*Black text appears over a city skyline.
AND WASH THESE BLOODSTAINS FROM MY HANDS*
"If the texts are anything to go by," Winter states, "Then the progression could indicate total corruption." She left the implication for Ruby silent.
*The first thing Yang hears is screaming. The first thing she sees is rubble. The first thing she smells is smoke. The first thing she feels is pain, overwhelming and consuming all else.
The sun rises on a city in chaos.
A hand on her shoulder shakes her back and forth. Dimly, she's aware that someone's saying her name.
"Yang!" Blake says. She looks concerned, to say the least. "Yang, are you okay?"*
"No, you aren't," Ruby says solemnly, "But you're going to say you are."
"You know me too well, Rubes." Yang gave a sad chuckle.
*On reflex, Yang nods and says, "I'm fine." She tries to stand up, but stumbles into Blake and nearly drags her to the ground. Her aura's not shattered, not yet, but it's faint enough that contact with the ground makes Yang hiss. "Okay, maybe not fine, but I'll live."
A few feet away, Weiss and Ilia are collecting themselves, looking just a bit better off than Yang and Blake. They stare at the scene in front of them in horror, watching as Grimm begin to rampage through the city. "We need to help," Weiss says. "We need to do something."
Yang's about to agree, before a stray thought hits her. "What happened to Torchwick and Neo?" she asks. Wordlessly, Blake gestures to an area behind them where the two criminals, knocked out cold, are trapped under a pile of rubble, thin enough that Yang isn't worried about them being crushed but definitely enough to hold them.*
"Huh…"
"Qrow?"
"I just realized something, Jimmy. Raven didn't save Yang."
Yang turned to him, "And…that's a good thing?"
"Maybe."
*Yang breathes a sigh of relief. At least they won't have to worry about that duo any time soon.*
Qrow continued, "Neo was the one who busted Torchwick out, and got your fleet decimated back at the Vytal Festival. If she's also imprisoned-"
"Then that's one less thing to worry about for this timeline."
"Nailed it, James."
*Except, wait, that shouldn't be her main concern. Where is the—
From the twisted metal of the train's remains behind Blake rises the Hound, muscles tensing against its oily skin. Blake notices Yang's expression shift, or else must hear the Hound panting behind her, because she dashes back and draws her blade in one smooth motion.
But the Hound doesn't try to attack her.
Instead, it surveys the city around it; the fleeing civilians, the roaming Grimm, even the sounds of Huntsmen and soldiers in the distance.
It smiles.
"Mission; complete," it says. "Done here. Return."*
"Oh no!" Penny cries out, "With the train having reached Vale, Hound Ruby has no reason to stay. Protocol instincts are going to take over."
Yang tensed. She couldn't fail Ruby, not now. Not when it seemed like they were so close!
*Yang's blood runs cold. "No, no, you want to get revenge on me, right? You hate me! Here's your shot!"
She expects the Hound to laugh, to call her stupid, to say its orders are to return to its master.
It says nothing as it turns away. Yang isn't even sure it heard her.
When it leaps on top of a nearby house, Yang's ready to follow. She barely makes it, boots slipping against tiles knocked loose by the Hound, and she can feel something pop inside her thigh, but she makes it all the same.*
Nearly everyone flinched when they heard the thigh pop.
"I do believe that may have been a tendon, Miss Xiao Long."
"Thanks, Doctor, but I'm not going to let that stop me, not now!"
*An instant later, her team is by her side. She's already moving, boots pounding against the roof as she keeps her gaze fixed on the ever-retreating form of the Hound, leg on fire and getting worse with every step she takes, and they require no explanation as they run with her.
Except, maybe they shouldn't. They need to prevent the Hound from retreating, keep an eye on it and beat it down if at all possible, but they're hurt and exhausted from the events of the past few hours and if there's one thing Yang's sure about, it's that all of Beacon is about to descend on this part of Vale. Every student capable of fighting, not to mention all of their professors.
Suddenly, it's become much more viable.*
"I hate to say this, Yang, but Jimmy's more likely to have his men shoot Ruby on sight, unless you girls can find Oz or Glynda before Atlas does.
Ironwood lowered his head, shamed that he agreed with Qrow.
*They'll need Weiss's glyphs, if they want to keep up with and restrict the Hound, and Ilia's whip is better suited for immobilizing than Gambol Shroud but it needs dust to do so while Blake doesn't so that means—
"Ilia!" Yang says as she kicks off a Griffon, "I need you to go find one of the professors! Glynda, or Ozpin if you can, but any of them work! Tell them what's going on and bring them back to us!"*
"Smart," Maria commends, "No offense, but, compared to the others, you aren't the most combat heavy of the group."
