Broken World, Broken Souls (RWBY)

[Master Rudy]

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Chapter 2
"Awakening to a New Reality"
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City of Vale, about six months ago
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She wasn't sure how long she had been out for. However as Yang began to stir she quickly became aware of three things; she had a massive headache, there was the constant beeping sound of various pieces of computer equipment and the room she was in was far too brightly lit and white for her tastes. Despite her groggy state she already knew where she was.

A hospital....great....

Yang made no attempts to get up and move. For now her first major goal was trying to piece together what had happened to land her in an ICU. What was frustrating her was that she had the basics down but up to a certain point she couldn't remember a damn thing. Even the bits she could remember seemed fuzzy at some points.

Grimm all over the place.
Beacon on fire and in shambles.
The White Fang.

Her mind stuck on that last bit of knowledge for a moment. She knew they were there. She could even picture the masks they wore. Closing her eyes she tried to remember. She wanted to say it had something to do with a man. Try as she might however whatever mental block she was experiencing just wouldn't let her get the full picture of what happened.

Ok then. Can't remember shit. Let's work backwards then. What started all this?

The final match of the Vytal Festival Tournament. She had been watching in Team RWBY's dorm. Yang seemed to remember the match being between two of her friends. Pyrrha Nikos, the so called "Invincible Girl" from Mistral. Team RWBY and Team JNPR of course knew the truth behind her ability to seemingly never get hit. It didn't make watching her fight any less impressive however. The other combatant was Penny Polendina. She was a strange girl from Atlas that they met in the city a few months back. While she was more Ruby's friend than anyone else, in the days since the tournament started they had all gotten together on occasion. Despite her oddness Yang did enjoy hanging out with her.

Yang was getting off track with her thoughts however. Putting everything else aside she thought back to the fight. Overall the battle itself seemed very straightforward. Within minutes however it became anything but that. Eventually there came a point where Pyrrha for whatever reason used a far greater amount of her Semblance than she needed to deflect an oncoming attack. The wires from Penny's rather unconventional weapons quickly wrapped themselves around her. What happened next occurred with an unbelievable amount of speed. Before she could blink Penny was down and ripped apart by her own weapons. Yang seemed to recall staring in wide-eyed shock before noticing a lack of blood and gore in the arena. In fact it looked more like.....wires? Metal? Whatever she was it wasn't human. In fact it reminded Yang of an Atlesian Knight almost. She didn't have much time to process what was going on however.

"This is not a tragedy. This was not an accident."

Yang recalled the voice. The voice that stirred up all the negative emotions everyone had. The voice that played with the mistrust, fear and questions that were on the minds of various people. That was what helped draw the Grimm to the area. It was also the moment that Yang knew for a fact that she had been played in her own match. The memory being fresh in her mind once more stirred up her anger she felt towards Mercury.

I swear if I find that smug asshole....

"So you're finally awake?"

Yang was so out of it that she hadn't realized that she was being watched the whole time. Looking to her left she saw the source. Her uncle Qrow Branwen was there sitting in a chair. Standing nearby was Weiss. She was glad to see them but saw that they both looked absolutely terrible. Both looked as if they had very little sleep in the last few days and neither of them looked anywhere near how they normally did. Qrow always had a tendency to look like he just woke up from a three-day bender. Today however he looked a bit more disheveled than usual. Almost like he'd finished a month's supply of alcohol in less than a week Yang though to herself with a small chuckle. As for Weiss she always prided herself on her appearance. Yet here she was with her hair down and her usual clothing looking far more battered and beat up than she would have likely preferred. Weiss apparently had a few minor injuries since she had a busted lip and a nasty looking bruise on her cheek. It was however nothing that a few days of rest wouldn't fix.

Weiss was the first to break the silence. "Your father is in another room with Ruby. Do you want me to get him?" she asked. Yang was so out of it that she had totally forgotten about her younger sister. Qrow instantly saw the look on her face and was quick to reassure her. "She's fine Yang!" he said as he quickly moved to her side. Relief instantly came to her but Yang was curious about the sudden movement he made.

It's almost like he doesn't want me to get up.

Something deep down told her she should be concerned over that. Yang pushed the thought aside for now since her main concern was now entirely focused on the aftermath of the attack. Qrow watched his niece for a moment before continuing on with his explanation. "Ruby's fine. She's a bit worn out however. The doctors say she'll recover fully but that it might be a few more days before she wakes up." Yang let out a massive sigh of relief. Now it was onto her next concern.

