RWBY: A Thorn in My Heart

Chapter 13: Preparations

Winter Schnee, captain of the Atlas military, glared at her scroll intensely while sitting in her office. Per Ironwoods orders, she was reviewing the attack on the prison to shore up their defenses in the future. Every minute watching this video felt like a blow to her pride. She was the captain of the strongest military of the world and now she was forced to do secretary work. She grew even more frustrated seeing the image of Tyrian and the white fang soldiers attacking Weiss especially. Not only was here little sister nearly raped by those "filthy beasts" as she put it, she wasn't even allowed to have partaken in that mission.

"That imbecile Ironwood just had to have me guard some worthless peasants." She said sternly to herself. She did not want to risk someone outside her office hearing such a dangerous comment.

Winter grew further disgusted remembering this morning where the General ordered her team to stay in Mantle and defend civilians in case the prisoners got free. Even though the records showed a large amount of Faunus prisoners escaped, non were found near Mantle, which made their body-guarding mission pointless. As she pondered this reality, Winter took particular interest in the battles recording of the portals teleporting them away.

"I know she's a witch but how…" she began to say quietly before a message appeared on her scroll. She glared at it and smiled in pleasant surprise.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

To get to the other side of the border! Winter realized this and that it would be time for one of her favorite stress reliefs and the timing was perfect to get her mind off this crap she was forced to endure.

Soon a tall old white man with white hair forcefully entered her room bringing with him an air of superiority despite the rude entrance.

Winter frowned in anger as she noticed the culprit was non other than her father Jaqcues Schnee.

"Winter, I just had endure an embarrassing press conference today because of your militaries pathetic incompetence!" he roared with anger. Winter hardly flinched in response, she was used to his high-handed attitude and temper.

"Don't blame me when I wasn't even allowed to be there." She countered.

"If you had more power you could have been and we could have avoided having me explain to the press why the captain of Atlas, who is a SCHNEE, wasn't able to stop those filthy beasts from escaping!" he screamed. Like his daughter, Jaqcues had a low view of Faunus and felt they were not good enough for anything more than hard labor and the ones that became criminals shouldn't have been imprisoned. If anything, it was an insult to humanity to not kill them and even feed them in a cell period. Having to keep these bigoted thoughts to himself made the prideful owner of the Dust Company grew livid each night. Winter looked solemnly as she remembered Weiss. Not only was the captain heart broken to not have been there to fight and protect her from the White Fang, but she remembered the nights she hugged her to keep her safe from her father and mothers drunk and angry shouting matches in their youth. It brought much strain to their relationship when Weiss chose to enter Beacon over Atlas, as Winter wanted nothing more than to see her sister join the military by her side. Nonetheless, she still felt Weiss was a better alternative to dealing with Father and thought of the perfect counter to get out of this awkward argument.

"What if I told you I could get your company some more manpower and make those filthy beasts pay? Kill two birds with one stone as the old saying goes." Winter said with a sadistic smile. Jacques soon calmed down in response and grinned. He had seen that smile before in his eldest daughter and knew she had a brilliant idea.

"The Schnee Dust Company's eldest daughter captures escape convicts" Winter said with pride in her tone. She could read the articles now and how they would get Father off her back and get her some sweet revenge and then some.

Menagerie

The next morning the Belladonna Mansion erupted with a roar of laughter.

"Hahahaha, so sweetie when's the wedding?!" Ghira jokingly said after his laughing fit. He sat in bed with bandages wrapped around his stomach and shoulders as he was still in recovery and came too. He ceased his laughing for a moment to wince in pain, not from his injuries but from a punch to the head from a flustered Blake.

"This is no time for Jokes!" Blake said, red in the face as Ruby held her blushing face while staring off into space.

"Well, I wouldn't mind wearing a red dress and seeing Blake in a nice little…" She said imagining such a wedding scene blissfully. Of course she knew she was too young for marriage right now, but she was also too young to be a mother and look what happened.

"Ruby not now!" Blake yelled in embarrassment. This was hard enough for Blake as it was. She knew her father accepted their relationship, but still felt the need to formally announce it to him. It was a matter of principle.

Ghira rubbed the new bump on his head as he smiled in amusement at the reaction his daughter was giving. He remembered earlier how angry he felt as he was powerless to help her fight Cinder and when he saw her get bitten by a grimm on TV. As a father he felt ashamed at failing to keep her safe so he felt a joke would ease his own discomfort, but agreed it was time to get back to business.

