If you've had issues with some of Yang's scenes, probably skip at least the italic part of this chapter. If you're prone to 'triggering', definitely skip it.

The dark room was silent. Miltia had no idea how many days had passed since last she had seen light. She knew it was days though, because the space between her legs was hardly sore anymore. She had grown accustomed to measuring time by the fading of aches and bruises.

Melanie was probably sleeping again. The last client who had chosen them had been particularly cruel and brutal. Melanie had gotten the worst of it, because unlike her sister, she still shied away from the clients' groping fingers. Particularly with the twins, the guests didn't want to feel any guiltier than they already did. Melanie had tried to tell her sister that they got violent when they felt guiltier, but Melanie said she couldn't help it. They just scared her, violated her, too much.

There was a quiet sob, and with a start, Miltia realized her sister wasn't asleep. She was just trying to hide tears. Miltia knelt down and rubbed Melanie's back in small circles. It was one of the only memories they still had of their mother, and the two often comforted each other in this way. Often, they couldn't speak because their throats were too sore, but the simple gesture was always stronger than the softest words. It was how they had survived the nights of shame and pain.

Melanie's soft sobs made her body convulse in a grotesque tempo. Miltia could do nothing but rub her back.

"Miltia?" Melanie whispered, sitting herself up, the slithering of her chains accompanying her. The sisters always whispered in the dark room. It was spacious, and the walls in this building were thick for good reason, but the girls always whispered nonetheless.

She squeezed her sisters hand, letting her know she was there.

"How… How long has it been?" Melanie's voice was a moment from bursting back into tears the entire time.

"I don't know. We're older though." Miltia thought of the growing bumps on her chest. She knew both she and her sister were starting to go through the changes to a woman's body, a far cry from the children they had been when they had first come to this hell. Miltia had noticed the enthusiasm of some of their repeat clients had waned over time. Maybe that was why.

"It… It must have been years by now, right?" Melanie broke, sobbed. "How much longer… How long can we go on?" She whispered.

Miltia had no answer, so she rubbed her sister's back, trying not to cry herself.

He was rich, obviously. This new client the masked man had brought. Golden tie clip, fine suit, along with a watch and rings showed his extravagant wealth. Naturally, the man in the mask had lined up his best products. Melanie squeezed her hand, and Miltia squeezed were each other's only reassurance in this hell.

The man looked at them, his lips parting slightly in shock. The masked man's eyes danced as he watched the client observe them. Nervously, the client licked his lips, his surprise slowly giving way to a hunger. He looked at them, long for them. Melanie's nails were digging into Miltia's arm now, squeezing so hard she may have been drawing blood. But Miltia just stared at the man, completely hopeless.

But then another emotion, the only saviour that Miltia had ever konwn, crossed the man. Guilt struck him, ensnaring his feet mid step towards us, and he shamefully lowered his head. Miltia let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding, shaking slightly. Today, at least, they would be safe. Guilt had saved them again.

The man quickly picked Alys, a pretty brunette with long, sleek hair wearing a tight red dress that flared out- the next youngest whore, and made his way to the nearest room. Even as Melanie and Miltia were marched past it to their own room, seconds later, she could already hear a painful gasp from Alys as the man slapped her flesh.

Guiltily, Miltia sighed with relief. She had been spared from a hitter.

Miltia held Melanie's hand, squeezing it to reassure her as the tall man in the dark suit slowly walked down the lineup of women in front of him. The masked man sometimes did this for new clients. Display all the best talents for their greedy little eyes.

Miltia just hoped that this man was not one of those monsters who saw the twins and then licked their lips. Melanie had bled for the first time last night, and she was scared enough as it was. So Miltia hoped for all that she was worth that this one man passed them over.

When his eyes found her though, Miltia saw it. That hunger. She saw it burn deeply in him, fiercely. He stepped towards them. The masked man snapped his fingers, and Melanie and Miltia stepped forward. Melanie was squeezing her hand so tight. Miltia wanted to reassure her, but how could she? She couldn't save her sister from this. No one could.

