Chapter Text
Chapter 25: Familial Relations
The moment the alarms sounded, Ruby’s hands were still shaking after cutting off the chip from her father’s neck. She hears Qrow scream out cusses before saying “Initiate doomsday protocol!” as he runs out of the room whose floor was sinking on their feet.
“Missiles!?” Penny says as bright red lights erupt all around the house.
“What the actual fuck!? Doomsday protocol!?” she couldn’t help but let out. Her first thought was to go out and fetch Yang, Weiss, Blake and Jaune but when her Uncle came back, he was practically dragging the blonde boy by the collar. He jumps into the platform that was sinking into the ground and she sees them being lowered into a steel chamber.
For a moment, she hears nothing but quiet, ragged breathing and the incessant beeping from both the machines her father was hooked up to and the alarms blaring all around the place.
“Uncle Qrow! What’s happening!?” he asked the man who was looking up at the ceiling in horror. The next thing that came was horror indeed. She felt Qrow pull her and Jaune into a tight hug as the sound of a bomb landed from above them making her wince. Covering her ears and shutting her eyes tightly. Explosion after explosion came, shaking the walls that confined them and it took a long time before she could hear clearly.
The moment the ringing started fading, she was still wincing a headache threatening to make its appearance. She feels her Uncle’s arms steady her as he grabs a tablet, scanning through the feeds before they got melted and destroyed by a fucking bomb from the sky.
He sighs in relief as he finds footage of Yang grabbing Weiss and Blake before jumping out the window away from the blast. Ren and Nora took cover by the beach, too far to be hurt by any debris that might’ve come flying from the remnants of his mansion.
“They’re alright, they got out,” he says out loud and Ruby sighs in relief, “Fuck, they’re really trying to kill us, huh,”
“We need to leave, now,” Glynda states, holding her head up, one hand still wrapped around the orange haired girl who was on the verge of tears, “Penny, Jaune and I will load up Taiyang in the submarine, You two, grab the rest and meet us by the docks, we need to make haste,”
The blonde boy’s legs were shaky, eyes tearful but he nodded.
“Yes, M-M-Ma’am,” he says shakily, pushing his legs to stay upright.
“Qrow, how do we get out of here?” Glynda asked the man and he began typing something on the tablet. The red lights were swapped with regular fluorescent lights and the walls were beginning to shake opening up multiple paths.
“I’d made this place ready to withstand threats, bombs and otherwise… was expecting to use this in the event of a zombie apocalypse… not a buncha’ lunatics hellbent on trying to kill us…” Qrow says with a sigh, “Good thing the system worked… ‘else, we’d have been charred rubble,”
“Not really the image I wanna think of when we’re stuck in a bunker that just got bombed from the outside, Qrow,” Ruby sighs.
“Alright, here, this is the path to the submarines and…” Qrow went quiet again and she saw her Uncle going pale.
“...Uncle Qrow…?”
“Everyone, gear up… I don’t think we’ll be able to leave without a fight,” he says grimly and when she saw groups upon groups of those mind controlled freaks surrounding the island… she could only cuss.
“Guess we can forget about leaving this place by cabmarine,” she gulps. She cycles through the feeds that were still running and when she lands on one camera though, it felt like her stomach dropped.
She sees a beaten up Nora and Ren, a terrified Blake and Weiss and Yang standing in front of two of those mind controlled assholes… only these two, these two didn’t have their faces covered.
That was all she needed to get a move on.
—
Yang Xiao Long is tired.
It was fair to say they all were, to be honest. Sleep deprived with aching muscles plus the general stress of being in this line of work and constantly trying to protect everything she cared about and at the same time trying not to die.
It was impossible to be in this position and not be tired as all hell.
Despite that though, her body refused to rest. She probably won’t be resting anytime soon either. She was too… high-strung as of the moment. Waiting for any sign of trouble to pop up. She had to admit, waiting for the problem to show up was the worst part.
The jitters, the nerves, the anticipation practically killed her.
“Yang!” a voice pulls her out of her thoughts. She secures the gauntlets around her arms before turning to find Blake and Weiss.
She raises a brow, “Somethin’ up?”
Weiss shook her head, “Ruby’s stressed, I told her I’d get some supplies ready in case… y’know,”
Yang nods, “Yeah, smart… that’ll at least help her calm a bit,”
“How about you? How are you doing?” Blake asked out. The black haired girl wasn’t doing any better, Blake looked absolutely ragged and by the stories she’d heard, it was mostly because of Nora not taking it easy on them.
“Feeling just as antsy as Ruby is, I suppose,” Yang replied, “How ‘bout you two? I know this has been… a lot,”
Her two best friends shared a look before offering a tentative smile, it was Blake who spoke up for both of them, “We’re managing but… It’ll be nice to have some semblance of normality and peace once all of this is over,”
…Right… once all of this was over. The question however, lay between that thin line of when it’ll be over and if it’ll ever be over. Yang did her best to smile despite it, anything to give the pair of civilians who quite literally, just got caught in the crossfire, at least a sliver of comfort and calm despite their precarious situation.
“Yeah, the moment this is done, I’m sleeping for three days straight, a mini coma, y’know,” she grins. That’d be perfect in all honesty.
“I think I might do the same,” Blake nods, earning a snort from Weiss who was already walking to their room.
