Ch 59: Forgiveness

Yang and Ruby's hearts ached at the sight and any anger, any confusion they had disappeared in front of one simple fact. Their brother was hurting. They knelt down on either side of him and wrapped him in a hug. For a while, the three just sat there. Holding on to each other as silent tears streamed down their faces at the shared pain of knowing your siblings were hurting, and all you could do right now was be there for them. Eventually, the tears ran dry, and all that was left was the void where the sorrow and fear had just been. A hole that was quickly filled by the warmth of each other's love and care.

"I really am sorry." Ray apologized again.

*Haaa* "I know. And I'm sorry for being such a brat about not accepting your apology. Just please, tell Dad soon. I don't like to see him hurting." Ruby sighed and finally accepted his apology.

"Yeah. Got it." Ray promised.

"Soooooo," Yang drew out the word trying to sound casual, "Keeping any other secrets like where my mother might be?"

"That bitch doesn't deserve to call herself a mother, and you shouldn't degrade yourself by referring to her as such." Ray snapped at Yang as he suddenly sat up straighter and glared at her. But then quickly deflated and let out a resigned sigh, *Haaaaaaaa* "But, yeah, I know where she is. More or less anyways. She doesn't exactly stay in one spot for long, but I know how to track her down if you want to know."

Yang pulled back as if slapped at Ray's sharp retort but then came back as he wilted.

[My mother] Yang thought as she chewed her bottom lip. She had been looking for so long for answers. Why had she abandoned her? Why had she left Dad? Where had she been? What had she been doing? Why didn't she even try to contact her? The answer to all those questions might finally be within reach.

[So why am I hesitating?] Yang wondered to herself. Sure, her mother had obviously made a terrible impression on her younger brother, but that wasn't a reason for her not to see her. Was it? Still, Yang hesitated.

Ray shrugged and gave his older sister's shoulder a reassuring squeeze, "Whenever you are ready." Yang nodded her head.

"What about this threat you keep talking about, and who are these allies?" Ruby asked to change the subject.

*Phwoo* "Where to begin?" Ray let out a breath and pondered aloud. "I don't suppose we could hold off this part of the discussion until the start of the Vital tournament when I was originally planning to tell y'all and the rest of team RWBY, JNPR, and CFVY?" He asked hopefully.

""No."" Ruby and Yang mercilessly shot down his suggestion.

"Ok," Ray paused for a moment to organize his thoughts, "So to start with, the Grimm have a queen. And I don't mean something like an ant queen that gives birth to all the creatures below it, but a real queen. One with cunning and authority and power that seeks to destroy all life on Remnant, and she's old. Maybe older than any other creature on Remnant and has the experience and patience to match. When Mom left on her secret mission, she was trying to stop her, but she failed. That's what we are up against. A centuries-old creature with the cunning and experience that comes with it and control over all of the Grimm. Oh, and she can't be killed."

Yang and Ruby's mouth fell open in shock. ""What!?! What do you mean centuries-old?! What do you mean she can't be killed!? Why doesn't anyone else know about this!? Are you sure about all this!?"" As they got over their shock, they started bombarding him with questions.

"Wait! Wait! I can only answer one question at a time. Please!" Ray begged before they finally quieted down and stared at him expectantly, "First, what do I mean by centuries-old. I mean exactly that. I'm not sure how old she is. As far back as I have been able to research, there is some shadow of her presence. Second, about her not being able to be killed. That is something I heard from Mom, and I was able to confirm it through my own channels. When I said she went to stop her, I meant exactly that. Stop her or at least slow her down. Mom never thought she could kill her. She nearly died just trying to buy the world, us, time. Just like countless other people have before her." *Haaaaaa* Ray let out a tired sigh, and the girls looked at each other in worry and disbelief.

"But that day," Ruby asked hesitantly, a note of hope present in her fearful voice, "You said you knew you could kill her now. Right?"

Ray nodded, a ruthless sneer on his face though his sisters noticed there was a hint of sadness in his eyes. "Yeah, I can kill her. There was a mistaken assumption in the origin of the information that I was able to discover. There should be a couple of ways to kill her. Though I can't be certain until I try."

"How?" Yang asked, determined not to let her little brother carry this burden alone any longer.

"You let me worry about that." Ray said mysteriously and kissed the tip of her nose.

"Raaaaay." Yang growled, but then stopped at the determined look in his eyes.