Ilia nodded. She was even more of a hit and runner than Blake, who's Semblance revolved around it. I mean, she may have mocked Yang for it, but her weapon did lack a range function.
*Ilia stumbles. "You're sure?"
Yang nods, then, remembering there's a good chance Ilia's not looking at her, says, "Yeah. We need help, and they might know a way to save her that we don't. Go."
Ilia gives one last "Good luck," before breaking away from the chase, headed towards where the fighting is.
Yang can only hope she's made the right choice, sending Ilia away.
But there's no time to dwell on that. Now, all she can do is keep chasing the Hound, leaping from house to street to glyph to statue, always moving forward, never faltering, occasionally firing Ember Celica to give herself a boost.
A single thought repeats in Yang's mind. Can't let it escape.
A single thought repeats in Ilia's mind as she runs and leaps across the city, going over and around and through Grimm rather than fight them. Find a professor. Someone else can deal with the Grimm, like Atlas airships or robot soldiers or Beacon students no older than her. But no professors. No Goodwitch and no Ozpin.
Where are they?*
Yang doesn't notice it, but Ruby sees that Yang is clenching her knuckles hard enough that they are turning red. So does Blake with Ilia. Blake was surprised that, despite barely knowing them, Ilia, their Ilia, seemed just as committed to helping Yang. Despite the context, it gave Blake a happy smile for her friend.
*It feels like hours before she finds a familiar face, team JNPR cleaning up a pack of Ursa. Jaune startles when she lands in front of them, before saying, "Ilia! Where's your team?"
"They're fine. No time to explain," she says, barely able to stay still, hyper-aware that every second she wastes could be a second the Hound uses to escape. Yang may not be her favourite person in the world, but she's her leader and her teammate and her goddamn friend and Ilia can't afford to fail her. "Glynda, Ozpin, where are they?"
"Uhm, I," Jaune stumbles over his words, and it's only the knowledge that yelling at him won't make them come any faster that keeps Ilia's mouth shut. "I'm not sure. Wait, no I saw what I think was Glynda's semblance to the West, when we were on our way over—"
"Got it!" Ilia says, taking off before he can finish. Everything aches, as she sprints in the direction he pointed, and she's hit with the sudden realization that she's spent significantly more of the past twenty-four hours fighting Grimm than she has sleeping.*
"Right, damn," Jaune comments, "You girls are running on fumes. At least with our timeline, you probably had a little bit more rest."
*She wants nothing more than to lie down, but she can't. The others aren't, Blake and Yang and Weiss, chasing after the Hound instead of looking for help. She can't let them down.
After what feels like an eternity, she turns a corner and sees the distinct purple blur of Glynda Goodwitch's semblance.
She screeches to a halt right in front of Goodwitch, who nearly blasts her across the block before her mind catches up with her reflexes. "Ilia? What are you doing here? And where's the rest of your team?"
"Long... story..." Ilia pants, hands on her knees. Glynda stalks toward the nearest sounds of fighting and gestures for Ilia to follow, not even breaking stride.
She would curse under her breath, if she had any. "Need... help... quick! There's..." She swallows, and even that momentary pause is enough to make her feel lightheaded. "This sounds insane but... there's a, a talking Grimm, it's Yang's sister. Someone turned her into a Grimm. You have to believe me, we don't know how to help her!"
Glynda stops walking.*
"Oh, wow," Nora exclaimed loudly, "I just realized…none of us know about Salem at this point. Only Ozzy and the adults know about her."
"Not all of Beacon knew about the war against her," Qrow retorted, "Glynda's the only teacher at Beacon that knew about it, besides Oz, or course."
"Still, the idea that this was all happening, and none of us knew, it's kinda…weird."
*When she turns to look at Ilia again, her eyes are wide and her jaw is tight. "A person turned into a Grimm? You're sure?"
Ilia nods as hard as she can. "We're sure! I don't know how, but whoever orchestrated this—" she gestures all around her, at the Grimm invading the city— "made her a Grimm and has her working with Torchwick."
Ilia's professor purses her lips. When she turns to the side, it's only Ilia's practice listening for when Blake curses under her breath that lets her hear the "Fuck," that slips out.*
"Never heard our teacher say that word before," Weiss comments nervously, "It's…actually more scary than when she's angry."
"Right!" Yang replies, "I mean, if she is terrified, then even she knows how bad it is."
