RWBY: A Thorn in My Heart

Chapter 14: Food Fight

Ruby's eyes sparkled as she stared in awe at the sights before her. Blake was showing her the many sites of the Menagerie such as a geyser show, cake shop, clothing store, and best of all a blacksmiths' booth. Blake saved this one because she knew just how much of a weapon's nut Ruby was.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you honey!" Ruby squealed as she hugged Blake with joy, unable to contain her excitement.

Blake blushed as she lowered her cat ear anxiously. She had taken particular notice of the "Honey" part of Ruby's exertion and felt odd. She was happy Ruby was recovering and was comfortable being in a relationship with her, but thought for a moment that comment might have been more about drawing attention to themselves as was instructed. She then decided she would play her part.

"Anything for you…uh… Babe" she said awkwardly while forcing a smile and pecking Ruby on the cheek. This action drew a few eyes towards them from surrounding Faunus, but most just turned around and went about their business. Blake honestly felt a bit of relief from this indifference; she was so embarrassed with herself. She was soon startled out of this by Ruby's stomach making a large growl, eliciting an awkward smile from her girlfriend.

"Okay then, now we just got to get some food for Thorn and then it's finally chow time!" Ruby said after paying the blacksmith for some new bullets for Crescent Rose and placing it in her large bag. Blake honestly felt relieved to see her date bring her weapon with her even on romantic occasions, it made her feel safe knowing she had a trusted fighter to watch her back.

"It was closed when we got here so we couldn't grab some then but I know a place that sells organic baby food. We'll go there first then I'll show you a great sushi place by it." Blake said with hints of excitement in her tone.

Ruby could tell the cat Faunus was a seafood junkie just as much as she was a weapon's junkie. Though she liked sweets and sandwiches better than fish, she knew a good relationship meant compromise so she decided to try sushi out.

"Perfect, lets get a move on then." Ruby said, earning a nod from Blake as they left. 2 Birds watched them from a distance, a Qrow and a Raven intensely as they exited the booth. Ruby's Aunt and Uncle were keeping a vigil for any particular nasty gazes from police nearby to see who would likely harass the couple. For them, this was more than just a mission; it was a personal quest for them to keep Ruby safe and happy. She had been through too much agony lately and needed some joy.

After finishing their shopping, Ruby glared at her near empty wallet after exiting the baby food store.

"Man why does baby food have to be so expensive, are they trying to make kids starve?!" she said out loud.

"Don't worry mama, our baby's never going hungry with those nice knockers." Blake teased as she nudged Ruby's small chest. Ruby was a little irritated by this comment.

"Not that your going to see them tonight!" she countered.

Ruby wasn't ever particular happy with her chest size compared to Yang's and wanted to slug her girlfriend in the arm for that joke. But she knew Blake only poked fun to get a public reaction from her for the missions sake. True to form, a couple of police soon blocked their path to the sushi restaurant.

"Hey kitty, you can go in but the brat's going to have to stay outside" a rabbit faunus man said mockingly. This led to a grin from his partner.

"Yeah human, now you'll learn how it feels for a dog to wait outside." Said the wolf faunus policeman with a sneer. He then stared at Ruby's chest for a moment.

"Or we could babysit you for a while and give you something to eat" he laughed with a dirty look in his eyes. Ruby winced at this and stepped back in fear and disgust, his behavior was a horrible reminder of her rapist Timber.

Blake gritted her teeth as her hands twitched. She wanted nothing more than to grab Gambrol Shroud hidden in her dress and slash these two to death for harassing Ruby. She then remembered her father's instructions to avoid engaging the police to allow Qrow and Raven to pick them off. Before she could so much as grab Ruby's hand to run and draw these two men away from public view, Ruby shocked her by grabbing her arm. Ruby then petal burst away from the scene with Blake in toe, only stopping a few blocks away behind a booth. Blake spun around as her pupils comically circled around her eyes; she was very dizzy from that experience before she collected herself and saw Ruby breathing heavily.
"Ruby, why did you use your semblance we could have just ran and…." Before she could remind Ruby the simplicity of their mission to draw those men out, she stopped and noticed her girlfriend grow pale.

"Ruby, you okay?" she asked concerned.

Ruby didn't have time to respond before a wave of nausea hit her and she clasped her mouth as she looked around and saw a trashcan before puking into it. Blake stood shock, though she felt a bit nauseous too from that little ride from petal burst, she knew something was wrong with Ruby. She then remembered one of the Faunus police was a wolf Faunus very similar to Timber.

