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What was Ruby doing? Neo was just standing there. Was that actually Ruby? Maybe it was a Neo clone. Why was she drinking tea? Why was she looking at her?
Ruby lifted the cup and her dead, soulless eyes to Yang's and drank the tea down. When Ruby collapsed on the ground, Yang started to move towards her when the ground opened up underneath her sister and swallowed her up.
Yang felt her entire world tilt on its axis. Her knees buckled and she felt a strong force keep her standing. She wrapped around and clung to this lifeline. She didn't understand what was going on. Where was Ruby? Where was her baby sister? There were vines where there was floor, floor where there was her sister just a second ago.
She didn't understand. How was Ruby suddenly not there anymore?
She felt like she was breathing underwater. Why was her chest so heavy? Why did it hurt to breathe? Why did her heart feel like it got stomped into a sludge-like mass?
Yang blinked as she saw falling pink sparkles in front of her face. She looked up to see more sparkles. Where were they coming from? Nothing made sense. Yang's gaze drifted back down to the vines. Was Ruby going to come climbing out? Yeah, any second now, she would catch a glimpse of her red cloak. Any second now...Any second...Any...
A massive wave of blue energy slammed into her and her back hit the wall hard. She fell to the ground. Yang looked over and saw her girlfriend struggle to get up. Yang got an arm underneath her and raised Blake up.
Yang's eyes narrowed as she saw Neo. She was a threat. She wanted to kill Ruby. She kept her eyes on her until she flew off.
Yang was still supporting Blake. Her eyes caught sight of the vines again. Ruby hadn't come back yet. Maybe she needed some help getting out. Yeah, Yang would help. She always had Ruby's back.
Yang pulled away from Blake and cocked her gauntlets before shooting the vines over and over and over again. Yang walked closer and kept shooting. When she reached the vines she started punching down in the mass of plants. She could make a hole and Ruby would pop out and they would talk and everything would be okay.
She felt strong arms try to pull her back, but she fought against them. She had to get to Ruby. She had to make it right. Nothing else mattered.
After a while she was starting to exhaust herself. She was panting and her punches were weakening. She hadn't even made a dent in the vines. She let her head drop down to the vines as she caught her breath.
Her ears were ringing and her heart was thumping powerfully against her ribcage. She felt a body drape over her holding her. Yang tried to wrench away, but the body just held her tighter. Ruby couldn't get back. Ruby wasn't coming back. Ruby was gone.
All of the fight left Yang then and Yang felt herself be pulled back and fully embraced. In her exhaustion, Yang felt her whole body start to shake.
Little by little she was putting together the pieces. Ruby drank a tea. Ruby fell through a hole, just like the Herbalist did. The Herbalist went to the Tree to Ascend. The cat said he would come back as something new with no prior memories. Ruby went to the Tree to Ascend. Ruby wouldn't be Ruby anymore. Ruby drank the tea. She chose this. She chose to not be Ruby anymore, not to be her sister. She left because Yang wasn't good enough.
She felt herself hauled up and something blurry was in front of her face. The ringing was turning to buzzing. The darkness was crowding in on her eyesight and Yang welcomed it.
"Jaune, you let go of her now!" Blake said, aiming her weapon at him.
"We don't have time for you to fall apart!" Jaune yelled into Yang's face. He saw her blank eyes roll up into her head and her body go limp.
"Shit." Jaune helped lower her to the ground.
Blake pushed him away and she held Yang's face. "She passed out."
"Let's put her on the back of Juniper," Jaune said.
Blake stood and yelled at him. "Don't you ever touch her like that again!"
"I'm sorry. I am, but we have to get to the cat before he gets to the Tree."
Weiss couldn't stop the tears from streaming down her face. "How?" she asked, her voice breaking. "They can fly and just be places."
Yang blinked her eyes open. She had to get to Ruby and she could only think of one way to do it. Her head felt like it got hit by a sledgehammer, but she pushed herself to sit up.
Blake heard the movement behind her and saw Yang sit up. "Yang."
Yang looked at the table still set with tea cups. "We need to drink the tea."
"What?" Weiss asked.
Yang looked at Weiss. "It's the quickest way to Ruby. We can't beat the cat. We don't know how to get to the Tree. We need to drink the tea."
"Yang, I know you're hurting, but..." Blake started, her hand on Yang's shoulder.
"No, Blake, I think Yang's right," said Weiss. "It's the quickest option."
"We don't know what will happen to us! We could lose all our memories! We could be turned into something different!" Blake pointed out to the group.
"Jaune?" Yang asked.
He sighed. "I'll go grab some leaves."
"No." Blake stood and Yang followed her to stand and face her girlfriend.
Yang reached out to Blake, but she pulled back.
"Yang, no. You've been through a shock and you're not thinking clearly."
"Blake, I'm not leaving the Ever After without my sister in whatever form I find her."
"But the Tree..."
Yang took Blake's hands and Blake didn't pull away this time. "We are not Afterans. We don't know what will happen to us. We may lose nothing."
"Yang, we could lose us."
At this Yang smiled. "The Tree doesn't change purpose. The Prince still had to win his game and the Herbalist only went to the Tree when he lost his sense of his purpose. Blake, my purposes in life are to be Ruby's sister, be a Huntress, and to love you. The Tree won't change that."
Blake thought for a moment, looking at Yang intently, then nodded. "Okay, let's go get Ruby.''
Jaune came back with the leaves and with some help from Weiss boiled some water. They each added a leaf to their cup, the festive swirling of magic over the cup belying the tragedy that this tea just brought them. The four looked at each other, and Yang nodded.
Yang lifted her cup to the others. "Bottoms Up."
The four drank and the world crumbled beneath them.