Author's Note:
Ok…this chapter might be a little too long. It is currently 4am as I am writing this, and it is safe to say I am spent. Hope you guys enjoy! If you read it all in one sitting, I salute you. Btw Radbman21 and DSpaceZ, you guys were right from the beginning.
From the moment she had sat down in this chair, a plethora of thoughts had come and went, not one lingering for too long. The first few were determined, dedicated, hammered into focus on the anvil of everything she wanted for the world.
But when Ozpin had flaunted his influence, exercised his power, she had felt fear, crippling beyond her control, and sinking beyond her comprehension. She had been swarmed by it, made to lay victim to the horror of Ozpin's wrath as it overwhelmed her with the consistency of a blizzard, till it had frozen everything else that had been swimming in her head, carving into their glacial remnants but a painful, singular thought.
What can I do?
Nothing. There was no avenue to take, no decision she could make this time that would play out in her favor. No plans to be conspired, no fight left to win.
Perhaps Yang saw that too, for when team WBY entered the room, Ruby couldn't look past the shock in her sister's eyes, and she felt a familiar pang in her heart, a scarring burn like it was caught in a star going supernova.
"Why are you here? Come to gloat?"
"You are as insufferable as-! … Ozpin asked us to talk to you, to try and appeal to your apparently very limited sense of reason." Ruby grunted, her chest laden with pressure, the weight of Ozpin's threats still present and bruising.
Upon her old team's arrival, Ozpin had loaned them his office, dropping an offhanded remark about needing to conduct a class elsewhere before he left, leaving Glynda in charge of facilitating their conversations.
It would have been so easy for Glynda to jump on the chance to overwhelm her.
It had been clear Ruby had been rattled by Ozpin, she could hear it in the way her voice had shaken, feeble and brittle. And Ruby had been so sure that Glynda would have done it, send her old teammates and her sister jumping on her all at once, capitalize on her panicked state of mind to really lodge in the reality of her situation.
Strangely enough, she hadn't. There was a flicker of…something. Mercy? Pity? The line was drawn so thinly that their territories often encroached upon one another's. Whatever the reason, Glynda had instructed team WBY to converse one by one, while she remained with the rest outside.
Then, another unexpected, Glynda had led them out, allowing her five minutes while she spoke to them. Five desperately needed minutes to slow her breaths and thoughts that had been riding a meteoric rise indoctrinated by her panic.
To top it all off, Weiss Schnee was the first in the room.
"I doubt that you of all people care about what I do, and I seriously don't think that you'd do something like this without getting something out of it."
Weiss gritted her teeth, an angry flush blooming as she dug her curled fists into the plush of the opposing armchair. "You must think you're so cognizant of everything don't you? Can't you accept that some people can be nice without ulterior motives?"
Ruby scoffed, a curt reply rolling off her tongue. "You're the last person I would expect to be nice. So, are you going to tell me or not?"
At Weiss' indignant huff, Ruby rolled her eyes. "Fine. Ozpin wouldn't be so comfortable with leaving me with you if you guys already know what I know, judging how far he was willing to go to keep it a secret."
"Of course we know! Do you really think-"
Ruby continued, ignoring the way Weiss sputtered frustratedly. "And I'm guessing being the typical naïve students that idolize Beacon, you all believed his motivations for keeping it a secret."
"How dare you speak about Headmaster Ozpin in that way?! He is entrusted with the security of this city for a reason, and I, along with my team, believe that we are in good hands. Additionally, you aren't going to find out why we know about this either, so don't even think about asking!"
Ruby ignored the urge to rub at her ears, though she was unable to resist a smirk at the way Weiss was left panting midway into her tirade. "Also…Also, I'll have you know that we all came here out of goodwill! We all believe that what Ozpin is trying to convince you to do is for the best, and in the spirit of our past…partnership, however short lived it may have been, I must strongly encourage you to-"
"He's giving you extra credit, isn't he?"
Weiss was fuming, with her teeth smashed together to the point of cracking.
Ruby was pretty sure she had hit the nail on the head.
"You contemptible little wretch. I wouldn't expect you to understand the concept of working for anything, the position of leader was basically handed to you on a silver platter. I had to work my ass off to get into Beacon, as shown by this scar." Weiss gestured to the scar, ignoring the way Ruby narrowed her eyes, looking past Ruby's eyebrow which was raised incredulously, continuing with her explanation of why she detested her former leader.
"Beacon was my dream, my escape, barely attained through the sacrifices I had to make, and then there you were, in the right place at the right time, little Miss Lucky scooped up by Ozpin and a leader position dropped in your lap. What special thing did you do huh? Why did you deserve it and not me? If it was me at that dust shop that night…"
She…She didn't know about working for anything? Was this what they all thought of her, that she had just somehow stumbled into Beacon through sheer circumstance? Did they seriously think that she didn't slave through her own set of troubles to get into Beacon?
Her anger rose to a crescendo, ugly, volatile, and desperate to be let loose, determined to scald the one that currently scorned her. "I worked as hard as everyone did to get into Beacon. As hard as Yang did, as hard as Blake did, as hard as you did. You have no fucking right to judge me based on what you had to struggle through to get here."
Ruby surged forward with a snarl, enjoying the way Weiss went wide eyed and shrunk back into her seat, her constant attitude suddenly interposed by shock. "You don't know me, and you lost your chance to. Glad to see you haven't changed Weiss, always deluding yourself into thinking you're the best, the more deserving because you've suffered, the better because you've studied, but all you have been to me is a speed bump. So feel free to leave and enjoy your free credit, lets hopefully never talk again."
