Rwby: A Thorn in my Heart
Chapter 6: Nothings Fair in Love or War
Belladonna Mansion
Everyone gathered around the large dining table to enjoy a nice warm dinner. True to Ghira's word, it was a feast fit for royalty. There was a large assortment of delicacies such as Turkey, lobster, beefsteaks, potatoes, buttery vegetables, miso soup, and white rice that accompanied the entire table so everyone could have a share. Nora, Ruby, and Qrow, being food lovers, wasted no time gorging themselves, with Weiss and Ghira's eyes going wide and almost popping out like an anime character seeing a tower of food on each of their plates. Khan's servants looked nervous as they ran back into the kitchen to prepare more food; worried they would soon run out. Yang merely laughed off their ginormous appetites,
"Man Uncle Qrow, you eat more than that we'll have to start calling you "vomit boy" instead of Jaune." She grinned while pointing to Jaune, whom was getting fed by Pyrrah during the commotion.
"Oooh, vomit boy has a girlfriend" Yang teased them; causing Pyrrah to blush while Jaune gave an awkward smile.
While Yang and the other began teasing the young couple, Ruby chuckled to herself. "It sure feels like the good old days." She thought to herself. Thorn had settled down and was back in her guest room sleeping soundly, so wasn't at the table. Ruby couldn't help but think it had been a long time since she got to enjoy a happy meal with her friends and family like this. The academy had been in disarray since the war of Remnant began a year ago. Her team was out fighting and saving civilians with other Huntsman and Huntresses while she was stuck hiding while pregnant. The few times they did meet and eat they had to rush to avoid staying in one location too long or risk being found by Cinder and her forces. The absence of that fear and tension felt almost unnatural to her after so long. A part of her soon began to worry that these good times weren't going to last long. She shook her head at that thought, "No, things will be fine." she thought to herself. She had faith her Uncle Qrow and Ozpin will catch Cinder and the White Fang were crippled beyond repair. She just needed to finish school and take care of her son. That's right, her dream was within reach, just a quick break to enjoy with family and friends then she would be 100% and could handle any issues, be they criminals or the bullies at school. As she processed these thoughts, the feeling of mash potatoes hitting her face startled Ruby.
The table went silent as she wiped her face.
"Okay, who's trying to start a food fight?" she said with a glare towards the others. Though Nora and Yang were her obvious suspects, she didn't want to point fingers nor engage in such an activity in a host's house. Shockingly, Blake raised her hand with a sheepish smile. Ghira raised an eyebrow as everyone was surprised and yelled "Blake?" in unison.
"Sorry, you just seemed a little, tense so I wanted to lighten the mood." She awkwardly stated still smiling. While Khan wasn't amused and began to admonish her for not acting lady-like, something Blake never felt keen on doing beyond makeup, Ghira surprisingly broke down laughing in his seat. Ghira had known his daughter for a long time is what he thought, but he never knew her to break away from her stern behavior since she became a teenager. The sight of her loosening up brought tears of joy to his eyes as he soon stopped his laughter.
"Well, count me in then kiddos." He said with a sharp grin as he grabbed some mashed potatoes and threw them across the table, hitting Qrow in the face. "Servants bring more food, Food Fight!" he yelled at the top of his lungs with joy as the others went from shocked expressions to grins of happiness. It had been over a year since the students food fight at Beacon. Team JNPR was especially happy to get a rematch with Team RWBY since their defeat at the latters hand. As food flew through the air, more was brought out for ammunition for each guest's despite Khan's verbal objections to the fight, as her room was getting messier she sat down and rolled her eyes annoyed, excepting the futility of her efforts and allowing them to have their fun. "You'll all pay for this later just so you know." She stated in a monotone voice.
