Chapter Text
Ruby yelped as she was dropped heavily to the floor, wheezing as the air was knocked out of her lungs. Before she could even try to make a run for it, a bone white hand grabbed her throat and lifted her clear off the ground.
She gasped, air unable to pass through to her lungs, she clawed at the hand and kicked out with her feet. She felt nails digging into flesh, but Salem merely smirked.
“Even in the end, still fighting. You are so much like your mother.”
Ruby glared through the tears forming in her eyes, there were dark edges in her vision now.
But if Salem was going to kill her here and now, Ruby was going to look her in the eyes while she’s doing it. And maybe her friends will know that she died defiant.
Scared, because she was barely eighteen and she was going to die, but defiant . Still fighting.
Always fighting.
“I think with you,” Salem loosened her grip on Ruby’s throat enough for the huntress to breath as she stepped toward the cliff edge, lowering her arm enough for Ruby’s feet to drag across the ground. “I’m going to try something new. It’ll be a lovely experiment…if you survive.”
Then Ruby was being held over the cliff edge, silver eyes glancing down at the Grimm pool below. The tar bubbling up as if it was reaching up to grab her and drown her in the darkness.
Fear sparked in her silver eyes as they turned back towards Salem, the witch smirking. Relishing in the fear of the child in her hand, at her mercy.
Then those eyes sharpened into swords of steel, defiant once again.
Always fighting.
Ruby’s voice was a whisper, unable to get enough of air to be any louder. “ My friends…will find me. ”
Salem looked unconcerned.
“They won’t recognize you.”
She released her grip on Ruby’s throat and the child fell to the sound of Tyrian’s insane cackling in the background.
Salem hummed at the sound of the splash.
She remembers everything, yet nothing.
She remembers how to fight with her scythe, how to use her Semblance, the best way to kill a Boarbatusk or a Beowolf.
She remembers people, their faces, their voices, their laughter. White-Black-Yellow.
She does not remember names.
Once upon a time she remembered them, when she dragged herself out of the Grimm pool. Pain pain pain burning she was burning she was dying .
She could speak back then too.
But she had lost her voice to the pain as Mistress manipulated the Grimm tar within her, be it as punishment or when she wanted to try something new. When she tried to extinguish whatever the light was inside her that the Mistress disliked.
She curled up on the ground, shaking in pain as her mouth was opened in silent screams. Silver eyes stared up at the witch looking disappointedly down at her.
“Ever defiant,” Mistress stared back at the silver. Her experiment was clearly in pain, but those eyes did not share the pain. Only resistance.
Always fighting.
Salem turned angry and she clenched her fist. Her experiment writhed in pain on the ground, screams lost in the silence.
She hated Mistress. In a way she thinks she’s never hated before.
Mercury taught her what hatred was, when he was in the castle and not on missions. He always looked both ill and sad when he saw her, but he taught her the names of things. Of Grimm, colors White-Black-Yellow, of feelings.
He said that she named her weapon Crescent Rose and that when she had it in her hands that she was an annoying little brat in a fight.
One time, she asked him about the White-Black-Yellow from her memories and he told her to shut up and leave him alone or he was going to let Cinder bug her again.
She knows the White-Black-Yellow people in her memories were special to her, and she hears their voices in her mind as she laid on the ground in pain after another drop into the Grimm pool, after a flash of silver light burned away the tar within her. Comforting her. Promises in her ears we’ll find you, —-! R–! RU—!
She had a name, once.
Sometimes she remembers the name of things after the silver light, but not the names she so desperately wants to know.
The names of White-Black-Yellow.
The name she had before experiment-pet-wilted rose.
“I believe it is time to prove yourself,” Mistress cooed, a hand caressing her face.
She hated the Mistress' touch. It left her feeling icky. She hated the Mistress. She did not cringe away from the touch. She was not allowed to deny the touch.
“Are…you sure its ready, my queen?” Cinder asked, tone unsure.
“Are you questioning my decision, Cinder?” Mistress’ tone was light, like a dagger, but it was also dangerous. Like a dagger.
“No, ma’am,” The Maiden quickly bowed her head, fear in her tone. “I…merely don’t trust that the experiment is ready to be left unsupervised.”
“That is what we are about to find out,” Nails suddenly dug into her cheek as the Mistress turned back to her, she did not flinch.
She was not granted permission to flinch.
“And if it fails, then we will bring it back and fix it.”
If her leash was extended, silver eyes met red. She would chew it up until she was free.
“I want you to kill three pesky huntresses.”
