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spottoI'm so full.
And bleh.
How about that latest RWBY episode eh? Egads.
OH YEAH CHAPTER NINE HA HA
I hope all one of you enjoyed chapter eight!
Here we go!
9
Was the route to Vale Correctional always this busy?
A man with platinum gold hair waited in his car on the several backed up roads. He had a greying five-o-clock shadow that bordered his entire jaw and surrounded his mouth. His eyebrows were bushy and low, eyes focused on the road despite its stillness. This may have been only the third time he had taken these highways, but every single time all the vehicles would be backed up from Tibet to Newfoundland. After missing half-an-hour of his designated visiting time the first time around, Taiyang Xiao Long left his house extra early each time afterwards, and thankfully he did because these cars always seemed to remain from the last time he was driving there. In fact what looked like a police truck was just a few cars in front of him and that vehicle was doing no favours to helping the traffic along. The driver had even stepped out to shake his fists at a car adjacent to his. He knew the man was a police officer but he certainly wasn't acting like one, where they'd search a vehicle or request for ID. He was more like someone in the middle of quite obvious road rage than anything. Taiyang rolled his windows down, perhaps listening to the commotion would make time fly by.
"You think you can honk at me, a cop!?" He banged on the other car's windows, "If I wasn't transporting a whole bunch of people right now I'd toss you in with them! Hey! Don't ignore me! I saw you cutting off that poor truck two miles back! If I was a traffic officer your ass would be screwed!"
Nah, it wasn't worth it. He rolled his windows back up.
Though they were on the highway the scenery was quite nice. They were next to some rural lands and some of them had trees blossoming flowers. The farm on the other side even had a few lines full of rose brushes, which were all at bloom. They only reminded him more of the predicament his family was in. To think, he had not one but two children locked up so far away he barely had the time to ever see them. If his wife was still around she'd have scolded him so hard for failing as a father. He knew if his beautiful wife Summer was still alive, none of this could have ever happened. Both Yang and Ruby would have had such guidance from the wise woman that they'd probably be overachieving at whatever goals they had by now, taking society by storm.
Yang's case was inevitable. Ever since her own mother disappeared, Yang had always been a very difficult child to raise. She had always been a girl too big for the small humble home they lived in. She needed the outdoors, the people outside for her life to be fulfilling, if only the people she ended up associating with were well, normal people. As early as age thirteen Yang would start coming home at absurd hours and no matter how often he had reprimanded and grounded Yang she could find some way to slip away. It was of no surprise when four years later she moved out entirely. Taiyang wondered where he went wrong with her. He knew losing two mothers was going to take a huge toll on Yang, but on the other hand, she had a wonderful relationship with his second daughter Ruby. It got to the point Taiyang feared Ruby would follow in her big sister's footsteps, but for the longest time it didn't seem that fear was ever justified.
Ruby was practically her opposite, preferring to stay home keeping herself huddled in her room. It got to the point that Taiyang became worried that she wasn't socializing with people enough, especially when Yang had too many friends and Ruby barely had any. He thought signing her up for the lacrosse team would be a good idea, and it was. Ruby flourished in that environment, becoming the most valuable player as well and bringing a championship to their school. Though Ruby often took part in the practices, she wasn't always there. She'd want to win for her team as fast as possible so she could run home and continue with her projects. The school offered a rare drafting class once and Ruby signed up, but when there weren't enough applicants it was cancelled. Ruby was crushed, but she didn't let that sway her. She offered to teach the class herself. The school thought this idea was outrageous, but let her try and the eight or so students who had signed up with her had this small mini-class that Ruby was thrilled to have. Now she found away to pursue her hobbies even during school.
They could barely make a living as is, but with Ruby a shut-in and Yang having moved out, he thought a dog would be fitting for Ruby in particular. If she wasn't up to being with people all that often, a pet could at least stick around while she was pursuing her interests. Ruby was so happy that Christmas morning when Zwei leapt out of the box. Yang even came home more often than not to help Ruby walk the dog. He gave up several luxuries to be able to afford Zwei, heading out earlier in the mornings to take public transit over driving his car to work and being far more stingy with his grocery budget. Had Yang still been home he probably would never have been able to afford the dog at all, so it was in a way, a win-win, bringing her home more often and thus bringing them closer together. The money he saved on repairing the shower that Yang had a tendency to clog was already a tenfold.
When Yang was arrested, he was disappointed but not surprised. There was no trial; Yang made it apparent she really didn't want her family spending anything on lawyers for her. She also knew how far away she was taken and told her family they didn't need to visit or anything like that. Taiyang barely had time as is, but Ruby insisted on visiting her sister as often as possible, even when her father was at work. While he knew Yang was on the crossroads he definitely wasn't going to give up on her. The moment she was released Taiyang was going to drag her back home, and force her on the right path if he had to. He had let her get away far too often and he had to be a proper parent, stern, a disciplinarian if he had to so Yang could earn a proper future.
So it was of utmost disbelief when he picked up the phone one night, and Ruby was barely able to speak, choked up as she was on the other side. He didn't realize Ruby wasn't even home, having seen her head to bed a few hours earlier. Had Ruby sneaked out as well, just like Yang would always do? That was preposterous. When Ruby was finally able to tell him where she was, his heart dropped. Yang, it was expected, but not Ruby. Ruby who reminded him so much of his late wife with the same determined eyes, never to let anyone stop her from her goals, whether it was pursuing her dreams or achieving championships. Unlike Yang this came out of nowhere. He was blindsided. He was failing as a father twice, and this time he wasn't even aware. When he realized what Ruby had done, he knew he had missed something. If only he was home often enough to ask and take part in the interests Ruby had. He should have seen it coming. Ruby had stolen her mother's old pistol numerous times, wanting to take it apart. It was not just that, but she'd break several other electronics or objects and try to attach them together in a shape that roughly resembled a rifle when she was young. A child of that age being obsessed with such deadly items was not normal whatsoever, but he didn't inhibit Ruby's interests. Boys were given toy guns at very young ages and they'd jump around pretending to shoot each other for fun. If it was acceptable for them it should have been fine with Ruby.
Still, what Ruby had done was not nearly as serious as Yang's case. He figured Ruby would be let go with a slap on the wrist, community service perhaps? But no, this time with actual lawyers they weren't able to gain any leverage in the case, and she as he had feared, went exactly where Yang was. The family was now torn apart. He had failed them both. He knew raising two children on his own was difficult as it is, but for everything to turn out like this, he had completely messed up as a father.
What would Summer have done?
Fortunately for him, Ruby had inherited her mother's spirit. He had visited his daughters a month before and could barely spare much time to make the three-hour commute over, but he had to be there for Ruby today, even if she was to be released in less than a week. Yang too, was to be released fairly soon, a little over a week so visiting now of all times was inefficient in terms of time. There was a program inside the prison system for those who never graduated to earn their diplomas. Ruby was only supposed to learn as much as she needed so she wouldn't fall behind when she went back at school, but instead at the young age of sixteen, Ruby was already graduating. She overachieved even in a place filled with underachievers. He didn't realize he could feel so proud with two children locked up away, but Ruby was incredible. She could go to college two years early. Who knew this would be the result after all that heartbreak?
HONK!
Taiyang's trance was dashed the moment a horn went off, the car in front of him long gone. The traffic jam was finally over and it only took several minutes of reminiscing for it to move. He had no time to hesitate, his young daughter waiting for him several miles away. He pressed onto the accelerator, heading forwards, the only possible direction people could go. Summer had often said so.
-
"Dad!!" Ruby held her arms wide open as she ran to her father who had just entered the visiting room. She leapt into his arms who lifted her in the air and spun her around. Taiyang was glad he was still able to do this with Ruby, who hadn't reached her growth spurt yet oddly enough. When Yang was taller than Taiyang himself he knew Ruby should be around that height sooner rather than later, especially with Ruby's love of milk. Maybe there wasn't any milk in prison?
Yang was less enthusiastic walking up to them, but her signature wide grin was there on her face, "Hey dad."
"Ruby, Yang, oh I'm so proud," Taiyang sniffed, grabbing a tissue from the tissue boxes that sat on the table. People did cry a lot at visiting hours for whatever reason.
Ruby waved her diploma in his face, "Bet you didn't expect me to have this so soon!"
Taiyang grabbed the ceremonial sheet of paper, seeing Ruby's name and some important faculty member from the education system's signature on it as well. This was the proof he needed, "Ruby, this is just, the best present you could ever give your father."
"Ruby's always been a nerd. Is this really that surprising?" Yang shrugged.
"You could learn a thing or two from your sister's dedication," Taiyang lectured. Oh, one of the stereotypical Asian family parenting methods, attempting to stir up competition or jealousy among siblings to make them all overachieve. Yang wondered what child wasn't immune to this by now.
"Dad I've already graduated you know," Yang reminded, "Sides, I didn't have Weiss when I was younger, like Rubes here did."
Weiss was someone Ruby and to an extent Yang spoke about very often. It was indeed rather unexpected for either of them to not only know, but befriend someone who sounded as intelligent as Weiss. What kind of people were put inside here anyway? He would need to thank her somehow for her guidance on Ruby's studies. He had heard she was not going to be released anytime soon, so he wondered even if she had benefited Ruby's academics, if she was still ultimately a poor influence. Without having met her Taiyang wouldn't know. He was determined to meet her at some point just to be sure.
The bearded man turned his attention to Yang, "Now Yang, since the two of you are getting out soon I want you to come home."
"Dad, I already moved out. Besides I'm an adult now. You can't tell me what to do," Yang playfully crossed her arms and turned away in a perhaps subconscious attempt to emulate Weiss.
"Yang, it's for your own good. I will not take a no from you," Taiyang kept his voice loud, commanding, and stern, "In fact I will start on both your college applications before either of you are out. Are there any places you two prefer?"
