Chapter 32

Hello Darkness My Old Friend

Weiss sat on a low ledge cleaning Myrtenaster, giving her feet a well earned rest. She suspected them being sore had something to do with wearing heels into combat, but frowned at the idea as it sounded too much like something the uncouth blonde would say.

Her white heels were adorable despite their current condition, and if blisters on her feet and ridicule were the punishment for looking fabulous, then it was a sacrifice she was willing to make. If nothing else she didn't want to give Yang the satisfaction of seeing her take them off. Her pinky toe would just have to suffer.

Yang had given her no end of grief for purchasing the shoes, claiming they were worth a small fortune before showing her the price tag. Weiss ended up buying three pair, and even tipped a man to carry her bags out of the department store. It was hard for her friends to be annoyed though. The heiress always paid for lunch and bought gifts for them. Spending money for her friends came just as naturally as for herself, if not easier.

As she removed the black stains from her rapier with a cleaning rag and oil, Weiss couldn't help but notice how quiet the area seemed. She knew that every shadow could be holding a multitude of Grimm however, and kept a watchful eye on her back. She had an ice glyph at the ready should anything be foolish enough to think she was easy prey.

The heiress enjoyed the calm breeze blowing through her hair as she had let it down. She felt calm and relaxed for the first time since entering the city, but a part of her was missing the excitement. Her area had been clear of Grimm and she'd grown accustomed to the chaotic life of team RWBY, and deep down enjoyed it.

So naturally she contacted the most chaotic person she knew.

"Hey, Ruby," she said, pushing a button on her wrist scroll. "What's your kill count up to?"

If nothing else it gave her an excuse to check up on her partner. They were supposed to report back to each other at regular intervals, but it seemed Ruby had gotten distracted. No surprise there.

Silence...

"Ruby!" She said again a little louder in case her partner had gone deaf. "Weiss to dolt, come in, dolt. Do you read me?"

She noticed that beside Ruby's symbol there was a gray icon meaning she wasn't receiving the call.

Her left eye twitched in annoyance. "If you've muted me again I swear you'll wake up in an ice cube!"

Weiss grabbed her rapier and tied her hair back in a ponytail, storming off to where her partner was supposed to be patrolling. It was a long walk, and with throbbing feet it only made it seem longer.

Finally she rounded the corner to the playground, half expecting her partner to be going down the slide but the caped-girl was nowhere to be seen. Weiss noticed a red backpack laying up against the swing set and picked up the pace, her aching feet forgotten.

"Ruby!?" she called, cupping her hands together.

'She wouldn't just leave her ammo,' Weiss determined. 'Or her water...'

Weiss opened her scroll again but her partner still wasn't receiving her.

She looked for signs of a struggle but it was useless as the entire area had been a battleground. She ran for a nearby alley hoping her partner had simply wandered off. Ruby would receive a tongue lashing courtesy of the Ice Queen of course, but only after the heiress was done thanking her for being okay.

"RUBY!" she cried running into the darkness.

"We're never going to get first showers at this rate." Yang's shoulders slumped as she let her body fall to the ground.

"It's your own fault we're in this mess," Blake pointed out, collapsing beside her partner a moment later.

They were on the eastern side of the school overlooking an open field that had once been a parking lot decades ago. Many of the cars were under an overhang for protection against the elements, but the years had not been kind and had collapsed on all the vehicles underneath save for one. A motorcycle that had caught the blonde's eye and she'd made a note to come back for it later. Her teammates didn't have any vehicles in the student garage, and it'd be a shame to let this opportunity go to waste.

The faunus massaged the ears under her bow hoping they'd stop ringing. She was having to rely on her human ears at the moment which was like being in the dark.

"Why would you ever bet Ruby that we could kill more Grimm than her? Let alone her and Weiss."

"It sounded like a good idea at the time," Yang said defensively. "A little friendly competition never hurt anyone."

"Keep telling yourself that when you're taking a cold shower back at Beacon."

She sighed. "Rubes is gonna win this bet and probably kill half the Grimm in the city doing it."

Blake's jaw tightened and her knuckles turned white. "Don't forget why we're really here. The White Fang remember?"

Yang glanced over. "I haven't forgotten, Blake."

"Well somebody has..."