30 Minutes later…(French narrator)
The kids, Qrow, Raven, and Ghira were lying down on the floor breathing heavily from exhaustion. They were all covered with food from the onslaught each person had unleashed. Qrow looked at his sister in surprise, he never knew she was capable of cutting loose like his nieces. He smiled at this sight, as he knew she was finally starting to get back into the family. Raven may have left her family to hunt down the Cinder's terrorist cell, supposedly to make the world safer for her husband and Yang, but saw first hand the scars her actions left on them. Tai was depressed and overwhelmed handling an infant and needed his help to pick up slack to support her. He then bitterly remembered how Yang selfishly risked her and Ruby's lives getting attacked by Grimm looking for her mother. His heart burned with rage anytime he remembered that day, while he certainly admonished Yang harshly, he did feel she wasn't entirely to blame due to her mothers abandonment. This rage subsided at the sight of his sister talking to her daughter Yang and laughing at how they each looked ridiculous now. An icy chill that ran down his spine as he slowly turned his head around quickly replaced this warm feeling. He could feel the death glare Khan was giving him as he noticed her behind him.
"Glad you all had your fun" she said with a smile that lied about her true mood. Her husband and the kids all began to shudder at this sight, knowing they were in for the punishment of a lifetime. Khan spent the next hour screaming in their ears a lecture about messing up other peoples houses with childish games like food fights and ordered them to begin cleaning. For 2 whole hours they spent washing the windows and cleaning up the food they wasted.
"Well, we had our fun now we got to pay for it." Weiss bitterly said, though she was more ashamed she couldn't change out of her dress into one of the many beautiful blue and white dresses she packed for the trip. She looked ridiculous to an observing Khans amusement, this being her main reason for not kicking the guests out.
Menagerie Security headquarters
By the gates to the ports lied a small building with the Menagerie security logo. It was the responsibility of the police force working to protect the country to handle any threats to peace. Unfortunately, "threats" were sometimes misconstrued by the hatred or arrogance that creped into people's hearts. People such as Llia whom was in a small room with her subordinates as they sat in chairs observing a white board with images of the Bellodonna's, their servants, and blueprints of their mansions security. They were reviewing the plan Cinder had message them a few hours ago and how to execute it successfully. These subordinates hated the Bellodonna's for always advocating peaceful relations with humans and quitting the white Fang years ago. For many years they wanted to kill them for abandoning what was for them a noble cause against "parasites" to this world.
"Why don't we just move now and end those filthy traitors" one of the Faunus guards simply shouted. Llia looked on to him and gave a shush sign. He was a bull Faunus so she knew he was likely to be hot headed but emphasized he was being dumb as they didn't know who could overhear him just now.
"You idiot, keep your voice down or your gonna waste the chance we got now to do just that!" she quietly and sternly stated. "Cinder's plan will get us past the security alarms to the mansion, but we need to procure the asset to have complete victory and capture the Menagerie." She explained. Some of her grunts nodding in agreement while some simply folded their arms or shook their heads in disproval. Some were older men subjected to horrible days by the Schnee dust company or were teens that had simply heard stories of hatred from their elders. They were nonetheless dissatisfied policing this country that was starting to allow humans to visit. Why should they have to protect the "rats" that hurt them in the past? Was what they were thinking.
"Oh seriously, I don't want this nation, I just want to kill those cats and their pet humans." He retorted with anger, but hushing to comply with her. Many of the corrupt police force nodded in unison.
Llia frowned at this declaration. She empathized with his feelings. She wanted to make Blake especially pay. She almost cried upon remembering how they played together as children. How she heard stories of Blake's attacks on the Schnee dust company with Adam. She always admired her friend, and even felt a strong tingly sensation inside her waste whenever she thought of her now. Llia realized as she grew older she was in love with her childhood friend, and had hoped by joining the Menagerie police force and getting a high level position would make her family see her as a worthy partner for Blake. When Blake messaged her one-day and said she was going to Beacon and admitted leaving the White Fang, a new feeling began to replace that love and hope.
"Like I said, we capture the asset first then we proceed with an all out assault on the mansion, then we can enjoy the carnage." She said with a serious but sadistic tone. Her smile winning over the group as they prepared for their coup with joy.
"Ready or not kitty kitty, I'm coming for you." She said to herself bitterly.
