Yang Xiao Long was tired.
She wasn’t just tired of the life she was forcing to scrape by for herself and her young sister, of having to scrounge her living from the Red Moon houses scattered around Terreille, of having to submit her body to the degraded men that inhabited the more wealthy cities so that her sister wouldn’t be reported to the corrupt Queens and their perverse courts, who ruled those abhorrent cities, where a young Queen like her sister couldn’t walk down a public street without having to fear the men and women who walked along side her.
She was tired of running. If she had the choice, or the power needed, she wouldn’t run, but until unfortunately, the power had skipped her, most likely due to her unknown mother. It seemed the Darkness had chosen to grant her beloved sister power, because Ruby Rose had been granted a dark Opal as her birthright, where Yang only wore a Descended Opal.
According to the mentor they’d stayed with while Ruby was young, there was a lot of dark potential in her, and she needed to be protected. There were too many Courts who were willing to break a potential Dark Queen early, then potentially have the younger Queens rival them for control.
Yang sighed, and crashed back into the uncomfortable excuse of a bed. Ruby, still asleep despite Yang’s movements, snuggled into Yang’s side.
She smiled down at her young, and somewhat naive, younger sister.
Yang was 19, had a body that most men were dying to touch, but had the Eyrien temperament and skill with a blade needed to keep both her and her sister safe. She was proud of the fact she was part Eyrien, they were one of the few races who knew how to behave in a fair fight.
She hadn’t met any Eyriens in person though, only heard about them from the few stories her father had told her, before he had disappeared.
She satisfied the itch to fight that inhabited her blood, in a way that both gave them a shelter, and a means of income: the bed of a Red Moon house. She hated having these disgusting perversions of men using her body to pay for the roof over her sister’s head, but since Gladiator Fighting had fallen out of style a year after Yang’s birth, she needed to get rid of the pent up energy somehow.
She’d begun to earn a reputation in the Houses, enough so that she was usually guaranteed a place to sleep no matter what, but the list of Territories that could be safely used was starting to shrink.
She’d been tempted to head to Dena Nehele early on, but had decided against it, because she didn’t have enough supplies for both her and Ruby. This had been a smart move, apparently, since the Dark Queen of Terreille had chosen to focus her attention there, and had started her long and slow corruption of the once powerful lands of Terreille.
Almost as if the Darkness was guiding them, the few remaining territories left for them to escape to, seemed to hold a few Dark Altars. She’d heard rumors that the Altars, besides being places to worship the Darkness, were used as portals to other Realms. She’d dismissed it, because the people she’d heard it from were rich nobles who had never left their precious cities and experienced hardships. But she’d started hearing rumors from the other girls who worked the House, so she wasn’t sure what to believe anymore.
Since it didn’t look like Ruby would mature enough to make an Offering to the Darkness soon, and since they hadn’t found anyone they trusted enough to see Ruby safely through her Virgin Night, they were running out of options.
If only we could find a Black Widow. Those Witches would be able to help enough to make it easy enough….. Yang thought, as she started thinking about the dangerous witches that potentially could hold her sisters salvation, if only she knew how to find them.
Yang sighed again, louder. She was just so damn tired of it all.
“…wassup?” Her dork of a sister murmured sleepily, her Birthright Opal somehow pressed into Ruby’s forehead.
“Oh, nothing, just go back to sleep.” Yang said amusedly, giving her sister a quick kiss on the top of her head. Without much fanfare, the young Queen was quickly lost to sleep.
Despite all the bad things that happen to me, they are worth it, if it allows her to keep her innocence, Yang thought as she watched her sister sleep.
She looked at the Birthright Opal still slightly indented into her lovable sister’s forehead, and looked to her Descended Opal, sitting in her bracelet. Most Jewels were often set into necklaces or rings, but Yang had gotten the bright idea to put into a pair of bracelets, which also acted like brass knuckles when Yang needed to use her psychic powers. Despite being the same rank as Ruby’s Birthright, she could already tell the power difference between their similar Jewels.
To think, if we weren’t on the run, and she wasn’t being forced to mature at a faster rate, Ruby might’ve actually developed the balls needed to stand up and boss me around, Yang mused, quietly giggling at the idea of Ruby being all confidant and bossy.
She loved her younger sister, who, despite being 16, still acted like a 13 year old, could potentially be powerful enough to beat most Queens.
There had been a startling decline in the darker jewels for the past couple of hundred years, which had been helped along by the Dark Queen’s minions, who seemed to almost relish the thought of breaking potentially strong Queens.
Yang had been lucky: she’d received Tiger Eye as her Birthright and wasn’t gifted, meaning most men hadn’t shown her any interest; had gotten her Eyrien teacher to get her safely through her Virgin Night, and had shortly thereafter made the Offering to Darkness, receiving her Descended Opal.
Even if it’s the last thing I do, I’ll make sure where ever we end up, is safe for you, my darling sister.
Almost as if in response to that thought, Ruby hugged Yang tightly. Smiling, Yang returned the unconscious hug, and pulled Ruby close into the embrace, and she finally managed to close her eyes, and drift off.
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“Sir, we are ready.” The young man barked, as he approached his leader.
“Grimm baits set nearby, with most being in close vicinity to town entrances?” the leader said, his white cane resting over his shoulder, cigarette glowing.
“Sir, yes sir. We’ve had reports of Beowolves and Ursa Minors in the area, so they should cause enough chaos to get to the targets.” The young man replied, drooling at the thought of potentially breaking a young queen.
Roman Torchwick, seeing that despicable look on his underlings face, frowned, and dismissed the underling. He wasn’t happy about how little control the Dark Queen had given him, or about the men he’d been forced to hire from what passed for an Underworld in this city. The twin body guards of the ‘leader’ had potential, and he’d already bought them off to join him when he was finished in this Darkness cursed city.
Why does she need me to break a little girl of 16? Roman mused as he took another drag on his cigarette.
It didn’t make sense; the Queen already had enough agents living in the city to do so, even if you ignored the men here who would’ve done it for free.
While he wasn’t strong psychically like the Queens or her minions, his intellect and resourcefulness had earned him respect and power. It confused him as to why he was being wasted on something like this.
Atleast I’ll be able to get at the other target while all the chaos is happening in the city, Roman smiled as he thought of his own agenda in the city. There’d been rumours of Dust Crystals in the city, and with the help of his potential new bodyguards, his suspicions had been confirmed.
Roman took a final drag of his cigarette, and crushed the remaining stub, watching as embers flew out from underneath his boots. He turned to face the warehouse full of hired help, lazing around or preparing for tomorrows events.
“Come on, Folks, time to get this show on the road. Can’t keep little Red waiting.”