When Emerald left Haven Academy to come to this place, she thought she would have been done with classrooms. As it turned out, she had just traded one for another.
Thankfully she was not sharing the room with any fellow students. At least not now. The teenager sat in silence with Cinder and Mercury, each staring down at their respective projects. How had this happened? How had this fate befallen any of them? Especially to her mentor?
Emerald was a master thief with a Semblance specialized in mental manipulation. She could easily stalk her prey in silence, sneaking up behind them before delivering a fatal blow with her bladed pistols. Yet here she was, helping to plan a school dance for a bunch of monsters. It was almost as bizarre as said monsters. At least none of those were present at the moment.
Her pen tapped in annoyance on the notebook before her. They were supposed to be coming up with ideas for the dance. What more was needed than the basics? Get some lights, get some music, and let the creepy little hybrids dance. Why they needed to dance was still a mystery to her. It wouldn't have been the first since arriving here.
She supposed no time was better than the present. Looking up from the near blank sheet of paper, Emerald saw how Cinder was also deep in thought. "Excuse me, ma'am?" she asked meekly.
A head of raven hair rose, and narrowed golden eyes stared into her own. "Yes?"
"Pardon me," she began apologetically. Emerald didn't want to sound as if she was questioning Cinder's decisions, after all. "But could you explain to me why we're doing... this?" Her hands gestured to the notebooks on the table in explanation.
To her surprise, Cinder sighed. A hand came up, and her thumb and index finger rubbed her eyes tiredly. "If you only knew how many times I've asked that same question to myself..."
The thief looked away, not wishing to see her mentor in such a state of discomfort. Cinder had always portrayed herself as being calm and collected. She was always the one in control. Here, however, it had become apparent that she was in fact not her own master. She was not in control of her own fate. Her frustrated answer right now only emphasized that point.
"The answer, however," she continued. "Is that we must prepare the remaining hybrids for their trip to Beacon Academy."
Emerald's eyes widened. "Those... those things are coming with us?"
Cinder nodded. "They are. The four best and brightest will be competing in the Vytal Tournament as a part of... final exam, I guess you could say."
"And what's this dance gotta do with fighting?" Mercury asked.
"Beacon is going to be holding their annual school dance," Cinder explained. "As such, we must expose the hybrids to dancing. Thanks to their classes here they will already know what to expect when it comes to classroom activities as well as combat classes. Dancing, however, is a foreign concept to them."
Emerald understood now. Still, the fact that not only her and Cinder's talents, but begrudgingly Mercury's own were being wasted on teaching a bunch of monsters how to move to music ate at her. They should be out there doing actual work. Bringing about actual change. Not rubbing elbows with these freaks of nature.
"If you ask me, getting this dance thing over with can't happen soon enough," Mercury commented. "These things give me the creeps."
It was a rare moment of vulnerability for the assassin. Normally Emerald would have been inclined to snipe at the comment and mock him for his fear. However, there was nothing normal about their situation. If she were to take a shot at the boy for his comment, she knew he would easily throw it back in her face.
After all, the walls had eyes. The walls were alive with slithering darkness. The walls reached out and touched her...
"For once I have to agree with him," she added. "Every time I leave a room I get the feeling that there's something crawling around on the ceiling. Like it's stalking me..."
A low hum sounded in Cinder's throat. "I see you've met Blake."
Red eyes widened and narrowed in rapid succession. "I don't understand how you can say that so nonchalantly."
"She really is harmless once you learn how to deal with her. Just don't be afraid of her, and she'll lose interest."
Emerald wanted to explode and ask how that was even possible. How did one just stop being afraid of the weird, terrifying tentacle monster that skittered along the walls and ceiling? Instead, Emerald chose a more diplomatic route rather than risk upsetting her master.
"I see," she said softly.
Though she understood, that didn't mean she had to agree with Cinder's assessment. There were just some things in life that were not okay. Blake happened to be one of them.
A soft knock on the classroom's door earned her attention, and all three people turned toward it. A hand instinctively reached for one of her holstered pistols, but her mind corrected that line of thinking. With Cinder here there was no danger. Cinder wouldn't let any harm befall her.
"Come in," the woman in question called out.
Emerald hoped against hope that it would not be the girl they were just speaking of.
The door opened, and to her relief it was not Blake who entered, but someone almost as bad.
"Professor Fall," the girl greeted respectfully, offering a slight bow of her head. Icy blue eyes focused on Emerald and Mercury next, and her nimble fingers gripped her skirt before dipping into a slight curtsy. "And her disciples. How truly wonderful it is to run into all three of you at once."
It truly was eerie how Weiss could transform herself into a perfectly normal looking human being. Those not in the know wouldn't even bat an eye. Emerald was loathe to admit it, but she was in reality a very beautiful girl. She knew, however, that it was all just a facade.
