at how concerned her words were.
*"That's all well and good," Weiss says, "but please tell me your plan is somewhat more extensive than merely fighting it."
Yang cocks her head. "What do you mean?"
"I mean..." Weiss sighs. "I mean, let's say you're able to beat it in a fight. Then what? If that thing is your little sister, and you want to save her— how?"
Yang can feel the blood rushing through her veins, but she isn't sure if it's frozen or burning. "What do you mean, how?"
"I mean how exactly are you going to save her? I hope as much as you do that you can just punch the Hound until it spits your sister out alive and well, but I don't see that being the case. So please, tell me you have an idea."
Yang struggles to answer. "We can— we can tie it up and bring it back to Beacon! The professors are smart, they've seen just about everything. They'll be able to do something, right?"
Yang affixes a desperate smile to her face.
Weiss doesn't match it."That's it?"
Yang's smile, already delicate, fractures. "Yes, that's it."*
"Yang-"
"I know, Jaune, it's a dumb plan, but I've got nothing else to think about."
*"Because, even if we can restrain something that strong, something that, let me remind you, can grow limbs, and even if we can fly it back to Beacon, and even if the faculty believe that this apparently sentient and clearly highly dangerous Grimm is actually your little sister; all that leaves us with is the hope that they know something we don't. Even if everything goes right for us, the closest thing we have to a plan is praying someone else can solve the problem for us."
Yang can feel shame welling inside her, disgust with her own stupidity; but also anger, frustration at Weiss. "Yeah, that's all I have. A hope and a fucking prayer. You got anything better?"*
"Uh oh." Qrow said.
"What?" Ruby asked, "Did you see something?"
"No…Yang, don't attack the Schnee."
Yang turned to him in shock. "Why would I attack Weiss? Sure, I may not like that she's pestering me-"
"I'm just making sure you have an actual, concrete plan!"
"-But I don't see that being a reason to attack her."
*A desperate part of her hopes Weiss will say she does, but the pissed off, vindictive part of her is happy when Weiss shakes her head. "Well, no, not really," she says, "If I had a way to save your sister I would have suggested it already. I just think that, in lieu of any concrete plans to save her, it would behoove us to consider drastic actions that, well,—"
"Just get it out, Weiss."
Weiss takes a deep breath. She looks Yang square in the eyes as she says, "I think you may have to kill it."*
Yang's eye began to twitch as they turned red, as everyone else wilted. Weiss herself wanted nothing more than to hide behind the couch she, Blake, and Ilia shared, but feared any movement would spark the dragon.
"Hooo boy." Nora wheezed out.
*It takes everything Yang has not to erupt then and there. Only the knowledge that Weiss wouldn't say something like that unless she had thought it over (and that Torchwick and Neo are somewhere in the caves with them) prevents Yang from yelling at the top of her lungs.
Instead she hisses "What did you say?" with enough venom to kill a small Grimm.*
"Ruby, I'm not killing you!"
"Yang, you might not have a choice. I don't want to die, but-"
"But nothing!"
*Weiss, to her credit, holds Yang's gaze without backing down. "If there is no clear path to saving your sister— and, barring a miracle, there is none to speak of— then we should at least consider other ways to help her."
"Like killing her."*
"I don't care what Weiss says, even if it kills me, I'm going to do everything I can to save you!"
"Yang, believe me," Qrow interjected, "If it was Tai, or Summer-" Qrow's brain froze in thought.
*"As opposed to letting her return to whoever did this to her? Whoever made her a Grimm? Yes, Yang, if those are the options, I think it would be best to put her out of her misery. It would be a mercy."*
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."
"A little late to that discussion, Uncle." Ruby deadpanned.
"What?" Penny asked.
"We," Yang began, "We think that our mom, Summer, is likely one of these hybrids."
*Yang shakes her head frantically, like if she tries hard enough she can stop Weiss's word's from reaching her. "No! I can't! How can I look Dad in the eyes, how could I look at myself in the mirror if I let Ruby die again? How can I tell Dad, tell Uncle Qrow that Ruby was alive this entire time and all I could do was kill her?"*
"Well…shit." Jaune said.
*Weiss counters, "How could you tell them she'd turned into a monster, and you let her go back to whoever did this to her?"*
"Guys," Ren stated, "We should probably focus on the movie, before we miss something important."
*Again, Yang shakes her head. "She's not going back to whoever did this to her! I'm going to save her! I have to save her!"