"Okay, Okay, jokes aside I think its wonderful you two are together, but we need to focus on a different issue this situation brought on." He said with a stern look. Blake and Ruby's eyes widen as they gave their full attention to the older Belladonna.

"What is it dad?" Blake asked.

"The police, when we defeated the assassins that night I noticed one of them was a member of the Menagerie police force." He said bitterly. Blake and Ruby doubled back as they were shocked by this revelation.

"Why would the police target us?" Ruby asked with a bewildered tone.

For a huntress in training like herself, it was inconceivable for people who were entrusted to guard the lives of others to betray that trust.

Ghira lowered his head slightly as he felt shame while coming up with a response. He knew his past has now put them all in danger.

"Because I was once the leader of the White Fang, and Khan was one of my partners in the organization before we left." He explained. While this reveal surprised Ruby, Blake stood on and watched silently due to having already learned this from team JNPR the other night.

"At first we wanted to spread peaceful messages throughout human cities for equal rights. I believed I could make a difference, but years of hate slowly crushed the hope I once held and led me to abandoning that goal." He said with shame and regret, not even looking at Blake. He was not proud to look at his daughter after revealing his cowardice.

"Many Faunus today still hold a grudge against me for leaving that cell, whether for not engaging in terrorist attacks on humans or for not stopping the organization from becoming violent." He explained. He knew his failures made him an enemy in his own people's eyes, whether they were moralistic or not.

"So my family and friends were targeted by corrupt police because you couldn't keep fighting and ran away, just like me." Blake bitterly said, but not with malice towards her father but herself. She felt she had no right to truly judge him after she did the same thing by running away to the organization and then running from it to join Beacon. Ruby felt she needed to speak up and drive the conversation away from these self-deprecating topics.

"So what do we do now then?" she asked Ghira.

"We need to regain the trust of the people here. To do that, we need to root out any remaining White Fang in the police force." He said sternly.

"Like Llia, she was its captain and the one who betrayed all of us" Blake bitterly stated. Ghira frowned in disdain; he never imagined the corruption went all the way to Llia. After all, she and Blake were so close as children, but then again so were Khan and himself.

"So just like my wife, even Llia fell to hatred." He said venomously. Blake and Ruby felt Goosebumps hearing his dark tone.

Sensing their anxiety from his behavior, Ghira quickly raised his hands and apologized for scaring them and then smiled cockily.

"No worries, I got a plan to draw them out!" he said proudly.

"And what would that be?" Ruby asked.

"You two are going out on a date!" he exclaimed with joy, eliciting a squeal from the girls of confusion, shock and embarrassment.

Meanwhile….

Mistral

It was a stormy knight as winds blew sharp breezes through a Mistral desert, one of the few that led a direct route to Mantle. It was normally so hot it was thought to be impossible to survive the barren wasteland during the day, but nights were cold and windy, making it more likely for someone to make it. Winds kept kicking up large portions of sand as it flew in air. A large group of refugees wearing robes raised their arms to cover their eyes from the onslaught of sand threatening their eyes.

"Boss, how much further till we get to the kingdom!?" A white wolf Faunus man said amongst the crowd of 24. His question led to an angry glare from the leader, a lion faunus as he turned around to respond.

"If you lot would stop asking questions we would be there by now, so shut it!" he roared. This man's name was Leonardo Lionheart, the former headmaster of Mistral. Like Blake, he had hidden his Faunus traits for many years and posed as human to gain political power, eventually gaining the headmaster position at a prestigious school. Unfortunately, during the war he was ousted as a Faunus by one of his students, a Schnee named William. Lionheart could still see the image of the smug little brat in his eyes. He clenched his fist with rage, wishing nothing more than to smash the spoiled child's face in. He was robbed of his job by bigotry, but hid his heritage for years because he felt it was futile to openly fight against such discrimination. One couldn't truly eradicate the parasite that was racism so long as diversity existed, so he decided to fight with his own hands in the shadows rather than preach in the daylight. He looked back at his group of Faunus, refugees he wanted to have a better life than in Mistral. The kingdom was especially bigoted towards Faunus, even tolerating slavery of them unlike other kingdoms. He knew Mantle, the closest one, was the only hope they had for a better life so they needed to keep moving lest the sun arise and scorch them. Soon he was snapped out of his stupor by a huge light that shined upon them. The sound of three ships engines blasted through the skies as Lionheart's heart sank at the realization they belonged to Atlas police.