Yang purposely did not return her father's eye contact, while Ruby was rubbing the back of her head, speaking up instead, "Actually dad, I was hoping to not go to school for a year. You know since I graduated super early and all."
"Ruby," Taiyang frowned, "You just spent six months here. Even with your schooling you must've had plenty of free time to do whatever it is you want."
Yang sighed, throwing her head back in frustration, "Dad for the last time the only thing we were allowed to do here is like pump weights and read. Ruby hasn't built anything for six months! I'm sure that's the first thing she'd want to do after eating a cookie anyway."
"But Ruby enjoys books and you enjoy exercise! I do not see the problem here," Taiyang reasoned.
Ruby shook her head, "Yang's right. I really just want a year to work on my projects again. Maybe?"
Taiyang crossed his burly, hairy arms, staring down upon his vertically-challenged daughter, "I forbid it."
"But dad! Why?" Ruby had always thought freedom would be more desirable than this.
"Wasn't those projects why you ended up here in the first place?" He shook his head, "I refuse to allow either of you to do anything that may land you in here again."
Ruby clung onto her father's arm, "But dad! You can't!"
"I'm sorry Ruby I have to put my foot down," He said, "Both of you, please. I just want you two to have normal lives like normal people. Work on your futures instead of always thinking about the present."
The younger daughter grabbed her diploma back with a surprising amount of force. Taiyang wondered if Ruby had been exercising herself. She did look a little thicker than before, though from her baggy clothes still seemed like she had the physique of an average sixteen-year-old girl. Before Taiyang could even think more about Ruby's physical growth, he saw his daughter grab the top of her diploma, both her index fingers and thumbs in a familiar position.
"If you won't let me do what I love, then I guess I won't be needing this!"
Taiyang widened his eyes, his pulse quickening as he realized what Ruby was about to do. He wouldn't have been able to react in time, Ruby about to ruin her future in one fell stroke. Luckily for him and for Ruby, Yang pulled the diploma away from her just in time.
"Oi! What do you think you're doing sis!?" Yang held the diploma high up, away from Ruby's reach, "I don't agree with dad either but you don't need to resort to something so stupid!"
Ruby was attempting to climb Xiao Long peaks to destroy what was embedded at the very top, but Yang stepped further away from Ruby, protecting the piece of paper with all her might, "I don't care, Yang! What's the point if I'm forced to do something I don't even like!?"
"Seriously, imagine how Weiss would react if she saw you do that! After all those hours I overheard you two working on homework!" Yang noticed Blake was the guard, as always, at the door of the visiting room. She gestured her over, "Hey Blake! Can you laminate this for me?"
Blake approached them and took the diploma despite what she said next, "I'm not your secretary Yang."
"Whatever, chop chop!" Yang clapped as she pulled her sister into a one handed embrace to keep her from chasing the one scroll she must destroy. Blake rolled her eyes and left the room, assigning a different guard to watch the inmates.
Taiyang meanwhile stood stunned. He had never once seen Ruby so rebellious. Heck, he had never seen Ruby rebellious at all. She had always been the good girl to Yang's bad, and yet here he was watching the two fight, Yang the one more concerned for Ruby's future than Ruby herself. She was so prepared to rip that diploma in half, so prepared to disobey her father all for what? A bunch of trinkets she really liked to toy with? For once in his life Taiyang couldn't understand his daughter. Ruby could accomplish so much; why was throwing away all of it so easy for her? Then again, Ruby did turn sixteen just a few months ago and these were the heightened teenage ages where people were disobedient the most but still. He never would've expected his beautiful daughter to be capable of doing something like that. Perhaps this place really was an awful influence, filled with no doubt criminals of much more serious calibre than Ruby. He had to bring the two home as soon as possible.
The rest of the visit afterwards went awkwardly. Yang attempted some conversation but Ruby remained silent, a stark refusal to speak to her father. Taiyang did whatever he could to open Ruby up, but she was constantly looking away, as if the surroundings or the guards or the other inmates were far more interesting than her family. He left the facility frustrated, but determined to bring them home and set them on the right path. Their mothers would have never wanted this, the way they were now. He had to be a father to them, a parent they so desperately needed.
-
Weiss laid on her bed in her cell during free time. She felt no desire to mingle with a bunch of criminals especially since Ruby and Yang had yet to return from their visit. A book rested on top of her face, which she had been mildly interested in for a while but wasn't invested enough to finish. It was odd because of the absurd amount of time she had, yet she still felt no need to continue reading the novel, leaving it on her face and remaining in bed. The past few months were quite hectic. When she was segregated, she wanted to, for the lack of a more sophisticated term, end her existence. She would have never admitted it to a single soul, but her life always did feel a little lonely, what with a lack of friends and a father who paid little attention to her, causing her to throw most of everything into her academics. Yet paradoxically she couldn't stand most people and preferred to remain alone as much as possible. She thought a vacation from all the idiots in this prison was what she needed after that horrid trip by that sorry excuse of a police academy, but no. When she was young, sixty seconds was an awfully long time to count. She could never have imagined she'd be able to count up to one-million, eight-hundred-fourteen-thousand, and four-hundred seconds, which was about twenty-one days. She didn't count each second every single second, but she kept track of the time at such frequent intervals she felt more like a machine than a human at times. There was nothing to do, nothing to see, no one to talk to, nowhere to flee.
It was admittedly very self-destructive to write so many letters while she was in there. She wrote several words she couldn't believe she did. It made her sound so pitiful, like an injured fox who bit off its foot when it was trapped. Running around on a bloody stump that was going to suffer from some ghastly infection like gangrene was grounds for euthanasia. On the bright side she was almost completely sure nobody else saw those letters so she was able to rip them into such tiny pieces no one would bother to put together to decipher. The almost was the key however. There was one night, one she could actually pinpoint in the haze of days that mixed together, so endless and melded together they were. Initially she thought it was a dream because dreams were the most exciting parts of her stay there. She recalled deep golden pools in the pitch blackness and even the sensation her head was being held slightly over the pillow she rested on. That was it and by itself it wouldn't have been anything interesting at all, but she woke to her letters on the floor, a few of them dried like they had been wet by something, tears? Did Weiss forget she allowed her own emotions to fall onto her pathetic words? Even if that was the case, there was no explanation for the faint footprint left on the closest letter.
The footprint was different from those of the guards. She studied them very carefully, so either it really was a guard who decided on different footwear that violated protocol for whatever reason, or someone else had broken in to stare at her like a creep. The thought haunted Weiss for several weeks. When she finally returned to general population she subconsciously stuck around Ruby far closer than she normally did for several weeks, the lack of any human interaction affecting her that deeply. Ruby didn't seem to mind but brought it up a few times. Even when she wasn't there, in particular during class hours she'd gravitate towards Yang. Yang infuriated her but kept her company nonetheless. She never thanked either of them verbally, but inside she was grateful. The one stark contrast was Blake. When Yang and Ruby were both away, the rare times that ever occurred, Weiss thought she'd at least stick to the person who she was third most familiar with. But she always found herself wanting to stay away from her as far as possible. She wasn't even sure why.
Then she realized Blake had the same eyes. It reminded her too much of that night, which kept her awake occasionally, those same golden eyes that would stare deep into her skull, straight into her like it wanted something. Weiss wasn't sure what it had wanted, but they were certainly intimidating enough to get it, had that person ever spoke. The thought did occur to her that maybe Blake and those golden eyes were one and the same, but that didn't even make sense. Blake would be wearing the uniform heels, and there would be no reason she'd enter her cell to stare at her, unless she had some twisted crush or something. She knew Blake was not fond of her, and she returned that sentiment so long as Blake kept it up, so it made absolutely no sense in her mind.
Because of this Weiss' arguments with Blake dwindled until they stopped speaking to one another entirely. Blake was still around, so long as Ruby and Yang were there. She was Yang and Ruby's friend after all despite being a guard, so Weiss tolerated her presence. Aside from her eyes Blake seemed rather harmless overall. She continued her work like normal as if nothing ever happened, so Weiss chose to believe the eyes were a coincidence.
Just then Weiss heard the door to the cell slide open and she sat up, book comically falling from her face onto her stomach. It was a hardback cover, so its impact on her abdomen was somewhat painful, but Weiss ignored it. Ruby stepped in, not at all her usual optimistic self. She kept her gaze downwards, sliding the door closed once again but not with any force that would have caused the loud metal noise. She didn't even glance once at Weiss before kicking the chair to their desk to the floor, her fists balled and her demeanour distracted.
"What are you doing!?" Weiss called out, though it seemed Ruby didn't even hear.
She remained standing, staring at the cabinet above the sink. Her lack of a response was highly unusual to Weiss, who calmed before raising her voice again, a different tone entirely, "Is something the matter Ruby?"
Weiss was of course capable of such words, but rarely did any situation justified it when she would much rather scold and yell at people.
"My dad is so stupid!" Ruby flung her arms out, falling over to lie on the desk.
"I can certainly empathize with that," Weiss offered a few words. Fathers, they were useless as useless could be.
Ruby shook her head, "No you don't get it. He thinks my hobby is like one-hundred-percent illegal, so I'm not allowed to have it anymore."
"How preposterous. Building dangerous weapons? Perfectly legal. Everyone does it." Weiss couldn't help but snark.
"They're not dangerous if I never load live rounds into them," Ruby explained, "If it's just rubber bullets or something they're not worse than an airsoft gun."
Weiss shifted her position to be a little closer to Ruby, "If I'm not mistaken airsoft guns are only spring loaded or at the very least far weaker than real guns. If you build something that can shoot actual bullets even if you don't load any, that's still illegal."
"You're not on my side at all!" Ruby turned away from Weiss, the wall nearby indeed on her side.
"Oh no I'm just saying your father has a point," Weiss found those words to be rather irritating, "as much as I'd hate to say something like that. If you still want to build those guns of yours despite what the law says, I wouldn't stop you."
"More like you couldn't stop me," Ruby corrected, "How long do you have left here again?"