New Feelings
Ruby groaned as she lay on her guest bed, her arms aching from exhaustion from carrying her son and moping for hours. Her team shared this sentiment exactly; they too were tired from all the excitement and exercise. Right now they were in Blake's rather large bedroom, riddled with posters of grimm and huntresses fighting them, makeup stations, and a huge walk-in closet fit for a princess. Blake never liked having so much space growing up until she realized her father wanted it that way for having sleepovers with lots of friends. Blake didn't have that many, unfortunately, so she felt blessed to have all them here with her now. They moved their guest beds into her room to sleep tonight while keeping a baby radio on the dresser to hear if Thorn needed anything, to Ruby's comfort. While they were tired, they couldn't pass up on the chance to talk to each other again for the first time in weeks since Beacon. While they talked about things such as Blake's old taste in girly clothing, to the Goths embarrassment, Yang suddenly shifted it to a more serious topic.
"So Rubes, how are you holding up lately." She asked her half-sister with a nervous tone. While she saw that Ruby was smiling and seemed to be enjoying her vacation, she had heard how the silver eye girl had been hiding some deep pain behind those smiles.
"Well, I admit it was a rough start." Ruby began, Blake and Weiss looked down as they heard such a somber reply. Now they knew how Yang was feeling these past 3 weeks. Their blond teammate told them all what she had been up to while away from Beacon; punching out goons to vent her frustrations of failure. Blake now feared Ruby was depressed again and felt like she was failing as her now too. Suddenly her ears perked up when Ruby's tone shifted.
"But Blake and her family really just took a load off my chest now. Though my arms are killing me, It's the first time in weeks I felt this happy" she joyfully said with a pure smile. Blake suddenly felt a strange knot in her chest; she didn't understand why she felt such a way. Something about seeing Ruby's smile just now made her feel wobbly.
"Uh, your welcome Rubes." She awkwardly stated with a forced smile. Yang and Weiss eyes went wide hearing this. "Rubes" they thought to themselves. So far only Yang said such a thing to their leader due to being sisters and they didn't think Blake was someone to get that close and personal with any friend. Feeling their gaze upon her, Blake face grew flushed as she nervously got up to use the bathroom across the hall as she stated.
"What was that all about?" Ruby pondered. Suddenly she was snapped out of her confusion by the sound of the baby radio picking up on Thorn's crying. "Excuse me, got to check out my little angel" she quickly said excusing herself.
Meanwhile, in her bathroom, Blake washed her face to cool herself down.
"What's wrong with me, why is she making me feel this weird." She said to herself. She was shocked by the sound of fists tapping on the door; she hoped to god it wasn't Ruby right now. For some reason she felt Ruby was the last person she wanted to see her like this.
"Blake, are you in there, I heard you say you had a weird feeling" the voice revealing to be Ghira. Blake quickly opened the door and met her father out in the hallway.
"Dad, I'm fine its just…. *groan* you wouldn't understand" she dejectfully stated.
"I can't really if you aren't willing to talk to me about it" He said
"Honestly, this is the most you have spoken to me or Shelena in years though" he said with a joking tone, but Blake could tell it belayed a hidden sadness. Her cat ears went down as she realized how selfish she had been towards him and hugged him rather unexpectedly. Tears flowing down her eyes and she wetted his large chest while he returned the hug.
"Sweetie, please tell me what's wrong." He somberly asked his daughter.
"I-I'm really scared right now." She began hesitantly. She began to talk about how she felt weird around Ruby lately, how much she had really admired her since they first met at Beacon, and her worries for her leaders health. Her father heard these feelings and instantly realized what she was going through, they were the same feelings he felt many times around Blake and her mother themselves.
"Sweetie, your just in love with her aren't you?" he warmly asked, if bluntly.
Blake instantly blushed and pulled away from the hug, extremely flustered and denied that. How could she, a girl, be with another girl like Ruby and one so young? Were the thoughts going through her mind right now. But this denial thoughts in he head melted at the sight of Ruby smiling as she head into Thorn's guest room to check on his crying with confidence.
"Yeah, I-I really guess so." She softly said with a smile. She admired Ruby in the past for her bright optimism, but now felt warmth seeing her so strong and confident with her child now.
"Blake, it doesn't matter what form of love you feel, if its love I will support yours." He confidently stated. That's why he felt the need to leave the White Fang years ago with Shelena. People not understanding each other and killing those who were loved like his first wife Khali.
"Your mother in fact, was a commoner before I married her. My parents threatened to disown me if I married her, but I showed my courage for her sake and did it anyway. You should follow your heart too sweetie." He lectured proudly.