"Weiss," Cinder greeted evenly. "How may I help you today?"
Weiss stepped closer to them, hands folded nearly across the front of her body. She looked so unassuming. So docile. Like a fairy tale princess speaking to her fairy godmother. Her fairy godmother. A twinge of jealousy shot through Emerald's body, but she controlled her face to not betray the dark thought.
It didn't stop those cold eyes from suddenly focusing on her, however. A shiver ran down Emerald's spine.
"I would like to speak with you more on the act of human reproduction," Weiss explained. "Specifically, on the process of one becoming pregnant."
Forget the shiver, Emerald's entire body had suddenly become cold. All traces of jealousy had been replaced by pure, unadulterated fear. Fear of what might befall her should her comment about Weiss potentially being pregnant actually come to pass.
Cinder turned to the teen, and for once Emerald was not happy to have her mentor's attention focused on her. Golden eyes blazed with literal fire as they threatened to burn holes through their victim's body. "I thought you gave her the talk," she said lowly.
"I did!" Emerald insisted. She looked over at Mercury. This blame was not something she intended to share herself. "We did!"
"Evidently not well enough."
"Your disciples did a fine enough job of demonstrating the act of a human relationship," Weiss interjected. For once Emerald would not protest the incorrect assumption that she and Mercury were an item. This insane hybrid might actually save her life with her false impression. "However, much to my regret, I appear to have failed to become pregnant as a result of my relations with Jaune."
Emerald let out a breath of relief. Good. Weiss wasn't pregnant. That meant Emerald was in the clear.
"I see," Cinder said evenly. "You... wish to become pregnant?"
Weiss nodded. "Yes. It is my desire to bear many strong children of the strongest hybrid in the school so that we may advance Salem's plans. However I appear to have trouble with the process. Therefore I wish to do all that I can to guarantee the arrival of the snipe."
"The snipe?"
"Indeed. It would appear that despite my best efforts I had a misconception about the process of conception."
In a perfect world Emerald would have made some sort of snide remark about Weiss' word choice. This, however, was not a perfect world. It was anything but that. As a result she bit her tongue, letting her master do all the talking.
"Really?" Cinder asked with sickeningly sweet sarcasm. It was truly a wonder Weiss was unable to pick up on it.
"Yes. I mistakenly believed that ingesting a male's seed would yield the same results as any other method."
To her side, Emerald heard Mercury snort a small laugh. Glancing over at the boy, he was covering his face with a hand desperately trying to not break out in full-blown hysterics.
All traces of humor were wiped from his face with Cinder's next words. "Fix this."
Emerald's eyes widened as she looked over to the woman. "W-what?"
"Fix. This," she said slower this time. "I don't care how. Just do it."
Emerald wanted to scream. Right now planning a dance seemed like the best thing in the world compared to dealing with this lunatic Grimm hybrid.
"I mean, if this is a problem we could always just castrate the guy," Mercury suggested.
It was a very poor one, as it turned out.
Weiss moved with speed beyond Emerald's comprehension, and in a flash her hand was around Mercury's throat. The size disparity between the two would have been comical if not for the hateful blue eyes boring into her companion.
"Do not speak of maiming my mate," Weiss hissed.
Mercury's body squirmed in his seat, his hands trying desperately to release Weiss' from his neck. To his horror, and to Emerald's shock, it would not budge. Just how strong were these creatures?
Emerald looked back and forth between the fight and Cinder, wondering what she should do. Should she draw her weapons? Attempt to break the two up? Or simply do nothing? A glance at Cinder showed her doing nothing. She darkly wondered if this would have been the case had it been her rather than Mercury on the receiving end of a hybrid's assault.
"Weiss," Cinder said calmly. How could she be so calm in a situation like this? "Release him."
The hybrid complied immediately, and a large gasp for air filled the room as Weiss let go of Mercury's throat. A couple words had succeeded where a trained assassin's hands had failed.
Emerald felt even more out of her element than ever before.
Weiss turned back to Cinder, her head bowing slightly. "My apologies, Professor Fall."
She wasn't surprised that Mercury was not afforded an apology of his own. Nor was she surprised that Cinder made no attempt to force her to give him one. It was almost as if these creatures were on an entirely different plane than herself and Mercury. Like Cinder could suggest things to them, or teach them, but not control them. They answered to a different master. The one named Salem.
"It's fine. Just do try to control yourself when you're around humans. Often times they will make jokes, even offensive ones." Her head craned to peer over at the still recovering Mercury. "And what you said was merely a joke, right, Mercury?"
The assassin nodded, agreeing with the lie. Emerald would have normally liked to see the arrogant young man put in his place, but the realization that this could have happened to her as well sucked all joy from the experience.
"Yeah," he coughed. "Just a joke."
"I see," Weiss frowned. "Well it was not a very funny one. I take my relationship with Jaune seriously."
