Steam rises from the cup as hot tea is gently poured into it. Once it’s just below the top of the cup, the kettle is placed down on the table with a surprisingly loud tap on the glass. These small things were never such a big deal before. The tap on the glass wouldn’t be paid a second mind if this were a normal afternoon.

Of course, that would imply that this was a normal afternoon. On one of those days, the young woman would be alone with her books, writings, and thoughts. And, for the most part, she was. The only difference is, this afternoon she wasn’t quite alone.

She could feel those shadowy purple eyes burning into her. Every little move she made was tense, as if she were ready to be pounced on at any given moment. And to be fair, her paranoia was completely justified. Ruby had mentioned her older sister’s violent tendencies towards anyone she wasn’t particularly fond of when they were children. However, the redhead failed to mention if those tendencies happened to quell over the years.

Judging from the way Yang looked, it was safer if Blake assumed they hadn’t.

Once the tea preparations were completed, Blake sat back in her seat and waited for her drink to cool a little. Or, rather, waited for Yang to make a move. The hotheaded sister reached out and took her cup up, ignoring the obvious handle on it where one was meant to hold. Without even hesitating, the blonde downs the entire drink without even flinching from the heat. Blake can do nothing but stare, her mouth slightly agape.

“D…Doesn’t that burn…?” the woman hesitantly asks.

Yang places the cup down on the table and looks Blake right in the eye.

After that, there was a moment of awkward silence as the two women stare each other in the eye. Yang had her arms crossed over her chest and one leg crossed over the other as she leaned back in her seat. Blake, on the other hand, struggled to keep eye contact with the stone-faced blonde. And, to make matters worse, she could swear it was getting hotter by the second. The air conditioner was broken, but it never felt this hot before.

That’s when Yang decided to speak. “You know I came here to beat the shit out of you, right?”

Blake made no sign of Yang’s words having scared her. However, on the inside, Blake’s protective senses were scrambling wildly. She nods. “I… had a feeling.”

“Aren’t you curious as to why I haven’t yet?”

“…If I had to guess… I would say that you’re giving me one final moment to explain myself. If I were to say that… would I be correct?”

Yang tilts her head. “Start talkin’, dead girl.”

Blake composes her thoughts, trying to calm herself down. She ignores the sweat rolling down the back of her neck, leaning forward in her seat, closing her eyes.

“…My intentions were not to hurt Ruby,” Blake begins.

“Bull crap,” Yang interrupts. “She seemed pretty hurt to me. Try again, pussy cat.”

“It’s the truth. I honestly have no idea what it was that I did to make her act like that.”

“You’re losing me here. Gonna have to try harder than that if you wanna get out of this one.”

“I’m not trying to get out of anything.”

“Then let me ask you something, girly,” Yang says as she uncrosses her legs and arms and leans forward, her first balled. “What is it you want from my sister, huh? Ya’ just playin’ with her feelings, manipulating her for your own gain?”

“I would never do such a thing.”

“Then what is it, Belladonna? There’s gotta be something you want.”

“There is nothing I-.”

“Drop the nice act, chick, I ain’t fallin’ for it. I’ve met plenty of people like you in my time and I know just when I spot a snake in the grass. Just cut to the bullshit and bare ya’ fangs already.”

“Stop accusing me of being some kind of monster!”

“I’m not ‘accusing’ anything! I’m callin’ ya’ out on it!”

"Tell me what you are so I can take care of you right now!”

At that moment, both women shoot from their seats. Blake grabs a knife from the table before her and brings it back. Yang’s hand shoots out and grabs the hem of Blake’s tank top, her other first being cocked back. Her foot raises and slams on top of the table, making both of the cups spill over.

From there, they do nothing. Blake’s yellow eyes clash against Yang’s purple ones. In Yang’s eyes, it was almost if there was a living ember within. Blake’s pupils narrow cat like, unfazed by the fire in Yang’s glare.

They make no move. There is a deathly silence in the house. It was so quiet that the clock on Blake’s wall could be heard ticking from the other room.

Blake decides to speak finally. “I would never intentionally do anything to harm that child…”

Yang glares on.

“What ever I did to hurt her, I wish I could take it back. She is the first friend I’ve ever had and the last thing I wish to do is push her away…”

“…That a fact?”

Blake takes in a deep, jagged breath, her jaw trembling as she says her next words. “I swear on my life…”

A smile pulls at Yang’s lips. “Okay.”

And just like that, Yang’s demonic glare simmered to a playful, laid back smirk, effectively catching Blake completely off guard. Yang releases Blake’s shirt, lowering her fist and taking her foot off of the table. Blake’s knife hand lowers to her side as she stands, frozen, confused.

The blonde takes the time to pick up the fallen teacups and place them upright on the table where they were originally. After straightening up her long, flowing, white cloth, she retakes her seat, crossing one leg over the other casually as if nothing happened, a small grin on her face.

Blake continues to stare. “T…That’s it?” she asks.

Yang nods her head. “Yep.”

“So… you believe me… just like that.”

Yang shrugs. “Just like that.”

Blake, for a moment, isn’t entirely sure how to respond. So, she quietly lowers herself in her chair, still a bit cautious. “…What happened in those thirty seconds to make you change your mind?”

“You told me what I needed to hear.”

“And… what is it you needed to hear?”

“That Ruby was right about you.”

Blake’s eyes widen slightly. “Excuse me?”

“Let me go ahead and clarify some things for you, girly. My sister has this journal, right? I got it for her a few years ago so she could have a little thing to vent some stress on. Thought it might help. So a few days after I found my baby sister in that alleyway, crying her eyes out, she up and leaves the apartment abruptly. But what does she forget to keep with her when she leaves? Go on, take a guess.”

“…Her… Her journal?”

“Bingo. So, I’m holding her journal, she’s nowhere in sight, and she hasn’t talked to me since I found her. You can see that I’m worrying. I just want to know what’s going on with her. But I know that journal is Ruby’s private thoughts. It would be a pretty dick move to just intrude. That’s when big sis mode kicks in and I stop giving a damn.”

“So you read the journal.”

“So I read the journal. And what do you think her recent entries talked about?”

Blake sighs. “Okay, I see where this is going.”

“Ah, but do you? Can you guess what she had to say about you?”

“That I hurt her and that she really couldn’t trust me? That I’m just a jerk she never wants to see again.”

“Nah.”

She looks at Yang, surprised and confused. “Wait, what? T-Then what did she say?”

“If I can remember right, it was something along the lines of the whole thing being her fault. That she was the one who ran off like a coward. You were the one who got the short end of the stick on this one apparently.”

Blake shakes her head. “But… why would she… It was my --“

“You’re confused too, huh? Well, you can imagine how I felt. So did you hurt Ruby, or were you really the nice, smart, respectful girl she called you? Had to find out myself. Had to see what you’d do if I showed up. I must say, kitty cat, you definitely proved Ruby right so far.” She chuckles. “Gotta be honest though, you did not strike me as the kind of person who’d lose their cool so easily.”

Blake clears her throat, calming herself down. “I’m generally not. I’m… simply not too fond of name-calling.”

“Had your fair share in the past, huh?”

“Yes… Yes I did…” She sighs, putting her face in her hands. “I wish I could know what I did to that little girl… God knows I wish I could take it back.”

Yang raises her hand. “Think I can help you with that one. In her journal, she mentioned you touched her scar. That true?

Blake’s eyes lower at the memory of Ruby running away that day. “Yes… it is. I… I didn’t know she’d react like that. I was only concerned about the scar and was a little curious. Perhaps I stepped out of my boundaries by making physical contact like that.”

