RWBY: A Thorn in My Heart

Chapter 23: Terror in the Sky's

Nora let out a huge sigh. Her discomfort came not from the turbulence the airship was experiencing flying through a small thundercloud, nor Yang's snoring, but by the small company around her.

"This ship is too damn massive for 6 people!" she exclaimed as she rolled around in her seat uncomfortably. The ship Penny was flying was almost like a hotel lobby, plastered with art and a bar, Flat screen televisions, and fancy carpets and cushioned recliners for seats befitting a royal like Weiss across the room.

"Too bad Jaune knocked Pyrrah up, they could have livened up the room a bit!" she said bitterly. It would surely be more fun having her whole team beside them for this mission to Atlas, but Jaune insisted he be by Pyrrah during her entire pregnancy. His overprotective attitude annoyed Nora, though amused Ren who decided to ease some tension with a joke.

"True, Jaune would probably freak Weiss out with his barfing, and Ruby would tease Pyrrah for marrying "vomit boy" for sure." Ren teased his wife. His response earned him a playful grin from Nora, who rarely saw her calm and collected husband joke around.

Nora's amusement didn't last long as she soon felt her heart grow heavy as she noticed the Dust Companies new president eyeing Ruby solemnly across the room. She knew Weiss once held feelings for Ruby, who was busy rummaging through her red duffle bag for something with an annoyed look, and had been to most affected when learning she was marrying Blake. A part of her worried she would oppose their marriage and say "I Object" at the wedding, and was relieved she supported her partner to the end. Weiss did spend a year away from everyone for "training" in Atlas after the wedding and Ruby's honeymoon ended, but Nora and Yang had once feared she was reeling from depression over her lost chance. Surely, if not depressed over failing to gain Ruby's love, Weiss was likely being overwhelmed with pressure by her family to handle the company during that time. Nora decided to walk over and sit beside Weiss to find out what was troubling her for sure.

"You holding up okay?" she asked nervously, she had learned to compose herself a little during delicate situations thanks to her husbands help over the years. Weiss barely reacted to her presence as she gave a mere nod before continuing her somber glare at their team leader. Before Nora could press further to shake some sense into Weiss, though she wanted to literally grab and shake her for attention, she looked over to Ruby and came to a realization why Weiss was so depressed.

"There they are! Great my hearts been pounding for an hour now I thought it would pop like a balloon." Ruby told Blake as she pulled a small orange container filled with pills and handed her wife her duffle bag, which she put away in the overhead containers for luggage.

Ruby popped open the bottle quickly and shoved 2 pills into her mouth quickly as she began to breath heavily. Nora's skin almost turned as white as Weiss's hair as she understood her friends worries. Ruby had been taking anti-depressants rather than going to therapy these last 5 years, despite Weiss's objections.

Ruby's decision was indeed controversial for her friends, Nora herself had argued with Ren many times about it.

"She needs to talk about her problems or she'll never get better!" her younger self argued.

Nora then closed her eyes bitterly, spitting out the words Ren had said to her like rotten milk.

"Closure is a myth. Talking about her rape might only bring her even more pain." He had said.

Nora grasped her arm painfully as she recollected this. Ruby herself had stated many times she felt like crap every time she finished her counseling sessions. Speaking to a doctor, strangers, or even friends and family that might understand what she went through didn't bring her any real sense of comfort.

Though she was grateful Ozpin provided it, Ruby jumped at the chance for medication over free therapy once she could afford it with her huntress job. Every time she went on missions, she felt her heartbeat rapidly and had flashes of her attack at inopportune times, something the pills only seemed to alleviate.

"You think she's holding up alright?" Nora whispered in Weiss's ear. Weiss was a bit startled by Nora's uncharacteristically quite behavior, she had known the Valkyrie to be so hyper and open it was almost like she was an alien. After collecting herself, Weiss pondered the question, unsure how to answer for a bit.

"She seems okay… but only when she takes those pills." Weiss solemnly stated. She kept seeing her mother's hand that stuck her as a child and couldn't help fear Ruby was heading down the same path as her.

Blake hugged her wife as she finished her Lamaze breathing, satisfied with her calming down. She hid her anxiety beneath her smiles, though she had grown accustomed to these flashes of trauma by now and resolved herself to protect Ruby she knew it was almost impossible to fight the danger inside her. She soon saw Weiss and Nora and felt a bit of envy. Unlike her, they didn't feel the need to hide their painful expressions. Knowing they were concerned about her wife, Blake decided to pull them away while Ruby rested a bit in her seat.

