RWBY: Dark/Twelve is a Crowd

The day was brighter and warmer than the ones before it; too much for Ruby’s taste. Still, if there was any day where the rest of those Resistance weirdos were going to be out and about, it would be today. It gave her a chance to do some hunting while also getting some exercise. Ruby skipped along the deserted, dusty streets, her inactive scythe cradled in one hand, a rusty chain in the other. As Ruby pranced across the wasteland, she tugged at the cargo behind her, who was struggling to keep up.

Yang gasped and choked with every violent tug of the chain around her neck. She wheezed quick breaths whenever she had the chance, which were usually infrequent stops or pauses in Ruby’s stride. Yang licked her chapped lips; her tongue still tasted like dirt and blood. Her mouth stung from dehydration, and her body painfully sweat away what little moisture she had. The day was not particularly warm, but she could feel sunlight on parts of her skin that heated her up just enough to further torment her. The bandages wrapped around the stumps of her arms itched, and the thin veil of purple cloth that Ruby had tied over her sore eye sockets tugged and scratched at her dry skin. Whenever she would salivate enough to attempt to moisturize her lips, Ruby would tug at her neck again and force her to swallow. Her legs were sore and stiff from inactivity, making every stumble forward a painful ordeal. There was no part of her body that did not hurt.

“Come on, bitch, keep up!” Ruby shrilled. Yang felt a harder tug at her neck, forcing her to fall forward. She staggered her legs as she was pulled, preventing her from falling on her face and keeping herself upright. Yang took a deep breath, then summoned every ounce of her strength to jog a few feet forward to lessen the distance between her and Ruby, creating slack on the chain and fulfilling Ruby’s demand.

Ruby scoffed at her sister’s pitiful display. She paused for a moment, allowing Yang to catch up to her, skidding to a stop in the dirt. Ruby shook her head, then turned to focus back on her trail, dragging Yang behind.

Ruby scanned the environment, looking closely for any movement that she could go attack. However, aside from the occasional debris in the wind, there were no victims in sight. When Ruby looked again, she noticed that she had arrived to roughly the same point where she had killed that girl earlier. The body was gone, so she was either buried or hauled off by Grimm. Ruby sighed a bit when she realized she could not look over her kill. Despite this, she noted that just finding the bloodstains would be pretty satisfying too. Ruby moved her gaze to the ground, looking over the dark asphalt for traces of red.

As Ruby scanned the ground, a sudden noise echoed in the distance. It was faint, but just loud enough to startle Yang, making the chain jangle. It sounded like an explosion. Ruby quickly looked up to see a small cloud of smoke and dust rising from near the CCTS Tower. It rose relatively high, before quickly fading away.

Ruby stared at the sky where the cloud had been for a moment, then grinned.

“Did you hear that, Yang?” she chirped. “There’s a fight of some sort over there. Fights mean people. People mean victims.”

Yang wheezed heavily, paying more attention to catching her breath and licking her lips than what Ruby was saying. She did, however, grunt loudly, which was her way of showing Ruby that she acknowledged what she said. She did not care what Ruby was seeing, as long as it meant not moving.

Ruby pondered. “Well, it is a little close to Oz’s forces. It’s probably guarded. As fun as it would be to pick off some of his goons, their numbers are a little bit of a turnoff. Not to mention that there might be Huntsman or Huntresses there…”

Ruby placed her hand over her mouth, tapping with her index finger as she thought about her options. She let herself tune into the silence around her, with the only noise being the slow, steady pace of Yang’s sharp breaths and raspy coughs. Then Ruby removed her hand from her face and shrugged.

“Ah, what the hell,” she said. “I don’t have anything better to do right now. Let’s go!”

Ruby then began a quicker skip towards the direction of the explosion. Yang took one last deep breath to savor before she was violently pulled forward, her legs nearly jogging to keep up with her tormentor. Ruby hummed her favorite song, “Red Like Roses”, as she made her way towards her next targets. Yang coughed.

Jaune stepped forward, his blade drawn. Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren followed close behind, their weapons also drawn and poised to attack. Jaune scoffed.