She has not seen green trees since before the pool.
She reached out and touched the bark of the tree. It was bumpy and she didn’t like the texture, but she also couldn’t pull away from it. So new, so familiar.
There was a loud gunshot nearby and the roar of an Ursa. The Mistress had sent all kinds of Grimm to infest the area and lure the huntresses into the trap.
She cared not for the mission, she was already gnawing at the leash. Her freedom was close.
She used her semblance to scale up the tree and perch on a thick branch engulfed by green leaves.
Just in time for an Ursa to get knocked into the clearing, a person –so much Yellow, familiar Yellow– followed close behind and punched up at the Ursa’s chin. A shotgun blast to the head making the Grimm fall to the ground and disappear into ash.
Two other people stepped into the clearing close behind. Familiar White-Familiar Black.
She knew these people. She remembered them.
“That’s all the Grimm in this area,” White said. “No sign of whatever weird Grimm the villagers were talking about, however.”
She noticed that all of them had a tattered red fabric tied to their left wrists. Closer to their hearts. She glanced down at the shredded edges of the red cloak she always wore, it looked similar. Their red fabric was clearly more cared for than her cloak was, but it was the same fabric.
“Maybe we should camp here for the night and move on in the morning,” Black suggested.
She stood up, the branch creaking at the shift of her weight. The cat ears on Black’s head swerved in her direction, amber eyes narrowing at the area she was in.
“Something is watching us.”
The other two tensed up, White unsheathing her rapier and the gauntlet on Yellow’s left arm expanding.
There was a moment of stillness. No one moved.
Her chest was suddenly filled with emotions, or perhaps she was just finally noticing them. She wanted to jump down and reveal herself to White-Black-Yellow. She wanted to run away from them.
She wanted to fight.
With her teeth bared in a snarl. Using her semblance, she rushed away from the White-Black-Yellow and towards a ground of Grimm she sensed.
“There!”
She knew that even with the wilted rose petals her semblance left behind, she was faster. The petals would disappear before they could follow the trail.
A part of her, the light that always burns in her chest, wished that they could follow.
She sliced a Beowolf in half, an angry snarl on her lips. Then spun her scythe above her head before swinging it down and beheading another. The last Beowolf fell to the ground as it faded into ash and she slammed the tip of her scythe into the ground as she gave a silent yell into the sky.
She was restless, an energy flooding the blood in her veins alongside the Grimm tar. Her thoughts are only consumed by White-Black-Yellow.
She wanted them to see her. She did not want them to see what she had become. She wanted to know their real names, she wanted them to tell her what her real name was. She knew that she would never be the person she was before the Grimm pool, the person they missed. That name belonged to the girl who was dropped. She was the thing that crawled out.
So many feelings she no longer knew how to handle. So many contradictions that it was overwhelming her and the light burned a little more in her chest.
A branch snapped behind her and she spun her scythe, the tip digging into the ground as she stared down the cracked sight at whatever made the foolish decision to try and sneak up on her.
Of course. White-Black-Yellow.
She lifted her head to look over the sight of her weapon at the three staring back at her. There were so many emotions in their faces that she couldn’t pick all of them apart. Anger. Distress. Crushing sadness.
She tilted her head, lowering her weapon a bit as she watched them.
“Ruby?” Yellow asked, tears in her eyes and her tone watery.
Ruby. She blinked in confusion. Was that her name before the pool? The name of the girl who was dropped.
Movement made her tense and snapped her eyes towards Black, who immediately paused in her step forward. The cat ears pressed down to her head in fear.
Fear of her? Or fear of her running away?
“It’s us,” Black whispered.
“Your team,” White added, tears sliding down her face.
Yes, that was what they were to her Partner-Friend-Sister. She remembered what they meant to her, just not what she used to call it.
She had no interest in completing the Mistress’ mission before, and she most definitely wasn’t going to now.
She was gnawing on the leash. Her freedom was near.
“Please be in there, Ruby,” White spoke up again.
Black took another step forward.
Panic filled her chest and she activated her semblance, darting off into the forest again.
“NO!”
White glyphs appeared before her and White slid over the surface of them, catching up but still not at her speed. “Ruby, please!”
She separated into three smaller piles of wilted rose petals; one going straight, one left, and the last one going to the right. A trick she couldn’t hold for long, but long enough to lose her followers.
White followed the pile going straight and after a few seconds the pile dissolved, having been a decoy.
She reformed hidden within the trees.
But she still heard White’s anguished scream. It made her sad.
It was night when she sought them out.