For a moment, fleetingly as it was, she thought she might have had gotten through to Weiss, the way she remained shell-shocked, the way the hint of comprehension swam in her usually obstinate eyes, but then she blinked slow, and it was gone, replaced by the stubbornness and pride that has become synonymous with Weiss in her head.
Ruby settled back into her seat as Weiss snorted ardently, before she stood up, brushing the fictitious dust particles off her skirt. "I'll be content never to see you again Rose, so let's make it happen."
She eyed Weiss as she rounded the chair and made her way to the door, watched as Weiss' hand lingered on the door latch for just a second too long, before the heiress shook her head and exited out the room, calling out to someone a ways down the hallway, judging by the volume.
"She's stubborn Miss Goodwitch, maybe whoever's next will have more luck than I did…", Weiss lamented, her voice trailing off as she continued further away from the door.
Stubborn-? Since when did Weiss even try to convince her to take Ozpin's deal?
…
Did they even know what Ozpin's deal was? Weiss barely alluded to it, opting to rant about her reasons for disliking her instead. It didn't make sense for Ozpin not to tell them, he couldn't possibly expect the terms of the plea deal not to slip out. If so…how could Yang ever be ok with it?
That familiar ache returned, the one she suffered through whenever she thought of her sister, born from the rage she had barely kept contained when she endured Cardin's crude comments. It seemed that as much as she had initially despised Yang for what she did, the months had whittled at her anger, shaping it down to deep, stabbing betrayal.
She wondered if Yang felt guilt, if she had ever dwelled on any thoughts of the sister that she had helped outcast, Ruby didn't know if she could ever hope to forgive her if she hadn't-
"You aren't very aware."
She didn't realize she had been staring at her lap. She brought her cuffed hands up to brush at the shock of obstructing black hair that had fallen in her eye when she had tilted her head up, and she was unsure of what to feel when she met unaffable Amber, staring her down from the doorway.
She was torn between the two peaks of relief and perplexment. Relief seemed appropriate; Yang was putting off this talk obviously, so she either felt guilt or embarrassment for what she did, or at least Ruby hoped that was the reason. But…Blake was here, and as much as resentment came easy at the thought of Blake's inaction before she was expelled, there wasn't any reason she could think of for Blake to come. Surely Blake didn't care about extra credit, did she?
She should probably stop staring at Blake like she had grown an extra pair of ears.
She settled for a shrug, her gaze following Blake as she sat down. "Was thinking, didn't hear you come in. It's rude to sneak you know?"
"Wasn't sneaking."
A muted silence followed, not quite awkward as it was judging, and she couldn't fault Blake for the way her eyes hardened, for she was sure the action was mutual. Then, Blake glanced at her collared neck, and an echo of vexation flittered into her expression.
Blake Belladonna, the quiet one.
The one that had merely watched as her first attempt at conciliation failed to pierce through the bubble that Weiss, Blake, and Yang had formed, and the next attempt, and the next, and the rest. Weiss bore her admonitions with fanged words; Yang had upheld Weiss' disgruntlement readily, almost eagerly.
But Blake? Blake had merely stayed silent, showed no sense of enjoyment from the berating, yet when she was looked to for help, for mercy, for something, she gave nothing in return. And the question was: Why?
No explanation she could conjure fit the puzzle that was Blake's apathy, so she relented. Blake was here, might as well find out from the source.
Let's start off with something simple
"So, Blake, why are you-"
"Take the deal, it's your best option."
Ruby bristled slightly, a gnawing ball of barbed irritation rolling in her gut. Easy for her to say, she wasn't the one with her future and freedom on the line. "Straight to the point then? I have to ask, do any of you out there even know what-"
"You're about to go into prison, and you had intended to 'nobly' release the truth about the White Fang at the only place where it mattered, in front of the council. But that plan is shot, and now your only option is to take the deal. We all know."
What was with Blake and cutting people off? A hot wave of anger swept through her, and she did little to resist the urge to glare at the frankly jaded-looking girl. What did it matter to her anyway, since when did she even remotely fall into Blake's realm of concern?
"Great, you're all caught up, I really appreciate the concern that you're showering upon me at this very trying time in my life. Since you've got all the facts, hit me with one more, what's it to you whether I take the deal or not?"
Blake went steely eyed, pupils sharp and pressed with a warning toning her irises, prompting an image in Ruby's mind: an animal ready to pounce. "Don't be stupid Ruby, the White Fang isn't an organization that you play around with. I don't know what nonsensical plan you're going to come up with next to get word of their plan out, but if they catch wind of you, they'll make you a target."
Ruby shifted, veiling her uneasiness beneath the misleading discomfort of her chair. She had always imagined the White Fang as a terrorist group, wild and unruly, the scent of madness breathing life into the flames of the places they torched.
But when Blake spoke of them with that sharp, knowing glare, it didn't make them seem as uncoordinated as she thought. It made them sound convicted, calculating, more akin to a militia in their tactics, and it unnerved her that Blake spoke of them in such a regard so readily.
"… Maybe you're right. Maybe I would become a target, but revealing the truth would mean being surrounded by four walls of reinforced concrete."
Blake shook her head, so vigorously that Ruby the notion that she had insulted her personally flittered into her mind, but it was quickly disregarded when Blake shot up, her fingers clawed on the table with a look wrecked with frustration, and a touch of…no, that couldn't be right.
"No, no! You don't understand. A target isn't something assigned out of spite, targets are messages, messages to the world that those who interfere with the White Fang's agendas are punished, and the punishment isn't always placed on the targets themselves. If you do this, they'll research, they'll learn your history, your background. They'll learn about who you know: Family, friends, teammates-!"
Ruby had to intervene; she couldn't watch any longer. Ruby probed softly, "Is that why your hands are shaking?"
"What-?"