Even before the door closed behind them, even before the first blow landed, both Melanie and Miltia were crying.

The man in a white suit let out a roaring laugh as he stumbled through the door, still holding a mostly empty bottle of whiskey. Two others in black suits followed him, laughing, all three with the same haircut and faces. Brothers. And all drunk. Miltia had seen a few drunks in before. For the most part, they were easy, though a few got violent when drinking. If she was lucky, they would fall asleep.

The masked man was silent behind them, allowing them to take in the merchandise. The youngest brother frowned as he looked around. "I thought we were going to a strip club Polaris." He frowned. The brother in white laughed.

"Junior, this is even better! At a strip club, you can't touch. But here? You can do whatever you want. For a little lien, you're one of these bitches' god for a night."

The man in white's eyes drifted down the line until he found Melanie and Miltia. She saw the glaze from the alcohol fade in a second, sharpened by hunger. He took a step towards them, and Junior's gaze followed. His jaw dropped.

"What the fuck?" He yelled drawing a pistol and aiming it at the masked man. "Are those kids?!" He screamed at Miltia's tormentor.

"Junior!" The burly man in white yelled, but there was a flash and a concussive bang that left her ears ringing. Miltia couldn't hear anything but she saw the red blossom all over the masked man and then the brother in white shoving the brother in black. Junior ignored him though, pushed him out of the way, and stepped towards the girls. When he reached them, he knelt down in front of them. By then, the ringing was fading.

Unsure of what to do, Miltia did what she thought the man wanted. She reached out and undid the first button on the suit. Melanie quickly started forward to help. The man stood, a horrified look crossing his face. Miltia tensed, expecting a slap.

"What the fuck are you doing" His voice shook. The white one laughed, and took a swing from his bottle.

"They want to do it brother!" He laughed again, and Junior turned back to them. But Miltia watched the white brother as his laughter faded, and he looked at her with the same hunger.

She flinched away from it.

Junior shrugged his jacket off, wrapping it around Melanie before snapping at the last brother, who had stayed by the door, arms folded. He tossed Junior his jacket, and Junior draped it around Miltia's shoulders. She looked at him, confused. He was trying to smile behind something horrified.

"It's alright," Junior murmured. "You two'll be okay."

Melanie sauntered up to her, and Miltia smiled back at her sister.

"Two gin and tonics." Melanie said to the bartender, then leaned back against the counter beside her sister. "Busy night tonight."

It was for a weekday. Thursdays normally didn't draw a huge crowd at Junior's club, but there were more people there that night.

"Where'd that Matt guy go?" Melanie asked, and Miltia blushed. Matt had dropped by on a weekend one night and got talking with her. It wasn't unusual for Miltia to chat with the patrons. They were fun a lot of the time, but she had never seen the same one twice. But Matt came back the next night and found her. They never danced, they just talked, all night. Since then he had stopped by every day for two weeks, even if just for a fifteen minute chat in the afternoon.

"I told him to go wait by the staircase." Melanie frowned.

"Miltia… Are you sure?" Miltia looked away, trying not to let the fear show.

"Yes. I… I don't want to live my whole life afraid of everyone because…" Miltia took a deep breath. "Besides, he's not like that." Miltia said nervously.

"Okay," Melanie said, unconvinced. "I'll be next door if you need me." Miltia reached out and squeezed her sister's hand, rubbing a circle over the back of it.

Leaving the drink Melanie ordered for her untouched, Miltia skipped away towards the staircase. Matt was waiting there for her, twirling a coin between his knuckles to stay occupied. Miltia grabbed his hand, pulling him up the stairs after her.

