10: A Tale of Desperation

image [https://i.imgur.com/60DA9eB.png]

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“Child…”

Her eyes shoot open as she gasps.

Her pupils expand as her vision adjusts itself to the darkness around her. She can just barely make out the linings of the rocky surfaces surrounding her. She scans around the unfamiliar area, alert, small, quick breaths being taken. There seem to be only two ways for her to go: forward, into a black abyss, or backward… into another black abyss.

From beneath her red, hooded cloak, her hands rise and she gives them a look-over. They’re shaking, sweating just as much as the rest of her body is. She closes them into balls, barely able to even make full fists.

“Child…”

“Ah…!” she hisses and closes her eyes tight, her hands shooting for either side of her head.

“I know you can hear me, little one…”

The voice— deep; inhuman— penetrates her mind— loud; booming— making her skull pound, the world distorting around her. She squeezes her head tighter.

“Come to me…”

It talks with a slow cadence, pronouncing every single word deliberately, as if to elongated the pain she’s going through as she’s forced to listen. Losing her footing, she hits a side wall, only grasping her head tighter.

“Follow my voice, little one… Follow…”

And just like that, she intakes a large amount of air, releasing her head and falling to all fours. Her chest heaves as her entire body shakes even worse than just a moment before, lapsing up air as if she’d never taken a breath before.

She swallows hard and uses the wall to stagger to her feet. She looks close to dropping to floor yet again, but manages to keep her heavy body under control. Leaning heavily on the cavern wall, she obeys the booming voice calling out to her and walks forward.

The walk down the eerily dim cavern feels almost endless. The world, although not nearly as bad as when the voice spoke to her, still distorts around her, making her need for the wall even more prominent. The further she walks, the heavier she breaths. Her body looks more and more strained and weighted with each step forward. Her eyes are half open, every-so-often rolling up, only for the young girl to shake her head and force herself to keep moving.

Finally, she spots an opening from the long cavern. She reaches it, but stops short just before stepping out. Her head raises up, her breaths slow and barely even paced now. Her pupils widen as much as they really can as she looks around the open clearing from which the cavern lead her to. The ceiling is impossible to see, what with the darkness of the cave setting and the addition of it being high above. There are a few columns littered around the clearing, or at least as far as she can see into it. Other than that, she looks as if she is wandering around in a pitch black void, no end to it in sight.

Her foot takes a small step back, but she forces herself to stop by grabbing her thigh, which seemed to move on it’s own. Balling her fist tight, biting her bottom lip hard, she pushes off the wall she uses for support and drags herself into the wide opening.

As she walks through the darkness, her eyes dart around to spot something— anything within the void. She tugs on the hood over her head, closing it around herself as if there were a chill. A few moments that feel like an eternity pass and she slowly comes to a halt, not getting anywhere in her stride.

Her breaths are the heaviest they’d been up until this point. Sweat pools down her face, dripping to the ground, making a trail behind her. Finally, she falls to her knees and clutches her chest. The already dark world around her blackens even more.

“Ah… There you are, little one…”

The pain in her body is all but forgotten now as the voice speaks up, louder and clearer than ever before. It sounds as if it is right in front of her.

“Let me look at you, youngling… Show me your gaze…”

Her body moves as if the action isn’t in her control. Her head lifts up higher, then higher, then higher still, until she is nearly looking straight up. And fear overtakes all else.

Through the near pitch black, nothing can be seen. Nothing… except the red eyes looming high above her. For a moment, the figure, outlined in a faded red, looks to be perched high up, looking down at her. However, in reality, it is literally towering directly in front of her, so close, she would only need to walk a few more steps to make contact with it’s much larger body.

Its stare is unmoving. It bores a hole right into the the young girl’s own fearful one. The longer Ruby looks on, the world distorts more and more, her vision goes in and out. It’s as if… just by staring into the black abyss… into the eyes of red staring back… she can feel herself going mad…

“What lovely eyes you have… What beautiful eyes indeed… The shape of a humans… but the tinge of a beast’s… So lovely—So lovely…”

Her body is no longer in her control. Not metaphorically. She is no longer in any control of the events happening. She is now a puppet. And the beast before her… it controls her…

“How I’ve longed to see such lovely eyes again… I, who am unable to dream… has experienced a feeling as such… Everyday… Every moment of my existence… I dreamt of the day… I would gaze upon these eyes… Eyes that show remnants of the hope… I want to crush so badly…”

No control… No control…

“Eyes filled with the fear… of gazing upon my image…”

No con… No… control… control…

“Eyes… that reflect the memory… of our fateful encounter…”

…

“Eyes that reflect… the darkness I crave so dearly…”

…

“The darkness… I wish to consume…”

…

“I am growing closer… I will find you… And finish what I have started… Heheheheheheheheheh…”

It all… fades… to black…

“Sleep tight… little one…”

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Splash!

“Ahh!”

Ruby throws her head around the room in a frantic, wild, uncontrolled breaths being taken, eyes wide, pupils dilated. She shakes her head of the water dripping down her hair and face, coughing loud and violently. After a moment of struggling, she slows down once she realizes she can’t move. It is only then she notices the three figures standing over her, looking down at her, the one in the middle sitting in a backwards chair, a greasy grin on his face.

“Good evening, Red,” the orange haired man greets a little too cheerful-like.

She stares him down for a second longer, then looks to each side of him at the two black suit wearing men, who in turn glare down at her. She looks down and realizes that she’s on her knees, water dripping to the floor from her freshly damp, long, red hair. The young girl tries to move her arms, only to find them bound up on the wall behind her. A quick look confirms that her arms are chained up and her hands have long nails running through the palms, blood running down and joining the water on the floor.

Ruby returns her gaze to her captors.

“Hope you had just a wonderful little dream,” the white suited man continues. “You look so cute when your face isn’t getting caved in. Heck, you almost had me believing you really are just a little girl.” He leans in closer and lowers his voice as if telling Ruby a secret. “But we both know that ain’t the truth, now don’t we?”

Ruby says nothing, only continuing to stare at the man, scared, confused.

The man pokes his lip out, tilting his head. “Ohh, look at you. Lookin’ like a lost puppy. You’re almost kinda makin’ me feel sorry for you. Too bad I hate you so much, otherwise I’d consider skipping straight to killing you. Unfortunately…” His smile drops into an empty glare. “…I really friggin’ hate you…”

They look each other in the eye for another moment. And then, just as quickly as it fell, his big, happy smile returns to his face as he stands from his seat.

“So!” He drags the chair to the far end of the empty room, then walks back over to Ruby. “As much as I would love to stay here and deal with you all day long— and, believe me, I really would like nothing more— I have other matters to attend to first. So, until then, I will leave you in the delicate hands of my good pals, Chucky…”

He puts his hand on the shoulder of the goon to his right, who cracks his neck.

The man then puts a hand on the goon to his left.

“And Rocket.”

Rocket smiles a dangerous, anxious grin.

Ruby looks between the two, quivering now.

“Now, you two tone it back a little, okay? I wanna have some fun with this kid and I don’t need you somehow killing her while I’m gone. Please, hands and feet only for now, okay?”

He gives the two pats on the backs and takes a step forward, reaching a hand out toward Chucky, who holds his cane. Chucky places it in his boss’ hand and the man gives it a spin. He bends down and puts his face a mere inch away from Ruby’s.

“But hey, lets get one in for the road…”

He stands up straight and raises his cane.

Pow!

The cane throws Ruby’s head to the side, blood spraying on the ground. Ruby coughs, reeling from the pain of the hit, dangling from her holdings. The man moves back, laughing.

“God damn!” he yells out, straightening his hair. “Oh, it’s gonna be hard waiting to get more in! But! Alas… I must take my leave.” He gives a look to Rocket and Chucky, then flicks his head at the bleeding, restrained redhead. “Knock yourselves out.”

And with that, he makes for the sole door to the room, steps out, then closes the door behind himself. As the two men loom closer, Ruby looks up at them, shaking violently, tears dancing on the rims of her eyes.

Outside of the room, the man continues to fix up his clean, white suit.

“Sir!” He looks up to see an approaching black suited man.

“Ah, just the man I was looking for. I think it’s time we blow this scene. Get everybody and their stuff together.”

He walks down the dim, stone corridor, a few light posts hanging from the ceiling.

“Got it, boss.” The goon follows close behind. “Hey, we still have the boy locked up. Should we get rid of him already or…?”

The boss taps his cane on his chin for a moment. “Hmm… Nah, leave him for now. We might be able do something with him, I’m just not sure what quite yet. Worse case scenario, we put a bullet in his head, dump him in the forest and clear out of here before the fuzz even finds him.”

“You got it, boss.”

“Right now, though, I couldn’t give two shits about him. I’m in a bit of a mood right now. I think its time we shake this city up a bit… And then…”

As he and his goon walk along, they turn a corner and pass by a shut door with it’s peephole ajar. On the back wall, sitting on the floor, blood on his clothes, a blonde boy sits unmoving, taking slow, pained breaths.

“We deal with the little red bitch thoroughly…”

As the man’s voice fades away down the hall, the boy tries to look up, only for his head to give into the pain and fall back down. As blood dips down the side of his mouth, he opens his eyes, one swollen and black.

“Ru…by…” Jaune says with a strained, gravelly voice.

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10

A Tale of Desperation

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Skirt!

The black truck swerves tight around the corner. Citizens strolling down the sidewalks all jump out of the way on the off chance they’d be in the vehicles path. The truck shoots off the down the street. Inside, holding on the wheel with a death grip, Yang’s purple eyes glow bright and she bites into her bottom lip hard. Sweat pools down the side of her face.

“Where we goin’ Blake?!” she yells at her passenger, who's eyes focus on the screen of the Scroll in her hands, occasionally taking quick glances up.

“Hang on—Hang on!” Blake says.

“Give me some direction here! Come on, Blake!”

“Damn it, Yang, just give me a second!”

Blake studies the screen close. On it is a flat, grid-like map projected as a hologram image. A red, blinking dot, moves through some of the columns, rapidly turning and jittering about.

“Uh… Okay—Okay, take a left right here, then a quick right on the first!”

Not missing a beat, Yang follows Blake’s instructions and swings the truck to the left, then to the right. Blake has to hold on the handle above her as she gets tossed around in her seat, smacking against her door with grit teeth.

“O—Okay, we’re almost there, we can cut her off on Nima! Straight ahead!”

Yang floors the gas pedal. Her eyes scan the left side of the street, on the prowl for the teenager in distress.

“Come on, Weiss, come on…!” Yang says under her breath.

Alleyways pass by along with the many faces watching the speeding truck. With how fast she’s going, had she not been looking with so much attention to detail, Yang would have easily missed the teenager running for dear life, shooting out onto the sidewalk, only to be grabbed by the waist and neck by a rugged looking man.

“Yang!” Blake yells.

“Got her!” Yang says.

She grounds her foot down on the brake and turns the steering wheel hard. The truck veers around, the rubber of the wheels crying out as they drag across the asphalt. Yang straightens up the vehicle and slams her foot into the accelerator, heading right back to the alleyway Weiss was dragged into.

Before the truck even comes to a complete halt, Yang is already unlocking her safety belt and bolting out the door, darting into the alleyway. Blake struggles against her seatbelt and door to follow.

Yang slides across the ground before she misses her turn. There. Two men struggle to hold on to the young princess, who kicks with little precision. Her mouth is covered by one of the man’s large hands.

“Hold still, god— AH!“ Weiss bites down into the man’s hand over her mouth. He pulls his hand from between her teeth, raises his fist and slams it into Weiss’ head. “Little bitch!”

“Would you hold her still?!” the second man asks, holding onto one of Weiss’ flailing legs.

“What do ya’ think I’m tryin’ to…” The first man’s eyes widen as he looks down the alleyway. “Oh shit!”

The second goon follows his partner’s line of sight and his eyes widen as well. Yang glares the goons down, teeth grit, an evident snarl seething through them. Steam seems from the corners her mouth her mouth and her eyes glow bright. She shoots off right for the two thugs.

“Shoot her! Shoot her!” the first says.

The second goon raises his pistol and pulls the trigger multiple times. While some miss, the other bullets bounce right off of Yang. The pistol clicks. Empty. The man stumbles back, sweating his own bullets now. “Shit! Goddamn Huntress!” He reaches into his back pocket and grabs the handle of his axe.

Before the man even gets the chance to pull it out, Yang is face to face with him, noses almost touching. She pulls her fist back and shoots it into man’s face, a loud “Bang!” of a shotgun ringing out at the collision. He sails through the air and impacts the wall to Yang’s right, cracking it. Then, he slumps to the ground, limp. Yang stands up straight, cracking her knuckles. Her shadowed eyes turn up to the last goon holding onto Weiss with a shaky grapple.

Yang takes a couple of steps forward.

He swallows loud. “Y—You stay where you are!” He pulls a switch blade from his pocket and hovers it over Weiss’ throat. Yang pauses in her stride, eyes narrowing. “I’ll slice this kid’s neck open, you hear me?! I’ll bleed her out! I’ll—”

Mid sentence, his blade hand’s wrist is wrung by another hand from the side. As he screams with pain, his hand is pulled from Weiss’ throat, and a second hand grabs his neck, slamming him into the wall behind him hard. Weiss stumbles forward, freed from her captor, and tends to her bleeding throat.

Blake pins the man to the wall, her forearm pressing into his neck, her other hand holding onto his wrist. She twists his wrist more, causing him to cry out until his fingers unfurl and his knife falls. The second he drops his weapon, Blake backs up, puts her hand to the ground and spin kicks into the man’s jaw, throwing him to the ground in a heap. As he rolls on the ground, holding his jaw, Blake straightens up and kicks the discarded knife off to the side.

Blake looks to Weiss and Yang with a nod. Yang nods back, then approaches Weiss.

“You good?” Yang asks, taking Weiss’ shoulders.

Weiss shivers, rubbing her neck. “I’m okay—I’m okay.”

“Here, let me see.” Yang takes Weiss’s hand and pulls it down. A small cut lines the top of Weiss’ neck and the bottom of her chin, fresh red liquid oozing out of it.

“This is the worst of it, really. I’ll live.”