"Your worried about her aren't you?" she asked tenderly.

Weiss and Nora couldn't find the strength to smile and tell a lie, they simply nodded in confirmation.

Blake sighed as she saw their glum expressions, she could certainly emphasize with their worries but learned something important over the years she spent with Ruby.

"Your sweet for caring about her health, but you need to quit it now." She sternly said, her answer making Weiss cover her hand in shock. Nora merely glared at her in anger, but before she could shout in protest Blake merely pointed to Ruby sleeping peacefully in her chair.

"Ruby may not look like it, but she has a lot of pride in her appearance. She refuses to show weakness especially in battle." She fiercely continued. Nora instantly knew this was true, during the war she had refused to laid up with a kid in her belly while her friends risked their lives. If Ruby couldn't fight she would feel helpless and relive her painful memory of "that" night.

"Ruby was our teams leader because she is smart and gets the bigger picture. Sometimes she gets flashes of that bitter memory, those pills help keep her calm especially in battle." Blake said, her statement instantly bringing a thousand yard stare from the two. They knew then and there why Ruby felt the need for those pills beyond her discomfort of therapy; it was them. Ruby's days as a school team leader may be over, but she always felt responsible for her friends and families safety, whether at home or on the job. Blake knew this too, and so long decided to abandon her own discomfort for those pills to let her wife have some relief of her own choosing.

"Even a moment's weakness could cost her or us our lives and that fear is even more painful for her than therapy, so please… just drop it." Blake said sadly, but with a stern tone to showcase her wish for the matter to close.

An air of silence filled the plane, despite Yang's snoring. Weiss soon hung her head in shame while Nora rubbed her own arm awkwardly.

"Sorry… I get we were being selfish, it's just…" Weiss started before Blake raised her hand, startling them.

"It's okay I get it, but Ruby's not that weak little girl from school anymore. She can take care of herself." Blake said, her tone shifting to a more comforting one, which made Nora realize she wasn't angry anymore.

"Your right, if she could kick the White Fang's butts while pregnant this wouldn't be a jog in the park." Weiss stated, her frown finally turning back into the smile that exuded confidence they all knew the president by.

Nora sighed in relief, happy this was done, and went back to her seat to rest her head on her sleeping husbands shoulder. This depressing conversation had worn her out and she was looking forward to a nice long nap. As if fate cursed her desire, she and everyone were soon shocked awake by a ring from Ruby's scroll. Ruby frantically rummaged through her pockets for her scroll in embarrassment.

"Sorry Sorry! Just a sec!" She said as Yang began to groan in annoyance from being awoken from her nap.

After remembering she put it in her bag, Ruby quickly too out her scroll and answered it, wanting to let her team get back to sleep soon

"Yeah dad, what's the problem?" She asked, her question perking Yang out of her drowsiness. She felt a pit in her stomach form, if dad called during missions it usually was either with bad news or to check in on them frequently no matter how much it annoyed them. He never really lost his overprotective side, something that Yang internally admitted had rubbed off on her. She wanted to listen in on her sisters call, but as if sensing her desire, Ruby made a beeline for the bathroom, cutting off any chance of that from happening. Yang sighed in defeat as she plopped back into her seat, impatiently waiting for news from her sister.

Ruby sat on the toilet lid in the bathroom as she focused on her scroll call. She had heard some faint whimpers over the line and knew they were from her son. She dreaded the thought of him being hurt, especially since the day his ear was cut by Cinder. She never forgave herself for losing him to Tyrian and putting him in that threatening position in the first place. She blamed her own weakness more than that witch and cursed herself internally now that she was away from Thorn when he needed her.

"Dad, what's happened to Thorn is he okay?" she nervously asked, almost choking on her sentence.

"Well we are at the doctors office getting his booster shots, and he really wants to talk to you." Tai said in a playful tone, his message bringing tremendous relief to Ruby as she sighed, and her heart finally ceasing its rapid beats. She switched her call to a facetime function to see her son; she just had to see his cute little face after that scare. Instantly, the screen shined and showcased a 5 year old dog faunus boy with his puppy ears down, cheeks red as a rose, and with silver eyes flooding with tears.