“Hmm… Mayhaps. But, I really doubt that.”

“What do you mean?”

“You touched the scar right?”

Blake nods. “I did.”

“Then there you go. Honestly, it wasn’t even the fact that you touched her. I’m pretty sure you made it through that safeguard when she willingly came to your house. Nah, it was the fact that you touched that spot of all places.”

Blake looks worried. “Did I hurt her…?”

“Nope. Just reminded her.”

“Of what?”

Yang puts her hands behind her head and closes her eyes. “That she has them. How she got them.”

Blake tilts her head. “How did she…?” Blake stops short of asking her question. “I-I’m sorry… That’s none of my business. I’m stepping out of my boundaries again.”

Yang doesn’t say anything for a second. Then, opening her eyes, she speaks. “My sister really likes you, ya’ know.” Blake looks up at the blonde. “You’re the first real friend she’s had besides me. Whatever you’ve been doing to make her happy, it’s working. Before she came home sobbing that night, she was happier than I’ve ever seen her in a while. So what about you? Why do you like my sister so much?”

Blake takes a minute to think. “…I’m… not sure… I’ve never really felt this way about anyone before. When I’m with Ruby, I just feel… strange. I suppose I’m… happy when I’m near her.” She laughs. “It’s strange. When I first met her, she was such a nervous wreck. It took her three days just to approach me. But when she opened up, she just talked and talked. Sometimes I would just listen to her yammer on for hours about anything. Books she read, her little job at that school, you. She liked to jump from topic to topic a lot. She was so hyperactive.”

She sighs, a whimsical smile on her lips. “But I’ll tell you, the best part about her? It was when she smiled. She did it so rarely that it was an event when I could just… see that cute little grin of hers. I remember really thinking those little fangs of hers were absolutely adorable, the way they would stick out. It’s like… when she smiled… your-“

“-whole world lights up…”

Blake looks up to Yang, who had just spoken at the same time as her. The blonde had her eyes on the ground, her hands playing with the locks of her short hair. She looks back at Blake.

“Yeah… I know the feeling…”

Blake’s smile drops to a saddened frown. “What happened to her, Yang...?”

Yang runs her hand through her hair. “You really wanna know?"

It was only at that moment that Blake was reminded of the large red scar running over Yang’s left eye and across her face. She swallows. “Yes…”

Yang sighs, clasping her hands together. “You ever heard of the ‘Patch Island Massacre’?”

Blake nods. “Y-Yes. It happened almost 3 years ago, I believe. The Grimm had somehow broken through the barrier around Patch Island and slaughtered everyone there. It was said that there were-“

“No survivors, yeah. Well... they were wrong.”

“What? But, how can that be. The Vale Hunters combed the entire…”

Blake couldn’t finish her statement as she looked into the shadowed eye of the blonde. Realization soon sunk in.

“Truth is… there were only two…”

Students fill the large cafeteria, sitting at their respective tables. A lot of the classes had their sessions ended for the day and the students decided to take advantage of the lunch hour. They all had their group of friends to fraternize with, filling seats and tables up easily. There wasn’t a table in the cafeteria that didn’t have students sitting around it.

Well… except for one, anyway.

In one of the very back corners, an almost empty table sat alone, almost as if being unnoticed by anyone. And with it, a red jacket wearing young girl sat, just as unnoticed as the table itself. And she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Ruby picked at her tray of food, not really focusing on it. Her large red headphones were over her ears underneath her hood. Her eyes stared blankly at her lunch, her thoughts far beyond gone from the outside world. She didn’t really have much of an appetite anyway. Eating wasn’t really on the forefront of her mind.

Her recent breakdown took more importance at the moment.

She was angry.

For two days now, she found herself in a constant state of irritability, one she could not really explain. It was the sort of anger that slowly built up over time. Her head was pounding from the stress of her thoughts not letting her rest. This was yet another thing the little red girl had to deal with.

And she was not amused.

She was ashamed of herself. She was ashamed of how she dealt with Blake and her scar… All of the progress she made, and for what? After all of that, she was right back where she started: downing pills to keep stable, alone, and without a friend.

And this made her angry; furious at herself, at her failure to grow. She felt truly pathetic.

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Ozpin…” she says to herself quietly.

“Hi there.”

She’s brought out of her thoughts when she hears an unfamiliar voice. Slightly alarmed, her eyes dart up to look in front of her. On the opposite side of her lone table, a blonde haired young man sits, an awkward smile plastered to his face as he waved nervously.

Any other time, Ruby would have been freaked out by now. A random stranger interacting with her? She’d be gone from sight, no questions asked. However, at the moment, she was only curious as to who this boy was. Not scared, or worried, just… curious.

Odd.

Her brow rises. The blonde haired boy tugs at the hem of his shirt. “I… I hope you don’t mind me sitting here. I mean if you do, I can totally leave right now! It’s no big deal, really!” She continues to stare at him wordlessly. “Okay, you know what, I’m sensing some tension here. You’ve made your point clear, I’ll just eat my corndog elsewhere. So sorry for bothering you.”

“It’s… fine.”

As the boy was preparing to leave, he abruptly comes to a halt after hearing Ruby’s words. She herself wasn’t quite sure what had made her say that, but at the moment, she didn’t really… feel right. Something felt off all day, and her doing this only made that more apparent.

Maybe she just didn’t want to be alone…

The boy grins and slowly sits back down in his seat. “Gee, t-thanks a lot. Honestly, I didn’t really know where I was gonna sit if you had told me to scram. As you can see, this entire cafeteria is full of people who’re either in their own little cliques, or are ‘saving spots’ for friends. So, of course, that leaves me with, what they call, the ‘loser corner’. Um, no offense.”

She showed no sign of his words having bothered her. She almost looked like she wasn’t even listening, her headphones placed back on her ears. He must’ve not noticed, because the boy continued to talk.

“…Okay, then, well, I suppose it’d be polite if I’d formally introduce myself.” He clears his throat before sticking a hand out to Ruby across the table. “Hello. I’m Jaune. Jaune Arc: freshman here at Beacon Academy, professional ladies man, and all around cool guy. How’s it goin’?.”

Ruby looks up from her food and eyes Jaune’s hand with a curious look on her face. She looks back and forward from the blonde to his hand, not really knowing what he expected from her. Well, of course he wanted her to shake it, but that wasn’t gonna happen. Letting him sit at her table was already odd enough for her, but to make physical contact with him now? Not happening.

And he seemed to slowly be realizing that as his hand slowly retracted from her, his nervous grin returning as he scratched the back of his head.

“Okay, not much of a socialist, are we…?” he mumbles. “It’s cool though. I am going a bit fast here. Feel free to talk to me whenever you feel like it! Or, er, don’t if you… don’t… feel like it… yeah…”

At this point, Ruby had forgotten all about her thoughts and was now listening to Jaune ramble on and on, unsure if he was ever going to stop. The answer, apparently, was an obvious “no” as he continued to talk.

“Tell ya’ what, how about you just pretend I’m not even here? I’ll eat my lunch, drink my chocolate milk and then be on my way. That way you’ll be left to your own devices and I’ll be out of your-“

“You sure talk a lot, you know that?” Jaune is cut off in his endless stream of words as Ruby finally speaks up. “Has anyone ever told you that you tend to ramble when you’re nervous?”

Jaune sheepishly chuckles. “Hehe… I’ve… been told that quite a lot, actually. Although, others wouldn’t exactly word it quite as nicely. Usually, they’d get the job done with a good ‘ol ‘shut up, Jaune’.”

Ruby found herself almost letting out a chuckle at that. Strange. Why was she comfortable around this weird boy already?

