Running With The Wolves (A Nuts-and-Dolts Wolfwalkers AU)

Chapter 11

Before Ruby could get any closer to the stage, Penny grabs her wrist tightly and plants her feet firmly to the ground. Ruby, of course resisted, trying to pull away from Penny.

"Ruby, stop! Please!" Penny begged.

"My uncle's here! Get off of me!" Ruby replied struggling against Penny's grip.

Penny pulls on Ruby's arm, bringing her close, so she could wrap her other arm around Ruby's waist, effectively restraining her. Growling and snarling, Ruby wriggled and kicked, in an attempt to escape. 

"Attention, people of Argus!" Ironwood announced.

"I have heard your concerns! Wolf attacks, livestock lost. A wolf running through our very streets. But have no fear! Soon this wolfland will be our land! This will be a civilized country!" he told the townspeople.

The harder Ruby struggled, the tighter Penny held onto her.

"Let me go! Get off of me!" Ruby told Penny.

"Ruby, stop! You must get out! It's not safe!" Penny replied.

"Let. Me. GO!" Ruby shouted, elbowing Penny in the chest to make her let go.

After catching her breath from the sudden blow, Penny tackles Ruby to the ground and pins her down. An idea came to mind when Penny saw the small wooden cage a group of boys were playing with a couple days ago. 

"Penny, please, let me save my uncle." Ruby pleaded.

Penny looks at the wooden cage, then at Ruby, then back at the cage.

"*sigh*....I'm sorry, Ruby." Penny sighed, closing her eyes and hanging her head.

"For what?" Ruby asked.

"For what I'm about to do." Penny said remorsefully.

Ruby is dragged kicking and screaming into a small wooden cage by someone she loved and trusted. Penny shuts the cage and latches it so Ruby couldn't get out.

"Ruby, I'm so sorry, but I can't let you get on that stage. I love you too much to watch you die." Penny told her.

"But what about Uncle Qrow!? If we don't help him he'll die!" Ruby cried, gripping the bars of the cage.

"You have to let me out of this cage, now!" she shouted.

"Ruby! Your uncle told me to keep you safe!" Penny argued.

"So, this is for your own good." she added turning away...again.

"No, Penny, don't leave me in here! You can't just say that you love me and then turn your back on me again! Penny, please! Penny!...PENNY!...PENNNNYYYYY!" Ruby called out, sobbing.

Even though the sound of Ruby crying made Penny want to turn around and go to her immediately, she had to walk away. Penny cried into her hands as she walked further away from the girl she loves...who probably hates her now. 

"Reveal the beast!" Ironwood ordered his guards.

Two guards pulled off the tarp, revealing to the townspeople a large black wolf. The wolf was wearing a large metal collar with two chains attached to it, and a leather muzzle. Qrow looked increasingly frightened as the townspeople were all shouting things like..."kill the wolf!", "kill that beast!", "kill it!", and "send it to h*ll!". 

"Uncle Qrow..." Ruby whimpered fearfully.

"Enough, all of you! You have nothing to fear from this beast." Ironwood said, silencing the crowd's shouting.

"Now...open that cage." he said, grabbing the collar of Clover's shirt and roughly shoving him towards the cage.

Following orders, Clover opens the cage and hands the chain to the general. Ironwood yanks on the chain, pulling Qrow towards him. Qrow tried to resist, but he was whipped by a guard each time he pulled back. The black wolf whimpers, his ears folded back and his tail between his legs. Another guard hands the general a lit torch.

"I'll show all of you that these beasts are no real threat. As humans, we are the superior species, we must tame these wild creatures...bend them to our will. All we have to do is beat them into submission. And those who don't submit...will die." Ironwood said, pulling hard on the chain and raising the flaming torch above his head, ready to hit Qrow with it.

Ruby had enough of this, she couldn't let these people hurt her uncle. She would just have to do it without Penny's help. Using her wolfwalker strength, Ruby angrily bursts out of the wooden cage, breaking it to pieces. Then she leaps through the crowd, jumping from head to head, and onto the stage.

"Ruby, no!" Penny shouted, pushing her way towards the stage.

"Uncle Qrow! It's going to be okay, I'm here!" Ruby said hugging Qrow's furry chest.

"I'm gonna get you out of here!" she said, trying to take off the muzzle.

It felt like Penny's heart was going to explode out of her chest. Ruby was in danger, and she didn't know if she could get to her in time.

"What is the meaning of this!?" Ironwood growled.

"YOU LET HIM GO! HE'S MY UNCLE!" Ruby yelled at the general.

"Ebi! Take charge of this wild thing!" Ironwood ordered Clover.

He hands the hunter a shackle collar with a chain attached and pointed to the angry wild girl. Clover looked hesitant, he didn't want to do this to a girl close to his own niece's age...but the Lord Protector gave him an order, and he can't defy the general's orders. He tried to catch Ruby, but she kept dodging just out of reach, making him chase her all over the stage as the guards held back her snarling wolf uncle.

"D*mn it, Ebi! Can't you catch anything!?" Ironwood reprimanded.

"Collar that demon and put her in the stocks!" he shouted.

Clover finally caught Ruby and tried to restrain her, but she kept struggling against his hold.

"Please, stop resisting, I don't want to hurt you." Clover whispered, regretting everything he's being made to do.

"Uncle Clover, stop! Don't!" Penny shouted, climbing onto the stage.

"Penny! Stay back!" Clover told her.

"Uncle Clover, please! This is wrong!" Penny replied, trying to pull him off of Ruby.

Penny wasn't the only one trying to protect Ruby, Qrow was fighting against the chains holding him back so he could get to his niece. The leather muzzle snaps and the chains finally have enough slack to allow Qrow to lunge forward and tackle Clover and pin him to the floor of the stage, growling and baring his teeth. 

"Uncle Clover!" Penny cried out when Qrow bit down hard on his arm.

Seeing the hunter being attacked by the large wolf caused the townspeople to panic. The guards quickly pull Qrow back into the cage and lock him up. They also try to capture Ruby, but she evades them and climbs to the roof of a nearby building. Penny rushes over to Clover, who was laying on the floor clutching his injured and bleeding arm, and kneels at his side. Everything was quickly turning into a disaster...which is the very thing Penny so desperately tried to avoid.