"M-Mommy please! I-I don't…*sniffles* I don't wanna shot!" he cried, his nose running as he clenched his fists a little in the hospital kids bed.

Ruby felt her heartstrings tug at the sight of her crying son. She knew this wasn't anything severe, but she could never really escape the haunting feeling her son's crying gave her. Memories of that night he was taken flushed her mind, with Tyrian smirking wickedly as he took her crying baby son through that portal. Ruby began to breath rapidly, sweat was pouring down her forehead.

She tried to speak to Thorn to reassure him, but felt her throat felt like it would collapse as she struggled to say even a word. She turned towards the bathroom door, she had to find her pills. It was the only thing she could think of to snap her out of this. In that moment, she forgot everything else and dropped her scroll, and just as she grabbed the handle, her son's voice froze her in place.

"Mama why can't you come home?" he cried.

Ruby's face was as pale as Weiss's hair. She had stopped breathing, as time seemed to have stopped to her. His question echoed in her mind, as they felt so familiar to her.

"Why can't mama come home?" a young girls voice echoed through her head. Ruby instantly recognized it has her own. She remembered that bright morning in Patch. A light shined on the kitchen table showing a family of 3. She saw her 6 year old self nd her dad had just brought her and a young Yang pancakes for breakfast. Ruby was sitting in her high chair, humming to herself while Yang had her chin on her plate, clearly having not woken up yet.

"Pancakes, pancakes, oh I love pancakes." She sang. Tai chuckled as she saw his youngest sing to them. Suddenly, the image of that memory turned dark, confusing Ruby.

"Wait, it was morning, what happened to the lights?" she asked herself.

Her stomach knotted as she heard a knock on the door, starting to recall what happened next. It was a painful moment, one that she had wished she could bury and never think about again like her mission to Mountain Glenn. But if her rape had taught her anything, it's that the darkest memories are one that are skin-deep.

Uncle Qrow stood at the door, his usually smug look completely replaced by a sad, near tearful expression Ruby hadn't known him by back then. She couldn't hear much from him as he and dad talked that time, but the few words she could hear at the end were ones she wished she never had.

"Tai… she's not coming back." Qrow tearfully stated. Tai stood on giving Qrow an expression of horror. He collapsed on his knees, screaming in agony and alerting his daughters who ran over to him.

"Daddy? What's wrong, why are you sad?!" Yang had asked.

Tai didn't answer, he continued to yell and cry at the top of his lungs. Ruby ignored her sister and dad and walked towards her uncle slowly. Her older self, still watching the memory solemnly, followed her. When Qrow told her Summer wasn't coming home, Ruby winced as she heard her naïve younger self ask her uncle why.

"Why can't mama come home?" they both said in unison.

Ruby had thought she had long come to terms with her mom's death, but that didn't change the fact it brought her much heartache. She felt more as she saw her uncles pained expression.

"Kiddo, something bad happened to her and… *inhale* her body isn't working anymore. She… isn't alive anymore." Qrow said painfully. Ruby could tell he had a hard time back then, explaining death. Sure enough, he had started sobbing like dad and said "screw this" and hugged a confused Ruby, who soon began to cry, giving a shell-shocked expression when Qrow said one last thing.

"You can't see her anymore."

Though her child self had no strength to do so at the time, Ruby's adult self instantly screamed in terror as she saw the memory end. Her heart raced as she took her hand off the handle, unsure for a moment what happened. She was back in the bathroom, not in Patch, but she wasn't sure if she had just woken up from a nightmare. She soon heard the sound of her son's voice, snapping her back into reality.

"Mama! Mommy! Where are you?!" Thorn kept calling to her on the scroll.

Ruby gasped as she recalled her conversation with Qrow that day. She had almost left the room without her scroll, she had almost abandoned her son for a moment.

"Just like mom." She thought to herself. Even as an adult, she had dreams mom would come home and hug her, telling her it was all a bad dream and she was here to stay. Ruby knew better, it was a blissful dream that became a waking nightmare every day of her life without mom around. She bit her lip as she saw the scroll on the floor with her son's crying face plastered on the screen. She refused to put him through that misery.

She instantly darted for the scroll and grabbed it, though it shook as her hands were shaking with terror from her anxiety right now.

"Sweetie? Sweetie! Can you hear me? Its mama I'm here!" she yelled, her voice finally reaching the boy, who started to cease his yelling and sniffle a little hearing his mother.