"I understand, but we don't have a plan, don't even have an idea how to—"
"I have to!"
Yang had meant it as a scream, a roar; instead it comes out as a wail, wheezing, like she's begging. In a way, she is.
"You don't understand," she continues. "This happened to her because of me, it's my fault they did this to her. If I can save her, get her back to normal, maybe I can make it up to her. Get her out of the hole I dug. But if I can't? If she goes back to whoever did this to her and I never see her again, or if I kill her? I'm not sure how I could live with myself. I don't think I could."*
Yang felt Ruby wrap her arms around her own arm.
"Yang, you know that I probably don't blame you, right?"
"...I…I know, Rubes. But Screen Me doesn't know that. Hell, I definitely know that I'd be blaming myself, at the very least."
*Weiss doesn't say anything. Blake puts a hand on Yang's shoulder.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you, Weiss," Yang croaks out. "You're right. Killing her would be a mercy, better than letting her go back. But neither is an option. Either we save Ruby, and everything's great, or we don't, and nothing matters. I can't let that happen. I just can't."
"It's okay," Weiss says. "Given the subject, I expected it. I would be surprised if you hadn't."
Yang smiles, just a little bit, and turns to look at Blake. She isn't sure what she's looking for, but she finds support and comfort in Blake's golden eyes and gentle smile.
A flash of colour reminds her that, if Blake's looking at them, she isn't keeping watch over the rest of the cave, making sure Torchwick or Neo or the Hound aren't anywhere nearby.*
"Oh no/Uh oh/Oh crap/Shit." Ren, Oscar, Jaune, and Qrow said at the same time.
*Neapolitan, silent as a corpse, is standing not a foot behind Blake, parasol discarded in favour of a wickedly sharp blade, tip reaching through the empty window for Blake's neck.
Neo thrusts.
"Aura!" Yang screams. Not the quiet, whispery scream she's tried to limit herself to earlier, but a throaty scream that echoes across the entire cave system. For a moment that feels like an eternity, Yang thinks she wasn't quick enough, as Neo's blade draws closer and closer to Blake's bare skin.
But a purple sheen covers Blake's skin just before the blade sinks into her neck, and while it knocks her to the ground it does not penetrate flesh.*
"Okay," Ilia exclaims in fright, "Do you guys have a plan B?"
"Look who you're asking, Amitola," Yang chuckled, though it was more of an act, "We're team RWBY, and we ca-"
"You're not team RWBY."
Ilia's words stopped Yang's in her tracks. She gave an icy look that would've made Weiss or Winter proud.
"Well played."
*Yang wants to breathe a sigh of relief; instead, she springs to her feet and lunges at Neopolitan. Her fist smashes into her, through her, and the image shatters into shards of glass.
"They found us!" Yang says. "We have to move. Blake, are you okay?"
"I'm good," Blake says, voice raspy as she rubs her neck.*
"Considering how close you were to dying," Pietro commented, "I'm impressed by your controlled expression."
"I wouldn't exactly call it 'controlled', Doctor."
*Yang leaps through the window, and can see Neo running towards the driver's cab of the train. She looks around, in case it's another illusion and Neo's preparing to ambush them again, and it's only thanks to a faint whistling sound that she gets her aura up in time to protect her from the explosive flare that detonates at her feet, throwing her back against the old building.
"Bullseye!" Torchwick says from somewhere behind the train. "Neo! I'd say it's about time we blow this scene!"*
"Man," Ruby pouts, "He really is a fan of that move!"
"It's a strategic one," Winter replies, "He isn't an upfront fighter, but he knows that direct attacks aren't likely to do anything, especially if he was familiar with Xiao Long."
"Considering he punched me through a freeway pillar, I think he knows how tough I am."
*Yang shakes the dizziness out of her head as she rises to her feet, a process made much easier when Blake gives her a hand up.
Standing between them and the train is the Hound. Yang is shocked, for a moment; it's supposed to be out patrolling the tunnels, not here.
Except she only knows it's supposed to be elsewhere because she overheard Torchwick saying so only a minute before he ambushed them. Whether he was purposefully leading them on or called it back once he found them, it doesn't matter. She should have expected this.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
The Hound tenses as the train starts to move, just barely, and so do Yang and her teammates. Yang cocks her gauntlets, Blake grips her blade, and the Hound…
Turns around and walks away.*
"What?!" Several people cry out.