They had created a camp for the night, Black was the only one awake while White and Yellow slept in sleeping bags.
She was sitting on another high up tree branch, back leaning against the trunk, and a leg swaying back and forth over the sides. Sleep was a rarity for her, the Mistress rarely allowing her the luxury and the Grimm tar within her kept her running until she dropped.
She swung her leg a bit too hard at the thought of the Mistress, causing the branch to creak.
Black’s ears and eyes snapped in her direction, amber met silver.
For a moment they just stared at each other, analyzing each other. She remembered that Black was always good at reading people.
Which must have been why Black slowly reached a hand to a stone on the ground next to her. Watching her {Ruby, your name is Ruby. You are still the girl that dropped} closely for any indication that she would run.
Black, seeing that she was not preparing to run, snatched up the stone and threw it at Yellow. Hitting Yellow’s metal arm with a loud tink noise, causing her to jolt awake, gauntlet extending and White made a choked sound as she was so suddenly awoken.
Panic made her tense up and she shifted in preparation to run. Black hissed something towards the two and their eyes snapped up towards her.
The gauntlet quickly retracted and Yellow held her hands up in the universal sign of peace. White remained still, watching closely with blue eyes.
She watched the three closely for a second, slowly settling back down on the branch. She shifted her cloak to wrap around her to hold off the cold night air.
She eyes White-Black-Yellow for a moment, but she knows in her heart they wouldn’t hurt her. The heart always remembers.
Pulling up her tattered hood, she rested her head against the trunk of the tree, closing her eyes but not sleeping.
Merely existing in the moment, with those she knows are important to her.
This time her opponent in this staring contest was Yellow while White and Black made something over the campfire.
She forgot what the food was called, but she knows that she ate it a lot while traveling with Lighter Yellow-Pink-Green. She knew it tasted bland and she always groaned before eating it.
It has been a while since the Mistress allowed her the luxury of eating. Her stomach rumbled.
The cat ears once again swerved towards her and Black whispered something to the other two, who looked at her with heartbroken eyes.
The three ate directly from the cooking pan, then placed it at the edge of their camp. They gave it a wide berth while watching her closely.
White gestured to her and then the pan, the offer clear. It’s yours, you can have it.
She was tempted. She was hungry after all.
And the Mistress wasn’t here to deny her the luxury.
The leash was being gnawed. Freedom was near.
She used her semblance to reach the ground, eyeing White-Black-Yellow cautiously as she slowly stepped closer to the cooking pan.
Lunging forward, she snatched the pan and fork and ducked behind the nearest tree. She quickly ate it, just in case Tyrian tried to take it away from her like he has in the past. Even though she knows he’s not there.
She knows that she was scrawnier than she was before the pool. She was not allowed to eat often.
Once the pan was empty she used her semblance to quickly place it back where she had taken it and ducked back behind the tree.
“Oh, Ruby,” White whispered, sadness in her blue eyes. They must have caught sight of her.
“I’m going to kill Salem a thousand times,” Yellow said around gritted teeth, her fists clenched angrily.
“We will,” Blake promised, tone sharp.
Her chest suddenly ached, as it has many times before. She gently rubbed it with a frown, then a pained grimace as the pain spiked.
Another light episode was coming, and this time there were no Grimm pools nearby to drop her into.
“Ruby?” She looked back up at White-Black-Yellow, concern for her clear on their faces.
She activated her semblance and darted off to be as far as possible from both Grimm and people within the forest. She didn’t want anyone around her for this.
She fell out of her semblance beside a crystal clear pond, falling to the ground and rolling a bit as the pain intensified.
She took a deep breath and tugged at the torn fabric over her chest, the result of previous episodes of the light burning the tar within her. Her mouth opened to let out a scream that never escaped.
Her eyes opened and there was a flash of silver. There was fire in her veins.
There was only darkness.
“Does she look different to you?”
“Maybe the light from her eyes did something?”
“She’s still breathing.”
She {Use your name. It’s yours. She cannot take everything from you. Do not let her take it } snapped her eyes open at the familiar voices and stumbled away from White-Black-Yellow, unsteady on her feet at first but that didn’t stop her from putting distance between them.
“Ruby, please,” Yellow begged. “Come back to us.”
“It’s us, your team,” White added, her tone watery as the tears escaped her eyes. “We won’t let Salem get you again.”
“Say something,” Black whispered.
She reached a hand up to tap her throat and shook her head.
“You…” White’s shoulders slumped. “You can’t talk?”
She nodded her head, a sad smile on her face.