"He reminded you of that bastard didn't he?" she said venomously. Blake vividly remembered the day Weiss informed her in the infirmary Ruby was raped by the White Fang. To have had her own brethren do such a heinous thing to an innocent girl disgusted herself. A part of her felt ashamed for being the same species as those monsters. But she perked up, knowing she needed to help Ruby more than pity herself.

"Ruby, Ruby listen to me, your strong, stronger than him, stronger than anyone! Your strong enough to beat this, and you will, but not by running away. You have me with you now, I'll help you through this, I promise." She said as she grabbed Ruby's shoulders to shake some sense in her, though a part of her worried Ruby would barf on her nice dress from this.

After a few seconds of heavy breathing, Ruby managed to collect herself after pondering Blake's comforting speech. The knot in her stomach unraveled as she felt soothed by her lover's presence.

"Thanks Blake." She softly said, these short words were the only thing she felt she needed to say as she planted a kiss on her lover's lips.

Their loving moment was broken up by a stomach growl from Blake, and a laugh from the two at the irony of it all.

"Hey you two get over here!" a man's voice roared, alerting them to the streets. They saw the wolf Policeman and his partner with a few more officers with them. They obviously looked disgruntled and wanted to cause trouble for the couple.

Ruby and Blake smirked as they reached for their weapons, ready for a stress relieving battle, before seeing black bird feathers drop before them. They looked up to see Qrow and Raven circling them and sighed in disappointment. They knew they were in a dark area of the town so there would be little attention to a brawl. They were upset their guardian's would handle this for them, but they wanted to have some fun. Another stomach growl from both girls snapped them out of their stupor as they decided to get some food and consented to the two hunters to take their place as they ran back towards the restaurant.

"Get them men!" the corrupt police ordered his group. Before they could give chase, their eyes widen as they saw two birds block their path and become enveloped in a small tornado of black feathers, soon revealing Qrow and Raven. The siblings smirked as they raised their weapons towards the corrupt police, excited to get some action after all that babysitting.

"Don't blame us for this ass kicking, you're being a pain in my nieces ass during her date." Qrow said with malice behind his smirk, lowering the wolf man's ears in response.

As she and Blake ran off, Ruby could swear she heard the sound of puppies whimpering in terror followed by grunts of pain. She smiled in comfort as relief struck her chest after all that hassle they just had finally passed. She turned her head slightly back to see her family standing over some unconscious goons bodies.

"Thanks Uncle Qrow, Aunty Raven, I needed that." She said softly as she continued to run.

Sushi Surprise!

Blake's mouth watered at the sign in front of them. She could just imagine the delicious tuna or yellowtail she was about to consume in this dazzling restaurant. This place held a special spot in her heart. She had come here every week as a child with her Father to eat. She placed a hand on her chest as she felt an urge to cry, not out of sadness but out of fondness. It was one of the few happy memories she had growing up before running away from home. Ruby saw her partner cry a little and assumed she was getting hungry.

"Excuse me waiter, table for two please!" she said loudly to the restaurant employee, who glared a little at her upon noticing she was a human.

"Very well, follow me to your table." He said with a sigh. Blake was particularly annoyed as she was beginning to grow tired of Ruby being treated this way, but Ruby kept her smile and grabbed her hand and yanked her to follow. Blake grinned slightly as she was pleased to see Ruby still strong; it was something very endearing to her.

After being seated, Blake examined all the new items added to the menu since the years she left, as well as some old favorites of hers she felt Ruby had to know.

"Wow, BBQ eel roll with cream cheese, Spicy Krab seaweed hand roll, Volcano roll, flying fish roll with quail egg. God it all sounds mouth watering!" Blake said with excitement earning a giggle from Ruby.

"Your mouth is watering Blake." she teased as she pointed to her lovers mouth drooling a bit.

Blake blushed a little before being shocked by what came next.

"Let me clean that up for you." Ruby said with a flirty tone as she kissed Blake again. It was a slightly more passionate one like the one they shared in the hospital. Though Blake knew they had to draw attention for the mission, this was too much stimulation for her, so she broke away.

"Okay Rubes, lets tone it down a bit were in public." She said as she noticed some customers look at them surprised. One older couple chuckled at how daring Ruby was at that age, causing Blake to quiver with embarrassment.