Weiss grumbled, "Do not remind me."
"I will make sure to come visit lots!" Ruby bounded up, her mood suddenly reverting to its normal state, "What's your favourite cookie? I'll bake some for you!"
"That won't be necessary Ruby," Weiss rolled her eyes.
"No, I insist!" Ruby leapt off the table.
Weiss sighed, "Cookies are a bit too sweet for me anyway."
An inhale as loud as a firecracker was heard from the younger inmate, "You take that back!"
"I suppose the almond cookies aren't so bad," Weiss let out, turning away.
"Yes!" Ruby fist pumped both her fists, noticing the photos she had still taped throughout the walls. She had added more over time thanks to her father sending them over via the mail and through visits. She figured with her release a few days away she should be taking them down soon. Then of course, the photos reminded her of something else.
Ruby pulled Weiss close, "Selfie!" A flash.
"Whuthdahtwhat—what!?" Weiss blinked, still trying to process what just happened.
Ruby chuckled, "Wow look at your face Weiss. You weren't ready at all!" She revealed her phone to Weiss, who was about to leap head-first into panic mode.
"Where did you get that!?" Weiss' voice jumped an octave.
"Hm? I asked Yang to bring one in because I don't want to leave without a photo of you, Weiss!"
"Are you insane!? This is contraband! You're being released in six days! They'll find this out and keep you inside longer!"
Ruby did not take her panic seriously whatsoever, "Oh don't be silly Weiss. One week longer inside is worth a photo of you."
"No! You don't understand! That drug charge months ago means you already have two strikes! You'll be thrown in the hole!" Weiss' arms were going all over the place.
"Well, even that is worth a photo of you."
Weiss didn't know if she should feel touched or horrified, "No! Don't underestimate segregation! It could literally kill you!"
"Having this is really minor; it'd probably be no longer than a week anyway," Ruby shrugged, "Even if it feels forever, it's still worth it."
"You can't wait until I'm out too!?" She wanted to shake the idiocy out of Ruby so badly, but a guard might notice and consider it assault.
Ruby remained calm in front of Weiss' jitters, "But Weiss that's like years! I can't wait years! What if I forget what you look like?"
"How!? You're going to visit me!"
"Oh yeah, but only seeing you once a month would suck," Ruby mused, "Seriously Weiss, don't worry about it."
Weiss searched through her mind all the things she could possibly do to save Ruby, "You can contact Pyrrha! She still has some pictures of me as a child! That could work until I'm released!"
"Wow, are you giving me permission to look at your baby pictures?"
Weiss grabbed Ruby's shoulders, "No I just don't want you to go through what I did!"
"It's fine," Ruby assured once more, "Unlike Yang I'm fine with being alone. You told me we could write inside right? Then I'd just design stuff until the days are up. It's all okay!"
Ruby threw the phone in her large duffel bag full of stuff she was taking with her in six days, "I'm not planning to be caught anyway."
"Ruby..." Weiss was exasperated, not knowing what else to do.
"Anyway I'm heading off to the yard!" Ruby stretched her limbs, "That visit made me want to run around and punch things, so I'm gonna get rid of this energy before it's too late. Wanna come?"
Weiss shook her head to decline. She normally didn't mind heading out to the yard especially on an early spring day like today, where the trees they were able to make out above the razor wire would be blossoming some dazzling flowers. She'd also be able to see several fit women doing sports or pushing weights, sweaty as sweaty could be, which was not an unwelcome sight to Weiss. Still she suddenly had an idea to make sure Ruby didn't ruin her last few days here and she needed to be alone in her cell with the offending cell to do so. Ruby shrugged and slid open the doors, heading out. As soon as Weiss was sure Ruby had left the building entirely did she shuffle through Ruby's duffel bag, finally pulling out the phone. She knew this was likely a bad idea on her part, but Weiss did not know what else to do. At the very least since she had done nothing wrong since the day of the so-called assault on an officer, her strikes were reset to zero. If she was found with the phone instead she wasn't going straight to Cellblock C like Ruby. Weiss hid the phone underneath her pillow before stepping out herself, thinking of returning this book she wasn't interested in finishing at the library.
As soon as she left her cell, a whole bunch of inmates, faunus mixed with humans, swarmed Weiss.
"Hey, Ice Queen!" One of them called.
"Oh what now?" Weiss was not in the mood to entertain the masses.
The ringleader of the group, a dirty blonde haired person who stood a foot taller than Weiss, approached her, "We have a proposition."
"No," Weiss instantly said, trying to split the crowd and leave.
Blake had her second cup of coffee today, which was a shame as she didn't like coffee as much as she loved tea. Unfortunately when they had that one meeting some weeks back about returning tea to the snack area, the votes were against this idea thirty-to-twenty-four. Blake internally cursed all her colleagues, even though some of them did vote for the resurgence of tea. She instead had to rely on the brown beverage to keep herself awake, having once again gotten little sleep last night. Ever since the incidents months ago, Blake had done everything in her power to avoid the White Fang and that included sneaking a cot into her office and sleeping at the prison. She still returned to the penthouse from time-to-time to pay rent and remind Sun she was still alive, especially since she had never told Adam or the White Fang or really anyone at all for that matter she had moved out of her bachelor pad across town. In fact, she kept up the rent of her old cheap little place to make it seem like she still lived there. It sounded like a good idea to someone like Blake whose whereabouts were a necessity to keep secret.
So as she rounded the corner, heading towards the exit to watch the inmates outside, she was surprised to see a large crowd and the one girl that she felt was avoiding her these past few months. They didn't seem to be any sort of unified group, people of all sorts of races and sizes wound up together. She even saw Yang's cellmate, Velvet, standing near the back. It looked like they were all heckling her, so Blake thought it might have been a good idea to have them disperse. She approached.
"You want me to hide it in my what!?" Weiss shrieked.
One of members of the crowd turned around and noticed Blake arriving, "Oh shit! Guard at ten o'clock! I repeat! Guard at ten o'clock!"
It seemed Blake's sheer presence was enough for the crowd to run off, leaving Weiss standing there dumbfounded in the middle. She was left holding something very incriminating, and had nowhere to go as Blake drew closer. The heiress made a guttural noise of frustration and slammed the vial of dust into Blake's palm.
"I don't fucking care! Arrest me! Get me away from these idiots!"
"You want me to take you back to seg?" Blake raised an eyebrow.
Weiss growled, "No! Just! I don't know! Can't I go to Cellblock A? That place has much more decent people right!?"
"You don't belong there," Blake simply said.
"Fine, what about protective custody?"
Blake warned, "That is exactly the same as segregation."
"What is wrong with this place!?" Weiss was about to march back into her cell.
"Wait a minute," Blake pulled her back, "You still had possession of the dust, so I do need to detain you."
Blake felt Weiss slump in her hands. She did little to resist and Blake took a deep breath before deciding on mercy. She unlocked the handcuffs just as fast as she put them on, "Fine, this will just be two strikes."
"Two—" Weiss twisted around as fast as she heard the words, "You—why are you being nice to me? What is the meaning of this?"
"Maybe I feel sorry for you?" Blake rolled her eyes, "I mean, you're terrible, but I can tell what just happened wasn't your fault."
Weiss huffed and turned away, "Then go catch the morons who actually had the dust in the first place!"
"Well, I can look at the security footage later," Blake said, "Uh, it does seem rather odd that a whole crowd of people offloaded dust onto you. Do you know why they did that?"
Weiss growled, "How on earth am I supposed to know?"
"Hm. Well be more careful next time," Blake pocketed the dust so she could store it away with evidence. She continued towards the yard, where she was meant to be. She heard Weiss head a different direction, most likely the library since she had grabbed a book from her cell before closing the door. When she reached the yard she could see Ruby and Yang were near one of the walls, not at all trying for weights or grabbing a basketball. Ruby in particular was preparing to launch herself towards the wall, for what reason Blake did not know. She decided to head towards them in curiosity.
Ruby leapt onto the wall and took two steps before landing on her feet, "Darn! So close!"
"C'mon Rubes!" Yang began to clap, cheer and otherwise be a very supportive sister, "This has been six months coming! I know you can do this before we leave!"
"What are you two doing?" Blake asked, leaning on the wall.
Ruby beamed the moment Blake arrived, "Blake! Let me show you what I've been working on!"
She turned the other direction, crouching down, her fingers touching the ground in a stance, then she exploded forward, the fastest start Blake had ever seen. With great agility Ruby leapt over benches and picnic tables, darting through several players during a basketball game without ever impeding their movements, back-flipping over some people eating lunch, stepping off a wall and turning around faster than she ever could manually, and doing the same in backwards order before she attempted to run the walls she was originally working on, but then she only managed two steps again before landing.
"No! Darn it! Why!" Ruby punched the floor, "So close again!"
Yang still cheered while Blake clapped, "I don't understand. That was very impressive."
"Ruby's been working on her parkour the moment she got here," Yang explained, "but she can't get the finale right where she runs up this wall."
"I will conquer the wall! You darn wall! I will get you! And then I'll climb the cell wall!" Ruby yelled at the non-sentient immovable object. She ran up again but this time with far too much force, falling on her face. She jumped up, feeling unfazed and trying again, but landing on her face a second time.
Yang ran up to her sister, helping her up, "Sis if you get too frustrated you need to take a break. You're just going to lose all your teeth at this rate."
"No!" Ruby frowned, "I just, I feel so close. Like I'm almost there. Let me just try again and again until I do it! I feel it! I'm that close!"
"Is she normally this energetic during this uh, training?" Blake asked.
Yang shook her head, "Nah. I think that disastrous visit has her blood going."
Blake watched Ruby continue to fall and fail against the wall, each and every time. It had been almost twenty minutes when Blake decided it'd be better not to get used to someone mangling their face onto the concrete, but just as she was about to look away, Ruby bolted off the floor and climbed two, three, four, five steps before pushing herself off the wall and landing on the ground. She was dangerously close to the razor wire and if she went any higher she was sure the guards standing in the towers had reason to shoot. When Ruby landed she raised her arms up like she had won the Olympics.