“To tell you the truth, I almost didn’t even come over here. I was too nervous about bothering you.”

“Really?” Ruby asks.

“Yeah. Actually, to be even more honest, I almost didn’t even notice you sitting here when I was walking to the table. It’s like, despite the fact that you are wearing a bright red jacket that anyone should notice instantly, it’s like you were invisible until the second I was literally staring you in the face.”

Ruby tangles the cord of her headphones around her finger embarrassed. “Y-Yeah, I… actually get that a lot myself.”

“Do you try to do it on purpose, or is that just something you can’t control?”

For some reason, Ruby decided to completely pull down her headphones (albeit hesitantly). “K…Kinda… I mean… I don’t really mind not being noticed, but I just… kind of… seem to blend in naturally.”

Jaune nods, leaning forward on his hand, taking a bite out of his corndog. “Not much of a people person, huh?”

“Not exactly…”

“You seem to be okay with me… Unless I’m actually really freaking you out right now and making you super uncomfortable, in which case, I should probably go take a hike- “

“No-No…!” Ruby found herself actually putting effort into making Jaune stay as she tried to quell his worrying. He looks back at her. “It’s okay… I guess you’re just… easier to talk to than most…”

For some reason, a large, shining grin stretched across the boy’s face as he, yet again, sits back in his seat. He laughs. “Guess you could say I’m not exactly the best with other people either.”

“Well… you’re way better than I am.”

“I have to try at least. My mom used to always tell me ‘strangers are only friends you haven’t met yet’, you know? So, I always try my best to muster up the courage to talk with anybody anywhere.”

“You actually believe in that?”

“Well… I’ll admit, at first I thought it was all a bunch of crap. But, as time went on, and I found myself sitting by myself at lunch more and more, I guess I was kind of forced to believe it. Food doesn’t taste as good when you’re alone, y’know?”

Ruby finds her hand stroking the right side of her chest where her scars were, eyes dimming as memories of the few days before once again came rushing back. The more they flooded her mind, the angrier she started to feel at herself.

“So, what’s eating at you?”

Ruby is brought back to reality by Jaune’s sudden question. “E-Excuse me?”

“It’s written all over your face. Something bothering you?”

The redhead wanted to dismiss Jaune’s question and lie. But, for some reason, as she opened her mouth to do so, she found herself catching her own words. Sighing, she says, “I’m frustrated…”

He tilts his head. “What about?”

“This,” she motions to herself and Jaune. “Here I am, talking to you as if we’ve known each other for a while now, yet we only just met a few minutes ago. But then, when I finally have the chance to really make a friend, to finally open up, I just had to freak out and ruin everything.”

“Wait-Wait-Wait. I’m lost, who are we talking about here?”

Ruby groans. “I have this… had this friend. She was really nice and really welcoming to me. At first, I was afraid to even approach her, because when I did, I would instantly run off without a trace. But, one day, she finally talked to me and turned out to be great. I managed to actually hold a conversation with her and everything. I even found the guts to actually talk to her on a regular basis. How crazy is that? I was making so much progress and… I felt happy for a while. Then, I had to go and mess everything up when all she did was touch my back. I freaked out, and then I ran off after promptly screaming at her, not even once thinking about-“

Crash!

“Hey, watch it!”

“Hahaha!”

Ruby and Jaune turn around to witness whatever was going on. A young boy was on the ground, his entire lunch spewed all over the place and on his clothes. Above him stood a rather muscular guy with reddish brown hair, snorting out loud, arms crossed. Behind him, sitting at the table, were three other boys, joining in with his laughing at the poor kid.

“Aw man!” the kid cries. “I just got these clothes clean.”

The brown haired jerk laughs. “Should’ve watched where you were walking, pipsqueak. You saw me standing there.”

The kid glares at the older boy. “You pushed me down!”

He was not pleased by the kid’s back talking and his entourage’s loud “ohhh” were only fueling the flames. The jerk reaches down and takes the boy by his shirt, lifting him from the ground. The kid looked about ready to pee all over himself.

“I’m sorry, did you just back talk me, punk?”

The boy audibly gulps. “N…No, of… of course not-“

“Good. ‘Cause, for a second there, I thought I’d have to put a crater in your face. And we both know that I wouldn’t want to do that, now don’t we?”

Thy boy shakes his head, sweat rolling down his face. “…N…No…”

“Good!” With that, he throws the kid down. “Now scram before I change my mind, dork!”

As the man and his friends laugh, the boy shoots from the ground and darts off, not daring to take a second look back.

“Who’s the jerk?” Ruby asks.

Jaune sighs. “You ever see the movies where there’s, like, a high school, or something like that, and it always has to have the stereotypical bully for the audience to hate and root against?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, meet Cardin Winchester: the studio’s number one pick for the role. He’s been a jerk since the first day of school. Anybody he could exploit, abuse, or just plain make depressed was the target for Cardin’s wrath of jerkitude. Not a lot of people really seem too fond of him, other than the ‘three stooges’ sitting around him. Guy’s a class ‘A’ douche if ever there was one.”

At that moment, Ruby had a thought after piecing together a few details. Turning to Jaune, she asks, “Jaune, is… that why you’re sitting here? Because that guy’s picking on you?”

“What? Cardin picking on me? Hah! Come on! I mean that’s completely… and undoubtedly… true… B-But don’t worry though, it’s not just me! Cardin picks on everyone. It’s equal opportunity misery with him. You’ve gotta admit, for a jerk, he definitely doesn’t discriminate. Except, you know… when he does.”

Ruby takes one last look at the bully, shaking her head. She looks back to Jaune who had a solemn smile on his face.

“See? We all have our own frustrations to deal with.” Ruby’s eyes lower to her lap as her hair hangs over her face. “This whole thing going on with your friend is really bothering you, huh?”

The young girl nods. “…She only wanted to be my friend… but, just like everything else, I found a way to mess that up. It was just a little touch on the back, that’s all. It isn’t even like it hurt, it just… scared me.” Ruby puts her face in her hands. “I’m such a screw up…”

Jaune leans back in his seat. “I know how you feel. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve screwed up potential friendships just by being me. Heck, I lost count a while ago. Guess that makes us both screw ups, huh?”

Ruby looks up at Jaune. “Don’t you have any friends here, Jaune?”

He shakes his head. “Wish I could say I did. But, unless you count a partner that absolutely hates me, I’m pretty much on my own here.”

“Partner?”

“Yeah. A few weeks back, we went through this crazy test set up by Headmaster Ozpin to test our abilities in the field, or something. The crazy old guy flung us off a cliff into this section of the woods full of some of the teachers and a bunch of the older year students. I still, to this day, have no idea what any of that was supposed to accomplish.”

“Why were the teachers and students there?”

“They were pretending to be enemies and stuff. You know, to see how we’d react to their tricks and survive. Of course, we were never in any real danger, but they definitely didn’t pull any punches. Especially this crazy blonde chick covered in flames! She was out of her mind!”

Ruby almost wanted to tell Jaune that the “crazy blonde chick” was her big sister, but that wouldn’t be any fun, so she decided against it.

“Well, anyway, one of the rules that the Headmaster set up was: the first person we made eye contact with would be our partner for the four years we attended Beacon Academy. Needless to say, I got the short end of the stick on that one.”

“Why?”

“Because she got the short end of the stick with me. My partner was not happy with having to be with me for four years. She thinks I’m just gonna hold her back and get in her way.” He sighs. “Guess I should have expected that. I’m not really the most amazingly talented person to grace Beacon.”

“Why are you here anyway?”