Blake stared aghast at her hands as they trembled rigidly, teetering imperceptibility such that she herself didn't seem to realize it. Ruby watched closely as Blake's eyes blew wide, the stagnant mask that Blake had seemed to glue on her face finally cracking, allowing Ruby to peer beyond the splinters.
There were a multitude of emotions that she spied, and they ranged so wide and so deep and so serious that they were rooted in graves. They were intended to be kept hidden of course, behind a carefully constructed façade, but now that façade Blake had so intended to maintain had fractured, instead serving only to frame her panic, alarm, and horror in overt Amber, made blindingly apparent by the contrast from her usual stony expression.
And Ruby couldn't help but feel…bad. This wasn't something to be lorded over Blake, this wasn't a trump card to be played to run her away, this was trauma.
She had to tread cautiously.
She started slowly, "What…what did they do to you? Did they put a target on someone you know? Is that why you know so much about the way they choose their targets? And how they research them?"
She knew something wrong had been said when Blake's eyes shot at her, frantic with a hue of wildness, a twitch of her bow…wait a twitch?
"Target someone I know? That's what you leap to?"
Blake scoffed. "You must think Faunus are such savages don't you? Hunting down you poor innocent humans with beastly instincts like rabid animals."
Ruby startled, pulling at her hands to wring them in denial, before giving a huff when she remembered they were cuffed.
"What? No! I didn't-"
"You remember what you said to me when we first met? You wanted to 'Protect those who can't protect themselves'?"
Ruby remembered; she had meant it.
"Yes but-"
"Save it. I've heard it so many times before, from governments, from leaders, from Hunters. It's all a fucking charade. They gain trust from communities, play their role to a tee, then run the Faunus out of their homes, 'run off to Menagerie' they say! It happened before the Great War, it happened before the Faunus War, and you can be damn sure it's happening now, but you don't see it on your scroll do you? So, it doesn't exist right?"
It was a tirade that Ruby had no rebuttal to, an issue that she could never comment on, because Blake was right, she hadn't seen anything related to the Faunus in a while, not besides the breaking news coverage of every White Fang attack.
Blake gritted her teeth, the beginnings of a guttural growl let loose from her throat. "You humans always acting so benevolent, like your aid is something we should get on your knees and pray for. A human dies near a Faunus community, what do people say? 'Oh they did it! Because they're liars, thieves, and murderers!' " Enough sarcasm overflowed from her words to fill a bucket, and it all seemed too real, too specific to have been an example.
…Wait, you humans? We?
"A community of Faunus evicted from their homes and forced to live in the outer colonies slain by Grimm? Not heart wrenching enough to make the news, no one bats an eye. Where were the Hunters then? Taking more fruitful contracts that only Humans can afford to pay." Blake spat her words, hatred driving the words out on a pike.
She should have connected how Blake was coiled, with her eyes flashing intermittent bursts of yellow Aura, and her fingers dug hard enough to splinter the wood table. But the rant had taken her by storm, thrown her mind into a rushing state of sputtering denials.
She wasn't like those Huntsmen! She didn't even know those kinds of Hunters existed; how could those people even be allowed to call themselves Huntsmen?
The rebuttals all sparked and burnt out at her lips, each point that Blake brought on spiraling her mind deeper into another rabbit hole, another divot that burrowed her deep and forced her to think: Ozpin, Qrow, all those Hunters, were they what qualified as a Hunter?
She was so lost in thought, overtaken by her rumination, that sound of the opposing chair being flung back was lost to her, only realizing that something was wrong when she felt hands grip and push at her shoulders, with Blake snarling in her face as she fell backwards.
Ruby barely had the thought to tuck her head forward before she collided with the floor, her collar serving as a less than adept cushion for her neck. She wheezed out a cough as the breath was knocked out from her lungs, before she flinched at the feeling of stinging metal that pricked at her Auraless throat, the blade sending a tide of shivers that cascaded down the length of her spine.
Blake had scaled over the table, so fast and naturally in the motion that she hadn't even processed it. Blake held the point of Gambol Shroud to her neck, a knee burrowing between the gaps of her chest like it aimed to stab at her heart, but Ruby wasn't so overtaken by her wheezing to not notice the way her finger curled perilously around the trigger.
Blake paced slowly, venom rolled around her tongue, coating each word in poison gasoline before setting them aflame. "So don't ever try and convince me of your 'noble' intentions, it's always just scrappy promises to drive in the dagger that you all will stab us- them in the back with."
Blake bristled slightly, her eyes darting around the room before she settled back on Ruby, pressing down on her weapon till Ruby winced at the painful pressure that threatened to give way to blood. There was a question that lingered on her tongue, a thought most prominent at the forefront of her mind, but Blake was too frantic, too heated, and she would be a fool to press further.
"Recap time. Take Ozpin's deal, keep your mouth shut about the White Fang."
There it was again, that touch of fear, but barely discernable beneath the muddying anger this time. "If he finds me because of you, I'll show you just how delusional you are in thinking Vale Prison is safe."
Blake was scared. Of what, or who, the specifics were lost to her, but her slipups had made one thing glaringly obvious: Blake had a history with the Fang. She had spoken of them in undertones of praise, and yet in the same breath, had slipped how scared she was of them finding her, and combined with how she knew of the White Fang's procedures, it all pointed to one thing.
It had been all so confusing, all so convoluted, but she knew now that Blake Belladonna hadn't always been silent by the sidelines, and she couldn't believe she hadn't seen past the bow before.
The bow gave the slightest twitch, and she would've missed it if she didn't know the truth, now it was just…there, like it had materialized into being with her discovery. Her eyes shifted down to Blake, who glared at her knowingly, a silenced curse falling loose from her mouth.