"I did it!" She jumped up and down many times, running to Yang, "I did it! I did it! I did it! You thought I couldn't but I did and I did it! Yay!"
She literally leapt into Yang's arms, who held her in a tight enough embrace to lift her off the ground and spin her around. The two of them laughed for ages, and Blake couldn't help but feel happy for them, for two people who looked like they had the time of their lives despite their circumstances or where they were. When Ruby was finally set back down to the ground she went through her entire run-through of the benches and basketball players, able to re-do her feat off the wall and feeling even more euphoric. She kept her arms sky high, running all over the place and cheering everywhere that she was able to run the walls. When she finally stopped, she stopped abruptly, her sneakers could have easily been damaged from how much force and little time she used to stop.
"Weiss!" Ruby suddenly blurted out, "Weiss said I couldn't do it! Well I need to go show her now!"
She ran towards the cellblock, but luckily Blake stopped her, "Weiss is in the library I believe."
"The library! Wait, there are too many shelves there to run up the walls," she stopped for a moment to think, "I'll just have to drag Weiss back. Be right back guys!"
Yang and Blake watched the bouncy girl go, storming through the doors into the library like the first day she was here and was told the library existed. Yang finally sat down, Ruby's energy was contagious and she was bounding around running with Ruby to see her feats up close the entire time. She took the moment to rest, taking a huge gulp of her bottle of water and flashing the biggest grin ever back at Blake.
"That's my sister for you," She closed her eyes, making her features all the more cheery, "Sometimes I wonder why I moved out when I'm missing someone like that at home."
Blake sat down too, feeling oddly exhausted watching someone else dash around so much, "You must feel privileged to be her older sister."
"Oh man, I wouldn't trade Ruby for the world," Yang leaned backwards to the point that she was facing Blake upside-down.
"And she must feel the same having you as a sister," Blake finished.
Yang scratched her cheek, still grinning and still in her awkward position, "Oh, I don't know about that. I could be a little better."
"I think you're a fine—"
"Belladonna."
Blake's ears, even though they were hidden deep with her hat, went erect immediately. She twisted around in her seat, a faunus prisoner standing behind her. She had recognized her as one of the arrivals that had entered the facility this morning, why she knew her name she did not know, having never introduced herself to the inmate. Yet, this young woman's presence was for whatever reason, making her pulse jump rapidly, her blood pressure dropping to an abnormal low. There was an uneasy feeling that threatened to unearth Blake's lunch when she responded to her.
"Uh, hello? How can I help you?" She said politely, as she always had.
The faunus had the narrowest eyes she had seen. She was for whatever reason smiling, stepping closer to the guard.
"You haven't eliminated the target yet."
Her heartbeat rocketed into the sky.
"Uh, excuse me?" Blake tried to play dumb, trying to see if maybe this was a very cruel jokester instead.
Yang reverted to a more comfortable position, not wanting to stare at this girl upside-down, "Er Blake? Do you know this weirdo?"
Her hands were behind her back, her chest pointing almost upwards as she continued, ignoring Yang.
"We are here to complete your job in your stead."
Blake shot up out of her seat, "What? What are you doing here!?"
She turned towards the library, about to bolt there as fast as possible. Yang, confused but knowing something had to be wrong followed, but before they were out of earshot, they heard one more line from the mysterious faunus.
"Greetings from the White Fang."
As if on cue, the alarm blared.
-
Ruby slammed open the doors, a smile she couldn't possibly wipe off her face as she entered the library. She wondered where Weiss might be sitting, reading quietly on yet another day, or was it another day? She was going to drag her cellmate back to their place, and run up the walls right onto her bunk. Unfortunately she would only be able to reach her bed in this manner for a few more days, but her biggest motivation to achieve this feat was to prove Weiss wrong and to ultimately impress her. it was very difficult to impress someone like Weiss, and she thought the one thing Weiss had said she couldn't do from the very beginning, she would do. Ruby thought of it as a parting gift for Weiss before she was to be released and would only see her friend, best friend even, once a month. It was the saddest part about having to leave. If she could leave Weiss impressed it was better than nothing!
Weiss though was not sitting anywhere at the front of the library, which made sense. She'd rather not sit near the drafty doors and have to see every single person that entered. Ruby explored the library, knowing every nook and cranny now having borrowed almost every book from each shelf. She knew Weiss would likely be at a corner of the library, usually near the non-fiction category with the history books. Ruby skipped towards that area and through the middle of two particular shelves she could see a white-haired beauty sitting on an armchair. Weiss had always been a pretty person, even stuck in a place like this with little to keep her appearances up. If Ruby was at all interested in pursuing romance in general she'd have attempted to court Weiss by now, but that was the single genre of books she'd never touch.
As she bounded towards Weiss, she noticed there were shoes that could be seen in the crack underneath the shelves. In between the books, especially the ones not tall enough to touch the top, she could see almost entirely an orange background. Unless they had given the library new wallpaper with the prison's zero funds, that was most definitely a group of people. A group of people who were walking nearer to where Weiss was sitting. Perhaps they were a group of friends browsing the history section together. Ruby paid it no mind, nearing Weiss and about to reach her when suddenly she was stolen from her seat, the book audibly dropping to the floor.
Alarmed, Ruby ran to the seat and cornered, seeing Weiss in the middle of that aforementioned crowd. One particular inmate had her in a headlock. They were all faunus.
"What are you doing!?" Ruby yelled.
The group stopped for a moment, but after a second it was like they had telepathically agreed to ignore Ruby, and then they struck.
Ruby did not hesitate; she dived into the crowd when she saw their fists landing on the heiress inside, limbs and desperation flying everywhere. A few seconds passed as Ruby felt herself getting the upper hand in the utter pandemonium. She was almost able to reach Weiss' hand when, throughout her own yells and the battle cries of the inmates, she heard one thing.
"Ruby, no!"
-
Before Blake could even grab the handles of the library doors, one of the guards swung it open for her from the inside. Her head was covered in blood. "B-belladonna! I'm going to call a bus or a doctor or anyone, you go inside now!"
Blake stopped and turned, seeing Yang was right behind her, "Yang stay outside, get on the ground or to the walls. This is an emergency!"
"No! My sister is inside! She could be involved!"
Blake could see several correctional officers in riot gear storming towards the library. She gestured to one to watch Yang, and that particular officer grabbed Yang's arms who did whatever she could to slip from their grasp, "Blake! You have to let me in! Stop! Let me go!"
"I'm sorry Yang," Blake said, entering the library wondering what possible carnage was happening this time. She grabbed the pepper spray she kept with her and remembered this time around that the opening should face away from her if anything was to be effective. There were a couple of guards with injuries waving at her frantically to head to the corner, where a few other guards had grabbed hold of several of the trouble-making inmates. It seemed the riot gear was unnecessary as the ordeal had ended moments ago. Several inmates, all faunus, were being arrested, stapled to the ground.
Blake approached one of the guards who was still trying to catch his breath, "What happened?"
"Stabbing, numerous wounded. One has a broken jaw, another's been stabbed a few times. Worst might be dead," He pointed to the corner of the library, just behind the end shelf.
The only thing running through Blake's mind was that if anyone was to be stabbed, that it not be it be Weiss. She spared her for a reason. Her life continued as a symbol of Blake's refusal to obey the orders of the White Fang. If she were the victim no doubt Ruby would be involved too and if she were to be hurt as well Blake could never forgive herself. She had decided months ago that Weiss may have been terrible, awful, all sorts of words you could describe someone as bad, but she truly didn't deserve to die. No one did. If she were the victim, the White Fang had infiltrated her workplace of comfort, the one place she could be to get away from them. Please, Blake thought to any higher power that would listen, just let it not be Weiss. Let it be some other stabbing, a coincidence. Ruby and Weiss were fine, standing by the walls or laying on the ground waiting for the emergency to tide over. That's where they were. That's where they had to be.
Her heart continued to pound, beads of sweat dripping off her face as she rounded the corner, already the carpet was soaked with what looked to be far too much blood. When her gaze slowly and dreadfully went up, her horrors were founded.
Weiss lay crumpled on the floor, a few guards attempting CPR on her.
She could only stand there, watching.
This was her fault.
Her stomach was about to rush up her esophagus and splay her previous meals onto the floor, but what she heard next pushed the bile back down.
"B-Blake..."
She turned around, seeing Ruby also on the ground, one guard was pressing onto her wounds, keeping the blood from seeping out, "Tell me W-Weiss is going to be okay."
Blake crouched down. She placed her hand on Ruby's left cheek, wiping off the streaks of blood lining down it, "We...we don't know."
"No!" Ruby tried to yell out, but it wasn't as loud as she wanted to, the pain keeping her from speaking too loudly. She croaked, "I tried to save Weiss, I r-really did! She has to be okay!"
Blake saw the tears, the watery eyes on Ruby's face that didn't belong on her at all. She tried to wipe them away as well, wishing for Ruby's anguish to dissipate, but there wasn't much she could do. Physically cleaning off the tears only allowed more room for new tears to take place. Blake wanted nothing more than to throw up, but she continued, trying to console Ruby.
"Shhh. Rest, Ruby. You're injured, don't—don't say anything," Blake murmured in her ear, "You did everything you could."
But the sobs kept coming.
"Weiss, I c-could've saved her, I...Blake," her words hard to hear, a cry or sob in between, "Blake, you don't u-understand."
Blake said nothing, waiting for Ruby to bring up the words she really wanted to give out, for what reason she did not know, but she was patient anyway. She knew this was the least she could do.
"B-Blake," Ruby coughed, some blood escaping her mouth, "Weiss, she—she..."
"Ruby, please, you should stop talking."
Ruby shook her head slightly, "She—" Another cough. More tears.