The only joke around here was Weiss herself and her awkward, frankly frightening understanding of copulation.
"In fact," the hybrid continued. "Since beginning my physical relationship with him, I have found it easier to hold my human form. At this point I can do it with practically no effort at all. I'm not quite sure what the correlation might be, but I'm certain he has something to do with it. Perhaps being the top student in our class, he really has rubbed off on me."
Mercury might have liked to make a comment about Jaune 'rubbing off' on Weiss thanks to the context of the conversation. However, the boy was notably silent after what had just occurred.
"That's interesting," Cinder noted. "I'm pleased to hear of your progress."
"Indeed. At this point I'm certain that I will be one of the four chosen to participate in the Vytal Tournament when we make our trip to Beacon Academy."
Emerald's eyes widened. That was it! That was her way out of this mess! Beacon!
"Excuse me, ma'am?" she asked the older woman. Cinder turned to give her attention. "With Weiss here probably going to fight at Beacon, it would be a bad idea to do so while pregnant, right?"
Those calculating golden eyes seemed to be lost in thought for just the briefest of moments before returning to Emerald. A sly smile grew on her lips. "Indeed it would be." Her focus returned to the hybrid. "Weiss, I'm afraid Emerald is right. With your upcoming duties this would not be the ideal time to become pregnant. Fighting in even a controlled environment while carrying a child could result in it becoming injured or even killed."
Weiss' face erupted in surprising sorrow. "I cannot risk such a thing then!" Her hands came together once more, and fingers began to fiddle with themselves. Had she been human, Emerald could have described the action as being adorably innocent. "But... if I do not wish to become pregnant, does this mean I cannot be intimate with my mate until after the tournament?"
They may have resolved their physical dispute with the hybrid, but they weren't safe yet. There may yet be more awkwardness about sexual intercourse with the clueless girl.
Cinder glared over once more, mouthing the words 'fix this' to her. She moved to stand up, clearly intent on leaving this conversation to her subordinates as she had once before.
Weiss clearly had the same idea, as she focused entirely on Emerald. "You are a female," she stated obviously. "What preventative measures do you take when you do not wish to become pregnant?"
Emerald was mortified by the question. Especially in front of Mercury, who would gleefully tear apart whatever answer she gave once they were alone again.
She didn't have to take any such measures, because she wasn't sexually active! Still, anyone with half a brain knew about contraception. Someone, and it definitely wasn't going to be herself, was going to have to fly to one of the kingdoms and pick up a whole crate of the stuff.
"Um... well there are condoms," Emerald explained.
"Oh! You mentioned those before. Are those the water tube fish?"
Cinder turned back just as she was about to exit the room. Her eyes were narrowed in questioning.
It would take a whole other explanation in itself for Cinder to understand, but Emerald remembered the conversation well. It was hard to forget madness like that.
"Yes. Only it's not a fish It's just... a piece of rubber."
This was going to be another horrible conversation. She just knew it.
"Explain yourself, harlot!"
Jaune did not like days that started like this. They usually resulted in a lot of yelling and pointless fighting. Sighing at the doors to the kitchen, he pushed them open. Ruby was quietly gnawing on a bone in the corner, Jaune sliding up next to her. In the center of the room stood Weiss and Yang, Weiss dramatically pointing at Yang.
"I don't want a Mate and I don't want to have a little crotch spawn running around." Yang crossed her arms, glaring. "Simple, no?"
"No! Difficult! Which is what you're being! Blonde beast, you should be giddy at the thought of joining our wondrous and powerful pack!" Weiss flared her hair to the side. "Look upon the gifts Jaune, our Captain, has given me! Beautiful hair, dazzling skin, and an ever firmer grasp on all things human. You do envy these things, do you not?"
"Nope." Yang said, popping the p-sound casually.
"You see? Now all you need is to agree to-! What do you mean no!"
"No. It means no. It means I don't want to."
Weiss snorted. "Clearly you're playing hardball."
Yang shrugged. "Think what you want, I don't care. I don't mind a good lay once in a while, but I don't want any of that romantic shit. I want to be free, go on adventures, and not have to worry about a dumb snot nosed little brat." Yang stopped a moment, looking over at Ruby. "No offense!"
Ruby, speaking through the bone she was salivating on, waved her sister off. "Some taken!"
Jaune poked Ruby on the shoulder. "Want me to break that?"
"You don't mind?"
"Nah. I don't get it, but if you like it, you like it."
Ruby handed Jaune the bone, dry side facing him thankfully. With a quick flare of aura, he snapped it in half.
"You're the best."
A quick peck to his cheek left him blushing, even as he tried to ignore the gut wrenching slurping noises she made sucking the marrow down. He realized they were missing more of the show, turning his attention back to Weiss and Yang.