"Shit. Keep your mouth shut, don't say a word about me to her."
She wasn't going to, she wasn't that spiteful, and it wouldn't help her anyway.
Ruby blinked confusedly as Blake shot up, sheathing Gambol Shroud almost hurriedly as she turned towards the door. "Tell who?"
Knock knock knock
"Blake? Goodwitch heard something apparently and sent me over to check things out! Please tell me you're not-", an all too familiar voice echoed out from behind the door.
Oh, her. The handle pivoted, and Yang peeked into the room as the door slowly drifted open, lilacs briefly gracing Ruby with a glance, before she swerved them away vehemently, laced with baffling emotion, pointedly looking past the way Ruby was splayed out on the ground.
They came to rest on the chair that Blake had toppled over when she bounded over the table, and she tilted her head curiously, Ruby forgotten.
"What happened to the chair?"
Blake proceeded out the door giving Yang an off-handed shrug as she passed by. "I'm finished with her, tried my best."
Yang shot a distant glance at Ruby, before she cleared her throat and crossed past the doorway into the room, kicking the door shut behind her.
Then, there was an age of silence, as Ruby just stared and Yang walked charily over to the fallen chair, propping it up on its legs and running her hands over its wooden back thoughtfully. It was weird seeing Yang again, more so than the rest of her past team.
The last time she had seen her sister was… three, four months ago? Had it really been that long?
She should have hated, she had all the reasons to, it would've made sense, and it would've made this so much easier. But her emotions were an enigma, and even she couldn't decipher why anger played catchup to anguish, curiosity, and a strange hope, all amalgamated into a messy mix of confusion.
But with the way Yang was acting, wired glances grazing over the iron she wore, so high strung around Ruby that skittishness laced her very breaths and occasional shifting feet, it was bitter.
Bitter was the only way she could describe the fractured relationship she now hosted with Yang, and she just wished that Yang would say something, anything, if only to shatter the tension that stifled the air.
It was clear that Yang wasn't budging, not out of stubbornness though, probably nervousness, or spite, or disgust, anything would be preferable to the dispassionate silence that she currently wielded.
…
…
…
Fine, Ruby would make it easy for her.
"You can start with helping me up Yang."
"…Right."
"So…Ruby."
"Yang."
They were sat opposite from one another, with Yang actually sitting upright for once, though what would she know, she hasn't been around lately.
A bite of irritation snapped at her chest when she caught Yang glancing down to her collar, again. She had enough of letting Yang tiptoe around her.
"Aren't you supposed to convince me to take Ozpin's offer? You aren't doing a lot of convincing."
Yang sighed, her shoulders sagging slightly as she pinched at her forehead, weariness hanging off her torso.
"What happened Ruby?"
Was she…was she judging her? She better fucking not be, she had no right.
"I got kicked out of Beacon Yang; didn't you hear? Maybe you didn't even realize, you sure didn't seem to care much about me when I was here."
It was just a flicker, but she was sure she had spied a wink of brimming red, though it vanished as quickly as it had appeared, consigned back beneath the pools of conflicted Lilac.
"No, I mean…You know what I mean. It wasn't supposed to be like this Ruby, you were supposed to go home, be with Dad, like he's always wanted."
Ruby chuckled deprecatingly, rolling her eyes off to the side, "Dad wouldn't know the back end of a bottle from his daughter."
The omitting silence from Yang said all that was needed, and Ruby scoffed, shaking her head frustratedly.
"Why me? Why am I the one that gets my future crushed, what makes us so different?"
Yang gritted her teeth, ducking her head and shielding away from Ruby's stare as she hid beneath the wavy strands that fell, her voice coming out low as a grave. "You know why."
Ruby laughed incredulously, slanting forward as she prodded. "Do you think I have any idea? Come on Yang, what's this big secret? Am I too weak? Grades too low? Not smart enough? Or maybe it's cause I'm the youngest, just unlucky, right?"
"Oh don't act like you've had it so tough Ruby, and if you really haven't figured it out by now, then you must be blind, or deaf", Yang growled, a minacious rumble that shot to the back of Ruby's skull.
But Ruby ignored the warning, pushing past the admonitory sirens as she felt her skin heat, a slight wave of searing agitation that radiated from Yang. "Come on then, what's the big reason? Why are you allowed to become a Huntress while I have to be the one to give it up? What makes you that much more capable, that much more deserving? Why you-"
Yang's fist slammed onto the table, the blow knocking free more than loose splinters as the wooden table struggled against the force. Ruby wrestled the urge to reel back as Yang's eyes came up, incensed and burning, flared red with the hue of blood.
Yang snarled, her voice grave but it might as well have been screaming to Ruby, declaring marring truths. "It isn't anything to do with capable. It's the fact that I'm the daughter of the damn woman that left them!"
It felt like she was drowning in an eclipse, icy and frigid, a night in the desert without a dawn, a revelation that turned her blood to ice. She must've turned pale, because the painful satisfaction that entered Yang's bleeding eyes had to have been kindled somehow.
"To Qrow and Dad, I'm the daughter of Raven Branwen, the one who abandoned them both, the cynical, patronizing, selfish woman who abandoned her team and family to lead a bunch of bloodthirsty bandits that murder, pillage and steal. The bitch who saw her family as a means to an end."
Yang laughed despairingly, gesturing frailly at Ruby. "You? You're the daughter of Summer Rose. Loving, kind, and taken far too soon from them. You have her eyes, you have her face, you have her hair, her motivations, her dedication, you are her to them!"
Her heart thundered to the fragmentary rhythm set by Yang, as her sister fell into another bout of self-deprecating chortles. "You…you say I have it easy, that I can coast through and they don't bother me. Well, they don't bother me because they don't give a fuck about me!"