“Are you sure?” Yang cuffs Weiss’ face.

Weiss nods, giving a shaky smile. One that soon drops, however, when she pushes out a staggered breath, her bottom lip trembling. She purses her lips and her eyes gloss over before lurching forward into Yang’s chest. She wraps her arms around the older woman. “Thank you… Thank you…”

Yang returns the embrace, rubbing the top of the young girl’s head. “You’re okay, kiddo, I got you. It’s over now…”

Weiss loosens her grip on Yang and looks up at her. “I’m so sorry, Ms. Xiao Long… I—I couldn’t help her, she… she told to run and I freaked out and they all had guns…”

“Shh…” Yang says, rubbing Weiss’ cheek. “Hey—Hey, none of that. I know you would’ve if you could’ve. I’m just glad you’re okay at least. But, Weiss, I need you to think for me. Do you have any clue where those guys might have taken my sister? Did you hear anything, see anything…?”

Weiss shakes her head. “I had to get out of there as fast as I could. If Ruby hadn’t distracted them, I would have… Oh god, I shouldn’t have ran…”

“Calm down, Weiss. It’s gonna be alright. We can still help her, but we need to figure out where she might be.”

“I could go back the way Ms. Schnee came and check if she might still be there,” Blake says.

“No, don’t bother, they aren’t there,” Weiss says. “That man knows Ruby doesn’t die easy and I think he intends to take advantage of that. Whatever he’s planning, he’s going to be sure she feels all of it…”

Yang’s breath hitches. Blake flinches.

“Yang, we have to help her…”

Yang releases Weiss and backs up. She looks to the ground, her eyes darting about. “Come on—Come on, think…” she says, snapping her fingers. She freezes on the spot and looks over to the downed goon Blake disarmed, he feebly crawling away, using his uninjured arm to drag himself with grit teeth and grunts.

Yang walks over and moves in front of him, stomping a foot down in front of his face. He groans, smacking his forehead into the ground, then looks up at the blonde, who bends down to get closer.

“Look, dude,” she says. “I am not the one to peeve right now, so if anything but the truth comes out your mouth, we’re gonna have problems. Now, I’m gonna ask this real slow-like so there’s no confusion…” She grabs the man’s collar and pulls him in closer. Their noses are tip-to-tip now. “Where. Is. The girl?”

The goon squints his eyes. He flashes a toothy grin. Despite his defiance, however, a telling bead of sweat rolls down his head. He chuckles. “Look, blondie. I—“

Pow! Before he even finishes speaking, Yang slams her forehead into his nose.

“Ahh!” he screams and struggles against Yang’s grip, not really getting anywhere. “The hell is wrong with you?!”

“Hey.” She slaps the groveling man. “Hey! You listenin’? Don’t dick me around right now, man. I ain’t in the mode for games. You ready to cooperate?”

He says nothing, only glares. A trail of blood runs from the man’s nostrils, seeping between the cracks of his clenched teeth. Yang shakes her head.

“I don’t have time for this.”

Yang grabs the goon by his neck and drags him to his feet.

“Wait a minute, Yang,” Blake says, taking a step closer. “Hold on.”

Yang slams the man into the wall and squeezes her hand around his throat harder. Her eyes glow as the shadows on her face deepen.

“Yang!”

“Gahh! Ahh!” the man screams as steam billows from the contact of Yang’s hand and his throat. The louder he screams, the tighter she squeezes. The tighter he squeezes his eyes, the deeper her glare pierces.

Weiss puts her hands over her mouth. Blake runs over to the blonde. “Yang! Stop!” She grabs Yang’s arm and pries her fingers off. “Yang, let him go! Let him go!”

The Junior Huntress concedes and drops the goon to the ground, he grabbing at his seared throat. Yang turns on Blake. “We don’t have time for this shit, Blake.”

“Burning a man’s throat out isn’t going to do much good when we want him to give us answers, Yang!”

“He obviously needs a little incentive to talk. If he ain’t gonna put his mouth to good use, I might as well do him a favor and get rid of it.”

“I am not about to stand by and watch you torture someone! You saw how much trouble that almost got Ruby into if Ozpin hadn’t stepped in. They will eat your ass up if anybody found out about this!”

“Ms. Xiao Long, I think—“ Weiss tries to speak up.

“Look at me, Blake!” Yang grabs Blake shoulders and pulls her in closer. “Look deep into my eyes! Take a picture while you’re at it! Do I look like I give a shit what they are gonna do to me? These sons of bitches have my little sister! I don’t care who the hell I have to castrate to get her back, but I am going to bring her home!”

“Ms. Xiao Long—“

Blake shoves Yang back. “You don’t think I want to help her, too? Yang, I am with you all the way on this, but we can’t risk you being on trial next to these assholes and I’m seeing that is exactly what is going to happen if you keep on this path! This isn’t what you do, Junior Huntress!”

Yang pulls on her short hair. “Blake, god damn it—“

“YANG!” Weiss says.

“WHAT?!” Yang yells.

A ringing. The sound of a catchy little jingle comes from Yang’s Scroll strapped to the back of her belt. She groans. “Hold that thought…” she says to Blake.

Blake throws her hands up and turns away, putting one hand on her hip as the other rub her forehead. Yang turns around and gives the man on the ground a glare. He moans in pain while grabbing his burned throat. Yang unstraps her Scroll and, with the press of a button, slides it open. On the blue, holographic screen, the name “Junior” rolls over.

Yang’s eyes widen. “Shit…”

Weiss perks up at Yang’s colorful language. Blake turns back to Yang. “What now?” she asks.

“It’s Junior,” Yang says. She presses the answer button and holds the phone up to her ear.

Now Blake’s eyes widen. “You’re joking. Do you think Torchwick—“

“Shh—Shh, hang on… Junior, hey, I’m glad you called. Look, things have changed. I need you to help me find your client and I need you to do it fast. Junior? You hear me?”Silence. Yang and Blake exchange looks. The blonde pulls the phone down and eyes the screen. The call is still running. “The hell…?” She presses the speaker button. “Junior? You there? What’s going on?”

“Yours is the last voice I expected to hear, to be honest.”

Yang and Blake freeze up. “…Who is this…?”

“When my boys told me about all the shit you stirred up, I was expecting some butch kinda thing. Certainly not… you.”

“Who the hell is this…?”

“Come on now, Hunter. I think you know exactly who this is…”

Yang’s grip on the phone tightens. “…Roman Torchwick…”

Blake looks at Yang with even wider eyes and a small gasp.

“Look at that, she memorized the whole thing,” Torchwick says with a laugh.

Blake runs her hands through her hair. “Damn it…”

“You know, you have caused me a great deal of trouble, blondie. As if I didn’t have my hands full already with a few other brats. Then you come along and piss all over an already shitty day. Can’t say I appreciate that.”

“How did you get this number?” Yang asks.

“Fun fact: did you know the bozos that work for me get paid twice as much as they did working for Junior? Did he happen to mention that? Probably didn’t even know, the idiot. Gotta say, you would be surprised how easy it is to assemble an army with just the right incentive. And yes, honey, that includes ‘Junior’s boys’ in the club you wrecked.”

Yang puts her head in her hand, biting her bottom lip.

“I knew I wouldn’t be able to trust the guy. Part of me said I should go ahead and cut out the middle man on the spot; deal with it sooner than later. But, hey, I’m a pretty swell chap. I donate to little sick children hospitals every blue moon. So, I decided, ‘Why not give the guy a break? He’s loaning me his boys, he’s being rather professional about it. He can’t be all that bad!’” Torchwick sighs. “Shame on me for having a little faith in others, huh? I left myself wide open for that one, didn’t I? Mason, give the traitor a kick to the head for me, will ya’?”

The sound of a shoe colliding with a hard object rings out from the phone. Directly following is what sounds like a muffled cry of pain and an object hitting the floor. Two more muffled cries follow suit, they sounding much younger and feminine than the first.

Yang intakes a sharp breath and her jaw trembles. Blake tugs on the collar of her top. “Oh no…!” she says.

“Oh, I’m sorry, blondie. Hope you don’t mind this being a conference call. I’d handle Junior and his little twins myself, but I’ve got my hands a bit tied at the moment. You understand, I’m sure.”

“Torchwick,” Yang says, venom in the name. “You better tread lightly, you son of a—“

“Ah—Ah! Shh—Shh—Shh, no! My turn! I’m talking now! You have done quite enough for a few lifetimes! You just shut your mouth and listen!”

Yang says nothing. She only balls her fist at her side.

“Good! Now, this is how things are gonna work. Okay? Mason, put the younger twin on the phone real quick.”

Ruffling from one of the other sides. Small whimpers seep into the speaker, making Yang tense up, her body now shaking. Her deep glare drops in exchange for a worried, almost scared expression. The ruffling of a cloth and the whimpers are more clear.

“Go on, kid, speak up. Come on, I don’t have all day. Say somethin’, don’t be shy.”

Yang waits with bated breath.

“Ms. Yang…”

Yang’s eyes close and she tugs on the bottom of her skirt.

“Please… Help us…”

Torchwick clicks his tongue. “Pitiful, isn’t it? You know, I remember the first time I met the brat. She was so full of energy. Annoyed the ever living crap outta me. Now look at her. Groveling like a injured little puppy. Goodness… Alright, now put the older one on, Mason.”

More ruffling and a growl comes through, low and dangerous.

“Yeah—Yeah, I’ve heard it all before… What was it? Melanie? That was your name, right?”

“Screw you…” Melanie says through grit teeth.

A loud smack and a grunt of pain makes Yang’s hand ball tighter.

“Hey—Hey, Mason, ease up, man,” Torchwick says. “No need for that. She’s all bark. Nothing but cheap talk. Heh. Though, I will say, that’s more of what I remember from the twins. I remember Melanie especially had the habit of giving me the stink eye. You never did like me, did you?”

Melanie responds with a growl.

“See? Completely in character for her. You know, Huntress, I must thank you, though. When I first met the girls, I wanted to smack them in the mouth more than anything. But, as I do not have that little magic shield you and so many other special snowflakes do, I couldn’t so much as raise my hand before I found myself getting launched through a wall. Honestly, Mason and my other guys should have had their balls kicked into their throats. But due to your ‘heroic actions’, or whatever, they couldn’t so much as run away, let alone fight back. I almost couldn’t believe how fast my boys called to tell me the job was done. So, for your inspiring actions in making my life a hell of a lot easier, I give you my deepest gratitude, you stupid bitch.”

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Yang bites hard into her bottom lip.

“And so, to return the favor, I’m not just gonna have the three traitors gunned down. I think you deserve a little reward. So this is how we’re gonna do things.” Torchwick clears his throat. “You’re gonna choose which of the two twins gets a bullet to the head.”

Yang can hear Militia whimper low, a quiet, “No—No…” escaping Miltia’s lips. Melanie says, “It’s okay, Miltiades…”

“Damn it—Damn it!” Blake says, putting her hands atop her head.

“Roman…!” Yang says.

“Whichever sister you don’t choose, I’ll leave her and Junior be. I just want to prove a point to you all. I wanna show you what happens when you screw with me.”

“Torchwick, you’re not getting away with this!”

“You think just because you have a fancy little badge that you own the show? You little kids think you run anything? I’d break yourself if I were you.”

‘TORCHWICK!”

“Nope! Nah, I’m just about done talking now. We’re doing this thing. Mason!”

A gun clicks.

Miltia cries more.

“Two choices, Hunter,” Torchwick says. “I’d pick fast.”

“Don’t you touch them, you son of a bitch!” Yang says.

“Lovely! Someone’s still gonna get shot, so get to choosing!”

“I’m not playing your game, asshole!”

“You don’t have choice! Now, either you choose, or I do it for you!”

“Wait… Wait! What are you doing?” Melanie asks. “No, point it at me! Point it at me!”

“Yang…!” Blake says.

“God damn it, Torchwick!” Yang spits back.

“Last chance, Huntress!”

“ROMAN!”

“Time’s up!”

Bang!

A blood churning scream rings out from the speaker, causing Yang to drop the phone, eyes wide, chest heaving.

“Oh my god…!” Blake says.

Weiss gasps with hands over her mouth.

“Miltia! No—No! Miltia! Oh god! Miltia!”

Yang puts one hand over her stomach and another over her mouth.

“Welp…” Torchwick says over the phone. “That’s just how it goes, I guess…”

Melanie’s cries continue to ring out over the group.

“Don’t you worry, Huntress. It’s almost over,” Torchwick says. “I hope we’ve all learned a very valuable lesson about being nosy today.”

“I’m gonna kill you, Torchwick…” Yang says. “I’ll tear you apart…”

“Now, I hope you’re still listenin’, Huntress, because this next part is rather important. Hey? Anyone still there? Hello?”

Blake looks over to Yang, expecting her to move for the Scroll on the ground. The blonde continues to hold her stomach and mouth, hair shadowing her glowing eyes. Blake takes the liberty to walk over and pick up the device.

“Hey! You dead, or something? If you are, can whoever killed her please note me? Yo!”

“We’re listening,” Blake says. She looks over at Yang, who looks up at her. “We’re still here…”

“Oh. A new voice. I’m guessin’ this is that partner in crime my guys were talking about. Well, all the same. I don’t care who, but one of you needs to get their asses moving over to the club pronto. See, there’s a little surprise waiting for you there. Well, you know, other than the teenage corpse anyway.” He says that last part with a chuckle. “So, you go take care of that and I’m going to go deal with a few loose ends now. I don’t know if she’s with you girls, but I got this rather formidable little red girl in my possession right now and if you thought what the twin got was bad, boy howdy…”

Blake’s eyes widen, her sharp teeth gritting. Just as she opens her mouth to scream, the Scroll is pulled out of her hand by Yang, who puts it close to her mouth, brows knitted, eyes glowing brighter than ever before.

“I’m gonna find you, Torchwick!” Yang screams. “You’re dead, you hear me? YOU’RE FUCKING DEAD!”

A moment of silence.

Torchwick snickers. “We’ll see about that…”

Yang growls, almost inhuman-like.

“But that’s gonna have to wait a minute. You have somewhere else to be. And, if I were you, I’d get to skippin’. Clock starts now, blondie. You’ve got thirty minutes.”