*When she turns back, her face is steeled into her usual picture of a stern teacher. "I'm afraid I can't help you," she says, and Ilia's heart drops into her gut. "Half the city's about to collapse and many of these buildings have people inside, they need me to stabilize things. I can't do anything for you.*
"What?!" Yang screeches.
"Hold on, Firespitter, there's still Ozpin. And I guarantee he isn't letting this slide."
*"But—" she pulls out her scroll and places it in Ilia's shaking hands. "Ozpin should be able to. Call and find him, and tell him exactly what you told me, alright?"
Ilia nods. Her tongue tastes like ash in her mouth, but she at least has direction.
"Good luck," Glynda says, and then she's off to keep the city standing. Single-handedly, of course.
Ilia gives herself a moment to breathe, before opening Goodwitch's scroll and searching for Ozpin's number.
Already, this is taking too long. She has to hurry.*
"Ilia, if you actually get Oz over here, I will hug you to death!"
Blake chuckled at Yang's outburst while Ilia merely blushed in embarrassment.
*She has to hurry.
The Hound is growing further and further away with every passing second, bounding down the empty street at a speed they just can't keep up with. With no obstacles in its way, they can't make use of their maneuverability to catch up with it.
So Weiss makes some obstacles, snow-white glyphs flickering into existence just a few feet from the Hound, which is big and fast and strong enough that it crashes through them.*
"Good," Ironwood compliments, "It's the same logic as 'if there's no exit, make an exit'."
"But I'm just bashing through them all!"
"It doesn't matter, Sis. I'm going to get to you no matter what."
*But they slow it down.
Yang fires her gauntlets, careens through one of Weiss's speed glyphs, and crashes into the Hound with enough force to knock them both to the ground.
It's a mistake.
Exhausted and hurt and with tattered remains of her aura focused on forcing her leg to work right, she lingers on the ground while the Hound does not.
(Pick up, pick up, pick up!)
When Blake and Weiss fall upon it, it rises to meet them with all of its strength, far less than when it fought at Mountain Glenn or on the train but still enough to backhand Weiss into a nearby bakery and flail a paw at Blake, using her own speed to clothesline her as she passes it.*
"Eiiiya," Jaune flinched, "Ruby, you're kicking their butts."
"Sorry!"
"No one blames you, Ruby," Weiss comforts, "We want to save you. It's just that Salem's corruption is making it hard for us."
*There's only a few seconds before one or two or all of them are back on the attack, blades bared and fists clenched, but it's the most time it's had since the train crashed and it uses that time to do something it hasn't had the chance to.
It trembles, presses itself against the ground, and sprouts rose-red wings from its back.
Yang dives for it, but she can't possibly make it. A flap of its wings is enough to send it out of reach, another to propel it forward, and then it's flying away from her. It's going to escape. Yang drags herself to her feet, smiling grimly when her leg trembles— but does not buckle— beneath her weight.*
"Miss Xiao Long," Pietro exclaimed, "If you keep this up, that leg might suffer permanent damage," before Yang can retort, he continues, "I know why you're doing it. Just giving you a warning."
*She can't keep this up much longer.
She goes to leap to the roof of a nearby building, hoping desperately her leg will be able to handle the strain, when a glyph appears in front of her, halfway between Yang and her destination. She hops up with silent thanks sent Weiss's way and resumes the chase on the rooftop, where she can see the Hound is flying towards a park, where it can fly without impediment and they will have no rooftops on which to chase it.
Yang pushes herself as far as she can, every step powering her across the length of a rooftop, and the Hound is big and strong and normally that makes it fast, muscles allowing it to reach a speed none of them can match, but not when it's relying on wings.
Yang's getting closer every second, but every second takes her closer to the edge of the park, where she'll fall into the trees below, she's running out of rooftop. Blake is behind her, firing shots from Gambol Shroud, trying to hit its wings but only sometimes hitting its body. Where before, shots would have bounced off the Hound, or sunk mere centimetres into its skin, now every bullet that connects passes through its body like nothing is there. At very least, Yang knows the Hound is just as worn out as they are.
(Ozpin's supposed to be here by now, where is he where is he where is he?)
Finally, she reaches the end of the rooftops and she leaps with all her might, firing Ember Celica again and again and again until she can't fire it anymore, every blast pushing her closer and closer to the flying Hound, close enough that she can stretch out as far as she can and brush the tips of her fingers against its leg.*
Practically everyone leaned forward, what could be the deciding moment. Fear, hope, dread, anxiety, all were on their faces.
*She begins to fall.*
And all turned to horror.
"NO!" Yang screamed. She would've leapt up in horror if Ruby wasn't gripped onto her.