“Blake Belladonna,” he remarked. “Just when I thought one White Fang was bad enough.”

Blake’s mouth morphed into an irritated sneer beneath her mask. “For your information, human, Adam Taurus has betrayed and abandoned the White Fang.” She gestured towards her target, who had since regrouped with his Resistance allies. “I am the leader now, and I am here to take him back to receive Faunus justice.”

Before Jaune could respond, Weiss stepped from behind him and marched ahead to confront Blake.

“Whatever he’s done, he’s Resistance now, which makes him our responsibility now.” Weiss snapped. “So buzz off, beast.”

Blake growled. “Schnee. Your company has been a thorn in Faunus’ sides even before the White Fang.”

“I know,” Weiss said coyly. “We’ve treated you things with no less care than you deserve.”

“You use Faunus slave labor!” Blake shouted. “And soon, you will pay for that, you and your entire species!”

Weiss rolled her eyes. “‘Slave labor’ she calls it. You things aren’t deserving of the right to be called slaves. I simply see you as beasts of burden; you have no say. You have no rights. And you never will, creature!”

Blake growled and shouted in fury, then leapt at Weiss with her bladed weapons drawn. Weiss quickly unsheathed and held up her rapier, blocking just as Blake’s blades clashed into it. A loud metallic clank rang out as the weapons collided. Blake pushed off of the connection and began rapidly striking at Weiss from multiple angles, attempting to bypass her guard. Weiss, careful of the Faunus’ every move, blocked each blow with quick swings of her rapier and steady positioning of the blade. Blake then jumped and threw both blades down towards Weiss, who raised her rapier to block. As Blake’s weapons collided with Weiss’, Weiss quickly pulled out and spun over to Blake’s side. With a quick swing of the blade, Weiss cut. Blake felt a sharp sting and instinctively kicked, her foot finding its place in Weiss’ gut. As Weiss stumbled back, Blake leaped away with feline grace and landed on her feet a few meters away. She examined her side; Weiss had slashed a sizable cut in her abdomen, which had sliced through her uniform and drew blood.

As Weiss straightened herself, Blake swung in for another attack. She kept her blades low and aimed for Weiss’ legs. Weiss leapt into the air, with Blake’s blades narrowly missing her legs. Weiss frontflipped over her opponent and slashed at her from above. Blake, though not expecting this, was quick enough to throw one of her blades up just in time before the rapier crashed down, repelling the Human’s attack. As Weiss landed back on her feet, both combatants turned to face each other.

“That’s enough, ladies!” A voice called out. Both fighters stopped their assaults and faced towards the speaker.

Pyrrha marched forward next to Jaune. “While I love a good show, I think it’s about time this little performance closed curtains.”

Jaune nodded. “These rebels, including Adam Taurus, are to be brought before Lord Ozpin. And if you have a problem with that, Belladonna, you’ll have to face all five of us.” He raised his sword.

“We’re not going anywhere!” Torchwick yelled, still held in Mercury’s arms. He raised his cane, and the end opened. Before the Huntsmen, Huntresses, Weiss, or Blake even had a chance to react, a single fiery blast shot off from the end, landing in the approximate center of the commotion and creating a sizable explosion of dust, stone, and fire.

Cinder blocked the heat from the blast with her free hand, then looked to Roman.

“Why the hell didn’t you do that before?!” Mercury yelled.

“It was only one shot,” Roman said, gritting his teeth through the pain in his legs. “I had to wait until they were all close enough to one area to hit them all.”

“No time to argue!” Cinder cried. “We have to get out of here now, before it’s too late!”

Cinder, Mercury, Adam, and Roman all turned towards where they came from. Just as they were all stepping forward, they were forced to stop again.

“Oh, I’m afraid it’s already too late.” one of the figures in front of them said. The Reaper grinned under her hood. “Hello, besties. Fancy seeing you here.”