"Jaune's superior penis, while substantially smaller than my own glorious horn," Weiss continued, Jaune burying his head in his arms. "Should be more than enough prize for even a hedonistic beast such as yourself."
"You are the wind beneath my wings, Weiss," Jaune muttered.
Somehow, inexplicably she heard him. "I will sing the praises of your above adequate equipment whenever possible, dear heart!"
Jaune buried his head deeper. Please don't let that be the nickname she settled on for him.
"Dear heart? That sounds awesome!"
Jaune glared at Ruby, the traitor.
"Ruby! You cannot call him my nickname! You must give him your own."
Ruby nodded. "Well Jaune gave me the nickname of Cookie Monster because I really like cookies...maybe I should name him Bo-!"
Jaune latched a hand over her mouth, glaring at his mate. "Cookie, I love you dearly. If you finish that sentence I will be forced to never make you any cookies ever again."
Ruby stared at him in horror as he removed his hand. "You fiend!"
"Hard choices come fast," Jaune shrugged.
"But you played with them so much!"
"Not in public!"
"We're not in public, we're with Weiss and Yang!"
"I am also here." Wesson helpfully offered.
Jaune sighed. "Hello Wesson. Feeling better?"
Wesson nodded. "Much. Most of the nerves have healed in my back and I can move some of my limbs again."
Weiss glared between the two. "I'm sorry, am I bothering you trying to secure the future of our pack?"
Wesson tilted his head, eliciting a groan from Weiss.
"You are not part of our pack, Wesson!"
Wesson sighed. "Always the bridesmaid."
Ruby turned to the hybrid. "How do you know what that means?"
Jaune stopped, looking down at Ruby. "How do you know what that means?"
"Weiss told me. It means-! Hey!" Ruby stopped, recoiling as Jaune flicked her nose.
"I do not need to know anymore."
"Can I continue?" Weiss asked, tapping her foot on the ground.
Unable to stop himself, Jaune asked in return. "I don't know, can you?"
"Yes!" Weiss enthusiastically responded, turning back to the increasingly bored Yang.
"Look, it's nothing against Jaune. I just don't want to be held down. I need to be free, Weiss, that's all there is to it." Yang yawned, pushing away from the table she was sitting on top of. "I've spent most of my life taking care of Ruby. She's finally coming into her own and now I'm ready to be free. Just go ask Blake."
Jaune's head rose. "No, we don't need to do that."
Weiss nodded. "Jaune is right." He smiled, glad she was finally talking sense. "I asked her on the way over here if she would like to bed Jaune, and she enthusiastically agreed." Weiss blushed, Jaune groaning. "It was the nicest smile I have ever seen from her. She created lips and everything."
That gave him pause.
Blake, with lips?
What would that even-no, no. No. Jaune shook his head. No, that was not something he wanted to know about.
"I will put you on the maybe list, Yang. If you should ever change your mind, know that Jaune's pelvis is yours to shatter until a child is produced."
Jaune raised his hand. "Can I please have a say in this?"
Ruby glared at him. "Don't you want my sister to smash your pelvis?"
"Can we please talk about this in terms that aren't physically harmful for me?"
Ruby waved him off. "You have Aura. You'll heal."
Jaune should never have walked into this den of madness.
Yang walked past, looking Jaune up and down. "Wouldn't take much to break those hips. Maybe if he got a bit beastly he'd survive." A sly grin came to her face. "Maybe."
Ruby jumped up. "Oh yeah? Well I think Jaune can take everything you can give and more!"
Yang arched an eyebrow. "Really, little sis? Just because he could rock your five foot nothing world..."
"I'll have you know, I'm five-four! Weiss is five nothing."
"Hey!"
"Sorry, we can't hear you from down there!" Yang hollered back.
"Just for that, you're not allowed to have Jaune's children until Blake does!" Weiss shouted, indignant.
"Oh no, the horror. The misery." Yang flipped her hair to the side. "I'm heading on. We've got combat class in a few and I'm not letting Tyrian pull some stupid shit on me." Eyeing Jaune, she grinned. "Maybe he'll pair us up together. Then we'll get to see just how you'd survive me. One way or the other."
Ruby nodded. "Sounds like a date."
Jaune stared at Ruby, hurt. "Would you pick a side?"
"What sides are there?"
"Me living or me in severe pain."
Ruby smiled. "You'd be alive either way! Same sides, right Weiss?"
Weiss nodded, walking up to them. "Excellent logic, Ruby. I see my being the first mate is rubbing well off of you."
Jaune stared in horror at the two, realizing that this was their method of bonding. A heavy hand clapped him on the back.
"Good luck buddy. And don't forget about the cat." Yang laughed, starting to leave.
Jaune, against his better judgment, stopped her. "Why do you really dislike the idea of having kids so much? Not that I'm encouraging this nonsense, I'm just curious."
