RWBY: A Thorn in My Heart
Chapter 3: Scars that Burn
"So let me get this straight, you want me to grant you all vacation time like Yang, skip your classes, and take a personal trip to a non-kingdom affiliated country with little communication and a populace with a likely grudge against humanity?" Ozpin said with a stern sarcastic tone after reviewing the request made by the medical examiner, Ruby's Psychiatrist, and Taiyang for Ruby and her friends.
Team Rwby (Minus their leader who was resting in the infirmary) Team JNPR, and Sun along with Taiyang gave wide grins and puppy dog eyes in response. Blake let her cat ears down, she understood it was a lot to ask of the headmaster of Beacon and the Menagerie wouldn't showcase much of a welcome to humans after their races mistreatment of Faunus. However, Blake had a plan and people their to help Ruby cope with her trauma, she just needed to convince Ozpin. Before she had the chance to open her mouth and explain her plan, someone else beat her to it.
"Please Oz, my daughters going through a… rough patch, and this would really help her out." Taiyang asked with awkwardness. He already gave Yang his consent 2 weeks ago and she was a couple days past her return date. This wasn't just bad for her academic status; it was making him look bad too since it was him who gave her permission in the first place for "stress relief".
Ozpin merely mumbled to himself something as he sipped his coffee cup and took one last look at the files and requests before him. Suddenly he gave a grin and chuckled, shocking the worried father.
"I'm just messing with you old friend its fine, in fact, ill treat it as a special "extra credit mission" for them to aide a fellow huntress wounded". He said warmly.
Taiyang gave a huge sigh of relief on par with the strength of the big bad wolf, while the students gave loud cheers and hugged each other. After thanking the headmaster of Beacon for his understanding he left his office along with the giddy teenagers to go tell his daughter the good news.
After his old friend was gone, Ozpin's smile quickly faded as he hung his head towards his desk, glaring intently at the title of the form before him,
Ruby Roses Psychiatric Report
His gut wrenched when he learned of young miss Roses mental collapse a few days ago and her collapse nearly harming her child. Not one, but two children under his academies supervision being endangered was a heavy blow to the headmasters confidence. The report showed her breakdown was from bullying caused by his school's students towards Ruby being a young parent. He believed she deserved time away from such shallowness and her friends could do a much better job of helping her through this than he ever could. He felt a sense of shame and anger not just towards the bullies, but himself as well. Ruby never intended to be a mother and was never at fault for being raped that horrible night, on a mission he assigned, a mission he supervised. This mission was another failure for Ozpin in his long life. Ruby paid with her virtue for refusing to sell him and her team out to an enemy when she found their base and was captured. She did her duty as a huntress, something The Counsel and General Iroonwood commended Ruby for when she scouted that white fang base. She helped disrupt a critical smuggling ring and Ozpin vividly remembered visiting her during her hospital stay after her rape and trying to comfort her with that fact. He also vividly remembered how little his words could comfort her as she curled up into a ball crying her eyes out before him after what she endured. Ozpin had since blamed himself for her ordeal as he was in charge of her safety that night and failed, just like he failed someone else long ago..
Suddenly the image of a young teenage brown hair girl with long hair and emerald eyes flashed in his mind along with a gruff man with a brown beard screaming at him "Murderer!" causing Ozpin to raise his head and gasp, cold sweat dripping from his face.
Ozpin then heard a sound that sent a shock down his spine as he reacted frightfully. It was a message on his phone received through text from Qrow. Ozpin sighed in relief and irritation as his old confident always had bad timing messaging him but needed to get that girls image off his mind at this moment. Qrow's message was
"My niece is leaving more ash around here then when I smoke in a bar".
Ozpin sighed, he took a few minutes to think about how to respond properly, Yang got her destructive tendency's from both of the Branwen siblings, but Qrow was more self-destructive with his alcoholism, and he was worried hearing his adoptive nieces condition would worsen that. Nevertheless, Yang needed to return to beacon not just for her school status, but to help comfort her sister. He had heard reports how a vigilante in Mistral was assaulting goons in bars and capturing White Fang members in towns but leaving large amounts of fire and collateral damage in her wake. Only Yang could fit that bill and she needed to be stopped before she did something she regretted. Ozpin decided to text Qrow the whole story and a request,
"Bring back Yang for Ruby please, but be gentle I always prefer discretion".