It was horror, that was what she was feeling. It swarmed and drowned and suffocated, roaring in her ears, only growing in pressure as she watched Yang clutch at her stomach, snickering till crimson bled boiling tears.
"Dad couldn't give a shit whether I drop dead! I could die to a Grimm today, and he would wake up with a bottle in his hand tomorrow, thinking he dreamed my existence up. So…so tell me Ruby, am I the one that has it better?"
Yang peered through her with a widening grin, baring her teeth as her eyes cycled tones of scarlet, only serving to accommodate the rapid drumming of her chest.
"Or are you?"
No…they wouldn't, they couldn't be this callous. This would be beyond cruelty, beyond reason, and there would be nothing that they could ever do, to be forgiven for consigning Yang to this hellish state. Despite all that they have done…she couldn't-wouldn't believe it, she refused to believe that they were this heartless.
"You're…How could you say that? Dad loves you, Qrow loves you. What makes you think-"
CRACK
The table crumbled against the wall to her right, where Yang had flung it. Assorted splinters littered the ground, along with a table leg snapped brutally, exposing jagged columns of colored aging wood that ran contradicting lengths.
She wouldn't have been able to do that. Maybe with her Aura she could have shifted it smoothly, but to fling it like that? Yang would have to be very strong, or very angry, and now there was nothing between them except charged air, viscous and drowning.
Yang glared at her; her previous smile contorted into a furious scowl. "Don't you dare make excuses for them! Honestly Ruby, it's a freaking wonder that you haven't figured this out. How many times has Qrow tried to get you specifically back to Patch? Go on, think! Tell me I'm wrong!"
So, you're finally going to give up this phase? That'll make Tai happy knowing you'll be around.
You know better than anyone after what happened to Summer why Tai and I can't let you become a Huntress
Don't talk about Yang, she isn't in the picture here.
…
"Well Ruby?", Yang pressed with a dare in her eyes, the edge of a dagger in her voice.
Yang…was right. Qrow had never shown interest in Yang, in fact, she was sure that Qrow hadn't even visited Yang when he picked her up from Beacon. And that thought was as harrowing as it was overwhelming; a riptide of sorrow, pity, appalment and rage for that clenched tauntingly around her heart.
It made her want to scream, and cry, and punch, and the prospect of achieving vengeance for Yang called to her, a sweet beckoning thing. But she didn't know which one to do first, not when Yang glowered at her like that, like it was Ruby's fault.
"Y-Yang?"
"You wanna know something 'Rubes'?"
It was the moniker that Yang had used to call her, though it was far from its humble and earnest beginnings, now contorted into an ugly, hissed amalgamation of her sister's spite, and she had thought she was done letting Yang hurt her since Beacon, but as another old scar gave way, she felt a little piece of her wither and die.
Her stricken silence was nothing to the burn of Yang's glare, deadly and all-incinerating, an intensity like she was caught in the grip of the sun, and Yang continued with those damning red eyes bearing into her.
"When I got into Beacon, I thought it was a chance to get away from it all, a chance for me to make my own way forward, leave the past behind. Then you got into Beacon too", Yang growled as she her fists shook, her body fraught with dangerous tension.
But…but Ruby didn't understand, it wasn't always like this, since when did Yang get so spiteful, so full of hatred for her?
"I…We were fine back at Patch. What changed?"
It was subtle, a swirl of lilac that bled in from the corners of her eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it had come, diluted by whirling streams of rushing red. "Nothing changed, that's the whole problem. Ever since we were children, I've been the one taking care of you since -", Yang's glare sharpened a note as Ruby opened her mouth to protest, silencing her words before they had even escaped.
"You may have made Crescent Rose yourself, you may have prepared your entry papers to Beacon, you might even have had to clean up Dad's vomit occasionally too, but who was the one who slaved, who was the one who cooked, who was the one who held you through all your night terrors!"
She blinked through her raw eyes, hugging her sister tight as she traced the pale blue light that lit up the corner of the bedroom, complimenting the shattered moon that seeped through closed blinds, dripping from the walls in speckled patches of melancholy driven by her bereavement.
She burrowed her face into her sister's hair, desperately submerging herself into the locks of gold, a comfort that muddied the sorrow that raked at her heart.
Her voice came out raw, her words untested after the sobbing, but she knew her sister wouldn't mind, her despair was something they both shared. "Please, don't leave me too."
She could hear the smile in her sister's reply, knocked off balance by a shaking sob, enforced by the grounding arms that tightened around her.
"It'll be ok Rubes. We'll be ok."
Yang had promised, but here she was, with anger palpable enough that it closed around her throat, squeezing till her eyes burned. Had she really done this? Had she been such a burden to Yang to be deserving of her hate?
A blurry film encased her world, the accompanying bead of wetness cutting down her cheek, the beginnings of her resilience cracking under pressure, the result of everything. She should have summoned her anger; it had been so easy with Weiss, but she just…couldn't, not with her chest burning and painful, her jaw clenched with brittle strength as she fought the urge to quiver.
"I…can be better, I'm not a burden anymore", and she hated the way her voice wobbled, shaky and thin and small, and she scrubbed her eyes with a fervor, furious at herself for not being stronger, for not holding it all together.
"That's not the point, Ruby. Beacon was my chance to be my own person, to find who I could be without everything that's been holding me down, find my highest potential. Then you come along, following me around at initiation, being nominated the leader of our team, clinging to my back like a fucking disease!" The viciousness of her snarl dragged her down deeper into her torment, an anguish that had her tears coming down in earnest, dripping off her jaw.
Through the sobbing and the shattering and the pain, the hazy visage of Yang took a surely step forward, indented by her rage. "Then just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, Qrow called me."
