RWBY: A Thorn in My Heart

Chapter 19: Battle for Beacon Part 2: Letdown

"Salutations!" Penny screamed with bright emerald eyes as she propelled herself towards Ruby with her jet boots, ignoring the screams of protest from the young woman flailing her arms in panic.

Ruby felt the force of a wrecking ball slam into her gut as she was tackled to the ground. Her stomach felt like its scorpion sting wound would burst open like a zit.

"Ow! G-Good to see you again too Penny" Ruby groaned as she laid on the ground outside her house. She wanted to lay there a bit longer for the pain to subside; noticing her robot friend burst up in excitement and then did the same.

"Is this a game where you make human dirt marks in the ground Ruby?" she innocently asked. Ruby chuckled a bit at the odd question. She always enjoyed the naivety of her robot friend.

"No this is me trying to keep my spine from snapping." She moaned as she slowly rose her body from the ground; trying to avoid putting strain on her back. She hadn't felt this level of back pain since she spent hours in labor.

"Okay I see. In that case, the ships med bays are perfect for recovery. I'll plug myself back in so we can get to Beacon faster and you can have a check up Ruby." Penny gleefully stated, missing the sarcasm.

As she wiped the dirt off her back, Ruby took a glance at the spaceship like craft that Penny arrived in to pick them up. Her eyes glittered with excitement at the high tech canons and jet propellers on the massive craft.

"Oh…My…GOSH! WERE GONNA HAVE A HAYDAY WITH THIS BABY!" She screamed in excitement.

"Meanwhile baby sis, how about calming down your baby?" Yang said as she held Thorn crying from the noise in one hand and covering her aching ear in another.

Everyone's excitement plummeted when noticing Ruby's bright smile slowly fade. They remembered the depressing conversation they had all been having before this fiasco at Beacon happened. They knew Ruby was handling some intense pressure and uncertainty regarding her career choices and her relationship struggles with her father. They also looked to a depressed looking Blake. She hadn't even said a single word since learning of Adam's demise and must have surely been feeling the same pressure right now. They noticed her ears perk up a bit at the sight of Ruby slowly approached her sister and son and tenderly placed him into her arms.

"Shhhhhh… It's okay sweetie. Momma's going to be right back and give you a big hug like this one." She softly said with a slight frown as she shushed and hugged him tenderly.

Blake chuckled a little at this adorable sight, tears dripping from her eyes as she approached them and hugged them.

"I call dibs." Blake said to her girlfriend as she broke off the hug and slowly walked into the ship. Though she still felt horrible to have lost her adoptive brother, she knew she still had someone important in her life to look after and decided to put off the Adam issue until the battle was over.

Tai's stomach knotted as he fought the desire to speak up, knowing it wasn't the right time. It was just so hard hearing his daughter say she would come home soon. It reminded him of his last night with Summer before her death.

"Hey, I'll be back soon okay." she had lovingly said as she clasped his cheek.

"Yeah, I know you will." He had said as he hugged and kissed her goodbye for what would actually be the last time. He always regretted not saying a more loving thing to her before her departure. He just had to say something to his daughter right now, for he knew she was going into battle regardless of his wishes.

"Ruby here, let me hold him." He said as he approached his daughter while raising his arms. She looked down on her now calm infant solemnly. She just didn't want to let him out of her sight now. He was so precious to her and she couldn't stand the thought of being separated from him after that last hug for even a second. A sudden realization struck the young mother in that instance.

"This is how you feel all the time isn't it?" she sadly asked her father as she handed him Thorn, who squirmed a little from the motion before falling asleep in his grandfather's arms.

"Yeah, every second of every day I don't see your eyes." he sadly replied. Those silver eyes of his daughter were the same eyes her mother had. Ruby was the spitting image of Summer and that always made Tai extra protective of her. He feared every time she was out of his sight someone might take her away from him. His fears almost came true many times since she decided to become a huntress, from Timbers assault on her, to the war, and now Cinder's attack on her. He honestly never wanted her to become one but knew she was too stubborn to care about his selfish wish.

"I know your gonna go no matter what I say, just promise me you'll be careful sweetie." He said, eliciting a short forced smile from Ruby.

"I promise daddy, just keep him safe for me while I'm gone okay?" she replied.

Tai could feel a heavy weight being placed on his heart as he heard those words. Ruby was practically telling him to take care of him if she died, something very possible if she was to face an army even with her team, friends, and Uncle beside her. Qrow placed a hand on Tai's shoulder as he could tell what the latter was feeling.