"Attention White Fang remnants, get your hands up or we will be forced to open fire!" the voice of a woman on the intercom from one of the ships yelled in demand. On her command turrets formed from the ship, pointing at the group.

This order brought confusion to some in the group, as they didn't know what she meant by remnants. Others raised their arms awkwardly and slowly to comply and avoid being shot. Lionheart remained motionless with fear stabbing his chest. He wasn't sure why this situation was unfolding or how they could have been found. All he knew was that his mission failed and that a hell would soon await him and his compatriots. He could tell these police hated Faunus from their tone, and hey would either enslave them or lock them up forever without due process like Mistral does.

Soon one of the three ships landed in front of him. Winter Schnee exited the ship alone. She sported a sadistic and arrogant look on her face.

"Well, well, if it isn't the cowardly lion. Guess the circus didn't have any further use for you so you tried to crawl into the slums of Mantle right?" she mockingly stated. Her arrogance enraged Lionheart, who formed his lion claws from his hands and charged at her. All he saw in that moment was a blue flash of light that blinded his eyes worse than any sand had ever done before. Winter formed a glyph behind her as she used it as a platform to jump over the older man, and soon grabbed her sword. It was a thin lance like sword that was enveloped in a blue aura that formed snow that encompassed Lionhearts body, freezing him solid.

"Leonardo Lionheart, you are under arrest for colluding with terrorists." She coldly (no pun intended) stated. As her men exited the ship to bring the captured man on board, she then turned her eyes towards the refugees, who looked on in shock and quivered in fear.

"Any of you mutts want a job then step forward, otherwise you'll meet a worse fate than him." She smugly stated. She knew her sources Intel on the location of Faunus refugees would help her father get more faunus laborers and get him off her back. She planned to use this incident to make a fake news story about her capturing "terrorists" and gain more acclaim like her father wanted. Power and prestige is what she wanted too, other than an excuse to put down some "bad dogs" as she thought.

One bear faunus man from the crowd gritted his teeth in anger.

"Yeah right, I'd rather die than serve you schnees as a slave" he roared in defiance.

"Be careful what you wish for" she said from right behind the man, who felt his body grow limp in response. He was shocked to see her blade from below as he realized too late she had sliced his head off and close his eyes forever. Some faunus of the group got on their knees in compliance, but most ended up running in terror.

Feeling bored with the lack of challenge, Winter ordered her ships to open fire as hails of bullets formed waves of blood from the victims of this onslaught. The faunus survivors shivered in fear, hoping a fate that awaited them wasn't as painful as that.

Winter raised her blade and pointed at them as she ordered them to enter her ship, to which they complied. As they entered, gunman from the Atlas police raised guns towards them to keep them in line. Winter noticed one robbed man enter wasn't very afraid. It was suspicious for her considering what she just put them through. Before she could question this man, she got a call on her scroll from her father demanding an update. She rolled her eyes in annoyance as she answered him, entered the ship to take off, and ignored the robbed man, who grinned as he left her attention as he hoped. This man was a bull Faunus named Adam Taurus, a professor at Beacon. Unlike the other survivors, he was once a White Fang member and was glad to have avoided that detection, knowing the consequences would be dire. He secretly pressed a button hidden underneath his bandages on his eyes, which were used to give an illusion of blindness and mask his horrible scar.

In Beacon, Ozpin grinned as he saw a message on his scroll.

Phase 1 Complete

Mouse Trap

"Achoo! Weiss I think that's enough." Ruby said through a cough as Weiss applied some face powder. She didn't normally apply such things but definitely felt that the heiress was using too much.

"Sorry, you look so pretty with this stuff on I couldn't stop myself" Weiss sheepishly replied.

Ruby sighed as she reached her arm that wasn't in a cast towards her back. The zipper stuck halfway as she couldn't reach the top of her back with her small arm.

"Uh Yang, could you please zip this up for me?" Ruby asked with a nervous tone. She was feeling an unusual amount of tension about her appearance today.

Yang instantly darted behind her and help zip up her new dress as she stood in front of a large mirror to see the results. The dress was a light pink with a small amount of red glitter around it to emphasize its matching tone with Ruby's hair and red lipstick. There were a couple of red ribbons on the front waist for good measure that instantly wowed the girls. The only deterrent wasn't the outfit, but the excessive makeup on Ruby's face. She had so much face powder her cheeks looked like desert dunes and her lipstick felt too bright red even for the crimson reaper.

