A/N: I dedicate this chapter to Genechan2009, who helped me get back out of my writers block. He is preeeety cool, just throwing this out there. :) You rock, dude! Thanks!

Ruby must have fell asleep sometime when Neo was healing her, and when she woke up (from strangely nice sleep, not plagued by nightmares, which was what confused her at first) she was feeling much better than she had in years.

Well, two years to put it plainly.

Ruby found she was lying on her side, her overshirt was gone; leaving her in a ripped t-shirt, and when she opened her eyes, she found Neo sitting cross-legged and facing her…just…staring.

Neo was just looking at her with gentleness and…something else.

Ruby jerked upright-or tried to. She winced and felt the searing pain still on her back.

Neo was broken from whatever trance she was in, and she reached towards Ruby.

Ruby, having learned for two long years that whenever someone was reaching towards you it meant pain, scooted backwards until her back was pressed (lightly, it still hurt) against the far wall.

Neo sighed, and held out her hands. "No…hurt…remember?"

Ruby just took a shuddering breath and stared at her with those wide silver eyes.

Neo slowly moved closer, and reached down and gently took Ruby's hand in her own. She immediately synced their Aura's and started to heal Ruby's re-opened wounds.

Ruby then seemed to realize that it was no, not a dream she had where Neo healed her, and yes, Neo was holding her hand.

Ruby looked down at their hands and then back up at Neo.

It was one of her biggest secrets kept from what close friends she had, that holding hands with a girl was the only hand she wanted to hold.

Yes, Ruby Rose was as gay as the rainbow.

And in this moment, surrounded by her blood on the cold stone, the harsh shackles that had held her captive for literally days on end without getting to go outside the cell, and the dark light that only barely could illuminate the two occupant's faces…

Ruby suddenly understood.

She understood what Neo distracting Cinder so Ruby would get less torture, she understood what that look in her eyes were every time she looked at her.

When she stopped Ruby from taking her life, when she saved her from the Creeps…

She understood what Neo meant when she was holding her hand, what she meant when she looked at her with those bright brown and pink eyes.

I love you.

Neo smiled and held onto Ruby's hand a little tighter, like she knew what Ruby had suddenly figured out.

Ruby then thought that her cell looked a little brighter; the blood smears a little smaller, the shackles a little less frightening.

And her heart…her heart was most definitely a little healed.

Ruby looked back down to their clasped hands and smiled. Her bruised face hurt, but man was it worth it.

Neo spotted her smile and giggled lightly. Ruby jerked her head up, her ears hearing the angelic sound.

Ruby moved forward and hugged Neo as tight as she could. "Th-thak you…" Her voice was halted and weird for her to use it, and just when did she forget how to say certain sounds?

Neo gently hugged Ruby back, and the two of them were grinning despite everything that had happened in that grisly cell.

"It's…nothing…" Neo said. Obviously the two of them never talked much, but at least they could talk at all. (Cinder having threatened to cut out both of their tongues)

Ruby sat back and shook her head. "No…iit is…you…saved me…you…are…..e...everything…" That last word was hard to say, but somehow Ruby forced the words out.

Neo placed a hand on Ruby's cheek, and Ruby grinned and turned her head to kiss it. "I…love…you…too…" Ruby said.

And suddenly no more words were needed.

Neo was on the brink of tears, because let's not forget that she was treated like crap as well, and for anyone to appreciate her was something insane to even think about.

Ruby smiled at Neo, and brushed her tear away before moving her head closer to Neo's…

Neo closed her eyes as their lips met, a fire of passion igniting between them.

As Neo kissed Ruby back, she thought of all those times that she was called worthless; a short runt good for teleporting people away from trouble. But all of that was dispersed when she met Ruby.

The girl in the cell who had done nothing wrong. Who just sat there and silently took whatever beating came her way.

Ruby kissed Neo a bit harder, bringing a hand up to gently grip Neo's shirt.

Ruby had never kissed anyone before, so this was a whole new experience for her…but she liked it a lot. In the cell where she would go days without getting fed, where she would lie there and try not to aggravate her wounds further, and her blood stained on the wall where she would sit against it.

But now; here she was, lost in Neo, kissing her more deeply, all of everything gone.

It was just Neo and Ruby, and the sparks of love.

Neo pulled back to get a breath of air, and blushed. Ruby smiled and kissed her again. This time, both of them were slightly braver, and Ruby could feel the gentle bite of Neo's teeth on her bottom lip and Ruby blushed deeper than her red cloak used to be.