"She pushed me away."
And bleh.
How about that latest RWBY episode eh? Egads.
OH YEAH CHAPTER NINE HA HA
I hope all one of you enjoyed chapter eight!
Here we go!
9
Was the route to Vale Correctional always this busy?
A man with platinum gold hair waited in his car on the several backed up roads. He had a greying five-o-clock shadow that bordered his entire jaw and surrounded his mouth. His eyebrows were bushy and low, eyes focused on the road despite its stillness. This may have been only the third time he had taken these highways, but every single time all the vehicles would be backed up from Tibet to Newfoundland. After missing half-an-hour of his designated visiting time the first time around, Taiyang Xiao Long left his house extra early each time afterwards, and thankfully he did because these cars always seemed to remain from the last time he was driving there. In fact what looked like a police truck was just a few cars in front of him and that vehicle was doing no favours to helping the traffic along. The driver had even stepped out to shake his fists at a car adjacent to his. He knew the man was a police officer but he certainly wasn't acting like one, where they'd search a vehicle or request for ID. He was more like someone in the middle of quite obvious road rage than anything. Taiyang rolled his windows down, perhaps listening to the commotion would make time fly by.
"You think you can honk at me, a cop!?" He banged on the other car's windows, "If I wasn't transporting a whole bunch of people right now I'd toss you in with them! Hey! Don't ignore me! I saw you cutting off that poor truck two miles back! If I was a traffic officer your ass would be screwed!"
Nah, it wasn't worth it. He rolled his windows back up.
Though they were on the highway the scenery was quite nice. They were next to some rural lands and some of them had trees blossoming flowers. The farm on the other side even had a few lines full of rose brushes, which were all at bloom. They only reminded him more of the predicament his family was in. To think, he had not one but two children locked up so far away he barely had the time to ever see them. If his wife was still around she'd have scolded him so hard for failing as a father. He knew if his beautiful wife Summer was still alive, none of this could have ever happened. Both Yang and Ruby would have had such guidance from the wise woman that they'd probably be overachieving at whatever goals they had by now, taking society by storm.
Yang's case was inevitable. Ever since her own mother disappeared, Yang had always been a very difficult child to raise. She had always been a girl too big for the small humble home they lived in. She needed the outdoors, the people outside for her life to be fulfilling, if only the people she ended up associating with were well, normal people. As early as age thirteen Yang would start coming home at absurd hours and no matter how often he had reprimanded and grounded Yang she could find some way to slip away. It was of no surprise when four years later she moved out entirely. Taiyang wondered where he went wrong with her. He knew losing two mothers was going to take a huge toll on Yang, but on the other hand, she had a wonderful relationship with his second daughter Ruby. It got to the point Taiyang feared Ruby would follow in her big sister's footsteps, but for the longest time it didn't seem that fear was ever justified.
Ruby was practically her opposite, preferring to stay home keeping herself huddled in her room. It got to the point that Taiyang became worried that she wasn't socializing with people enough, especially when Yang had too many friends and Ruby barely had any. He thought signing her up for the lacrosse team would be a good idea, and it was. Ruby flourished in that environment, becoming the most valuable player as well and bringing a championship to their school. Though Ruby often took part in the practices, she wasn't always there. She'd want to win for her team as fast as possible so she could run home and continue with her projects. The school offered a rare drafting class once and Ruby signed up, but when there weren't enough applicants it was cancelled. Ruby was crushed, but she didn't let that sway her. She offered to teach the class herself. The school thought this idea was outrageous, but let her try and the eight or so students who had signed up with her had this small mini-class that Ruby was thrilled to have. Now she found away to pursue her hobbies even during school.
They could barely make a living as is, but with Ruby a shut-in and Yang having moved out, he thought a dog would be fitting for Ruby in particular. If she wasn't up to being with people all that often, a pet could at least stick around while she was pursuing her interests. Ruby was so happy that Christmas morning when Zwei leapt out of the box. Yang even came home more often than not to help Ruby walk the dog. He gave up several luxuries to be able to afford Zwei, heading out earlier in the mornings to take public transit over driving his car to work and being far more stingy with his grocery budget. Had Yang still been home he probably would never have been able to afford the dog at all, so it was in a way, a win-win, bringing her home more often and thus bringing them closer together. The money he saved on repairing the shower that Yang had a tendency to clog was already a tenfold.
When Yang was arrested, he was disappointed but not surprised. There was no trial; Yang made it apparent she really didn't want her family spending anything on lawyers for her. She also knew how far away she was taken and told her family they didn't need to visit or anything like that. Taiyang barely had time as is, but Ruby insisted on visiting her sister as often as possible, even when her father was at work. While he knew Yang was on the crossroads he definitely wasn't going to give up on her. The moment she was released Taiyang was going to drag her back home, and force her on the right path if he had to. He had let her get away far too often and he had to be a proper parent, stern, a disciplinarian if he had to so Yang could earn a proper future.
So it was of utmost disbelief when he picked up the phone one night, and Ruby was barely able to speak, choked up as she was on the other side. He didn't realize Ruby wasn't even home, having seen her head to bed a few hours earlier. Had Ruby sneaked out as well, just like Yang would always do? That was preposterous. When Ruby was finally able to tell him where she was, his heart dropped. Yang, it was expected, but not Ruby. Ruby who reminded him so much of his late wife with the same determined eyes, never to let anyone stop her from her goals, whether it was pursuing her dreams or achieving championships. Unlike Yang this came out of nowhere. He was blindsided. He was failing as a father twice, and this time he wasn't even aware. When he realized what Ruby had done, he knew he had missed something. If only he was home often enough to ask and take part in the interests Ruby had. He should have seen it coming. Ruby had stolen her mother's old pistol numerous times, wanting to take it apart. It was not just that, but she'd break several other electronics or objects and try to attach them together in a shape that roughly resembled a rifle when she was young. A child of that age being obsessed with such deadly items was not normal whatsoever, but he didn't inhibit Ruby's interests. Boys were given toy guns at very young ages and they'd jump around pretending to shoot each other for fun. If it was acceptable for them it should have been fine with Ruby.
Still, what Ruby had done was not nearly as serious as Yang's case. He figured Ruby would be let go with a slap on the wrist, community service perhaps? But no, this time with actual lawyers they weren't able to gain any leverage in the case, and she as he had feared, went exactly where Yang was. The family was now torn apart. He had failed them both. He knew raising two children on his own was difficult as it is, but for everything to turn out like this, he had completely messed up as a father.
What would Summer have done?
Fortunately for him, Ruby had inherited her mother's spirit. He had visited his daughters a month before and could barely spare much time to make the three-hour commute over, but he had to be there for Ruby today, even if she was to be released in less than a week. Yang too, was to be released fairly soon, a little over a week so visiting now of all times was inefficient in terms of time. There was a program inside the prison system for those who never graduated to earn their diplomas. Ruby was only supposed to learn as much as she needed so she wouldn't fall behind when she went back at school, but instead at the young age of sixteen, Ruby was already graduating. She overachieved even in a place filled with underachievers. He didn't realize he could feel so proud with two children locked up away, but Ruby was incredible. She could go to college two years early. Who knew this would be the result after all that heartbreak?
HONK!
Taiyang's trance was dashed the moment a horn went off, the car in front of him long gone. The traffic jam was finally over and it only took several minutes of reminiscing for it to move. He had no time to hesitate, his young daughter waiting for him several miles away. He pressed onto the accelerator, heading forwards, the only possible direction people could go. Summer had often said so.
-
"Dad!!" Ruby held her arms wide open as she ran to her father who had just entered the visiting room. She leapt into his arms who lifted her in the air and spun her around. Taiyang was glad he was still able to do this with Ruby, who hadn't reached her growth spurt yet oddly enough. When Yang was taller than Taiyang himself he knew Ruby should be around that height sooner rather than later, especially with Ruby's love of milk. Maybe there wasn't any milk in prison?
Yang was less enthusiastic walking up to them, but her signature wide grin was there on her face, "Hey dad."
"Ruby, Yang, oh I'm so proud," Taiyang sniffed, grabbing a tissue from the tissue boxes that sat on the table. People did cry a lot at visiting hours for whatever reason.
Ruby waved her diploma in his face, "Bet you didn't expect me to have this so soon!"
Taiyang grabbed the ceremonial sheet of paper, seeing Ruby's name and some important faculty member from the education system's signature on it as well. This was the proof he needed, "Ruby, this is just, the best present you could ever give your father."
"Ruby's always been a nerd. Is this really that surprising?" Yang shrugged.
"You could learn a thing or two from your sister's dedication," Taiyang lectured. Oh, one of the stereotypical Asian family parenting methods, attempting to stir up competition or jealousy among siblings to make them all overachieve. Yang wondered what child wasn't immune to this by now.
"Dad I've already graduated you know," Yang reminded, "Sides, I didn't have Weiss when I was younger, like Rubes here did."
Weiss was someone Ruby and to an extent Yang spoke about very often. It was indeed rather unexpected for either of them to not only know, but befriend someone who sounded as intelligent as Weiss. What kind of people were put inside here anyway? He would need to thank her somehow for her guidance on Ruby's studies. He had heard she was not going to be released anytime soon, so he wondered even if she had benefited Ruby's academics, if she was still ultimately a poor influence. Without having met her Taiyang wouldn't know. He was determined to meet her at some point just to be sure.
The bearded man turned his attention to Yang, "Now Yang, since the two of you are getting out soon I want you to come home."
"Dad, I already moved out. Besides I'm an adult now. You can't tell me what to do," Yang playfully crossed her arms and turned away in a perhaps subconscious attempt to emulate Weiss.
"Yang, it's for your own good. I will not take a no from you," Taiyang kept his voice loud, commanding, and stern, "In fact I will start on both your college applications before either of you are out. Are there any places you two prefer?"
Yang purposely did not return her father's eye contact, while Ruby was rubbing the back of her head, speaking up instead, "Actually dad, I was hoping to not go to school for a year. You know since I graduated super early and all."