"What's it doing?" Oscar exclaimed.
"Maybe it has orders to leave once the mission is complete." Jaune guessed.
Yang tensed up in fear. If it gets away, then Ruby will likely go back to Salem, and Brothers knows where she has her base. She'd lose her sister forever.
*Yang can do nothing but stare dumbly at its retreating form. So she does. And so do her teammates. Torchwick, it seems, does not have this problem. "What the hell are you doing?" He shouts from the front of the train. "Your job is to protect us!"
"Orders are; oversee mission, and; ensure train is prepared and sent to Vale, and; return to safehouse," it says, voice echoing through the cavern. "Mission is overseen. Train is prepared and moving. Returning to safehouse."
The Hound is leaving. It's going back to whoever made it a monster, Torchwick is leading an attack into Vale, and Yang can only go after one. Either she chases the Hound, and lets Torchwick get countless innocent people killed, or she boards the train, where she can watch her worst nightmare unfold as the Hound returns to its master.
Where she might never see it again.
Ruby would want her to go after Torchwick. To save the people who can't save themselves. Ruby, who had always wanted to be a hero, always put others above herself, wouldn't think twice about it.
Yang is not her little sister.*
Ruby opens her mouth, only for Yang to cut her off.
"Ruby, I'm not leaving you."
"I wasn't going to say you should. Just…I forgive you for choosing me."
Yang flinched, lowering her head. Ruby should feel ashamed that Yang would let people die just to save her sister, but she also knows Ruby is too damn kind. Guess that must've been why she bonded so quickly with Penny, despite the short interactions they had at Beacon, and the brief reunion here in whatever this place was.
*She's opening her mouth to speak when Torchwick, stupid, beautiful coward that he is, says, "Don't you dare run away, Houndy! If you leave now, the kids will mess everything up! The mission will fail because of you! Get over here and keep them busy!"*
"Is Roman seriously about to-"
*And it does.
The Hound grumbles as it jumps onto the train, metal creaking under its weight, but it does.*
Weiss's jaw dropped as the film answered her question. Roman just miraculously saved the mission, and he'd never realize it. Nora cackled.
"Man, that guy made the situation much easier, didn't he?!"
"I wouldn't say easier, Miss Valkyrie." Ironwood countered.
"Yeah," Jaune added, "Now they've got to deal with everything you guys dealt with before and Hound Ruby. OH, and you don't have Oobleck to help!"
*Yang can't keep herself from smiling as she turns to Ilia, Blake, and Weiss and says, "You heard the man! Let's go mess everything up!"
The next few minutes are a blur, a whir of things she can't quite find it in herself to care about as much as she should. They board the train, the car they're on is rigged to blow, Torchwick disconnects it before they can. Then every car is rigged to blow and every explosion creates new openings and attracts more Grimm.
Eventually, they encounter resistance. Yang hops over a hatch leading to the car below, just as she's done the past dozen times, except this time a clawed paw barrels through the hatch like it isn't even there, producing a horrible noise as it scrapes against her aura.*
"That was too close, Friend Yang." Penny exclaims.
*She lands on her side, and watches as the Hound claws its way out through the hatch. It barely fits.
"Guess it's time," Blake says beside her, weapon drawn. "You ready, Yang?"
The Hound stares at them. Or rather, it stares at her.
They're standing between it and the car where Torchwick and Neo are driving the train, Yang realizes.
"You guys go on ahead," Yang says. "You need to stop this train before it hits Vale. I'll deal with the Hound myself."
Her team shoots her a look of concern. "You're sure?" Blake says.
Yang nods, but doesn't take her eyes off the Hound. "I can handle this. I'm ready."
Blake pauses for a few moments before pressing a kiss to her cheek. "Stay safe, okay? I trust you... but I don't like this."
"I'll be fine," Yang says. She risks a peek at Blake. She's frowning, so Yang continues, "I swear! Besides, I've spent my whole life training for this."
She hears one sigh, unmistakably Weiss, and is pretty sure Blake and Ilia roll their eyes with differing levels of affection. They leave, headed towards Torchwick and Neo in the front of the train, and Yang lets the whole of her attention fall to the Hound.*
"Okay, guys," Ruby says, "Be honest…what are your chances against them?"
"Based on reports, Neo works with misdirection," Winter Schnee answered, "Yang Xiao Long would be the worst type of fighter to go against Neopolitan. I cannot speak for Miss Amitola, but Blake and Weiss are more adaptable to Neo's fighting style."