Yang’s anger dissipates into surprise.

“Get goin’, Hunter.”

And just like that, the call ends and Yang is left looking at an empty screen. As she stands motionlessly in the alleyway, Blake bears an expression that indicates not all of the information has sunk in yet. Weiss, from her position on the ground, mirror’s Blake’s expression, looking back and forward between the two women.

In an instant, Yang turns around and shoots off, tripping over herself with how fast she spins around, before regaining her balance. It takes her a minute, but Blake does a double take between the running Yang and the spot she was just frozen in.

“Y—Yang!” Blake runs behind the blonde.

Yang reaches her truck, slamming into the passenger door and moves around the front to the driver side. She opens the door and jumps into the vehicle. Blake is close behind.

“Wait a second, Yang, calm down! What if this is a trap? You can’t just—“

“Move!” Yang shoves Blake back and slams her door shut.

She shifts gears and damn near slams the gas pedal through the floor. The wheels cry out as they burn against the pavement before the truck shoots off down the street, leaving Blake to stare off in the direction Yang went, running a hand through her hair and putting another on her hip.

----------------------------------------

The truck skirts to a halt in front of the familiar looking club. Yang hops out before it even fully stops and sprints through the entrance and down the hallway. One last door and she’s in the main club section. The place is still wrecked from the large brawl she initiated just hours before. But that is the last thing she worries about.

Junior is strapped to one of the bar chairs welded into the floor in the way back. The second Yang steps into view, Junior had his eyes planted on her, wide, wild, his body flailing against his restraints.

“Huntress!” he screams. “Huntress!”

But his voice is blocked out as Yang stares at the middle of the floor.

Melanie is flat on the floor, eyes obscured by her messy hair. However, tears can easily be seen streaming down her face and onto the ground… mixing with the pool of blood running under her face. The pool originates from the source directly next to her, the one Melanie stared at.

Unmoving, blood seeping from the hole in her head, Miltia’s corps lies, staring back at her weeping sister…

If not for the muffled screams coming from Junior, Yang would have taken in the horror a bit longer.

“Get her! Get her! There’s a bomb! Huntress!”

However, she forces herself to snap out of her stupor and focus on Junior’s words—

“THERE’S A BOMB!”

Yang’s eyes wander up and she sees a dark box on top of the bar counter. Big red numbers tick down.

7… 6… 5…

Her eyes widen. She doesn’t waste another second and jumps down all the stairs, running for Melanie. She slides across the floor and grabs Melanie, but doesn’t take her up, turning back to the bomb.

2…1…

No time.

She bends down and covers Melanie’s body with her own, holding on tight, gritting her teeth hard.

0…

Flame explodes from the box on the bar counter. They expand out, engulfing Junior and the rest of the club, including Yang. The glass pillars around the outside of the dance floor shatter and crumble. The floor boards are torn from the foundation. All the walls crack and expand out before they too shatter.

From the outside of the building, the club’s back half explodes outward as flames burst through. Then the front entrance. Citizens walking along, minding their own business all duck for cover, screaming in panic. Some even use their bodies to cover others from the potential blast damage and debris. A second explosion, this one not as powerful as the first, rings out, causing more screams. Some people run away from the scene, while most gather and watch the terrifying spectacle.

“Oh my god!”

“The hell just happened?!”

“Is anybody hurt?”

“Someone call the police!”

All of these comments and questions and more ring through the crowds of onlookers. The flames from the explosion engulf the mass of the building. Black smoke lifts into the air high, thick.

“Was anyone in there?” a woman asks.

“God, I hope not…” a man says.

From the blown out, burning entrance, a silhouette appears through the smoke, hobbling along.

“Wait…” someone else says. “Wait a second, hold on, there’s someone coming out!”

The dark fumes wrap around Yang as she steps out onto the street, an unconscious Melanie in her arms. Both of their clothes are torn and dirtied, blood and soot covering their bodies. Yang’s dim purple eyes are half open and her hair hangs messily over her face.

“Jesus Christ, they’re kids!” The man who speaks runs through the crowd for Yang and Melanie. A few other pedestrians follow after him.

When she notices the citizens running for her, that’s when Yang loses all strength in her legs and topples over. Before she can even come close to hitting the ground, a man catches her by the shoulders.

“Whoa—Whoa, hey, easy there! I got you, kid!” he says.

A woman runs up and gently takes Melanie from the blonde’s hands. “Let me take her, young lady. Here, I’ve got her.”

While the two adults tend to the two girls, a couple of other pedestrians run past them and try to peer through the flames and smoke, calling out for any other survivors. Yang lies unmoving in the man’s arms. He speaks to her, but the words are drowned out along with all the other sounds. Yang’s dim eyes only stare up at the rising smoke of the destroyed club.

That same smoke floats up into the darkening sky. And the world around Yang darkens with it…

----------------------------------------

A rather young looking man walks down the stone, cold hallway, his shotgun slung over his shoulder by a leather strap.

One of his gloved hands hold onto a sheet of paper riddled in bullet points and notes. His eyes study ever inch of the list. A drip of water drops down onto it, staining the ink. The young man sneers, looking up at the source of the dripping, a crack on the ceiling. He shakes his head, continuing his walk, wiping the stain dry.

Just as he passes a certain metal door in the hall, he hears a loud smack and a muffled squeak of pain. This causes him to pause and back up to stand in front of the door. He waits with a look of curiosity and a bit of worry. He moves his ear closer.

A man from the other side laughs, his voice gruff. “That was a good one right there.” Another impact and squeak of pain.

The young man’s expressions dampens. He takes hold of the door hand and pushes it in, stepping through, only to freeze up, his eyes widening at what he sees.

The moment the young man steps in, Rocket, smoking on a cigarette, leaning on the way directly next to the door, looks up at Ford and says, “Oh boy…”

Across the room, Chucky is knelt down in front of a young, red haired girl, pounding away.

A blow to the stomach makes her keel over for what seems like the thousandth time today, barely any saliva spilling from her mouth, the well having all but dried up by now. She dangles by the nails holding her palms to the wall, desperately gasping for any bit of air her caved in throat would allow. However, she isn’t even granted enough time for that when another rough, large fist slams into her stomach.

Blood and tears mingle on the floor between her thighs and on her skirt. Her half open eyes are misty and near-lifeless. Her blood red hair dangles over her face, shadowing her bruised, dark skin. Her clothes are in shreds, barely covering her privates.

“Jesus Christ…” the young man says, his voice just above a whisper.

This is enough to make Chucky pause in his onslaught and turn to the door, wiping blood from his face. His shoulders sag. “Crap… Hey, Ford.”

“The hell is all this?” Ford asks, stepping into the room, holding the door open.

“Look, woulda calm down, short stack?” Rocket says, putting his hand out.

Ford turns on him. “Is this how you two pass time? Beating little girls to a pulp?”

“Ford, it ain’t even like that, man. The boss told us we had to watch over the kid ‘till he got back. We’re just doin’ what we were—“

“I’m sorry, did he also tell you to break her in two? Was that part of the job description, too?”

“As a matter of fact, it was.”

Ford turns his glare on Chucky, who stands up from the floor, rubbing his bloody, bruised knuckles.

Ford takes a step forward. “You expect me to believe the boss left you two bozos here to beat up on a kid nailed to the wall? You really think that’s what he hired you for?”

“You ain’t gotta believe me, squirt. You can ask him yourself when he gets back.”

“You’re full of shit.”

“I take pleasure in screwin’ with you, kid, but I’m actually bein’ quite honest right now. Ain’t that right, Rocket?”

Ford turns to Rocket. The man withdraws his cigarette and blows out a cloud of smoke. “It’s the truth, kid.”

Ford looks taken aback. He turns back to Chucky, who shrugs with a smirk. Ford grinds his teeth, looking past Chucky at the restrained, bloody, beaten little girl on the floor.

“There you go again, kid. Stirrin’ shit up over garbage. Just like that little Fauna brat.”

Ford glares up at this smiling Chucky.

“Yeah, I heard about all the crap you gave Priest over that mongrel. What is it with you and letting little girls rile you up so much? You knew exactly what you were getting into when you signed up for this job.”

“I didn’t sign up for this,” Ford says, pointing at Ruby’s battered body. “I didn’t sign up for torturing children.”

“Okay, but capturing them so that the boss can sell the into slavery is fine, though, right?”

“I… I…”

“You’re so full of shit, Ford. Always tryin’ to act like the ‘token good teammate’ when we’re all the bad guys here. You ain’t no better than any of us scumbags. Just because you don’t smack them around when you do it, doesn’t mean you ain’t kidnapping little brats like this!”

He emphasizes his last point by turning and kicking Ruby in the head. Ford grits his teeth.

“So do me a favor, O ‘enlightened’ one. Take that pussy shit out of my face and go on somewhere with that mess. Some of us have real jobs to get back to.”

Ford balls his face, his glare deepening.

Chucky waves his hand at him. “Shoo.”

After adjusting his shotgun on his shoulder, Ford turns heel and stomps for the door, throwing it open, storming out and slamming it shut behind him.

Rocket lifts his brows with a whistle, then looks to Chucky, who snorts, shaking his head. He returns his attention to the silent redhead, putting his hands on his waist.

----------------------------------------

Ford stomps around the corner, knocking his fist against his thigh. The shotgun on his shoulder knocks against his back with every hard step he takes. His face is red as he bites into his bottom lip.

“Rat bastard…! Son of a bitch…!”

He digs into his pocket and tears out the sheet of paper he was reading before, every movement forceful and full of rage. He scans down the list and his eyes land on his next objective.

• Check on the blonde one.

He lowers the paper, tightening his grip on the edge, making it crumple.

“I’ll kill that mother…! Gah! Asshole!”

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

He rounds one more corner and moves for a certain door a few feet away.

“Nobody’d even miss him…! Bastard has it coming’….!”

He takes hold of the handle and near rams the door open, still cursing under his breath. As he looks up with a hard glare, all the anger in his body dissipates when he finds himself looking into a pair of aqua blue eyes.

Before him, a blonde young man stands with his mouth a bit open, hand out like he was reaching for the same door handle Ford currently gripped onto. Jaune holds onto his side with his other hand, hunched over due to the many wounds riddling his body.

Behind Jaune, the handcuffs he was meant to be in remain behind on the floor. The insides are coated in still wet looking blood.

Ford can only stare. Jaune can only return the stare. For a moment in time, that’s all they can do.

And then, the moment passes.

Ford opens his mouth wide. Jaune shoots forward. He rams his hand over Ford’s mouth and grapples him off the door handle. Twisting around, he throws Ford into the room, the man rolling across the ground, letting out a gasp at the impact on the ground.

Jaune pokes his head out quick. No one around. He moves back into the room and slams the door shut, then turns to Ford, who has risen to his knee and now works to take his shotgun off his shoulder. Jaune dashes for him. Just as Ford gets his gun off his shoulder, Jaune tackles him and pins him to the wall, grabbing onto Ford’s wrist, keeping him from gripping his gun with both hands.

Slam! Slam! Ford repeatedly slams his fist into Jaune’s ribs. The boy grunts with each hit, but refuses to let go. He grounds his feet and, mustering all his available strength, lifts Ford up and slams him to the ground on his back.

Jaune scrambles to sit atop the man and puts a knee in his bicep, pinning him down. From there, he pounds away at Ford’s face. Punch after punch, more blood covering his face with each one. Ford lifts his hand to maybe retaliate, but Jaune just knocks it away and continues to pound away.

After a while, Ford releases his firearm and goes limp. Jaune lifts his fist for another round of beating, but holds off throwing his punch once he sees Ford lay still, rugged breaths of pain seeping from his bloody face.

The blonde boy’s hand falls limps at his side and he laps up as much air as his throat will let him, falling to the side, laying next to the unconscious Ford. For a few seconds, he takes some time to lie there.

The rest period passes and Jaune rolls over to his stomach. With shaky arms, he pushes himself to his knees and sits up. His sight lands on the shotgun Ford was going to use on him. He crawls forward and slides it over to himself. He picks up the weapon and inspects its frame. There’s a pump on the bottom. He obviously doesn’t need to pull it again.

Throwing the gun over his shoulder, Jaune staggers to his feet, reeling from the wave of pain hitting his body. He lets out a harsh breath and stands up straight, a hand on the ribs Ford hit on. He hobbles over to the steel door and puts his back to the wall next to it.

Creaking it open just a bit, he peaks through. Empty. He opens it a bit more and looks down the other side. No one.

The boy opens the door all the way and looks down the hall.

He turns and gives the unconscious Ford a look, points a finger at him, then moving that same finger to his ear. Then he looks down the hall and points that way. He inhales, poking out his chest, then glares.

His sole weapon on his shoulder, Jaune makes his way down the empty, stone, lonely hallway, dragging his body across the wall for support.

----------------------------------------

Another kick to Ruby’s abdomen barely extracts a sound from the near-unconscious girl. Chucky, the burly man who just caved Ruby’s stomach in, takes a step back, looking over his handiwork.

He lets out a breath. “Sure can take a beatin’, can’t she?” Chucky asks.

“Boss said somethin’ about her being able to regenerate,” Rocket says, leaning on the back wall of the claustrophobic, stone room, smoking a cigarette.

“Yeah, but I didn’t think he meant she’d be invincible. Little girl shouldn’t even be in one piece, let alone alive.”

“I’ve seen Hunters get up from some nasty blows before. It’s got something to do with that Aura stuff they got.”

“I’ve seen it too, but no Hunter should be able to withstand this much.” Chucky’s eyes widen. “Hey, look—look! Come over here!” He waves over his partner, stepping closer to Ruby.

Rocket lifts a brow, but stands up from the wall never the less.

“Look! You see this shit?”

Rocket stands beside Chucky and bends down, withdrawing his cigarette, blowing smoke in Ruby’s face. He and Chucky focus in on Ruby’s cut up, bloody shoulder. Rocket squints to get a clearer picture.

A cut on Ruby’s arm, while smaller than most of the others, closes up before the two men’s eyes, a bit of steam rising from the wound as it heals.

Rocket raises his brows, putting his cigarette back in his mask. “Damn,” he says, standing up straight and returning to the back wall.