Closing the door behind her she giggled, hopping onto her bed and patting it across from her. Matt sat down there, and slowly leaned in. Miltia's heartbeat fluttered as his lips, tasting slightly of salt from the sweat of dancing, pressed against hers. Miltia smiled into his lips, exploring them slowly. A hand came up and cupped her face, a thumb brushing a cheek as his tongue slid into her mouth. Miltia hadn't been expecting it, but she allowed it.

He pressed against her, slowly laying her down on the bed, his hands running over her with desire. With want. With need.

He was going to take her.

Frantic kisses trailed down her neck to her collarbone and a hand slid over her chest. Miltia gasped.

"Matt…" She whispered, scared.

A hand trailed up the inside of her thigh.

And suddenly she was right back in the dark room as muggy, hot breath broke over her exposed skin and rough, callused hands slid into her and-

Miltia screamed and kicked, knocking Matt off the bed. He stumbled back, his expression shocked. "I"m sorry," He gasped. "I didn't mean-"

The door slammed open and Melanie was there, her glass boots reflecting the dim light menacingly.

"Get the fuck away from her." Melanie snarled, stalking him as if she were a panther. Junior barged into the room, eyes scanning quickly. When his eyes landed on the boy, he stepped forward quickly, drawing a gun and pointing it between Matt's eyes.

"Leave, and never come back." He growled, low and dangerous. Matt quickly scampered away.

"Are you okay?" Melanie gasped as she through her arms around Miltia, holding her close, rubbing her thumb in small circles around Miltia's back. Miltia clung to her sister, letting the memories fade away, replaced by the now, by Melanie and Junior. The two people she could trust. The only two people she could ever trust.

Miltia slid down the rough wall of the hallway across from Ruby Rose, the miracle girl. Back from the dead. The huntress was still passed out from when Miltia and her sister had incapacitated the woman.

Miltia looked down at her scroll, seeing the update she had requested. Yang Xiao Long, still hospitalized. Still unconscious. But here the little rose was.

She sneered. If Melanie was in the hospital, nothing would have been able to make her leave her sister's side. Nothing. Least of all someone who was special only because they had fucked. It was disgusting.

It was the way the huntress had looked at her when she came into Polaris' room. That absolute horror, as if it was Miltia who were broken and horrid. The same as all the huntresses she had ever met. As if their word were truth. As if what they said was right, always right. But none of them knew the truth. None of them had seen the world the way Miltia had. All of them had grown up around the best of humanity. The ones who were lucky to have never made a choice in their lives. The ones who had never killed to survive, never stole because it was the only way to feed yourself. To them, there was always a right way. A humble way. A heroic way.

But there wasn't. Not everyone had that chance.

And for her to be scorned because the world had chewed her up and spit her out hardly breathing - that was not justice. That was not fair.

Ruby Rose, the huntress, was nothing more than a broken idol for the sheep to flock around.

When she woke, she found herself shivering. Cold dust dribbled off her face as she peeled her skin from the rough concrete. Pain welled in her cheekbone, and Ruby winced as she gently reached up to touch her face. Her cheek was tender, but the bone underneath felt intact. Everything else seemed mostly functional.

Seeing the dark bricking of a wall in front of her, she reached out and fell against it, sliding her back down it until she was sitting. The jagged flooring pressed against her uncomfortably, but Ruby ignored it. She just sucked in a deep breath and let it out, wincing as her head began to throb.

As she raised her fingers to her temples, the blurry world began to come into focus. As she touched her head, she felt something hot and sticky. Looking at her hand, she saw red.

Her visions swam as a particularly sharp wave of agony washed over her. Ruby squeezed her hands into fists over her eyes, hissing sharply to try and ward off the pain.

"What is it about you?" Ruby looked up to find Miltia sneering at her through wrought iron bars. Ruby's brow creased, not fully understanding the world yet. The other girl was slouched against the opposite wall, one leg kicked out and the other hugged to her chest.

