Milk_Is_My_Drug
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Chapter 96: A Gate Opened In Fury
🕑 Added 2025-07-13 08:00:01 +0000 UTCSummer Rose was carried gently to the infirmary, she was still in slumber. Ruby clung to her mother’s hand the entire way, refusing to let go even as the medical team moved in to check on her. Yang hovered protectively nearby, her usual confidence replaced with silent hope.
Their friends, the rest of Team RWBY and JNPR, trailed behind, stunned into silence. The idea that Summer Rose, long thought dead, was not only alive but lying right before them was almost too much to process.
But the news traveled fast.
In less than an hour, the door to the infirmary burst open. Qrow Branwen rushed in, eyes wild and bloodshot. When he saw her, his old friend, the woman whose death had haunted them all, his knees nearly gave out. He knelt beside her bed, whispering, “Summer… gods… is it really you?”
A few hours later, Taiyang Xiao Long arrived, his expression a mix of disbelief and overwhelming emotion. He stepped into the room slowly, eyes fixed on the woman lying in the bed.
The whole family had finally gathered.
Ashborn, the one responsible for this miracle, didn’t linger. As the rest of them crowded around Summer, he stepped out quietly. “My work here is done,” he said simply. “Give them time… to adjust.”
The friends, stunned by his exit, didn’t follow the family into the infirmary. Instead, they turned to the one man who might have the answers.
“Ashborn!” Nora called, running up behind him. “Where was she?”
“What happened to her?” asked Blake, eyes sharp.
“How did you even find her?” Jaune added, pushing forward with the same urgency.
But Ashborn didn’t even slow his stride. “It doesn’t matter,” he said curtly, his tone final.
“What do you mean it doesn’t…” Weiss began, but he raised a hand.
“It doesn’t matter,” he repeated without looking back.
And just like that, he disappeared down the corridor, leaving behind a trail of unanswered questions and frustrated friends.
___________
Later that afternoon, a soft beeping from the infirmary monitors changed rhythm. Summer Rose stirred.
Ruby, who hadn’t moved from her mother’s side for hours, jolted upright. “Mom?”
Summer’s eyes fluttered open, silver and soft, and focused on the tear-streaked face of her youngest daughter.
“Ruby…”
“Mom!” Ruby cried, throwing her arms around her mother’s neck. “You’re awake, you’re really awake!”
Yang was beside them in an instant, hugging them both. Qrow and Tai stood nearby, silent and overwhelmed, tears shining in their eyes.
Summer blinked through her own tears, reaching out weakly to touch each of their faces. “You’re all so… grown up…” Her voice cracked. “How long…?”
“Over ten years,” Qrow replied quietly.
Summer gasped, the reality slamming into her. Her eyes welled again, and she covered her mouth as sobs escaped her. “I… I missed so much… so much of your lives…”
“You’re here now,” Tai said softly, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. “That’s what matters.”
Ruby gripped her mother’s hand tighter, as if afraid letting go might make this all vanish.
When they asked her what had happened, where she had been all this time, Summer looked confused.
“I… I don’t remember,” she said slowly. “It was like… a dream. Or maybe a sleep I couldn’t wake up from… I don’t know. I was just… gone.”
The silence that followed was heavy, but it was filled with relief, not sorrow.
Ruby didn’t say anything else. She just laid her head on her mother’s chest and closed her eyes, listening to the heartbeat she had long thought silenced.
And for the first time in over a decade, the Xiao Long Rose family was whole again.
___________
The evening breeze in Vale was crisp, the city lights casting a soft glow over the bustling streets. Seated alone at an outdoor café, Ashborn quietly enjoyed a dish of creamy cheesecake, unbothered by the passing crowd. That peace didn’t last long.
Amazo approached, a curious look on his face. Without asking, he sat down across from Ashborn. “I know I will find you somewhere around here, father” he said. “Mind if I ask where you found Summer Rose?”
Ashborn raised a brow. “You too?”
Amazo gave a small nod.
Ashborn set his fork down and replied, “The Grimm have a queen. Salem. She controls them all. Summer’s last mission… she went after Salem directly. But she failed. Salem didn’t kill her, she kept her alive, tried turning her into one of them.”
Amazo’s eyes narrowed slightly. “And you found her there and healed her?”
Ashborn nodded slowly.
“What about Salem?”
“I left her,” Ashborn replied. “That war has nothing to do with us.”
A brief pause, then Ashborn added with a knowing look, “Of course, if you become officially paired with Penny, our stance might change. So, are you going to ask her properly?”
Amazo blinked, briefly caught off guard. “We haven’t known each other that long… Don’t humans need time to move from friends to lovers?”
Ashborn rolled his eyes. “You’re an android. You learn and adapt a thousand times faster than humans. Don’t hide behind human pacing.”
Amazo tilted his head thoughtfully. “Then… I will wait until after the tournament.”