"Don't worry, I stopped drinking so I'm 120% now. She's not croaking with me around." He confidently grinned as he said trying to comfort his brother-in law.

"Okay, just go take care of this quickly. I'll feel better the sooner you get back." Tai said to his brother.

The second he finally gave his blessing, the teens and Qrow darted towards the ship, ready at last to get to Beacon and save their friends. Ruby was the last to leave as she approached her sleeping son.

"Be good for grandpa and Auntie Raven kiddo. Mommy loves you very much, my sweet little rose." She quietly said as she kissed his small red cheeks, fighting back tears to stay strong despite the surge of sadness and fear overwhelming her. She gave her father one last hug as she headed for the ship.

Tai and Raven frowned heavily as they saw her stop at the entrance, almost like she was about to change her mind. She simply stood there in silence. After a moment, she entered the ship without even looking back, knowing she would lose all the strength in her legs and heart if she did.

"Please come home sweetie." Tai quietly said as the ship flew out of sight. He fought all the fear in his heart as he tried to have something he lost long ago from all the turmoil his family endured, hope.

Beacon

The Dragon grim shrieked as it raised its foot, ready to crush professor Goodwitch still laying on the ground in exhaustion.

"Look out Professor!" Coco screamed as she ran to save her fallen teacher. Professor Ooblock had the same idea and dropped his small cannon. He knew he didn't have enough time to reload and save her so he made the obvious choice and abandoned it. Despite picking her up, the professor was not physically powerful like his student Yang. He was struggling to walk her out range of the attack. The first stomp they avoid by jumping out of the way, albeit barely.

"Curses, why didn't I ever try going to the school gymnasium, a good brain isn't the only muscle to be improved." He mumbled to himself as he fearfully looked at the giant foot quickly approaching them again. He winced in preparation for the attack he knew would smash them into a bloody mess. Coco wasn't willing to wait around.

"Sorry for this professors." She sheepishly stated as she hesitantly kicked Ooblock in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him and along with his consciousness as he and Glynda were sent flying from the powerful impact and were latched to a wall. Glynda merely glared angrily at her student, who jumped quickly to avoid the grims attack and rolled to avoid debris.

"You are so getting detention when this is over." She grunted before also losing consciousness.

Coco fought the soreness in her body as she quickly arose. She ignored her discomfort out of fear of the Giant Dragon now fixing its gaze upon her. It licked its lips, attracted to her anxiousness. Coco looked around, seeing the other students had fled into the school, and tried to find an opening for escape as well. She only found one between the thighs of the beast, in the direction of her passed out teacher. Her heart sank as she realized if she went that way, it would put them in the direct path of the Grim, who was now charging up a fire breath.

"It's over huh." she fearfully stated as she stood motionless. She wasn't ready to meet her end, she felt she had so much more to achieve. She had to become a famous huntress like Team RWBY. She gritted her teeth as she remembered their faces. Ruby in particular annoyed her, as she always felt a certain attraction to the bright spirit of hers. She remembered giving the fledgling student leadership advice.

"You got to remain strong in both body and spirit for your teams sake." Those words echoed in her mind as she remembered that conversation. She grew bitter with herself for now being unable to follow her own preaching. She had honestly thought Ruby was the weaker one, but remembering her fight in the war, despite being pregnant, maybe Coco was the one who was truly the weaker one. She hadn't accomplished much during that time; just beating up a few White Fang goons rather than kill a giant Grim terrorizing the world unlike Team RWBY, and now was no different. She was going to be roasted alive and eaten by another giant grim just like Cardin.

"Really wish I could have upstaged you just once little red." She grinned as she opened up her arms ready to embrace her fiery death.

Before the blast could be unleashed from the behemoths mouth, a blast of green energy struck its neck, causing it to cease its attack and roar in pain (like Godzilla roar).

Coco's eyes widen is surprise as she saw a ship dart past the beast and land near the professors. The hanger doors of the ship quickly lowered as the very people Coco envied emerged to save her and the professors lives. It was Team RWBY.

"Speak of the reaper" Coco laughed a little as she felt blood rush to her head and sighed loudly in relief before she passed out. Ruby's gut wrenched as she smelled blood and ash fill the air. She solemnly looked around to see several students bloody corpses with eyes wide open fill the area. Some were the bullies who sneered at her and Thorn, but Ruby couldn't help but feel uneasy. She secretly had wished a fate like this on them for that treatment, but had now come to regret this wish, feeling as if karma made her to blame. She soon turned her attention to Cocoa and saw her friends almost as bad state and knew she had to act.