"I look like a stupid circus clown!" she said bitterly, protesting her appearance. She immediately walked passed a depressed Weiss who comically cried her eyes out from the failure as Ruby entered the bathroom and washed her makeup off. She wiped her face off and sat back down to try a new look again. Yang's sigh implying this wasn't the first failed attempt.

"Maybe just a little glitter around the eyes to match your dress" Yang said seriously. She knew this was important for her baby sister and needed to get it right this time.

After applying the light amount of peach glitter to Ruby's eyes, Yang and Weiss were awestruck by her sheer beauty. Ruby was also satisfied with her look and hugged them both in gratitude and joy.

"Okay Rubes, just leave babysitting to us and knock her dead." Yang said, confident her sister would wow any boy or girl with her cuteness. Ruby nodded as she exited the room to see Blake right outside twirling her now short black hair. Ruby was surprised by her sudden appearance, haircut, and purple dress covered in white glitter.

"Oh Blake, I almost didn't recognize you…. You look… so nice." Ruby awkwardly stated while rubbing her bad arm, blushing. Blake blushed while giving an awkward smile back. She could tell Ruby wasn't lying, but was simply embarrassed. Blake too felt nervous about her new look, but insisted her Father hire the best hairdresser in the Menagerie to help her look stunning for this important event.

"You look awesome too Ruby, now come on its time for our first date." Blake replied with joy. She soon grabbed Ruby's hand, surprising the later with her uncharacteristically earnest behavior as she almost yanked her out the front door. Blake knew what the mission was, to draw attention from others with public affection. Ghira explained that if they were weed out the corrupt police, being seen in the open by many would draw them out to harass the couple. Meanwhile, team Qrow and Raven would watch from the shadows to lend aid and get rid of the corrupt officers.

Blake at first felt nervous she and Ruby would be used as bait on an important thing like their first date, but Ruby's eyes sparkling with excitement for a mission and a date convinced her otherwise. After all, she just couldn't say no to that face.

Blake made a list of places she remembered from her childhood that she wanted to show Ruby. She wanted her to see what the Menagerie had to offer during what was left of her vacation.

Ruby soon smiled as she saw the look of glee on her cat girlfriends face. She couldn't remember the last time she saw Blake look so happy with these last few days being so rough. Her stomach soon growled so loud it even escaped her bandages underneath her dress.

"I'd love it if we could try a great restaurant first" Ruby said, eliciting a laugh in response from Blake.

"Sure, I know a great sushi place near here, lets go!" she exclaimed.

"Great, oh speaking of food, lets try to find some that's good for babies, I'm sick of breast feeding." Ruby replied while clutching her soar breasts. She was getting tired of the tickles from Thorn during those sessions.

"Sure things "mommy" rose." Blake teased in response, earning a pout from Ruby as they left.

Weiss looked out the window of the mansion solemnly as she saw them leave. She felt a little weird these last few days from all the sudden events that transpired. Now Ruby and Blake were in a relationship. She felt a bit uneasy seeing two girls together. Rather than contempt, she felt fear for them and herself. She knew Ruby and Blake faced unfair treatment in the past for being a young mother and Faunus respectively, but hoped this vacation would give them some relaxation away from that. Now this mission they are going on will only make them targets for even more of those shallow jerks. She felt helpless to aide them beyond getting them looking pretty upon request, and just wished she could do more. She rubbed her arm awkwardly as looked down at her new blue dress. She then imagined the faces of the goons who ripped her old dress during battle, almost feeling an urge to throw up. Her discomfort didn't go unnoticed.

"Hey, you doing okay?" Sun said as he placed a hand on her shoulder, eliciting a shock from her as she jumped away from him, cold sweat running down her face as she panted.

"Geez Sun, don't sneak up on me like that!" she yelled. But her reaction wasn't from being startled. She felt a wave of nausea and pain in her shoulder from being touched without permission. Those men's faces flooded her mind as she processed this sensation, causing tears to sting her eyes.

Sun took note of this behavior and knew she was suffering, he saw it in Ruby many times this year since her rape. He knew he couldn't leave her alone right now.

"Weiss, sorry, but I know something's bothering you that isn't me." He said.

Weiss calmed her breathing down for a moment and averted her gaze. She didn't want to talk about it, but knew he could guess what she was feeling since he was at that battle as well. Soon she looked up in shock as she realized something.

"This is what Ruby feels like everyday isn't it?" She sadly said to the monkey Faunus, whose eyes widen in surprise.