Neo smiled into the kiss, and Ruby grinned right back.

Just as there might have been some French kissing going on, they were interrupted by a very angry voice.

"What is going on in here?!" A very very angry person yelled.

Ruby and Neo froze in place, which was still compromising.

Rajani and Cinder had found the cave full of Creeps strangely empty of any Rose…so after locking the place down they searched for Ruby…only to find her in her cell…kissing Neo…

"Neo! Get out of there right now!"

Neo and Ruby jerked apart and Ruby had a really really bad feeling…

Neo gestured to Ruby and shrugged, then pointed to the bandages on the floor that she must have used to heal her.

Rajani glowered. "You mean to tell me you got her from the Creeps and healed her wounds…and then started kissing her? Cinder will NOT be happy to learn you've been 'playing' with her Rose…"

"I won't be happy why?" Cinder said. You could hear the sharp, angry clicks of her heels on the stone floor.

Neo looked between Cinder and Ruby, and then at the door to the cell, and then above her. She finally looked back at Ruby and smiled so wide, but her eyes seemed to be a bit saddened.

She disappeared, and Cinder growled. "That bitch! She is going to pay for messing with MY Rose!"

Ruby stood up and put her overshirt back on, suddenly feeling very meek and scared.

Cinder was really very scary when she was mad, and Neo seemed to have gone and made her angry.

Ruby would never hold it against her, though. Not Neo. Not the only person to show her any form of love in two years.

Just then, the short girl appeared back in the cell and actually laughed.

She laughed and laughed, like she had done something that she had always wanted to do…

And she had.

She had found the secret switch that opened a secret passageway that led right into Cinder's 'top secret base'…and she had already made sure that a certain blonde was going to be coming soon.

So she laughed again and hugged Ruby. "I…love you!"

Ruby could see Cinder having Rajani open the cell door as fast as he could, so she was less enthusiastic, but she was smiling still. Neo had a really cute laugh…

That she would never hear again.

Cinder stalked inside and gripped Neo by the hair. "You…will do as you are told…and right now, you are told to get the fuck out of this cell. NOW!"

Neo let go of Ruby, but only to lean forward and kiss the bruised girl again. Ruby kissed her right back, and Cinder literally threw Neo across the cell.

"I SAID NOW!" Cinder waved her hands and fireballs appeared, and Ruby widened her eyes. She had seen Cinder get mad and kill people before…

But this time, this time it was different.

This time, the person that she was concerned about was Neo…whom she had secretly loved for a long time now…

"Ggghhaa!" Ruby yelled, and she dove at Cinder and tackled the ebony haired woman to the ground.

Cinder flipped her body around and rolled to her feet, while Ruby was struggling to her feet.

Cinder used this time to summon an extra large fireball and hurl it at Ruby.

The sheer force of it slammed Ruby into the stone wall, and after a rather loud crack was heard, Ruby hit the ground, non-moving.

Neo fixed Cinder with her multicolored eyes and she glared. "You…regret that…you…going to die today. You are going to die by righteous fire from the sun."

Neo had never spoken in front of Cinder before, and quite frankly Cinder had thought she couldn't speak.

So during the moment where Cinder was staring at Neo like she had two heads, Neo had teleported behind her and slammed her umbrella into the back of Cinder's head.

Cinder rolled forward and with some actually pretty elegant moves for someone just getting hit by a surprisingly hard umbrella, and faced Neo. "You got some bravery for facing me…but as you can see; we both know how this ends."

Neo nodded curtly and teleported next to Cinder. "That I do." She jammed the tip of the umbrella into Cinder's side.

Cinder whipped a leg to the side, knocking Neo off her feet. "Then you know YOU are dying today…" Cinder raised a leg up to stomp her heel into Neo's stomach, but Neo had vanished and appeared at the other side of the room.

Now that would have worked well…if it wasn't right in front of the cell door…which had a certain Rajani in it…

Cinder whipped her head around, looking for Neo, and smirked. "Oh Neo…you are so stupid sometimes…"

Rajani grabbed the umbrella, and Neo pulled on the handle, detaching what looked like a long silver blade.

As soon as she pulled it out, she stabbed Rajani right in his left eye. He screamed and was very quick to collapse in pain.

Neo just smirked herself. "Not that stupid…"

And turned to face a very angry Cinder.