"And I already beat Roman on my own, so the only real issue would be whether or not Weiss or Ilia could take on Neo alone."
"I doubt we'll see their fights," Ren commented, "Because the story seems to be focused on Yang. All we can hope for is that they don't get more hurt than in our own timeline."
*She takes a deep breath. In through the nose, hold, out through the mouth. Stay focused. Stay calm. She's got this.
The Hound prowls forward, body carefully loose, and then in a burst of speed it's right in front of her, claw aimed at her leg.
That was Ruby's favourite opening.*
"Okay," Qrow states, leaning forward, "You've got an advantage here. If the Hound fights like Ruby, then it's going to stumble because the body isn't right for it. And you know Ruby's style like the back of your hand."
"Then again," Maria countered, "If it has Ruby's memories, it might try to psych you out."
"How would it do that?!" Ruby exclaimed, "Wait, no, don't answer that. I'd rather not know."
*Yang knows it like the back of her hand.
She leaps forward, rather than up, and instead of crashing into her midair the second paw goes behind her. She grabs the Hound's arm as it thumps against her side, holds onto it for leverage as she smashes her fist into the Hound's face, impact augmented by a blast from Ember Celica.
It retreats for just a moment before it rushes her again, claw scything diagonally across her chest and she ducks down and to the side, letting it pass by her, rolling to avoid the followup blow, and then the Hound is too overextended to avoid her fist hammering into its chest.
It takes a few steps back and Yang follows, keeping it on the back foot. The Hound blocks a jab but leaves itself open to a hook, falls for a feint and takes a roundhouse kick to the jaw, moves to bite her head off and eats a stiff uppercut.
It rises up on two feet, brings its arms up and slams them down into her guard. She can feel the steel beneath her feet bend from the impact. The Hound roars and raises its hands to try again, but she grabs its wrists, kicks at its knee, steps forward to leverage it against her hip and, with a flex of her muscles, sends it flying up, over her, and then crashing back down onto the train.*
Normally, they'd be cheering Yang on. However, the fact that it was Ruby that Yang was attacking, even if it was while being…possessed, for lack of a better term, made any attempts feel hollow.
*"You fight like Ruby," Yang says as it scrambles back. "Thing is, you're not fast enough to fight like Ruby. You're as strong as me, sure, stronger even, but I trained my entire life to take advantage of that and I know for a fact you haven't."
"Quiet," the Hound hisses. "Wrong. Kill you. Was going to kill you. Earlier. Why different?"
"Because I wasn't ready. I didn't know what I was getting into, but now? I know what you are. I'm going to save you, Ruby."
The Hound turns its head, considering her. "Ready? No. Hurt you. With claws? No. With fangs? No. With words; yes, spoke and you did not fight me. Do again. Kill you. Complete mission. Must complete mission."
Yang doesn't let herself grimace. Can't show weakness, not to it. "There's nothing you can say to hurt me."
The Hound laughs, laughs, and it sounds like boulders shattering their way down a mountainside. "No hurt you? Stupid. Of course can hurt you. Of course! Remember now. Easy."*
"Sis, get ready."
"You know it."
*Yang steps forward, intent on shutting it up before it can get going, but the Hound opens its mouth and Ruby's voice comes out, high-pitched and nasally and terrified, rough like she's been crying and wet like she still is, wailing, "Dad? Yang? …Mom? Please, anyone! Help me, please, please, I don't want to die!"
Yang stops in her tracks.*
Everyone turned pale at Screen Ruby's voice.
"Oh, of all the dir-that bitch!" Nora
Penny herself was beyond horrified. She had never heard Ruby's voice so…broken. What scared her the most was…those were nearly her thoughts as she felt her own weapons cables wrap around her body nearly two years ago.
Qrow and Yang were clenching their teeth so hard, they would be at risk of damaging them if they didn't have Aura. They could only imagine what Cinder, and then Salem, did to her, what horrors they inflicted upon her before turning her into the Hound.
Ruby herself was gripping her sister. She could never have predicted that the Hound could mimic her voice. More than that, mimic the exact tone she was using. Did…did that mean her body was somehow still in there? That there was more than just her silver eyes remaining?
*Her fist is clenched tight. Blood trickles down her palm.