White-Black-Yellow looked sad again. They’ve looked sad a lot, since she found them.
“Can…you write?” Black asked, suddenly there was hope in her eyes.
She gave an, almost comically, offended look. Of course she can write.
Amusement danced in amber eyes and she chuckled and raised her hands up in the signal for peace before reaching into the little backpack behind her and pulling out a little notebook and pencil. For a moment Black thought about how to hand them over to her before just holding the items out in one hand.
Slowly, cautiously, and without using her semblance, she stepped close enough to quickly snatch the items before skittering back a few steps. Out of arm's reach, but close enough for them to read what she wrote.
“Do you recognize us?” Was the first question Yellow asked.
Her shoulders slouched a bit as she wrote her answer, flipping around the notebook.
Yes and no. Know who you are. Names are hard.
White - Partner.
Black - Friend.
Yellow - Sister.
She watched their faces drop and the ever present sadness returned. She didn’t like it. She wrote quickly.
Sometimes they come to me when the light burns the Grimm tar away! I might remember soon!
She flipped the notebook back around, hoping that it might make them feel better.
“Wait, you won’t be like this forever?” Yellow asked.
She shook her head. Her heart lifted when they looked a bit more happy.
She keeps the notebook and pencil, Black doesn’t seem to mind too much.
She’s sitting against the base of the tree this time, happily drawing in the notebook a short distance away from White-Black-Yellow’s camp.
Footsteps coming closer cause silver eyes to snap up to meet blue. White immediately stops and clears her throat.
“May I?” White motions to the ground in front of her. Eyeing White carefully, she gives a nod.
White folds her legs to sit on the ground, carefully watching her right back.
“I promised you that I would be the best partner I could be,” White started.
She smiled fondly. Remembering soft blue eyes, an oath, a tentative reaching out, sweet coffee on her tongue. She remembers cold hands, but a warm heart. That just needed a little help melting the ice around it.
Weiss gave a smile back. “I’m glad you still remember. My promise still stands, I’m going to be the best partner. You aren’t going to go through this alone, Ruby.”
Ruby, I think you have what it takes to be a good leader. Just know I’ll be the best teammate you’ll ever have!
She tilted her head with a smile and flipped the notebook towards her partner. In the center of the page was the Schnee family crest and in the top corner was written Weiss .
Tears built up in Weiss’ eyes as she placed her fingertips over the space above where her name was written. “You remember my name.”
The leash was ready to snap. Freedom was near.
I told you I would remember eventually.
Weiss’ fingers drifted down and lightly brushed against her own, she flinched at the touch. But it didn’t hurt, it didn’t bring pain.
It…was nice.
But Weiss had seen her reaction and quickly snapped her hand away. Blue eyes watching her closely.
Ruby hesitated for a second, but placed the notebook down on the grass beside her and reached her hand out towards her partner.
Weiss held her hand out, but didn’t reach out any further. Letting Ruby set the pace for initiating physical contact.
Bone white fingers lightly touched the tip of Weiss’ nails and Ruby gave an audible sharp inhale of breath.
Then she bent her fingers to hook against her partner’s in awe, her other hand coming up to cradle it between her palms. They were soft and warm and it didn’t hurt .
Ruby missed it. She missed them. Weiss-Blake-Yang
Their mission was done, she knew. Yet they still stayed.
Ruby knew that they had cleared out all the Grimm in the forest that Salem sent. She also knew that they should clear out before Salem sent a seer or one of her pawns to figure out if the experiment had completed her mission, or needed to be brought back to be fixed.
You need to leave.
She tossed the notebook down on the ground in the middle of the camp, causing her team to pause in what they were doing and read the message.
“Why?” Yang asked first, a deep frown on her face. “We aren’t leaving without you, Ruby.”
Salem will send someone to check and see if I have finished my mission. You can’t be here when that happens.
“We aren’t leaving without you, Ruby,” Blake reiterated, tone firm and not open to any kind of negotiation.
Ruby hesitated, if she left then Salem would just hunt her down and they would get caught in the crossfires of it. If she stayed, then Salem would be too focused on fixing her to focus on her team- her family -her everything .
She cannot allow them to fall into Salem’s sights again.
I can’t let her have you guys. Ruby’s last ditch attempt.
“We can’t let her have you again,” Weiss countered. “We won’t let her.”
Ruby looked at the faces of her team -her friends -her everything and she let out a sigh.
Fine.
She didn’t notice the loosening of her collar until now. The leash had snapped a while ago, she just didn’t realize it until she was already running back home.