RWBY: A Thorn in My Heart
Chapter 10: Storm before the Peace
Raven gathered the teenagers and her husband in the living room to prepare for the rescue plan. Ghira, though bandaged and sore, managed to tell the police the attack on the mansion and have them begin taking the assassins bodies away to ease the teens discomfort from the gory scene. If they were going save Ruby's son they would need to be mentally in top form for whatever Raven was plotting for the exchange with Cinder.
Blake took one last look at Khan's lifeless face as the police closed her body bag and wheeled her away. Her stomach wrenched, but not from the smell of blood on the walls or the body bags filled with dead faunus. Her discomfort came from the uncertainty of how to react to this situation. She wanted to get angry with her stepmothers body for betraying her, her friends, and her father. At the same time, she felt sadness, not for her death, but for how bitter Khan truly felt towards humans so much that she would even shoot her own husband just for a petty chance at misplaced revenge. But most of all she felt disappointment with herself for not understanding how bitter Khan was this whole time. Blake always felt the rage of her fellow faunus in the White Fang or even her friends on the streets because they were so vocal about it. But then again, Blake cursed herself for holding a grudge herself against her own parents for having one secret. She vividly remembered the day she ran away from home to join the White Fang. She felt rage towards them for hiding the truth about her real mother for years and wanted to join the group her father left out of spite. Her attempts at obtaining "justice and equality" were no less self-serving than Khan's bigotry. She was brought out of these deprecating thoughts by a hand placed on her shoulder.
"Sweetie, I get your upset, but remember what I told you" her father said sternly but with a supportive tone. Ghira gave her a soft smile as he looked away from the sight of his wife's body carried out. Though he felt sadness and rage towards her for the betrayal, he knew she was dead and his living daughter needed his guidance more than he needed to mourn right now.
"Blake, I know you've been through a lot not just today but over the years since you left. But don't forget why you're here" he urged his daughter.
Blake perked up a bit. "
That's right, I have to forgive myself, the past is in the past. Ruby's counting on me to help her here and now!" she thought to herself.
Blake then looked around to see her friends smiling towards her. She felt the discomfort in her stomach fade as a warmth replaced it due to their support, something she would always take as proof the White Fang and Khan were wrong about humans.
"Your right, sorry for panicking. Please Raven, what's the plan for save Thorn." Blake finally responded confidently. She felt ready to fight and save Ruby's baby, then felt hopeful for what future could await them. She blushed to herself from embarrassment imagining herself with Ruby and Thorn happy as she remembered the kiss she planted on the unconscious teen earlier, but she kept herself focused on the meeting for her sake.
After she saw the police take the rest of the bodies away, Raven felt comfortable to proceed. She didn't want to risk leaking their plan to any agents of Cinder.
"Alright then, so we need to return to Beacon and restock on ammo and dust before we attack." Raven said as she began explaining. The teens looked at their weapons, dirty, damaged and near empty.
"Welp, I guess a good patch up is in order." Yang said with joy. She thought as much as Ruby was the weapon's nut, she remembered how happy she felt whenever dad bought her new dust grenades or gauntlets.
"Correct, and it won't be just for punching out Cinder's lights. If General Ironwood won't cooperate with us we'll have to knock some sense into him as well." She said as she grinned almost sadistically. Convincing the general wouldn't be easy, so she felt a little "persuasion" would likely be needed.
"Yeah, but what if we fail to convince him and just end up in jail?" Weiss said with a sarcastic tone.
Weiss felt uneasy about this suggestion, feeling she had to speak and make sure they all knew the risks. Raven knew she was right to think this, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
"We don't need the police getting in our way when we got to fight Cinder and her forces while rescuing a baby at the same time." She sternly retorted. This counterargument essentially silenced Weiss, as scared as fighting her home kingdoms general and being imprisoned; she was more scared of her partner losing her baby. Raven then turned to another person she knew would protest the next step of her plan.
"Now then, Yang, I need you to stay quite and listen to what I am about to tell you, not just for your sake but Ruby's as well." Raven said to her daughter with a sympathetic but stern tone. Yang sat upright as she raised her head to pay extra close attention despite still being a bit woozy from giving Ruby blood.