"What is this," she hisses. Her eyes are flaming red, her gaze is hatred, but the Hound meets it, silver eyes undaunted.
"Last words," it says. "As person. Before She made me Hound. Yang like?"
Yang hands are trembling. With rage, she wants to think. With determination to strike down this monster and save her little sister.
She knows it's a lie.
Yang knows it's just saying that to get her off her game, but— Gods, that's Ruby. It's her voice. She hasn't heard that voice for a year, but she'd know it anywhere. Yang lets her head drop.
She'd sounded so afraid.
How long had Ruby spent, waiting for help that would never arrive? Had she accepted, at the very end, that they were never going to rescue her? Or had she clung to hope until it was too late?
"I'm sorry," Yang says, voice carefully flat. "I'm sorry for not keeping you safe, for abandoning you, for everything. I know I've been a horrible sister to you, Ruby, but I'm going to save you now. I promise."
"Save me?" The Hound lunges, and Yang's not quick enough to dodge. It slams her bodily into the train, wraps its paws around her leg with enough strength that her bones would be dust if not for her aura, then swings her over its head. She slams back down with a colossal thud. "How?"
That's the question, isn't it? She knows she has to save Ruby, will do it no matter the cost, but how?
"I don't know," she admits. "I don't know how to save you. But I'll find a way. I promise."
"Stupid!" The Hound roars as its paw hammers into her chest, driving the air out of her lungs, only her aura sparing her ribs. While Yang gasps, it says, "Promised Yang would protect me! Promised Yang would keep me safe! Lied! Liar! Hate you!"*
Ruby tightened her grip on Yang's arm. The message was clear.
That's not me talking. I don't hate you, I could never hate you.
Yang wrapped her sister in a hug. The response was just as clear.
But I still failed to protect you. Even if it wouldn't have mattered, I still wasn't there.
*"That's okay," Yang says, voice barely a whisper. "You should. I'm the worst sister in Remnant. Everything that happened to you is my fault, and I'll never forgive myself for getting you killed, for letting them do this to you. You can hate me until the day you die and I'll be happy, so long as you're you again."
She fires her gauntlets to propel her away from the Hound, then again to rush into it. "But I don't care if I have to rip you out of this thing, I'm going to save you!" There's a flurry of blows, jabs and hooks and swipes and feints and kicks and in between them she says, "I swear on Mom's grave! I swear on your grave! I don't care how, I'm going to save you if it's the last thing I do!"
She focuses on fighting, after that, on staying two steps ahead of the thing that used to be Ruby, that still is her somewhere deep down, focusing on the shifting muscles and the way its oily flesh tenses before an attack instead of her aching lungs and throbbing leg and pounding skull, much less the thoughts worming their way around her brain; that her aura's getting low, and her team has been fighting Torchwick and Neo for a real long time now, and the train's still no closer to stopping, and they'll have to run out of track sooner or later.*
"It's both fascinating," Maria commented, "And terrifying how easily you can lose time in a fight-for-your-life battle."
*And then, out of the corner of her eyes, she sees Blake pop out of the next car's hatch. "Took you long enough," Yang says, "Everyone holding up—"
"We can't stop it!" Blake screams, and Yang's blood runs cold. "We're going to crash! Grab onto something!"
Distantly, she can see the end of the tunnel, growing closer at breakneck speed, Blake's holding a hand out and she dashes as quick as she can but she's not fast enough and then—
And then everything goes white, and the world is pain.*
"Well," Qrow muttered, "Here comes the Breach."
"One way or another," Ilia added, "This story will come to an end. Either you'll get your sister back…or you'll be able to bury her body."
Yang's eyes turned red as Blake exclaimed.
"Ilia!"
"Look, I'll take your girlfriend's anger-"
Blake sputtered, "She's not my girlfriend-"
"-But, if Yang can't save her, and is unwilling to kill her…then…I'm sorry."
Yang merely turned to the screen, her shoulders slumped and head down. She couldn't hate Ilia for saying that. It was clear her Screen counterpart wasn't going to listen to anyone about putting down her own sister, so, if it came down to it, her own teammates might be forced to do it. Especially since dozens of huntsmen, not to mention hundreds of soldiers, are about to get involved, so Ruby getting killed in the crossfire isn't off the table. In fact it just became the current winning hand.
Everyone turned to the screen, bracing themselves for what could likely be the finale.
Author's Notes: As always, leave a review, fav/follow, and I'll see you all next time.