*Time slows to a crawl as Yang can only watch the Hound grow farther and farther away. As it rises higher and higher into the sky.
As Blake, glowing the bright gold of Weiss's time dilation glyph, flies past Yang at an impossible speed and throws Gambol Shroud at a perfect arc to wrap around the Hound's torso.*
Yang throat was too hoarse from her scream to properly thank the two of them, so Nora said if for her.
"Blake Belladonna, Weiss Schnee, you two are the M! V! Ps!"
*Yang barely realizes when she hits the ground, too busy staring at the Hound as the ribbon wrapped around it begins to tighten. Blake lands beside her and immediately begins pulling on the ribbon.
Blake's strong, but she's not that strong, and when the Hound beats its wings it begins to pull her with it.*
"Not done yet," Ironwood commented, "Keep it pinned a little bit longer."
"Ozpin has to know where you guys are by now, right?" Oscar hoped.
"Don't know, but if we don't do something soon, the Hound's going to end up ripping my arms off."
*So Yang adds her own strength, gripping the ribbon as tight as possible and pulling down with all her weight. The Hound falters, but still it's not enough, Yang can feel it beginning to pull her off the ground; and then a glyph springs to existence around their feet, and Blake and Yang are glued to the ground.
Weiss may be rude, and cold, and stuck-up, and bitchy and demanding and prickly and however many other things, but Gods does Yang love her right now.*
Weiss merely smirked, "Is that any way to thank me?"
*With the glyph locking them on the ground, Blake and Yang are able to pull the Hound to the ground, crashing back to the very edge of the park, where buildings give way to greenery and concrete turns to grass.
Where the Hound lands, it stays, and Yang is worried for a second before noticing the black glyph below it, keeping it trapped there.
Yang spares a glance at Myrtenaster. Gravity dust, the kind currently being used to keep the Hound immobile, is the only kind she has left. Ice, Wind, Fire, Lightning; all gone, and for that matter the Gravity dust is nearly gone already.
She sways, and Blake catches her but isn't able to support her weight. They both end up falling to the ground as the golden glow of Weiss's time dilation fades from Blake's aura. The impact, slight as it is, is the straw that breaks this camel's back; Yang hits the ground and it does her the indignity of shattering the last remnants of her aura. It's so faint that she barely notices.*
"Oh no!" Penny cries out.
"Everyone's out," Ren adds, "Weiss is the only one with any Aura left."
"Ilia, you better get there now!"
"I don't know how far away I am, Yang!"
"Well just get there!"
*"How long can you hold it?" Yang asks.
Weiss grunts. Her whole body is tense, like she needs to keep every single muscle taut to keep her glyph going. "I don't know," she gasps out. "Not long."
"Fuck."
Once the glyph breaks they have nothing. They're exhausted, out of dust, and can do nothing to keep the Hound from flying away.
But she needs to do something.
She tries to stand up, emphasis on tries. Her leg gives out halfway up. So instead, she resorts to dragging herself closer to the Hound, using her arms and one good leg. "How about you, Blake? You got anything?"
Blake hasn't moved from where she collapsed. "No," she wheezes. "Time dilation... took too much out of me... can't get up..."
Yang, unable to walk, is their most potent threat now. She pauses her crawling to reload Ember Celica. Only a few rounds left.
All she can do is crawl closer to the Hound and pray that any moment now, Ilia will come along with the miracle they need.*
"Yang…" Ruby mutters, "I don't think-"
"Don't talk like that. She'll be there."
"Yang, please. Don't let Salem have me…no matter what."
Yang's eyes were shaking. She could see it on Ruby's face, and the tears coming down her face. Ruby doesn't want to die, even if it's from a different timeline. But she'd rather have that than continue being enslaved to Salem.
*She crawls. And she waits. And she prays.
And she crawls.
And she waits.
And she prays.
And she crawls.
And she waits.
And she hears Weiss whisper "I'm sorry," and it's over. Her glyph shatters, and just like that the Hound is free to move, free to beat its wings with everything it's got.*
Most of the audience yells in horror.
*Yang is barely conscious of the "No!" that rips its way from her mouth. All she knows is she can't let it escape, can't let it fly back to whoever did this to it, to her. The Hound's mission is complete. Its orders are to fly back to base and report what happened, and if that comes to pass Yang knows she'll never see it again.
She can't abandon her little sister to that.
Not again.
Yang finally figures out what's wrong with her leg, when she throws herself onto the Hound's back before it can take off; she wasn't sure before, but this time she can feel her tendon tearing off the bone, can feel as her thigh and knee become just a little less connected.