A town in Mistral
Rain showered throughout a small run-down town. Such a town was one that clearly wouldn't be classified as a tourist attraction due the stench from all the garbage and homeless people around. Windows were broken, with only a few bars and an inn still operational in this town, damaged beyond repair from grimm attacks. That made this of all places the perfect hiding place for criminals to gather and lay low from the law. One fiery warrior with the heart of a dragon, and the temperament of one too, figured this out and decided to preform a little "justice" while she was away from Beacon. Yang Xiaolong, sister of ruby rose and a huntress in training at beacon, had this burning sensation of rage in her stomach for criminals since being read bedtime stories of villains by her step-mom Summer Rose. This sensation only boiled up when one such villain assaulted her little angel sister Ruby and knocked her up. Those were the feelings of this girl as she began a barrage of punches into the face of one White Fang goon, pathetically begging for help. His allies were already on the floor of the bar they were in unconscious and burned from Yang's fiery fists. The white fang goon she saved for last because he was a dog faunus, just like the one that hurt her sister, Timber Lupas.
"Yeah, and my sister cried for mercy when you brutes raped her, did you stop? No!" she roared. Her eyes turning from purple to red with rage as her long blond hair began to catch fire as she continued her pummeling. The goons face was bloody and bruised to the point it would be impossible to tell if he was a man or a grimm. Anymore of this assault would surely kill him, but Yang didn't care. Just as she raised her hand for one last assault, a splash of icy cold water hit her head, causing her hair to sizzle with smoke.
"Jeez kid, you got stop being such a hot head" a gruff older male said. Yang instantly arose to her feet in shock, recognizing that almost raspy voice. She turned around to see her Uncle Qrow, carrying a flask of alcohol in his left hand and an empty glass of water in his right he just drenched her with.
"Uncle Qrow! Wait, why are you here" she said excitedly then a bit confused.
"Well I was just getting a good drink when all of the sudden men started flying in the sky like pigs" He said with an eyebrow raised as he and she examined the end result of her rampage in the bar.
"Your going to give the barkeep a heart attack at this point" he glared at her while pointing to the bar where the old man with a white beard arose from shivering, having obviously hidden behind the bar in fear.
Yang gave an awkward sheepish grin as she raised her shoulders slightly, but Qrow was not impressed.
"I should be asking you that same question" He said with a bitter tone. Yang's heart sank a bit when hearing this, it always hurt more when Qrow admonished her because, unlike her dad whom was more structured in his criticisms, Qrow was more blunt.
"Your wasting time fighting common goons and remnants of White Fang when your sister needs your help at Beacon!?" he yelled.
Suddenly, Yang felt a surge of anger arise in her. "How are you one to talk, when Ruby was raped and knocked up you didn't see her even once this year!" she screamed back, infuriated at the perceived hypocrisy of her uncle.
Qrow only glared back at her for this accusation. "Kid, while you have been fishing the guppies over here I have been investigating for Ozpin to catch the big fish" he said sternly.
"Cinder?, what does that have to do with YOU not helping Ruby!" Yang said confused, but still angry.
Qrow raised his hand in response "I was getting to that, its not her, but someone she works for that's targeting Ruby and others like her". He said quickly to calm her down. Yang's eyes finally reverted back from purple to red, indicating it worked in calming down. Seeing this, Qrow began to explain "Listen, I wanted to be their for my niece, really I did, that's why I needed to be as far away as possible at the time" he began. Yang raised an eyebrow, clearly not understanding the explanation. "My semblance isn't like yours, one that turns on and off at will, its always on and it's a real pain in the ass." He sadly stated, lowering his head in shame. He really did want to help his protégé and niece, but the risk was too great.
"Misfortune… If I stay around others too long bad things happen. If I stayed around ruby to comfort her then, she might have died during her coma or suffered a miscarriage" Qrow said softly, he didn't want to imagine such a possibility but knew with his shitty semblance it was always a good or rather bad chance in life.