"Ruby," Taiyang frowned, "You just spent six months here. Even with your schooling you must've had plenty of free time to do whatever it is you want."
Yang sighed, throwing her head back in frustration, "Dad for the last time the only thing we were allowed to do here is like pump weights and read. Ruby hasn't built anything for six months! I'm sure that's the first thing she'd want to do after eating a cookie anyway."
"But Ruby enjoys books and you enjoy exercise! I do not see the problem here," Taiyang reasoned.
Ruby shook her head, "Yang's right. I really just want a year to work on my projects again. Maybe?"
Taiyang crossed his burly, hairy arms, staring down upon his vertically-challenged daughter, "I forbid it."
"But dad! Why?" Ruby had always thought freedom would be more desirable than this.
"Wasn't those projects why you ended up here in the first place?" He shook his head, "I refuse to allow either of you to do anything that may land you in here again."
Ruby clung onto her father's arm, "But dad! You can't!"
"I'm sorry Ruby I have to put my foot down," He said, "Both of you, please. I just want you two to have normal lives like normal people. Work on your futures instead of always thinking about the present."
The younger daughter grabbed her diploma back with a surprising amount of force. Taiyang wondered if Ruby had been exercising herself. She did look a little thicker than before, though from her baggy clothes still seemed like she had the physique of an average sixteen-year-old girl. Before Taiyang could even think more about Ruby's physical growth, he saw his daughter grab the top of her diploma, both her index fingers and thumbs in a familiar position.
"If you won't let me do what I love, then I guess I won't be needing this!"
Taiyang widened his eyes, his pulse quickening as he realized what Ruby was about to do. He wouldn't have been able to react in time, Ruby about to ruin her future in one fell stroke. Luckily for him and for Ruby, Yang pulled the diploma away from her just in time.
"Oi! What do you think you're doing sis!?" Yang held the diploma high up, away from Ruby's reach, "I don't agree with dad either but you don't need to resort to something so stupid!"
Ruby was attempting to climb Xiao Long peaks to destroy what was embedded at the very top, but Yang stepped further away from Ruby, protecting the piece of paper with all her might, "I don't care, Yang! What's the point if I'm forced to do something I don't even like!?"
"Seriously, imagine how Weiss would react if she saw you do that! After all those hours I overheard you two working on homework!" Yang noticed Blake was the guard, as always, at the door of the visiting room. She gestured her over, "Hey Blake! Can you laminate this for me?"
Blake approached them and took the diploma despite what she said next, "I'm not your secretary Yang."
"Whatever, chop chop!" Yang clapped as she pulled her sister into a one handed embrace to keep her from chasing the one scroll she must destroy. Blake rolled her eyes and left the room, assigning a different guard to watch the inmates.
Taiyang meanwhile stood stunned. He had never once seen Ruby so rebellious. Heck, he had never seen Ruby rebellious at all. She had always been the good girl to Yang's bad, and yet here he was watching the two fight, Yang the one more concerned for Ruby's future than Ruby herself. She was so prepared to rip that diploma in half, so prepared to disobey her father all for what? A bunch of trinkets she really liked to toy with? For once in his life Taiyang couldn't understand his daughter. Ruby could accomplish so much; why was throwing away all of it so easy for her? Then again, Ruby did turn sixteen just a few months ago and these were the heightened teenage ages where people were disobedient the most but still. He never would've expected his beautiful daughter to be capable of doing something like that. Perhaps this place really was an awful influence, filled with no doubt criminals of much more serious calibre than Ruby. He had to bring the two home as soon as possible.
The rest of the visit afterwards went awkwardly. Yang attempted some conversation but Ruby remained silent, a stark refusal to speak to her father. Taiyang did whatever he could to open Ruby up, but she was constantly looking away, as if the surroundings or the guards or the other inmates were far more interesting than her family. He left the facility frustrated, but determined to bring them home and set them on the right path. Their mothers would have never wanted this, the way they were now. He had to be a father to them, a parent they so desperately needed.
-
Weiss laid on her bed in her cell during free time. She felt no desire to mingle with a bunch of criminals especially since Ruby and Yang had yet to return from their visit. A book rested on top of her face, which she had been mildly interested in for a while but wasn't invested enough to finish. It was odd because of the absurd amount of time she had, yet she still felt no need to continue reading the novel, leaving it on her face and remaining in bed. The past few months were quite hectic. When she was segregated, she wanted to, for the lack of a more sophisticated term, end her existence. She would have never admitted it to a single soul, but her life always did feel a little lonely, what with a lack of friends and a father who paid little attention to her, causing her to throw most of everything into her academics. Yet paradoxically she couldn't stand most people and preferred to remain alone as much as possible. She thought a vacation from all the idiots in this prison was what she needed after that horrid trip by that sorry excuse of a police academy, but no. When she was young, sixty seconds was an awfully long time to count. She could never have imagined she'd be able to count up to one-million, eight-hundred-fourteen-thousand, and four-hundred seconds, which was about twenty-one days. She didn't count each second every single second, but she kept track of the time at such frequent intervals she felt more like a machine than a human at times. There was nothing to do, nothing to see, no one to talk to, nowhere to flee.
It was admittedly very self-destructive to write so many letters while she was in there. She wrote several words she couldn't believe she did. It made her sound so pitiful, like an injured fox who bit off its foot when it was trapped. Running around on a bloody stump that was going to suffer from some ghastly infection like gangrene was grounds for euthanasia. On the bright side she was almost completely sure nobody else saw those letters so she was able to rip them into such tiny pieces no one would bother to put together to decipher. The almost was the key however. There was one night, one she could actually pinpoint in the haze of days that mixed together, so endless and melded together they were. Initially she thought it was a dream because dreams were the most exciting parts of her stay there. She recalled deep golden pools in the pitch blackness and even the sensation her head was being held slightly over the pillow she rested on. That was it and by itself it wouldn't have been anything interesting at all, but she woke to her letters on the floor, a few of them dried like they had been wet by something, tears? Did Weiss forget she allowed her own emotions to fall onto her pathetic words? Even if that was the case, there was no explanation for the faint footprint left on the closest letter.
The footprint was different from those of the guards. She studied them very carefully, so either it really was a guard who decided on different footwear that violated protocol for whatever reason, or someone else had broken in to stare at her like a creep. The thought haunted Weiss for several weeks. When she finally returned to general population she subconsciously stuck around Ruby far closer than she normally did for several weeks, the lack of any human interaction affecting her that deeply. Ruby didn't seem to mind but brought it up a few times. Even when she wasn't there, in particular during class hours she'd gravitate towards Yang. Yang infuriated her but kept her company nonetheless. She never thanked either of them verbally, but inside she was grateful. The one stark contrast was Blake. When Yang and Ruby were both away, the rare times that ever occurred, Weiss thought she'd at least stick to the person who she was third most familiar with. But she always found herself wanting to stay away from her as far as possible. She wasn't even sure why.
Then she realized Blake had the same eyes. It reminded her too much of that night, which kept her awake occasionally, those same golden eyes that would stare deep into her skull, straight into her like it wanted something. Weiss wasn't sure what it had wanted, but they were certainly intimidating enough to get it, had that person ever spoke. The thought did occur to her that maybe Blake and those golden eyes were one and the same, but that didn't even make sense. Blake would be wearing the uniform heels, and there would be no reason she'd enter her cell to stare at her, unless she had some twisted crush or something. She knew Blake was not fond of her, and she returned that sentiment so long as Blake kept it up, so it made absolutely no sense in her mind.
Because of this Weiss' arguments with Blake dwindled until they stopped speaking to one another entirely. Blake was still around, so long as Ruby and Yang were there. She was Yang and Ruby's friend after all despite being a guard, so Weiss tolerated her presence. Aside from her eyes Blake seemed rather harmless overall. She continued her work like normal as if nothing ever happened, so Weiss chose to believe the eyes were a coincidence.
Just then Weiss heard the door to the cell slide open and she sat up, book comically falling from her face onto her stomach. It was a hardback cover, so its impact on her abdomen was somewhat painful, but Weiss ignored it. Ruby stepped in, not at all her usual optimistic self. She kept her gaze downwards, sliding the door closed once again but not with any force that would have caused the loud metal noise. She didn't even glance once at Weiss before kicking the chair to their desk to the floor, her fists balled and her demeanour distracted.
"What are you doing!?" Weiss called out, though it seemed Ruby didn't even hear.
She remained standing, staring at the cabinet above the sink. Her lack of a response was highly unusual to Weiss, who calmed before raising her voice again, a different tone entirely, "Is something the matter Ruby?"
Weiss was of course capable of such words, but rarely did any situation justified it when she would much rather scold and yell at people.
"My dad is so stupid!" Ruby flung her arms out, falling over to lie on the desk.
"I can certainly empathize with that," Weiss offered a few words. Fathers, they were useless as useless could be.
Ruby shook her head, "No you don't get it. He thinks my hobby is like one-hundred-percent illegal, so I'm not allowed to have it anymore."
"How preposterous. Building dangerous weapons? Perfectly legal. Everyone does it." Weiss couldn't help but snark.
"They're not dangerous if I never load live rounds into them," Ruby explained, "If it's just rubber bullets or something they're not worse than an airsoft gun."
Weiss shifted her position to be a little closer to Ruby, "If I'm not mistaken airsoft guns are only spring loaded or at the very least far weaker than real guns. If you build something that can shoot actual bullets even if you don't load any, that's still illegal."
"You're not on my side at all!" Ruby turned away from Weiss, the wall nearby indeed on her side.
"Oh no I'm just saying your father has a point," Weiss found those words to be rather irritating, "as much as I'd hate to say something like that. If you still want to build those guns of yours despite what the law says, I wouldn't stop you."
"More like you couldn't stop me," Ruby corrected, "How long do you have left here again?"