The blonde noticed how stiff her partner looked, the memory of her trying to sneak away still fresh in her mind.

"We'll find them, Blake. I promise."

"Professor Ozpin sent us on a wild goose chase," she muttered bitterly. "And now with the Grimm knowing where in the city, I'll never find the White Fang."

"Ozpin never guaranteed us they'd be here," Yang reminded her. "Ruby made a mistake with the Beowolf pack. It happens, but we're just gonna have to deal with it. And we're all looking for them, not just you."

Blake shook her head, her lip curled in a snarl. "Don't take this the wrong way, but it feels like your sister's just here so she can accomplish a mission and get closer to the Vytal Festival. I don't think she even cares about the White Fang, or Torchwick."

"Rubes does care," she breathed, scooting closer. "She cares because you care."

Her partner nodded, but she couldn't help but feel it wasn't nearly enough. She'd told her how Ruby's aura didn't look right, and how her scent was wrong, but the blonde had chalked it up to Ruby's new shampoo. To a faunus though, a person's scent wasn't much different from their soul, and it being different was like a perversion. Being around caped-girl made her uneasy.

"I have to find them." Her voice shook, and she wrapped her arms around her knees. "I have to."

If Blake could just stop the White Fang's plans in Vale, then maybe she could finally have have a clear conscience. Maybe then she could look herself in the mirror. Only then would she be one step closer to repairing the damage she'd done to the humans and faunus relations.

"I'll talk to Ruby tonight," Yang promised. "We'll find the White Fang, just be patient."

"I've been patient!" she snapped. "But the closer I get, the more I see Torchwick with his cane to Sun's head about to kill him. I can still remember how everyone looked after the Paladin fight, and after you passed out. I can still look at Ruby and sense she's not the same after that Beowolf woman nearly killed her."

She brushed her fingers against Gambol Shroud. "And I can still remember every single thing I did when I was with the White Fang..."

Yang tried filling the area with her usually comforting aura to calm her partner, but quickly gave up as it was still too violent from her semblance. Instead, she looked her partner in the eyes.

It wasn't uncommon for others to find the faunus' eyes strange, especially when they didn't know she was a faunus, but Yang's kept flickering back and forth between red and lilac as if she couldn't make up her mind, and even Blake found it a tad odd.

"Blake, none of us care what you did in the White Fang. You said so last night that you were trying to bring the humans and faunus together. You were doing what you thought was right."

"And what I thought was right was wrong." Resentment and self-loathing crept in her voice as her shadow grew.

She looked away from the strong gaze of her partner, and the blonde leaned her head against her's.

"Blake," she sighed. "I believe in living life with no regrets. One regret has been with me for a long time, and sometimes it makes me sick to think about. But there's nothing I can do about it now. All I can do is try to make things right as best as I can." She grabbed her partner's shoulder. "What's your biggest regret with the White Fang?"

The faunus stared out in the distance watching a stray cat scurry down a dark alley.

"That everything I did to help the faunus cause only ended up hurting us," she choked. "And that I was too much of a coward to leave sooner. I knew what we were, even long before I wanted to admit it..."

Yang nodded, and gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze, flaring her aura just for a fleeting moment.

"I still can't look Weiss in the eye..."

"She doesn't blame you, Blake."

"That's because she doesn't know everything yet. I'm part of the reason why she'll never fully trust a faunus ever again. Every time a Schnee or company member died, the White Fang celebrated... and I was one of them..."

Yang nodded again, but was slower and held her tongue. It was difficult for her to imagine her best friend wearing a Grimm mask as her identity, or cheering over someone's death.

"I'll never forgive Atlas, the Schnee Dust Company, or the Schnee family for what they've done to us throughout history, especially not for sending us to rot in Menagerie back when it was even more a hell hole. But Weiss didn't deserve to grow up like she did. If she knew what we-" She swallowed. "What I-"

Her partner stopped her. "She'd forgive you. For everything."

"You don't know that."

Yang paused, unsure herself what the heiress' reaction might be to hearing all that Blake had to say, but knew it still had to be said eventually.

She took a deep breath. Her partner could make a decision she regretted for the rest of her life, and she didn't want that to happen.

Yang coughed. "You know, I wasn't always the nicest person to my stepmom. To Summer I mean."