"Sun! get the professors to infirmary, girls, JNPR we gotta save Coco!" RWBY commanded everyone who nodded in agreement as they rushed to do as ordered. Sun conjured 6 sun clones and carried the unconscious professors into the school while 2 clones punches some hound grim trying to stop them.

"Weiss propulsion!" Ruby ordered her partner, who immediately summoned a stream of white glyphs connecting her to Coco's direction. Ruby used the speed boost from them to dart past the Grims waist and grab the unconscious girl and run back towards Sun.

"Here you go bye!" she quickly said as she placed Coco on Sun's back, ignoring his wheezing from the sudden weight and petal burst back to the fight. Sun summoned another clone for Coco in annoyance.

"She's lucky she's cute." he said to himself annoyed.

Qrow watched from the ship as RWBY and JNPR faced the dragon, which finally collected itself and regenerated the holes in its neck from the earlier blast. It's eyes glowed angrily as it breathed fire into its claws and slashed at the ground in their direction.

"Look out kids!" he screamed, but his concerns were unwarranted as they easily dodge the fearsome strike using glyphs from Weiss to propel themselves out of the way. Jaune and Ren though could feel the intense heat from the flames on their faces as a massive flame geyser erupted from the impact. Rwby fired some ice dust bullets towards its hand but the cold attack simply melted easily from the flames. Nora tried to hammer it, but couldn't move in close due to the intense heat burning her skin whenever she moved.

"This thing's gonna barbecue them if I don't get out their!" Qrow said as panic invaded him. As he grabbed Harbringer to try and walk out to help them the doors to the cockpit suddenly closed.

"What are doing Penny!" he angrily asked the control panel the Robot gril connected her arms to in confusion.

"I need someone to man the canons for me. The captain only allowed me to take a prototype ship for this mission, so I don't have full connection to all the resources of this ship. That's why Pyrrah was the one who shot earlier remember?" she ranted as she commanded the bewildered huntsman to a chair that appeared from a tube in the ground. Qrow instantly was forcibly sited and pushed to the canon handles. Despite the initial confusion, Qrow got what he was being asked was important and steadied the weapons system to aim at the beast.

"Don't worry kiddo's I got your backs. Penny, can you tell them over coms to get clear? I don't want to hit them." He ordered the Robot girl who complied.

"Hey Weiss! Could you please activate your semblance around our cannons to increase our firepower 30%". She asked the heiress over intercoms.

"You bet!" she replied as she summoned another white glyph around the ships cannons. Qrow fired a stream of green energy at the beast, but the behemoth merely spread its wings to propel itself backwards with wind and dodge the lazor. Its giant tail crashed into the wall and fences that Ooblock previously fixed, shattering them and releasing the army of grim back into the school plaza.

"Uh, I Thought you were gonna HELP US!" Nora screamed towards the ship as she began flailing her arm towards the direction of the approaching grim.

Qrow gave a sheepish smile in return.
"Sorry kids, I'll take of it." He said as he began firing on the army to keep them away from the kids as they fought the beast.

"Nora look out!" Jaune yelled as he noticed the dragon about to slash her with its giant claws. He motioned for Pyrrah to use her polarity semblance and she complied, sending Nora flying into Ren's arms to avoid the attack.

"Thanks hun!" Nora yelled as she got out of his hug and gripped her hammer, ready for a counterattack.

Ruby saw her glare and knew by the look in her eyes she was ready for a reckless charge; she liked that.

"Yang with Nora! Weiss give them a boost its time for Freezer Burn!" she yelled. Weiss instantly drew her blade as Yang charged with Nora. They jumped on several white panels formed from Weiss's semblance that accelerated their speed to the point yellow and pink streams of light were behind them. Weiss then took a pouch of ice dust from her and Ruby's ammo cartridge and shot them into her sword to freeze a section of the Dragon's neck.

"It's hammer time!" Nora screamed as she and Yang, who charged up ember Cecilia with fire dust, smashed their weapons into the ice creating a red and blue explosion of fire and lighting as snow hailed down around the teams.

The Dragon roared as it fell on its back, its neck having a gaping hole in it so deep it looked like its neck was about to snap off.

Nora and Yang fell to the ground but Blake used Gambral Shadow's line to grab Nora, who was closer to her and summoned some clones to form a cushion for Yang's landing. She placed faith in her partners aura to survive the impact easily, but her confidence shattered as she and Nora saw a horrific sight.

The dragon grim whipped its tail and smashed her clones to dust.

"Oh crap!"