“That’s what I said!” Chucky says. “See, my thing is: how the hell are you supposed to keep her down, y’know? Like, if we were to, say, leave her here for a few hours, who’s to say she couldn’t just heal all the way, tear through these nails here…” Chucky emphasizes his point by taking one and giving it a shake, the nail moving ever so slightly. “And rampage out of here?”

“Hence us being here, man. The boss would blow our nuts off if we let her get away. And I, for one, am fond of my nuts.”

“Hey, I fancy mine, too. Just stating a hypothetical here.”

“Nah, but here’s my question.” Rocket drops his cigarette to the ground and stamps it out.

“What’s that?”

Rocket digs through her leather jacket and fishes out a pack of smokes. He pounds the bottom, making one of them rise from the container. He fully pulls it out by his teeth.

“If a kid like this exists… If someone…” He gives Ruby a sideways glance, narrowing his eyes, then refocuses on his cigarette, putting the pack back in his pocket and bringing out a lighter. “Something like her is right in front of us— is just wandering around this very city…” He ignites his lighter and lights his cigarette. “Who’s to say there ain’t more like her?”

Chucky snorts. “What, like, some kinda secret other race we ain’t never seen before?”

“You can laugh all you want, but you know you have that same question in mind.”

“No, yeah, I mean…. You just sound weird talkin’ like this is all.”

“But you get what I mean, right? This thing was just hiding under our noses all this time, doin’ whatever she wanted. She even looks like us. And we don’t even know what it is.”

Chucky pokes his bottom lip out, gazing at the concrete ground. He turns and looks at Ruby. The man walks closer to her and bends down, then takes her tangling head by the hair and lifts her face up. Her mouth dangles open, saliva and blood poling down her chin, her eyes half open.

“Guess you got a point…” Chucky says.

“Kind of gives me the creeps. Reminds of this one movie I seen where this creature, or whatever, impersonated it victims and shit. Thing would wear our face, act like us, talk us, even think like us.” He shutters. “To think a monster like that could look just like we do. Imagine if a Grimm did that. Grimm lookin’ like little girls? Friggin’ scary…”

Rocket sighs, then pushes off the wall.

“Alright, I think this room is gettin’ to me.”

Chucky laughs. “You act like you’ve never been in a room with a little girl nailed to a wall before.”

“Never this long I haven’t. This air’s startin’ to make me sick. You keep doin’… whatever the hell it is yer’ doin’. Imma step out for a sec.”

“Hey, fine with me…” Chucky turns back to Ruby with a dark smile. “I could do this all day…” He licks his lips.

Rocket’s stares at the back of Chucky’s head with a look of disgust. “Bro, you are a freak. Just thought you should know that.

“And I’ll be sure to bring up with my counselor over coffee and cake. Now, if you’re done judging me, are you gonna be a little pussy like Ford, or are you gonna…?” Chucky makes a shooing motion with his hands towards the door.

Rocket puts both hands in his pockets and heads for the door. “Let it be known that I, a lowly servant to the notorious Conman, saw nothing on this sinful day.”

“Save it for church, father. Get outta here.”

“Hope you have fun, ya’ weirdo.”

With that, Rocket exits the room, shutting the door behind him, leaving Chucky alone with a restrained Ruby.

His lips stretch out into a cardinal grin, toothy, sharp. “Now then…” He lifts Ruby’s face by the chin, her head rolling, limp. He uses his free hand to give her a few light smacks on the cheek. “Wakey—Wakey, little red…”

He gives her a much harder smack and Ruby’s eyes shoot open, darting around the place, wild, terrified. It takes her a moment, but she soon registers the larger face of a grinning man mere inches from her own, staring into her like a meal. She leans her head back, putting as much distance as possible between his and her own.

“Yeah, that’s good. That’s real good… I want you awake for this… I want you to look at me…”

He moves his face closer and Ruby turns her to the side, her jaw trembling, eyes wide with fear, tears falling out. Chucky sticks his drooling tongue out as far as possible and runs it up from the bottom of Ruby’s chin, to her eye, lapping up the tears streaming down her face. The whole while, she squeezes her eyes shut, bitting her bottom lip. Once he finishes, he moves back a bit, giving Ruby some room to breath. Her chest heaves quick, her whole body trembling.

She stares at him in terror. He continues to smile at her.

Pow!

“Gah!”

Ruby slams her forehead into Chucky’s nose, throwing him back, his hand shooting up to his gushing nostrils. She lifts one of her legs and plants it into his stomach, throwing him to the ground.

As Chucky rolls on the ground, groaning in pain, cursing, Ruby attempts to move forward, only to find her hands nailed to the walls. She pulls against the nails in a frantic, looking between them and Chucky, who lifts himself from the ground, still cursing.

Ruby continues to fight against the nails. As she makes no progress, Chucky recovers more and more. The closer he draws, the more fearful she looks.

“Hel… Help…!” she tries to scream, only to find her words strained, broken. “Help…! Help…!”

Chucky has fully risen to his feet now. As he wipes at his bleeding nose, he glares daggers down at the struggling Ruby. He bends his neck to the side with an audible pop. “Oh, you’re lucky I like em’ feisty…” He walks forward.

“Help…! Yang…! Yang…!”

Chucky grabs her by the throat with one hand, completely closing off her air way. The other lifts into the air. He smiles, sadistic. “Grit those teeth, honey!”

And he shoots his hand down.

Ruby shuts her eyes tight, preparing for the impact.

----------------------------------------

“Let me in…”

----------------------------------------

Her eyes snap open and her head is instantly thrown to look over her shoulder, behind her.

There, the child stands. Only now, the dark hood usually pulled over her face has been thrown back, revealing the beady red pupils floating in the black masses of her eye sockets and the short ash hair hanging down her head.

Ruby’s face twists with disgust. That disgust is displaced a bit when she realizes where she now is.

She’s is no longer in the stone room. Her arms are free of the nails holding her in place. Red water spreads out endlessly, the horizon connecting with the dark sky above. Behind the tanned skin child, who stares directly in front Ruby, unmoving, unblinking, a large red moon sits in the distance. The red, however, is even more consumed in black than all of her previous visits. She looks down at herself to see that she is now a much younger version of herself, wearing the white dress she always did in this horrid place.

The disgust seeps back onto Ruby’s face, along with a bit of anger as she refocuses back on the dark child, who still hasn’t taken her gaze off of Ruby.

“You need me…”

“No. I don’t.” The words seethe from Ruby’s lips like poison.

“Even now, in your most dire of hours…”

“I’ve never needed you! And I will never give you full control!”

“My power is what has protected you all this time…”

“Your power is exactly the problem! If I let you out, if I give you total control over my body, there is no way I can guarantee that you won’t slaughter everybody you see! And I can not guarantee that I’ll be able to stop you…”

The child disappears from sight and appears directly in front of Ruby, their noses almost touching.

“These people care not for your wellbeing… Why should we concern ourselves with theirs…?”

“I am not a killer and I am not going to let you turn me into one!” Ruby says, putting her forehead to the child’s. “You are going to massacre these people! And god knows who else!”

“Nothing of worth will be lost…”

“Get away from me!” Ruby shoves the child back and takes a few steps away, turning her back, pulling on her hair.

“I see right through you, Ruby…” The child stands up straight. “This isn’t about keeping your precious conscious unscathed… It was never about that… You simply refuse to put aside your rage against me… You only seek to spite me…”

“So what if I am?!” Ruby screams, turning back to the child, fists balled. “I hate you! I can’t stand you! All I want is for you to die and leave me alone! You will never have control of me! I’d rather suffer than ever let that happen, you freak!”

As she screams, Ruby edges closer to the child. With each step closer, the child actually seems to shrink back, her rather monotone expression, forming into one of genuine fear.

“I am afraid right now! This hurts like Hell! But I will gladly take this torment over the idea of you ever— EVER controlling me! GO. AWAY!”

A silence…

“…Why do you hate me so much…?” the child asks with a quiet voice.

Ruby’s gaze darkens. “Because you’re just a parasite… And I want nothing to do with you…”

The saddened expression on the child’s face deepens even more. Her bottom lips trembles.

“What did I do wrong…?”

As Ruby glares down the dark child, the world around her begins to warp. Ruby puts her hands to her head. Even the child fades along with the dark world. Ruby stumbles back and digs her nails in her skull, closing her eyes tight.

“Ahhh!” she screams.

----------------------------------------

Her eyes snap open and she gasps loud. The first thing to happen to her when she comes back to reality is that her face gets thrown to the side by a hard slap that knocks her out of her stupor.

“You better stop moving, you little whore!” the beefy man before her says with a growl.

He goes in for another grab at her throat. Ruby kicks at the man, not letting him get a proper grip of her neck. As her legs flail, Chucky fights back, grabbing her shins. Ruby struggle against his grip, whimpering and grunting.

“Hold still already!”

Chucky puts one of Ruby’s legs under his arm, holding on tight, then balls his hand into a fist. He throws it and lodges the large fist into Ruby’s stomach, making the girl choke on her own fluids. Her body goes limp, giving Chucky just the right edge to grab a fist full of her hair, she feebly fighting back, unable to really do much.

“Yeah, that’s right, just be a good little girl and shut up.”

He raises his fist again and—

“What the fu—“

Bang!

A large object hits and shakes the door to the room, then something hits the floor outside. This is enough to make Chucky pause in handling Ruby and jerk around to look at the door. Ruby, still dazed from her torment, drags her head up to look as well.

For a moment, nothing happens.

Moments pass.

“Rocket?” Chucky calls out.

No answer.

“R… Rocket…?

The door creeks open slow. The muzzle of a shotgun peeks through the crack of the door and points directly at Chucky’s forehead. The door opens more and Rocket’s unconscious body can be seen. Standing above him, holding on to the shotgun, a young blonde boy steps over Rocket’s body and into the room, cautious.

“Jaune…” Ruby croaks.

Jaune keeps his gun square on Chucky, his face stone and bloodied.

“Shit…” Chucky says, looking between Jaune and Rocket’s body. He lifts a hand to Jaune. “Whoa there. Easy kid… Careful where you’re pointin’ that thing.” Jaune moves further into the room. Chucky stands up slow. While his left hand is held out, his right remains out of view. “Let’s just… all be cool here… Okay?”

Jaune circles the room and Chucky circles the opposite direction. Jaune takes a quick glance at Chucky’s obscured hand. It shrinks back further and even goes under the man’s jacket.

“Everybody’s cool…”

The instant Chucky goes to pull out his handgun, Jaune squeezes his shotgun’s trigger and Chucky is thrown against the wall, the blast mostly hitting his side. Chucky crumbles to the floor, blood covering his left side.

“GOD. DAMN IT! GAHH!!”

As Chucky screams, Jaune drops his shotgun to the side and turns to Ruby, before moving for the trapped girl. He kneels down in front of her. “Ruby.” He takes her face into his hands and lifts her head. Her eyes shutter open. “Ruby. Ruby, it’s me.”

“Jaune…” she says through a gravelly throat.

“Hey, you’re okay now. I got you.” He inspects her bloody and beaten body, shed of most of her clothes. “Jesus, what did they do to you…? Alright, I’m gonna get you of here, okay? I’m taking you home, kiddo.”

His gaze wanders up to the nails holding her to the stone wall. He stands up straight and feels around one of the nails lodged in Ruby’s bloody palm.

“Christ… Okay, I gotta, uh… I gotta pull these out of you.” He take one of the nails in hand tight and looks down at Ruby. “You ready?”

“Just do it…” Ruby says.

Rip!

“Ah! Oh! God…!” Her breaths are rapid and her arms falls from the wall. “Do the other one! Hurry!”

Jaune doesn’t waste time and grabs the second nail. Once more, he tears it out, causing Ruby to scream. She tends to her palms, bitting her lips to stifle the cries.

“You okay?” Jaune asks.

She nods her head, taking deep breaths. “Yeah… Yeah… Thank you…”

“Don’t mention it,” Jaune says, being down. He slides off his hooded top, leaving a sleeveless undershirt. “Here, let me get this on you.” Jaune leans Ruby forward and slides his hoodie over her head, then adjusts it to hang over her body. The shirt is much bigger than Ruby’s body, so it hangs off her a bit and even reaches down to her thighs, covering her upper and most of her lower half. “There we go. Okay, come on. We gotta get going.”

He puts down his shotgun and uses both hands to help Ruby off the ground. She chuckles.

“What’s so funny?” he asks.

“It’s a shame… Weiss just bought me this outfit, too…” she says.

She smiles up at Jaune. He shakes his head with a laugh. “I’m sure she’ll be more than happy to buy you another one.”

Voices.

Jaune and Ruby look around as they hear the distant echoes of voices.

“Crap, we gotta hurry,” Jaune says. He lifts Ruby to her feet. When she stumbles, he catches the young girl and keeps her steady. He takes up his shotgun and slings Ruby’s arm around his shoulder. At the sound of the groaning, Ruby and Jaune turn to look down at Chucky, who still grovels and tends to his wounds.

Ruby looks outside the room at Rocket’s unmoving body, then back at the still squirming, still wheezing Chucky.

“Jaune… You okay…?” Ruby asks.

“…No… Not really…” He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath in, then lets it out in a huff, looking at Ruby. “But I had to help you… no matter what…” Ruby stares into the boy’s eyes, then nods her head. Jaune adjusts his grip on Ruby, then takes one last look at Chucky. “Asshole…”

With that, the two teens exit the room and move to make their escape.

----------------------------------------

Jaune’s head pokes out from around a hallway corner. No one in sight. He retracts back and looks over to Ruby, who leans heavy on the wall. “Alright, we’re clear,” he says. “Come on, kiddo.”

He takes Ruby’s arm and slings it over his shoulder, acting as her crutch. The two hobble down the empty hallway. The voices from before grow ever closer.

“Do you have any idea where you’re going?” Ruby asks.

“Uh, nope. Just heading anywhere the voices aren’t.”

More voices. Louder.

“Crap… Come on, keep moving.”

The two exit the hallway they walked down, and end up and a larger opened area. It looks just as cold, stone and lonely as those damp hallways. A steel door sits in one corner of the room with a bared opening in it. Through the opening, Jaune can see a flight of stares and a light shining down.