Yang gave a dark chuckle, her voice lightening to a sarcastic, mocking tone. "I thought: 'Oh, he's calling to check up on me.' Guess what? He asks about you, just you, over and over and over and OVER. Silly me, thinking that I had a chance compared to Summer Rose's daughter."
Yang took another step forward, close enough for a punch now, but Ruby couldn't bring herself to move. Her sobs were coming out in full force, the sharpness of her own sniffles serrating her ears.
"So yeah, I told Qrow everything. I made sure he knew every single detail of how you were struggling with the team. I wanted him to know how badly his precious little Ruby was faring, and I expected disappointment, maybe even anger, but what I got was far better. You want to take a guess? Hmm? Go on Ruby, take a guess."
She could feel her swollen eyelids, heavy and damning, but she lifted her eyes to Yang nonetheless, though it wasn't because she wanted to, she just didn't want to disappoint her sister anymore.
Yang's eyes were still red as blood ran, but now they held a peek of sadism, a gleam that looked to her reply, desiring for more ways to hurt her. She couldn't take it, she couldn't take anymore pain, not when she felt like her soul might just succumb to the ache in her chest, flickering out of existence if only to spare more agony.
So she stayed silent, her eyes widened and racked with a plea.
It was futile, and she couldn't help but recognize that lately, everything she did was just that.
Yang begun slowly, all the while bearing into Ruby, as though yearning for the slightest reaction if only to set her aflame with it. "He asked what else could be done to make you want to leave."
She registered it, and she expected to feel something, more pain maybe, but it was like something had snapped in her head and chest, the strands that had held her emotions giving way under all the pain. Suddenly it was all just numb, her tears mellowed into slight hiccups, accompanying the overbearing blankness that she held.
Yang continued; her cadence measured with an insistence coating her words that told Ruby she wanted a reaction. "Yeah, I told him how much being team leader meant to you. Did you hear me? I gave him the idea, what do you have to say to that?"
She was tired…too tired to answer Yang, too tired to fight the fight, too tired to do anything.
She was done. She was so, utterly done, with Ozpin, with Qrow, with Yang…with Vale. She had never felt this exhausted before, so empty and deadened that the world could crumble beneath her feet and her last thought would be that she could finally rest.
There was only one way forward, one way that spared her anymore of…all this.
Her voice came out hoarse, crushed by the stress and anxiety and sorrow, shattered and barely recognizable. "I'll take the deal."
She should've been relieved when Yang's eyes flickered back to lilac, a crossing hint of shock across them that looked like she finally saw Ruby for the first time since her eyes turned red, saw what she had done, but Ruby didn't care, couldn't care, not anymore.
She just wanted to rest.
"Can you tell Glynda to call the officers? I think…I think I'm done here."
It definitely felt like it.
Yang eyes darted wildly, to the broken table, then back to Ruby, then to her still clenched fists. She furrowed her brows, a touch of something like conflict flittered into the shadow of her expression. She still nodded, thankfully, pacing backwards to the door all the while watching Ruby slump over, the weight of her iron cuffs and collar now all the more dragging.
"I…Yeah, I'll do that."
The door clicked shut, and for a moment Ruby was alone, and the silence that clogged her ears had never felt that much needed.
The walk through the hallway was a surreal episode, plagued by a constant floatiness that accompanied her as the officers gripped at her arms and escorted her through the winding hallways.
Classes were apparently in session, so the students that roamed the halls were cut down to a fraction. Even so, she was vaguely aware of the whispers that intruded from her peripheral, hushed gossips about her that she couldn't bring herself to absorb.
Eventually they came to the exit, a large archway that held anachronistic wooden double doors, infused and lined with the scent of aged history. The officer by her side grunted as he shoved a door open, besetting a whiplash of heat and wind that smacked across her face, knocking back the drooping lock of hair that she hadn't cared enough to brush out of her face.
Ozpin was waiting for her beside the prison transport vehicle, a hulking armored mass of a truck that was definitely meant to keep something out, instead of keeping someone in. Her eyes were still raw, and she was sure that they had been noticed as she was escorted from Ozpin's office through the hallways, but Ruby couldn't find it in herself to muse.
"Miss Rose. I heard from Glynda that you have agreed to take the deal."
Ruby nodded sullenly, not at all willing to talk; she must have looked quite the contrast to their verbal sparring earlier.
Ozpin gave a sigh, his shoulders sagging as tension bled out of his torso. "I am sorry for the drastic measures that I have to take, but you must understand, this is the way we have to fight this war. You're a brilliant young woman, I hope you don't take this setback too harshly."
She nodded absently, just floating along with the conversation, too worn out to give it any thought. "Yes sir."
Ozpin pondered her a little while longer, before he directed his attention to the officers standing stiffly behind her, nodding an affirmative, the edge of authority creeping into his voice.
"She's a high priority, ensure that she is escorted safely to the holding cells to await her trial."
The officers saluted briskly, before one moved to unlatch and open the back of the truck, gesturing at the steps that lead up to the interior once the doors had swung open fully.
She didn't give any resistance, just bowed her head and shuffled up the steps without a word, taking a seat at the bench that ran along the length of the truck, sitting as far as possible from the two seats at the opposing ends of a currently sealed window to the driver, which were obviously meant for the officers.
She trained her eyes on her handcuffs as the officers loaded up into the vehicle, the latter closing the doors with a slam of finality before taking his seat, securing his seatbelt, and pounding a fist against the truck body.
The subsequent rumble that shook the truck was a relief in a way, it was one step closer to being done with her failings, one step closer to rest, and as they moved off towards the prison, Ruby slumped against the wall and closed her throbbing eyes, drifting off into the vibrations that lulled her into darkness.