Weiss grumbled, "Do not remind me."
"I will make sure to come visit lots!" Ruby bounded up, her mood suddenly reverting to its normal state, "What's your favourite cookie? I'll bake some for you!"
"That won't be necessary Ruby," Weiss rolled her eyes.
"No, I insist!" Ruby leapt off the table.
Weiss sighed, "Cookies are a bit too sweet for me anyway."
An inhale as loud as a firecracker was heard from the younger inmate, "You take that back!"
"I suppose the almond cookies aren't so bad," Weiss let out, turning away.
"Yes!" Ruby fist pumped both her fists, noticing the photos she had still taped throughout the walls. She had added more over time thanks to her father sending them over via the mail and through visits. She figured with her release a few days away she should be taking them down soon. Then of course, the photos reminded her of something else.
Ruby pulled Weiss close, "Selfie!" A flash.
"Whuthdahtwhat—what!?" Weiss blinked, still trying to process what just happened.
Ruby chuckled, "Wow look at your face Weiss. You weren't ready at all!" She revealed her phone to Weiss, who was about to leap head-first into panic mode.
"Where did you get that!?" Weiss' voice jumped an octave.
"Hm? I asked Yang to bring one in because I don't want to leave without a photo of you, Weiss!"
"Are you insane!? This is contraband! You're being released in six days! They'll find this out and keep you inside longer!"
Ruby did not take her panic seriously whatsoever, "Oh don't be silly Weiss. One week longer inside is worth a photo of you."
"No! You don't understand! That drug charge months ago means you already have two strikes! You'll be thrown in the hole!" Weiss' arms were going all over the place.
"Well, even that is worth a photo of you."
Weiss didn't know if she should feel touched or horrified, "No! Don't underestimate segregation! It could literally kill you!"
"Having this is really minor; it'd probably be no longer than a week anyway," Ruby shrugged, "Even if it feels forever, it's still worth it."
"You can't wait until I'm out too!?" She wanted to shake the idiocy out of Ruby so badly, but a guard might notice and consider it assault.
Ruby remained calm in front of Weiss' jitters, "But Weiss that's like years! I can't wait years! What if I forget what you look like?"
"How!? You're going to visit me!"
"Oh yeah, but only seeing you once a month would suck," Ruby mused, "Seriously Weiss, don't worry about it."
Weiss searched through her mind all the things she could possibly do to save Ruby, "You can contact Pyrrha! She still has some pictures of me as a child! That could work until I'm released!"
"Wow, are you giving me permission to look at your baby pictures?"
Weiss grabbed Ruby's shoulders, "No I just don't want you to go through what I did!"
"It's fine," Ruby assured once more, "Unlike Yang I'm fine with being alone. You told me we could write inside right? Then I'd just design stuff until the days are up. It's all okay!"
Ruby threw the phone in her large duffel bag full of stuff she was taking with her in six days, "I'm not planning to be caught anyway."
"Ruby..." Weiss was exasperated, not knowing what else to do.
"Anyway I'm heading off to the yard!" Ruby stretched her limbs, "That visit made me want to run around and punch things, so I'm gonna get rid of this energy before it's too late. Wanna come?"
Weiss shook her head to decline. She normally didn't mind heading out to the yard especially on an early spring day like today, where the trees they were able to make out above the razor wire would be blossoming some dazzling flowers. She'd also be able to see several fit women doing sports or pushing weights, sweaty as sweaty could be, which was not an unwelcome sight to Weiss. Still she suddenly had an idea to make sure Ruby didn't ruin her last few days here and she needed to be alone in her cell with the offending cell to do so. Ruby shrugged and slid open the doors, heading out. As soon as Weiss was sure Ruby had left the building entirely did she shuffle through Ruby's duffel bag, finally pulling out the phone. She knew this was likely a bad idea on her part, but Weiss did not know what else to do. At the very least since she had done nothing wrong since the day of the so-called assault on an officer, her strikes were reset to zero. If she was found with the phone instead she wasn't going straight to Cellblock C like Ruby. Weiss hid the phone underneath her pillow before stepping out herself, thinking of returning this book she wasn't interested in finishing at the library.
As soon as she left her cell, a whole bunch of inmates, faunus mixed with humans, swarmed Weiss.
"Hey, Ice Queen!" One of them called.
"Oh what now?" Weiss was not in the mood to entertain the masses.
The ringleader of the group, a dirty blonde haired person who stood a foot taller than Weiss, approached her, "We have a proposition."
"No," Weiss instantly said, trying to split the crowd and leave.
Blake had her second cup of coffee today, which was a shame as she didn't like coffee as much as she loved tea. Unfortunately when they had that one meeting some weeks back about returning tea to the snack area, the votes were against this idea thirty-to-twenty-four. Blake internally cursed all her colleagues, even though some of them did vote for the resurgence of tea. She instead had to rely on the brown beverage to keep herself awake, having once again gotten little sleep last night. Ever since the incidents months ago, Blake had done everything in her power to avoid the White Fang and that included sneaking a cot into her office and sleeping at the prison. She still returned to the penthouse from time-to-time to pay rent and remind Sun she was still alive, especially since she had never told Adam or the White Fang or really anyone at all for that matter she had moved out of her bachelor pad across town. In fact, she kept up the rent of her old cheap little place to make it seem like she still lived there. It sounded like a good idea to someone like Blake whose whereabouts were a necessity to keep secret.
So as she rounded the corner, heading towards the exit to watch the inmates outside, she was surprised to see a large crowd and the one girl that she felt was avoiding her these past few months. They didn't seem to be any sort of unified group, people of all sorts of races and sizes wound up together. She even saw Yang's cellmate, Velvet, standing near the back. It looked like they were all heckling her, so Blake thought it might have been a good idea to have them disperse. She approached.
"You want me to hide it in my what!?" Weiss shrieked.
One of members of the crowd turned around and noticed Blake arriving, "Oh shit! Guard at ten o'clock! I repeat! Guard at ten o'clock!"
It seemed Blake's sheer presence was enough for the crowd to run off, leaving Weiss standing there dumbfounded in the middle. She was left holding something very incriminating, and had nowhere to go as Blake drew closer. The heiress made a guttural noise of frustration and slammed the vial of dust into Blake's palm.
"I don't fucking care! Arrest me! Get me away from these idiots!"
"You want me to take you back to seg?" Blake raised an eyebrow.
Weiss growled, "No! Just! I don't know! Can't I go to Cellblock A? That place has much more decent people right!?"
"You don't belong there," Blake simply said.
"Fine, what about protective custody?"
Blake warned, "That is exactly the same as segregation."
"What is wrong with this place!?" Weiss was about to march back into her cell.
"Wait a minute," Blake pulled her back, "You still had possession of the dust, so I do need to detain you."
Blake felt Weiss slump in her hands. She did little to resist and Blake took a deep breath before deciding on mercy. She unlocked the handcuffs just as fast as she put them on, "Fine, this will just be two strikes."
"Two—" Weiss twisted around as fast as she heard the words, "You—why are you being nice to me? What is the meaning of this?"
"Maybe I feel sorry for you?" Blake rolled her eyes, "I mean, you're terrible, but I can tell what just happened wasn't your fault."
Weiss huffed and turned away, "Then go catch the morons who actually had the dust in the first place!"
"Well, I can look at the security footage later," Blake said, "Uh, it does seem rather odd that a whole crowd of people offloaded dust onto you. Do you know why they did that?"
Weiss growled, "How on earth am I supposed to know?"
"Hm. Well be more careful next time," Blake pocketed the dust so she could store it away with evidence. She continued towards the yard, where she was meant to be. She heard Weiss head a different direction, most likely the library since she had grabbed a book from her cell before closing the door. When she reached the yard she could see Ruby and Yang were near one of the walls, not at all trying for weights or grabbing a basketball. Ruby in particular was preparing to launch herself towards the wall, for what reason Blake did not know. She decided to head towards them in curiosity.
Ruby leapt onto the wall and took two steps before landing on her feet, "Darn! So close!"
"C'mon Rubes!" Yang began to clap, cheer and otherwise be a very supportive sister, "This has been six months coming! I know you can do this before we leave!"
"What are you two doing?" Blake asked, leaning on the wall.
Ruby beamed the moment Blake arrived, "Blake! Let me show you what I've been working on!"
She turned the other direction, crouching down, her fingers touching the ground in a stance, then she exploded forward, the fastest start Blake had ever seen. With great agility Ruby leapt over benches and picnic tables, darting through several players during a basketball game without ever impeding their movements, back-flipping over some people eating lunch, stepping off a wall and turning around faster than she ever could manually, and doing the same in backwards order before she attempted to run the walls she was originally working on, but then she only managed two steps again before landing.
"No! Darn it! Why!" Ruby punched the floor, "So close again!"
Yang still cheered while Blake clapped, "I don't understand. That was very impressive."
"Ruby's been working on her parkour the moment she got here," Yang explained, "but she can't get the finale right where she runs up this wall."
"I will conquer the wall! You darn wall! I will get you! And then I'll climb the cell wall!" Ruby yelled at the non-sentient immovable object. She ran up again but this time with far too much force, falling on her face. She jumped up, feeling unfazed and trying again, but landing on her face a second time.
Yang ran up to her sister, helping her up, "Sis if you get too frustrated you need to take a break. You're just going to lose all your teeth at this rate."
"No!" Ruby frowned, "I just, I feel so close. Like I'm almost there. Let me just try again and again until I do it! I feel it! I'm that close!"
"Is she normally this energetic during this uh, training?" Blake asked.
Yang shook her head, "Nah. I think that disastrous visit has her blood going."
Blake watched Ruby continue to fall and fail against the wall, each and every time. It had been almost twenty minutes when Blake decided it'd be better not to get used to someone mangling their face onto the concrete, but just as she was about to look away, Ruby bolted off the floor and climbed two, three, four, five steps before pushing herself off the wall and landing on the ground. She was dangerously close to the razor wire and if she went any higher she was sure the guards standing in the towers had reason to shoot. When Ruby landed she raised her arms up like she had won the Olympics.