“Why is anyone at Beacon? I want to become a Hunter.” Jaune leans forwards. “See, my great-great grandfather and his father before were both amazing Hunters, legends even. So, ever since I was kid, I wanted be just like them: heroes of Remnant.”

“Huh.”

“A-And, I already know what you’re about to say. You don’t see someone like me ever becoming a Hunter, right?”

“Never said that. You’re putting words in my mouth.”

“Yeah, well-“

“Might have been thinking it, though.” Jaune stares down Ruby for her dry sense of humor. She grins. “Continue.”

The boy clears his throat. “Anyways… so, yeah, maybe I’m not the toughest looking guy here, a-and maybe I don’t exactly have the skill, talent, tenacity, prowess… drive… potential… chance… like others have, but I known that, with enough time, I can be just as strong as anyone else out there. You’ll see. I’ll be just as big of a hero as my great-great grandfather, or even his father. I just know it.”

“That’s your goal huh? To be one of those heroes you hear about in the fairytales?”

Jaune eyes ruby suspiciously. “You don’t sound too convinced.”

“No, no, it’s nothing like that. I just… don’t see the big deal personally. Heroes? Warriors of justice and all that junk? Not really my cup of tea.”

Jaune narrows his eyes. “Oh yeah, well why are you here then, huh?”

“I don’t go here.”

Jaune blinks. “…Wait, what?”

“I’m just the errand girl. The big man upstairs uses me for the small things he has no time for, like delivering packages and messages. Other than that and the fact that I have a bite to eat in here from time to time, I have no connection to Beacon.”

“Oh… well then…”

“So, by all means, ignore me if you want. My opinion means absolutely nothing to your dreams. Are you going to eat those?”

Jaune is caught off guard by such a random question. He looks down to what Ruby was pointing at and sees the unopened bag of chips. Chuckling, he takes the bag and throws it to Ruby, who easily catches it with her teeth.

“You are a strange girl. Has anyone ever told you that?”

She shrugs. “Don’t know a lot of people. Couldn’t tell you. And call me Ruby, not ‘girl’, if you don’t mind.”

Jaune smiles. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Ruby.”

She finds herself smiling back at the boy. “Right back at you, Mr. Arc.”

“You seem to be feeling better about your little problem.”

“Hardly. To tell you the truth, that’s probably why it’s so easy talking to you right now. It’s more like I’m using use as a vent for my frustrations right now.”

“And you’re still upset?”

“And I’m still upset.” She puts a hand to her neck. “I don’t know, I just… don’t feel good. It’s like a pain in my head that just won’t go away, no matter what I do. Every minute I sit here, I get more and more irritable-“

“Ow, that hurts!”

“Try pulling harder, Cardin!”

“Man, these things really won’t give. Guess they really are attached to her head.”

Ruby, annoyed, once again turns around to see what all the commotion was about. What she saw pretty much sent her over the brink.

Back at the ‘table of super douches’, Cardin had found his next victim to torment. A brown haired girl desperately grabbed at the larger boy’s enclosed fist. In his large hand were the poor Faunus girl’s two bunny ears protruding from the top of her head. Tears flowed from her pained eyes as she endured through the bullying and torment. Cardin continued to laugh along with his three friends.

“See, what’d I tell you,” Jaune says. “He definitely doesn’t discriminate… except when he does.”

Ruby looked around, wondering why no one had intervened yet. Most of the students paid no mind to what was going on, trying their best to ignore the situation. Some purposely ignored the girl’s cries, even smirking at her torment. The few Fauna around, although they looked as if they wanted to jump in, found themselves not able to make a move, even attempting to hide their own Fauna traits in fear of being targeted next.

“Why is no one doing anything?” she wondered out loud.

“Lots of different ways to answer that, Ruby. Some aren’t really brave enough to stand up to Cardin; some just don’t want to be bothered. There are the other Fauna who’re afraid they’ll get what that girl is getting, and then there are the extra few; the ones that are actually enjoying this. The one’s that hate Fauna just as much as Cardin there. Whatever the reason, no one’s gonna be doing anything anytime soon.”

Something the little red girl had learned in her years was to keep to herself. She was always taught to stay with her own devices, not to interfere with things that had nothing to do with her.

And, truthfully, she had no problem with such a lesson. In fact, as time went on, she stuck by that rule without fail. Yang had practically drilled it into her head after all, and after witnessing the things she’s seen, the rule was more of a survival tactic by this point.

“Leave it alone.” “Don’t worry about it.” “It’s got nothin’ to do with you.”

She could hear Yang’s words echo in her mind now. And her sister was right. None of this had anything to do with her. She was just an innocent bystander who just so happened to be around when everything started to go down.

It wasn’t her problem, so she’d leave it alone. Simple…

…But, then again, Yang would have also told her, “Please kick this guy’s asshole in.”

And we all know how Ruby loved to let her sister talk her into things.

Ruby rapidly stands from her seat, putting her arms through the sleeves of her red jacket. Jaune was panicking right about now, as he too stood from his seat.

“R-Ruby!” he says. “What are you-what are doing? Ruby?!”

Not paying him any mind, Ruby begins to walk- no, stomp her way to the scene before her, eyes glued to the back of Cardin’s big stupid head. Her fists were white from being balled so hard. Jaune trails Ruby, trying to talk her out of whatever she was planning.

“Ruby, sit back down, I really don’t think you wanna do this- are you even listening to me? Ruby!”

As she walks, students start to notice her and eye the young girl as she storms across the cafeteria. On her way, she eyes a bowl full of pudding on one of the tables she was about to pass. Reaching out, without stopping, she takes the bowl up and dumps out the pudding on the floor, the boy who it belonged to yelling out, “H-Hey!”

“Ruby, what are you planning on doing with that? Would you slow down and answer me already?!”

That wasn’t happening, but this most surely was.

“Hey! Winchester!”

The buff bully’s eyes roll at the sound of his name being screamed out behind him. The young girl’s rabbit ears still in hand, he turns around to face whoever was calling him out.

“What? Who the hell has the death wish-“

The last thing he sees before he promptly flops to the floor with a loud “thud!” was the metallic bowl being held by a redheaded girl hurling right at his face. The last thing he feels is that very same bowl smashing his jaw in.

Every single eye in the cafeteria was planted on the scene, no one saying a single word. Jaune, who had been trailing Ruby, attempting to calm the child down, stood with his jaw on the floor. Cardin’s three lackeys and the rabbit girl mirrored Jaune’s expression. Hell, it was safe to say the only ones who didn’t have that look on their faces were Ruby, who just looked down right pissed, and Cardin, who just got put to sleep.

…No, he literally got put to sleep. He was now on the floor snoring away, a large red bump forming on his jaw.

Ruby stands up straight and throws the bowl to the side, staring down at the unconscious Cardin. No one makes a move, or the slightest of sounds. Jaune is the first to change that.

“Oh shit!”

Cardin’s boys mimic him. “Oh shit!”

Now everyone else. “Oh shit!”

Ruby looks around at everyone with an irritated expression. LANGUAGE!”

Cardin’s boys run over to Cardin and bend down.

“Damn, Cardin, are you okay?!” one of them asks.

“Come on, wake up, man!” the second says.

“Gonna be honest, guys, I seriously doubt he can hear you,” Ruby snarks as if not even noticing the hundreds of eyes on her. The adrenaline of the situation most likely blinded her from the many stares all directed at her.

At that moment, she feels her hand being grabbed and she turns to see Jaune.

“Okay, time to go!” he says before swiftly running out of the cafeteria, pulling a protesting Ruby behind him. The brunette rabbit girl is left to wonder what exactly just transpired along with the rest of the students.