"I'm serious, Yang. You're just going to have to trust me on this. I can beat her, but I'm not letting anyone else shoulder this responsibility. This is mine, and I know you. If I tell you now, you are likely to try and do it on your own. So, no. I'm not going to tell you, or Ruby, or anyone. This is our fight, but she is my kill." The last words came out almost dripping in blood, and Yang decided to back down.

"Anyways, third, why nobody knows about this. You would have to ask Ozpin that. He is the current leader of the secret organization that has been fighting against her all these years. But if I had to guess, it is probably to limit her power and prevent the spread of fear that knowledge of her and the threat she represents would bring. Fourth, how certain am I about all of this? About 90%, I would say. Nothing is ever 100% certain when dealing with intelligence, and I would honestly be surprised if I'm not still missing some pieces. But I'm confident I've got the big picture and at least most of the important details."

Ruby opened her mouth to ask another question, but Ray predicted what it was and answered her before it could be asked. "As for how I know all this. You girls have heard of the Spider Lotus, haven't you?"

"Sure." Yang said with a shrug, "They're the most powerful gang in Vale and Mistral and even have their claws in Atlas and Vacuo. They say they have a hand in every dirty deed and shady deal that goes on in Remnant. What about them?"

"Well," Ray scratched his cheek somewhat embarrassed, "I'm the lotus in Spider Lotus. They and a few capable people in each of the four kingdoms were the allies I was talking about."

"What!?" Ruby gasped in shock. [My brother is a criminal!]

"And the spider is those Malachite bitchs' mother, isn't it." Yang exclaimed. Ray nodded. "I knew it. I knew there had to be a reason you were hanging out with them. No way you were really sleeping with them as they claimed." Yang and the Malachite twins had a rivalry that stretched back years. They had never gotten along, but it had gotten worse when they had started bragging to Yang that they were f*cking her brother, and she had never bothered to actually ask him, preferring to believe that they were just picking a fight with her.

"Yang, what kind of guy do you think I am?" Ray asked with a hurt and shocked expression on his face, but Ruby noticed the teasing glint in his eyes. "Of course, I'm banging the Malachite twins. What kind of guy would I be if I didn't mix business with a little bit of pleasure when around such fine, eager pieces of *ss." Ray said with a laugh.

"You!" Yang snarled at her treacherous brother, who would shack up with her mortal enemies and shoved him away. Ray laughed.

*Haha* "Oh, come on now, Yang. What was that you said about kissing and making up earlier? Come here and let your little brother make you happy again." Ray laughed and teased as he leaned towards her with his lips exaggeratedly puckered.

"Oh no, you don't." Yang protested as she threw up her hands to block his advances. "I said you and Ruby should kiss and make up. I said nothing about you getting to kiss me, mister." Ray's eyes twinkled at that and, ignoring Yang's hands raised defensively before her, turned and launched himself at his twin sister.

"Eeek," Ruby squealed as Ray lunged at her. And kissed dirt as she disappeared in a shower of rose petals to reappear behind Yang.

"I thought you were going to accept my apology, Ruby." Ray's pitiful voice was utterly disjointed with the mischievous grin on his face as he crouched on all fours and waved his rear around in the air like a cat about to pounce.

"I did! There's no need for this!" Ruby loudly complained as she used Yang as a shield.

"Na Ah," Ray shook his head as he eyed his prey with his gleaming silver eyes. Then he pounced. At the same time, Yang dived to the side out of the way, abandoning Ruby.

"Yang!" Ruby screamed in protest even as she tried to hold in her laughter and scampered away as fast as her legs could carry her.

*Haha* "You can't escape, Ruby!" *Haha* Ray shouted as he chased after her, laughing.

*Hehe* "Nooooo! Heeeeelp!" *Hehe* Ruby giggled and cried as she ran away from her brother. Neither were using their semblances to increase their speed and ran using only the power of their own two legs since it wouldn't be as fun otherwise.

*Ahahaha* [I'm glad things are back to normal] Yang threw back her head and roared with laughter as she watched her younger siblings playing around before racing after them. All thoughts of the serious conversation they had just had and the questions that still remained unanswered lost from their minds. The three siblings chased after each other, their faces full of smiles and laughter that had been so conspicuously absent these past two weeks before finally returning to the library where their friends were anxiously waiting for them.