A dark look passed over the hybrid's face, all cheer vanishing. "Mothers cannot be trusted, or forgiven. They will only betray their families in the end, especially when they need them most." With that, Yang resumed leaving.
Jaune sighed, not sure what to do. Did Yang know about Summer in the dungeon? If she did, was she even aware that was her mother? Had Salem poisoned her mind against the poor woman, just like Ruby? Groaning, he just wanted something to eat. With Ruby and Weiss talking animatedly between each other, he knew that this was going to be a nightmare.
Yang stretched as she entered the room, ready to wait for Tryian to get this charade on the road. To her surprise, Brawnz was already waiting for her in the center of the room. He was wearing some kind of metal gauntlets on his arms, head lowered. Glaring, she walked into the ring.
"Unless you want to join your followers, I suggest you leave."
He met her glare with one of his own. "Not until I drag you down to the abyss for them to tear apart."
Yang rested a hand on her hip. "Big talk for someone who couldn't even best Cardin in a fist fight."
"I'll take my revenge today," he spat. "Count on it."
Tyrian made himself known as the rest of the students, pitifully small amount they were, filed into the stands.
"Children, children. If you must have a squabble, conduct yourselves as proper progeny of our goddess alive Salem." A twisted grin spread across his face. "Take your pound of flesh!"
The two launched themselves at the other, Yang's armored fist striking Brawnz' gauntlet. She found, to her surprise, her humanoid limb bounce off of the superior metal, Brawnz landing a clean hit in her center mass, tearing her dress and drawing blood with a blade that popped out of his knuckles.
Yang jumped back, looking down at the injury. These gauntlets of his, they were no joke. Who knew what all they hid inside. She grinned. Good. She was afraid this was going to be boring!
Throwing herself forward with her Grimm arm, Yang brandished her shotgun, firing both barrels. Brawnz took the brunt of the blasts with his new gauntlets, the metal holding fast. This gave her a clear shot at his head with a well aimed kick, knocking him back. Landing on her other foot, she brought her Grimm arm down with enough force to shatter stone.
Brawnz was already moving out of the way, holding his left hand out towards her, fingers aimed in her direction. Why would he even bother? Suddenly she found fire erupting from his mechanical fingertips, high powered dust rounds whizzing at her body.
With a scream she brought her monstrous limb up to block most of the shots, wincing as a few got through and bit into soft grey flesh. Leaping after him, she was unprepared as he rolled out of the way, bringing his other arm up behind her. Yang could not turn fast enough when the two hooks fired off from the left gauntlet, tearing into her flesh. Staring at the cables connecting him to her, Yang didn't have long to wonder what his game was when the crippling flow of electricity tore at her.
Leg spasming under the intensity of the electric shocks, Yang was unable to protect herself as he leveled the right gauntlet at her. He wasn't giving her any time to think or react, she realized, as shot after shot riddled her body. He truly was trying to kill her.
Grinning a blood stained smile, Yang gripped the cables connecting them. Good. She would have felt bad otherwise. Maybe.
Pulling as hard as she could, clearly surprising Brawnz, she smashed him with all of her strength with her Grimm arm. Instinctually he tried to block the attack with his right, free gauntlet. Grimm flesh met huntsmen level steel, Yang feeling her natural strength failing against the craftsmanship expected to protect their most hated of foes. With a snarl, Yang pushed through, her Grimm arm tearing itself apart as she smashed the gauntlet apart.
Brawnz was sent flying, the hooks in her side torn free. Yang's monstrous arm collapsed to the ground, too wounded to raise. It would need time to heal, she knew. She also knew that much force was more than enough to crush Brawnz' damned weapon. Something she was proven right about as she dragged her oversized limb behind her, Brawnz' arm nearly torn from his body from the punch.
"This was your secret weapon? Really? Who gave you this idea, that waste of space May?" Yang spat at the ground. She was half tempted to let him live.
Brawnz stared at her with a hatred she wasn't sure she ever felt herself. "These gauntlets have something from all of my underlings. But," he hacked up some blood, spitting it at her feet, "You know which one I like the most?"
Yang leveled her shotgun at his head. "I don't think it really matters."
"Roy thought it would."
Yang didn't have a chance to think about what he was saying when she felt it. They moved too fast to see, but unlike the dust rounds they were far more devastating. Looking down in confusion, her intestines beginning to spill from the near invisible line cut across her taut stomach, she looked at Brawnz. Two bronze razor discs, coated in her blood, returned to the left gauntlet.
Yang dropped to one knee, unable to hold onto her shotgun. Her Grimm arm was still mangled, and she couldn't heal this kind of damage, not like this. Grasping the wound with her hand weakly, she could barely keep the darkness from consuming her vision. She thought she heard someone call her name, but wasn't sure if she was merely imagining it.
Brawnz dragged himself to his feet, gloating down at her. "They're waiting for you, waiting to feast on your flesh for a thousand years. When I die, I hope to find them dining on your fucking bones."