That's okay, though, because she makes the jump. She lands on the Hound's back, between the wings, and for a split second it looks like she's going to bounce off but she grabs on before it's too late.
An instant later, the Hound takes off. Again, she nearly falls. exhausted muscles barely able to keep their grip, but she wraps her arms around its neck.*
"Ok, Yang," Blake said, "What's the plan now?"
"Uuuuuuhhhh…"
"Yang," Weiss exclaims, "All Ruby needs to do is a barrel roll, and you're likely dead, please tell me you have an idea."
"I don't know! I'm just acting on instinct at this point."
"Yang-"
"Ruby, don't say it!"
*Her position is secure. What now?
She can't hold on forever. Her arms, locked as they are around its neck, will grow too tired sooner or later. Even if she could hold on, even if the Hound lets her ride it all the way back to its base: then what? Her aura's gone, and she's long since ran out of fumes to run on. It's all she can do to hang on. If anyone is there waiting for the Hound, they'll kill her.
Which means doing nothing isn't an option.
She can't let the Hound escape, obviously. If Ruby returns to whoever made her like this, that's the end. Yang's avoided thinking about what exactly will happen if that comes to pass, but in all likelihood it will be just as it was before she and her team went to Mountain Glenn; the Hound working for bad guys, attacking whoever got in their way.
Killing people. Killing innocent people, killing Huntsmen and Huntresses.
Maybe even killing more students.
Ruby wouldn't want that.
Yang feels sick.*
"Right there with ya, sister!" Nora yelled with a mixture of anger and fear.
*She's not sure if it's the motion, flying through the air on the back of something not meant for passengers, or the thoughts in her head.
It's an ugly thought. Horrible. She can't do it, can't let it come to that.
But what other choice does she have? Help isn't coming.
It's all Yang can do to stay attached to her little sister. Her only other option is to fall from the Hound's back and let it go, and that's no option at all. She would rather die than let whatever monster did this to her little sister continue on.
Dying won't do anything, though. So she has to do the unthinkable. She owes Weiss another apology.*
Weiss put her head into her hands. "I…I can't watch this."
Yang and Ruby begin to hug each other, anticipating what's to come, as does Ren and Nora.
"Ren," Nora cries, "It can't end this way. It just can't!" Jaune joins the hug, trying to comfort Nora.
*Yang steadies herself. Looks at the horizon.
It's a beautiful morning. The sun has just begun to peek over the trees visible outside the city, giving life to a scene or forest turning into urban jungle. The wind rustling through her hair is crisp, but lacks the bite carried by the worst days of winter. On any other day, people would just be waking up, making coffee and cooking breakfast and looking forward to the day ahead.
When a tear falls down her face, the wind carries it away.*
'Gods dammit.'
Qrow climbs over the couch, and wraps both nieces into a hug. Penny initially was going to get up and join the hug, but seeing as it was only Ruby's family involved in it, she sat back down, feeling like she'd only intruded. As a consolation, her father placed a hand on her shoulder, and she hugged him in response.
*"You'd want this, wouldn't you Rubes?" Breathing in sends a flare of pain through her chest, but Yang can't stop. Somewhere inside that thing, Ruby can hear her, Yang's sure of it. She deserves an explanation for what's to come.
"You were always a good kid. Better than me. I just wanted to get into fights and have fun, but you were going to be a hero! You just wanted to save people, so— so you wouldn't want to be this monster for the rest of your life. Right?"
Her voice cracks. She checks her gauntlets, anything to put it off, but they're full of ammo.
Yang thinks of how weak the Hound had been, in their chase across Vale. How shots from Gambol Shroud, infinitely lower calibre than Ember Celica, had passed through it with ease.
One shot should be enough. She doesn't know if she'll be able to manage another.
"When we thought you were dead, I— well, I cried myself to sleep for a while, but after that— I'd lay awake wondering what would have changed if I'd been there for you. If I hadn't abandoned you to look for Raven. Guess I've got my answer now. Nothing would have changed. I'd flail and yell and do everything but save you."
Yang checks the chamber, one last time. It's still loaded.
"I'm sorry Rubes. I'm the worst big sister ever, in the whole wide world. I wasn't there for you the first time, and then I get a second chance and everything's the same. I'm sorry, okay! I'm so fucking sorry."
She places her fist against the back of the Hound's...
Who is she fooling?
She places her fist against the back of Ruby's head.
"We dug a grave for you in Patch, right next to Mom's. We'll bury you there, for real this time okay? You can rest there. Next to her. I know you never cared for the view, but you'll get used to it. You can watch the sunset every single day and you'll love it. One last promise from your big sis. Okay?"