"Yeah mom, what is it?" Yang asked.
"As much as I know you'll hate it, I need you to stay behind and watch Ruby while we fight and get Thorn back." Raven sighed as she hesitantly stated, predicting the bad response soon to come from her daughter.
"You expect me to just stand back and babysit an unconscious girl while everyone risks their lives to save my nephew!?" she exclaimed, her eyes turning red as she struggled to contain her outrage at such a preposterous request. Ghira noticed the floor beneath Yang's feet begin to smoke and sizzle from the heat of her semblance.
"Easy young lady, don't burn my house down." He sternly called out. Though he looked around to see bloodstains around the carpets and walls and internally admitted it wouldn't be the worse "renovation".
Hearing this caused Yang to take a deep breath and calm down enough to deactivate her fire, but she still glared at her mother with red eyes, indicating her disproval.
"It's precisely because she's unconscious that I need you to stay and watch over her. You remember how she passed out from stress at Beacon or worse how she rampaged and nearly killed us right?" Raven bitterly brought up with a glare. Yang's heart sank as she sat down in compliance. Of course she remembered, not preventing them were one of her greatest shames. "If we don't get this right and reunite Ruby with Thorn, this will kill her." Raven sadly stated. She knew how hard Ruby had been taking her sufferings both mentally and physically and that losing her baby would shatter her mind.
"My semblance only works if I connect with someone I form a contract with. I was stupid for not making one with Thorn but I have one with you" she explained while cursing herself.
Though composed, Blake could feel the sadness and guilt in Raven's words. Blake had just recently gone through the same self-deprecation, but felt a surge of determination from seeing it in another. A part of her wanted to be vocally supportive of Raven's idea, but took a look at a sad Yang and decided not to go against her partner openly. Everyone needed to be calm for Ruby.
"Once we get Thorn back, I'll summon a portal and transport him to you where you can reunite him with his mom once she comes too. Your also the only one strong enough to hold her back once she flips out and tries to join us again." Raven instructed her.
Everyone nodded in agreement, even Yang despite the nagging feeling of doubt still plaguing her mind about staying behind. She hated the thought of not helping get Thorn back, but hated the idea of Ruby killing herself fighting to get him back even worse. She vividly remembered her rampage and nearly destroying herself and them with her evolved semblance. The screams of anger from her half sister as the thorns flying and poisoning her mom were especially devastating for the blond brawler.
"Okay mom… I'll stay for Ruby." She sadly stated, barely raising her head.
Hearing this, Raven nodded as she looked on to her team, hiding any unease she was feeling for Thorn to give them and herself confidence the mission would work.
"Okay, I'll head over first and tell Ozpin and help him convince the General. Tai stay here with them so I can summon you all once was ready. In the meantime relax everyone and prepare yourselves for battle." She ordered as she drew her blade to prepare to leave. The final nods from her husband and team being the key for her to finally feel confident to leave through her portal.
Salem's base
Meanwhile…
"God can I just kill this brat already? His screams are driving me crazy!" Tyrian screeched to raise his voice over that of Thorn's crying.
Thorn's screeched echoed throughout the base as he continued to feel extreme pain in his ear from Cinder's cut. Tyrian looked on clasping his ear in irritation as the infant he was carrying was screaming the top of his lungs.
Cinder sat in a chair next to him with her arms limp as she exhaled in exhaustion.
"Don't… master will kill us for not doing it at the right moment." She panted. She had to give the baby to Tyrian after several hours of carrying him and staying awake from his crying keeping her up. She needed to rest for a bit.
Tyrian gritted his teeth at this order. He knew Salem wanted to kill the baby at the right moment during the exchange, but his murderous drive grew along with his impatience. He glared at cinder with disdain.
"Why did you have to say "24 hours?" I can hardly wait that long!" he yelled over Thorn's screaming.
Soon a chilling breeze went down through her necks as Salem entered the room. The witch's presence immediately snapped Cinder out of her weariness and causing her to kneel in panic along with Tyrian.