Ruby paused, shocked. She caught herself, and studied the girl across from her. Miltia looked angry, but there was something fragile in her eyes. Like she was a step from breaking, but was holding on out of pure spite.

"You… Hurt him." Ruby said, trying to remember clearly. "You and your sister. You hurt that man."

"We killed him." A pang shot through Ruby.

"… Why?" She begged the woman outside the cage. Ruby felt numb.

"Because that's what I do. We didn't all get as lucky as you - raised to think you're somehow better than us."

Ruby was silent, watching the girl, trying to control her anger.

"I was not born lucky." She finally spoke, quietly, half to herself, the flash of a white cloak filling her mind before it slipped away as always it did now. Since her death.

Miltia scoffed.

"Far better off than my sister and me." She practically spat the words, filling them with as much venom as possible. "You don't know what it's like to spread your legs because that's the only way you can get enough to eat for the night. I suppose Melanie and I were lucky. Even from the age of eight, twins were in high demand. Fit, young twins. No one would hurt us, we'd never miss a meal."

Ruby was speechless as Miltia wrapped her arms around herself, curling her legs into her. She looked scared and alone.

"The man with the mask. He always wore dark clothes. He kept us chained up there when he wasn't flaunting us down with the other whores. Most men looked at us, too guilty to hold our gazes. But in more than one, I saw desire. And not one, not a single one, tried to help.

"And then someone did. A victory celebration, Junior and his two brothers. Half drunk, they barged into the brothel, and the masked man was all too happy to oblige. He lined his top prizes up, even the renowned twins. His most talented players that would fetch the highest price for these fancy men in their suits.

"The oldest brother, he had no reservations. He was a man by then, in his twenties. In the underground, you made money fast if you were vicious, and he was a god amongst kings for his wealth. He walked up the line, looking each whore in the eye. Melanie and I were at the end. Best for last, the masked man always said. We were shaking, and we held on to each other. As if it could save us somehow.

"And then the older brother saw us. And just like everyone who had ever picked my sister and I out of a line, I saw hunger there. Something new. Something unconquered. Something fresh.

"But then Junior saw us, and he looked shocked. He couldn't believe it. Before anyone could figure out what was going on, Junior had shot the man in the mask and he was kneeling before us, two whores, offering us his jacket. He was just a teenager then, but kind nonetheless. His brother was furious, but Junior just told him he could have anyone there but the twins that he obviously wanted. I remember being scared of Junior, but acting the same as I had for years, I started unbuttoning his shirt. Getting ready to service him however he wanted. He looked disgusted and appalled and hit my hand away. He asked me what the hell I was doing, and all I could remember was being scared that he didn't want me. Because if he didn't want his trophy twins, I didn't know how my sister and I would eat.

"He told me he promised to keep us safe. And he has. Since that day, he's never asked anything of us. He never asked us to do anything for him we didn't volunteer for. We were never paid for sex again. No one who looked at us wrong ever got away with it.

"So, when the first thing he ever asks of us is to kill that same brother who would have fucked my sister and I when we were children, we didn't hesitate. So don't you fucking dare look at me like I'm some filth that washed up from the gutters." There was a pause as she breathed, slow, trying to control a rage burning deep within her. "So what gives you the right to pity me?" She spat at Ruby, who just sat in her cell, shocked.

"I… don't." Ruby murmured, still trying to recover.

"What?"

"I… I don't pity you. You… scare me."

The girl sneered, like a caged animal. Outside the bars, she was trapped in a memory long past.

"Because I know how to kill? Because I'll do what you huntresses look down on? The monsters, they're not out there." Miltia looked through the grey walls, to the far reaches of the world where the Grimm haunted every shadow. "The Grimm aren't anything. The only way they can ever find us is because of the real monsters. People. People that can do more than just kill. People that can understand each other, torture them, rape them…" She trailed off squeezing her eyes shut. Ruby saw a crystalline tear fall down her cheek. "No, they're us."