She can't keep stalling.
She presses her finger against the trigger, and…*
Yang and Qrow tighten the hug on Ruby.
*She lets up.
Her head falls against its back.
"I'm sorry," she sobs. "I can't do it. I can't. I know it's what you'd want, but I'm not strong enough."
The Hound shifts underneath her. She expects it to attack her, or even to throw her off, but instead it speaks.
"No," it says. "Yang... strong. Strongest I know. Strongest ever."
"I'm not!" Yang wails. "I wasn't strong enough to save you, and I'm not strong enough to kill you! I can't do anything for you!"
"Yes you can," it rumbles. "Please. Don't want this. Please. I love you."*
At this point, the only ones who weren't crying were Penny, Maria and Ironwood. The former because she didn't have tear ducts, and the latter two simply turned their heads in solemn acceptance, though there was a sad glint in Ironwood's eyes.
*Yang's heart stops. "No," she murmurs. "No. I can't. Don't make me."
"Yes you can. Yang always strong. I love you."
Yang shakes her head. "No! You shouldn't. I yelled at you and ran away and let them turn you into this, and even now I can't save you! You were right, back on the train. You should hate me!"
Ruby turns her head, keeps turning even as bones crunch and rearrange themselves. "I love you, Yang," she says, silver eyes locked onto Yang's. "Could never hate Yang. Yang read me books when Mom died and made me lunch when Dad forgot and helped me drag Uncle Qrow back home when he passed out. Yang helped me study and taught me to fight and slipped me cookies and hugged me when I cried and walked me to school and let me beat her when we played games and a million other things! Yang always there for me. Every day of my life. Yang best big sister ever, in the whole wide world. Yang can save me. Please."
A thick black ink drips from Ruby's eyes. "Not always here, in head, all me. Been in nightmare for so long. Want to wake up. Don't want to be this. Please. While Yang still can."
Yang takes a deep breath. In through the nose, hold, out through the mouth. Then another. Stop crying, Yang. Be strong. For Ruby.
Her hand shakes, but it was always going to. She can at least make sure her aim is true.
She presses the barrel of Ember Celica into Ruby's forehead.*
"I love you, Ruby." Yang's sobbed, her words muffled against Ruby's shoulder.
"Love you too, Yang."
*"Thank you," Ruby cries. "I love you, Yang. Always have and always will. Thank you for everything."
"I'm sorry," Yang says. "I love you. I love you so, so much."*
No one can bear looking at the screen.
No one…
Except Ruby. Through her tear stained eyes, she bears witness to her death.
*She pulls the trigger.*
Ruby's eyes widened.
"YOU MISSED!"
"WHAT?!" Yang screeches, as all heads turn back.
*Ruby jerks out of the way and nearly throws Yang off her. Her head snaps back into place with a sickening series of crunches, tilting down to look at her leg, to the iron whip wrapped around it, leading all the way down to…
"Get down here, you bitch!" Ilia shouts from the top of a school building, Headmaster Ozpin right behind her, and Yang's first thought, torn from sorrow right into a giddy sort of hope, is you can't call my little sister a bitch!*
The roar that erupts causes the room to start to shake, as everyone starts cheering or jumping out of their seats with joy.
"Ilia, you are officially my second favorite Faunus in the entire world!" Nora cheered.
Ironwood placed a hand over his face in relief. "Damnit Oz, you can't keep doing stuff like this to us. Gonna give me and Qrow heart attacks."
Penny, in her excitement, accidentally activated her boot rockets, and was cheering in the air.
Maria simply smiled.
*Ilia's worn out, but compared to Yang and Ruby she's fresh as a dewdrop. Ruby, the Hound, whatever it is now tries to fly away, but with Yang weighing it down Ilia has no problem dragging it back to the ground.*
"Okay," Maria tried to say, "I think we should settle down now."
However, most were still reeling from the near death experience of Ruby. Yang and Qrow were shaking, for joy, the poor girl. Maria simply rolled her eyes and turned back to the screen as she mumbled, "Don't blame me if you miss something."
*They crash against the wall of an apartment building, and Yang's thrown off before they land on the concrete floor of an alleyway. She lies there, in frankly horrible pain, only a few feet away from the Hound, with a goofy smile on her face.
Somewhere deep inside, she likes to think Ruby is doing the same.
Ozpin drops into the alley. "My apologies for our tardiness, Miss Xiao Long," he says, coming to stand above the collapsed Hound. "Though it seems we arrived just in time." He spares Yang a small smile, but his hands fold together atop his ever-present cane.