“Damn it, she’s loose! We need to find her! NOW!”

The voices. They draw even closer.

“Shit…” Jaune says, looking back down the hallway the voices echoed from. “We need to move faster.”

That’s when the blonde bends down and scoops Ruby’s legs from beneath her, lifting her bridal style. He’s able to jog to the steel down. With little to no tact, he doesn’t even bother trying to open the door normal and simply settles for slamming his foot into it. The door flies open and smashes against the outer wall.

“Did you hear that?”

“Shit! She’s almost out! Go! GO!”

The voices echo from down the corridor.

Jaune moves as fast as he can up the flight of stairs. There is a second flight going to the left and he climbs those. The light at the top shines brighter and Jaune and Ruby have to squint their eyes due to how immense it was now.

They reach the top of the staircase. When they do, the light in their eyes seep away, revealing the area they’ve ended up in. Jaune looks around and notices right off the bat that the immense light was, in fact, a tall lighting stand pointing directly at the opening for the staircase down.

He looks around the rest of the area and sees a wide open building with a curved roof. Wires upon wires line the floor area all around, messy and unkept. A generator runs on one of the far sides of the building. A crane of sorts sits abandoned in a corner. Windows line the upper most parts of the tall walls. Outside, a darkening sky hangs, shadowing everything in a veil of night. The clouds are heavy and gray tonight.

“Son of a bitch…” Jaune says.

“It’s the harbor…” Ruby says. “Nora was right. They were using this place. But why would those guys come back if they knew the police already ransacked it.”

“Because it’s the last place you’d check to find them,” Jaune answers as he scans the area, frantic. “And I honestly doubt they really give a damn right now. I don’t think they’re gonna stick around long enough for anyone to figure this all out. There.”

Behind them, a large sliding door sits closed. Before he bolts for it, He looks down at the opening in the floor and sees a hatch attached to it. He darts over to it and heaves the metal hatch up with one foot and kicks it up the rest of the way, closing it over the opening.

“That should buy us some time. We gotta move.”

Holding on to Ruby right, Jaune runs for the large doors. When he reaches it, he inspects the handle only to find it heavily chained up.

“Crap!”

Jaune moves over to a wall and places Ruby down against it, then moves back over to the chains, taking his shotgun from over his shoulder.

He takes a step back and aims. The weapons fires off and the chains are decimated, falling to the floor in a heap. As soon as that happens, Ruby hobbles over and takes the door, pushing hard. Jaune slings his weapon back over his shoulder and gives her a hand. Together, the two are able to get the door to slide open faster.

Slam!

The boy twists his head around to the door on the floor, having heard something slam into hard.

“Come on!” he says.

He and Ruby push the door open more, it scrapping against the floor. Once the door is open enough for the two teens to screech through, Jaune lets go and urges Ruby to move through. She squeezes out sideways.

“Come on, Jaune!” she says.

He complies and follows her through. Just as he is about to be out fully, the floor door is thrown open. The first of many men and black suits darts out and turns to the large door and the teens.

“Hey!” he yells. Then he jumps out and shoots off for the door.

“Crap!” Jaune says.

He jumps out into the open. As soon as he does, Ruby pushes the door closed with all of her might. Just as the goon reaches it, the door closes shut and Ruby holds it there.

“Give me hand with this thing! Hurry up!” the man screams from the other side. Ruby holds on with grit teeth.

“Jaune, go!” she says.

The boy’s eyes widen. “What?!”

“I’ll hold them off! You have to get out of here!”

“Ruby, I’m not gonna leave you—“

“Jaune!”

The blonde is shut up quick once Ruby screams at him.

“Listen to me! We both aren’t getting out of here! If they catch you, they are going to kill you! I don’t die so easily! I’ve already had to deal with this before! I will be okay! You just go and get help!”

“But… I…” he looks behind himself.

A harbor. Rows of large freight line the immediate horizon, surrounding the building he and Ruby just escaped from. All ways are blocked off by the things… Expect for a narrow escape path between two parted rows. The way out.

He looks back at Ruby, desperate for an answer, trapped between two choices.

“Jaune…”

He looks up at Ruby, who pushes her body against the door, sweat polling down her bloodies, cut up face. She manages a strained smile.

“It’s okay…”

His chest heaves and he bites his bottom lip. She only continues to smile.

Jaune pulls hard on his locks and squeezes his eyes shut.

“Ahh! Damn it!” He pulls his shotgun down and walks backwards to his escape route. “I will be right back with help! Okay? Don’t you dare die on me!”

She smiles.

“I won’t leave you…! I promise…”

She nods. “I know…”

With one final look exchanged between the two, Jaune turns and dashes for the opening between the freights, disappearing around the corner into the maze. Ruby lets out a breath, still smiling.

She didn’t need him to come back…

As the door is pulled on from the other side, Ruby’s smile drops in exchange for a glare as she musters up what little strength she has left to fight back. However, this doesn’t last too long and the door is cracked open. From it, a hand holding a pistol pokes out and pushes right into Ruby’s abdomen.

Bang!

It fires off and Ruby is thrown off the door, staggering backward, blood spilling from her mouth. Once she lets go, the door is thrown open fully and a group of black suited men pool out, each holding a varying assortment of weapons, from firearms to pipes, to axes. The lead man stomps toward Ruby and kicks her in the face, throwing the young girl to the ground.

“Hold her down!” the goon command the others.

Two other men run for Ruby and put their weight on top of her arms. She struggles feebly against their hold. The lead goon walks over and stands directly above Ruby, then bends down to get face to face with her. He does a quick look around, then snorts.

“Tryin’ for the old ‘heroic sacrifice’ thing, are we? Heh. Sorely in vein.”

Still glaring into her eyes, he waves his gun at one of the other goons behind him and points at the opening between the freights. The man complies and run through it.

“No… No…!” Ruby says.

Bang! Another bullet is let loose into Ruby’s chest and all the air leaves her. The lead goon twists her head to look at him.

“Girly, I think you got other problems right now…”

He puts three of his fingers in her mouth and forces her jaw open. From there, he slides the muzzle of his weapon between her teeth.

“Let’s see you survive this, freak…”

He cocks the gun.

----------------------------------------

“Let me loose…”

----------------------------------------

Ruby is back in the red sea in the body of her younger self. She stares down at the red water she stand in, eyes wide, lips trembling. She doesn’t even need to turn around to the black cloaked girl behind her.

“Let me kill them…”

“I… I can’t…” Ruby says.

“You are about to die… Just let me save you…”

“I can’t…!”

“I will save us…”

She squeezes her eyes shut. “I won’t!” She balls his fist tight. “I won’t let you control me! I won’t give you my—“

Her eyes snap open. Her words will not be let loose. She finds her body has gone stiff. It trembles as she attempts to fight back against whatever force is keeping her still.

“I wasn’t asking…”

The cloaked girl is in directly in front of Ruby now, nose to nose, her completely black eyes and red irises staring into Ruby’s faded, silver ones. The child’s brows are knit. Her lips are narrowed downward.

“I’m done complying with you…”

Ruby’s body floats up out of the red sea. She now hovers just above it, her toes nearly touching the surface. The cloaked child also floats before her, her eyes never leaving Ruby’s wide, terrified ones. Her bottom lip trembles.

image [https://i.imgur.com/ANn6LG5.png]

Ruby’s arms rise from her sides in a T-pose.

“I am doing this for your own good…”

Ruby looks over to her left arm. Black marking run up it, going to cover her entire body. The black on body already expand out and engulfs her skin. She looks up at the child and sees that her markings are mirroring her own.

“No…”

“If you will not accept me…”

“Please don’t…!”

“If you will not accept the truth… that you are a Grimm… that you and I are one and the same…”

“Please…!”

“Then perhaps… it’s best if we weren’t…”

The child floats back and away from Ruby. Her body begins to shift. All of her limbs extend out and grow thicker, longer. Every part of her expands. Her short, dark, ash-like hair grows out into a mane, flowing down her back. The whole while, the black marking expand more and more over her body until they reach the second half of her face.

Ruby’s own marking’s do the same. Tears of red stream down her cheeks. Her teeth have turned blood red just like the creature’s before her.

Finally, the creature— once a child, now a grown woman— throws it’s head back and hovers without movement for a moment. Soon, her eyes open and she slowly lowers her head to look back at Ruby, who is stiff with fear the entire time.

“I suppose I’ll need a name of my own… now that I am of my own…”

She looks down at her hands, one fully engulfed in black. The other partially so. She squeezes them tight.

“How about… Cinder…? Yes… Quite a fitting name… And one of such beauty… Don’t you think so… Ruby…?”

The child says nothing. Red tears continue to stream down her face, her body half engulfed in black as it hangs limp in the air.

Cinder floats over to the little red girl and runs a hand over her cheek and through a trail of her red tears.

“Come now… No need for such a pitiful look… I’m not doing this to hurt you… I never have… I only want to protect… That’s all I’ve ever wanted… To keep you safe…” She retracts her hand. “And besides…”

Her eyes narrow.

image [https://i.imgur.com/FOczHdG.png]

Ruby can do nothing but stare. Stare with her empty, tear filled eyes. Eyes that darken. Eyes that fade more and more. Eyes that no longer belong to her…

Eyes…

----------------------------------------

…that snap open, completely black, red irises hovering in them.

“The hell…?!” The man atop of Ruby’s body snaps back.

As Ruby’s black eyes stare up at the goon, her black markings expand out over her body. Her lips curls upward into a killer smile. Her sharp teeth bite down into the muzzle of the handgun in her mouth, denting the frame.

The man stares, frozen with fear.

“Hey!” one of the men holding Ruby down says, snapping the leader out of his stupor. “What are you doing, man?! Shoot her! Shoot her!”

The goon shakes his head and glares down at Ruby. He squeezes the trigger and shoots into Ruby’s mouth multiple times. However, where blood was meant to explode out the back of her head, nothing shows up. No matter how many times the goon shoots, no visible damage is seen. Soon enough, his weapon clicks. Out of ammo.

His glare softens into a look of fear once more. “What in the…?!”

Ruby, her teeth still clamped down on the muzzle of the pistol, yanks the gun hard, pulling the man down closer to her. He releases the weapon and his wrist ends up right next Ruby’s mouth. She opens wide and clamps down on the goon’s wrist, blood shooting out.

“AHHHH!!!” he screams, pulling against Ruby to get free. A terrible mistake.

She pulls against the goon even harder. And just like that, his wrist tears off. Blood shots out of the stump, covering Ruby and the two men holding her down in red. He lets loose a blood curling scream and falls back to ground, flailing and rolling on the ground.

The two men holding Ruby down look on in absolute terror. One of them looks down at Ruby when he feels her move. She pulls on her arm. He puts all his weight on it. However, she proves much stronger and frees herself. Swinging her arm back, she slashes her first captor’s throat, blood spraying out. As he grabs at his torn throat, he crumbles to the ground. The second captor moves to get off of Ruby and escape. But, before he can, slams her palm in his face and pushes him to ground. Now, she is atop of him. As she smiles down at him with a toothy, bloody smile, he looks back up at her, absolutely terrified, eyes wide, body trembling. She shoots down and sinks her teeth into his neck.

The rest of the seven men all point their weapons as they watch the redheaded girl gouge out their comrades throat. His body, once flailing and fighting against Ruby, soon comes to a standstill and Ruby keeps tearing into him for a little while longer. Once she finishes it, she rises up slow, her back to the group of men. She then steps from over the dead body on the ground and turns to the group, they flinching, ready to attack.

Her eyes land on them all, her face covered and body covered in the poor souls she ripped apart. Her smile extends across the length of her face.

“God help us…” one of the goons pleas.

And as the few of them with guns fire off their rounds, Ruby dashes for them. The bullets hits, but they do little to even make her flinch.

----------------------------------------

Glazed over purple eyes stare a hole into the pavement as she sits atop a patient table.

Everything and everyone is a blur; out of focus. The sounds are all muffled and incoherent. Murmurs of the many onlookers seep through as they all group around the scene. Before that large group of people, water is shot out through multiple hoses to douse the rising flames of the once lively dance club. Police cars and ambulances are grouped all over the block, inspecting the scene as much as possible as the situation takes its sweet time dying down.

She raises her head and looks out from under her hair that shadowed her face.

At one of the ambulance carriers, a young girl is being attended to by two paramedics. While one inspects Melanie’s bruised, burnt form, the other tries her best to speak to her, rubbing her hair and caressing her cheek. Melanie keeps her cold, empty eyes to the sky.

Yang promptly looks away.

“Yang!”

She looks up once again.

Bursting out from the crowd of onlookers, Blake rushes under the yellow tape, rushing past officers who grab at her to stop her from moving farther, past doctors going about their business. Trailing behind close, Weiss follows.

As soon as she gets close enough, Blake wraps her arms around Yang’s neck.

“Are you okay?” Blake asks, pushing back and inspecting Yang’s charred and bruised body. “What happened to you? Oh, I told you not to go alone, you hothead!” Blake brings Yang in for another tight hug.

From over Blake’s shoulder, Yang can see Weiss walk up from behind. However, following close, two officers run up, one of them grabbing Weiss by the arm.

“H—Hey!” the white haired teen says.

The other one walks up to Blake and puts his hands on her shoulders, then pulls her away from Yang.

“Officer, please—“ Blake says.

“I’m sorry ma’am, but we can’t have civilians running around here,” the officer says.

“You two girls need to stay outside of the yellow tape just like everyone else,” the other officer says. “We don’t need anymore accidents right—“ He stops short as he looks down at Weiss’s bruised body and torn clothes. “Jesus, kid, what happened to you? Hey, can we get a medic over here? I got another one in need of care!”

“I—I’m fine,” Weiss says, pulling her arm away from the officer. “These are just flesh wounds, nothing serious.”

“Little girl, you look like hell. The only one here who doesn’t look like she’s tangled with death here is this woman.” He points to Blake.

“Ma’am, are you two with Ms. Xiao Long here?” the first officer asks Blake. She looks away to Yang. “Just what the hell have you three been doing? What is going on around here?”

“Officers, is there a problem?”

The entire group turns their attention to the new voice behind them. A gray haired man hobbles toward them, using his cane as a crutch.