"We mustn't deprive our "heroes" a chance for victory or this game wouldn't be fun at all my dear children." She said in a mocking tone as she smiled. She already knew their enemies would be panicking and fighting amongst themselves with planning to save the baby. Such inner turmoil would only serve to power herself and the grimm she controlled for their assault on Ironwood's army. Looking down on her servants/adoptive children, she saw in Tyrian's arms the key to her plan, Thorn Rose.
She smiled evilly as she felt the infant's pain as he cried. But as much as his anguish amused her, she too grew annoyed by the sound of his crying and raised her hand over his face. Her hand glowed red as he suddenly began to tire out, his body feeling weak with exhaustion as he fell asleep.
"What did you just do?" Cinder asked with shock. She couldn't comprehend how her mother finally silenced the brat. Salem looked at her daughter with disdain as she frowned.
"You think power is all about burning or crushing things. It's not about raw energy it's the skill in which you hone it." She lectured the young witch.
Cinder lowered her head and averted her gaze as the chilling sound of the scolding. Salem smirked as she felt her fear.
"A simple sleep spell that induces exhaustion once touched. You'll learn it when I say you can." She asserted with a dominating tone.
"Now! Give him to me and prepare our both the White Fang and my army for the exchange, we only have 12 hours remaining until its time." She sternly commanded them as they complied in an instance, fear and panic clearly showcased on their faces. Salem grinned as they ran out the room to assemble the army's as instructed.
"Oh how I love to see worms squirm." She said to herself.
Reflections
Ozpin sat at his desk with a serious look as he witnessed Raven summon herself with the teens and Taiyang from her portal. To his displeasure, he also saw the black haired huntress carry her intoxicated brother on her shoulders as he mumbled in his sleep.
"If Qrow is drunk, why did you bring him here then?" he asked with disdain.
The headmaster knew the branwan man had a drinking problem, and that this was a hard time for his family, but they needed the most capable huntsman for this operation. Raven merely ignored his looks as she directed one towards Glynda.
"Hey nanny, maybe your powers can clean up his mess." She mockingly said as she pointed to her riding crop and Qrow at the same time. Raven knew Glynda's semblance could restore things to their original condition, and maybe it could make her brother sober. Glynda glared with disdain towards Raven for the derogatory remark and opened her mouth and raised a finger to vocally object. Before her tirade could start, Ozpin, who could sense a fight about to begin and knew it wasn't the time, cut her off.
"Good idea! With professor Goodwitch's semblance we can bring him back into fighting form to save Miss Roses son." He quickly exclaimed to emphasis the more important issue at hand.
Glynda lowered her arms and sighed in consent to her boss's point and drew her weapon over Qrow. It glowed purple as a glyph of the same color appeared beneath him and energy encompassed him. Qrow's eyes darted open as he jolted out of his sleep and stood up gasping for air.
"Who! Whoa! What in the hell just happened?!" he said in shock as he struggled to stay balanced. He was feeling weird from his sudden lack of hangover despite drinking.
"Well while you were drowning in your own misery we were getting ready to save Ruby's baby" Weiss said as she folded her arms in contempt. She knew from her own mothers experience how selfish people who drink were. She could remember the day she ran home crying from her piano recital when her mother didn't show. She felt sadness and anger as she vividly recalled her mother drunk in her studies after a fight with father.
"Mommy, how could you miss it? That was my big day!" a young Weiss cried to her mother. Her only response was a slap from her drunken mother who bitterly replied short words that stabbed her heart worse than any blade.
"S-Shut up you little brat." Her mother stuttered as she glared at her wincing daughter who held her red cheek while crying.
Weiss merely looked down and shook her head as the bitter memory ended. She couldn't hide her disappointment for Qrow or her own mother's behavior, but could hide her urge to leave in disgust, as she knew Ruby needed their help.
"Like Miss Schnee said, I have been gathering my forces and we have discussed our plan for the hostage exchange while you were drunk." General Ironwood explained, also showing a glare of contempt.
Qrow only looked around confused before setting his eyes on Ironwood.
"What hostage?" he asked confused.
"Cinder is the one who had Ruby's baby kidnapped and has him right now. She's demanding we release our entire White Fang prisoner's and weapons with a few hours unless we want her to kill the baby." He explained.
Qrow doubled back as he received this frightening revelation. Cinder of all people having his grandnephew was the worst possible scenario for them.