"Sorry couldn't help myself *quit tone* you looked more tasty than the sushi." Ruby whispered, causing Blake to turn red and place her face on the table from overheating.

After ordering some rolls, Blake cooled down from her embarrassment over a deliciously cold but spicy crab roll while Ruby went for a simple Tuna roll with cream cheese for sweet and subtle flavor. Both felt bliss from both their meal and from the realization they could finally have a normal date beyond their mission. It started to make them feel like a real couple, despite the relationship just starting. As they reveled in this feeling, another couple watched them from a corner of the restaurant.

Cinder and Emerald grinned as they ate their own food. Though they filled up a little to stay strong for battle, they'd much rather taste vengeance than some sushi.

"So what's the plan boss?" Emerald asked Cinder quietly, so not to reveal themselves too soon. Cinder didn't respond yet, merely messaging Llia with her scroll.

"My new pet snake will slither in her soon, and try to take a bite out of them. Once their distracted that's when we strike." Cinder said with a quite yet malevolent tone. Emerald could tell she was also growing impatient for revenge. Her new robotic arm charged up a bit of electricity as she grew angry at the sight of the cat girl that separated her from her old arm.

Cinder glared at Ruby with similar rage, her scars were starting to burn seeing the maiden smile so much on her date. She wanted nothing more than to slice off her mouth first.

Blake and Ruby continued to eat and soon began chatting about the good days at Beacon.

"It feels like it's been forever since we just got to really just plain talk." Blake said.

"I know, so many crazy things happened this year, but I will say you sure changed a lot." Ruby replied, earning a confused look from Blake.

"When we first met, you had your head buried in a book. I could tell you didn't want to chat. You were kinda like me, preferring to mingle with weapons or books rather than meet new people." Ruby explained. Blake let her cat ears down as these words tugged at her heartstrings. She totally couldn't deny those words. After all it took Yang forcefully starting a conversation between them to get to know each other. She wished she had been more open with others back then, but she was too scared of people learning about her past to be open. Just like her semblance, Blake felt all she could do was run and hide.

"But now look at you, your more open about your desires and feelings. You've come a long way since we first met. It's really inspiring." Ruby said, her words brining a tender smile to Blake. The cat Faunus wanted to be more open now thanks to those words.

"I'd say the same about you but that would be wrong. When we first talked, I thought you were like an angel, pure and kind. Looking back on it now, I feel like an idiot I once feared rejection from you for being Faunus." Blake said. She remembered running away from her team that night after arguing with Weiss about the White Fang and revealing her faunus status. A part of her really kicked herself for being so naïve, how could she have assumed the worst of humanity in Ruby at least when she was clearly the best.

"Blake, you could be part grim and I would still love you." Ruby sternly but happily said.

Blake smiled, as she could no longer resist and leaned forward for another kiss. Ruby did the same, but as they were about to kiss, something red flew down in between their lips and sliced their table in half. Blake and Ruby jumped back in shock from this attack, cold sweat running down their faces. Blake's eyes widen as she saw the source of this surprise attack, Llia.

"Glad to see Tyrian didn't kill you human brat, now I get a chance to make that happen." Llia said with a dark and sadistic tone.

She had watched their romantic date and couldn't stomach hearing their romantic words any longer. More than anything, she wanted to pierce Ruby with her sword almost as much as she wanted to be the one having a date with Blake, whom she turned to.

"Once I get rid of your little "pet", you and I are gonna get down to business." She said. Llia's body sweat with anticipation as she imagined capturing Blake and taking her to a private room at the base. The things she could do to her nearly made her quiver with ecstasy. Blake didn't share this sentiment as she grew angry seeing Llia again.

"Why wait when we can settle this now traitor!?" Blake screamed as she grabbed her sword and from her dress and charged at the chameleon faunus, who merely somersaulted to avoid being stabbed. Blake dug her heals into the ground to stop her blade before it could strike Ruby. Llia tried to take advantage of this distraction by using her whip to snag Blake's neck. She was at least going to rough up Blake so she could be helpless to watch as she killed Ruby in front of her. But Llia made a mistake not paying more attention to Ruby who grabbed Crescent rose and engaged its Scythe form to slash the whip in two, freeing Blake who gasped for air.

Cinder and Emerald watched as the civilians and staff left the restaurant and smiled, happy to have any bystanders gone to prevent interference.

"Now do we strike?" Emerald asked impatiently.