Ashborn gave a single nod. “Fair enough. We’ve been away for quite some time. After the tournament, we can take Penny with us. Show her our world.”
“I believe she would like that,” Amazo said.
___________
The next day brought an unexpected knock at their temporary residence.
Amazo opened the door and was greeted by Summer Rose with her daughters Ruby and Yang beside her.
“Please, come in,” Amazo said, stepping aside.
Ashborn stood from the couch as they entered. With a gesture, food and drink emerged from the shadows around him, set neatly on the nearby table.
“Welcome.”
Summer offered a small smile. “My daughters told me everything. About how you cleared Yang’s name. About how… you brought me back. I wanted to thank you personally. I owe you a great debt.”
Ashborn waved her off. “Yang was only a victim in a game I was playing,” he said. Then, smirking, he added, “As for you… your daughter sold her soul to me for the next ten years.”
Summer blinked. “What?”
Yang looked at Ruby. “Translate.”
Ruby folded her arms and looked away, cheeks pink. “I told him I’d bake him cookies for ten years if he found you. There was no soul-selling involved.”
“I’m a notorious slave driver,” Ashborn said with a sly grin.
Summer chuckled warmly. “Still, thank you. And I’ll add my own cookies to the payment.”
Ashborn chuckled. “I’ll accept the gracious bonus.”
Then Yang stepped forward, a wicked grin spreading across her face. “How about this… fight me. One on one. No semblances, no tricks. Hand to hand. If I win, you owe me a favor. If you win, you add my services to your list.”
The room fell quiet at the sudden challenge. Ruby and Amazo blinked. Even Summer looked momentarily stunned.
Ashborn studied Yang for a moment, then smirked. “Fine. I’ll play along.”
___________
In the training arena inside Beacon, the audience was sparse, Amazo and Penny sat quietly together, while Team RWBY, Summer watched from the side benches.
At the center of the arena stood Ashborn and Yang, facing each other. Yang bounced on her heels, her trademark grin wide and fierce.
“I’m going to beat you up,” she said confidently, cracking her knuckles.
Ashborn gave a small smile in return. “Give it your best.”
Glynda, who was standing closest to the arena as the referee, said “Begin.”
The moment the words left her mouth, Yang surged forward with explosive speed, her fists flying with all the might and training she could muster. She unleashed a flurry of powerful punches, each aimed to man before her.
Ashborn, with a single hand, blocked every strike effortlessly. He didn’t shift an inch, his expression relaxed.
“Is that the best you can do?” he asked calmly.
Yang narrowed her eyes. “Wait and see how I wipe that smile off your face!”
With a sharp breath, she twisted into a heavy right hook, but Ashborn caught her fist mid-swing. Without a hint of strain, he flipped her over his shoulder and slammed her into the ground. The arena shook with the impact.
He didn’t follow up. Instead, he stood there, waiting in silence.
Then, something shifted.
Ashborn’s eyes twitched slightly as he sensed it, his shadows, the one he left behind to guard his home, were consuming vast amounts of mana. Too much. That level of draw meant only one thing: his strongest shadows were being overwhelmed.
His eyes began to glow with a purple hue as he peered across space to see what was happening. (A/N: There is a time dilation between Remnant and Dc, it is canon in the movie)
From the sidelines, Amazo noticed the change in his father’s demeanor. So did the others.
Yang, picking herself up from the ground, saw Ashborn’s distant look. She narrowed her gaze. Whatever he was seeing, he wasn’t here.
Taking the opportunity, she dashed forward and drove a punch square into his face.
Her smile was triumphant until she realized he hadn’t even flinched. His head didn’t turn, and he continued staring at nothing.
Then everything changed.
The whites of Ashborn’s eyes turned pitch black, and a dark purple-and-black aura exploded from his body. The blast sent Yang flying backward, crashing across the arena floor.
Cracks spiderwebbed across the entire stage. The air turned heavy, humming with raw power. Beacon itself began to tremble.
The spectators gasped. Penny shielded her face from the shockwave. Qrow instinctively moved in front of Ruby and the others. Even Amazo stood up, tense.
Ashborn’s face twisted, not in calm, not in control, but in unfiltered wrath.
Across the school, students lost their footing as the vibrations grew stronger and the windows shattered. Some later will swear their shadows were moving unnaturally, twitching and slithering under their feet like they had wills of their own.
Then, beside Ashborn, a large, ominous gate of glowing purple energy opened with a low, pulsing hum.
Without a word, Ashborn turned and stepped through it.
“Father!” Amazo called and dashed in after him just before the gate closed behind them leaving a silent, stunned crowd in its wake.
Confusion and fear lingered in the air as the arena’s dust began to settle.
Comments
Vladimir Poopin
Author can we pay for extra chapter releases!? 1 chapter a day is NOT good enough!
Buddhasnow
Someone just fucked up and they're dead without knowing it