Cinder didn't truly care for Rajani much, and could care less about his stupid eye, but that smirk Neo gave her pissed her off. And she needed to get rid of it. Now.

Cinder then proceeded to launch volley after volley of fire at Neo and no matter how skilled you are, fire tends to spread fast.

Finally, Neo teleported to get out of the way of the fire…but was directly in the path of another.

It hit her square in the chest, and she was thrown back several feet, her clothes singed and covered with soot from the fire. The impact of the blast had broken most of her ribs, her collar bone, and her wrist.

She couldn't even try and grab her weapon back from Cinder.

Cinder picked up Neo's long silver blade and grinned wickedly. "Look whose dying today, bitch."

With those words laced with near-insanity and cruelty, Cinder drove the blade straight through Neo's heart…

Neo gasped and coughed up a bit of blood, but she smiled slightly and turned her head to look at Ruby with life flickering out of her multi-colored eyes…

Ruby had regained consciousness sometime during the fight, but since her head was still throbbing and bleeding (she obviously had a severe concussion) her vision was mostly impaired and she could just make out the body of Neo going limp and Cinder pulling something out of…her…

Ruby's eyes widened and those forbidden tears appeared at her eyes. (Had she been thinking about it, she would have thought that odd; she thought she had run out of tears.)

"N…no…" She whispered out hoarsely.

Cinder turned around and such a wicked smile appeared on her face that Ruby was glad she couldn't quite see it fully.

"You…talked…Oh my; this is good news! I thought you had forgotten how to use that beautiful voice of yours…"

Ruby glared and stood up shakily. "No…Neo…NO! GGGGAAAHHH!" She screamed in anger and fury and pain and hurt, and charged Cinder head-on.

Cinder, drunk on the information that Ruby could talk, didn't see Ruby attack her.

Ruby used her semblance, and rushed across the room and slammed Cinder into the bars. "AAAHHHHGGGGH!" Ruby yelled again.

She grabbed the blade from Cinder as it was knocked out of her hand and raised it to stab Cinder in the abdomen; but Cinder rolled out of the way and sent a blast of fire at Ruby; who just dodged it with this small twist of her body and a flurry of rose petals.

Cinder felt a hand shove her head into the wall behind her; and the loud crack echoed off the walls.

"Ung…" Cinder held her head and looked around for Ruby; but didn't see her 'Rose' appear behind her and kick the back of her knee; causing the black-haired woman to stumble a bit.

"YOU LITTLE!" Cinder yelled and jerked her head back; effectively head-butting Ruby.

Ruby, her head already fragile from her hard collide with the wall and the spinning around to avoid Cinder, felt her consciousness start to waver again.

But that's when she heard something.

Something she had thought she would never hear ever again.

A voice.

A loud, boisterous voice that echoed off the walls of the prison cell blocks, and reached Ruby's heart.

Yang.

15 Minutes Earlier….

"So…this cave is empty. Looks like we came here for nothing. Again." Weiss huffed.

She was starting to get tired of Yang dragging them along to god-knows-where just to find a dead end or another 'clue' or something.

Yang glared. "I got this message that I was supposed to come here and wait for a secret passageway to open; so you two can go; but I will stay for as long as I can."

Blake sighed. "If there really is a secret passageway; there might be breaks in the rocks. I'll look around." With her faunus eyesight, she was perfect for the job.

After scouring over the rocks for about five minutes, Blake called out. "Hey; I think I see something."

Yang was by her in a split-second. "What do you see?"

Blake could make out a small difference in the rock; a small 'crack' in the stone that ran up and made a perfect shape of a small door.

"I think it's the door." Just then, the rock wall moved to the side and pure darkness was beyond.

Blake squinted. "I think there are stairs leading…" Yang pushed past her and started running down the stairs, the sound of Ember Celica extending filling the stairwell. "Down…"

Weiss and Blake followed quickly after Yang; the slight burning of her hair was a good beacon.

Suddenly, they burst into a room, and as they did; red lights began to shine around them; making a siren sound.

"Prisoner Red not in cell; I repeat, Prisoner Red is not in cell; will all guards please assist Fall in searching for her whereabouts. This is not a drill; help her find Red or we won't have tomorrow to look forward to."

Suddenly; the lights flicked on in the room and two guards rushed out; putting on their hoods and scrambling around for their weapons.

They stopped, and stared at the three new occupants in the room. "Oh thank god…" One of them said. He held up his hands and pointed at the door they had just come through. "Down that hall and to the left, the door is open right now; the big metal one with dust runes on it."