Ozpin then explained to his old confidant the plan in motion with Neo as the vanguard. Qrow glared at her, but not with contempt. A sense of self-bitterness arose in him for wasting time with his drunken behavior. Despite their past, he felt he had no right to judge her after how badly he has screwed up with his niece today.
"Okay then, Raven if you could proceed with the contract." Ozpin sighed as he decided to avoid wasting anymore time. Raven nodded in agreement as she grasped her sword and Neo's hand. Her hand and the blade glowed as she formed a red insignia of energy on Neo's hand. The others (minus Tai, Qrow, and Ozpin) stood in awe at the ceremony, having not seen anything like it. Soon the mark disappeared on Neo's hand, to her surprise as Raven's sword ceased glowing.
"It's alright, the contract is established, the mark just turns invisible but its still there for us to teleport." Raven calmly explained, bringing relief to the young adult.
"Alright then, lets all get to my ship and fly to Atlas for the exchange, we need to be ready." Ironwood firmly stated as everyone nodded in agreement.
As he was about to leave Ozpin's office, Qrow took one last look at his flask solemnly. He felt a sudden urge to drink as a wave of fear enveloped him. He was worried he would screw this up like last time with his semblance and wondered if he should even go. Footsteps approaching him startled him awake as he looked up at the office door.
"Hurry up Qrow, we got to get Thorn back!" Blake said as she returned to see what was keeping the older huntsman.
Soon a wave of guilt enveloped him, how could he have thought of running away when Ruby's son needed him.
"Yeah, right behind you kiddo." He said with a confident grin. As she left, Qrow took one more look at his flask.
"Semblance's or just bad luck?" he thought. A realization soon hit him.
No it was just his own stupid choices that were to blame so he decided to drop the flask. He decided he would quit drinking for the mission's sake, no.
"For Ruby and Thorn" he said to himself as he ran out the office to catch up with the team. No matter what, he was getting his grand nephew back.
The Exchange
Meanwhile, in an Atlas prison many of the faunus prisoners grew rowdy as they banged on the cell bars in excitement. Guards were trying their best to threaten them into submission, but the Faunus prisoners weren't scared. They had heard rumors of Cinder's demands and felt they were about to be free from this confinement and close to getting revenge on the guards and the kingdom that imprisoned them. In one cell were a grey haired boy with robotic legs and a one-armed emerald hair girl with eyes red as blood as they sat looking on at the riot in amusement. These two were members of the White Fang despite being humans. They cared nothing about their organization's goal of revenge against humanity, they wanted to conquer the whole world's populace whether human or faunus. They were Cinder's old agents who were captured during the war, Emerald and Mercury.
"Guess Cinder didn't forget us after all. Guess I owe you 5 bucks." Mercury said excitedly. His robotic legs rattled at the thought he could start kicking with full strength again. Since being captured, the prison put weights on them to make them heavier so he could barely lift them anymore.
Emerald merely ignored his statement; she was too busy grinning with joy, as she believed Cinder all along. Her joy soon subsided as she felt a burning sensation in the stump where her left arm use to be. She gritted her teeth as she remembered the day she was defeated by Blake during the war. The image of that black blade slicing her arm off flashed through her eyes as she saw Blake in her nightmares every night. She gritted her teeth as she imagined every guard she saw was her, always attempting to grab them and strangle them each day. The prison bars were the only barrier between her and the unfortunate victims she would create with her rage. All she cared about was getting out and getting revenge, and felt Cinder had finally granted her that chance.
"Yeah yeah, whatever, com on cinder get us out of here already!" she said impatiently.
As if fate was hearing her, the prison door opened up as 3 guards with shock batons approached, surprising the two.
"Get up you two, and keep your arms up!" A guard said pointing his baton charged with electricity at them. Mercury instantly complied but with a cocky smirk.