But, as she watched Jaune pull Ruby out of the cafeteria, she found a small, satisfied grin stretch across her lips.

However, a certain white haired girl looked a lot angrier after witnessing the entire scene. So, slamming her hands on the table, she stands from her seat and runs after Jaune and Ruby.

“Goodness, Weiss! Would you just leave her alone already?!” her redheaded friend yells as she runs after Weiss.

They’d been running for a good minute now. There wasn’t a particular place they were running to, just trying to get away from the scene Ruby had created. The two find themselves in the middle of the town, away from the school.

Jaune started to slow to a stop, letting go of Ruby’s hand. He keels over, hands on knees, breathing hard. However, with his harsh breaths came laughs.

“Hehehe,” he laughs. “Ruby… you are… you are instantly… the most interesting person… I’ve met since I got here.”

Ruby can’t help but smile a little at that. “Should I take that as a compliment?”

Jaune stands up straight with his hands on his hips. “Oh, trust me, that was a compliment. You knocked the hell out of that guy!”

Ruby shrugs. “Well, he had it coming.”

“You know, for someone who claims to be the antisocial type, you were pretty blunt with the situation back there.”

“There are exceptions to that. I’m not the best with people. But I’m fine with people I like and people who need to be hit with a bowl.”

“I’m guessing Cardin’s the second kind of person.”

“Oh no, he’s worse. The bowl was just the closet thing nearby.”

The two chuckle at Ruby’s joke. “And what does that make me?”

Ruby stops her giggling and looks at Jaune, hesitating to answer. She looks away in momentary thought. However, she soon smiles and looks back at the blonde. “Can’t say for sure yet. But you’re leaning toward the ‘person I like’ category.”

Jaune gives a grin, scratching the back of his head.

“You!”

Ruby is struck frozen by the sound of the familiar voice. She’s heard it before, and she remembered that not being a good thing. Swerving around, she sees a white haired teenager running at her at high speed. Her eyes widen.

“But she is most definitely someone I don’t like!” she yells before teleporting away. It takes a moment for Jaune to even realize that his new redheaded companion has vanished from sight. He looks around, confused at what just happen. When he hears a small squeak from behind him, he lifts his arm to see the young girl cowering behind him.

His eyes widen. “How in the world…?”

As Weiss closes in, Pyrrha also runs up behind her. “Weiss, please, control yourself!”

“Hey! Get back here!” Weiss yells as she circles around Jaune trying to get to Ruby. Ruby circles the opposite direction to keep away from her. “Don’t hide behind the idiot! Stop running from me!”

“No, you’re gonna yell at me!” Ruby cries.

“You’re darn right I’m going to yell at you! You have some things to answer for!”

“Okay, lemme just...,” Jaune says before hiding Ruby behind him and stopping Weiss from chasing her. “What’s going on?”

“This doesn’t concern you, Arc! My business is with that little criminal behind you!”

“Criminal?”

“Jaune,” Ruby says from behind him. “You know this girl?”

“Uh… So... that partner who hates my guts...”

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me! This is your partner?!”

“Yeah… Oh, and her friend Pyrrha. Hi, Pyrrha.”

In the middle of her panicked pacing, Pyrrha looks at Jaune and says, “Hello again.”

“That’s irrelevant,” Weiss says. ”Arc, why are you harboring a fugitive behind your back?”

“Why do you keep calling her that?” Jaune asks.

“And why are you always trying to mess with me?” Ruby asks. “I don’t even know you!” At that moment, Weiss lunges and grabs Ruby’s long red sleeve. “H-Hey”

“Weiss, no,” Pyrrha pleads.

“Not now, Pyrrha,” Weiss says before speaking to Ruby. “I’ll be the one asking the questions here. You’re coming with me whether you like it or not.” She begins to pull Ruby with her. “Now stop struggling and let’s go.”

“Don’t touch me!” Ruby yells as she yanks her sleeve from Weiss’ grip, the white haired girl giving her a look of disbelief. “What is your deal?! I’m starting to be less afraid of you, and getting more to the point of wanting to punch you!”

“My deal? I’m not the one who caused a scene back there at Beacon and then ran away right after. You can’t just assault another student and expect to walk out without suffering some sort of consequence.”

“Assault on another student? You mean that jerk who was picking on that Faunus girl? We’re talking about the same guy, right? Instead of getting on my case, how about doing something about him first. He’s the one in the wrong here.”

“Well, I would, but someone knocked him to the floor unconscious. So guess who I’m going to deal with first.”

“Well, let me give you fair warning, princess.” Ruby walks closer to Weiss and gets right in her face, her eyes narrowed dangerously.

“That hand’s coming off if I see it anywhere near me again, got it?”

Just as Weiss was about to reply, now glaring back at Ruby, Pyrrha interrupts her response.

“Okay, that’s quite enough,” the woman says, stepping in between the two girls. She turns to Weiss and puts a hand on her chest. “Weiss. Stop. Leave it alone.” Weiss crosses her arms and turns away with a “humph”. Pyrrha sighs, and then turns to Ruby. “I am so sorry about this. My friend here is a bit…” She looks at the stubborn whitehead. “…Well, I’m sorry anyway.”

Ruby’s shakes her head. “Whatever. Just keep that prissy little girl away from-“

Boom!

In the middle of Ruby’s talking, a loud explosion rings out from behind the kids. They each cuff their hands over their ears to protect their drums from the loud sound of the building exploding behind them. All around, citizens scream in panic, running as fast as they could from the scene. Smoke rises from the side of the blown up building.

The four kids slowly lower their hands from the ears.

“Holy cow…” Jaune says.

Pyrrha looks around at the group. “I…Is everyone o-“

Gun shots!

The group looks to the building again to see bullets flying out from the smoke. Running out, doing her best to dodge the bullets, a small child dashes toward the four, hands over her head, eyes frantic.

“What the…?!”

The child dashes past Ruby, who was still trying to keep up with what’s been happening.

“Hold it!”

The child is brought to a halt, however, when Weiss steps in her path and grabs on to her. She struggles as hard as she can to break free.

“Let me go! Let me go!” she screams.

“Not a chance!” Weiss says. “Did you do all this?! Answer me!”

“Get off of me, damn it! Don’t touch me!”

“Weiss, what are you doing?” Pyrrha asks.

Weiss looks at Pyrrha. “You saw her trying to get away! She must have had something to do with this, right?”

“Uh… Might wanna rethink that, Weiss,” Jaune says, gaining everyone’s attention. He points back at the building.

From the smoke, a group of five men walk out holding machine guns. They each wore black suits with blood red ties. On their head’s were equally black fedoras and red sunglasses were placed over their eyes.

“Who… the heck are they?” Jaune asks, voicing everyone’s question.

Noticeably, the child looked even more freaked out than before, completely frozen now.

At that moment, the men turn toward the group.

“There she is!” one of them says. They all lift their guns and point them at the four kids.

“Uh, guys!” Jaune yells.

“Move!” Pyrrha commands the others.

Guns begin to fire and the kids all dive to the ground and then run for the nearest cover. Pyrrha and Jaune run to the left and take cover behind a building. Weiss and the child, however, are cut off by bullets hitting the ground where they attempted to run. Ruby notices this and teleports from sight to them. She pushes Weiss behind an alleyway and throws the little girl behind her.

A bullet hits the ground in front of her and she jumps back.

“Ah!” Suddenly, a bullet impacts her arm and she flinches in pain. She holds her injured arm then looks up to see the guns directly pointed at her. She puts her hands out in panic. “Wait! No-No-No!”