Ruby felt her rapid heartbeat ease seeing him calm down, she finally began to calm down as well.

"Mommy? Where did you go, why can't you be here?" he meekly said as he sniffled. Ruby sighed as she heard his question. She treasured every minute she got to spend with him, and the job she dreamed of for years since his age sometimes felt like a bad video game ending. As fulfilled she felt saving peoples lives from grimm or bandits, she felt much more when seeing him happy or laugh.

"Thorn, I get your scared right now. Mommy can't always be right next to you when scary things happen I know." She said, her response causing Thorn's eyes to swell with tears, but Ruby snapped him out of it the way she felt Qrow or Yang would.

"Quit the crying kiddo!" she yelled, her tone shocking the boy as his dog ears perked up.

"You wanna be a hero like mama? Well it hurts a lot! Grimm are much scarier than those small little boo boo needles. You wanna kick Grimm butt like mama you got take a hit from that shot got it?" she yelled in a supportive tone. She could make out her dad putting a hand on his forehead, obviously expecting her tone to upset Thorn again. She smirked in amusement as she saw him proven wrong as thorn sniffled again only to wipe his tears and snot on this shirt and nod.

"Okay mommy" he meekly said.

"That's my big boy! Now let me see you get those boo boo shots over with." She said. Thorn nodded and winced as the doctor handed Tai the scroll and gave him his shot. He cried a little, but was alleviated with a lollipop from grandpa he hid for the occasion and a colorful red bandage with the pumpkin pete logo on it Jaune loved.

Ruby chuckled seeing Thorn perk up seeing this, she had nearly exploded her head with laughter remembering seeing Jaune's t-shirt of that in Beacon.

She was snapped out of her joy with a sudden rumbling from the ship. Turbulence was common, but this one felt like a category 5 earthquake as she struggle to hang on the scroll and stay upright, grasping the handicap bar. Her father inquired what was wrong, but Ruby knew she shouldn't worry him or Thorn for now and lied.

"Sorry dad… uh… vertigo bout, I just need some r-rest." She said, her voice buzzing like when in a massage chair. She asked her father to put Thorn back on; she had to seem him before she knew things would get dicey. Despite her nausea from the trembling, Ruby smiled seeing her son lick his lollipop and smile seeing his mother. It reminded her the days mom would make her and yang cookies. She decided to end this call saying the phrase mom always told her.

"I love you, my sweet little rose." She said, earning a mutual response of love from her son. She fought tears as she ended the call, it was even harder for her than standing up.

She ran out the bathroom before falling on the floor and crawling to the seating area where everyone was strapped into their seats.

"What's happening?" she asked before an explosion roared outside.

"Grimm! One Nevermore just crashed right into the wing!" Nora yelled.

"And another one just did the same thing to the other wing!

Ruby gave a thousand yard as she quickly grasped Blake's hand as she realized what this meant. The plane spiraled down, nearly plopping her on the roof as she struggled to hang onto her wife's hands. They were going to crash!

The Dark Continent

In a dark place at the deepest ends of the planet Remnant, dead forests rich with tar pits surrounded a black castle. The fortress exuded a red aura of evil that was almost as suffocating as the scent of blood that filled the area. Many White Fang with burned skin laid on the ground with their chests ripped open, their arms and legs either mangled or in the jagged teeth of beowulfs and manticores. But these injuries were not the result of these hungry predators. A more vicious monster ended the lives of these men, a witch with powers unimaginable. She smirked from her desk as she watched the scene unfold.

"You've enjoyed your snack my pets, but now I must prepare for dinner." She coldly said as she waved her shadow hand and summoned a flock of nevermore from a portal above.

As the nevermore circled the area like vultures, the Grimm eating sensed their masters desire and backed away from the remains that were clutched by the talons of the bird Grimm. As they circled back to the castle, a group of Faunus captains, along with Emerald, watched the scene unfold from the window.

"Hah! Guess the new recruits pissed her off." A male deer Faunus said as he mockingly laughed. His mockery was met with laughter from his cohorts.

"Prideful idiots do tend to die the fastest." A girl dog faunus snickered.

Emerald rolled her eyes in annoyance. Just as those dead fools down their got killed by her master for refusing to follow a human, she was disgusted having to work for these "filthy beasts" (in her mind) who cheered for their own kind being eaten.