“Headmaster, Ozpin,” one of the officers greets.

Ozpin looks around the group, eyeing Blake, Weiss and Yang. “Is there something wrong?”

“Uh, no, sir. We were just… Uh…” The officer gestures to the three girls. “Do… all these girls happen to be with you?

Ozpin nods. “Indeed. Don’t worry, I can take it from here, you two.” He looks Weiss’ body up and down. She averts her gaze. “Do you think we can give Ms. Schnee here a check up? She’s not looking too good right now.”

Weiss jumps at being mentioned. “N—No, sir, I’m fine. Really. These are nothing.”

“Your wounds aren’t the only things I’m concerned with, Ms. Schnee. Just humor an old man’s worries and go with the nice men.” He takes a step closer and puts a hand on her shoulder. “I think you’ve done enough for one day.” He gives her a warm, comforting smile.

Weiss’ expression softens as she looks up into the man’s eyes. She drops her head and nods, rubbing her arm.

“Come on, sweetie,” one of the officers says, wrapping an arm around Weiss’ shoulders. “Let’s get you fixed up.”

As Weiss and her escort wander off to one of the many medical workers wondering around the scene, Ozpin watches them depart. As they meet with a woman wearing a medical uniform, she and the officer exchange a few words, he motioning to the white haired teen. The nurse bends down a bit to get eye to eye with Weiss and speaks with her, smiling and brushing some hair from Weiss’ face. Weiss nods to the woman. Then, she’s taken off, holding hands with the medic.

With all of that out of the way, Ozpin turns and redirects his attention on Blake and Yang, who’s eyes remain on the pavement, empty. Soon, though, her gaze rises to meet his. The two remain silent for a moment before Yang opens her mouth.

“I messed up, professor…” Yang says, barely raising her voice over a whisper. “I messed up bad…”

“You couldn’t have known things would turn out like this,” Ozpin says.

“I thought I was making the right choices… I thought… I thought I had it all under control…”

“You are a Junior Huntress, Yang. You still have much to learn. And even a true Hunter can’t predict the future, as much as people would like to believe they can. If you’re waiting for me to say that this whole situation was your mistake… then it was. You made a judgement call and things didn’t quite go your way. You and many other much experienced Hunters have something in common now.”

Yang drops her head lower.

Ozpin sighs. “Besides… this was my fault as well. Maybe even more so mine. Look around you. When it all comes down to it… these are the results of my choices as well. To put full blame on you would be unjust. And I refuse to do so.”

“I was one of those mistakes…” Yang says.

“Yang…” Blake says.

“You made a judgement call on choosing me for this case… And you just so happened to pick the biggest screwup this side of Remnant…”

“…Is that what you believe…?” Ozpin asks.

She says nothing.

“…Then perhaps you’re right… I can justify my decision every which way I want. But if you yourself believe my choice to send you out was the wrong one… Then who am I to disagree with you?”

Yang’s eyes twitch at Ozpin’s words. Blake wraps an arm around her shoulders and puts her cheek atop her head.

“But none of that matters right now. We can sit here and ponder on what we could have done differently all day and night. But as we sit her muling over our mistakes, Ruby is still at the mercy of the maniac who did all of this.”

A visible tremble runs throughout Yang’s body and her hands squeeze into fists, a look of horror in her eyes. Blake, she too looking worried, runs a hand over Yang’s.

“It’s just as you told me; he has terrible plans for that little girl. Right now, we need to worry about making sure something like this…” He motions to the carnage and chaos around the area. “…doesn’t happen again. And we need to act now.”

Yang’s hands go to her head. She looks up at Melanie, still on the ambulance table.

“We will not let what happened to that child’s sister happen to yours…”

The trembles only increase with that, her eyes going wide.

“Oh, Yang…” Blake calls out worriedly.

Ozpin stares down at the trembling Junior Huntress.

“Headmaster! Headmaster Ozpin!”

Everybody, save Yang, looks up at an approaching police officer, he running over quickly. When he reaches the group, he takes a few tired breaths.

“What’s wrong now?” Ozpin asks.

The officer stands up straight and says, “Sir, a civilian just called the station claiming they heard what sounded like gunfire coming from the docks!”

Everyone looks surprised. Yang shoots her head up at the news.

“Do you think that could be…?” Blake says.

Ozpin’s grip on his cane tightens and his expression darkens. “I’ve had about enough of this.” He looks down at Yang. “Yang, gather yourself and come with me. You and I will take a bike and ride down there together. Let’s go.”

“Wait a minute, sir,” the officer asks. “Are you seeing to this matter personally?”

“I’ve grown tired of all this chaos in my city. Frankly, I should have been more involved in the first place. A mistake I will not repeat. Yang, get up. We’re leaving.”

Yang makes no effort to move, she only able to shake and stare up at the older man. Blake and Weiss look at her worried and confused.

“Yang, come on, we have to go,” Blake says. She still doesn’t move. “Yang…?”

Yang turns and looks back to the destroyed club and the various firemen working to extinguish the flames.

An image flashes through her mind: an unmoving Miltia with blood tricking from her mouth and pooling to the floor along with the rest coming from the hole in her head. Melanie laying in that same pool of blood, tears mixing in with the red.

“Yang!”

She shoots her head up to Ozpin, her eyes wide, body trembling.

He stares down at her, brows furrowed. “Your sister needs you… We need to move.”

Yang stares back at Ozpin a bit longer. Then, as if his words have truly hit her, she jumps off of the patient table and out of Blake’s embrace. “I need a bike!” she says to the officer.

He nods. “Got one right over here. Come on!”

Yang and Ozpin follow after the officer. Just as Blake moves to run along behind them, Ozpin turns to her and says, “No! You’re staying here.”

Blake screeches to a halt. “B—But…! Sir…!”

“You’ve done quite enough for one day. Things were not supposed to become as dire as they are now. I can not risk anymore innocent lives so carelessly. We will take care of the rest.”’

Blake looks to want to retaliate, she biting her bottom lip hard.

“You’ve done well, Ms. Belladonna. This is no longer your fight.”

With those final words, he speed-walks off to follow Yang and the police officer, leaving Blake alone in the frantic crowd of workers. All she can do is stand there as her shoulders sag.

----------------------------------------

An orange haired man stands at the edge of a stone uprise over the restless waters below. He inhales deep, puffing on the cigarette in his mouth, then takes it out and blows. A cloud of smoke rises into the air into the ever darkening sky of nightfall and rain clouds. A droplet of water passes through the smoke and lands on the white suited man’s nose. He wiggles his nose at the tickling sensation. He reaches up and wipes his nose, grumbling.

“Oh, good,” Roman Torchwick says. “Just in case this day wasn’t annoying enough as it was.”

Torchwick flicks his cigarette into the water. A man in a black suit and red tie standing beside him adjusts the firearm hanging off of his shoulder and rubs his neck. He looks over at his boss.

“Do you really think things have gotten that bad, boss?” he asks.

Torchwick scoffs. “Darby, have you not been paying attention to everything’s that’s been happening? I got pussy-lips-Junior and his little dick riders yapping about my business, my guys are being taken down one-by-one; some blonde bimbo and her little kitten cruisin’ the town on the hunt for my ass; on top of all that, I’ve barely got any new cargo for my clients to show for all this crap happening. So, yeah, no, thing’s really aren’t too bad at the moment.”

Torchwick removes his top hat and runs his hand through his smooth, silky hair.

“Has, uh… whoever your client is been getting on your case?” Darby asks.

Torchwick chuckles. “They’re never not yapping at me. While I’m busy working my ass off gathering extra workers for them, they’re sitting back, drinking champagne and gettin’ their dicks sucked by those same little slaves I wrangled up! Or getting their pussies licked by em’. I don’t know.”

“If you don’t mind me askin’: what’s your next move after all this? You gonna get out of dodge before the fuzz catches on to where you’re at?”

Torchwick sighs, putting his hand in the bottom pockets of her button up top. “That’s the idea. I got you and yer’ other bozo pals all payed and happy, so I’m gonna assume you’re all about ready to be done with this.”

Darby laughs. “Man, you said it. Never thought this gig would turn out this screwed up. We got a goddamn Huntress on our tails. Don’t think things can go any more South than that.”

“Here—Here.”

The two men share a laugh.

“Say, boss,” Darby says. “Don’t you got a punching bag back in the warehouse? Why not let off some steam on her?”

“Nah, not in the mood anymore,” Torchwick says, shaking his head. “I got other shit on my mind right now and I don’t feel like lookin’ at her mug. Brings a bad taste to my mouth. Oh, but don’t you worry. Imma do a lot worse to her once all this crap is dealt with. Hell, if you think I’m bad, just wait until my clients hear about what she’s been doin’. Those regeneration powers of hers are gonna be her worst enemy.”

Darby shakes his head, blowing out. “Can’t say I envy that little freak. Well… better her than me.”

“That’s what I’m sayin’.”

Bang! Bang!

Gun shots.

Torchwick and Darby turn to the freights walling behind them; where the warehouse sits behind the maze of them.

“Oh, what the hell now?” Torchwick asks through grit teeth. He looks to Darby. “Come on!”

The two shoot off for the opening between the rows of freights. They twist and turn through them, heading for the warehouse. Torchwick leads the way whilst Darby follows close behind, holding his gun tight. They exit out of the mass and emerge into a wide opening, preparing to run across into the next opening.

Just as they approach, however, another goon in a black suit runs out, frantic. The minute all three men see one another, Darby and the new arrival goon lift their guns, yelling, “Whoa!” and”Hey!”. When they realize who’s who, they boy drop the ends of their weapons, letting held breaths loose.

“Oh, shit, it’s just you guys,” the new arrival says.

“What the hell is going on, Tank?” Torchwick asks. “Why am I hearing gunshots?”

“Boss. We’ve got a situation.”

“Well, no shit, skippy!”

“It’s the prisoners. They got loose.”

“Wha…?!” Torchwick throws his head to the sky, turning away, putting his hands on his hips.

“Ah, Christ…” Darby says.

“They’ve got the girl pinned down back at the warehouse,” Tank says. “I’m after the boy now.”

“He got this far?” Torchwick asks, motioning to the opening they all stand in.

“He’s a fast one, boss. I’m sorry.”

Torchwick groans loud, slamming his fist into his open palm. “Okay—Okay! He couldn’t have made it pass us, so he’s gotta be in here somewhere. We need to find him before he gets out! Come on, let’s hunt this little rat down!”

“You got it, boss,” Darby says.

“Yes, sir!” Tank says.

“You idiots can’t do anything right…” Torchwick says through grit teeth.

The rain picks up and falls harder.

Torchwick walks ahead of his two goons, they following behind, weapons at the ready, scanning around the area. He and his men stay in a tight group, covering all corners, watching all angles. The bossman grabs the curved end of his cane and gives it a twist. A mechanism on the inside unhinges and he pulls out a long blade encased in the bottom half of the cane.

The opening surrounded by freights has a large crane in between it all. One of the goons is sure to look under it. Nothing there. He continues to follow his other two comrades. They all pear through the dark cracks between freights and even inside the few on the ground with their lids opened. All times, they spot no sign of the blonde teen they sought out.

“The hell is this kid…?” Torchwick asks under his breath.

Darby lifts himself from peering inside an open freight with a groan and turns to scan around some more. His view falls to the ground he notices something off, eliciting a gasp.

“Yo, Boss! Boss!” he calls over his two other companions, yet still keeps his voice low enough to not be screaming.

They turn to see him waving at them and Darby motions them to walk closer. He then points at the ground.

A blood trail. The spots of the red liquid run due to the contact of the rain coating the concrete ground. Never the less, it was more than visible enough for the group of men to clearly see it trailing to another open freight with its lid closed over it. Blood looks to line the side of the freight.

Torchwick looks to his two goons. He puts a finger over his lips, then jerks his head to the box. Darby and Tank take Torchwick’s cue and ready their weapons, moving for the freight. Once they reach it, Tank stands at its side and puts his hand on the lid. Darby stands before it, gun lifted, finger rubbing the trigger.

The two exchange looks.

Tank shifts his eyes at the lid.

Darby nods.

And Tank pushes the lid off quick. Darby is instantly leaning over it, his gun aimed down into the large box, only to find…

Nothing.

The end of Darby’s gun falls and his brow lifts. He looks up at Tank, who looks back at him with the same mirrored expression, adding a shrug and a shaking of his head. Darby looks back at Torchwick, who watches with caution. Darby shakes his head at his boss.

Tang stands up straight rubbing the back on his neck. He looks down at his feet in thought… only to see that he’s standing over more blood. he lifts his foot up. Another trail leads behind him. He follows it and realizes that the trail leads underneath a freighter on top of a stand… leaving an opening underneath.

“Wait a…”

Just as he opens his mouth, Tank’s leg bursts into pieces and he falls to the ground, screaming his lungs out. Darby and Torchwick are quick to swerve around. Darby dashes over to Tank and gets to his hands and knees to look underneath the held-up freighter. Just as he makes it, a young boy rolls out the other side and runs off.

“Shit!” Darby looks over to Torchwick. “He’s goin’ around!” Darby shoots to his feet. Before he runs off, he gives the screaming Tank another look. “Just… hang on, pal! I’ll be back for ya’!” He runs off and around the corner of the freight Jaune hid under, passing up Torchwick, who proceeds to follow behind.

They get to the other side, no sign of Jaune. The two men dash down a column of freights in pursuit of the boy. They turn a corner, just in time to see Jaune turn one corner further down. Darby lifts his gun.

He burst around the corner Jaune ran around and takes aim, squeezing his trigger. The blast fires off, but Jaune is quick to grab the front of the gun and point it to the sky, redirecting the shot. The element of surprise on his side, Jaune uses his opportunity to slam his fist into Darby’s side one, two, three times, still holding on to the man’s shotgun. Before Jaune can go in for a fourth, Darby slams his forehead into Jaune’s, throwing the boy back. However, Jaune refuses to let go of Darby’s weapons and, as he falls to the ground, he pulls Darby’s gun put of his grip, the firearm sliding across the ground.