Blake glanced over confused at what this had to do with Weiss, but also surprised. Whenever Yang spoke of her stepmom, it always sounded as though they were close.

"Actually, I hated her for a long time," she admitted quietly.

"Why?" she asked before she could stop herself, looking down at the girl resting on her shoulder.

Yang let out a heavy sigh. "Because she left me with my dad, and took Ruby away from us."

The faunus was speechless, having never thought of it like that.

"After Rubes was born, I thought we were gonna be a family, and that I would have a mom again." She blinked her moist, crimson eyes. "But when she left with Ruby, it seemed like everything fell apart. My uncle Qrow spent more time with Ruby than at Signal with me, and Dad didn't exactly know what to do with a daughter. I felt like I was all alone. I'd still see Ruby and stay with Summer occasionally, but it wasn't the same as being a real family."

She let out a deep breath, "Looking back, I realize it wasn't her fault. She was just doing what she thought was right. Summer loved me, and treated me like her own. I can't imagine what she must have thought of me though."

"You were just a kid," Blake sympathized, absently playing with her hair.

Yang nodded, although reluctantly. "But it doesn't change the fact that I said a lot of nasty things back then, and now I can't ever take them back. I should've told her how much she meant to me, and that she was the best mom I could've asked for."

Her eyes changed back to lilac for a moment. "What I'm trying say is, don't live with regrets. If Weiss is mad at you then let her be mad. Either way she deserves to hear the truth."

Her partner's words weighed heavily on Blake's mind. For her entire life she had hated the Schnee family as if it were every faunus' right. To her, they had been nothing more than tyrants believing they were the royalty from long ago. Meeting Weiss for the first time hadn't changed her opinion, but at some point she had started to see the heiress for what she was, a close friend and a good person.

Yang glanced up at her. "Please don't run from this."

Blake shook her head. "I won't," she promised, face to face with her partner. "When we finish the mission, I'll tell Weiss everything."

The blonde smiled. "Good."

"RUBY!"

Both girls jumped to their feet as the heiress ran into view holding her scroll and Ruby's red backpack.

Normally, Blake would have heard her running toward them, but her ears were still buzzing from the battle.

Their hearts stopped seeing the terror on her ghostly pale face.

"Weiss, what's wrong?!" Yang demanded as she ran to meet her with Blake by her side.

"It's Ruby," she gasped breathlessly. "I can't find her anywhere."

The color drained from the blonde as her worst nightmare had come true.

'She's all we have left of Summer,' her father's words repeated back to her.

"I've tried calling, but there's nothing." The heiress covered her mouth and looked as though she were going to be sick. She had scouted the entire area and had seen no trace of the girl.

She couldn't meet Yang in the eyes.

"Let me try." Blake opened her scroll. All thoughts of the White Fang were gone as were her thoughts on Ruby's leadership. All that mattered was finding her. "Ruby, come in. Can you hear me?"

*static*

"Ruby, can you hear me?" she repeated.

*static*

"That's all I get," Weiss affirmed. "Her wrist scroll must be broken or-"

The faunus shook her head. "She has her regular scroll too. Can you still read her vitals?"

Weiss whimpered,wiping her eyes. "No."

Yang let out a cry sounding like a wounded animal, and it pulled at the girl's hearts.

"Doesn't mean anything," Blake said, trying to comfort her grief stricken partner. "Ruby's fine. There could be interference or something jamming the signal."

She was grasping at straws and they all knew it. Scrolls didn't just stop working.

Both Blake and Weiss were pushed away by the blonde's aura as it became hot and hostile, and the very air they were breathing became violent. There was also something else new to her aura neither girl had ever felt or seen in Yang's aura before. Fear and pure terror.

"Why weren't you watching her!?" she growled to the heiress.

Weiss cowered in fear. "Yang, I'm sor-"

"RUBY!?"

The blonde's mane burst into flames and she reached for the heiress' throat but Blake grabbed hold of her pressing through her aura. She grimaced and could almost feel her partner's power tearing her apart.

"Stop it, Yang!" Blake commanded. "It isn't her fault. We'll find her! We'll find Ruby!"

"Let me go!"

"Not until you and your semblance calm down!"

Weiss fell to her knees knowing it was her fault. They were supposed to stick close to each other and she knew Ruby wasn't fit in her current condition. If anything happened to her partner, she'd never forgive herself, and neither would Yang...