"What about Blake?" she asked. Yang's mind was still incredibly fuzzy. She was starting to recall that Blake was injured during all the fighting. At this point Yang figured the gaps might have been partly due to the painkillers the doctors almost certainly had her on. Yang blinked for a moment at that thought. Wait....why would they have me on painkillers? She was about to ask before she got snapped back to reality by her first question.
"Well...." Weiss started to say. Yang was able to at least sense that Blake wasn't dead. However at this point she knew she wasn't going to like the answer. It seemed like Weiss was struggling to find the words but knowing how her teammate was Yang didn't need to hear it. "She ran away again didn't she?" For a moment Yang was surprised at how harsh that sounded. Weiss clearly didn't know how to continue so she let Qrow take over. "Well she'll live. As for where she is no clue. She was supposed to be in the bed next to you recovering from her own wounds. The leader of the White Fang did a major number on her."

Yang frowned at that new bit of info. So that was their leader then? Qrow meanwhile continued with the story. "Yang I'm sorry. Weiss was out of the room checking in with Tai. I had to step out for a moment to speak with Ironwood. It couldn't have been more than five minutes. By the time I got back the window was open and her personal belongings were gone." She wasn't sure what to make of this info. Why would Blake leave so suddenly? Yang wasn't even sure if she cared enough to know the reason. Deep down she felt this had something to do with whatever trust issues Blake seemed to have with the world. It still hurt however. But that wasn't important right now. There were many other questions Yang needed to ask. She was getting tired of laying down however. Qrow's face instantly turned to a mix of fear and concern as Yang reached out to use the rails of the hospital bed to pull herself up.

It was at this moment Yang knew something was severely wrong.

She grabbed the left rail without any issues. The right rail however? She couldn't feel it. At this point she must have had the same look of fear that Qrow had. Whatever mental block she had regarding the events that occurred seemed to lift at that point.

Blake crying out in pain as the White Fang's leader stabbed her.
The look on his face that seemed to dare Yang to do something.
Yang letting her rage take over as she rushed in without a second thought.
The searing, burning pain as the man cut right through her arm.

Yang didn't need the sound of the medical equipment beginning to beep far more rapidly to tell her that her heart was racing. Weiss and her uncle were right by her side holding her left hand. She simultaneously dreaded and feared what she was about to see. Deep down Yang already knew what she going to find. Even so it was something she knew she was going to have to eventually face and come to terms with. With her eyes closed she slowly turned her head towards her right arm before opening them again.

Or in this particular case what was left of her right arm.

It was bandaged heavily but from what she could see it had been cut off at the elbow. Many different emotions went through Yang as she just simply stared at it. As the tears began to flow she tried to speak. The best she could get out however was a rather uncharacteristic squeak. She wasn't even sure what to say or ask anymore. Waking up to find you were missing a limb wasn't exactly an everyday occurrence. Eventually she managed to get her breathing under control and calm down a bit. However once she tried to wipe away her tears she quickly realized she had just attempted to do so with a hand that no longer existed. That in itself stirred her up again.

Weiss was at a loss over what to do. Unlike the other members of her team she was no stranger to death. However this was the first time she had experienced a friend or family member with such a grievous injury. Unlike the two younger girls, Qrow did have the experience in dealing with such things. He was also torn however. The uncle in him wanted to tell Yang everything was going to be ok. At the same time however he couldn't exactly sugarcoat things. "I'm not going to feed you a line of bullshit Yang" he said. "This will be far from easy. Give the doctors about a month or so and they should be able to get you set up with a basic prosthetic. We'll have to discuss other options later however." Yang eventually found her voice and said, "You're talking about continuing as a hunter aren't you?" Sitting back down Qrow pulled out his flask and took a drink before putting it away again "Well that's up to you Yang. I doubt it's a discussion you want to have now however. We've got plenty to talk about." Yang hoped the worst news was behind her.

She couldn't have been more wrong.

Eventually once everyone calmed down a bit Weiss and Qrow started to fill her in more about the situation. Each new piece of info didn't do much to help her mood however. All it did was make her feel worse.

Beacon was gone.
The school and parts of the city were filled with Grimm.
Ozpin was missing.
The CCTS was no longer operational.
Atlas was being blamed for the attack.
Pyrrha was dead.

That last bit of info hit Yang the hardest. She couldn't wrap her mind around it. Pyrrha was the Invincible Girl. The perfect warrior that couldn't be beaten. How could she lose? How could she die? Eventually it got to a point where Yang couldn't take anymore. She asked her teammate and uncle if she could be alone for a few moments. While it was clear that they didn't want to leave her side they respected her wishes and let her be for a bit. It was an absolute overload of information for Yang and she couldn't quite process it all. Each new revelation about that night crushed her a bit more inside. For the first time in her life she truly felt defeated and hopeless. As she laid there in the bed alone her mind was made up.

She was done. Yang Xiao Long would never fight again.