Yang stares up at him. "You're— you're here! You can save her, right? That's my little sister, Ruby, someone did something to her—"*
As the group started to quiet down, Qrow waved his arms to the side.
"Okay. Okay. Okay. Wooo! I think the high point of this story is done. Now we have the resolution, and I don't want to miss this."
*"I am aware. Miss Amitola explained the situation in great detail," Ozpin says, adjusting his glasses before turning his gaze to the Hound. "You would be the famous Miss Rose, then?"
The Hound tries to scramble away, but the blink of an eye Ozpin is on top of it, cane pinning it to the ground back-first. "No!" It screeches. "Ozma! Run! Danger! Ozma! Retreat! Danger!"
Ozpin's brow furrows. "Ah. Kind of you to confirm that for me," he says.*
"Holy-I did not know Ozpin was that fast!" Jaune exclaimed.
"Didn't we fight together back at Haven?" Oscar questioned.
"Yeah, but I was a little lost in my anger towards Cinder."
"...Fair enough."
*Then, casual as anything, he looks aside to Yang. "Miss Xiao Long, if I might trouble you to humour an old man's question; what colour are your sister's eyes?"
Ruby's eyes? As if she could ever forget. "They're silver. Like Mom's."
Out of the corner of her eyes, she can see Weiss and Blake, leaning on Ilia as they make their way closer.
"Like Summer's," he muses. "I had thought that might be the case." He seems to come to some conclusion, and while the headmaster's age has always been hard to pin down, for a moment the weight of age is unmistakable in his eyes.
Then it's gone, and his voice is resolute as he instructs, "In that case, students, I would recommend averting your gaze. This will be bright."*
Nora gasped, "Is Oz about to do some magic!?"
"Frankly, if he does," Yang exclaims, "I'll forgive him for ditching us…Okay, maybe not completely."
*The rest of her team does so. Yang does not. Ozpin sighs, but doesn't seem surprised.
Ozpin presses his cane into the Hound's chest, the weapon sinking a few inches with no resistance. And then he does... something, Yang can't tell what, but just looking at it makes her head pound and vision blur, and then two beams of light erupt from the Hound's eyes.
Her eyes burn, but Yang doesn't turn away. She can't. Not from this.
Because the dark, oily flesh of the Hound is burning away as well. It bellows wordlessly, then starts to scream as it comes apart.*
Several people flinch.
"Aieee." Nora exclaims.
"That certainly doesn't look good," Ilia adds, "I can't even imagine how it feels."
*First the bone mask cracks, spiderweb-like fractures forming around the eyes, then the ridges of bone fall from sizzling, dissolving flesh.
The Hound howls in agony and its mask shatters, revealing skin, pale skin, stretched tight across a sickly, malnourished face.
Ruby's face.*
"Gods," Qrow muttered, "You look like shit."
Luckily, the others were too happy at actually seeing Ruby being saved to notice, or simply didn't hear him. Though his sentiment was shared by Pietro, Maria, Ironwood and Ren.
*As Grimm flesh burns to ash in the cleansing light emanating from Ruby's eyes, the howls of pain subside, only to be replaced with different, higher-pitched screaming. Yang can't tell what exactly is causing it, unable to see much through the blinding light— until it dims, one of the beams fading away.
One of Ruby's eyes, Yang can see, has melted, gone like a snowman in spring, cornea bubbling and bursting, spraying steaming specks of tissue and liquid across the ground.*
Ruby covers the eye she sees is missing, gasping in horror at the sight. As did Yang for the latter.
*Abruptly, the screaming stops and the light fades from Ruby's remaining eye. She falls weightlessly to the street, encased by the Hound's still-dissolving skeleton. Professor Ozpin hops down, and with careful, practised motions, pulls her clear. He steps out of Yang's way.
Her sister looks different from how Yang remembers— hair grown out past her shoulders, skinnier than Yang's ever seen her and no longer fitting her old clothes— and yet she's exactly the same.
For the first time in a year, Yang's little sister is in front of her.
Yang tries to stand up, but collapses halfway to her feet when her leg refuses to straighten. She crawls over instead, dragging herself over to where Ruby lays.
For just a moment, Yang panics, worried whatever Ozpin did was too much for her to handle, that more than just Ruby's eye had given out, before the near-imperceptible rise and fall of her chest assuages Yang's fears.
"Ruby?" She says, shaking her sister by the shoulders. "Ruby, wake up!"
And she does.
