Pet Quartet (ch14)

This is an important chapter... design-wise!

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

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												Chapter 14. A Daring Rescue

"Where's Ruby?"

As soon as Blake had opened her eyes early that morning, she found the mouse was missing yet again. Her question quickly roused the others, who also did a quick search, but came up with nothing.

"Again?" Weiss chirped. "I've lost count now of how many times she's done this! She always sneaks away early, as if we don't notice. And then she sneaks back before she thinks we've woken. What is she up to?"

"Maybe out playing with Penny?" Yang guessed. "Or maybe she went upstairs to cuddle with the humans?"

"I doubt it," Blake muttered. "Can you pick up her scent?"

Yang stood from the floor and gently nosed Weiss off her back first, then took a big sniff of air. She pressed her nose to the carpet and walked around a little bit, but ultimately hung her head.

"Her scent's so intermingled with ours and the scent of the house itself. I can't really pick up on hers."

"Then I guess we start searching," Blake mewed.

"She shouldn't be that hard to find," Weiss assured them.

They began scouring the house, calling out Ruby's name softly so as not to wake or alarm the humans. They'd only resort to that if they failed to find Ruby anywhere.

Yang searched in the laundry room, Weiss flitted around the living room, and Blake looked around the kitchen. But they all reconvened on the rug where they'd slept last night and confirmed they hadn't found her.

"Now what?" Yang's tail was drooping by now, an indication she was getting worried. Blake's tail was twitching nervously, and Weiss' feathers were ruffled. The bird quickly tried to conceal her concern by dipping her beak into her chest and preening for a second.

"Maybe Yang could check the humans' room? I'll go outside and have a look in the yard and around the property, and maybe Blake should search downstairs?"

It sounded like a good plan. Blake added one last remark.

"If you find her, call for the others."

They nodded. And with that, they all took off.

As Yang trotted up the stairs, Blake spared a moment to hold the flap on the door open so Weiss could slip outside, then headed for the kitchen again. Blake didn't really like the basement, but now that she was thinking about it, they'd found Ruby down there once before.

As she pried open the door and took her first step through, the fur along her spine began to bristle. The air was colder down here, thick and dank and unpleasant. Even the humans avoided it as much as possible.

Slowly, Blake made her way down each rickety step, making a creaking sound each time.

"Ruby? Are you down here?"

She reached the bottom and paused, lifting her ears. Almost instantly, a flurry of sounds reached them. There were scuffling noises, like tiny claws over the stone flooring, and they were accompanied by squeaks of sorts. It sounded like a mouse, but... more than one.

"Ruby? Is that you?"

If it was, why wasn't she answering? Maybe she'd found and befriended another family of mice down here?

Blake's eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness down here as she cast her gaze up along the many shelves. She swiftly proceeded towards the source of the noise, her heart beginning to pound a little harder.

"Ruby?"

She raced around a few boxes, over an old rocking chair, then skidded to a halt.

There... in front of her... against the wall...

Something was there.

She couldn't tell what it was right away from her vision alone. But she could hear it. The tiny, wheezing squeaks of a petrified creature.

"Ruby!"

Blake dashed forward, claws extended as she flung herself at the other creatures there. Hissing furiously, she pounced on one of them – a rat – and tossed it to the side. There was a squeak of pain from that direction, then one she deciphered as Ruby's.

She whipped around to see that the other rat had bitten Ruby's tail to keep her from running, and the little mouse was crying out in agony. Blake swiped at this rat, which released Ruby and ran after its companion.

She then chased off a pair of lizards which quickly disappeared. She flashed her angry gaze back down at the last invasive creature there. It was a long, slender black snake with a reddish scales and a gold belly. Its tail had just managed to loop once around Ruby's body, but Blake's interference had prevented it from doing anything more.

Blake lashed out at the snake with her claws, the leapt back as it made an attempt to strike her with its deadly fangs. She spat at it, and it hissed back, equally furious.

Ruby was dazed and Blake could smell blood on her tail, but she was free of the constricting grasp now.

"Run!" Blake cried. "Ruby, get out of here!"

She couldn't spare the time to check to make sure if the mouse had done as much or not. Blake faced off against the snake, puffing out her fur to make herself appear even larger. Her golden eyes locked with amber, both gazes fierce, angry, and narrowed into slits. The snake swayed back and forth, furiously working its jaws, wanting to sink its fangs into something. Blake hissed back ferociously.

"Get out of here! Get out, or I'll kill you!"

The snake lashed out and tried to land a strike, but Blake dodged it by a hair. She swiped at the reptile's black head and felt a claw catch a scale. The snake moved with incredible speed, darting along the floor and keeping to the shadows.

Blake did her best to track its path. She didn't know if it was venomous, but she didn't want to get bitten and find out. She snarled again as she pounced at its tail, but it vanished behind a box. Blake tried to flush it out, but a commotion made her pause. She could hear Ruby squeaking frantically, calling out for Yang. And then there were heavy paw-steps thundering down the stairs, and a flurry of furious barks filled the air.