"I guess maggots like you love the sight of corpses the most." She mockingly said to them.

The Faunus clenched their teeth, Emerald seeing the fangs protruding out of a hyena man's mouth that made him look more animalistic than she thought possible. They soon reached for their blades, ready to slash her for her insolent and bigoted remark. They felt confidant in their strength as a group, having survived the Grimm Cinder once let loose on them for insulting her leadership just like those weaklings had done before.

"Guess all your brains went to that big rack you got there instead if you think you can talk to us like that!" The hyena man growled, he soon eyed Emerald's body, making the woman repulsed with his obvious intentions with her beyond mutilation. Her assumption correct as he could imagine the things he'd do it her as he licked his lips.

"Sorry you horny mutt, but they belong to Cinder, speaking of which." She said as her eyes glowed red, enveloping them in a bright flash as the image of the fiery witch appeared before them. Sweat drenched their faces as flames surrounded them in a ring of fire. To their disbelief, Cinder merely walked past them nonchalantly, sporting a devilish grin as she raised her hand and summoned a flame blade.

"Wha…Get away from me you monster!" the hyena man screamed as he pulled his sword from its sheave and rushed towards her. He instantly froze in place as shadow hands from the floor ensnared him and the others.

"What are these things!? The chameleon man yelled. His screams couldn't even reach those right beside him as they were too busy wailing in pain, the dog girl even rolling around on her back to Emerald's amusement.

"Guess your more dog than man after all beast." She snickered as her victims lay on the floor in terror from her illusions. She experienced first hand the torment her master's power inflicted on others, and honestly was just relieved it finally served a purpose for her. She walked away and towards Cinder's office, relishing in the cries of pains from the captains as they collapsed.

As she entered the room, she noticed Cinder unusually relaxed, rocking in a chair and observing her Nevermores flying out the window. She waved her shadow arm, releasing a wave of black wind that forced a window open and attracted the bird Grimm. They screeched at the top of their lungs, making Emerald cover her ears in pain from the screech as one by one they threw the faunus corpses into Cinder's office. Emerald clenched her mouth, fighting the urge to hurl as the putrid stench of these bloody bodies filled the room. Cinder merely inhaled the stench slowly, Emerald making out a grin of amusement from her master beyond her own winces of disgust.

"That makes 9,975" Cinder said as she counted the bodies and touched a board of flames, her Grimm arm glowing red as the letters on the board changed to match the number she just stated.

She grinned at the high count as it had taken 5 years of assassinations and grimm attacks, but she was finally nearing her corpse goal for the Monstra ritual.

With a wave of her hand the board disappeared and the Nevermores flew out the window, which closed on its own.

"I never get tired of seeing you do hot stuff like that." Emerald said, grinning a little after recovering from her nausea.

"Speaking of doing hot stuff." Cinder said with a seductive tone as she motioned her finger. Emerald instantly took the cue and advanced towards her master, planting a kiss on her. Cinder took it further and grasped Emerald's waste, putting more power into her grip to prevent any escape. Emerald felt the need to breath, but couldn't escape Cinder's grasp; honestly she didn't want to. She almost felt content to die in bliss from her warmth. Cinder suddenly pulled away of her own accord with an amused look on her face as Emerald collapsed on the floor, panting with a flushed face. Cinder wanted to continue there session, but felt a surge of negative energy envelop her Grimm arm that felt like even greater ecstasy than whatever Emerald could do to her in the bedroom.

"Just when I thought this day couldn't get better. Sorry to cut this short my dear, we'll continue once I do something even more appealing than that body of yours." Cinder said with a flirty tone. Emerald couldn't even hear this as she was too caught up in her heavy breathing and excitement from the make out session.

Cinder soon opened up a portal, setting her sights on the strong feelings of discomfort she was sensing around the world. It was the fastest way for her White Fang and Grimm army to hunt.

To her utter disappointment, she soon saw threw the portal a luxury plane, flying through some small storm clouds that rumbled. The plane was in perfect condition and with such mundane weather there was no way something like engine failure or a lightning strike could bring it down and cause such negativity she was sensing.

"Seriously, that's all!?" She yelled in annoyance.