Yang yelled as she plummeted to the ground, but her aura took the brunt of the impact as she landed, though she lost her guard. Despite no blood loss or broken bones, she still felt a heaping amount of pain in her back and chest as it felt her muscles were on fire, and not in a way she was used too.

Seeing her sister laying on the ground groaning in pain, Ruby instantly charged for her to give Yang cover, ignoring the beast entirely. The beast didn't fail to notice the young girls panic or loss of focus and drew it's eyes on her after raising its head, its neck beginning to regenerate.

"Ruby look out!" Weiss yelled out of panic, but it was too late. The beasts tail wrapped around Ruby, squeezing her like a python as it glared at her.

"L-Let…me go!" she barely yelled as she struggled to breath, her lungs feeling like they were about to pop from the pressure of the squeeze.

The beast ignored her vain cries of defiance and opened its mouth to charge of some flames, intending to roast her like Cardin for another hot meal.

Everyone still standing charged at the beast with their weapons drawn to try and save their friend, but the beast merely paused its attack to fly upwards. The gust from the take off blew them off their feet like a hurricane, knocking most of them out as the landed head first on concrete.

Yang saw her sister's plight and knew she had to save her. She pushed herself up on her feet, ignoring her muscles screams for rest. She breathed rapidly as she looked around for something to help her sister. Her eyes glistened as she saw a boot on the floor and recognized it as one of Cocoa's rocket boots. It was just the ticket she needed. Yang grabbed the boot and ignited it, propelling herself into the air awkwardly as she flailed her arms around due to inexperience in flying. She felt nauseas from spinning around, but fought the urge to vomit as she approached the dragon, which was charging up another flame breath at Ruby.

"Hang on BABY SIS!" Yang yelled as she charged ember Cecilia with her last grenade from her weapons pouch and plunged it into the beasts tail.

The fiery explosion from the impact roasted the tail and Yang's left arm, causing both to scream in pain from their burns. The dragon's grip on Ruby lessened allowing her to get her arms free.

"Thanks Yang I knew I could count on my big sis!" Ruby yelled as she turned her arms into thorns and plunged into the skin of the tail, forcing the beast's grip to loosen further from the impact and allowing Ruby to petal burst out of their and land safely near Blake, who just regained consciousness. She looked up to wait for her sister to land and help her finish off the beast. Her skin went pale as she saw instead the image of the beast looking at Yang, still holding her arm in pain while flying.

"Yang get out of there!" Ruby and Blake screamed in unison, but it was too late. The dragon ignited its flames at last and shot a stream of fire towards Yang, who merely closed her eyes as she was engulfed in the flames.

Her skin burned as it felt like she was melting as the fire consumed her. Despite the pain, Yang couldn't find the strength to scream, she simply felt satisfied her sister was safe at last.

"At least I made sure Ruby didn't get hurt this time." Yang thought to herself. Despite her body burning, she felt a chill from that thought.

"This time?" she thought to herself.

Soon memories of her life flushed her mind. She saw the day she was 8 and took a 6-year old Ruby with her to look for her mom Raven. She smirked as she saw the cute image of her baby sister sleeping in a small red wagon, snuggling her pillow. Her smile faded as her heart sank remembering her younger versions frustrations.

"Darn it! Mom please answer me!" young yang called. She soon stomped her feet in anger from the lack of response in the forest. Soon bushes around her started to rustle.

"Mom?" Young yang asked.
Yang, however, remembered what came next that day. Wolf grim attracted to her younger versions frustrations attacked them. Young yang cradled her sleeping little sisters head and closed her eyes, waiting to becoming food for the beasts before hearing yips from them. She opened her eyes to see her Uncle Qrow standing before them. Older Yang forced a small smile as she was relieved her uncle was always so supportive, despite his more irresponsible tendencies back then. Her heartstrings were pulled though seeing his disappointed face that day.

"What the hell were you thinking?! You wanna get yourself killed that's fine, but you had no right to drag your sister into that as well!" he screamed at Yang's kid self.

Older Yang watched her younger self drop to her knees crying from the ordeal, remembering vividly the guilt and fear in her chest that day. Her selfishness nearly got her and Ruby killed… no it should have killed them. "Never again, I never want to put Ruby in danger again!" she said to herself before then seeing the memory change to a more recent one.

"THEY RAPED MY SISTER!" Yang's past self screamed at the doctor. Yang lowered her head from the shame she felt remembering this moment. It was the night the doctors informed her what the White Fang did to Ruby at Mountain Glenn. If she had just ignored orders and ran into the base like her gut told her maybe she could have made it in time to protect Ruby from that assault. She then notice the scene change to Ruby in the locker room at Beacon.