"…you do it."
"What, why me?"
She woke up to this: hushed tones that gnawed her out of sleep, whispers that carried and ricocheted off the walls of the very small vehicle. She kept her eyes closed, shifting a little to appease the ache in her lower back from sleeping upright, all the while she carried a slowly fading hope that they would just leave her alone.
"Because you're the concerned one, I'm just curious."
"Why don't you grow some…You know what? Fine."
A hand came to rest on her shoulder, a light shake following that had her internally groaning. "Kid? Hey, hey kid?"
She cracked an eye open, coming to rest on the officer that was leaning over, worry adorning his features. Ruby remained neutral as he pulled his hand back, raising a palm towards her as a scruffy apology.
"We…Well, I was wondering if you were ok? Ozpin must have said some heavy stuff back there, you were completely different coming out of his office."
A quick glance to his rank reminded Ruby that this was the lower ranked officer, with a bar noticeably absent from it unlike his partner's, not that it mattered much anyway. Ruby just stared at him unamused, hoping that the clear desire to be left alone would be enough for him to get the hint.
Instead he merely shrugged, leaning back into his chair now that he had her attention, ignoring how reluctant she was to give it. "Don't wanna talk about it? That's fine, I got two kids at home who are the same, always keeping their secrets close to the chest."
Her short-lived rest allowed for a trickle of self-deprecation, a scoff escaping as she shook her head loosely. "I doubt your kids are in the same boat as I am."
The officer gave a short nervous laugh, tossing a look at his partner, who chuckled. "I would certainly hope not, it doesn't make my concern any less valid though, so… you gonna spill?"
Ruby thumped the back of her head against the wall exasperatedly, glancing up absently to the bar lights of the swaying vehicle. "No, I don't think I should. You'll know soon anyway, once Ozpin finalizes the deal."
The officer raised an eyebrow puzzledly. "Deal? What deal-"
She swerved abruptly as the truck screeched to a hurried stop, gritting her teeth as she slammed the handcuffs into the bench to prevent a worse injury, consequently drawing a hiss as the metal plunged upwards into her wrists. The officers were less adept, their backs banging harshly against the wall as they fell backwards messily into their seats.
"What the hell is going on out there?!"
The higher ranked officer slammed the divider window open, peering over his shoulder into the front seats as he struggled to stay ahead of the situation.
"I don't know Sergeant! The road was clear, then all of a sudden, this little girl with green hair appeared curled up in front of the truck! Oh shit, I might have hit her! Captain we've got to-"
…
She was thrown off her feet before she heard the bang, a loud deafening crack that shocked her ear drums and would've sent her reeling backwards had she not been already falling against the wall of the truck.
BOOM
She coughed as air was beaten out of her lungs, choked as her first desperate breath filled her with the tang of smoke and flame. The truck had been knocked on its side, with vague pieces of loose metal knocked loose to the floor.
Her vision was pummeled out of focus, filled with fuzzy shapes and intermittent blinding flashes from the dying lights, though the lack of sunlight proved that the armored truck had held together.
A groan whipped her head to the side, and she blinked furiously as she wrestled her vision back into form on the squirming shade of blue.
It was the officer that had approached her.
His forehead sported an ugly gash, and the streak of clashing red against the silver of the chair clued her in to what had happened. The Sergeant fared no better, similarly disheveled and winded with a slowly blooming patch of red on his arm.
The officer's eyes darted to her, faint and seemingly seeing right through her, a bleary quality painfully apparent. Then he shook his head vigorously before he snapped to her, his eyes widening in comprehension with panic settling in as he reached for his baton.
"Is this you?! Is…Are they here for you?"
Ruby furrowed her brow. It didn't make sense, nothing about this made sense. During the prison truck hijack that she did with the twins, they had planned to disable the truck smoothly to extract the boy. This was different, this was something dangerous.
"No, they wouldn't have knocked over the truck and risked harming me if they were so concerned about me."
"Then who?! Who is this?!"
Ruby pushed herself against the wall, sliding herself up to her feet, a task made more difficult and strenuous due to her cuffed hands.
"I don't know-"
"AAAAA-"
She heard the scream before she felt the flames, darting down just in time for a column of crackling fire to spear overhead her through the front seat window. She hissed, smacking haphazardly at her singed hair as she narrowed her eyes to slits, shying away from the intense blaze that shot white hot patches of dancing spots into the back of her skull.
"SHUT THE WINDOW, SHUT THE-"
Ruby was unsure who slammed the window shut, her eyes still suffering the blotches that continued to bleed in from the corners of her vision. Even now she could still hear the flames, crackling and writhing outside the truck.
Her sweat was pooling on her brow now, and the steadily rising temperature made it increasingly clear what the assailants were doing. They were flushing them out, right into their sightlines.
Who was this? Was this the Fang? Had they somehow learnt of her?
There were so many questions that sprung around violently in her head, each one begging for attention, but right now, there was only one thing that mattered.
She turned to the Sergeant; her vision finally stable enough to make him out. "How far are we from Beacon? Can you get a distress signal out?"
The Sergeant opened his mouth to answer, wincing as another explosion rocked the vehicle. "The…The truck should have sent one when it detected the brute force trauma, but we're far into the industrial district! They'll never make it in time!"
The industrial district…
The officer flung himself forward, grasping desperately at her arm, squeezing around it like he realized it was solid, something real that he had to tether himself to, to keep himself from drifting off into the dregs of his panic.
"You were a Huntress right?! Right?! You-Please you have to save us! My kids…I want to see my kids again!" He was shaking, tremors that rode up the length of her arm, scaled the length of her spine, carving straight into her heart.