Her silver eye flutters open, blinking away sleep, and the first words Ruby Rose says to her in over a year are; "Come on, Yang, five more minutes? You wouldn't believe the dream I had."*
Despite the situation, several people couldn't help but laugh.
"Kiddo," Qrow wheezed, "You gave us one hell of a rollercoaster of emotions. Of COURSE you had to end it with a laugh."
Ruby chuckled, "Sorry, guys."
*Ruby stretches, yawns, and tries to rub the sleep out of her eyes, and it's only then she realizes something's wrong. Whether it's because she looks around and sees where she is, surrounded by strangers in the middle of Vale, or because she's looking with just one eye, Yang can't tell. "Y—Yang? Where are we? Who are these people? What happened to my— what happened to me?"
If Yang were a better sister, she thinks, she would be calm and strong and explain what happened to Ruby. Give her a shoulder to cry on. Act as her rock.
Instead, she grabs Ruby and holds her tight, so tight she fears she may hurt her, and breaks down crying.
"You're okay," she sobs into her sister's shoulder, as much to herself as to Ruby. "You're okay, you're okay, you're okay."
In her arms, Ruby tenses. "Yang, this isn't funny."
"I'm sorry," Yang continues, voice shaking. "I'm sorry I took so long, we— I thought you were dead! I'm so sorry. Gods, Ruby, I missed you so much."
Yang pulls herself away, and finds Ruby staring— not at her, really, but through her. She looks like she's seen a ghost.
"Oh," she says. "That's— oh. That, um, that wasn't a dream, was it. I was really a, a Grimm?"*
"It's going to hard for your counterpart to move forward," Ironwood says stoically, "The trauma that you've endured would've broken most. I do hope that Beacon's therapists are as good as I remember hearing." He silently turns to Qrow.
Qrow shrugs, "Don't know their status now, but, before the Vytal Festival, they were still top notch. Though, I don't think any therapist is going to believe what Ruby went through."
*Yang nods.
"It was all real, then?"
Yang nods again.
"All of it?" Ruby's voice breaks.
"Yeah. I'm so sorry."
Ruby takes a deep, shaky breath. "Okay. Okay, that's, um... how long has it been? Since I, you know..."
"A year," Yang says. "And a few months."
Ruby swallows. "Oh. And, Dad and Uncle Qrow, they're—"
"They're okay. They didn't take it well, when you— when we thought you died. But they'll be happy to see you again."
"That's good."
Ruby's trembling. In the corner of her eye, tears begin to form.
"Yang," she says. "Could you, um—"
"Of course."
Yang hugs Ruby again, this time pressing her sister's face into her shoulder. Ruby wraps shaking arms around her and wails, a long, muffled keening sound.
"It's okay," Yang whispers into her hair. "You're okay. You're safe. I've got you."
Shuddering, Ruby squeezes her even tighter.
They stay like that until Ruby passes out, erratic gasps for air becoming steady breaths, too regular to come from someone conscious. Yang finally lets herself rest as well, once she knows her sister's asleep. It's been years since they've slept like this, Ruby held safe in her sister's arms.
They've both missed it.
The screen turns black.*
Penny and Weiss get up from their seats as they join a group hug with Yang and Ruby, with Qrow backing off from them. As Blake gets up, she smiles, and turns to Ilia, pulling her up. Despite the protests, she drags her over to the quartet, and Yang yanks her into the hug.
"Thanks, girls," Ruby says softly, "Thanks for saving me. Even if it wasn't me me."
"Ilia, I don't care what Ruby says," Yang exclaims, "You're officially a member of the team."
"Hey, I think we should put it to a vote here."
Yang chuckles, "I think we already did."
Weiss DING, Blake DING, Yang DING, Ruby EERRRRR.
*The screen shows the Vale skyline.*
"Wait, there's more?!" Jaune exclaims, causing the group hug to break.
"What could they possibly show us now?" Winter questions.
"You kidding, Ice Queen. We still got reunions to make. I haven't seen my niece in over a year and-," Qrow's eyes widened, "Oh, dear god, on second thought, I don't want to see the state I'm in."
Author's Notes: To those that keep asking when I'll update Ever After Theatre, I'm working on it. This reaction is easier to write for a simple reason. Ever After Theatre screen pauses when the audience wants to talk to each other and debate, allowing for more conversations. This story does not, so the audience has to give quick remarks or simply be silent while the movie plays. This makes Ever After Theatre more difficult to write. By comparison, I could get three pages of this reaction fanfic written, where I can only get one page of Ever After Theatre. I simply ask that you be patient.
As always, leave a review, fav/follow, and I'll see you all next time.