She honestly began to wonder if whoever was on it was probably just irritated by some annoying brat screaming his head off. Truthfully she felt the urge to just leave it alone and let the passengers ears ache in misery from such a scenario. But a strange sensation kicked her gut as she felt an instinctual urge to examine the ship closely. She enhanced the image of the portal and soon began to see the inside of the ship. To her glee, Ruby Rose was on it and began to hyperventilate. Cinder's eyes narrowed as she sat in her chair, chuckling in amusement the despair she was feeling from her arch rival. She heard a sound even more amusing from Ruby's scroll, the wailing of her son Thorn. Cinder grinned as she summoned a knife to her hand. It was the very same blade she used to cut that kids ear 5 years ago. She could still feel his skin on the blade, and it brought an enjoyable chill to her skin. She soon lowered her smile as she mused to herself how she was cheated out of killing Ruby and that kid who nearly screamed her ears off during that hostage situation. All she got out of that encounter was killing the traitor Neo and humiliating Ironwood. As she continued to observe Ruby's mental decline comfortably though, a dark thought soon crossed her mind. Now she had chance to remedy that loss and increase her rituals score board in one fell swoop.

"I guess the rose is starting to wilt, how about I speed the process up." She said with her body infected with a murderous red aura.

Her eyes flared up with flames as she plunged her Grimm hand into the portal. Soon portals around her castle appeared before Nevermores that circled around it. Soon they appeared in the skys around the plane. One on her command soon flew into the ships left engine propeller. Another soon followed with the right engine. Cinder could hear the screams of terror from the passengers as their anxiety and fear for their lives filled their hearts.

"Thank you for flying air Grimm." She chuckled to herself as Emerald finally regained her footing and wobbly stood up to see her lovers joy.

"Sure they won't survive that?" Emerald asked, the thought the passengers could parachute out or endure the crash with their aura had crossed her mind. Cinder didn't cease her grinning, completely confident in her work despite sensing these doubtful thoughts from her lover.

"Not to worry, even if they could survive all those things, I have another "pet" in the closest town to them that will finish the job. Now where were we?" she seductively said as she once more advanced towards Emerald, pulling her into another kiss as shadows enveloped the room, summoning them to her bed chamber to keep her promise from before.

Meanwhile…

Ost ( watch?v=boxhke2611E)

Outside a desolate town, a shadowy figure walked through the streets. It was a natural environment for a grimm as the town was covered in dirt and grim, with blood and rusted stain swords and arrows all over the ground. No person could stand to live here, surrounded by skeletons and vermin being a natural attraction for the demons as well. Even without those threats, all the small buildings and houses were worn down, ready to collapse on anyone in a moment. Some beowulfs came out of one such building with rats in their teeth. Before they could enjoy a meal, they soon dropped their prey from their blood covered jagged teeth and whimpered, overcome with an overwhelming sense of fear. As they turned to run away in terror, the shadowy figure grabbed some rusted blades off the floor and twirled its hands backwards, propelling it arms across the streets and wrapping around the wolf grimm's bodies. The swords stabbed their chest's, keeping arms in place as they pulled the squeeling dogs towards the figure, whose skull head's teeth gritted as they came close. It suddenly paused it's attack and froze in place, releasing its grip on the grimm who ran away in fear. It soon looked up to see Ruby's plane crash a few miles, sensing the terror of the passengers filling it with curiosity.

Meanwhile at the Crashsite…

Ruby groaned as she came too, her head filling like it was run over by that garbage truck that nearly struck her if it wasn't for penny.

"Oh my gosh! Penny!" Ruby yelled as she realized the Plane crashed, a plane operated by Penny's AI chip. If it was destroyed then Penny was as good as dead. Panic flooded her mind as she stood up, though soon clenched her forehead, which began to ooze some blood slightly. She looked around to see her team in hardly better shape. Though their aura's took the brunt of the crashes impact, Weiss had a piece of shrapnel she painfully pulled out of her side, Nora had cuts and burns of her arms, Ren had a couple of broken fingers, and Yang was crying over her burnt hair, which was now as short as her sisters to the latters slight amusement. Blake's injuries brought an intense sense of dread to Ruby that anyone else would fear would summon an army of Grimm to their location. Blake had a bloody ear, cut from shrapnel as well, just like the wound she saw on her son every day of her life. She felt her legs grow weak and her chest about to rupture, painfully recollecting her son in Salem's arms with that fresh cut to his ear bleeding like Blake's. As everything began to grow dark as she breathed heavily, Ruby was snapped out of this state by a surprising call from a familiar voice.