"What do you think you're doing? She's a…ugh…prisoner, not a damn attack dog!" The Sergeant barked, grunting periodically as he clutched at his bloody arm.
Why? Why her? Why another fight, just when she had finally decided to give up, settling for less for the better and capable to achieve more?
She…she just wanted it all to stop.
"Please…"
Did she even have a choice? Was there really any way she could get out of this without fighting?
"PLEASE, LET ME SEE THEM AGAIN!"
Her eyes dipped to the officer, suddenly noticing the pulsating heat of the fingers digging into her arm, and the watery hysteria that pooled in his eyes. His eyes were bulging, vulnerable and showing, bursting with a revelation in what could be his final moments.
This man had a family. He worked an honest job, providing for his kids. He was innocent in every sense of the word.
This man was one of the people she had desired to protect as a Huntress, a dream and mission that she had nurtured all her life, with her mom's memory close to her heart.
Had she forgotten? Or perhaps she was simply too battered to care about the whole reason why she was in this mess.
His kids were somewhere out there waiting for him to come home. Saving him would mean another hug, another meal together. Saving him would change-
It changes enough.
.
.
.
Shit.
Ruby chuckled morosely, glancing between the men. "I don't suppose you have a scythe on hand?"
The Sergeant gawked at her in disbelief, before he shook his head with a sigh, digging his hand into his pocket before fishing out a closed folding knife.
"I'm assuming you would rather have this over my Baton. Small utility knife sure, but I just sharpened it yesterday, cuts well."
She palmed the knife and ran her thumb experimentally over the crisscross patterned grip, giving a small approving nod as the patterns caught and grated roughly against her thumb. It was fiberglass reinforced nylon, the same material she had landed on when designing Crescent Rose's body.
Lightweight, resilient, heat retardant, and most importantly, familiar.
Ruby flicked the lever, the shine in her eyes glinting off the blade as it snapped to attention with a click. Saber toothed to tear with an edge sharpened finely, it certainly looked dangerous enough. She held the edge up to the sputtering lights, unable to contain her contented hum when it failed to catch the staccato blinks.
It meant that it was razor sharp, the edges filed to a fine point such that light found no surface to glimmer off.
She swerved her head to the red-faced officer clutching at her arm, gently prying it loose from his unsteady clammy grip with a resolution settling in her chest, a decision nestling itself in the base of her throat.
"Give me your scroll."
Grasping the shaking scroll firmly by the corner, she found the phone application quickly, her fingers sliding across the scroll's screen as she entered a number ingrained into memory from bountiful jobs.
As the first vibrato tones sounded off, Ruby held her breath, hope and equal parts trepidation pummeling at her chest.
Come on pick up pick up.
…
Wait, why was it so silent.
It was an abrupt realization, that their breaths were a deafening roar against a backdrop of stifling silence, and the riotous thumping of her heart in her ears did little to thaw her suddenly artic blood.
CREAACK
She endured the scalding heat before anything, permeating through the air, bursting her lungs with ashy superheated lashes.
Then she saw it, the layered blade that dripped molten fire and sparking viscid magma, a conduit for flaring flame despite its consistency and sheen of burnished glass, yet it was bladed to carve and dissect, proved true by the way it was sliding through the truck door and down, parting shrieking metal, casting it to the ground in clumps of pooling igneous liquid iron.
She shoved the scroll hurriedly into the hands of the scrambling officer, an offhanded demand to see the call through slipping free, before she threw a grave side eye towards the Sergeant. His face was contorted into the striking image of horror, wide eyed and wheezing, scrambling backwards and pressing himself flat into the wall.
She instinctively squeezed the knife in her palm, thankful that the grip bit enough to ignore her agglomerating sweat.
"The key for the collar! Quick!", she pressed, surging towards the Sergeant as he yanked out a key ring, fumbling as he scrambled with the keys.
It took a small eternity before he found it, tossing the key to her haphazardly. She maneuvered it awkwardly with both hands into the collar keyhole, a small ampule of relief coursing as the choking metal clicked and loosened.
The Sergeant resumed sorted through the keys on his chain ring, panic heckling his movements as he interweaved his damp fingers through the clinking metal. "I'll get the handcuffs, I think-"
"No time!"
The collar dropped to the floor with a clang, a loud resonant vibration that rose through the tips of her toes, only serving to rush her in calling the familiar sensation of Aura.
It was like a part of her once absent had been fulfilled once again, a winding coiling embrace that wrapped around her soul like a hug, and she would've been content to dwell in its coaxing presence, if not for the urging sword that had almost finished slicing through the locking mechanisms of the door.
She concentrated her Aura to her wrists, a scarlet film that shimmered violently against the obstructing metal, and she pulled.
She had forgotten how strong she was with Aura, her wrists wrestled far beyond the distance she had intended, the handcuffs snapping at the chains, ripping apart at the cuffs.
Just in time.
No sooner had she flung the remnants of the handcuffs off her wrists were the doors yanked open, prompting her to pivot on her feet to face the opening, narrowing her eyes and glaring through the harsh gold rays that splayed across her face.
It was a woman, framed against a backdrop of fiery orange sky into which the sun had melted into, dressed in full midnight with adorning strings of dust lined mosaics running down the sides of her jacket. The black glass mask she wore revealed little, nothing but the smirk she gave when the amorphous plumes from the flames lifted.
The edge of a sneer was present in her voice, hostile and blistering, one that had Ruby tightening around the knife she held in a hammer grip, the blade coiled and the point daring.
"Ruby Rose. You have something I need."
Author's Note:
Thank you all for reading! Do comment any criticisms you may have, and I hope to see you guys next time. I will be working on touching up the previous chapters for the mean time, I cannot believe the amount of unintended tense changes I used to do.