Bullets shoot out at her and hit her multiple times. Once they stop, her body falls to the ground on it’s back and she is still. Jaune and the others see her lifeless body and their eyes widen. Pyrrha covers her mouth in horror.

“Oh god…” Weiss says quietly.

“Ruby!” Jaune yells out.

Ruby does not make any move. She is still…

“Ah geez, I got one of those kids,” one of the men says, sounding annoyed.

“Damn it, why the hell’d you kill her?” a second asks. “The boss is gonna be pissed now.”

“She got in the way. What was I supposed to do?”

“Argh… Screw it. We can’t worry about it right now. Let’s just go get the brat and get out of here before the cops…”

The first man looks at the second curiously, wondering what the pause was all about. “Hey, what’s up with you? Hey!” The man seemed to be staring at the body of the dead Ruby. On closer inspection, he sees his other three partners staring at Ruby’s body as well. So, he turns as well and his mouth opens in surprise.

Weiss, Pyrrha, Jaune and the child also stare at Ruby’s body, unsure of what exactly they were seeing.

“What in the world…?” Jaune asks aloud.

From Ruby’s supposedly dead body, red aura rises, circling her slowly. It seemed to stream into her open bullet wounds and… actually close them up as if they weren’t there to begin with. From her lips, a low chuckle can be heard.

“Hehehehe…” Her silver eyes were now open, a grin on her face. “Oh, you’re gonna have to try a lot harder than that to kill me.”

From there, she teleports herself to her feet, looking as good as new. She rolls her arms, stretching herself out. The 5 men in front of her have lost their grasps on the situation by now and were looking at each other.

“What the hell is she…?” one of them asks. He looks at that others. “W-Well?! What’re you doin’ just standing there?! Let’s take that freak out!”

They all level their weapon at Ruby, preparing to squeeze the triggers. She smiles.

“You guys are definitely the second kind of people…”

As the goons begin to shoot their weapons, Ruby teleports from sight, none of the bullets making contact. She reappears in the middle of them, taking them off guard. They all turn to her, but it’s too late. She hits one’s gun to the side and sends a punch to his face, knocking him off balance.

Turning, she kicks another’s gun out of his hands, then teleports again, appearing behind him. She wraps her arms around his throat and kicks his legs out from under him. Taking his arm, she twists and throws him at the third man, who ducks under the incoming goon.

A man to her right tries to hit her with the butt of his gun, but Ruby dodges, bends low, and kicks his legs, causing him to fall to the ground. Launching up from her crouched position, she flips in the air and kicks the fifth man in the face, causing him to spiral and fall to the ground.

“Wow!” Jaune says in amazement. “She’s tearing them up!”

“Um, shouldn’t we help her?” Pyrrha asks.

“Does she really need it?”

From across the street, Weiss glares at the scene and reaches to her side. She grabs the handle of a weapon that hung from her hip and draws it out; a silver rapier like weapon, the hilt in the shape of some kind of barrel, different assortments of colors decorating each side. She looks to see that, behind Ruby, one of the men has gotten back up and is about to point his gun at her.

Lowering herself, Weiss focuses her mind and a strange symbol appears under her, rotating and glowing. Suddenly, she shoots off at the man, her sword readied. Pyrrha and Jaune see this and Pyrrha reaches to her back and pulls out a pole. The pole quickly elongates into a long spear and she runs, following Weiss.

Jaune stares on dumbfounded. “Well… I feel useless…”

Ruby, smiling, senses something behind her and she turns quickly, seeing one of the men had his gun pointed at her. She smirks and prepares to teleport. But, just as she was about to counter, Weiss appears by the man and slashes his hand, knocking his gun into the air.

He glares and sends a punch at her. She bends her neck to the side, dodging his punch. Sliding her foot out, she spins around the goon and slashes him in the back, making him lurch forward. At that same moment, Pyrrha runs at him, jumps through the air and plants her foot in his face, throwing him back and to the ground.

Landing, Pyrrha spins her staff and turns to another of the goons who ran at her. Right next to him, Ruby appears and throws one hell of a punch right into his jaw. She reaches and grabs his red tie, pulling his face back to her. Her forehead smashes into his and he crumbles to ground, knocked out.

She stands up straight, fixing her hair, looking around at the aftermath.

“I could’ve handle it, y’know,” Ruby says to Pyrrha.

The woman smiles. “I’m sure you could have. But it wouldn’t feel right letting you handle this alone.”

“And it wasn’t your situation to handle,” Weiss nags, walking over, putting her sword back on her side. “You are in no position to deal with this.”

“Oh my god, that would be the first thing you say after all that,” Ruby complains.

“This is the kind of thing we Huntresses are meant to do. Not some random civilian who hits people with bowls. And speaking of which, thanks a lot, Arc! You were such a big help!” Jaune, still behind the building, blushes and slowly hides behind the wall from sight. Weiss rolls her eyes. “But, getting back on you, how are you even still alive? We all saw you get shot multiple times. There is no possible way you could have survived that.”

“That being said…” Pyrrha starts. “Are you… all right?”

Ruby looks around awkwardly, looking for the right words. “Um… I…”

“You’re Huntresses?”

The three ladies look over to see the child slowly approaching them. She had ash like black hair and bright green eyes. Her clothes were ragged, dirty, and torn, her dark skin just as filthy. Atop her head were two fluffy ears, canine-like, and a tail hung from her backside. On her arm was a red scarf, torn and worn.

Ruby scratches her head. “Uhhh… Well, I’m not. But these two are close enough-“

“Wait a minute…” Weiss interjects, stepping toward the child, causing her to flinch back. “That scarf on your arm…” Her fists ball. “You’re with the White Fang!”

Upon Weiss’ accusation, the child covers her arm to hide her scarf, a nervous look on her face. Pyrrha looks worriedly at Weiss, who glares at the young girl.

Ruby raises a brow. “Wait, the what? Someone wanna fill me in here.”

Pyrrha tries to answer. “The White Fang-“

“The White Fang are a bunch of murderous, filthy degenerates who want nothing more than to cause death and destruction,” Weiss says. ‘They’re thieves and killers who need to be put in their place and stomped out of society! They’re criminals that we Huntresses are trained to protect innocents from!”

“Okay, that surprisingly did not answer my question,” Ruby says.

“Weiss,” Pyrrha starts.

“No, Pyrrha!” Weiss yells. “Don’t try to defend this kid! She’s with the White Fang, we need to bring her to authorities!”

“Stop yelling for a second and just listen to me!” the young girl shouts. “I need your help.”

“Really? And why would we help-“

“Weiss!” Pyrrha yells, effectively causing Weiss to quiet down, looking alarmed at Pyrrha’s outburst. Even Ruby gave a wide eyed stare. Pyrrha takes a deep breath. “Please be silent for a moment and let the child speak.”

Weiss looked like she wanted to retort, but couldn’t find the courage to do so.

Ruby leans toward her and says, “Shut you down, huh?”

Weiss gives Ruby a sideways glare.

The child continues. “Those men: they’ve been chasing me for days now. I escaped from where they were holding me and now they’ve been trying to kill me. I know this sounds strange, but they’re using me and my family against our will.”

“Whoa-Whoa, slow down,” Ruby says. “What do you mean they’re using your family? Using them for what? Where are they now?”

“W-We were hiding out in the Emerald Forest from these people who’ve been forcing us into slave labor. They had us chained up, doing weird things for them. There was this man with a cane, these guys in suits, and-and-“

“Calm down, child. You’re safe now,” Pyrrha assures the young girl. “Those people aren’t going to bother you anymore. Now, we’re going to take you back with us to the police and then-“

“Whoa!” Ruby yells, looking up at a building.