"Not yet, got to wait for her to wear them down. It will be more fun to make them feel some satisfaction and crush their confidence." Cinder sadistically replied. She clenched her shadow hand with anticipation as she could imagine plunging it into Ruby's heart. With her new powers she thought it would be easy, but wanted a little more sport, so Cinder decided to let Llia play with Ruby.

"If it looks like she'll kill Ruby before us, then we step in." she replied quietly. Cinder didn't want anyone stealing the glory of this kill from her.

Emerald nodded as she went back to watching the fight. She noticed that Llia was starting to get overwhelmed as she began panting with exhaustion having to jump and crawl on the walls avoiding bullets and blade strikes. One strike actually struck her face and knocked off her White Fang mask, causing her to growl in frustration as she charged Blake.

"Why her?! Why wasn't I good enough for you? I knew you longer!" she screamed. Her question momentarily shocked Blake and made her freeze, forcing Ruby to block Llia's blade for her.

"Maybe it's because you're a psycho who betrayed her and tried to kill her dad!" Ruby yelled. She heard from Sun what Llia tried to do that night and how she and Blake grew up together before joining the white fang.

"You betrayed your best friend, how could you ever deserve her when you couldn't even be happy for her sake!" she yelled again. Ruby's question and scolding enraged Llia who knocked Crescent Rose out of her hands with a backflip kick before attempting to stab Ruby again. A vine from the maiden, whose semblance sprouted it as it enveloped Llia's body, caught her blade. She felt a surge of pain over her arms and torso and her energy fade as then realized the thorns stabbing her.

"P-Poison?! You humans can't ever win unless you fight dirty huh?" she stuttered as she fought the pain to talk.

Her only response didn't come from Ruby, who only glared with contempt, but a fist to the face from Blake who also sported an angry glare. The punch knocked Llia out, leading Ruby to withdraw the poison and vines from her body. As much as she wanted Llia dead, she knew it wasn't her choice to make it was Blake's.

Blake looked down on her in contempt.
"Just like Ruby said, you don't deserve me for betraying me, just like I don't deserve you!" she said to the unconscious chameleon faunus. Blake honestly felt pity for Llia; she felt she had betrayed her first by not noticing her feelings and abandoning her all those years ago, just like Khan. Nonetheless, she knew these events happened because of Llia's choices, choices she made out of pure jealousy and bigotry and were not deserving of forgiveness.

As soon as these bitter feelings faded, a new one of fear brought out by pure instincts swept over Blake as she felt a glare watching over them. It was one she felt many times in battle and in her daily life around bigoted humans, bloodlust. She instantly gripped the handle of her sword and turned around to lock it with a powerful fist charged with electricity from Emerald. The force of the impact sent her flying back into a wall, nearly shattering her aura as her body felt so much pain it her bones would shatter as well.

"Man that felt good!" Emerald said with glee as her eyes glowed red, clenching her robotic fist.

She then looked down over the unconscious body of Llia. She smirked as she got an idea in her head. As much as she could tell Blake hated Llia now, she could sense the pity in her heart as well.

"So she was an old flame right? Well I guess since you took my arm I'll take her in case we can't finish things today!" she yelled as she plunged her fist into Llia's chest, ignoring Blake's screams of protest. Blood soaked Emeralds robot arm as she felt her hand crush Llia's heart. She was particularly looking forward to seeing even more despair from Blake, who struggled to stand through the pain as she pointed her finger towards Ruby.

Blake's eyes watered in in sadness and terror at the image before her. Cinder had stabbed Ruby through the heart with a fire blade.

"Blake…. You f-failed me" she stuttered, coughing up blood as her body went limp and collapsed on the floor.

"Ruby!" Blake screamed in agony over the loss of her lover. She got on her knees and clenched her head in pain, unable to comprehend what she just saw nor Emerald approaching her while charging up her fist, preparing to end this.

Ruse

Ruby was watching Blake collapsed in confusion. Her heart sank at the sight of her crying and even more when Emerald charged her fist and approached her.

"What are you doing Blake get up!" she yelled, but got no response.

She realized Emerald had trapped Blake in a mirage. She had to save Blake and looked around and saw her scythe nearby and went to grab it.

Her body then sprouted multiple vines on her back instinctively as they blocked something hot from touching Ruby's face. She turned to see a visibly frustrated Cinder.

"Damnit, that stupid flower on your back ruined this!" Cinder cursed, obviously displeased her attack was thwarted. Ruby frowned as she saw Cinder again and imagined her son's chipped ear.