Cinder felt her breath stop and her heart rate quicken. The Reaper had found them again, and this time she wasn’t alone. Behind her, with a chain around her neck, was one of the most miserable-looking creatures Cinder had ever seen. It was a tall, blonde girl dressed in rags. Her feet were bare and red, and parts of her legs, stomach, and breasts could be seen through the tears in her coverings. She had no arms, just stumps with dirty, bloody bandages wrapped tightly around them. Her face looked as if it was once beautiful, but now was tarnished with scars, bruises, dirt, and a single, shoddy piece of purple fabric wrapped over her face above her nose. Cinder guessed that, underneath the fabric, the girl was missing her eyes. She wheezed tired breaths, and would occasionally lick her lips.

Suddenly, a loud noise crashed behind them. Cinder took her worried eye off the Reaper and looked behind to see Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, and Weiss quickly running forward. They skidded to a halt when they saw Ruby.

“The Reaper!” Jaune yelled to his team.

Ruby’s dark face lightened up in glee. “More victims!” she squealed, activating her scythe.

Jaune pointed his sword at Ruby. “Don’t let her kill any of he rebels! We need them alive!” he shouted.

Ruby flashed a grin, then swung her scythe right at Cinder. Cinder closed her eye and prepared for death, but it did not come. She opened her eye to see Adam standing between her and the scythe blade, his sword drawn and pressing against the opposing blade. He groaned.

“Go! Go!” he yelled. Cinder ducked down and ran, and Mercury pulled a yelping Torchwick to safety. Ruby swung her scythe again, but Adam dodged it and rolled away. As Ruby raised her scythe to strike again, she was suddenly hit. Jaune barged forwards with his shield out, ramming Ruby and knocking her backwards. Ruby shifted her attention to the Huntsman.

“One of Oz’ toys. Killing you should be fun!” she said before dropping Yang’s chain and using both hands to swing her scythe. Jaune blocked the attack with his shield, grunting, before retaliating with his own swing of his sword. Ruby dodged the attack, jumping back and giggling. Before he could make another move, Nora came rocketing out of the air with her hammer, slamming the ground and forcing all parties involved to leap back. Cinder just crawled out of the way of the blow.

As Nora stepped back, Blake suddenly leapt from the shadows. She rolled to a halt, standing a good distance from everyone else.

Twelve people now stood in a misshapen circle; Cinder, Mercury, Torchwick, Adam, Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, Weiss, Ruby, Yang, and Blake; each eyeing their enemies closely.

“Well isn’t this a clusterf*ck,” Ruby chirped. She lowered her head and giggled. Her giggling continued until it turned into chuckling. Then, without warning, she threw her head back so hard and fast her hood came off and began laughing a shrill, wicked laugh. Then she lowered her head again and, still chuckling, reached over and unhooked Yang’s chain from her neck.

“Yang…” Ruby said between chuckles, “sic ‘em.”

Yang had been exhausted. But when Ruby said those words… something came over her. Something Ruby had instilled into her for years. Not instilled… beat. Beat into her. Something… terrible. Yang’s mind immediately shifted from her pain and exhaustion to rage. Rage against Ruby. Rage against the people around her. Rage against life. Suddenly, she wanted to fight back… fight back against everything. But she could not fight back against Ruby; Ruby would just hurt her some more. But the others… she knew she could fight them. Yang seethed in hate. Her sore legs and sweaty skin burned from her mind. In their place was hatred… and violence… and pure, unfiltered…. rage.

They couldn’t hold her now. Nothing could stop her. They could swing all they wanted, but like a fever, she would take them down.

It was time for them to watch her ignite.

Yang screamed loudly, then rushed at Jaune at blinding speeds. Jaune raised his sword and shield, but Yang dropped to the ground and slid under them, kicking out his feet. As Jaune fell, Yang hopped back up and ran at him, screeching. Pyrrha stepped forward to defend her partner. Though Yang could not see her, she could hear the clinking of her armor as she moved; the thud of her foot as it landed on the ground.

Yang knew exactly where she was.

As Pyrrha raised her spear and shield, Yang jumped to attack. Pyrrha thrust forward with her spear, aiming directly for Yang’s heart. However, just before the spear hit its mark, Yan dodged and allowed it to pass right by her. She spun as she lurched forward, facing her target again. Pyrrha raised her shield, but Yang swung her whole body in the direction of it and slammed it to the side, giving her an open path to Pyrrha. Yang screamed, then lurched forward and swiftly bit down onto Pyrrha’s neck.