Everyone else follows her gaze to see another one of the men in suits holding a large weapon over his shoulder. He fires, and a missile flies at the children. It hits the ground and explodes into a cloud of white smoke, blinding them all. They all cover their mouths as they cough violently.

Ruby can hear what sounds like an approaching engine, the noise getting louder and louder. Suddenly, she sees a light rushing at her. Her eyes widening, she teleports from her spot, a motorcycle zooming by where she once stood. The man riding it reaches out and snatches up the young girl, she screaming at being caught.

Pyrrha and Weiss manage to run out of the smoke fast enough to see the cycle riding off with the child.

“Guys! They took the kid!” Jaune says helpfully.

“God, you are just useless, Arc!” Weiss yells.

Pyrrha looks to the top of the building to see the man throwing down his gun, preparing to run. She glares and takes up her spear. Pulling it back, she takes aim. When she throws the spear, the back end shoots like a rifle, propelling the weapon at the man.

“Augh!”

It hits him, knocking him to the ground. Pyrrha nods approvingly at her handiwork. However, something else catches her eye. In the same spot the man was at, Ruby suddenly appears, crouched on one knee. Then, she vanishes again. Every time she teleports, she appears on another building, running in the direction the cycle rode off in.

“What is she doing?” Pyrrha asks.

“Is she going alone?” Jaune asks, watching Ruby run off.

Weiss glares, her teeth grit. Taking out her rapier, she bends down. Underneath her feet, a white glyph appears, spinning, glowing. Pyrrha and Jaune turn to look at the white haired girl.

“Weiss-“ is all Pyrrha can say before the girl shoots through the air. While in the air, another glyph appears and she shoots off in the direction Ruby ran off in.

She sits with her hands over her face, silent. Her body shakes, taking in the tale she’d just been told by the blonde across from her. The blonde herself has her eyes on the ceiling, reliving the memory that took form as her tale, arms crossed over her chest.

A shaken sigh resonates from Blake before she speaks. “Yang… I… I can’t imagine going through something like that… Losing your parents that way… I… I don’t even know what to say…”

Yang breathes deeply, shifting her gaze back at Blake, who lifted her head to look back at Yang. Yang smiles solemnly. “Yeah…”

“And you and Ruby never talk about this to each other?”

“I’ve tried. But the last time Ruby even acknowledged that Song was alive was about two years ago. Other than that… she pretends like that day never happened.”

Blake fixes herself up, rubbing her eyes. “Well… maybe that is… some kind of cooping mechanism?”

“What? Acting like what happened never happened?”

“Well, yes, Yang. That may well just be her way of dealing with things like that. She might think that… never bringing up the things that bother her will help ease the pain of knowing those terrible thing really did occur.”

Yang sits forward, a hand on her knee. “And how on Remnant is that healthy at all?”

“I never said it was healthy, Yang. That’s just how she gets through life. It may not be a good way, but it’s her way. I’m sure you yourself have something like a cooping mechanism of sorts.”

Yang snorts. “God, you sound like you’re my therapist, or something.”

“Is it helping?”

Yang gives Blake a confused look. “What?”

“This? Does talking to me about those memories help you?”

Just as Yang opened her mouth to answer, she found herself not really… having one. She thought about the past hour or so and the story she just told, and to Blake, a stranger.

“I… I don’t know. I mean, I guess I don’t particular mind this for some reason. Haven’t been able to talk about that experience to anyone before. The only person I ever thought about talking to about this with has always been-“

“Ruby. Right?”

Yang nods slowly. “…Yeah… Ruby…”

“I think that’s why you’re having such an easy time talking to me, if I have to be honest. You trust Ruby and the judgments she makes. So, since your sister seems to trust me, you must feel that you can as well.”

“Wait a minute, now hold up, kitty cat. I never said anything about trustin’ you.”

“You don’t necessarily have to. But since Ruby does, you naturally feel like I’m good enough for you to talk to. Tell me I’m wrong.”

“Fine then. You’re wr…” Yang finds her voice catching in her throat before she can say her words. For some reason, her body will not let her say what she wanted. She tries again. Nothing. She literally cannot say the words.

Blake lifts a brow. “So, am I wrong, Yang?”

Yang sits back in her seat, unable to answer.

Blake sighs. “Look… I realize we didn’t exactly get off on the right foot. And I also realize that I’m in no position to act like your therapist, or something of the sort. But… I can tell you have things on your mind that you wish to let out.”

She leans forward. As she looks at Yang, the blonde does her best to avoid eye contact. “I know how it feels, Yang. Believe me, I do. You try to keep those feeling bottled up and pretend they don’t bother you. But I know it hurts, Yang. And I know what it’s like to have no one to talk to about these things. I don’t expect you to just spill your life story to me, and I can tell you don’t plan on it either. I just… want to let you say the things you feel couldn’t be said. I just want to help the sister of a friend I desperately wish to be with and protect.”

Yang slowly looks at Blake.

“So please… continue your story…”

Yang drifts into thought for a moment, considering Blake’s words. She sits right in her chair, placing her hands on the armrests of the chair. She gives Blake a surprisingly soft look and the black haired women nods at the blonde.

Releasing a held breath, Yang finally speaks. “All right, ‘Dr. Belladona’…” She swallows spit. “…We… We started to run, Ruby and I. After my mom said her goodbyes, I only had one thought in mind: keep Ruby safe. So, I picked her up… and I ran…”

A Past — 2 Years Earlier

It all happened so quickly…

Just earlier that day, the little red girl and her sister had been enjoying the older sister’s return home after being gone for so long. She and Song spent the day cooking up a feast that Yang would devour without a second thought. Their father was laughing as he teased the hotheaded mother about secretly missing Yang all this time. The little red girl had looked forward to this day since the moment Yang had left for Beacon.

Everything was supposed to be perfect… How did it come to this…? Two sisters, happy to see each other once more, now more concerned about getting out of a small town on fire alive… a small town they called home…

The young blonde ran through the streets of the once peaceful town with her small sister under arm. Ruby hadn’t moved since her futile cries for their mother and father died out. Now, she hung limply from Yang’s arm as if the life had left her body.

Yang’s free hand grabbed at the terrible wound on her side, blood still pouring at a dangerous pace. The long, talon-like feather remained pierced through her abdomen, but the pain was ignored. Right now, Yang was doing everything she could to focus on getting Ruby out of this hellhole. She had to; otherwise the pain from her wound would cripple her.

But there were also other ways for Yang to ignore the pain.

As she ran, she couldn’t help but to notice her surroundings as she dashed. Everything had gone completely chaotic. Citizens ran anyway they could, panicking at the situation, probably unaware of what was truly happening, Yang not having any better clue, to be honest. All she and the other citizens knew was that things got bad really fast.

She looked to her side to see a shop door had burst open and a man began to dash out. However, before he could get very far, something, Yang couldn’t tell what, reached out and grabbed the poor man by his neck, dragging him back into the darkness screaming for help. Yang’s breath hitched in her throat at the terrifying sight. The last thing she sees before running away faster was a sickening amount of blood shoot out from the shadows.

“Guh!”

A few people running by her in the opposite direction shove her out of the way violently. She turned back, seeing them tripping over themselves trying to run. In fact, it looked as if they were trying to get away from something.

She hears a bone chilling howl ring out from behind her, her eyes widen and she quickly looks back. “Oh my god…!”

It was hard to really get a good sight of it, but four black, shadow-like creatures were dashing down the street right at her. For a moment, she could feel herself almost panicking. However, just as quickly, she forced herself to regain her composure and think quickly. She had to move. Whatever was coming at her, she didn’t want to deal with it.