"I hope they choke on them," Yang muttered, a powerful anger filling her. She possessed so few options now, her body shaking. "Just like you will."
Brawnz didn't get a chance to question her statement when she surged up at him, wrapping her blood-soaked organs around his throat. Twisting around him, Yang moved out of his reach, shouting in crazed fury as she used the only weapon left to her to put Brawnz down.
Only when she felt the crunch of his neck and his body go limp, did she allow herself to fall away from him. Her Grimm arm, barely functioning, groped at her grievous wound, trying to desperately return the intestines where they belonged. Coughing with grim laughter, she knew it was pointless.
Only a miracle could save her now. Miracles didn't belong to girls like her. Miracles didn't happen to girls like her.
Girls like her were abandoned, left to die. Girls like her were given up on before they could even speak, left to a shiftless woman who chose to die rather than raise her supposedly beloved daughter and a man too fragile to survive the loss she forced them to endure. Girls like her should only ever hope to die as she was, taking the life of the twisted thing that managed to kill her in turn. There were worse ways to die, she reasoned.
That didn't stop it from hurting so much. From being so cold.
Tears, hot and heavy, came to the blood red eyes of Yang. She didn't want to die now.
She wanted to explore the world, to see with her own eyes the evil of man. To crush those she judged inferior and to live a life free of responsibility and regret. Quiet sobbing overtook her, her one solace at the end was that Ruby, at least, would be protected.
She knew in her heart that Jaune would be better for Ruby than anything that ever claimed to love Yang.
Suddenly, a burning light enveloped her. A power surged through her that she never felt before, like a spark deep within was ignited. Lilac eyes opened, sound rushing back to her ears. Sounds of a crying sister, of a worried friend, and the mysterious chanting of Jaune.
Yellow energy enveloping her, lilac eyes met deep blue.
"You did it, Jaune!"
Lilac eyes that split, the inhuman fury of the Grimm within Yang raging against the power of humanity that now forcibly surged through her. From two eyes came four, burning bright red, and from the mouth of Yang came the fury of a child abandoned to a world of monsters.
Forcing herself to her feet with the help of extra arms, hair twisting and burning all around her, Yang shrieked loud enough to blow away those surrounding her. Shrieked loud enough to shatter the stone work of the arena and give even Tyrian pause.
Wounds burning away with the might of the Aura forced upon her, Yang would do what she always did.
She would fight!
Ruby watched the scene below her with growing horror. How was this possible? No one had ever given her sister this tough of a fight. Not even Cardin had been so difficult the first time they fought each other , and that boy had been a tank! Then again, back then Cardin hadn't hated her the way Brawnz did. Brawnz had seen Yang kill his friends in front of him, and was helpless to stop it.
Hate was indeed a powerful motivator. Hate was how Salem was going to change the world.
Yet, Jaune had taught her about love. Both emotional and physical love. Knowing what she knew now, she would choose love over hate every time. She knew that she was probably alone in that choice among the students here. Was it simply because she was different from the rest of the hybrids? Or was love the better way?
If it was the better way, then what did that mean for Salem? What did it mean for her plans?
Most importantly, what did it mean for Ruby's loyalty to Salem and her plans?
Before she could continue down that line of thinking, a terrifying scream filled her ears. Silver eyes were drawn once more to the arena before, and the horror she had felt before increased a hundredfold.
A pair of circular blades had just eviscerated Yang. The blood that was pouring from her jagged wound would be the least of her concerns.
The redhead stood up, eyes locked onto the scene below.
"Yang!" she cried out.
Her sister gave no notice to her shouting. Instead she focused on her opponent. If Yang was going down, she was determined to take the boy with her. And she would indeed go down. Even from this distance Ruby could see that the wound was a mortal one. She wouldn't last more than a couple minutes more, even with her enhanced Grimm biology.
A glance to her left showed Jaune gripping the rail in front of him. Even he could see the writing on the wall.
She grabbed hold of one of his wrists and began to pull him behind her. "Come on! Let's go!"
He didn't need to be told twice. Jaune followed after her, and likely would have been moving faster himself if her own shorter legs weren't restricting her speed.
Normally outside participants were barred from entering the arena during a match, but right now Ruby didn't care. Tyrian and his punishments meant nothing to the girl as she rushed down to reach her dying sister. They had only one shot at this. She didn't even know if it would work, but after what Jaune had shown her in the kitchen the other day, it was their last and best hope.
Stepping into the combat zone, their professor made no move to bar their entrance. Perhaps it was because the fight was already as good as over. Brawnz was dead, strangled to death as a result of the very wound he had inflicted. Yet that wound was also the reason Yang lay motionless on the ground.
Ruby rushed up to her sister, falling on her knees and placing her hands over the blonde's ruined stomach. "Yang! Yang! Please don't go!"