Darby grits his teeth and runs for his weapon, but Jaune grabs onto his ankle and trips the man. He climbs atop of Darby and sends blow after blow at his face, Darby having to put his arms up to guard. Jaune reaches around for the shotgun slung over his shoulder and starts to pulls it up. However, Darby is quick on the draw and grabs the muzzle. The two struggle against one another, Jaune trying to aim his weapon, Darby keeping it away from his head. The muzzle inches closer to Darby’s face.

Jaune gasps and his eyes dilate. He pulls his gun from Darby’s grip and dives to the side, just as a blade stabs at the spot he was just in, slicing into his side, ripping his sleeveless undershirt and into his flesh. Jane rolls to one knee, just in time to see Torchwick on him, slashing down with his blade. He lifts his shotgun and blocks the attack, but he falls to his back due to Torchwick’s weight. From the side, he can see Darby getting off the ground and approaching his weapon.

The blonde boy lifts his foot and kicks Torchwick off of him and away. As Darby reaches out for his gun, Jaune takes aim and fires a shell off into the man. throwing him to ground.

Jaune staggers to his feet, groaning in pain, using his gun as a crutch.

“You little asshole!”

As Jaune gets to his feet, he looks to his side and aims his weapon at the coming Torchwick. He squeezes his trigger, only for a click to ring out. No ammo. This gives Torchwick just enough time to tackle the boy back to ground on his back. Sitting atop of Jaune, he raises his blade into the air and stabs down into Jaune’s shoulder.

“GAHHH!” the teen lets loose a loud scream.

Torchwick twists the blade, teeth grit hard.

“You know, something told me to get this shit out of the way and deal with you!” Torchwick seethes, twisting his blade even more. “But I’ve been making a few mistakes throughout the day.”He yanks his blade out of Jaune’s shoulder. “You’re just another one to rectify!”

He lifts his blade and stabs down at Jaune’s eye, only for the boy to raise his hand quick, taking the blow through his palm, stopping the tip of the weapon just before it pierces into him. Jaune moves his hand and the blade in it to the side and crashes his fist into Torchwick’s nose. He pulls on Torchwick’s blade again, ripping it out of the conman’s grip, then slams the handle of the thing into his jaw. Jaune dislodges a leg from beneath Torchwick's body and kicks him off and to the ground.

Jaune lifts himself to his elbow slow, heavy, then stands, shaky, to his feet. Torchwick, too, attempts to stand up, but only slips on the slippery, rain covered ground and falls backs down, backing away from the boy that towers over him. Jaune takes hold of the blade in his palm and yanks it out, barely flinching from the action. As he gives his full attention to the white suited, snake of a man on the ground before him, the young man throws the bloodied blade to the side and approaches Torchwick.

Jaune puts his foot atop of Torchwick’s chest, pinning him to the ground. The man grunts in pain and looks up into Jaune’s shadowed, dangerous leer, the boy’s chest heaving, his bloodied hand balled.

Torchwick smiles with a cough. “Well… You certainly don’t look happy.”

Jaune takes his foot off Torchwick’s chest and lowers down to kneel over the man. He takes the collar of his white top and pulls him closer to his face.

“Listen, kid… If it means anything… It was nothin’ personal.”

Pow!

Jaune punches Torchwick down, the man coughing and spitting out blood. He looks back up at Jaune.

“Would it help if I mentioned that I’m in a lot of pain right now?” Torchwick asks.

Jaune pulls him back up.

“Look, boy, I don’t know what you want here? You lookin’ for an apology, or somethin’? Let me remind you that you and your friends were the ones that started all this shit—“

“You’re scum…” Jaune cuts Torchwick off. “You’re rotten… dirty… scum… You hurt people for your own personal gain and think you’re in the right for doing it? What is all of this to you? Huh? Just a job? A.. contract to keep the lights on? How can you do so many terrible things and even entertain the idea that you’re the victim?”

“Oh here, we go. We’re doin’ the hero speech now, huh? The ‘holier than thou’ bull those schools teach you to recite? You ain’t nothing more than a day-to-day worker yourself, kid! You ain’t no better than me—“

“Do you even remember their names?”

Torchwick’s eyes narrow at that. “What…?”

“All the people you kidnapped… All the Fauna who’s lives you took away, sold away… This children who’s future’s you decided for them… Do you even remember a single one of their name’s…?”

Torchwick says nothing.

“What about the kid who had to scavenge a family from the other poor people who you snatched off the streets?! Who had to run to us begging for someone to care about her situation?!”

“Wait, now, hold on, boy—“

“What about the one who had deal with the shit you did to her all alone after she escaped from the shackles you put around her neck?!”

“Would you just shut up a second and—“

“The kid who was brave enough to rise against you and ransack every single little hideout you and your goons had set up just so she could maybe— just maybe prevent another person like her from going through what she went through?! What about the little girl who’s lifeline you ripped away from her?! What about Ren?!”

Jaune squeezes tighter and slams Torchwick’s head into the ground.

“WHAT ABOUT NORA?!”

Torchwick’s eyes widen. “…Wait… Her…?”

Jaune’s reels back, loosening his grip on Torchwick’s collar just a bit.

“The little weirdo… Yeah, with her little friend…” He chuckles low. “She was the one taking out… all my guys…” His laugh gets louder. “She was the one… doin’ all that shit!”

He’s howling with laughter now. And uncontrollable, dark, yet deeply bemused cackle that even rises above the roaring of the rainfall all around he and Jaune. The boy can only look on, his glare deepening.

“Oh, that’s good!” Torchwick laughs more. “That is too good!” His laughter dies down to a dark chuckle as he looks up at Jaune. “That’s good to know kid. Because, you see, now I know who I’m gonna be going for next.”

Jaune’s eyes widen.

“See, after I kill you, I’m gonna go and finish off your little red friend back at the warehouse. I’m sure the other’s have handled her by now. And when I get done with her, I’m gonna extend my time in the city just a bit longer. Just enough for me to regroup and start a manhunt for the escapee!”

Jaune’s teeth grit hard.

“Then after I find her— and please believe, I will find her— I’m gonna make her wish she got what the redhead’s gonna get! I’m gonna have her begging to join her friend in the ground! And while I’m doin’ that, I will personally hunt down every SINGLE person you, or that little escapee ever cared about and give them the same treatment! And yeah, that goes for the buff amazon bitch that was with you earlier! It looked like you two were pretty chummy! Maybe I’ll grind salt in the wound and add a little fire to her suffering!”

Tears threaten to stream out of Jaune’s eyes now, his gaze darkening.

“I have had the most stressful experience in this one city alone than I’ve ever had in the entirely of my career! I am sick of every single piece of garbage in this place and I wish nothing but hell on you and your little group of superheroes! You think what I did to your kid was bad, you have yet to see the full extent of my wrath! And just so we’re clear, brat, I don’t remember the kid any better than any of the other wastes of life I had the displeasure of dealing with! You and her simply have something in common! Along with that Fauna bitch I had gunned down in the forest!”

Torchwick’s smile extends out beyond the limits it should be able to.

“She’s just another mistake to rectify!”

That was enough.

Jaune sends a blow into Torchwick’s face. And then another. And another.

“She has a name!”

Punch!

“She has a future!”

Punch!

“And you’re never gonna touch! Never again!”

Punch!

“You’re not! You’re not! You’re not! You’re not!” A punch punctuates every repetition of the phrase.

Blood covers Jaune’s fist more and more with every blow. Streaks line the ground. And he just keeps going. And going. And going.

“Jaune, no!”

Before the boy can send yet another punch down into Torchwick’s bloody, twisted face, his arm in grabbed by a newcomer and he’s pulled from atop of the still man.

“No!” Jaune flails and fights against his captor’s hold. “Don’t touch me!”

“Stop it! Stop it!”

The person looses her grip on Jaune and he clambers back to continue his onslaught on Torchwick. However, she is able to appear in front of Jaune and push back against his chest.

“Jaune, look at me! Look at me!” She grabs onto his cheeks and holds him in place, forcing him to look into her big, teal, pleading eyes. “Stop! Just stop…!”

Still looking enraged, Jaune calms down a bit, his chest still heaving. “Nora, let me…!”

“No. No…”

“Nora…!”

She puts her forehead to his and closes her eyes. “Please…”

“…He’s the one who…!” He shakes his head. “He took away, Ren and… He hurt— He… Nora…”

“I know… But he’s not worth it…” She opens her eyes. “This isn’t you. This is me. Not you. And he’s not worth it…” She turns and looks at Torchwick, who sputter on the ground, laid out, bloodied to a pulp, but still alive. She looks back at Jaune. “But you are…”

Jaune’s breathing slows, his wild eyes softening. His bloodied fists uncurl.

He lets a breath out and his shoulders sag. “I’m sorry, Nora…” He leans in more. “I’m so sorry…”

She wraps her arms around the boy’s neck. “It’s okay…”

She puts her hands on Jaune’s shoulder and pushes him back. His eyes remain on the ground, but she lifts his face up by the chin and makes him look into her shining eyes. She smiles.

“Nora… How did you find me?” Jaune asks.

“I didn’t really. I actually came for Ruby.” Jaune tilts his head. “I don’t know how to explain it, but… I could sense her… calling out to me. It was like…” She taps on her head. “There was this weird sound that only I could hear. It didn’t even really sound like her voice, but I… I knew it was her. And she was in trouble. So, I ran here as fast as I could to help her, then…” She motions to the surrounding area. “Yeah…”

Jaune rubs his bruises knuckles. “Well… I’m glad you showed up when you did.” He takes in a deep breath, then lets it out in a huff. “Alright…” Jaune plants his hands on the ground and pushes up. Nora looks surprised. “We gotta… go help Ruby. She’s still in trouble— Ah!”

Jaune keels over, almost falling to the ground if not for Nora catching and holding him up.

“No,” she says, a tone of command in her voice. “You stay. I’ll go.”

“Nora, no…”

“Jaune, you’re in no shape to do anything right now.”

“Then I’m just gonna have to suck it up, because you’re not going by yourself.” As he tries to stand up again, Nora holds him down.

“Jaune…” She looks him stern in the eye. “You. Stay.” And then he stares at him.

And he really can’t do anything else but stare back at her, all the force in his eyes now gone.

“I… think that’s a good idea,” he says. Jaune falls back and to the ground, groaning in pain. “You go and help Ruby. The minute things start to look dicey, you run out of there as fast as you can.” Jaune looks around at the squirming body of Torchwick and his lackey. “I’ll stay here and keep an eye on these assholes.”

Nora grins. “Swear.”

Jaune chuckles. “Be careful, kid.”

She nods. Standing up, she prepares to depart. However, before she does, she swerves back around, bends to Jaune’s level and kisses him on the cheek, taking him completely off guard.

“I’m glad you’re okay…” she says.

And with that, she teleports out of sight. Jaune is left alone to ponder what just happened, rubbing the spot on his cheek where Nora kissed him.

----------------------------------------

She appears directly in front of the huge warehouse in the middle of the maze of freights in a crouch. She stands to her feet and inspects the large, rather decrepit looking structure. The first thing she notices is that the large main door cracked open, revealing a glimpse of he buildings dark insides.

Nora takes a step forward, only to stop when her gaze wonders lower. Her breath hitches at what she sees.

Blood covers the floor. Lots of it. Even though the rain is pouring down, a lot of the thick pools of the stuff is stuff around, darker at the centers. And this is only where she stands. All around her, she sees red, red and yet more red. Then there’s the thick trail leading into the warehouse.

This time, as she walks forward, she swallows spit, a hesitancy in every barefoot step she takes. She takes hold of the huge door and pulls on it, sliding it open with grit teeth. When the doorway is open enough she takes a step in and out of heavy rain.

The trail of blood is even thicker inside and Nora notices that she is standing directly in it, the moisture of the rain water that drenches her mingling with the red liquid on the ground. She takes a step to the side to get out of the blood.

The trail leads to an open door in the floor in the middle of the warehouse. Nora approaches it, slow; cautious. In the opening on the floor, there is a set of stairs leading down into the depths below the building. The further down she looks, the darker the path is shadowed. And, of course, the trail of blood lines every single step and even the walls.

Nora’s lips purse. She reaches up to her right ear and rubs on the metallic ring around the top part of her ear. She breaths in deep and holds it. Her gaze steels and she proceeds down the steps, careful, forced to step in the large amounts of blood.

The walk feels endless. There actually aren’t that many steps, but it feels as if Nora is walking down an endless tunnel. Down into… whatever waits for her at the bottom. The further down she descends, the less light is able to seep into the narrow staircase. Eventually, everything is all but black, just bright enough for Nora to see where she’s going.

Finally, she hits solid ground and ends up in a short corridor. A metallic door sits at the end of it… part way open. For a moment, Nora doesn’t move from her spot. She only stares down the hall at the door. Her steeled expression seeps away and is replaced by a much more nervous, much more frightened look. Her body trembles.

Never the less… she takes a step forward.

And another.

And yet another.

The door inches closer. Ever closer.

With every step forward taken, Nora’s breaths quickens.

Closer.

Closer.

Something’s wrong.

Closer.

Closer.

Run away.

Closer.

Run.

Closer

run

run

RUN

She stops.

She is in front of the door. Her hand squeezes around handle. And tightens. She pulls, but it does not budge. She isn’t trying to open it. She doesn’t want to. But she needs to.

So she does.

Creaking. Siding. Opening. Open.

Her eyes go wide.

There it is…

It stands in the middle of the room. It’s back is to Nora. It’s face is raised to the ceiling. It’s long red locks cover it’s eyes. The rest of her body matches the red of it’s hair. It’s clothes are in a heap. It might as well not even be wearing any.

All around the room, the wall is painted in gore. A few bodies line it, hunched over. Some look to be in one piece, for the most part. The others are on the wall… and the other wall… and on the floor.

And yet and still, it stands in the middle of the massacre.

It is not Ruby.

And it now it turns it’s head to Nora. The poor girl can do nothing. She only trembles.

The red hair falls from it’s eyes: the pitch black sockets with glowing red dots that are supposed to be eyes. And it stares. Just stares. And stares. And stares. Then smiles.

“Oh… It’s you…”

The voice is not Ruby’s. It is not Ruby.