Tears ran down Blake's eyes as she smiled, happy to receive her fathers blessings and encouragement and gave him a hug like the one Nora used to squeeze the life out of her in the past.
Awakening and Loss
Suddenly, Father and Daughter were shocked out of their embrace by the sound of a scream from Ruby coming from Thorns room that was replaced by a loud squeal from the infant. They weren't the only ones to hear this horrific sound, as Team JNPR, Yang, Weiss, and the Branwen siblings rushed out of their rooms to go check on the mother and son. In their room, the groups saw a terrible scene unfold.
Ruby was panting heavily as she stabbed in the stomach by a scorpion tail, belonging to a crazy eyes looking faunus holding a screeching Thorn in his right arm. In his left showed an axe gauntlet like the ones Timber used. Yang's eyes instantly went red as her hair caught fire and charged the scorpion man with rage at this sight. He merely smiled evilly as he used his axe to block her move and kicked her in the stomach away, knocking the wind out of her and shattering her Aura to everyone's astonishment at his strength. The assailant mere grinned as he looked down at the infant he kidnapped.
"Well, looks like my work is done, ta ta everyone!" he mockingly stated as he removed his now bloody stinger from the young mothers stomach and smacked blood onto the carpet to clean himself. He then jumped backwards out the window and ran off towards the jungle with Thorn. Qrow and Raven growled with rage as they assumed their avian forms and flew out to follow him.
"Quick, we got to follow them!" Jaune stated to his team before Blake shoved him out of the front doors entrance. She ran towards Ruby, still breathing heavily while clutching her wounded stomach. Blake's face almost went as pale as hers when seeing her begin to lose a lot of blood.
"Hang on Ruby, Hang on we'll get my fathers doctor here!" she said with panic in her voice. Weiss and Yang cried out to Ghira, begging him to fetch such a doctor to help their friend, tears stinging their eyes from seeing her in pain. To everyone's astonishment, Ruby didn't wait for the doctor and instantly charged out the window with Crescent rose with a roar to find her sons kidnapper and remove his head.
Panic raced through her teams mind as they realized she was acting out of rage and adrenaline. They followed suit, as they knew she was in no condition to move and her adrenaline wouldn't last long, but her speed semblance made it hard to keep up, only able to tell where she was going by rose petals forming a trail.
Before the others could follow, the house lights went dark. Ghira's night vision, a benefit for faunus people, allowed him to grab a candle and light a match to make things easier for them.
"It's probably just a black out, now lets gather your weapons and follow them, my daughter and your friends could get hurt even worse." He said with worry invading his normally confident tone. He didn't even care what caused the blackout, but Pyrrah did. Her instincts were screaming at her right now that danger was coming. True to form, the group's skins got goose bumps as they heard windows shatter from bullet blasts. Soon faunus men started to enter the Mansion, spouting hateful words towards the Belladonna's they wouldn't dare repeat.
"Burglars, well if your rich I can't say I'm surprised!" Nora exclaimed to Rens disgust, now wasn't the time to envy peoples wealth or say the obvious. "Nora, this isn't the time for that we got to stop them and go help Ruby!" he exclaimed.
On cue, team JNPR and Sun charged up their aura and used Sun's avatars and Nora's lightning to spread light around the mansion to fight off their invaders.
Menagerie Jungle
Meanwhile..
The scorpion man jumped from tree to tree like a monkey despite his real animal traits. His evil grin soon forming a frown, as he grew annoyed by the baby he kidnaped crying. A part of him wanted to slice this little stinkball up with his axe. Before the dark thought in his mind continued, he got a call on his scroll, which he answered while still running to avoid his pursuers.
"Tyrian, Salem is preparing a portal for you, reach the end of that jungle and don't waste time fighting or she will be very "displeased" with you." Cinder emphasized the last words intently to showcase the importance of his mission. Knowing the scorpion faunus's insanity, she knew he wasn't likely to follow his mission details exactly unless Salem herself threatened him.
Sweat dripped down his face as her words proved true, offending his master was the last thing Tyrian wanted so he complied with a simple nod before hanging up. His scroll was then blasted out of his hands by a bullet as he looked behind him and growled.