"I'm so sorry," she said again. "I'm so sorry."

A tear fell from her face as Yang continued to struggle.

Finally, a hand got free and she swung a right hook at the heiress' jaw.

Weiss could see it coming, but didn't even flinch as she watched it come her way.

This would be the end of her troubles, but the faunus appeared before her at the very last second, absorbing the punch with her midsection.

Ember Celica discharged into Blake's chest creating a red cloud of mist.

Weiss looked up and her mouth fell open, and Yang's crimson eyes went wide.

"BLAKE!" she screamed.

The shadow dissipated and Blake's arms were around the blonde, this time as an embrace.

Yang willingly burned up the rest of her semblance and fell to her knees, her aura feeling as though it had been torn in two just like her heart.

"I had to do it, Yang..." Blake whispered, rubbing her back and pressing their heads together.

She looked at her teammates with shame written on her face. "I'm sorry," she swallowed. "I'm sorry, I-I couldn't stop myself."

Weiss stared at the pair knowing that the blonde's semblance filled punch and high grade dust would've easily sent her to the hospital in her current condition, if not killed her instantly. She wouldn't have complained.

"It's okay," Blake soothed, trying to be the calming influence on her team for once. "She's your sister. We understand"

She glanced over at Weiss who slowly nodded but still had fear in her eyes.

"Come on." She released the blonde and extended hands to her teammates. "We have to find Ruby."

Blake lifted them both to their feet. Weiss was an absolute wreck and Yang looked even worse, but she suspected she didn't look any better.

"Where did you last see her?"

Weiss' heart pounded in her chest. "On the western side of the school, but I looked everywhere for her."

"Why didn't you call us?" Yang demanded not too kindly.

Blake could see terror still in Weiss' eyes and immediately understood. How do you tell someone that you can't find their sister, and that they're probably be dead?

The faunus ignored the question and instead focused on the problem. "Weiss, go and find Oobleck. We need his help. Yang, we'll look for Ruby together."

She didn't want her partner to be alone. If Ruby was indeed... gone, then that would be the worst thing possible for her.

The blonde nodded, grateful to have Blake with her.

"She'll be okay," Weiss said, seemingly trying to convince herself more than anyone. "She can take care of herself."

Blake nodded. If anyone could survive in the lost city by themself, it was the caped-girl. But in her current condition who knew how far she could make it.

"Come on," Yang said, tired of standing around. "Let's go."

She picked up her backpack and turned to run.

"Yang," Blake stopped her. "Other way."

The blonde halted and turned the other way looking starry eyed. Weiss looked over at Blake.

"I'll keep an eye on her," she promised.

"I'm so sorry," Weiss said tearfully.

Blake grabbed her shoulder. "It's not your fault. It'll be fine, Weiss. Don't worry, we'll find her."

"Please find her," she begged. "Please..."

The faunus nodded, and released the heiress to quickly catch up with her partner, but glanced back to see her still frozen in place.

'It's your blood that's red like roses...'

The words ran through all their minds, and they could hear the words in Ruby's frail voice from the night before. They had such a darker meaning now.

"Please be okay," Weiss prayed. "Please let her be okay..."

Ruby awoke with water dripping on her face. Her eyelids fluttered open and she rolled over to her stomach groaning. She lay there in torment as the pain began registering. Her aura had saved her life, but just.

She cursed as she grabbed her right shoulder. "Why is it always the shoulder?" she muttered through clenched teeth, digging her face into the dirt.

She tried to lift her body, but fell back onto her stomach when the world began to spin. She closed her eyes and began doing a mental checklist over her body. Everything hurt, but nothing felt broken. Her aura was nearly gone, meaning her injuries wouldn't be getting better anytime soon, and suspected they'd only get worse as time went on. The red dust burns and glass lacerations were returning. She could feel them...

"Get up." Ruby ordered.

On shaky hands and knees, the caped-girl fought back the pain. She reached around her belt for Crescent Rose so she'd have something to lean on, and something to comfort her.

"Crescent?" she asked when her hand was met with open air.

In the darkness, she felt around for her baby but came to a horrifying realization. She tilted her head as far as it would go and squinted hard to see. High above and barely a red dot was Crescent Rose embedded in the stone where she had fallen from, where daylight trickled down but was nearly lost in the darkness.