Pyrrha screamed as Yang’s yellowed teeth sunk into her, tearing violently through skin and filling her mouth with blood, the excess of which sprayed out around the bite. Pyrrha whirled around attempting to throw Yang off, but Yang held tight.

“Pyrrha!” Jaune shouted! He jumped to his feet, then swung his sword at Yang. Yang heard him coming, released Pyrrha, and jumped back, allowing the blade to fall in between them. She turned and screamed at Jaune, but was cut off when she was struck from the side by a pair of feet. Ren came in with a drop kick, slamming into Yang’s side and causing her to fall and roll on the ground. Yang had not heard him.

Yang quickly got up, ignoring her sore ribs. As Jaune prepared for attack, Ruby suddenly entered the fray, swinging her scythe in a circular motion towards him. Jaune managed to block with his shield, but was knocked back by the blow.

Cinder, meanwhile, watched the antics with frightened awe. As she watched, something came over her. She scanned the group and saw so many enemies… the Huntsmen and Huntresses, the Schnee Dust Company, the White Fang, the Reaper and her maniac… this was never going to end, was it? Not this specific battle, but the war for survival. No matter where they turned, someone would always be there to hurt them. They were punching bags in a world of boxers. No one was afraid of them.

As Cinder closed her eye, she found herself in a bunker in Mistral, duel-wielding swords and fighting a practice dummy. Salem watched her as she pulled off intricate swordplay and fast acrobatics, only stopping when her swords where at the dummy’s synthetic throat. Panting, she looked to Salem, who nodded.

“Very good,” Salem said in her calm voice. “You should be ready in no time.”

Cinder gazed at her mentor with two eyes. “Salem,” she said, “you said we were a Resistance against evil. But what is the evil? What are we getting ready for?”

Salem sighed. “Cinder, there are much more wicked and ancient forces in this world than you realize. I’ve been holding them at bay, but they’re getting stronger. They’re learning. Soon, I don’t think I will be enough anymore.”

Cinder panted. “But… what are they? When will we know to fight?”

Salem glanced down, breaking eye contact. “If it were up to me, you’d never need to know. I had hoped with all my heart that these forces would not return. There’s still a chance they might not. But that chance is too small. If and when they come, you’ll know what they are and when to fight. But in that rare chance that they do not come, I’d rather you not know at all.”

Cinder sighed, and glanced down at her feet. “I want to help you the best I can,” she said.

“I know, dear.” Salem said, looking back up. “You are a warrior. Just remember that, no matter what happens, always fight back. Don’t anyone to keep you down. Do it for me.”

Cinder’s eye flew open. She reached to her back and pulled out her two swords. Her brows tightened in anger as she looked out at her enemies.

Mercury, Roman, and Adam stared at her in shock. “Cinder!”’ Roman yelled. “What the f*ck do you think you’re doing?!”

Cinder stood, her swords brandished. “No more,” she spat. “I will not let us be the weaklings here. They gang up on us because they don’t fear us. Lord Ozpin’s people see us as scum. The Schnees see us as nuisances. The White Fang see us as infidels. The Reaper sees us as targets. The world sees us as nothing.”

Cinder seethed as her words left her mouth. “But no more! If we ever want to survive, if we ever want to win, they need to see us for who we really are! And we… are… threats!”

Cinder began walking towards the battle. It had escalated since she last payed attention to it; Weiss was battling Blake again, Yang was fending off both Nora and Ren simultaneously, and Jaune and Pyrrha were trying and failing to slow down the ever-quick and violent Ruby.

Cinder’s walk turned to a jog, which turned into a run, which turned into a sprint. She closed her eye and deeply exhaled one last time before flashing her eye open and emitting a loud growl. Every person except Yang tuned their eyes in her direction, even as they kept fighting. Cinder set her sights right on Jaune and ran towards him before preparing her swords and unleashing a fierce battle cry.

“For Salem!”

<< Confrontation | Blood >>