Swiftly, she took Ruby and got behind one of the many abandoned cars that littered the street. She places her back up against it and cradles Ruby with her body. It was only mere seconds, but the moment felt never ending as she waited for what would happen next, not knowing if what she did was smart, or not. In the heat of the moment, she really only did the first thing that came to mind: hide. And pray that those beasts running down the streets weren’t targeting her.

A whoosh from above causes her to hold Ruby tighter. She realizes that was the sound of one of the beasts jumping over the car she hid behind, not even noticing her. More sounds come from each of her sides, growls and the sound of cars being hit reaching her ears.

“No! No! AHH!!”

She heard people screaming in front of her. She was far too scared to open her eyes. Her fear trumped her curiosity at the moment. The sound of flesh being torn by animal like monsters did nothing to change that. Soon enough, the screams simmered down to gurgles of futile begging and prayers, then died to nothingness.

A moment later, the beasts she knew where in front of her howled again, then continued their run down the street, probably looking for their next victims. She still sat there, curled up, holding her baby sister for a little longer. Everything seemed to calm down a little. She could still hear howls and screams, but they seemed so distant now.

Finally, she musters up enough courage to open her eyes. Slowly, she looks around, still unsure about moving from her spot. No people. No monsters. Nothing. She and Ruby were alone.

“Okay…” she says before looking down at Ruby. “Ruby…” she shakes the younger girl who clung to her lower half. “Ruby, look at me.” She does, lifting her head to look Yang in the eyes.

It made Yang flinch a little at seeing Ruby’s eyes. They were dim, baggy. It was as if the kid wanted to cry, but was so distant from everything happening at the moment at the same time. If Yang hadn’t carried Ruby, she doubted the kid would even be able to move on her own.

Yang swallows spit then cuffs Ruby’s face. “Ruby, we need to keep moving. Okay? I’m gonna need you to use those two feet of yours, though. I’d love to keep carrying you, but I’m not exactly feeling too hot right now.” Yang sighs, putting her head to Ruby’s. “I know you’re scared. Believe me, I do. But I’m still here, right? You trust me, don’t you? Don’t you?”

Yang nods her head, trying to get Ruby to copy her. She does and Yang forces a smile.

“So you know I’m not lying when I say we’ll be okay, right?” Ruby nods slightly, hesitantly. “I need to hear it, Ruby. Go on, say it.”

Ruby sniffles before speaking. “I…I trust you…”

“Say, ‘we’re gonna be okay’. Say, ‘we’re gonna get out of here, and then get some nice, hot cookies’.”

“W…We’re gonna…” Her voice cracks, tears dancing on the rims of her eyes. “We’re gonna be okay… We’re… gonna get out of… out of here… and then… and then…” The tears start to fall from her eyes. Her body shakes as she cries and tries her best to finish talking.

“Finish it, Ruby. Come on.”

Ruby shakes her head, her lip quivering. “And then… And then… And then get some… nice… hot…” A hiccup. “…cookies…”

Yang nods, biting her lip. She pulls Ruby closer and kisses her forehead. “I’ll make em’ just how you like them. Dark chocolate chips…”

“…And… hot milk…”

Yang pushes Ruby back and looks her in the eyes. “Okay… you ready?”

Ruby looks Yang back in the eye. Her eyes wander down to her sister’s abdomen, unable to ignore the bloody wound, still fresh.

“Hey!” Yang snaps Ruby back to focusing on her face. “Don’t worry about that. I’m gonna be alright. Are you ready?”

Ruby closes her eyes, breathing deeply. Her hands wipe away the tears streaming down her face. She opens her eyes and gives Yang the bravest look she can muster up, nodding. “I-I’m ready…”

Yang nods. She looks around the area, trying to find the next place to run to. She spots an open alleyway on the left.

“It’s gonna be a run for that alley, got it? You stay on my ass no matter what, okay?”

“S…Swear…”

Yang can’t help but smirk. “On 3…” She takes one last look around, then focuses on the alleyway. “…3!”

They sprint across the street, making a b-line for the alley. Yang has Ruby’s hand firmly clasped in her own. The running puts stress on her wound, but she doesn’t have time to worry about that.

They reach the alley and keep running through it, dodging trashcans and pools of water on the ground. Ruby gasps loudly at getting a better look at those “pools of water”. Whatever she stepped in was not clear, but dark red and much thicker than water.

“Ruby!” The young girl snaps her gaze to Yang as they ran. “Just keep looking forward! Don’t worry about anything else! Keep running!”

There was a sort of urgency in Yang’s voice. Something was wrong. As they pass by a dark intersection in the alleyway, something caught her eye and Ruby couldn’t help but do a double take at the alley they just passed.

She wasn’t sure and it freaked her out… but… she could swear she just saw glowing red eyes. And… equally red teeth…

Another intersection. Now she was sure of what she saw: the same thing only doubled this time. She starts to realize why Yang sounded so panicked now. And, as if they knew she’d figured out how much danger she and Yang were in, whatever was stalking them started to make sounds. Howls that sounded like…

…laughter…

“Yang…!” she says on the verge of freaking out.

“Keep running!” Yang yells back.

She wanted to run faster, but her body physical would not let her. She knew for a fact that there was something behind her and it, or rather, they were chasing the two sisters down. She somehow knew that they could’ve been caught a long time ago. She somehow knew they should already be dead by now.

They were being taunted; food being played with before getting devoured.

They exit the alleyway, a wall of forest before them. They didn’t stop running. This was obviously the last place they wanted to end up, but they didn’t have much of a choice in where to run anymore. So, they ran through the shrubbery, dodging hanging branches, maneuvering around oncoming trees. The laughter only grew louder. They were surrounded.

“Shit, shit, shit…!” Yang was trying her best to keep her panic low so Ruby wouldn’t hear, but it proved useless. There was no hiding her fear at this point.

Ruby’s started to hyperventilate. It wasn’t even from all the running. No, this was from the fear of being caught by what was after them. She desperately looked around, hoping to maybe get an idea of where their hunters were. She could barely see anything in the darkness of the forest night. She just needed to see the eyes. Those would be easy to spot. If she could just see them…

She got her wish… as they were right in her face, behind a passing bush.

“Ruby!”

She barely had time to gasp before a claw slashed at her, tearing into the flesh of her neck and shoulder. Yang pulled her out of reach in the nick of time, pulling Ruby into her chest, jumping back. At the same time, she extended one of free arms out, and the band around her wrist extended over her forearm, the sound of a gun being cocked accompanying the transformation.

Bang!

A blast shot out from the gauntlet, impacting the shadowy creature that jumped from the bush, it letting out a deafening howl of pain. Yang hangs on to Ruby, bracing for the impact on the ground. They tumble off a steep hill and start to fall. The whole time, Yang uses her body to take the brunt of the blows as they fell down the hill. They finally reach the bottom, rolling from the momentum of the fall.

Pow!

The rolling is stopped when Yang’s back hits a large tree at the bottom of the hill. Not wasting a moment, she puts her gauntlet up, aiming forward, ready for an attack.

Nothing happens. There is nothing but silence, save her ragged breaths. Her eyes scan the area; fierce, determined to destroy anything that tried to hurt her baby sister.

But still… nothing happens.

The adrenaline from the encounter subsides. In its place, immense pain comes and she keels over, gritting her teeth and squeezing her eyes shut. Ruby sits up, alarmed.

“Y-Yang!” The blonde almost falls to her side, but Ruby catches her before she can. “No-No-No! Yang, don’t do this me! You have to tell me what to do! Tell me what to do, Yang! Come on, Yang! Yang!”

To Be Continued...