"It's a lie, It's a lie! That monster can't have that in my belly, he cant'! She yelled as she collapsed to the floor while gripping her head. Ruby had just taken a pregnancy test at Goodwitch's insistence after noticing her morning sickness. Her fears proved true as the source of Ruby's breakdown was from the plus sign of the test.

Ruby was crying her eyes out while hugging Yang, who couldn't say anything to comfort her. She didn't know what to say that could comfort Ruby now. As the feeling of helplessness returned to Yang, she saw many more recent memories of her failures overtake her mind. From seeing Ruby kidnapped by Cinder, to her depression from being on maternity leave with a kid she didn't want, to her near death from childbirth while holding her hand, and finally the most chilling memory. She then saw Ruby screaming in pain as she rampaged from the kidnapping of Thorn. She was so close to her sister each of those times, yet had nothing to say or do that could protect her from her physical and mental torments. A sudden realization stabbed Yang's heart as these images finally faded.

"That's right… I've been letting you down your entire life." She screamed to herself, her horror now replaced with a burning rage as her eyes glowed red with tears flowing down her face. She screamed in rage and pain as her hair glowed in the real world. She soon did a superhero landing, her burnt red skin healing and returning to pale white.

"Yang! Your okay!" Ruby screamed as she saw the surprising scene before her.

"But how? I thought your aura broke!" Blake continued.

Yang didn't answer, she only felt rage flood her mind as she looked at the Dragon who was glaring at her in interest, attracted to her anger.

Yang's glowing hair then ignited, taking the form of a fire dragon that blasted a huge fireball at the beast, sending it back and away form her friends. Yang smiled as she felt the surge of power in her and looked at Ruby. Finally, she felt she had the power to save her sister for once. She wasn't going to blow it no matter what as she felt confidence fill her; it's only equivalent being a desire to murder this Grim right now.

"Okay little lizard, time for Round 2!" she roared as she charged at it.

Nurses Office

"Doc you got 3 more!" Sun yelled as he and his clones carried the knocked out Professor's Ooblock, Goodwitch and the student Coco. Velvet immediately turned around to see these 3 and took especial interest in the state of her leader.

"Coco! Are you…" The rabbit girl began to say before a loud voice cut her off, making her wince in surprise.

"Velvet, I'll take care of them, don't you dare take your eyes off a patient in need right before you!" Nurse Thompson yelled, admonishing Velvet for her lack of focus on Ozpin, who merely watched the scene unfold calmly despite the pain his leg was in.

"S-Sorry I'll get right on to fixing him up" she said awkwardly after seeing her leader and teachers being fit on beds by the nurse and Sun whom the former asked for a medical kit for assistance. Velvet took a deep breath as she felt relieved, she knew her friends were in good hands and so she smacked her cheeks to gather her energy. She had to focus on Ozpin like her teacher said. She examined his leg, the source of his pain. She winced at the sight.

"What did you do stick this thing in acid!" she asked as she noticed the burn marks, blood oozing, and slight green glow the left leg was emitting.

"Sort of, I used a powerful… uh… semblance but overdid it. Honestly I am perplexed how it was just my leg that got hit. Guess I was lucky." He awkwardly stated. He wanted to avoid going into detail, not just from knowing Magic wasn't well known and should be hidden. He also felt uncomfortable talking about Hazel after all the bitter recollections he did already in his office when he thought he would die from his last attack.

Velvet got some ice packs and cold water and tried dowsing the glowing on his leg, having assumed radiation to be the key. To her shock, it simply evaporated the packs and water instantly. She soon looked on in horror as Ozpin grasped it in pain, seeing his legs skin start to peel off. She didn't know how to fix his leg if it was even possible. Her heart sank as she could only think of one thing to do. Ozpin fought his pain to give Velvet his full attention, he knew she deserved his full attention after all her first aid to him and others during and after the war. He respected her kindness for her patients and her medical opinion despite her young age and few months of field experience. Nonetheless, he couldn't help but shudder at her thoughts she told him next.

"Sir, I am so sorry, but… I fear we may have to amputate it." She hesitantly said.

There you have it. Yang's semblance evolves (leaving Weiss to have to follow suit). With her and Ruby and Blake the only fighters left conscious she is going to need that power boost. Whereas she gained something, Ozpin may stand to lose something important too. The outcome of these ordeals and the fate of Beacon will be revealed in

CH 20: Battle for Beacon Part 3: Fire Dragon's Fist