Then she remembered why she had let go of her baby.

'The Mimic...'

Ruby stumbled unable to see where she was going or what was ahead of her. She opened her scroll to get some light and turned on team chat.

"Yang!" she cried. "I need help!"

*static*

"Weiss, please come in!" she begged. "Blake!"

No response and no signal...

Ruby's head sank and her eyes watered in frustration, giving her the strength to stand up.

"Please help me, someone..."

Chung chung!

Ruby froze and instinctively raised her hands as she felt something press against her back.

"Don't move," ordered the man holding the gun. His voice sounded as though it was coming from behind a mask.

"I'm not," she verified, doing her best to control her voice.

'Congratulations, dolt,' she scolded herself. 'You found the White Fang all by yourself.'

"You lost little girl?" the masked man mocked. "Maybe we should go find your mommy and daddy."

"Listen, we need to get out of here," she said ignoring his taunts. "There's a Mimic and-"

"A Mimic?" He laughed. "Aren't you a little old to still be reading fairy tales?"

"No listen to me! It's down here with us!"

The man clicked his tongue. "Sorry to break it to you, kiddo, but I don't see a thing. Only a lost little girl wearing a red hood."

She swallowed remembering that most faunus had night vision. A part of her felt revealed the Mimic hadn't followed, but then she remembered there was a gun pressed into her back.

'No problem.' She found herself smirking.

"Besides, as long as we leave the Grimm alone, they leave us faunus alone."

Ruby furrowed her brow in the darkness. What did he mean by that? What did being a faunus have to do with Grimm?

She was taken out of her moment as the gun pressed harder into her spine causing her to flinch.

"Now why don't you tell me why you're in the lost city, brat. You a student at Beacon or something?"

The caped-girl took a deep breath and focused what little aura she had left. All she needed was a second.

"You really shouldn't put a rifle up against someone's back," she informed calmly.

The shotgun pressed harder into her spine making her smile through clenched teeth.

'Perfect.'

"And why is that?" He scratched his finger on the trigger.

"Because it makes it real easy to-"

Ruby spun making sure she had a hand on the gun and flared her semblance. She brought a boot across the side of his masked man's head knocking him to the ground unconscious.

"-to do that," she finished, out of breath and falling to her knees again.

She couldn't help but feel that she had done her Uncle Qrow proud, but she also could help but feel extremely tired and sluggish.

Ruby looked for an exit but could only see darkness.

'Why didn't you bring a flashlight, dolt?'

She paused. "I've been hanging out with Weiss too much."

Ruby got on shaky legs and opened her scroll again so she'd at least have some light, and was painfully aware that both faunus and Grimm could see in the dark.

She bumped into a wall and began to follow it, remembering something about mazes that if you hug a wall you'll come to an exit eventually. The caped-girl wondered if it still worked in the dark when being hunted.

The scroll didn't give off much light however, and Ruby's knees buckled as she tripped on the uneven ground. The gun skidded across the ground along with her scroll which closed, leaving her in the dark.

Ruby crawled to the gun and was relieved to have a hand on it again. She tried to lift it but it wouldn't budge, and tried both hands but something was on top of it. She felt around and held her breath.

It was a boot...

She looked up but couldn't make out the white mask in the darkness.

"Marco," said the foot's owner.

She turned to run. "Polo," said another voice.

A boot crashed into the caped-girl's skull and she collapsed to the ground lifelessly. The masked man wearing glasses stooped down and tied a cable around her arms and legs, and threw her on the other's shoulders.

"Torchwick isn't gonna like this..."

(A/N: Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. Yang and Blake finally got a scene to themselves so I hope you liked it. Yang's reaction to being told her sister may be dead felt natural to me seeing how her semblance was already active. I didn't like the idea of her actually harming her friends so I went with Blake's shadow instead. Don't worry about the Mimic it isn't gone forever. It's an ambush predator so attacking a group wouldn't be its style. Plus there is something between the faunus and Grimm going on. Once again thank you everyone for supporting me and the story. I can't tell you how much I appreciate all of you. To those going to RTX have fun and be safe traveling. All credit goes to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ who has made this story possible and to Him goes all the glory. God bless