Red eyes stared up at the ceiling. They moved and blinked, yet made no indication they knew she was there."
Liquid began to well in her own mirrored eyes. "Yang!" she cried once more. "I need you, Yang! Please!"
Yang's own eyes were wet with clear liquid as well. Her mouth moved with trembling gasps. Was she trying to speak? Or were these her last dying gasps for air?
Blood-soaked hands moved to grab Jaune, who had knelt down beside the fallen girl as well. "Jaune! Do the light thing!"
He looked at her quizzically. "The light thing?"
She snarled with barely-contained fury. Now was not the time for a misunderstanding or a lack of proper phrasing. "The Aura thing!" she clarified. "Like what you did to me!"
"I- I don't know how I did it to you though!" he panicked. "It was an accident!"
Not what she wanted to hear. Not what she needed to hear. Growing anger was threatening to consume her. A strange, unfamiliar heat inside of her was growing by the second. She was losing her grip on rational thinking. Her eyes burned intensely as the liquid continued to stream down her cheeks.
"Just do something!" she screamed.
Jaune visibly flinched away from her, but right now she didn't care. She needed him to do something. To give her Aura like he had given her. That would heal Yang. It healed his wounds, after all. It healed her own too. It was her only way out.
The boy placed his hands on Yang, which began to glow with a brilliant white light. Yet... nothing. The gash did not seal itself. The blood did not clot. Yang was not recovering.
"It's not working..." he whispered. "She doesn't have Aura. There's nothing for me to amplify."
Jaune's hands stopped glowing. He had given up on Yang. She couldn't believe it. Ruby's breathing came out in ragged gasps now. Her sister, her beloved sister, was going to die.
Just as she felt her mind beginning to slip away, the boy next to her spoke once more. "Focus on the pain," he whispered down into Yang's ear. "With that, transformation comes tempered by flame. When your flesh fails, let that fire devour you from within."
A brilliant shimmering gold had begun to glow around Yang's entire body. Its light burned like the sun she had seen once upon a time. Ruby wanted to see that sun again. She wanted to see it with Yang by her side.
"May then your soul prevail, free to roam again."
Jaune collapsed, falling down onto his hands and knees as his lungs desperately sucked in oxygen. She had no idea what he had just done or what the words he said meant, but they had clearly had some sort of affect on him.
Just as they had on Yang.
The horrific wound Yang had stuffed her organs back into began to seal itself. Right before her very eyes, the injury was being purged from her very flesh. The bleeding stopped. After a few seconds the blonde girl's breathing evened out. It was incredible. Jaune was incredible. He had done it. He had saved her sister.
The rage in Ruby's mind evaporated.
Her red hands wrapped around his body, squeezing him tight. "You did it, Jaune!"
A chuckle, one of relief as much as happiness, sounded on his lips. "I did..." he said wearily. "I can't believe those words actually worked..."
She didn't know what those words were, but Jaune had clearly heard them before. They had some meaning to him. Ruby was thankful for that, because without them her sister would be dead.
Her arms left Jaune and moved to tend to her sister. Scooping up the blonde's head with one hand, another came to rest on her stomach where the once fatal blow had been struck. A happy smile curled on her lips as wet eyes peered down at the older girl in her arms. "Yang. Yang can you hear me? You're okay. You're okay!"
Another presence knelt beside her. To Ruby's shock, Weiss was down there with her, sullying her own pale flesh with the blood that splattered the floor.
"Weiss?" she asked with genuine surprise. "What are you doing?"
"Ensuring that my mate is safe," the other hybrid answered matter-of-factly. A small frown crept on her lips, and her eyes broke away from Ruby's. "Though if your sister is okay, I suppose there's no harm in that as well."
Her already wide grin grew impossibly larger. That was the closest she was going to get from Weiss admitting that she cared. Ruby realized it wasn't only herself who had grown as a person thanks to Jaune's influence. Weiss had as well.
"Come on, let's get her up," the white-haired hybrid continued.
Slowly but surely, each girl took and arm and helped Yang get back to her feet. The steps were wobbly at first as Yang sought to find purchase on the slick floor. Soon enough, however, she was standing once more. Tall and proud. Victorious. Just as she always was. Yang had never lost before, and she wasn't about to start losing now. Not when her friends and family were around to help.
Those friends and family were tossed aside like ragdolls as Yang shrieked in fury.
Ruby was sent tumbling several feet away, her body aching as it hit the stone floor. It took a few seconds to blink away the pain, and when she finally stood up and looked back at Yang, she saw a sight which gave her pause.
Eyes glowed, shifting between red and lilac, sometimes swirling in a mixture of both. Golden blonde hair burned with what appeared to be very real fire. Yang's head moved on a swivel, turning left and right in search of something. Something Ruby knew was the most fundamental thing in Yang's core.
A fight.