"That's why I trusted you to care her in my place. Trust that wasn't misplaced… until now that is" he sternly said to his older niece.
Yang's eyes changed again, not red with her semblance, but watery as tears began to sting her eyes.
"You want me to be able to perk her back up? Yeah right! I think I'm the last one qualified for that job" she said dejected.
"How can I help her now when I couldn't save her that night!" she bitterly said as memories of seeing her sisters bloody, bruised, and raped body being carried by Ozpin that night at the Mountain Glenn hideout. She felt complete shame at not rescuing her in time, not being able to help her as she nearly died giving birth, and right now for not being able to save her from shallow bullies. While she had ignored calls from her friends to continue her vigilantism, she read their texts and learned about Ruby's collapse. As much as she wanted to help her, Yang felt helpless to aid her little baby sister and her baby. She couldn't stop the bullies from gossiping behind her back nor the creepy guys who called her "easy" despite threatening to pummel some. She certainly couldn't help stop the inner turmoil her sister felt, not just during those few weeks, but the entire year she was pregnant with her rapist's child.
"That's why I'm not going back to Beacon, I'm going to stay here and beat the crap out of these monsters!" she angrily stated, turning around to finish them off. But Qrow grabbed her arm, "Beating some goons up won't get rid of your shame, only being with your sister can do that" he said somberly. He knew just calling her an idiot any further would only aggravate the hot head.
Yang took a second to breath, "Remember the good times Yang" Qrow implored softly. Soon images of her little sister played through her mind, times with them playing as children, eating cookies with mom, having a food fight with Team JNPR at Beacon. Suddenly her sisters bruised body from that night and then near dead body from birth rushed into her mind as she clasped her head in pain, crying. "Those days are over now, you got to make new memories with her, better ones." He implored one last time.
Yang got up from the ground she collapsed on her knees from and hugged him, sniffling into his chest.
"Okay, lets go home" she said quietly. Qrow was a bit startled; he could swear this was the first time she ever calmed down around him. He was even more startled by the helicopter lights approaching the bar. Obviously the barkeep called the mantle police, but he didn't want his niece to get arrested after this ordeal. Taking a swig of his flask, he got his phone out of his pocket and texted his sister Raven to conjure up a portal to take them back to beacon before the police could arrive. Yang took one last look at the bloody bodies of her victims in the bar before heading through the portal, still thinking of Ruby's bloody body that night. "Never again" she quietly told herself.
At the same time, Ruby was packing up her stuff and her bag full of baby items for Thorn. Her father and friends told her of the trip and she was going as fast as possible, changing Thorn one last time and placing him into his carrier as quickly as she could. Not only did she not want to miss the boat, but also she didn't want to keep her friends waiting. She felt a twist in her stomach, worse then when she suffered morning sickness while pregnant. She knew her friends and family were worried about her, but she couldn't stand the looks of pity anymore. She needed a break from those stares as they made her feel weak, just like the hurtful stares of those bullies didn't understand her pain, no one could. Ruby just really hated talking about her rape, her helplessness that night and the helplessness she felt while watching her friends fight without her in the war. She didn't feel comfortable having to re-live that pain every time she talked to her therapist nor when forced to speak of it to a group of strangers in a group therapy. Even if they had similar ordeals, she felt her problems were her own so she had to deal with them alone. Maybe her friends could help her relax, but only if they stop making her talk to others about these things. As she thought this, she took one last look at her dorm room,
"Never again" she softly stated to herself and Thorn before closing the door.
Well, here is the next Chapter. A lot longer I know but it adds a lot of suspense to this story. Yang nearly murdering people, Qrow's absence from previous fan story by Dust2Dust explained, and a hidden mystery. Who is the girl and man Ozpin thought of, who is Cinder really working for, who are the people and plan Blake thought off, and what does Ruby mean by "Never again"?. Is she going to abandon her son, quit beacon, or is she going to quit being a huntress altogether. Read next chapter when its ready to find out soon. Next chapter is a boat trip and a family reunion.