“That’s nice and all, unless you’ve forgotten the sheer amount of schoolwork we have to catch up to once this is over,” Weiss says, making Yang roll her eyes.
“You’re literally the only person who’s thinking of school at a time like this,”
“Well, someone has to,” the white haired girl says with a tone of finality, “Anyway, if you’re already ready, mind helping us pack some necessities, might soothe both yours and Ruby’s worries,”
Yang just nods and walks with the two girls. That was true, one of the things the sisters have always found comfort in when they were waiting for things to go down was preparing. It always pays to be prepared and paranoid with the lives they live, she lost count of how many times hers or Ruby’s told them to prepare only to have something bad happen immediately after.
And it hasn’t let them down yet.
Once they arrived in the main base, the three of them went through their own tasks. Yang was grabbing some weapons, mostly handguns, something easy to carry and still protect them. Some explosives in case they needed more firepower, some gadgets that would be useful for infiltration and other knick knacks that might just save their lives. Weiss was packing some clothes, their suits, things that would be able to protect them in the long run rather than their cotton T-shirts and Blake, she was in charge of packing rations, something that’ll keep them fed for at least a week even though they’re just flavorless nutrition bricks.
The trio was quiet as each was succumbing to the focus of the task. That’s why when the alarm started blaring Yang stood and looked around in confusion for a good few seconds before something in her brain clicks.
Confusion turning to dread. Dread turning to panic.
…When they prepared… something bad always happened after.
She slung the back pack of weapons and gadgets over her shoulder. Gauntlets fully geared, her legs sprints for Blake and Weiss, she wasn’t even thinking. All she knew was that she had to go.
Go
Go.
GO!
She throws Blake on her free shoulder, the girl already carrying the bag she’d started preparing and Weiss also carrying the small suitcase as she holds her with her other arm. The two girls shrieked momentarily but their screams didn’t resonate. The only thing echoing in Yang’s mind was that she needed to keep them safe.
Her breathing erratic and her legs running as fast as she could, she didn’t even breathe a sigh of relief as she saw the window at the edge of the hall. Her body is on autopilot as she runs and kicks the glass, shattering it with one swift hit and before she knew it, they were out of the mansion, landing on the sandy ground amidst the palm trees. They couldn’t stay there though, as soon as she managed to gain her balance, she ran as far away from the place as possible.
“Yang!? What the he—!” but Weiss’ complaints were cut off and left unheard as she pushed the two down on the sand. The next thing she remembers was the sound of something so loud it threatened to make her eardrums rupture. The ringing in her ears was deafening, covering up the sound of glass shattering, walls breaking and the throes of destruction.
When the ringing in her ears started to fade, she pushed herself up. Groggy, beaten. When she turned around all she saw was brightness. Light.
…Flames engulfed the detonated mansion… the mansion where her family could be found.
She wasn’t even processing it because in the corner of her eye came a figure that was flying toward them. Scratch that…
Two figures. Thrown towards their direction.
Ren and Nora, landing tiredly and badly beaten, multiple cuts on their limbs, not so deep that it would be fatal but just by the locations of it, their opponents could’ve easily ended their lives if they wanted to.
She ran for her two friends who were groaning, breathing hard through their injuries… but when she faced the direction where they were thrown from, two figures stood imposingly. Flames and shadows dancing on their silhouettes and horrible, glowing bright green eyes.
When they stepped closer, Yang had to do everything she could not to break.
She’d never met the other person, but she knew that face well enough. Staring at her face in pictures she and Ruby had gathered over the years… so she knew… she knew…
The other woman on the other hand, ten years since she’d last seen her… and she was being buried at the time. She kissed the glass that separated a corpse and the corpse’s daughter. Only to find out years later the person being buried wasn’t even a person at all.
Nor was she even her mother.
How could that fake she mourned ever be her mother when she was standing in front of her as at this moment.
“Y-Yang… we need to go … they’re… dangerous,” Ren says, pulling her thoughts away from the two pairs of glowing irises. The boy forces himself to stand, grabbing the peach haired girl who sustained more damage than he did. How did she figure? Well, Nora would be running her mouth off in anger if she was doing fine but all the girl could do was glare at their enemies.
…Their enemies…
One wore a similar suit to the ones their agents wore in missions and the other, all black fatigues. Other than their eyes, they both looked as she remembered. The former sporting dark hair with red tips, the other with hair much like her own, had it not been the color of midnight.
It made the feeling all the more bitter. She could taste the bile threatening to make its way up. They’d talk about it last night, the possibility of seeing them on the battlefield and how it would end up… She just didn’t expect to see them on the opposite side so soon.
She ignored Ren and Nora, walking until she stood in front of all of them, she felt her gauntlets hissing. She readied her stance. Yang had so many things to think about… for all she knew, Ruby, Uncle Qrow, Glynda, Penny, Jaune and Dad were already…
But as she sees her mothers brandishing a katana on one hand and a pistol on the other… she can’t think about them yet. She needed to hope for the better… hope they were alright and… hope they’d be able to help her.
Because as great as she was at fighting… she doubts she can take on the Summer Rose and Raven Branwen all by herself.
“...Hey Mom, Mama,” she spoke out loud, earning gasps and shocked looks of horror from her friends, “You can ground me later for beating your asses… but first, let's get you out of your master’s control,”
Yang didn’t get to think too long as both her mothers made a mad dash towards her, heavily armed and ready to unknowingly kill their eldest daughter.