"Ruby? What appears to be troubling you friend." A voice echoed.

"Penny!?" Ruby exclaimed, but as she looked around, all she saw was her friends eyeing her with worried looks. They ignored their own pain to notice hers. They just weren't sure how to explain this to their friend who kept darting her head around trying to find the source.

"Where are you Penny? I was worried sick." She yelled.

"Look down best friend." Penny said.

Ruby instantly complied, but was unsure of what her friend was implying. She didn't see Penny laying on the ground like she assumed, no all she saw was an emerald blade with Penny's atlas insignia on the hilt. What came next sent her jumping into the sky, startled out of her mind.

"Hello best friend!" the sword said as its insignia glowed green.

"Whoa! Penny your alive! And you're a sword? That's cool, no wait…" Ruby exclaimed then uttered in confusion.

"Don't worry, before the crash she said she calculated she would *exhale* transferred her AI chip into that sword and encased it with all her aura to survive. Once we get to Ironwood in Atlas we can get her body back." Weiss said as she winced in pain from Yang cauterizing her wound. Ruby sighed in relief from this news, ignoring Weiss a little to the presidents annoyance, but she knew ruby was just relived no one died so she decided to let it go.

"Ruby, I would like to request you keep me next to you at all times till we get my body back from dad." Penny stated.

"No problem, I have the perfect place for you." Ruby said as she instantly placed her next to Crescent Rose on her waist. It was one of her few comforts left in life since her days at Beacon and Signal and felt it was where her friend belonged. As she regained her composure, she checked on all her friends, and noticed their aura levels were low. She then begun enhancing them with her own Aura, still running on half, despite the exhaustion it was causing her. She didn't mind as she saw their wounds heal, though expressed worry to Nora when saying the wounds on her arm may leave scars.

"Really? Scars? Cooooooooooooool!" she screeched, her loud voice ringing everyone's ears, but honestly amused them since she finally began acting like the Nora they were used to.

Ruby sensed something strange though as she finished enhancing Nora's aura and gave her a concerned look.

"Nora… are you?..." she started before noticing a confused look on her friends face. Looking around and seeing Ren on a cliff, she realized her friend hadn't been healed yet. As much as she wanted to continue questioning Nora about this uneasy feeling she had, Ruby decided to prioritize recovery first and headed over to him.

"Here Ren, let me heal you up." She said softly extending her hand towards him.

He did not respond to her at all, simply giving a thousand yard stare beyond the cliff.

"Hello, Remnant to Ren are you there…" she said waving her hand in his face before he grabbed it forcefully and shoved her back to her terror. She hadn't expected such behavior from the calm Ren she was friends with for years.

"Shut up! Just leave me alone!" he roared. Ruby's face winced as she almost teared up from his tone, their behaviors not going unnoticed.

"Hey what the Hell is your problem!? You didn't need to push my sister asshole!" Yang yelled, her eyes red with rage at the indignant treatment as she soon clenched her fists and advanced towards him.

Nora instantly stood between them, trying to keep the peace and avoid her husband getting pummeled. As she turned to him to ask why he was hurting Ruby like that she noticed what he saw, causing her to lower her arms and become near catatonic, her peach colored face turning pale.

"Nora? What's the matter? Weiss asked fearfully, not only was she overwhelmed by all the yelling, she had seen Nora react like this before on the plane, and it wasn't a good sign.

Nora ignored her as she slowly walked to the edge and looked on to see a run down town. A place she had dreaded to think about for years and hoped she never saw again. Why would she want too, this place was a source of anguish for her and Ren.

"I-It's Kuroyuri… It's… me and Ren's home." She stuttered. Ren grinded his teeth in anger, giving a death glare as she uttered those painful words. Correction, it was their home, before "it" took it all away from them. Their houses, their parents, their childhood, all was gone forever.

Sorry for late release, had some medical issues and work that needed resolved so big delay. Speaking of medical, I feel Ruby's unwillingness for therapy over drugs was a good suggestion from my best friend, who likewise takes anti-depressants, he said he hated talking in group therapy at least so I felt a reliance on that would spark up bad memories from the abused Weiss. Now then, what has Ruby discovered from Nora? With their aura levels low and the team mentally unstable, will they be able to survive an encounter with the Knuckelavee? Can Ren and Nora regain their composure? Find out in CH 24: Black Heart