"I did it!" She jumped up and down many times, running to Yang, "I did it! I did it! I did it! You thought I couldn't but I did and I did it! Yay!"
She literally leapt into Yang's arms, who held her in a tight enough embrace to lift her off the ground and spin her around. The two of them laughed for ages, and Blake couldn't help but feel happy for them, for two people who looked like they had the time of their lives despite their circumstances or where they were. When Ruby was finally set back down to the ground she went through her entire run-through of the benches and basketball players, able to re-do her feat off the wall and feeling even more euphoric. She kept her arms sky high, running all over the place and cheering everywhere that she was able to run the walls. When she finally stopped, she stopped abruptly, her sneakers could have easily been damaged from how much force and little time she used to stop.
"Weiss!" Ruby suddenly blurted out, "Weiss said I couldn't do it! Well I need to go show her now!"
She ran towards the cellblock, but luckily Blake stopped her, "Weiss is in the library I believe."
"The library! Wait, there are too many shelves there to run up the walls," she stopped for a moment to think, "I'll just have to drag Weiss back. Be right back guys!"
Yang and Blake watched the bouncy girl go, storming through the doors into the library like the first day she was here and was told the library existed. Yang finally sat down, Ruby's energy was contagious and she was bounding around running with Ruby to see her feats up close the entire time. She took the moment to rest, taking a huge gulp of her bottle of water and flashing the biggest grin ever back at Blake.
"That's my sister for you," She closed her eyes, making her features all the more cheery, "Sometimes I wonder why I moved out when I'm missing someone like that at home."
Blake sat down too, feeling oddly exhausted watching someone else dash around so much, "You must feel privileged to be her older sister."
"Oh man, I wouldn't trade Ruby for the world," Yang leaned backwards to the point that she was facing Blake upside-down.
"And she must feel the same having you as a sister," Blake finished.
Yang scratched her cheek, still grinning and still in her awkward position, "Oh, I don't know about that. I could be a little better."
"I think you're a fine—"
"Belladonna."
Blake's ears, even though they were hidden deep with her hat, went erect immediately. She twisted around in her seat, a faunus prisoner standing behind her. She had recognized her as one of the arrivals that had entered the facility this morning, why she knew her name she did not know, having never introduced herself to the inmate. Yet, this young woman's presence was for whatever reason, making her pulse jump rapidly, her blood pressure dropping to an abnormal low. There was an uneasy feeling that threatened to unearth Blake's lunch when she responded to her.
"Uh, hello? How can I help you?" She said politely, as she always had.
The faunus had the narrowest eyes she had seen. She was for whatever reason smiling, stepping closer to the guard.
"You haven't eliminated the target yet."
Her heartbeat rocketed into the sky.
"Uh, excuse me?" Blake tried to play dumb, trying to see if maybe this was a very cruel jokester instead.
Yang reverted to a more comfortable position, not wanting to stare at this girl upside-down, "Er Blake? Do you know this weirdo?"
Her hands were behind her back, her chest pointing almost upwards as she continued, ignoring Yang.
"We are here to complete your job in your stead."
Blake shot up out of her seat, "What? What are you doing here!?"
She turned towards the library, about to bolt there as fast as possible. Yang, confused but knowing something had to be wrong followed, but before they were out of earshot, they heard one more line from the mysterious faunus.
"Greetings from the White Fang."
As if on cue, the alarm blared.
-
Ruby slammed open the doors, a smile she couldn't possibly wipe off her face as she entered the library. She wondered where Weiss might be sitting, reading quietly on yet another day, or was it another day? She was going to drag her cellmate back to their place, and run up the walls right onto her bunk. Unfortunately she would only be able to reach her bed in this manner for a few more days, but her biggest motivation to achieve this feat was to prove Weiss wrong and to ultimately impress her. it was very difficult to impress someone like Weiss, and she thought the one thing Weiss had said she couldn't do from the very beginning, she would do. Ruby thought of it as a parting gift for Weiss before she was to be released and would only see her friend, best friend even, once a month. It was the saddest part about having to leave. If she could leave Weiss impressed it was better than nothing!
Weiss though was not sitting anywhere at the front of the library, which made sense. She'd rather not sit near the drafty doors and have to see every single person that entered. Ruby explored the library, knowing every nook and cranny now having borrowed almost every book from each shelf. She knew Weiss would likely be at a corner of the library, usually near the non-fiction category with the history books. Ruby skipped towards that area and through the middle of two particular shelves she could see a white-haired beauty sitting on an armchair. Weiss had always been a pretty person, even stuck in a place like this with little to keep her appearances up. If Ruby was at all interested in pursuing romance in general she'd have attempted to court Weiss by now, but that was the single genre of books she'd never touch.
As she bounded towards Weiss, she noticed there were shoes that could be seen in the crack underneath the shelves. In between the books, especially the ones not tall enough to touch the top, she could see almost entirely an orange background. Unless they had given the library new wallpaper with the prison's zero funds, that was most definitely a group of people. A group of people who were walking nearer to where Weiss was sitting. Perhaps they were a group of friends browsing the history section together. Ruby paid it no mind, nearing Weiss and about to reach her when suddenly she was stolen from her seat, the book audibly dropping to the floor.
Alarmed, Ruby ran to the seat and cornered, seeing Weiss in the middle of that aforementioned crowd. One particular inmate had her in a headlock. They were all faunus.
"What are you doing!?" Ruby yelled.
The group stopped for a moment, but after a second it was like they had telepathically agreed to ignore Ruby, and then they struck.
Ruby did not hesitate; she dived into the crowd when she saw their fists landing on the heiress inside, limbs and desperation flying everywhere. A few seconds passed as Ruby felt herself getting the upper hand in the utter pandemonium. She was almost able to reach Weiss' hand when, throughout her own yells and the battle cries of the inmates, she heard one thing.
"Ruby, no!"
-
Before Blake could even grab the handles of the library doors, one of the guards swung it open for her from the inside. Her head was covered in blood. "B-belladonna! I'm going to call a bus or a doctor or anyone, you go inside now!"
Blake stopped and turned, seeing Yang was right behind her, "Yang stay outside, get on the ground or to the walls. This is an emergency!"
"No! My sister is inside! She could be involved!"
Blake could see several correctional officers in riot gear storming towards the library. She gestured to one to watch Yang, and that particular officer grabbed Yang's arms who did whatever she could to slip from their grasp, "Blake! You have to let me in! Stop! Let me go!"
"I'm sorry Yang," Blake said, entering the library wondering what possible carnage was happening this time. She grabbed the pepper spray she kept with her and remembered this time around that the opening should face away from her if anything was to be effective. There were a couple of guards with injuries waving at her frantically to head to the corner, where a few other guards had grabbed hold of several of the trouble-making inmates. It seemed the riot gear was unnecessary as the ordeal had ended moments ago. Several inmates, all faunus, were being arrested, stapled to the ground.
Blake approached one of the guards who was still trying to catch his breath, "What happened?"
"Stabbing, numerous wounded. One has a broken jaw, another's been stabbed a few times. Worst might be dead," He pointed to the corner of the library, just behind the end shelf.
The only thing running through Blake's mind was that if anyone was to be stabbed, that it not be it be Weiss. She spared her for a reason. Her life continued as a symbol of Blake's refusal to obey the orders of the White Fang. If she were the victim no doubt Ruby would be involved too and if she were to be hurt as well Blake could never forgive herself. She had decided months ago that Weiss may have been terrible, awful, all sorts of words you could describe someone as bad, but she truly didn't deserve to die. No one did. If she were the victim, the White Fang had infiltrated her workplace of comfort, the one place she could be to get away from them. Please, Blake thought to any higher power that would listen, just let it not be Weiss. Let it be some other stabbing, a coincidence. Ruby and Weiss were fine, standing by the walls or laying on the ground waiting for the emergency to tide over. That's where they were. That's where they had to be.
Her heart continued to pound, beads of sweat dripping off her face as she rounded the corner, already the carpet was soaked with what looked to be far too much blood. When her gaze slowly and dreadfully went up, her horrors were founded.
Weiss lay crumpled on the floor, a few guards attempting CPR on her.
She could only stand there, watching.
This was her fault.
Her stomach was about to rush up her esophagus and splay her previous meals onto the floor, but what she heard next pushed the bile back down.
"B-Blake..."
She turned around, seeing Ruby also on the ground, one guard was pressing onto her wounds, keeping the blood from seeping out, "Tell me W-Weiss is going to be okay."
Blake crouched down. She placed her hand on Ruby's left cheek, wiping off the streaks of blood lining down it, "We...we don't know."
"No!" Ruby tried to yell out, but it wasn't as loud as she wanted to, the pain keeping her from speaking too loudly. She croaked, "I tried to save Weiss, I r-really did! She has to be okay!"
Blake saw the tears, the watery eyes on Ruby's face that didn't belong on her at all. She tried to wipe them away as well, wishing for Ruby's anguish to dissipate, but there wasn't much she could do. Physically cleaning off the tears only allowed more room for new tears to take place. Blake wanted nothing more than to throw up, but she continued, trying to console Ruby.
"Shhh. Rest, Ruby. You're injured, don't—don't say anything," Blake murmured in her ear, "You did everything you could."
But the sobs kept coming.
"Weiss, I c-could've saved her, I...Blake," her words hard to hear, a cry or sob in between, "Blake, you don't u-understand."
Blake said nothing, waiting for Ruby to bring up the words she really wanted to give out, for what reason she did not know, but she was patient anyway. She knew this was the least she could do.
"B-Blake," Ruby coughed, some blood escaping her mouth, "Weiss, she—she..."
"Ruby, please, you should stop talking."
Ruby shook her head slightly, "She—" Another cough. More tears.
"She pushed me away."