“You’re one of her… friends… That’s nice…”

Nora says nothing.

“Nora…”

Nora jumps.

“Would you kindly… do me a favor…?”

Nora says nothing.

“When she returns… Tell her this… Tell her…”

Its smile drops. It is… sad…? Disappointed…? Scared…?

“I still love her…”

And that was it. Just like that. The black eyes of that thing close and it falls to it’s knees.

Ruby falls to her knees.

Nora snaps out of her trance and vanishes from her spot, appearing in front of Ruby, just in time to catch her before she falls to the floor. Nora cradles the young girl and holds her close. In her arms, Ruby lies still, covered from head to toe in blood. Naked. Sleeping.

And Nora can do nothing but hold her. And let her tears fall onto Ruby’s face. All the while, she trembles without control.

----------------------------------------

A police bike skirts to a halt on the pier, just outside the large stacks of freights that line it. Yang is quick to throw off her helmet and hop off the bike. Ozpin, on the back of the vehicle, takes his helmet off as well. Right behind the two, a multitude of police cars, sirens blaring loud, screech to halt. Officers poor out of each of them.

“There’s a warehouse in the middle of all of these,” Ozpin says. “That must be their hideout.”

“Then that’s where Ruby is!” Yang says just before shooting off for one of the openings between the freights. Ozpin and police officers are close behind.

The blonde twists and turns through the maze of freights. Eventually, she arrives at a clearing between them all. She looks in all directions before picking one and running off into it. She passes by a few openings, when she stops and see a suited man on the ground, squirming and groaning in pain, holding onto his bleeding leg. Ozpin and two officers run up next to her.

“Christ,” one of the officers says. “We got a man down over here. Someone start calling in the medics!”

“Could this be Ruby’s doing?” Ozpin asks.

Yang doesn’t bother giving him a reply, running off and around a corner. She reenters the maze and, once again, makes numerous twists and turns before arriving at another clearly. This time, she finds a familiar face.

Jaune sits with his back against one of the large boxes, battered and bloodied. As soon as Yang arrives, he lifts his gaze and reels back from surprise. Yang inspects more of the area and see two more men lying on the ground. One wears a similar black suit as the last injured man. The other is orange haired and wears a white suit. He looks far worse for wear than the black suited goon.

Yang refocuses on the blonde boy. “Jaune!”

As she runs for him, Ozpin and more officers arrive behind her. He looks around the area at the scene.

“Goodness…” Ozpin says.

Yang reaches Jaune and kneels down in front of him. “Hey—Hey. It’s me, dude. You okay?” She grabs his face and makes him look at her. “Jaune?”

He chuckles. “Just like the exam, huh?”

Yang smiles weary at him. “Still don’t recall that, buddy…”

Ozpin joins the two and kneels down. “Are you alright, boy?”

Jaune nods. “I’ll live, sir… Thanks for showing up.”

Ozpin nods. He looks back at the two bodies on the ground, who police officers are now tending to.

“One of them’s the boss…”

Yang and Ozpin look at Jaune, the Junior Huntress’ eyes widening.

“He’s the one… that's behind all of this… Nora… Melody… It was all him…”

Yang turns and looks at Torchwick’s beaten body. She gives Jaune a glance.

“Did… Did you do all this, Jaune?”

Jaune grins. “They started it…”

Yang chuckles with disbelief, shaking her head. “You are something else, man…”

Jaune’s next smile shows off his teeth. He coughs. “Nora came…”

“N—Nora?”

“She was here?” Ozpin asks.

“She still is. She came… to help Ruby… Ended up helping me, too. She ran off… to go back Ruby up. There’s a warehouse just past these walls. You gotta go…”

“We are, Jaune, just take it easy,” Yang says, putting a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “You did good, kid. We’ll take it from here.”

Jaune closes his eyes and leans his head back on the box.

Ozpin spots an officer. “You there! We have an injured student here. Watch over him for me.”

“You got it, sir,” the female officer responds, running over and bending down next to Jaune. “Hey there, handsome. You’re gonna be alright now.”

Yang and Ozpin exchange glances. Yang nods. She stands to her feet and bolts for another opening in the freights. Ozpin motions over a group of officers.

“You three! On me!”

----------------------------------------

Yang bursts out of the maze of freights and ends up in front of a large warehouse. She instantly notices the large amounts of blood all over the place and leading into the building. Her expression darkens.

“Ruby…!”

Not thinking twice, she runs through the large open door and into the building. Her eyes quickly fall on the open floor door and she makes a dash for it. Upon seeing a flight of blood covered, stone steps, she waste no time in jumping straight down, skipping all the stepa. She turns right and jumps down the second flight, ending up in a short hallway with a wide open door at the end.

She sprints for it… and instantly halts. Her entire body goes rigid at the sight of the room.

Blood everywhere. Bodies and pieces of what is left of them cover the floor.

In the middle of it all, a familiar looking orange haired girl sits, her head lowered, covering her own face and the face of the young girl she holds in her arms. Her head slowly rises and her teary, teal eyes meet Yang’s. Yang stares on.

“It wasn’t her…” Nora says low. She looks down at the redhead in her arms. “It wasn’t Ruby…”

Yang is frozen where she stands. She can nether do, nor say anything.

And, as if on cue, Ozpin and a group of officers run up behind her. They all freeze up at the sight of the room as well.

“Holy shit…!” an officer says, taking his hat off and rubbing his brown head of hair.

Ozpin looks upon Nora and Ruby at the center of the room. Nora holds Ruby tight. “Ruby, what did you do…?”

An officer takes out his radio. “Hey, command, listen… We’re gonna need… Ah…” He takes another look around the room. “Just… send everyone…” With that, he puts away his device and walks further into the room, watching his step of body parts and blood. The other officers follow suit. Yang and Ozpin stand side by side.

Ozpin sighs deep. “This is bad…” he says.

“What’s gonna happen, Ozpin…?”

The gray hair man looks over at Yang, who’s eyes are wide, dark. She turns to him.

“What’s gonna happen to my sister…?”

He turns forward, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Honestly, Yang… I have no certain idea…”

And with that final, grim answer, Ozpin stays silent, keeping his eyes on the two young girls in the center of the room, who the officers try to console.

Yang looks on with a look of absolute horror on her face…

And everything fades to black…

----------------------------------------

2 Days Later

----------------------------------------

His eyes flutter open, then immediately close tight once the light hits him. He tries again, this time more careful, lifting a hand to shadow his face.

“Jaune?”

Jaune turns his head to the familiar voice at his right, the fluffy pillow beneath his head wrinkling as he does so. Her eyes filled with a hint of worry and surprise, Pyrrha peers down onto Jaune, waiting for a response. He looks to his left and finds the big teal eyes of Nora also staring holes into him.

He chuckles. “Give it to me straight, doc. Can I still compete in the big game?”

Pyrrha puts a gloved hand to her mouth, hiding the smile that stretches across her lips. “Would it kill you to be serious for one second?”

She doesn’t give the boy a chance to answer as she throws herself on him, wrapping her arms around his neck, burying her head in the crevice between his shoulder and neck. Jaune only lifts his hand and pats Pyrrha on the head.

“Good to see you, too…” he says.

Pyrrha lets up on the boy and leans back, sniffling. Right after she does, Nora takes her turn and hops on Jaune, making him sputter from not being prepared.

“Hello, Nora,” Jaune says with a strained voice. “Squeezing a bit hard there, squirt.”

“Oh!” Nora says.

“Off—Off—Off—Off.” Nora releases Jaune and smiles down at him, rubbing the back of her head. He just smiles back. After, he turns back to Pyrrha and reels at her near-teary eyed expression. “Hey, what gives? I’m alright, Pyrrha, see?”

She wipes her eye. “I didn’t know what to do. It all happened so fast, I… We were just talking and then those men ambushed us and I tried to fight back, but by the time I composed myself, you already—“

“Hey—Hey, none of that,” he says, putting a hand on hers. “I just got the bad end of the deal, y’know?”

Pyrrha shakes her head. “I should have done more… I called the authorities and even tried to contact Ms. Xiao Long, but… Oh, it could have been so much worse, you could have…”

“Hey. But I didn’t. Right?” he asks, sitting up in his bed. He puts his other hand on Pyrrha’s cheek. “I’m still here. Safe and sound.” She sniffles again. “You don’t think I know you did everything you could? Pyrrha, I’m the one that should be apologizing for making you worry like that. If I had been stronger, I’d never had gotten caught in the first place. But, you know what, none of that matters. Okay? I made it out. I’m fine.”

Pyrrha, opens her eyes and looks at Jaune through the tears welling up. He grins at her. She leans her face into his hand on her cheek and puts her own hand on top of his. She musters up a shaky smile of her own.

Jaune takes his hand down and turns around to look at Nora. “And I need to give you some credit, too. If you hadn’t shown up when you did… I might have done something I’d really regret…”

Nora plays with a lock of her hair and nods. “I think so, too.”

Jaune nods, averting his gaze, then puts his head back down on the pillow. “Wait… Ah, shoot, the others. Ruby.”

As he goes to lift himself up again, Pyrrha puts a hand on his chest, easing him back down. “Whoa, easy there. Don’t worry, everybody’s fine. Ruby’s safe and sound and making a full recovery as we speak.”

Jaune lets out a breath. “That’s good… Weiss?”

“Shaken. A few ware and tears, but… she’s safe, too.”

Jaune nods, looking up at the ceiling. “And Yang and Blake?”

“…Blake is unharmed… and Ms. Xiao Long’s making a quick recovery.”

Jaune closes his eyes and puts his hands over his face. “So they’re alright… Cool…”

“…For the most part…”

Pyrrha’s last words catch Jaune’s attention and he takes his hands down, looking at her. She doesn’t look back at him.

“What? What do you…? Did something happen?”

Pyrrha fiddles with her long ponytail hanging over her shoulder, still not looking Jaune in the eye.

Jaune’s gaze hardens. “What happened?”

Pyrrha turns to the blonde, a solemn look on her face. “Yang and her sister are… not in the best positions right now…”

----------------------------------------

The light of day seeps through the cracks between the closed curtains, giving the room a dim glow. A streak of sunlight crosses over the bed in the middle of the recovery room, over the dented sheets.

A blonde haired woman sits in one of the three chairs lining the wall with her face hanging low, elbows on her thighs. Next to her, a black haired woman has her arm on Yang’s back, her eyes closed, face solemn. To Yang’s other side, Weiss sits with her hands clasped, eyes on the ceiling.

In the bed, Ruby sits upright, her eyes planted on a spot on her sheets, dim, empty.

“…I did all of that…?” she asks.

None of the other girls responds.

“…That blood… all of it… It’s on my hands…”

On the wall next to the room exit, Ozpin leans his back on it, watching Ruby close. Glynda stands next to him, looking anywhere but at Ruby.

“What are they going to do to me, Professor…?”

Ozpin sighs. “Ruby… The council has left me with few choices this time around… I am to either… let them deal with the matter personally… Or go with the alternative…”

“And what’s that…?”

He looks down. “You will be… sent off to Atlas for an… indeterminate amount of time. For your own safety…”

The young redhead looks over to the other three girls next to her bed. “Away from Yang…”

“Unfortunately… Your sister has her own grievances… And she will not be able to join you on your departure from Vale City… Ruby… I am not doing this to punish you. This is for you own good. This city, it’s… not the best place for you right now. There are far too many problems to be taken care of; problems that grow more troublesome by the day. And you need to focus on your own matter. There is someone in Atlas who might just be able to help you and…”

He stop shorts. The older man rubs the bridge of his nose.

“I wish there was something else I could do, but… This is all I’ve got…”

Ruby looks over at Ozpin… and smiles.

“I understand, Mr. Ozpin…”

He looks genuinely shocked by Ruby’s blunt answer.

“Maybe… this is for the best…”

His lips purse. “I’m not so sure anymore…”

There is a silence.

Glynda looks over to Ozpin. He makes no move to continue speaking. She looks over to Yang, who still keeps her head down.

“Yang,” Glynda calls out.

The blonde looks up at Glynda through her bangs. Her eyes are surrounded by deep bags. They’re dim, just as much as Ruby’s.

“We should… step outside and talk about your situation.”

Yang’s gaze falls back down. Blake leans in close and whispers something inaudible in Yang’s ear, still rubbing her back. Yang then forces her body out of her chair. She goes to walk around the bed, but Ruby reaches out and grabs her hand before she can. Yang looks back at her.

Ruby gives her big sister a reassuring smile, rubbing her thumb over Yang’s knuckles. Yang gives Ruby’s hand a squeeze. Then she walks away, approaching Glynda who has opened the door and stepped out of the room. Yang shuts the door behind her.

Weiss and Blake exchange worried looks.

----------------------------------------

Yang leans on the wall with one foot on it and her face to the ground, hands behind her back. Glynda stands before her.

“I need you to understand, Yang,” Glynda says. “We are only following the Council’s orders. Due to the aftermath of the situation, they’re just trying to find someone to blame for it all and… they just all decided to lump it all on you.”

Yang says nothing.

“You are a good student. And a wonderful young woman. And, to me, a one day great Huntress… but… for now…”

Yang keeps quiet.

“This is only temporary. Just until things blow over. You’re only required to stay within the limits of Vale City. You'll have your Junior Huntress Badge back before you know it. You’ll see. This will all…” Glynda can’t even finish her statement. She sighs. “It’s not your fault, Yang… None of this… Is your fault…”

A tear streaks down and drips off her chin onto the floor. More follow.

“I just wanted to help…” she says.

More tears.

“I didn’t mean to get anyone hurt…”

More tears.

Glynda puts a hand over her mouth.

“I just wanted to help people…”

She raises her teary eyes to Glynda and stands up from the wall.

“Don’t take her way from me… Please…”

Glynda reaches out and caresses Yang’s cheek. “I’m sorry…”

Yang trembles. She hiccups and drops her head once again. Glynda takes a step forward and wraps Yang in an embrace, putting her cheek atop her head, letting the young girl cry. She rocks her back and forward.

“I’m sorry…”

Alone in the hallway, Glynda holds Yang like she was her own daughter. And the two reel from the events of past few days.

What an awful few days they were…

And from here, we fade to black...

To Be Continued...