Blake could feel the battle shift in her favor. The snake sped out from the other side of the box and made for a hole in the wall where the lizards from earlier had already vanished. Blake gave chase, catching sight of the two rats. One was supporting the other, presumably the one Blake herself had attacked before. He was limping as though he were suffering from a broken leg.

Good, she thought. I'd break their necks if I could.

Yang arrived just then, barking warnings as she charged to Blake's side.

"I don't know what you think you're doing here," Yang growled. "But you'd better get out. Now. Or else it'll be your heads." She revealed her large fangs and prowled forward.

The rats didn't need any more warning than that. They scrambled through the hole after the lizards.

But the snake remained a second longer. It turned cold, deadly eyes on them, a quiet threat whispering from its mouth.

"This is far from over..."

And with that, the snake vanished into the shadows.

Yang and Blake both sent growls after their retreating tails until they were certain the other creatures had gone. Seconds later, Yang had gone from a vicious wolf to a worried puppy.

"Ruby!" With a whimper, she hurried off back up the stairs with Blake on her heels. Yang burst through the door, then nosed it shut after Blake, and together they hurried into the living room.

Ruby was there, huddled on the floor. Weiss was hovering over her in a panic, her feathers ruffled and tattered so badly Blake was sure she must've heard the noise from outside and forced her way through the flap in the door at the expense of her precious white feathers. She was twittering in a voice high with concern.

"What in the world happened to you, Ruby? You're bleeding, for goodness' sake!" But just then, the two of them noticed Blake and Yang had returned, and Weiss demanded answers from them. "What happened down there?"

Yang rushed forward to curl herself protectively around the shivering Ruby while Blake answered Weiss' question.

"Snake."

The little bird nearly fainted.

"A snake?! In our house?!"

"Rats, too."

"What?!" She spun around to face Ruby. "And you met them?"

Ruby snuggled into Yang's fur, curling her injured tail around her front paws to lick it.

"Th-They were really nice to me... at first..." She sniffled and hid her face in the retriever's fur.

Weiss' beak hung open in shock and terror, and Blake was still bristling, too. At least Ruby was safe.

But she was crying, squeaking tiny, hurt sounds that broke all of their hearts. Blake moved in to Ruby's other side, curling herself beside Yang to cuddle the mouse. Weiss squeezed in between the bigger mammals to wrap Ruby in her gentle wings.

"There, there..." she murmured. "You're safe now, Ruby. We're here."

Blake offered a reassuring purr to help settle them all down, while Yang took to grooming the others softly. Weiss began to sing a small, comforting tune, whistling slowly and pleasantly to ease their anxieties.

For a moment, they all just breathed and helped remind one another they were all safe.

It wasn't long before their humans came hurrying downstairs after having heard Yang's barking in the basement. They wondered what was going on. Yang was refusing to leave Ruby's side, so Blake stood and led the man downstairs, showing him the hole in the wall.

The rips gnawed in bags of food and boxes told him there had been rats, and he mumbled to himself that he'd get the hole cemented and sealed up for good.

Meanwhile, the woman stayed upstairs and scooped Ruby into her hands, bringing her into the kitchen to wash out the wound in her tail. Yang and Weiss followed close behind. Weiss stayed with Ruby near the sink, soothing her softly to take her mind off the pain in her tail.

After washing the blood away, the woman disinfected it, which really made her squeak. But after that, the wound was bandaged, and it was over.

Then, the woman did something very special. She pulled a small piece of red fabric from her pocket and draped it around Ruby's back, tying the ends together under her chin.

"You were very brave down there," she said. "A hero deserves a cape."

Ruby sniffled as she looked over her new attire. She stopped crying altogether then.

The woman then put Ruby back in Yang's care, and tended to Weiss for a moment, smoothing out her ruffled feathers and making sure her previously-injured wing was okay.

After a few minutes, the man came back upstairs with Blake, and began discussing things with his partner about closing up the hole. They made sure to comfort, hold, and pet all of the animals to reassure them and praise them for doing such a good job in saving Ruby.

At last, they prepared breakfast for everyone.

Ruby had trouble eating at first, because she was still so nervous. But with the encouragement from her friends, and all the compliments she was getting about her new cape, she soon managed to clean her bowl of food.

Once they'd all finished, Blake made an offer.

"Do you want to stay inside today?" she wondered. "Just take it easy?"

Weiss and Yang were also willing to do whatever would make Ruby feel better. But the little mouse remained optimistic and smiled at them all.

"Naw, let's go outside and go for a walk! We can take it easy out in the sun."

Yang smiled.

"You just wanna test out that cool cape, don't you?"

"...Maybe."

They all chuckled, more than happy to see that she was feeling better.

And so they obliged her. Yang pushed her way through the door flap, then held it open for Blake, Weiss, and Ruby.

Together, they ventured out into the sun for some fresh air and to bury their troubles in the soil.

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A/N: Yay! Finally Ruby got her cape! I've been dying to give it to her in this AU!