"Not wanting to talk about the pain, the torment she felt every time she was touched by a guy she saw…" she said, choking on her words bitterly. Sun grew solemn as he watched Weiss bleed her heart out with this realization.

"It was scary, feeling helpless back there wasn't it. But that's what we all felt when Ruby was raped, when you were hurt and dying, and when we found out Salem attacked." He replied. Though they weren't into fairy tail stories of heroes like Ruby, it didn't change the fact Sun and the others took huntsman roles seriously. Seeing an innocent person, and one of their own at that, being hurt like that and not stopping it made them feel like failures.

"I get I don't know exactly what it feels to experience what you and Ruby went through, but I know the feeling of helpless to stop the pain." He added.

Weiss soon began crying as she approached him, and slapped his face to his surprise.

"It feels like a cinder block on my chest, it's so damn heavy!" she said as she cried into his chest. She only slapped him for preaching when she wasn't in the mood for it; all she was in the mood for right now was a hug to try and forget the pain for a bit. Sun replied in kind as Yang watched the scene unfold while hidden in the hallway.

"Guess I'm not only one who feels like screw up lately" Yang softly said to herself with a sigh. She didn't want to get in between them now that Weiss was finally blowing off some steam. Yang felt she needed to as well, but went back into the guest room to check on her nephew first. She was relieved to have him back alive, but took noticed one of the sleeping infant's chipped dog ear. Yang's eyes redden with rage from her semblance as she clenched his crib and remembered Cinder, the witch who did this to her beloved nephew. She then headed to the private gym in the mansion and punched a sandbag so hard it split in two. She grunted in anger as team JNPR watched on in concern during her outburst.

"I'll kill that bitch for laying a hand on him, no matter what!" she thought to herself, though team JNPR could easily tell she thought that from her fiery expression and stayed a large distance away for their safety.

Meanwhile, Llia was on the move, watching Ruby and Blake leave the mansion from the trees while invisible. She glared enviously at the two holding hands.

"You snotty little Human! It should be touching her now!" she exclaimed in her head, still careful despite her anger to avoid detection.

As much as Llia wanted to kill Ruby right now and have a chance to claim Blake, she was kept from this diluted desire with knowledge of her superiors order. Cinder had ordered her, per her fathers instruction, to avoid combat with the heroes until further notice and Llia knew she couldn't go against the more powerful woman. Llia then took her scroll, also invisible from her semblance, and messaged Cinder the hero's activity per instruction as well.

White Fang Base

Many faunus men, still wearing striped prison garbs, cheered as they raised mugs of beer with soldiers of the white fang in celebration. They roared in triumph over escaping the Atlas prison and being given a chance to fight alongside their brethren against humanity again. As Cinder watched them get rowdy, she received Llia's message from her scroll.

"Guess I'd better get my comrades too." She said to herself as she exited the commissary. She soon arrived in the medical wing of their base where she saw her partners Emerald and Mercury being treated.

Emerald was given a stolen Atlas robotic arm to replace the one she lost against Blake months ago while Mercury was having the locks on his legs removed.

"I see you've had better days." She snickered.

"I'll have even better ones once I punch a hole in that cat bitches head." Emerald bitterly replied.

"And when I crush that busty blonds head with my feet." Mercury said doubling the sentiment.

Cinder grinned at the sentiment, she wanted nothing more than to kill Ruby as well for her own pain as she looked at her scared arm.

"Well, Emerald at least is gonna help me get that chance." She said

"Hey! what am I chopped liver?" Mercury said in protest. His only response was a flame blade pointed at his gut.

"I'll be glad to chop up your liver if you ever question me again! Just get those pathetic locks off your legs first then we'll talk." She said with disdain.

Mercury merely grunted as he nodded and laid his head back down as the lock hacking continued. Emerald smirked as she enjoyed watching this scene unfold.

"So boss, where to?" emerald asked Cinder.

"To the Menagerie, but first, were going to get some sushi." Cinder responded with an evil grin as she opened up a portal and entered it with Emerald, ready to have her revenge at last.

Well, back to the old grind. I said we would be back to darker writing such as trauma and sadism. Weiss's ordeal definitely not as bad as Ruby's but does help her come to understand her pain better. Next chapter may help explain what Adam and Ozpins plan is, if Ghira's will help root out the bigoted police in Menagerie, and what kind of sushi will be served. Next Chapter: Food Fight!