"Your gonna pay for what you did to my baby." She softly but bitterly said as she used more vines to grab Crescent Rose. Cinder merely smirked.

"I should have just cut the whole ear off, but then again the brat would have cried in pain longer and annoyed me more." She coldly replied.

This was the last straw for an angry Ruby as she formed her scythes gun mode and shot a freezing bullet she bought at the blacksmiths that froze Cinder's body. Ruby then saw Cinder simply melt the ice away with fire. The witch then let loose a gust of shadows that had grim heads swirling around it. Ruby shot at them in panic, but couldn't hit them as they soon blew her out the window like a hurricane. Cinder doubled back in shock, she wasn't expecting that much power before grinning.

"Guess I got get some more practice in." she said before running outside.

She saw Ruby lying on the ground, struggling to stand as her aura armor broke into speckles of red dust. Cinder smirked as she knew this was the perfect chance to strike and grabbed her flame blade and lunged at Ruby.

Ruby winced as she prepared for the killing blow, only look up in shock after hearing a clanging sound to see her Uncle locking blades with Cinder.

He turned his head back and grinned at his niece who gave him a smile.

"Hey kiddo, sorry I'm late" he panted; clearly relieved he saved her in time.

"Your right on time uncle" she lovingly said.

Reinforcements

Meanwhile, Emerald kept on repeating her illusion of Ruby's death as she approached Blake slowly. Every moment she tortured the cat girl brought satisfaction to Emerald. She decided a few more minutes of this would be enough before she would kill Blake. She didn't mind turning her back to check on Ruby, she felt Cinder would cover her easy. She briefly snapped out of her stupor as Ruby's body fly by her and crash through the window startled her.

This brief distraction caused the illusion to start to wear off, as Blake no longer saw Cinder or Ruby in front of her anymore. As her head began to hurt, Blake groaned as she tried to make sense of the situation before Emerald winced in shock. She realized what was going on and soon began to reapply the illusion. As she prepared to use her charged up arm to finish the job, a black feather flew in front of her nose, tickling it. She soon widen her eyes in terror as the arm she lunged at Blake had been severed and sprouted some sparkling circuits that were cut. Though she couldn't feel pain in this arm, the shock of seeing her arm fly off reminded her of the time Blake took her real one. Emerald screamed in agony at this recollection, causing Blake to be free from her illusion to see the image of her savior, Raven Branwan.

"Don't worry about Ruby, my brothers got her, now lets finish her off." Raven ordered the young girl.

Blake finally collected herself as the pain in her head wore off along with the illusion. She noticed Emerald glaring at them in anger while standing over Llia's corpse. Blake felt a surge of anger herself as she grabbed her blade.

"Since you and Llia both wanted me, I guess you should both have me!" she yelled as she produced a shadow clone that charged at Emerald who used all her strength to avoid Gambrol shrouds blade as it barely nicked her neck. Another clone was produced behind her that delivered a kick to Emeralds good arm that felt like it's bones were grinded to dust from the impact, sending her flying towards a table and being covered by tons of Tuna and rice. She grunted as she felt her body was on fire. Her only sense more uncomfortable coming from her nose as she smelled the putrid smell of raw fish on her.

Meanwhile the real Blake slowly walked over to Llia and knelt over her.

"Sorry, really, I didn't want you to suffer like that." She said as she closed her fallen foes eyes and delivered a kiss to her. She may have hated Llia, but still deep down respected her feelings of love towards her and felt she deserved at least that in death due to their past friendship. Her rush of emotions caused her clones to disappear.

Raven, though bewildered by this action, decided to ignore Blake now that she seemed okay enough and walked towards the pile of food holding Emerald with her blade drawn. She felt the girl was too dangerous to be left alive with her powers and was ready to end this.

As she raised her blade to stab the pile, she saw a frightening image. Rather than Emerald, she saw her old teammate Summer Rose injured. Raven winced in terror, she knew it was fake, but her heart couldn't make that distinction. She dropped her blade behind her and kneeled to check on her, but Emerald responded with a kick to Raven's abdomen, knocking the wind out of her. Emerald smirked, but felt her aura guard end as she realized she was helpless. She used as much strength as she could to run out the building as fish and rice fell of her and scattered on the floor, alerting Blake to her escape. Emerald ran faster, her only hope to escape was Cinder's portal. As she exited the building, she ducked her head to avoid a fireball that hit Blake behind her, knocking the cat girl out. She then noticed Cinder flying around with black wings on her back, another new power she got from Salem. She fired fireballs at Qrow who in his avian form was easily capable of dodging it.