The other guard was nodding urgently and they both ran past the trio and up the stairwell the girls had just come down.

"Well…that was a thing…" Yang commented.

Blake was looking around in puzzlement. "This room appears to be normally sealed to the outside…no going in or out…"

Weiss was looking down the hall. "What do you think they want us to go see? It could be a trap…"

Yang cocked Ember Celica and stalked down the hallways. "Yeah…traps are no fun without anyone in it though…" Blake and Weiss sighed and followed Yang further into the cave system.

Just then the hallway gave way to a big metal door that did have dust runes on it…

Blake made a small exclamation of surprise. "Whoever made this place did not want anyone to get out; look at those runes!"

Weiss nodded. "Yeah; some complicated glyphs to use…plus the door is huge!"

Yang stepped towards the door and pushed it further open. She could see another hallway, but this one slowly sloped downwards, getting lower and lower as it went.

Blake squinted. "I think I see a door at the end…"

The trio (who admittedly were starting to get a little cautious and jumpy, this cave reeked of dark things…and it perturbed them.) made their way to the door at the far end, hearing shouts behind the door.

They reached it and Yang tried the door. "Damn…locked." Just then, they heard a very odd sounding shout, and then the sounds of battle.

Whatever was going on, behind this door were answers to Yang's search for Ruby…

Yang shouldered the door, but it only dented, the strong metal just bending slightly. "Weiss; know any good glyphs to get this door out of the way?"

Weiss shrugged. "I don't know, it might go flying down the hall or something…but I can try."

She summoned a bright blue glyph on the door, but the door held. "Who the heck made the doors in this place, like what the fuck?" Yang said.

Blake hummed. "Why don't you freeze the door, Weiss, and Yang, you punch through the weakened door?"

Yang and Weiss both nodded. "Ahh…that makes sense, Blakey."

They did as Blake suggested, frosty white crystals growing over the door, freezing it solid.

But Yang's punches did virtually nothing.

Well, at first.

Just then, the three of them heard a blood-curdling scream and a dull thud. Followed by another scream, obviously by the same person.

They froze, the sound of the scream making their hearts clench.

"Who was that?" Blake whispered.

Yang suddenly made a connection. Prisoner Red…red…like Ruby! And the scream…much like how Ruby had screamed when Summer had died…

Her eyes turned red within seconds of hearing the screams. "RRRRUUUUBBBYYYY!" Yang shouted, the yell ringing around the cavern.

With one punch the door was shattered, Yang bursting through the door, rushing into a dark cavern and to what looked like cell doors.

From the dim light, she could make out someone standing over someone else; obviously the two who had been fighting.

The standing person whipped her head around, her crazy eyes alight with the fires of…something Yang never wanted to identify.

Yang's gaze lowered to the floor where a figure rested, blood pooling onto the ground underneath their head.

"What are you doing here? Where is Rajani?!"

Blake looked over to a corner, where a man was holding his eye and sobbing. "Um…I think he hurt his eye…"

Cinder snarled. "All thanks to that little demon girl, Neo…I should have killed her sooner…"

That got Team WBY's attention, and they all brandished their weapons.

Just then, Blake glanced down at the figure on the ground, and gasped. "R…ruby…"

Yang's gaze snapped over to Blake and she followed her gaze, her eyes turning blood red upon seeing her little sis…lying in a pool of her own blood.

Yang's gaze slowly met Cinder's, eyes aflame with passion and anger, and Cinder truly knew fear for the first time in her life.

She slowly backed up, but accidentally tripped over Ruby's body, still unconscious (but for all appearances looked dead) and fell hard on her tailbone.

Yang burst forward with speed to put Oobleck to shame, a blur of yellow and red, and then she gripped Cinder by the throat and clenched. Hard.

"You did this…YOU…YOU…" Yang didn't finish, but she drew her other fist back and came forward, the metal casing of Ember Celica landing squarely on Cinders face; breaking her nose and cheek bone in one blow.

Cinder (who still had some impressive fighting skills in her) put her foot against Yang's stomach and pushed off, doing a back flip out of Yang's deadly grasp.

"Bring it on, Yellow."

Yang motioned to Ruby, and Weiss gingerly and very reverently picked her body up, being careful not to harm her any further than she already had been, and hurried out of the cell block area; out of harm's way.

Blake drew Gambol Shroud and stood next to Yang. "Not just Yellow, Cinder."