She would get no fight today, however. Not against those who loved her.
The redheaded girl moved swiftly, changing back into her hybrid form so that she could use her trump card on her sister. For the first time ever she would use the power that Salem had granted her on her own flesh and blood.
Dodging an incoming punch from the girl, Ruby used her smaller size and superior speed to move underneath and behind Yang's arm. Clamping down on an arm with her Apathy hand, Ruby began to subdue her sister.
"Shh, it's okay," she whispered calmingly into Yang's ear. "Relax. Just relax."
The effects were immediate, and the tension in Yang's body began to subside. Resistance waned. Anger calmed. It was working. All she had to do was force her sister to relax, and then they could start over from square-
Her hand was knocked aside with a sudden strike. But it wasn't from Yang. It was from a girl who hadn't even appeared to be next to them only a moment earlier.
Blake was beside them, a tentacle taking hold of Ruby's Apathy arm and preventing it from reaching Yang. "Not like this," the girl hissed.
"W-what?" Ruby asked, struggling to break free from the older hybrid's grip.
"If you want to save your sister, she cannot be subdued. She must endure."
She had no idea what Blake was talking about. "But she's not herself! She'll fight us all if we don't stop her!"
"She needs to find her balance," Blake answered. "She needs her humanity. Otherwise she will be lost..."
Lost.
Red eyes widened in realization. She thought back to Professor Rainart's class when Blake had flared up her own Aura. She remembered the monster which had been unleashed.
A monster. Like what Yang was right now.
Yang had to find her humanity. It was the only way to stop her from losing her mind like Blake.
What was it her mind had been arguing before? Something about which side she would choose? About where her loyalties lay?
About choosing love or hate?
Love.
Love was the answer. Love was human. Love would save her sister.
Ruby nodded in understanding, and Blake released her grip on the girl. Turning back to her thrashing sister, she saw how Jaune and Weiss were doing all they could to stop her mindless rampage. They couldn't stop the blonde girl. Not in the way that she needed to be stopped.
Only she could do it. Only family could do it.
Ruby run as fast as she could, throwing her arms around her sister's back and nearly tackling her to the floor. Yang struggled and shook, trying to dislodge the intruder from her body, but Ruby's grip was absolute. Her arms tightened around Yang's chest, and she pulled herself up so that her lips could reach her sister's ear.
"I love you."
The struggling slowed.
"I love you," she repeated."
The thrashing lessened.
"I love you, Yang. I love you. I love you."
The blonde's head shook, yet she made no efforts to remove the source of the offending words.
"You're my sister, Yang," Ruby spoke calmly into her ear. "I love you."
She heard pained gasps from in front of her. Yang's back heaved.
"I love you, Yang. I love you."
The blonde's knees buckled and she collapsed down onto them. Ruby's grip around her torso strengthened, and she fell with her.
"I love you. I love you. I'll always love you."
Yang fell forward on her hands now as well. More painful sounds slipped through her lips.
Ruby took the opportunity to release her grip on Yang and come around to kneel next to her. Clear liquid was streaming from her eyes, dripping from her cheeks and nose. Before long they might start to puddle on the ground as thick as her blood had.
The redhead placed a hand on Yang's back, rubbing soft circles around it. "I love you, Yang."
Harsh breaths slipped through Yang's lips. Her eyes squeezed shut, but it did nothing to stop them from dripping.
"I love you, Yang. I won't ever leave you. I love you."
Her sister's mouth moved. It was silence for the first few tries, but finally a word came through. "Ruby..."
A pair of arms came to wrap around the older girl's torso. Ruby held her tightly again when she spoke the words once more. "I love you, Yang."
She could feel her sister's shuddering breaths as she held onto her. Red eyes closed, burying themselves into Yang's shoulder.
"I love you, Ruby..."
She couldn't ever recall hearing those words before this moment. She always knew Yang cared for her, but she had never expressed it so overtly.
Ruby smiled, knowing that everything was going to be okay.
Author's Note: Here we go again! Luring you in with sweet comedy, followed by vicious violence and finishing it off with heartfelt emotion. Whiplash, the fan fic.
Sorry for the delay in posting this latest chapter. But hey, in the meantime I have posted other things! Red Like Roses? Gross! got a new chapter posted.
Also, I did just post a brand new Silent Knight one shot earlier today called: The Hunts-Man's Leg-acy. So if you're into that sort of thing, maybe you should check it out!
As always my deepest thanks go out to Burkion and Lightningstrxu for all their hard work and support. And to the entire Work in Progress Discord server. That place is an invaluable melting pot of ideas, and if you're a fan of RWBY, fan fiction, or just want to be part of the community, send me a PM and I'll give you an invite.
But enough of all that self-promoting stuff! I want to thank all of you for reading and continuing to support this story. Your feedback truly means the world to me.
I hope you enjoyed it.