Qrow and Raven were a few feet behind him, having caught up and transformed back into human form, with anger on their faces.
"Give my grandson back!" Raven roared. She was about to fire another bullet from her gun blade before Qrow grabbed it.
"Don't your gonna hit Thorn!" he admonished her. As much as he emphasized the want to put bullets in this guy, he couldn't risk Thorns health. Suddenly, Ruby petal burst past them at break-neck speed. Blood splattered on their faces to their shock. They realized it was Ruby's, she hadn't bandaged herself up and was losing blood fast, they had to help her soon.
Ruby's mind raced at the sight of the scorpion man who stabbed her and worse, was making her son cry in his arms. She couldn't feel anything, not pain or fear for him right now, just rage as she tackled him and grabbed her son and forced them all to the end of the Jungle towards the main waterfall.
As they crashed into the water, blood and rose petals scattered into the river beneath the falls. Qrow and Raven were shocked at this sight, as team WBY arrived from the jungle behind them. Seeing the blood roll down the river caused their skin to turn pale white. Panic flushed their minds at the thought
"Are they dead?" Tears stung Blake's eyes as she collapsed to the ground screaming in agony. Yang hugged her partner, tears also stinging her. She had a feeling about Blake's crush on her sister and knew this was hitting her hard. It was hitting her hard too, but Ruby taught her to hope for the best in these situations so she was gonna do just that. They were snapped out of their shock by the sound of water splashing at the end of the river.
"Is that her, are they okay?!" Blake said as she looked up, a smile forming to showcase her newfound hope. Hope that was soon destroyed at the horrific sight of Tyrian emerging with limp Ruby in his hand, cradling her coughing infant Thorn. Team WBY's hearts sank as they stood in shock, feeling frozen in place and helpless to stop the man from punching her with rage.
"You little bitch! I ought to…" he screamed as he began to attach his axe to his other arm to finish her off.
Blake was outraged at this sight as she reached for Gambrol Shroud to shoot him. Weiss grabbed her blade and summoned some slyphs as well to defend her friend. Before they could fire a whip grabbed them and were tossed aside to their owners shock. They looked up to see in the trees a chameleon girl wearing a white fang mask smirking.
"Llia!" Blake screamed in surprise. Why was her friend stopping her from saving ruby? She thought to herself. Before even getting an answer she had turned invisible and ran off.
"Alright little red, lets make you even more red!" Tyrian said as he prepared to kill Ruby" snapping them out of their shock.
"Nooooooo!" Qrow and Raven screamed as they flew towards him to save Ruby. A portal suddenly appeared behind Tyrian, and he knew he didn't have time to fight. He bitterly grabbed Thorn from a semi-conscious Ruby and made way to the portal. She grabbed his ankle in defiance.
"G-give me back.. my son!" she weakly groaned, shivering from the cold and blood loss. But Tyrian didn't pay her and mind and simply kicked her hand, breaking it before completely going through the portal. Ruby's eyes shuddered as she saw him disappear with her son. Qrow and Raven arrived too late to stop him, looking on with shock before kneeling before her to aide her.
Ruby began to hyperventilate, she felt absolutely helpless right now. She feared she might never see her son again. Terror and pain invaded her mind as she screamed in agony. Soon thorns began to spew out of her skin, nearly stabbing Qrow and Raven as they jumped back in shock. Weiss covered her mouth in terror as she saw Ruby beginning to sprout vines with thorns and rose petals from her back, making it all the way to their side and lashing at them.
"Ruby you dunce! What are you doing!?" she screamed, before noticing her leaders eyes with no iris and her neck with purple markings as her stomach continued to bleed.
"Oh god, she's losing it!" Yang said with horror in her tone. She realized Ruby was poisoned and perhaps it was affecting her semblance negatively.
"Get it together girls!" Raven scolded the team as they stood around in shock. "If we don't do something soon, Ruby will die of blood loss and that poison." She bitterly stated. She had been in many life or death scenarios like this and needed help to save the chaotic teen before she exploded from her rampage.
Blake didn't hear any of this, looking on in terror at the sight of the girl she loved and admired in such a violent state.
"Ru…Ruby?" she quietly said to herself, her lips quivering.