"Stay still you little roach!" she screamed in frustration. No matter how much she shot she couldn't hit him. Qrow smirked as his plan to drop her energy was working. He had seen the new power she had and that in a straight up fight he'd likely lose. He couldn't lose this, not with Ruby resting by and watching the fight, still branding the scythe they made together at Signal academy, the symbol of their bond. Qrow turned back to human as he transformed his own scythe into a gun and shot at Cinder who merely phased the bullets through her.

Seeing this, Ruby got an idea and reached into her ammunition packet.

"Uncle Qrow catch!" she yelled as she threw her bullet towards him. He quickly avoided a last minute fireball from Cinder and grabbed it and saw what she was planning.

"How did you get to be so smart kiddo?" he warmly said to her.

"I had great teachers" she replied just as warmly. Her tender smile gave Qrow confidence as he loaded his gun with her bullet and shot it at Cinder.

"Your like a broken record, repeating the same thing is annoying and useless like you!" she screamed in defiance as she believed she could just phase through it again.

To Cinder's shock, the bullet exploded with her but rather than a stream of fire, it was a stream of slime that stuck to her, causing her to collapse on the ground.

"Gah! What is this gunk?" she demanded to know.

Qrow merely turned his gun back into his weapon's sword form.

"A dead girl doesn't need an explanation." He coldly stated. He felt she didn't deserve one as she only deserved death for trying to kill his beloved niece. As he raised his blade to end the witch, Emerald knew she had to stop him, but was out of Aura. Suddenly she grabbed a needle from her pocket. She remembered what the doctor told her.

"Remember, this drug will temporarily restore Aura, but it's a prototype. Half of the subjects we experimented it on had their hearts rupture from the stress, so don't use unless you absolutely have to." The doctor finished.

Emerald knew she had to if Cinder died she couldn't get back with her portal and would be killed herself. Not hesitating, Emerald stabbed her arm with the booster and felt a surge of energy envelop her. She felt her aura return and quickly activated her semblance to change Cinder into Summer Rose like before.

Qrow and Ruby looked shocked at seeing her again, they knew it was impossible but she was right their in front of them.
"Mom" ruby said

"Summer" Qrow said as he dropped the blade in panic.

Emerald grinned as she saw him make the same mistake as Raven. She soon clutched her chest as it felt a surge of pain. She breathed heavily as she ran to Cinder with what little time she felt she had left. Cinder then struggled to free her arm to try and strike Qrow but couldn't. She felt irritated by her helplessness, but soon noticed her comrade approach her.

Qrow stood on looking shocked at the image of Summer before equally being shocked by Emerald hugging her. His heart sank as he realized this was Emerald's illusion. He soon grew frustrated with himself for allowing such a deception to work and grabbed his blade. Before he could strike Cinder finally freed her hand a little from the slime and opened up a portal beneath her and Emerald as they disappeared before the sword could slice them, only hitting the ground that replaced them.

Qrow grunted in frustration as he was left to ponder his failure and stupidity. He knew deep down Summer was dead and this was a trick, but her face just seemed to real. He was brought out of his self-deprecation by the sounds of footsteps approaching him. He looked up to see Ruby, Raven, and the unconscious Blake she was carrying.

"Oh no Blake! Is she okay?!" Ruby screamed with fear.

"It's okay kid, she just needs some rest." Raven bitterly stated. She wasn't happy they failed to catch those two either but was grateful they were alive at least. Ruby sighed with relief before realizing something and turning to her Uncle, who frowned, as he knew what she was going to ask him. The question was easily written all over her face.

"Uncle, how did Emerald know what Mom looked like?" she asked somberly. To her it didn't make sense. Emerald was her age and mom wasn't really that famous, as she liked to operate in the shadows with her partner Qrow.

Qrow and Raven averted their gaze. They knew they couldn't hide the truth anymore but wished they could knowing how Ruby would react.

"Cinder must have told her." Raven said. Ruby only grew more confused.

"How does Cinder know mom too?" she asked

Qrow sighed heavily as he struggled speak. His answer felt like he had to spit out rotten milk as Ruby looked on in terror from what she heard next.

"Because on your mom's last mission, it was Cinder who killed her."