"I know." Ruby whispered. "That's why I'm scared. Because I think we're all the same. We're all broken… And I ran from it for a long time. And now, without her, I don't… What if it finally catches up with me?" Ruby trailed off, whispers of memories that scattered at her touch brushed her mind fleetingly.

"Without who? Your little princess bitch?" Miltia sneered, a wild look in her eyes.

Ruby glared. She could take abuse. The girl dressed in scarlet across from her could rip Ruby apart - it was nothing Ruby hadn't felt the world had been doing to her for weeks. But Weiss had endured so much. From an icy childhood to the mask she always wore, even as she lay next to Ruby, bare as a newborn, she carried a shielded heart. She could not stand for this girl to slight someone who had already endured so much.

"Don't call her that." Ruby commanded, her voice more dangerous than she was used to.

"Who? Your little princess? You come back to life, you break everything, you defy death, and the first thing you can think of is getting your fingers back inside that bitch's twat."

"SHUT UP!" Ruby yelled at the other girl, seething with an almost uncontrollable rage.

This isn't you, some corner of her mind warned, but Ruby smothered it.

"Why? So you can go on pretending you're better than us? You could buy any hooker for pennies. You could find any slut in a club, but I'll bet the first thing you thought of when you woke up was Weiss Schnee. Your conquest. A cunt to call your own-"

Ruby screamed as she slammed against the metal curtain keeping her in place. At her touch, the gated metal shot off, exploding from the concrete surrounding it and flying into Miltia, who hadn't the time to react.

Ruby stood slowly, shocked, eyes locked on what had freed her, a familiar sound emanating from the white glyph floating at the mouth of her cell. Weiss' glyph. Even as Ruby stood, it faded. Ruby reached for it, the trace of a woman she had once known, but by the time her fingers brushed it, the glyph was gone.

Ruby's gaze shifted to the metal bars, now covering Miltia. The other girl was unconscious. Ruby stepped up to it and knelt next to the twin, checking for her pulse. Assured that there was a steady heartbeat, Ruby allowed herself to relax for a moment.

One breath.

In.

Out.

Ruby allowed the exhalation to drag on, letting her muscles relax as her lungs let air out in a slow hiss.

She had summoned a glyph.

But now was not the time for that. Junior knew something about Weiss. If he knew anything that could help Ruby find the lost heiress, Ruby needed to know. Taking one last deep breath, she tensed, and marched herself towards the door that would undoubtedly lead to Junior, and Weiss.

a/n:

This is a big chapter for a few reasons. It was going to continue on into the next chapter, but I realized I was already getting close to 4k words, and I always try to keep chapters under that length.

So yeah. This is what we ended up with. Initially, I wasn't going to include Melanie and Miltia's backstory in this story. I came up with it for the purposes of who their characters are, but I never thought it would add to the narrative. That said, I felt like it was strange for me to have Miltia hate Ruby so much without an explanation.

That's also why I put the warning on this chapter. I've already put my perspective on trigger warnings before, but this goes into whole new messed up territory. The twins came from somewhere horrible. They had to in order to foil properly.

I tried my best to write it in a way that didn't delve into it too much. I honestly don't think I could have written those actual parts I was hinting at. It was brutal even having to put myself in that place just to get the in between parts.

For anyone worried, this is the absolute darkest the story should get. I think I've put down all the groundwork of horrible things that need to happen to people before they get to be happy.

... If they get to be happy...

And we also needed the reveal of Ruby summoning a glyph... Curious to what the reactions to this will be. I still don't think I've seen anyone get it fully right :D

Either you should get another chapter in a few days, or not until after holidays. Can't decide if I'm going to take the holidays to write something happy (because honestly, this is emotionally exhausting sometimes), or to really buckle down and get a buffer going for Letters again. Or maybe I'll work on my book book.

Who knows.

If I don't see you till after, merry mishmash and a happy new beer.

Cheers,

-Unjax