"So its time for the exchange huh? Guess Ironwood's gotten soft." Mercury mockingly stated, ignoring the approach one angry guard made towards him. The guard raised his baton to strike, but Mercury grabbed his arm and used all his might to raise his left robotic foot and stomped it on the guard's foot, crushing it. The guard collapsed and screamed in pain as blood oozed underneath the prisoners foot. The other two guards instantly stabbed Mercury with the baton, sending shock throughout his body as he collapsed on the ground, releasing his foots grip. As one guard carried the unconscious man away and asked for reinforcements, the remaining guard advanced towards Emerald with his baton ready. Emerald simply smirked as she stood up with her hands behind her head. She knew it wasn't necessary since Cinder had succeeded, but she did enjoy the scene that unfolded before her.
"Nice show dolt, enjoy your nap" she mockingly told the collapsed Mercury, as much as she couldn't stand him he could amuse her at times. Her smile faded as she clasped her right eye after an un-amused guard smacked it.
"Wipe that smirk off your face bitch and get moving!" he roared. She soon moved as ordered, but not without giving a death glare to them. Mercury merely smiled smugly as he was dragged out from the floor by two guards to avoid another stomp.
At the Gates of Atlas, a ship flew by and landed. Out of the vehicle came General Ironwood with Neo, disguised as Ruby in cuffs. She had Blake use her make up to give her a fake black eye and bruises to make it seem she was truly the injured maiden. She looked down to the floor to not show her grin, feeling confident she could pull off the ruse. The others stayed on the ship, waiting for the right opportunity to strike during the exchange.
Soon a red portal appeared near the kingdom. Out came Cinder holding a fire sword pointing towards a baby covered by a blue blanket in her arm.
"Time's up Ironwood! Now bring out my crew and the prisoners or your heroes baby dies!" she exclaimed, drawing her blade closer to the infant.
The general did not yield his stern expression in the wake of this threat. He was going to control this conversation. In response, Ironwood nodded to his guards stationed at the gate as they brought out Emerald and Mercury, the latter wobbly from his injuries. Cinder glared at him as she saw his bruises from the guards beating and was visibly angered. While Cinder was distracted, Neo winced, still in Ruby form, and moved her arms a little. She had prepared her knife beneath the fake cast her illusion was showing, preparing for the moment to strike.
"We'll give you Emerald and Mercury first. Once you have them we'll give you miss Rose next. Then we'll hand over the rest of the prisoners once you give us the baby!" he countered. He knew getting Neo close while only two prisoners were out was strategically safe.
Cinder was not convinced as she looked over to who she thought was Ruby. She gritted her teeth as she thought the injured maiden would be more frightened with the hostage situation, yet was perfectly calm. Cinder knew she was told to wait until Tyrian called her and was ready to invade the prison, but decided to speed things along a little. Mostly, she just really wanted to make Ruby suffer faster and had just the idea to do it.
"Since you hurt Mercury, I guess I'll have to even the odds." She exclaimed as she smiled evilly. She raised her blade and pierced straight through the cloth, igniting it with flames.
Ironwood and Neo looked on in shock. Neo clenched her fists as she fought with all her might the desire to scream in anger and charge at Cinder. She knew thats what the witch wanted, for Ruby to cry in agony but doing so would give away Neo's ruse and blow their chance to capture Cinder at least. Neo simply gave a glare at the witch and kept herself as calm as she could for the missions sake.
Cinder's grin soon faded, as she looked on in confusion at not seeing Ruby shocked. She soon grew angry at not getting some sort of agonizing reaction from her enemy. She had at least suspected her to scream in terror. As she pondered this surprising lack of reaction, she was soon startled by screams coming from a different source.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" the teens, Tai, and Qrow on the ship screamed as they broke out the window of the vehicle in anger and shock. They rushed towards Cinder with their weapons drawn, each filled with a murderous rage and desire to pierce Cinder.
Noticing Cinder distracted by their arrival, Neo saw her chance and motioned her hidden knife from her sleeve and threw it at Cinder, hitting her human arm. Both Cinder and Neo frowned in anger, the former for being hit as she removed the blade and the latter for missing her heart due to the annoying cuffs she wore impeding her aim.
"I'll get you for that Bitch!" Cinder roared as she slid into a portal beneath her feet and dropped the burning cloth and child on the ground by it.