Yang, whose eyes were still red, shook her head. "No…you go make sure Ruby gets on the bullhead, and gets medical attention right away. She might still make it… Just go help Weiss…"

Yang turned to Cinder and a manically wide smile, most definitely not filled with happiness, grew on her face. "I'll take care of this bitch."

With that, Blake rushed after Weiss, and Yang rushed at Cinder.

Let this just be said that two people, both who have fire integrated into their semblances and fighting styles…

Everything was on fire.

Yang's clothes, (had they not been made fire-resistant) would have been burned off long ago.

Cinder was also covered in flame, and Yang was punching at her desperate parries, each trying to out-flame the other and break through the flame shield.

Yang punched again, and Cinder ducked and kicked Yang in the stomach, who stumbled back a few feet from the force of the blow.

Yang held her stomach with one hand, and felt the energy absorb into her.

She looked up and punched her fists together, the flame burning with such intensity that Cinder turned her head to the side.

And with no inhibition, going full out, Yang came at Cinder.

There was no surviving this, Cinder knew.

Yang was attacking and with every attack thrown towards her she just kept coming, stronger and faster than before; hitting harder and blocking better.

Finally, Yang burst through Cinders remaining Aura, and Cinder slammed against the far wall, her entire body covered with bruises and small cuts from rolling around on the hard stone floor.

Cinder slowly slid to the floor, her legs too weak to even support her.

Yang stalked over and grabbed her by the neck again. "Stand. Up."

Yang pulled Cinder to a standing position, and she shoved her face into Cinder's. "I'll give you one shot, one hit one punch. Anything. Come at me, Cinder."

Yang stood back; her arms spread wide, and Cinder just leaned weakly against the wall, her eyes showing Yang that she really had nothing left.

"COME ON!" Yang shouted, and Cinder tried to form a fireball, but all that came to her palm was a weak flame.

Yang scoffed. "Pathetic."

And then Yang kicked Cinder in the side with a roundhouse, throwing the auburn haired girl to the ground.

Yang straddled her, throwing punch after punch to her face.

Cinder didn't even try and block them; the pain too much and her arms too weak.

Finally, Yang punched her once more, and Cinder passed out.

No, Yang did not kill her.

As much as Yang wanted to, she knew that Cinder didn't kill Ruby and that whatever Ruby had been through was worse than death.

So, Yang just picked Cinder up and carried her over her shoulder, walking out the door and ignoring the weird dude that was rocking back and forth.

"Man, Cinder, do I have plans for you…" Yang said.

Blake and Weiss reached the bullhead, and laid Ruby down on the stretcher in it.

Weiss just stared at Ruby, in complete disbelief. "We found her…she's right here…she's alive…"

Blake grunted. "Might as well be; do you see all the marks she has? If she doesn't die soon from the wounds, I will be impressed."

Weiss sighed and cast small dust particles over Ruby, coating her body with a cool layer; keeping any swelling on her head down.

Just then, Yang burst into the bullhead and not-gently-at-freaking-all tossed a body down on the floor. "Tie her up."

Blake jumped up, putting Cinder onto a stretcher and tying her down.

Yang stepped over to the cockpit and motioned for them to get out of there. "Get a move on, we have to get to Beacon hospital immediately."

The pilots nodded and the bullhead lifted off.

Yang glanced back at Ruby, and she suddenly felt nauseous… Ruby was covered head to toe in dirt and blood, small gashes covered nearly ever inch of her…

But was worse was the face she had…it was not the innocent face Yang remembered…it was not her little Ruby…

It was the face of one who had been living in a nightmare…

"Oh, Ruby…" Yang breathed…

She sat down on the benches and cried.

Blake and Weiss just silently sat there; having tended to Ruby as good as they could.

It was a solemn trip back to Beacon.

A/N: Well…haha this chapter has been written over a period of this whole month basically…Just, I lacked inspiration and the drive to write, and so yeah. My idea tank was bone dry. (Writers block, folks! Sucks absolute crap!) I am so sorry for not updating as often as I would like, I shall hopefully try and not procrastinate on writing and such.

Also, you guys are amazing and thanks for sticking with me even though my updates are… *rubs neck awkwardly* haha few and far in between.

HUGEMONGO thanks to everyone who has been favoriting and following this story; you all are amazing and it's what kept me writing. I apologize for not updating; you all are wonderful and so I am sorry.

Peace! Jackie out!