The teens stopped their charge and looked at the bundle in shock as Weiss summoned a glyph and covered it in an icy aura in the shape of a stingray, dying down the flames. Taiyang closed his eyes in grief, he knew even if the burning stopped, if the blade didn't kill Thorn the fall certainly did. His grandson, gone. Such a realization brought him to his knees. He wasn't the only one in pain. Blake cried as she grasped the charred blue crop, her body felt heavy as a brick as she felt how light body was.
"W-We, we failed, he's dead! What should I do now?!" she yelled in grief. She didn't know how she was going to face Ruby after having come so close. The others stood by, tears in their eyes with similar feelings of dread and remorse overtaking them. Luckily, they were soon snapped out of their depression by sudden stirring from the body covered in ash.
"Thorn? Wait… he's alive!" Blake screamed with joy, it felt like a miracle of God as she soon unwrapped the baby from his blanket. Taiyang raised his head and wiped the tears from his eyes. His hope renewed at this revelation as his eyes widen with joy at the thought of reuniting with his grandson.
The joy was soon replaced with horror, as the body in the blanket wasn't Thorn, but a baby beowulf Grimm that tackled Blake and bit her shoulder, drawing blood as she screamed in pain. Qrow instantly drew his blade and slaughtered the tiny grimm as the others stood on, too shocked to move. Raven, shocked by this sight, instantly flew in corvid form towards them and drew her blade to summon a portal to take her to the Menagerie clinic.
Taiyang was the most startled by this event. He soon felt a surge of anger arise as he screamed in the air in frustration. He clenched his fists so hard his fingers bled as tears pf sadness over failing to get his family back stung his eyes.
As this scene unfolded, General Ironwood and Neo stood by looking in shock, before his expression changed to an angry glare and looked at his guard. If they weren't getting Thorn they were at least not leaving without some satisfaction.
"Damn it! Well men, since she didn't really bring the child, kill the prisoners!" he ordered with a roar. Before they could even respond with a "yes sir" a portal appeared behind them.
"Afraid not" Cinder eerily stated as she slashed Neo's knife across both their necks, slaying them. Neo did a double take as she realized her blade had ended them. She felt her stomach knot at the guilt she felt for giving Cinder that weapon, it was the same guilt she felt the night she hurt Ruby.
"Thanks for the save boss" Emerald said with a grin towards her leader who grabbed her teammates and went back into the portal. The sight of this infuriated Ironwood who stomped his feet in frustration. How could he have been outsmarted so badly?
Soon another portal appeared in front of Neo, with a blade piercing through the disguised woman's throat. She looked down in terror as she felt her lungs choking for air from the burning sensation she was feeling. Soon she looked up to see Cinder grinning evilly at her and Ironwood, who stood by surprised at the scene before him.
"And that's Checkmate!" she coldy stated. Though she still had a nagging feeling she was missing something, Cinder felt satisfied to have gotten her revenge. Her satisfaction and grin faded quickly as the image of a slain Ruby was enveloped in pink light, as her body soon changed back into Neo who fell to the ground on her back, blood running down her neck to her dress.
Cinder eyes flared fire as she screamed in frustration over this deception, before a hand grabbing her neck and snatching her out of the portal snapped her out of it. Ironwood grasped her in rage as he kneed her stomach, knocking the wind out of her as he threw her into the ground, shattering the cement beneath them.
"That is checkmate you little…" he began to retort in anger before Cinder's shadow hand clasped his face and glowed the spell Salem used. Ironwood felt weary as he rocked back and forth in exhaustion before collapsing. Having his grip on her neck gone, Cinder gasped for air before noticing the teens and Taiyang running towards her. The young witch groaned as she rolled her eyes in annoyance; she was tired of fighting the small and wanted to go find the real Ruby to kill. Her arm soon glowed from these dark thoughts as she plunged it into the ground, summoning a swarm of Beowulf's in front of them to face her opponents.
As his team faced them, Qrow slashed a grimm in anger as he saw Cinder slowly pick herself back up. He turned into a crow as he darted past the army of grimm and turned back to human before the witch. He drew his scythe sword to try and stab her before did something he never expected.
Cinder petal burst backwards and avoided the strike. That was Ruby's semblance, but he assumed she lost the ability to use it after some time since it had been months since she absorbed it. Cinder merely smirked towards him for his wrong assumption as she summoned another portal to escape. Qrow looked down to see Neo dead before him as he kneeled down to close her eyes respectfully.
"Sorry kid, she really had us fooled." He somberly stated. He felt shame she had to pay with her life for them being so easily deceived.
As he pondered his guilt, Qrow was approached from behind by a grimm as he stabbed his blade into it without turning around. He groaned in anger as he turned around and charged towards the remaining grimm to fight. It wouldn't get rid of his frustrations or confusion, but killing them would certainly make him feel better.
Menagerie
Back in the mansions medical room, Ruby stood upright in shock. She was still thinking about Blake's sudden kiss. For her everything was happening so fast from Thorn's kidnapping, to the kiss, and to being told by Yang about her semblance and the exchange plan.
"Does Blake, really love me, why?" she thought to herself. After all these mishaps, all the people she endangered these past few days because of her breakdowns she felt unsure about everything. She then remembered how Blake hugs gave her a warm feeling even when feeling these painful knots in her chest.
"How could I even be deserving of her." she said softly, even if she felt the same way, she didn't feel like she was a strong enough person to return Blake's feelings. Ruby then looked down to see her sister sleeping before her bed and clenched her good fist. Yang suddenly woke up, as if she sensed her sister's anger and sadness.
"Rubes, what's up?" she slowly said as she yawned.
"I am so sorry Yang, maybe if I strong like you I could be good enough for her and Thorn." Ruby said dejected.
Yang's face lowered with a frown at hearing this. She pondered how best to respond and encourage her half-sister past this uncertainty. Her face brightened up as she got it.
"ooooooh, someone loves a little kitty, guess Zwei's gonna have a love rival" she teased, feeling remembering their cute corgi would distract Ruby.
She chuckled in response slightly, before her small smile faded to Yang's displeasure.
"Yang I'm serious, what if…. What if I just end up losing her like Thorn!" Ruby said with panic.
"Ruby, you and Blake are so much stronger than me. You always faced your problems together rather than just run away like the coward I was." She sternly retorted. She remembered abandoning Ruby for a selfish trip to mantle and vent on goons. She knew Ruby was beginning to blame herself just like she (Yang) herself did. Qrow was there to snap sense back into her and now she needed to do the same for Ruby.
"Look here, everyone's going to risk their lives for Thorn because they love you both, just like Blake loves you. Were doing this is proof your loved and deserve this." She confidently stated. Ruby's frown finally began to change to her sister's relief.
"Everything's gonna be fine. I bet any minute now Mom will open up a portal and Blake will carry Thorn back to into your arms. You can work out your feelings with her then." She said with love. Soon a portal appeared in the room.
"Well speak of the devi!" Yang said with excitement. She was confident her mom could save Thorn but didn't expect her to do it so quickly. Ruby's eyes widen with joy at the thought of reuniting with her baby. Blake's image creped into her mind, but her smile didn't fade. She felt it might not be bad to consider her for a partner after all the comfort she felt from her teammate these past few days.
These happy feelings and thoughts soon evaporated at the sight of Thorn being carried through the portal by someone other than Blake. It was Salem, who held a hand over her son's sleeping face menacingly.
Yang and Ruby's eyes widen in terror at the sight of the unknown witch before the formers turned red in anger.
"Give my nephew back!" she roared as she charged with her gauntlets ignited. But she was soon frozen in place as Salem moved her hand away from Thorn and enveloped the brawler in dark vines that sapped her strength.
"Yang!" Ruby yelled as she saw her sister pass out from the vines exhausting her. She soon turned to see the witch walked towards her.
"Well I admit your friends were clever for tricking Cinder, I was not so easily fooled." She menacingly stated. Ruby didn't pay her any mind, only staring at her son.
"Give him back to me!" she roared. Salem only smirked in response.
"Don't worry you'll be reunited soon." Salem said as she clasped Ruby's face. Ruby grabbed the hand and tried to force it off vainly as she felt it squeeze her like a vice. Her hand glowed as it tightened its grip.
"What are you doing!?" she yelled as she felt a surge of strange energy invade her head painfully.
"Adopting some new pets" Salem smiled as she replied cryptically.